#(lie)(lying)(person who is immediately going to work on video editing)(person who is immediately making lists of things to draw) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stray-kids-react · 3 years

Text

Doing WAP dance perfectly

(If you don't know what WAP is. It's a suggestive dance with a lot of twerking and grinding.)

Masterlist

...

Bang Chan

° Chan always called you cute, you would try your hardest to be hot... But he'd still see you as an adorable lil bean. You became worried that he didn't see you in a sexual way at all, and decided to see if you could possibly get him flustered by doing such a dirty dance.

° You wore the sexiest outfit in your closet, leaving barely anything to the imagination. You walked into Chan's studio with a large trench coat hiding the treat you had in store for your boyfriend. Noticing Chan was alone, you decided to let the coat drop to your feet.

° Blush crept onto his cheeks, bottom lip bittne by his teeth. It was making a mark on him, until you started the music. That song was too much of a meme to be sexy to him, especially since Felix tried to attempt it in front of him once and gave up half way.

° Even if you looked extremely sexy while pounding into the ground, he couldn't help but giggle by the choice of song. If it were something more sensual and romantic, than he would be on the ground with you. But WAP turned him off quite a bit.

"Chan! I wanted to be sexy... Am I not hot?"

"Of course you are hot, it's just the song."

Lee Know

° Minho is a tease who loves you very much, but is not a fan of that trend. He can't help but cringe when he sees someone do it in public for everyone to see, he doesn't know why but it just effects him a lot in all of the wrong ways. But you didn't know this.

° While he alone in the dance practice room, you walked in with WAP blaring from your phone. You then put it on the bench and began to dance along with it perfectly, the phone was recording everything. Including Minho's uncomfortable expression.

° He was impressed by your hips, but the whole song and trend gave him terrible flashbacks to the tiktok he witnessed before. Even if he wanted to smile, it came off very fake or turned into some mixture of cringe and fake happiness.

° Minho did not want to hurt your feelings, but he truly couldn't help it when you did the WAP dance. You thought he was teasing you and trying to annoy you, and you continue to think that til this day. But he was truly not impressed by that trend that you did.

"I know you secretly loved it, don't deny it."

"Oh trust me, I won't deny anything."

Changbin

° You were trying so hard to learn this dance, you wanted to do it for yourself and to also impress your boyfriend. Even when you failed miserabley, Changbin still sent hearts of encouragement and asked if you could give him another show of it.

° He would be lying if he denied that he didn't get a tiny bit turned on when you pounded into the ground, but he didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable so he didn't tell you unless you noticed or asked him about it. Which you did a couple of times.

° Wonders how your body can move so smoothly while doing such harsh and sexual moves, especially when it comes to the twerking. You challenged Changbin to twerk with you, and you weren't surprised when he was actually pretty good at it.

° Will record the challenge, helping you edit it and re recording it if you don't like the final product. Changbin is supportive of your interests and even if he isn't overly into WAP, he finds anything you do breathtaking. And think your better than Cardi B herself.

"I swear you are better than Cardi B babe."

"Stop buttering me up lover boy."

Hyunjin

° Truly conflicted. He is impressed by your dance skills, but also doesn't want your followers to see you dancing so proactively. He wants to be the only one to see you acting this way, but he also finds it a bit amusing on how serious you seem.

° Your dancing to a song called 'Wet Ass Pussy' and yet your face seems like your doing an interview at the job of your dreams. This will calm his nerves a tiny bit, knowing you aren't doing this to get attention. But rather because you're bored and wanted to.

° Will sometimes hum along to the song while it's playing, getting shy if he reads out the dirty lyrics about sex. Even though it has become more of a meme than a sensual getting it on song, it still makes him flustered because of how raunchy it is.

° Claps when you've finally succeeded the dance, smiling proudly since he saw how hard you worked for a non benefitial trend. Once you posted the challenge, he would like and save it immediately. Secretly watching it while he goes on tour.

"Does it hurt when you hump the ground?"

"You get used to it after a while."

Han

° Knew that you were going to want to do it, you like to try out different trends to see if you like them or not. He just wasn't expecting to see you do WAP so closely, he thought he'd scroll through tik tok and then you'd be twerking on his feed.

° He was scrolling through Instagram when you got up and began to do the dance, he was trying to comprehend what was going on since you did so out of the blue. Became your personal cheerleader when you went into the splits, hyping you up quite a bit.

° Won't see it as a sensual dance, is more impressed than turned on. He'll high five you afterwards, and then 'high fives' your toosh for doing most of the work. You will become flustered with his compliments, giggling as he drums your bottom teasingly.

° Goes through your social media accounts later, to make sure there aren't any pervs commenting degrading things. If he sees any he'll report them, knowing he is the only one to say things such as 'that's some fine peice of ass' to you.

"Baby, are you scrolling my comments?"

"mhm, there are some creepy followers."

Felix

° Tik tok master, already knows all of the moves and probably taught you them. Felix likes to boost your confidence up and become your own personal happiness, even if you thought you looked cringey and horrid in the video, he'd tell you the opposite.

° Won't force you to do it in front of people or even post the video, even though you look amazing he still doesn't mind if keeping it private. Is a protective sunshine who would feel a bit of relief if you didn't post it, but would never ever admit that to you.

° When you were your best friend was visiting, you both decided to attempt the popular trend. She stopped half way through do to laughter, while you kept going. Felix rushed to you from the kitchen, beginning to throw money on you to enhance the laughter.

° If you get embarrassed when dialing one of the many attempts, he'll comfort you and shower you with kisses til you feel better. Over all he is a sweetheart who cherishes your happiness, and he'll do anything to hear your beautiful laugh and see your smile.

"Don't be shy love *kiss* you were great. *kiss*."

"The kisses make me more shy Felix."

Seungmin

° Knew you were on tik tok, and witnessed you attempt a couple of trends, mosy dance challenges. But never expected you to do WAP, you both were generally introverted and were much more soft with each other in public rather than all over each other.

° Even in photos of you two together, the most anyone will see is hand holding. That's why many people were surprised to see you doing such a bold and raunchy dance for many people to see, the reason behind it was a dare from your close friend.

° A staff member showed him the video, giggling as they couldn't beleive what you did. Seungmin smiled, seeing you so confident and bold made him feel proud. He wasn't upset or jealous in the slightest, he was extactic to see you be so confident.

° When he arrived home, you asked him about his opinion on the video. He could tell you didn't like it and were self conscious about it. So instead o replying at first, he embraced you in a gentle hug. Rubbing your shoulder blades as he complimented you.

"You looked stunning in the video."

"A-are you sure? Don't lie to me Seungmin."

Jeongin

° Stray kids knew you for as long as they knew Jeongin, you were his best friend turned lover and they saw you as family. That is why it made it 10x more awkward for both you and Jeongin when Felix noticed your newest post on tik tok.

° You thought you saved it privately, and did NOT want it to be public due to having such an open account with many followers. Your family even followed your account, so this made you nearly pass out knowing many people have already seen this video.

° You immediately deleted the video, even though it was far too late. Jeongin was a bit shy from witnessing you do such a raunchy dance, but he wanted to comfort you nonetheless. His ears were bright pink as you clung onto him, trying to calm down.

° A couple days after the incident, Minho and Han would tease you lightly. Jeongin occasionally joined in, unless he noticed you became very flustered and would then put a stop to the teasing. He still found it adorable how embarrassed you were of the video.

"What if my mom saw this!?"

"... What if she didn't. There is a chance."

#stray kids #kpop #skz scenarios #stray kids reactions #changbin #han jisung #hyunjin #jeongin #lee know #bang chan #felix skz #skz seungmin #skz requests #skz reactions #wapchallenge

170 notes · View notes

estellaelysian · 3 years

Note

Catch and Favor from the prompt list for our lovely pair E&A please

And

Welcome to super self indulgent fic edition. The prompt did it, not me 🙃 From this prompt list

[ CATCH ] : sender catches receiver's hand instinctively out of surprise or concern, and holds it.

[ FAVOR ] : sender does a favor for receiver without being asked to, or expecting a reward in return.

Sweet Hoax

‘So? Neil why isn’t coming again?’

‘Because he said he had to take care of his daughter,’ Dilshad said, looking away.

Alishka sighed happily. There was nothing good about not having her older brother visit her in Boston, but she was also somewhat relieved. Conjuring up stories was unlike her, but Neil had insisted upon seeing the ‘Guy from Work’, a result of her confiding in Gianna, his wife. Alishka had stopped telling things to her after that.

‘I bet she is growing up fast,’ she said, lining up her next shot.

‘She is. You won’t believe how much she has grown since you last saw her.’

She laughed. ‘I know that. I have talked to her, you know. She video calls me every Sunday.’

‘That’s cute. We only ever talk when I am over.’

‘Yeah ‘cause she likes me better than you.’

‘She likes me better than you,’ Dilshad mocked, pitching his voice higher, making her laugh even more. ‘Don’t think I’ll fall for that trap.’

‘It’s not a trap. It’s the truth.’

Her ball rolled toward the pins, and she had another perfect score.

‘Hell, how do you do that?’

She smirked. ‘You gotta focus.’

‘Ofcourse,’ he said, rolling his eyes.

To be honest, in a long time, she actually felt happy. After the … events at Miami, she hadn’t been sleeping well. A game of bowling with her brother felt like therapy. She had also asked her friends to tag along, but only Bryce had been free, and he should have been here by now…

‘Hi Lish, sorry I am late,’ he said, leaning in for a quick hug.

‘No worries,’ she said, hugging him back. ‘This is Dilshad, my brother.’

They exchanged greetings and warmed up to each other. It amazed Alishka how easily Bryce got along with everyone. He just had that … personality.

‘So Lish, ready to lose?’

‘You bet.’

‘That’s no good. Another perfect score.’

Ethan laughed, a full hearty laugh in what seemed like weeks. James was being especially whiny as he lost their little match at Bowling as he proceeded to take off the tennis shoes and put the ball back.

‘How the hell do you do that?’

‘Focus,’ Ethan answered, breathing heavily.

‘Yeah, sure,’ James mocked. ‘Look, this has been fun, but how about we meet for dinner tonight? And don’t be ridiculous and try to bullshit me by giving some excuse. You are coming.’

‘Okay,’ he said, chuckling. ‘You can be pretty relentless.’

‘That I am. Although, I gotta take off now, so I’ll see you at dinner? Libertine? Sounds good?’

‘Yeah, I’ll see you then.’

‘Yeah, ‘kay.’

As he disappeared into the crowd, Ethan leaned back, taking a moment to relax while he got rid of his own shoes. Having a day off wasn’t always good. He was a workaholic, and he liked to keep himself busy, but sometimes, slowing down felt good too.

He could’ve never imagined he’d be out bowling when Naveen was this sick, but James had been adamant. He had said, ‘Sometimes a cleansing of mind is required. Maybe you’ll think better after having some time for yourself.’

Well, he didn’t know if James was right. But it didn’t hurt much to give a few hours to his friend rather than arguing, because that would never be useful. James was a lawyer, he knew his ways.

Ethan sighed. As much as he had loved the few hours they had spent together, it was time to go back and do some more research.

He stood up, walking with his determined stride, keeping his head low. Only now he noticed how chaotic a bowling alley actually could be. For him being in his own tone, he halfheartedly ignored the familiar laughter that filled his ears, thinking he was probably just imagining.

But just a moment later, he slammed into someone, his arms immediately reaching out to catch her because she was knocked off balance.

Only then he realised that he hadn’t quite imagined her laughter.

She was actually here.

For a moment of madness, it felt all too impossible.

Ethan Ramsey didn’t do activities. Hell, he didn’t even take off days. For her to meet him here of all places, and this way… she had to be dreaming.

Her eyes widened as she pulled back, stumbled on her own feet before staggering even backwards.

‘You okay, Lish?’ Bryce asked. ‘And you–’

‘Hello, Dr. Lahela.’

‘Uh, hi, Dr. Ramsey.’

Oh dear God. Could this get any more worse?

‘Is this the guy from work?’

Guy from Work. Ofcourse.

Alishka’s eyes widened even more in horror. And she noticed Ethan’s eyebrows rise at the mention. ‘How do you know? Who told you?’

‘Gianna, she said, –’

‘Shh,’ Alishka hissed, but to no avail.

‘Well, you are quite the man,’ Dilshad said, smiling as he walked past her. ‘Hi, I am Dilshad Roy, her brother.’

Vaguely, she regretted all this, even though there was no way she could have known. This just wasn’t like the Ethan she knew. But somehow, that seemed to be a less of a concern now. She exhaled sharply, about to cut in, but then her gaze met Ethan’s. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he raised a hand to stop her.

‘Yeah,’ Ethan said with a small smile. ‘It seems you already know me.’

Alishka winced. Apparently, it could get worse.

‘Who wouldn’t? You are Ethan Ramsey, her medical hero. And …’

‘Her boyfriend,’ he finished, ignoring the shiver running down his spine at the word.

He didn’t know what had taken over in that moment. His duplicity came quite naturally. Was it out of protective instinct or in a desire to live in a bubble, he didn’t know.

He wasn’t aware of what Alishka’s family knew about them. This could be some move in that situation, but he barely gave it a thought as he moved to Alishka’s side.

‘Would you like to play a round, Ethan?’ Dilshad asked over the loud music that filled the alley.

‘He can’t stay,’ Alishka said immediately. ‘There is an important research to be finished, and..’

‘And you don’t need to worry about that,’ he offered. ‘I’ll be happy to stay for a round.’

Alishka painted a false smile on her face when Dilshad looked her way, but in reality, she was in complete utter shock. They moved to the side some more, allowing people to pass around them. Almost too suddenly, she looked away, Ethan following her gaze to a distant corner of the alley. His gaze slipped down to the mustard yellow ripped top she was wearing, paired with jeans. She looked good in casual clothes, not something he saw her usually in.

‘You didn’t have to do that, you know,’ she whispered, crossing her arms across her chest. ‘Lie like that. Why did you do it?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said under his breath. ‘Felt like the right thing to do.’

She scoffed. ‘Right thing about what, Ethan? I think you were very clear–’

She was interrupted when he loudly cleared his throat as Dilshad approached.

‘Here you go man, let’s do this.’

‘Yeah,’ Ethan said with a chuckle. Let’s do it.

One and a half rounds later, Ethan found himself again by the side of Alishka, quietly staring at the floor. He wondered what she found so fascinating about it.

For the lack of anything to say, his gaze shuffled between their feet, wondering about what she had been saying earlier. It was right, he had been very clear about the nature of their relationship when they had been back from Miami.

It had been his decision after all, hadn’t it?

Beside him, Alishka sighed loudly. Her silence was worse than he could’ve ever imagined.

Maybe she was correct. Maybe he did it for himself, throwing all the rationality he stuck by otherwise out of the window. Maybe he was wrong in creating this bubble.

He didn't know.

What he knew now, was that apparently, both of them had tremendous acting skills. And they’d have to use it for a little more time because soon, they would be done with this little bubble that he had created so impulsively.

Coming to think of it, maybe he was wrong, but he didn’t want to acknowledge that.

‘AW MAN!’ Dilshad exclaimed as Bryce did his – possibly – first perfect score. ‘I can’t believe I lost!’

‘We all have our days, Dilshad,’ Alishka said quietly, before turning to look at Ethan with cold steel. ‘I guess, we should leave now, I have got some homework to do for our next case.’

‘Yeah,’ Bryce offered. ‘Lish, can I walk you?’

‘Ofcourse,’ she smiled brightly. ‘Just a moment please.’

Pulling Ethan aside by the arm, she brushed her hair away and looked up at him. ‘If we get into any mess because of this, it’s on you. Like I said, you didn’t have to do that. I don’t like lying. And therefore, you can’t blame me for anything.’

With that, she walked away, wrapping an arm around Bryce as he led her outside.

‘She can be like that sometimes,’ Dilshad said, looking at the expression on Ethan’s face. He wasn’t quick enough to school it into a proper smile. ‘Weird, you know, but don’t let it bother you. She is probably just stressed.’

And she is right to be, he thought, but said nothing.

‘What I was saying is, it’s her, I mean our niece’s birthday next month. And she’d be really happy if you come.’

If we get into any mess because of this, it’s on you. Like I said, you didn’t have to do that. I don’t like lying. And therefore, you can’t blame me for anything.

Ethan offered a tight smile, watching her disappear into bright light of the day.

‘Yes, ofcourse.’

Thank you all for reading if you made it this far. I know this was trash very weird, but hey, it's all about trying new things (or tropes).

Thank you all again. Lot's of love 💖

#ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #open heart #choices #openheart #ethanramsey #answered

37 notes · View notes

kiloxy · 3 years

Text

Analysis: WHY DREAM IS ACTUALLY BLONDE GEORGE!

NOW DON’T SCROLL AWAY JUST YET!

Listen Guys I have come up with the greatest theory/analysis of my life. Twitter could NEVER. This is about to solidify me as one of the lead big brain theorists on tumblr, cross my heart..... *cough* shit-poster *cough* I mean what? anyway... This analysis includes lots of receipts! Now let’s begin me launching my 1000000000 IQ career faster than Dream can MLG water out of this damning post.

Tw: Close up of eyes since I zoomed in images of their eyes as proof. It will be under the cut.

So let me start with the question everyone has asked: WHO IS DREAM?!?

He’s the mysterious lime green, tea kettle sounding, god level skill, 10000 IQ, pissbaby enigma that took the internet BY STORM. He has grown so fast and so quick it’s insane, big brain plays must be through the roof. We could wonder how he did this... Why he did this.... But really. All we should care about is WHO THE FUCK IS HE?!!?!

Excuse my language... But anyway.. I have been working DAY AND NIGHT. To figure this out for you guys. It’s been 78 hours of no sleep. After escaping Dream’s basement (smart ass found out I was going to expose him) I have finally made it to a computer to post this...

Dream is Blonde George

Okay wait wait wait! Before you go leave, screaming and appalled, slamming the button to unfollow my broke ass, hear me out.

First point... What the fuck is blonde George?

THIS MAN. REMEMBER HE BLEW UP?!?! WHY DID HE? WHY??? I mean we hate him! Well the only reasonable explanation is that he was a PLANT!

Yes that’s right, blonde George was a plant. This is actually Dream. Now Dream loves chaos, he’s even mentioned before he may make a stan account/pose as a cosplayer and I think this was his way...He leaked this photo of him on twitter to fuck with us. To test the waters before the Mr.Beast video where he might reveal himself as blonde George.

Only Dream and his 1000000 IQ could blow up a post like this guys, think about it!

OKAY TIME FOR THE REAL PROOF:

We know Dream’s hair color okay, look at this twitter post where he does a hair color reveal:

POST HERE

Now let’s take a closer look. Here’s Dream’s hair:

Rest of the analysis under the cut includes more analyzed images, links, and video as proof:

Now I took to an eyedropper and examined Blonde George’s hair and got:

LOOK HOW CLOSE THE NUMBERS ARE! AND WE KNOW NUMBERS DON’T LIE! The more samples I took of blonde George’s hair and compared to Dream’s the clearer it became... Their hair... Is the same!

Now that we have the hair matching what else can we figure out? I mean Dream said he had green eyes, we even have a pic here of them.

But I ask you.... Dream’s smart. You really think he’s telling the truth? I mean think of the the vlog incident. Man is a liar.

I introduce to you a concept: CONTACTS

You see Dream knew that blonde George would get a lot of traction (he wanted it to). But he didn’t want to be outed too fast. I mean blonde white dude? blowing up on twitter? Obviously traceable back to Dream. So change one of his most distinct features, his eyes! He is wearing brown contacts. I have proof, let’s look at blonde Gog again. uSING MY EXPENSIVE HIGH TECH EQUIPMENT I-

ENHANCE ENHANCE ENHANCE!

I mean first just looking at this you can see the odd white glare on his eye... Now that is not your usual eye glare, no... That’s an eye glare that shows what it looks like when light reflects off a contact lens. He is wearing contacts!

But if that isn’t enough for you I cleaned up the photo of blonde George’s eye using mad skillz I learned from crime shows and got:

YEAH THAT’S RIGHT! CLEARLY A CONTACT LENS AND A CHEAP ONE TOO! LOOK HOW ARTIFICIAL IT IS IN THIS CLEAR ZOOMED IN PICTURE OF BLONDE GEORGE’S EYE THAT IS OBVIOUSLY NOT A PHOTO OF A RANDOM WOMAN I FOUND WITH A CONTACT.

Dream put in brown contacts! Why else would this “blonde George” be wearing contacts huh??? We know real George has 100% real gorgeous brown eyes.

Now you may be saying, well that’s just an edited photo of legit George. We have the real photo of George. But no, it’s not! THAT’S WHAT DREAM WANTS YOU TO THINK SHEEPLE, WAKE UP!

Dream put on a red hoodie, styled his hair to look like George, and he posed just right so it looks like it’s an edited version of that photo of Gog. But it’s not! We can tell by the contacts! Also George would never exude the off vibes blonde George does. It doesn’t pass the vibe check.

Now while there are so many other bits of proof... This is getting long and I want to wrap it up. So here’s one last big bit of proof.

THIS VIDEO OF THE SCUFFED PODCAST AT 15:37

They talk about blonde George and, George claims it is photoshopped but he smiles nervously. And as he pulls up blonde George Dream does his nervous laugh. Why is he nervous? Why would he be nervous?? about this “meme”. Maybe because he’s scared to be found out,

Now the most important part:

“I don’t rlly like it tbh.”- Gog.

“Uhhh I don’t like it.”-Dream.

Now you may have brushed past this upon viewing, but.... Nobody asked for Dream’s opinion. This was supposed to be about GEORGE why would Dream input his opinion and speak like it’s about him... BECAUSE IT IS HIM

Now the most damning of all... 16:50 same video.

“Dream have you like ever done a face reveal or no?”-??

Dream HESITATES

“No- I haven’t yet. I do plan on doing one but I haven’t yet.”

As he speaks his words get more rushed and quiet, he’s lying. He’s nervous.

Then George saving him, redirects the topic completely off blonde George and Dream immediately jumps on the new topic eager to switch focus. It’s so weird how fast they move the topic, the clearly don’t want to talk about it. George is a good friend, he knew that Dream was scared and needed an out of the conversation before he outed himself as blonde George.

But... they couldn’t keep the ruse up.... BECAUSE I AM HERE!

I see you Dream and your 10000000 IQ. HE THOUGHT HE COULD CONTAIN ME, CONTAIN THE TRUTH. BUT I- BREAKING GENESIS CAN NOT BE STOPPED. I ESCAPED HIS BASEMENT JUST FOR THIS FUCKING POST! IT WAS MANHUNT, I SPEEDRAN THIS SHIT. I BET HE’S LOOKING FOR ME NOW.

*cough* Anyway, now my very very last point.

Why haven’t we ever seen Dream and Blonde George in a room together huh? It’s weird right?? They can’t coexist separately because THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON. IT’S SO OBVIOUS!

If this grade A++++, wagyu quality, meaty with receipts analysis wasn’t enough to convince you then.... I am going to hack into Mr.Beast’s content. I am on my way to his house as I type this... Next post I am LEAKING images from the shoot when Dream drops the sign that will SHOW that he is in fact Blonde George.

If you have more proof.... Anything to add... react... or respond to this analysis. My inbox is open.

Wish me luck, I honed my hacker skillz just for this. You may not be able to trust Dream, but you can trust me! Hopefully I can do this before Dre catches me again.

o7 bois

#shitpost #i mean #analysis #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #blonde george #this is the real shit #I legit spent so long on this kill me #please don't unfollow #this analysis slaps #This is my best work #Dream

70 notes · View notes

dukeofonions · 4 years

Text

A Lack of Criticism and the Upcoming Video

Putting this under a cut because it gets long.

Something I’ve noticed about the Sanders Sides series is that no one ever seems to criticize the content itself. Whenever a new video is released, it’s immediately showered in praise and adored by the fan base. Especially when it’s been a long break in between content and we’ve all been desperate for a video. We’re caught in the rush of having something new that we immediately latch onto it and this thing has now become the most sacred thing in the fandom.

Now this isn’t always the case, I know some people found Logic vs Passion (I am not typing that monster of an acronym out) to be lower quality. It seemed rushed, the jokes weren’t as funny, no one seemed to really be in character. Which I agreed with the first time around, and it was a shame because it was the first episode to give Logan and Roman the spotlight, and I was so excited for two of my favorite characters to finally get their own episode. Only to not enjoy it as much as I’d wanted to.

Besides that, other notable criticisms were about Selfishness vs Selflessness which pertained to the questionable lesson that we learned, but this seemed to be intentional on the writers’ part and left the fandom to debate among themselves while we waited for the second part to arrive. Really, the most negativity wrought by that episode was the beginning of the fandom’s “Unsympathetic Patton” debacle.

Which, didn’t have much to do with the episode itself, as it became more of a fandom thing.

What I’m getting at is no one ever criticizes the videos directly. The story, dialogue, effects, none of that is ever looked into or critiqued. And as someone who loves to self review movies, books, music, etc. I find this odd because there is a lot of good and bad to be found within the show. In this case, I’d say the good outweighs the bad, and while I enjoy this series a lot, if someone who hadn’t seen it before asked me to describe it this is what I would say: “It’s a bit corny, sometimes the morals can be very on the nose, the humor is kinda cringey and not every joke lands. But overall it’s a good show that has helped me through a lot of things and I love the characters in it. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I would recommend checking it out.”

That is my honest opinion on the series as a whole right there, and if we wanted to go deeper, I have other issues with it as well, which I’ll most likely go into in another post because that’s not what this one is about.

Look, I adore Sanders Sides, but I’d be lying if I said it was flawless. And sometimes, I feel like the fandom is afraid of saying anything negative about the show directly.

Why?

Because they think if we criticize something Thomas and co. worked so hard on, then we’re not being grateful for the content we’ve received and thus, rendering their hard work to nothing. So instead, we lavish each video with praise and give unconditional support to the creators. Even if the episode was sub par, the majority of the fandom will give it a 10/10 each time just because it’s something Thomas made.

And I understand why, Thomas is great. He’s someone I look up to and aspire to be like. He’s pretty down to earth and he does his best to include his fan base in everything he does as much as he can. He tries to put out content that everyone can enjoy and gain something from and he’s clearly passionate about what he does, and I respect all that as a fellow creator.

That being said, criticizing his work isn’t the same as hating on him or any of the team involved making the videos. I know they all work hard, and the evolution of his content and how far he’s come is amazing! The quality of the videos (as far as production and editing go) has greatly improved from the stuff of his early days and he deserves all the support he’s gotten.

But the fandom seems to be so afraid of having anything negative reach him that they’ll go to drastic measures to make sure any negativity is dealt with and silenced, which in turn makes many others afraid to voice any opinion that differs from the norm, and no one is taking time to stop and think: “Hey, maybe silencing others who don’t agree with us isn’t right and is actually harming people in the fandom.”

This happened recently when Thomas’ newest video “Playing A Video Game Until It’s All You Think About” was released and a few people expressed that they did not think it was that good.

It felt empty, wasn’t as funny as his other videos, and what most people had an issue with: It was basically a 10 minute advertisement.

And I agreed with all of these criticisms, and I won’t lie for me part of this came from waiting for the new Sanders Sides, only to get a video that just left me feeling empty at the end. Which usually doesn’t happen after I watch one of Thomas’ videos, I’m never left feeling indifferent or disappointed, but this video was (in my opinion) a serious let down. Especially when there was so much they could have done with it in terms of how they worked the video game into the plot, but that’s a post for another time.

After people expressed these thoughts, as usual, others were quick to shut the negativity down. Some defended the video while calling out those who had been voicing these things while others simply carried on as usual and showered the video with praise, and not even a day after the video was released, talk about it altogether died out. So now we’re at a point where the long awaited Sanders Sides is closer than ever to being released, and thus we get to the point of this post: What’s going to happen if this video drops, and it ends up not being the grand masterpiece we’ve all been hyping it up to be?

I keep seeing people (in response to the long wait) saying that this video will be good because it’s taken so long to make. And as we all know, time=quality, right?

Well, not exactly...

Yes, taking time to work on something can help, but it isn’t what ultimately determines the overall quality of the product.

There are dozens of factors that go into making something, and time is only one of them. There are Youtubers who produce great content every single day, and some who produce not-so-great content weekly. It all depends on the person(s) working on the content, resources, and time.

Yes, we’ve been waiting almost 10 months for this video, but does that mean that entire time has been dedicated to this one episode? No! We got other videos in between that time, heck, Thomas didn’t even start filming until after December had passed. Most of the time taken for this video has gone into the animation that will be featured in the video. That’s it.

If that were to be absent, then I’m pretty sure we would have had this video by now. Not saying they shouldn’t have included the animation, but it’s clear that the wait between videos has become longer since they started adding gimmicks in each episode, and that’s fine if they want to do that!

I personally don’t think it’s necessary, as the series got along just fine in the beginning with nothing but the dialogue between the characters to carry it, but that’s just my opinion.

Now, say the video drops, a majority of the fandom loves it, I will most likely love it, but what if despite this, we find this video is not a top tier Sanders Sides video, and it wasn’t what we’d all been hoping for.

It could be anti-climatic, the jokes may not be as funny, it simply may not live up to the standards that its predecessor, Selfishness vs Selflessness, set before it.

In my opinion, SVS is one of, if not the best Sanders Sides episode. It had drama, humor, it raised the stakes, Deceit was in it!

Because of this, it’s only natural that people expect part two to be just as good if not better, but as I’ve noticed with a lot of sequels or “Part Twos” is that sometimes, they just aren’t as good as the original.

They’re not always bad per se, but they can’t hold a candle to the original, and I believe it’s possible that this could be the case with this next episode.

And if it is, how will the fandom react?

Well, if we’re lucky this episode will blow any expectations out of the water and will be even better than SVS Part One.

But what’s most likely to happen is that everyone will love it, we’ll start trending on Tumblr, and the fandom will blow up as fan art, theories, edits, and all that comes with it are massed produced by the fandom.

You know what else could happen? People could be disappointed by the video. It may not live up to everyone’s expectations, and that’s okay.

It should be okay.

No matter what happens, people should be allowed to feel however they want when this episode does finally drop. If people love it, let them love it. If people don’t like it, then please I beg you...

Let them.

All I’m asking is that we as a fandom, stop policing how people are supposed to feel about content. Obviously, if someone is just being a troll and hating for no reason that isn’t okay. But if that’s the case, just ignore them and move on.

But if someone has legitimate complaints or critiques, then they should have the freedom to express that without being afraid of receiving backlash from the fandom. This fandom claims to be the most wholesome, but how can that be when there are people who are afraid of voicing an opinion?

#sanders sides #ts discourse #fandom criticism #dukeofonions

186 notes · View notes

painted-crow · 3 years

Text

I haven't been on tumblr in a hot century so it feels a little weird to be writing a submission to you... but I just bingeread most of this blog and your way of explaining the shc system is so gloriously comprehensible that I really want to pour my brain out at your feet and have you explain the bits to me.

I hope life is treating you well and thank you for the awesome blog you run. The way you describe things and the way you help people sort themselves is clear and clever and so very kind of you to do, and that's what I appreciates about you. :)

(This was a chunk of a submission from someone who ended up sending in a second version that I answered in depth, but the fan mail portion from this first version was so sweet that it seems mean to just delete it. So here it is, as a #cutie post. 😊)

#cutie #submission

8 notes · View notes

lady-literature · 4 years

Text

what a lion cannot manage chp 3

Ao3 | chp 1 | chp 2 | chp 3 | chp 4

Her first thought—after screaming, of course—is that she needs to go tell Kacchan right now. She just found out something big and insane and Kacchan would want to know too.

She curbs that desire before it can go anywhere.

This is huge, yes, and she doesn't want to keep this from Kacchan but it’s also not her secret to tell. All Might- Yagi hadn’t wanted her to know. Otherwise, he would have told her.

But he didn’t. She figured it out accidentally instead.

Ugh.

How is one supposed to deal with figuring out their idol’s secret identity? How is someone supposed to deal with having known their idol for months without actually knowing and she just… Izumi has so many emotions about this.

All his nervousness whenever she brought up All Might makes so much sense now and, oh kami. She’s gushed about him to his face. Just have Kacchan explodo-kill her now. It’ll be a mercy.

How is she supposed to face Yagi now? What is she going to tell him?

She keens, low and long and distressed, in the silence of her room.

It probably says a lot about her general existence that it’s that and not the scream that brings Aoi crashing through her door with a worried expression.

***

The next three days pass in a daze for Izumi.

It’s only by the grace of everyone thinking she’s just upset over Yagi-san that she gets through it. Which, she means, they aren’t technically wrong. But not for the reasons they think.

She misses him like an ache in her chest but it’s her mind that’s the problem.

Aligning the image of the Great Savior All Might, their Symbol of Peace and model by which all great Heroes strive to follow, with her dorky, awkward Yagi who spends his free time telling corny jokes is just… disorienting. It makes both too much and absolutely zero sense.

How can one person be so different and yet so similar at the same time?

She can tell she’s starting to get on Kacchan’s nerves with all her fidgeting and not-quite muttering. He’s taken to knocking her on the head when she spirals too far or when he needs her attention. Sometimes, she can even catch him frowning at her out of the corner of her eye.

It’s the same look he uses when unraveling complicated chemical equations.

She wishes she could just tell him, could share her worries and fears and concerns but she can’t. Instead, she smiles and begs him to take her to the bakery on main street until he gets irritated enough to stop trying to figure out why she’s upset.

***

Her and Yagi talk near every day. Even if it’s only a few texts with hours between responses.

It had taken him two days in the beginning to call her. Days she now knows were probably busily filled with whatever All Might business he’d been pushing off to be here, but at the time she thought he’d been avoiding her. She’d been scared to reach out, hesitant to make the leap as doubts filled her mind.

But after, it was as if the floodgates opened. Calls and texts and video chats were exchanged as often as possible, the pair reaching out with the same vigour they had when they were right next to one another.

He’s slow to answer texts sometimes, and video chats are often hastily rescheduled with little notice but Izumi understands. He’s busy. He’s All Might, after all. She can’t fault him for saving people.

What kind of Hero would that make her if she did?

***

For all the talking they do, Izumi never actually brings up him being All Might.

It’s not like she’s trying to hide it, but it just… never seems like the right time. It’s not a conversation to have on the phone, she thinks.

And it’s not like she’s going to tell anyone, so it’s probably fine, right? She’s just waiting until she sees him in person again, until his next visit. It’s a delicate situation that requires a certain level of finesse that you can’t get over the phone, is all.

Not because Izumi is terrified that she’d accidentally betrayed his trust too much to come back from and he’ll never speak to her again if he finds out so she’s trying to prolong her time with him for as long as possible.

Certainly not that.

***

Izumi opens the door right as Katsuki raises his fist to pound on the wood with all the aggression to be found in his boyish body. His fist halts mid-air, almost punching her in the eye.

He scowls at her. “I hate when you do that.”

She grins at the stutter in his heartbeat they both know she can hear. They both know he thinks it’s cool though he’s never said it.

“Did you need something, Kacchan?” she asks instead of pointing that out. He only gets grumpier when she acknowledges those kinds of things.

“What kind of stupid question is that? We’re going to the park, idiot. Or did you forget?”

Izumi thinks back over the last couple days. Katsuki never asked her to go to the park.

She decides not to point that out either.

“Let me grab my notebook.”

“Whatever. Just hurry the fuck up!”

“Language!” someone calls from inside the house. Katsuki automatically flips them off despite not being able to see them or vice versa. She finishes pulling on her shoes and pushes him off down the street before he can get into another screaming match with Uncle Kyo.

“We’re going to the park!” she yells into the house, raising her voice for the benefit of the humans’.

“Have fun, sweetheart!” her mom says from the upstairs along with a chorus of other well wishes from everyone else.

***

Izumi will be the first to admit she has a bit of a skewed metric for what most people consider ‘normal.’ Katsuki’s not that far behind her, she thinks, but Kami forbid she tell him that.

Exhibit A: most kids come to the park to play in the jungle gym or build sandcastles. Izumi and Katsuki… do not do that.

“Kacchan, you’re putting too much strain on your joints!” Izumi calls from where she’s perched along the bar on top of the swingsets, balanced in a way one can only achieve with a tail for a counterweight. “Try bending your elbow more!”

“Don’t tell me what to do, damn nerd!” he shouts, vaulting over the balance beam. “I don’t need your fucking help!”

His heartbeat doesn’t stutter—both because it’s going to fast for it to and what he said isn’t really a lie anyway.

His arms still loosen up, because he knows she’s right and her advice has never been about him needing it.

The new angle should lessen the stress on his elbows but it’s going to make him sore quicker. Izumi makes a note about looking up exercises to help strengthen the muscles in his arms and shoulders in the corner of the page.

For the last month or so, Katsuki’s been all but brimming with excess energy. He’s barely able to sit still in the classroom anymore and seems angrier than ever. He’s even been suspended from the wrestling team for one too many displays of aggression. He still does kickboxing every other day but it’s not quite cutting it.

Izumi’s taken to pulling him out to the track at lunchtime to let him run out whatever energy he can but it’s not enough. The first few hours after school and weekend mornings have become dominated by Katsuki dragging her into the forest to jog up the hiking trails or to the park for her to set up increasingly difficult obstacle courses for him.

Like today.

He’ll keep going until he’s dead on his feet, she knows, refusing to stop until he hits a wall of exhaustion and she has to half-drag, half-carry him back home.

It’s really starting to worry her, watching him work himself into the ground for no discernable reason. But he won’t talk to her about it.

She’s not sure if he’s embarrassed or prideful or some other self-important reason he’s come up with, but it all comes out to the same thing: Izumi floundering around to help treat the symptoms of the sickness Katsuki won’t talk about.

She can’t even yell at him about keeping secrets from her because all that would do is piss him off and make her a hypocrite.

They both know Izumi keeps things from him, has secrets she can’t and won’t share with him (secrets that burn at the base of her throat, that keep building in number despite her best efforts).

One day they’re going to fight about that. It’s all she can do to push it off until tomorrow.

***

Izumi gets good at reading between the lines during her time talking with Yagi.

She’d already been good, in an unpolished fox-born-affinity kind of way. But having to parse through Yagi’s heavily edited daily schedules makes her better.

He’s good at lying without lying. Dancing around issues and straight-up avoiding others. She can see how he’s kept his identity a secret for so long.

It means Izumi has to be sneaky about her questioning. Has to do more than just not be obviously worried after she’d watched some two-bit villain throw him through a wall and oh kami, what about his side? Why isn’t he in the hospital?

She watches All Might fights with something rapidly approaching anxiety these days. Flinches at hits more than she cheers for his wins.

Kacchan notices because he’s far more observant than most people give him credit for.

He’s agitated by it as far as she can tell. Takes an almost personal offence to her worry over the number one hero, which is more than a little confusing for her.

Sure, he’s still a bit touchy about the whole ‘letting people help and worry about him’ thing but Izumi’s never seen him apply that hang-up to another person. Much less All Might.

Every time she wrings her hands at a TV screen or bites her lip while reading an article, Kacchan’s face twists like he swallowed a lemon. She wants to ask about it but is half-convinced it might be related to that other issue he won’t talk to her about, so she doesn’t. For now, at least.

Her temporary solution of waiting until Kacchan calms down just enough that she can tackle-hug him without being immediately thrown off is working well enough anyway.

***

Izumi remembers the first time she told Katsuki she wanted to be a hero, back when he was still all sharp edges and blistering palms. When it seemed like he’d never settle into his skin or breathe without the weight of all the expectations he’d placed on himself.

Before, even, the time she crawled back down a tree to meet the angry words of “why do you do that?”

He’d told her he was going to be a better hero than All Might and Izumi had brightened like he’d hung the stars. Her mouth was halfway around a rambling tirade about saving the day and helping people when he’d laughed. Harsh and cruel.

It stopped Izumi in her tracks.

“How are you gonna be a hero?” he taunts, nose raised in superiority. “All you can do is hear and smell stuff from far away! How are you supposed to fight anyone with a quirk like that?”

This isn’t the first time someone has said this to Izumi, and she doubts it will be the last. That’s the nature of the secret she keeps.

There is indignation in her chest. It is not new.

The anger though? That’s new. She’s never been truly angry at the townspeople before.

It hadn’t been so personal before. It doesn’t matter that she’d only known this boy for a few short weeks, he was hers. The winds whispered it to her, the pounding of the earth demanded it.

The townspeople are kind and friendly and hers in the detached way all innocents are hers, but Katsuki is different—is supposed to be different. Izumi does not know how many Protectors walk the earth, but Katsuki is the first she’d found and that means something whether either of them know it or not.

Her mouth twists into a frown. “Quirks aren’t everything.”

And they aren’t. She knows that, has known it since she sent Daiki to the nurse’s office in third grade.

Izumi has her teeth and her claws, has her mind and a viciousness born of the chaos at her center. She has magic, something so few people know how to wield these days.

And past that? Her Nona remembers the time before quirks, remembers their birth and the riots it started. The hatred. Izumi’s grown on stories and tales of the time before quirks. Of the great feats humanity made with nothing but their hands and minds.

It’s not quirks that make humans special. It never was.

Katsuki, arrogant and prideful and still so young, doesn't agree. Doesn’t understand.

“They hell they’re not!” he laughs and it’s a mocking sort of sound that makes tears prick at her eyes. “You only say that because yours is weak.”

“No!” she shouts. Her voice cracks and her breath heaves from her lungs like she can’t get enough air but she shouts anyway. “I’m not weak. I’m not less than you! You’re just being a bully and mean and that’s not how a hero acts!”

Katsuki pushes her to the ground and she’s sobbing now because the wind whispers to her and she knows, she knows, deep in her chest, that this is important. That there’s a crossroads here and it will change everything if she picks wrong.

“All Might wins and smiles and is kind and you’ll never be like him if you act like a bully!” she yells through her tears. Glares at him from her spot on the ground, through her tears and pain and hope and she thinks no. Not this time. Not him. Not here.

Izumi plants her hands on the ground, her knees dirty and face red, and she stands back up as tall as she can, chin tilted in defiance. She’s a whole head shorter than him and looks a sorry sight with all her tears but she stands before her friend, the boy that Fate Herself decreed would walk at her side until the very end, and she glares.

Greek fire against boiling pools of blood and she doesn’t bother to flinch. She won’t bend for this.

She will bend and bend until she breaks for so many things but not for this. For this, she will be stone or she will shatter.

“You’re not supposed to be mean,” she says firmly, honestly. “If you keep looking down on everyone, you’re only going to be sad and angry and alone. If you can’t see that, you’re not gonna get better and you won’t grow.”

He looks like she slapped him. Stricken and utterly still and furious but she doesn't care.

She’s not weak. Power is an old friend of hers and the world will shake beneath her feet. Izumi will grow up and she will be mighty.

Not even her precious Kacchan can tell her she can’t.

***

It was that moment, she thinks, that truly changed his path. Her inability to let him ruin himself for the sake of his pride.

If she was kinder, less selfish perhaps, she might have let him grow into it himself. Let him make mistakes and learn from them and lean on others for those life lessons.

But she is not and she didn’t. Instead, she shoved him into lessons he was not meant to learn yet for years to come. Instead, she robbed him of his growth and cheapened it because she could not live with him hating her. Because she couldn’t bear to live in a world where he thought her small.

She only hopes that when he realizes what she did, he doesn’t hate her for it.

***

Katsuki knows there’s something strange about his best friend. He’d have to be blind, deaf and fucking moronic to not have noticed.

But, well. Weird shit happens all the time in this town. People do weird shit all the time in this town.

Spirit traps hang from every eve. The crows are smarter here than anywhere else. No one walks through the crossroads at the center of town. People carry salt in their pockets and iron jewellery on their wrists. Half the deaths in town are unexplained.

Something’s weird with his best friend, but then, he thinks, something’s weird with everyone.

He gets used to what he can and pointedly ignores the rest. It’s whatever. It’s not like it really affects him .

Until it does.

***

Katsuki starts seeing things from the corners of his eyes.

Shadows that move and pockets of air that shimmer like hot asphalt. Things that aren’t really there and faces that terrify him even when he can’t remember why. Voices just at the edge of his hearing and feelings he can’t explain.

A bunch of weird things that don’t mean anything and definitely don’t make him jumpy or paranoid.

So what if he starts keeping a dreamcatcher above his bed or good luck charms in his pockets? Or if he starts flicking his bedroom light on and off three times before actually turning it off at night?

That no one’s business but his own. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t really know why he does it. He doesn't need to explain himself to anyone.

It’s nothing.

At least, until he has to stop looking at Izu head-on because when he does, he gets so dizzy he wants to vomit. Or when there’s suddenly three times as many people in town with familiar green hair that make his vision swim just to look at, and weird, overly large foxes running at the edge of the forest.

***

There’s a door in his house that wasn’t there that morning.

It’s in one of the basement hallways, tucked away in a corner and when Katsuki stares at it, it gives him the same ‘headache behind the eyes’ feeling as all the new broccoli-tops running around town.

A normal person would be unnerved and confused by all the fuckery going on. This has horror movie written all over it, with Katsuki starring front and center to get demonically possessed.

Katsuki glares at the door before barging his way through it without fanfare.

Being unnerved is for losers who never get shit done and any two-bit demon that thinks they can control him will be in for one hell of a surprise. Namely, his fist up whatever the equivalent of their ass is.

***

The door opens up into a stairway that leads to a secret second basement containing a library filled with books and the weirdest shit Katsuki has ever seen in his life.

He plucks a book from the shelf at random, opens to a page in the middle and skims over the overly fancy handwriting.

His blood freezes at what he reads.

***

At eleven years old, Katsuki is filled to bursting with energy and jittering nerves like something in his gut was building and building and building and-

There are things hidden in shadows and the darkness, things with teeth and too many eyes and rules he doesn’t understand but should because they’re all so familiar, why does he-?

There’s a library under his house filled with things that shouldn’t exist and knowledge that belongs in folktales and fantasy books but Katsuki knows it’s true because something in his mind has clicked into place like it was always meant to and suddenly he can see-

He sits at a table surrounded by books and Katsuki reads and learns and his thoughts spin faster and faster and confusion fades to a muted sort of horror and understanding. He feels bile rise in his throat because, oh kami, he didn’t- this wasn’t- he doesn't want to know-

At eleven years old, Katsuki learns about the supernatural and yōkai and all that hides behind the veil and he grows sick because he’s not stupid. He can see now and the books before him are filled with insane things but they’re all real. His best friend is yōkai, is a fox.

And Katsuki’s family has spent generations hunting them.

***

“I think Kacchan’s avoiding me.”

Yagi blinks at her through the screen. “Hello to you too, my dear.”

“Sorry, yes. Hi, Yagi! I miss you lots,” she babbles quickly before going back to the problem at hand. “Kacchan’s avoiding me and I don’t know why.”

Yagi hums thoughtfully even as his mouth twitches with amusement. “Are you sure that’s what he’s doing? Hiding doesn't sound like the Young Bakugou.”

“It’s not hiding,” she defends on instinct, then bites the end of her thumb. “But I don’t know what else it would be. He’s acting… acting a lot like he did when we were first friends. How he only interacted with me when he had to.”

“Now that definitely doesn’t sound like Young Bakugou,” Yagi half-heartedly teases, starting to look worried on behalf of Izumi. “Have you, perhaps, spoken to him about it?”

Izumi gives him a look like he’s just told her he thinks the sky is orange.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“You don’t just spring emotional conversations on Kacchan, Yagi,” she says, looking almost scandalized. “He’ll get hives or something.”

Yagi, for his part, only covers his mouth with his hand instead of slamming his face into the desk or bursting into laughter at her misery. That’s what Aoi did when Izumi asked her for advice, the unhelpful jerk.

“If that’s so, then I’m sure you just need to give him time. He’ll come to you when he’s ready.”

It’s not the advice Izumi wanted to hear because she’d already figured that and she’s far from a patient person. But, she also knows he’s right.

“Yeah, maybe,” she sighs unhappily. Then, she plants her elbows on the table. “So how’s work going? Are your coworkers teasing you again?”

Yagi pulls a face like he’s trying to be long-suffering but it hits too close to amused and fond. “They always are, my girl. Always.”

***

If she didn’t know any better, she’d think Kacchan was just waiting for her to get anxious enough to blab to Yagi before he put her out of her misery. It’s a reliable way to gauge how big of a problem she thinks something is, seeing as she doesn’t like adding more things to Yagi’s already overflowing plate.

It was almost anti-climactic considering all the horrible things Izumi had been imagining. But, in her defense, it was her and Kacchan. Neither of them ever did anything by halves.

He corners her after school and pulls her down one of the hallways no one goes down. She’s so relieved that he’s actually looking at her and not pretending she doesn’t exist that she doesn’t even care when he crams her between him and the corner where the end of the lockers meet the wall, effectively boxing her in.

Her mouth is already halfway around a question, ready to start speaking at a thousand miles an hour without giving him a chance, but he beats her to it.

“I know.”

Her mouth snaps shut in her confusion. Her head tilts. “Know what?”

His eyes are boring into hers, the first time he’s looked her in the eye in… she doesn't even know. A month? It was before he started avoiding her entirely at least.

She watches as slowly, purposefully, his eyes flick to the top of her head.

She’s still confused. Is there something wrong with her hair? Her ears flick in impatience, waiting for him to just tell her-

His eyes follow the movement.

Her ears stand straight up, panic coursing through her and his eyes follow that too. He can see.

He can see.

“You’re a fox,” he says and it’s not a question. “A Shual Nephesh, right?”

Behind her eyes, her mind spins and whirls like a hurricane. Moving so much faster than everyone around her, a mess of plans and paths and actions laid before her like a prophecy of her own choosing.

She stares into his eyes, into glittering pools of blood, and sees the nervousness hidden there behind the arrogance and bluster. She sees the wariness and the confusion. But no fear. No hatred.

Izumi takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, and makes a decision.

“We need to talk to Nona.”

***

Everyone’s surprisingly calm about Katsuki being in the know.

Most of the adults give her an almost disappointedly exasperated look before she explains he has the Sight which is what gave them away. Which… rude. Sure, she’s been wanting to tell Kacchan for years but that doesn’t mean she would. Not when Nona gave a direct order.

She can get away with a lot but not even she would test such a boundary. Though, by the looks, she’s almost sure she could’ve. Interesting. A thought for later.

They almost get through it all without a major incident.

That is, until Kacchan opens his mouth and drops a bigger bomb than him being the first person in a hundred years to figure them out.

“There’s something else you should know.” He’s shuffling his feet next to her and if Izumi didn’t know any better she’d think he’s worried. But about what?

Her Nona raises her brow at him. “And that is?”

“My Mom’s maiden name was Takanashi.”

Oh.

Yeah. That’ll do it.

***

They try to make her leave the room.

Izumi snorts and latches onto Kacchan's arm, staunchly refusing to let go. You don’t spend almost four years as Bakugou Kastuki’s best friend without picking up at least a few of his brattier habits. Such as his problem with doing things he doesn’t want to.

Izumi knows what hunters are, knows to be wary of them the same way all yōkai are. She knows who the Takanashi Clan are too, knows they’re the reason her skulk is hidden away on their own land even if no one will tell her why or what they did.

Learning that Katsuki, her best friend, is a Takanashi? A descendant of the same people who cursed her skulk? Her born enemy?

Well.

Izumi’s not quite as upset as she supposes she should be.

It’s just that, it’s still Kacchan isn’t it? The same boy they’ve all know for years? Nothing’s really changed. He can’t help the family he was born into and it’s not like he’s ever threatened them or was even likely to do so.

She doesn’t understand why everyone’s throwing a fit.

After a long five minutes of people yelling and being unnecessarily dramatic—distantly, Izumi wonders if this is how her classmates feel around her and Kacchan—she decides enough is enough.

She shares a look with Aoi, one of the few people not making a big deal out of this, along with her mother and Nana Naoki. Aoi understands what she needs without speaking.

A sharp whistle pierces the air. Loud and shrill enough to make even the humans wince in pain.

It’s quiet almost immediately, and Izumi grins even as the adults glare at them.

This is why Aoi is her favourite.

“Thank you,” she smiles, then turns back to Kacchan, patting his forearm. “You can keep talking now.”

***

Everyone’s staring at him.

Adults who are older than they look and far more powerful all have their attention on him.

Nona—Midoriya Asuka, the Matriarch��is standing before him, perfectly poised with all five of her tails fanned out behind her. She doesn’t look older than forty even though he knows she has to be more than two hundred. Her silver eyes bore into him and he’s almost positive she’s exactly what Izu will look like in however many years. Powerful aura and all.

He can taste ozone in the air and knows that it won’t matter that he’s known most of these people for years. It won’t matter that he and Izu are practically inseparable or that Inko is as much his mom as she is Izu’s and vice versa with his own parents.

One wrong move and he doesn’t think he’ll leave this room.

He can’t even say he’d blame them. He doesn’t know exactly what his family did to them, but he knows it wasn’t good. Knows it forced them into hiding. Them, Shaalim Nephashoth. These great, powerful beings who should be neatly sat at the top of the yōkai food chain, just under the Kami Themselves and Nephilim.

So, Katsuki does what he always does when faced with a challenge. Raises his chin and charges forward. Failure isn’t an option and Katsuki sneers at the very idea.

He needs them to trust him which means he needs to prove he can be trusted.

There’s a reason he spent so long holed up in that damned library, paging through books that made him queasy to look at. He had to get this right.

He locks eyes with the Midoriya Matriarch and speaks, clear and with as much authority as he, a boy still a few months from twelve years, can muster.

“I, Bakugou Katsuki, renounce my ties to the Takanashi Clan by witness of the earth, moon and stars. The grudges of my ancestors are not my own and no secrets held by the Midoriya Skulk will pass my lips.” His hands flex at his sides and he takes a deep breath. “I walk this path with you, not against you. I swear it.”

He can feel the metal and magic curling it’s way around his wrist, so similar to the one he can now see on Izu's. He doesn’t look at it, too busy holding the Matriarch’s gaze and awaiting her judgement.

It’s tense for a few long seconds and the smell of ozone grows almost overwhelming. He doesn’t dare to even breathe.

And then… she blinks. Her eyes are a warm green rather than gunmetal silver and something like approval rests there.

“Very well. Your oath is accepted, young Seer. I, and that of my skulk, hold no ill will toward you.”

His breath wooshes out of him and he thinks he hears laughter at the edges of the room.

Nona—because that’s who she is again, not the Matriarch—turns her head towards Izu behind him. “You’ve chosen a good one.”

Izu latches onto his arm and Auntie Inko comes up on his other side to thread her fingers through his hair.

“I know,” she says proudly.

***

It falls to Izumi to explain everything, even though it probably shouldn’t have.

Katsuki, unsurprisingly, came in with a good chunk of knowledge. For all that he’s an easily lit fuse, he’s not one to disregard an advantage. And for this situation? Knowledge was the only one he had.

Izumi kindly but firmly corrects any of the stereotypes or misconceptions his source material gave him, which was surprisingly few. The Takanashi’s bestiary was unexpectedly unbiased, it seemed.

Katsuki still looks a bit shaken from having his entire worldview turned upside down and exhausted by all the things he’s learned, so they call Mitsuki and Masaru and tell him he’s going to stay the night. It’s a bit odd, because Katsuki has never set foot in her house before, much less spent the night, but the magic settled around them means that the Bakugous don’t question it. Izumi’s spent more than enough nights at their house, so as far as they're concerned, this is normal.

It isn’t, but they aren’t going to tell them that.

Her and Kacchan build a pillow fort in the middle of her room. Kacchan starfishes out, taking up as much space as possible while Izumi curls tightly into a ball and tucks herself up against the crook of his flung out arm.

“I was pissed, you know,” he says into the darkness, apropos of nothing. It’s still dark outside and they’d be getting up for breakfast soon if they had ever gone to bed in the first place. “Absolutely furious that you kept something this big from me. I thought you- I figured that you were so damn powerful and that you’ve just spent the last four years laughing at me.”

Izumi jolts, lifting her head to stare at him in a mixture of surprise and horror. “Kacchan, I would never-”

“I know,” he cuts her off. “I know. It took me reading two more pages to figure that out. That you weren’t hiding because it was fun.”

“I wanted to tell you,” she insists and it’s true. She hated lying to Kacchan. It was just so fundamentally wrong to lie to him. But this wasn’t like with her name. This wasn’t a secret she could just do with as she wished. It affected more than just herself and she couldn’t risk her skulk the same way she’s willing to risk herself.

She doesn’t really know how to tell him that though.

“I’m still angry, and- and I hate that you could keep a secret this big from me but I… I don’t hate you.”

Izumi nods, because that’s fair.

“I’ll make it up to you,” she promises.

He snorts, knocking the back of his fist against her forehead. “Damn well better, loser. I expect you to be waiting on me hand and foot for the next month.”

She grabs his wrist, because he’s always so fussy about his hands and the dangers associated thereof, and draws designs into it with the tip of her fingers, just under his binding.

Kacchan harrumphs but doesn't pull away and she has to smother her smile. “Of course, O Great King Bakugou,” she teases. “I am but your loyal servant.”

“Good,” he says haughtily and she doesn't have to look at him to hear the smirk in his voice. “My first order will be that you have to clean my room for me tomorrow.” He pauses. “Also, never call me ‘Bakugou’ ever again. That shit’s weird.”

Izumi gasps. “I knew you liked the nickname!”

“Eat shit and die.”

It’s not a denial and Izumi can't stop herself from chirping happily. Even when it prompts him into trying to smother her with a pillow.

***

Katsuki’s gotten good at interpreting Izumi’s moods over the years.

She’s an open book—unlike him—and you’d think that would mean it’s easy to tell what she’s feeling but you would, of course, be wrong.

Sure she expresses herself freely and rarely tries to hide her emotions from anyone, but that means jack shit when half of them just get expressed as ‘start crying immediately’ anyway.

The amount of rage and frustration that first year had been, trying to understand her outbursts and anticipate them… Katsuki still winces at some of the following fights.

But the thing about Izu having a tail and ears, about him being able to see them now? It’s that it makes his job about two hundred percent easier. After a brief adjustment period where he has to relearn all her non-verbal signals with the inclusions of ears and a tail, he settles himself neatly at the top of the list of people who can read her like a book. Higher than, perhaps, even Auntie Inko.

It’s a surprisingly comforting thought. Especially since she’s been able to see through him for years now.

Turnabout's fair play and all that.

***

It’s two days later when Izumi sticks her head in through Kacchan’s window. It’s seven in the morning and they don’t have school today. She expects him to still be in bed but instead, he’s hunched over his desk doing ninth-grade level math they weren’t even assigned.

And he calls her the nerd.

“Hey, Kacchan!” she says brightly, grabbing his attention.

He whirls around, palms already sparking dangerously before he sees her at the window.

“Jesus fuck,” he snaps, glare chilling enough to curdle milk. “I’m gonna kill you.”

Izumi pouts at him, laying her chin on his window sill. “Aww. Kacchan that’s not nice.”

“I don’t give a damn.” He slouches back into his desk chair. Then, slowly he narrows his eyes at her, and by proxy, the window she’s leaning through. “How the fuck are you doing that?”

“What do you mean?” she asks, faux innocence.

The look he gives her is ten kinds of unamused. “I live on the second floor.”

“Yeah, so?” Izumi can practically see the steam slowly building in his ears. Smiling, she hoists herself up over the ledge with ease and front flips into the room, arms raised as she sticks the landing.

Kacchan kicks at her legs.

“I hate you,” he says to her form as she sprawls comfortably on the bed.

“Mhmm,” she hums dryly. “Nona sent me over to take inventory of your reliquary. I’m supposed to take whatever’s interesting and burn anything overly insulting.”

He raises an eyebrow at her, challenging.

“They figured I’d be the least conspicuous,” she pauses, pulling a face. “I’m also pretty sure it’s a test of some kind, but I’m not sure what about or why.”

Her only answer is a grunt.

“Now, come on and get dressed! We’ve got work to do.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he snaps but turns around to grab jeans and a black t-shirt with the word ‘SMASH!’ written in red, white, and blue inside a comic book explosion. Idly, she thinks she could probably get that signed for him.

Five minutes later, Izumi descends the stairs with Kacchan in tow to eat breakfast. She tells the Bakugous good morning as she sits at the counter and they regard her with something like amused exasperation. Mitsuki offers to make her scrambled eggs instead of asking how she got into their house without their knowing.

Raising Katsuki taught them when to pick their battles. Meeting little Izumi, who’s as crafty as she is sweet, only served to cement that lesson.

***

The second she steps into the reliquary, her nose wrinkles. Not just at the number of books she’s going to have to sort through—because seriously, were the Takanashis’ some kind of hoarders?—but also at the more… distasteful decorations.

Along the walls and placed on any open space are what Izumi can only assume are meant to be trophies.

Pixie wings pinned carefully onto boards, hollowed horns of more creatures than she can recognize, wings and teeth and claws laid out like cheap prizes. Selkie skins, harpy feathers, swan maiden coats, and wolf fur. Pelts of every color and kind are strung up like tapestries or thrown on the floor like rugs.

Izumi actually hisses when she catches sight of a honey gold foxtail placed in a display case.

There’s more, so much more, but she shuts her eyes and tries to breathe past the smell of death and rot and twisted, hungry magic blanketing the whole room.

She can feel Kacchan frowning at her, hears him shuffle a half step closer to her in an attempt at comfort. “Shoulda warned ya,” he says and it’s about as close to sorry as he gets.

“It’s fine,” she says. “When will your parents be gone?”

There’s a lot in here they need to get out and all of it are things his parents can’t see. Cursed objects in inadequate containers and more remains then she can count that deserve to be put to rest properly.

Kami, her skulk’s going to want to raise the Takanashis from their shallow graves just to kill them all over again when they see this.

“They’re going on a date tonight, actually. They’ll be gone for a couple hours.”

She nods and pulls out her phone to call the house and tell them. This was her job, and she’ll go through the books, but there’s no way she’s touching half the stuff in here without an expert telling her she can. She’s surprised the house hasn’t collapsed with how much malicious magic she can feel in here.

“What books did you already go through? We’ll sort those ones first.”

***

They spend hours down there, skimming through tomes and sorting them into ‘ acceptable’, ‘needs a more thorough read-through’, and ‘ just fucking burn it’ piles.

Nona, along with six of Izumi’s grandparents, arrive ten minutes after the Bakugous leave and their reaction to the reliquary is pretty spot on of what she expected. Which is as gratifying as it is mildly terrifying because she doesn’t think she’s ever seen her family so furious before.

Izumi and Katsuki, sometimes with the assistance of actual adults who should be doing this in the first place, make their way through all the books in about a week and a half. She’s actually kind of impressed with the amount that proved not to be total wastes of time.

She’s also, perhaps, a little bit surprised when she doesn’t catch anyone going back through the books and checking her work. No one questions her judgement.

Izumi isn’t sure what to make of that.

***

“So, is that why you and your family are so fucking weird?”

Izumi pauses, looking up from the collection of Edgar Allen Poe she was reading to stare at Kacchan who’s made himself more than comfortable on her bean bag chair. She tries to figure out what he’s trying to ask her but ultimately gives up.

“Huh?”

“Foxes,” he says like she’s stupid for not being capable of mindreading. “Are they all so fucking weird or is it just you guys?”

Izumi’s lips twist. “Most of the skulk are human.”

Kacchan rolls his eyes, flopping back against all the pillows he stole from her bed to make his throne. “Of course you are. I don’t know why I even tried.”

***

Yagi: Midoriya, my dear!

I’ve discovered a very interesting fact I think you’d enjoy

Me: oh?

what is it?

Yagi: Did you know french fries weren’t originally made in France?

Me: uh…

i guess ive never thought about it?

where were they invented?

Yagi: They were first cooked in GREECE!

Me: …

Yagi no

Yagi: HAHAHA!

Me: you have the lamest sense of humor

im going to tell everyone about your crime against jokes

Yagi: And I’m sure they will find it equally humorous!

Me: youre lucky i like you

Yagi: Of course my dear.

Me: b/c your puns are horrible

im half convinced you only helped me learn english so you can subject me to this

Yagi: That’s not very nice.

And I would NEVER

Me: mhmmm

are we still on for the skype call in an hour?

Yagi: I wouldn’t miss it.

Me: are you finally gonna tell me what the surprise is?

Yagi: Patience is a virtue, young Izumi.

Me: and sloth is a sin

come on! i’m super excited!

you’ve been hinting at it for like,,,, a week

Yagi: Quick-witted as always. Yes. I will be revealing my surprise finally.

Me: yay! :)

see you then!

Yagi: See you then, my dear.

#bnha #my typewriter #wlcm #midoriya izuku #katsuki bakugou #dad might #all might #toshinori yagi

13 notes · View notes

lonesomedreamereccentriclover · 4 years

Photo

This past decade(s) there have been few great horror movies. Lost in uninspired sequels/prequels and few original storytelling and mostly based on cheap jump scares instead of truly scary moments told in actual pictures, the modern horror movie seems to struggle with delievering horrifying sequenses and being, yeah well, truly scary.

Sure, there have been some great exceptions, like “The Witch”, “The Babadook”, Ari Aster’s first two full feature films “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” - but all in all they are just a few bad (as in really good) seeds midst all rotten fruits.

During the 2014 edition of Cannes Film Festival in France a director named David Robert Mitchell broke out with his truly original and horrifying “It Follows” and it was immediately praised for its original take on STD’s and stunning visuals even if shot on relatively low budget.

The film starts out in the suburbs on a calm evening, only a mother is out packing out her car of groceries, when suddenly a young lady is storming out in panic. The mom on the other side of the street packing out her car asks if everything is alright, and the young lady answeres “yes” but we can clearly see that’s a lie. But we really don’t have a clue what is going on. Not yet anyway.

The girl is running back to her house, now with her father worried sick, but only to get her (fathers) car keyes. She drives off and it now seems that she is being hunted by someone. Or something.

youtube

Ending up on a beach, a place for the youth to relax and enjoy one another (in one form or another), the young lady seems to feel safe - for the moment. But by the arrival of the morning she’s no longer alive. As so often in horror movies the first character(s) we meet is not the protagonist nor the heroine, but an establishment of how great of a threat someone - or by the state of the properly tufted young lady rather SOMETHING (more than a human)!

Shortly thereafter we meet another young lady. She, Jay, is much clearly “in focus” as we got to spend time with her in her room dressing up for a date. Just as her, the audience believes the date is something special - and as they meet up outside a cinema (that is showing Charade with Audrey Hepburn) it really seems so. They play a game, that first seems very sweet and innocent. They pick a person around them who they would like to switch lifes with. The guy starts, and as they bought tickets and have entered the lobby and without Jay guessing right about who he (her date, that she by the time think is “Hugh”) has choosen he reveals that he would like to change place with a little kid. They joke around that he can then poop himself anytime he wants, but when he later gets killed by the entity it has taken the form of his mother - that probably took advantage of him sexualy when he was younger - and just wants a normal family to be taken care of. But now I’m getting ahead of myself. Lets wind back!

In the movie theater, waiting for the film to start, Jay now take her turn in the game and chooses someone she would switch with. She does so pretty quickly and when he tries to guess who she have choosen he takes a wild guess at a girl in yellow dress. Which confuses her just as much as the audience - since such a girl is nowhere to be seen in the saloon. That freaks him out, but not for the obiously reason we might first think. They rush out of the saloon and he excuses himself with the need for air - and maybe some coffee.

If we “look” at the the girl only “Hugh” can see we are only given very little information. She cannot be seen by others than “Hugh” and 2). she wears a yellow dress. It sounds cheerful, pretty and warm, but in color analysis yellow also have negative associations. According to this site yellow also stands for cowardice, sensationalism and mental illness. Does that means that he is “seeing her” only in his mental state? It could appear so, but shortly after they have sex he then drugs her. Which is confusing, because he doesn¨t have to drug her to have sex with her - which the situationen otherwise suggest - and that the director really “playfully” uses to create confusion and uncertainty.

When she wakes up again she is constrained to a wheelchair. The situation is just as bad for her as for the viewer. Has he taken her there to kill her? It could appear so but soon he calms her down with the assurance that he hasn’t taken her there to harm her. But why? A person is walking towards them and he explains that now that he has “passed it on” by having sex (hence the interpretation that the film is about STD’s) and that she under no circumstances let those persons walking towards her touch her. Which might be confusing and scary for Jay, but the viewer now get the connection to the girl in the beginning. That is dramaturgically called an catalyst (or: plantation), where a person or happening is introduced but only to give the story bigger meaning later on.

Jay is dropped of outside her house, and then “Hugh” dissapears. Which could be seen as a comment on modern “dating” where a guy (or girl in some cases) dumps the “victim” right after having sex. We live in a society where we throw away stuff way to easily and that seems to have been taken on even socially.

From the porch, Jay friends and one sister Kelly, sees everything and rushes to her to make sure everything is alright. But it isn’t (obviously). So they call the cops. But as the sex was consensual and he didn’t really hurt her, and his identity seems scetchy they can’t really do anything. But he will play a part and has not yet been played out in the story. We just don’t know how yet.

The next day, when Jay is in school, she is approached by an old lady. She don’t recognize her, but was told to watch out for shady people walking slowly towards her - even if “It” is taking the form of a stranger or a more familiar person to get close to its victim. And if we now presses paus and goes back a bit to “Hugh” and his lady in yellow dress. WIth this new information we understand that she was “it” trying to get close to him. And with the older information about yellow being a “color of cowardness” we can now “read” that the “it” also can take the form of the fear and guilt of the victim. He feeling bad for taking advantage of her, simply put to get laid but in the context of the story to “pass it on” and no longer being the first target in line. We also learn that it’s only the first (latest) person in line to be haunted by “it”. Which only cements Jay’s role as the protagnoist - who ALWAYS should grow and evolve through the story (wheter it might be an childrens story, a book in general, a video game or in this case a movie) towards the morality of the story.

So, what might the morality of the story be then? Maybe the answere is in the way “It” approaches its victims - by assuming familiar characters thats also seems to hold some personal trauma to them. By running away from the fear and hide away and hopes the problem just dissapears, people die. Maybe it’s traying to say to us: don’t walk away from your fears, or trauma, but try to meet them and work against them so you by time can move on from them without taking to much psychological harm in the long run.

One of her friends is Paul (played by Kier Gilchrist that some years later would get a wider brakethrough in the Netflix-show Atypical where he plays a young man with Asperger syndrome) who seems to have a more than friendly history with Jay (played by Maika Monroe) which is made clear throughout the storyline as he tries to “get in her pants” but with his logic only to be “heroic” by letting her “pass It on to him” and thereby getting her out of the haircross of “It”.

But Paul is not her first choice. Maybe she doesn’t like him back, but probably beacuse she doesn’t want to put her friend in danger. The “lucky one” is instead a neigbhour with a car and a tough appearance. He helps her get to places and after an accident he sleeps with her - with the same motive as Paul, or at least he says so. Appearently, he doesn’t really believes in her “crazy theories” (since he doesn’t have all the information the other characters, and we as viewers, have) but just wanted to have sex. Which is going to punish him. But why? Because of the souless sex? Or because he doesn’t take the problem, the fear, seriously and tries to really solve it but instead live on with his life as nothing have happened? Probably both! Lying to get what you want is not very nice.

As she can see to the neighbour’s house across the street from her own window, she can see when a stranger (everyone who “has it” can see them walk around, but not anyone else) aproaches his house and throws a stone through the kitchen window - that also happened to her the evening after she “got it” - so now David (who both directed and wrote the film) plays with something that is called repetition - simply because something is happening more than once to improve the dramaturgelly effect, and the second time around escalate evertything - in this case by making “It” visible, and something Jay now can take action against. The first time, when it happened to herself, she only heard the noice of a window getting crashed (or, it was Paul sleeping on her cauch who heard it and then alarms her). This is very effective since Jay sees the intrusion as it happens and she now have a moral obligation (as the protagonist also always should be a moral compass for the viewer and always act “right” to not alienate the viewer to much) to help him. Which she’s really tries to do. But as “It” takes the form of his mother, probably by confronting him in form of someone familiar but also with a boob hanging out so maybe tries to comfort him by breastfeeding, who now is banging on his door - and as he opens she jumps him and his storyline is now literally over.

An interesting detail that is established early on in the story is that one of Jay’s friends - Yara (played by Olivia Luccardi) - is reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky on her “e-reader” and as she later on is hurt badly and put in hospital she use the text to “use it” on her friends and their situation. Especially Jay is reflected by it:

As she understands that she can no longer run from “It” but have to confront it (her fears, that seems to be related to giving birth as she sees “It” as a burned out woman who’s water just broke... and later as a very scary child that almost looks more like something of a monster in a video game) and no longer just run away frorm “It”. So they go to a swimming pool to set a trap for “It” and it finally seems that the gang has the upper hand in all this. A well telled story “always” make us feel like its all hopeless but then let a ray of light shine through!

As they are going, “It” now appears on the rooftopp in form of a naked man. As Jay drives out of the garage and out on the road, she gasps as she sees the man on the roof. Because he is naked? Maybe partly, but mostly because “It” probably have taken the form of her father - who have never been seen in the film, so he’s probably “out of the picture”, maybe because he was molesting her as a child and have been kicked out - or maybe, even better, put in prison for it.

As they set the traps around the pool they still feel they have the upper hand in the situation. But as Jay puts on her bathing suit and goes into the pool, some beautiful shots of her under water (and the reflection of her body on the surface) suggest that she no longer have a personal face and have lost herself to “It”. This goes hand in hand with the paragraph from The Idiot that Yara later reads to Jay in the hospital. The struggle and personal questioning gives her... if you all excuse my choice of words... depth.

As the final confrontation takes place nothing goes according to plan. All their planning and preparations is wasted in a blink of an eye. But as everyone who tackles with their personal problems in life realises that you can never plan your life to full - because so much other stuff is going to happen that you possibly can’t take into calculation, but rather have to be adaptive and improvise to overcome all obstacles - our group doesn’t give up but reorganizes and finally overcomes all problems. Together. Hiding all alone and trying to solve her problems all by herself wouldn’t help much but rather end in her death.

As Jay and Paul “find each other” (see: the gif where their hands toches) earlier on, they “finally have sex” but since it’s just for helping her, and he probably feels that she doesn’t really want, he doesn’t feel like it was so great that he hoped it would be. But as he stood by her all the time, and had more romantic intentions with her all along, they end up together. At least in a way. And as they walk down a road in the end, and we see a person walking behind them, we are suggested that they never fully killed “It” and that it’s still after them. Which probably both is a play with the expectations that horror movies ends with an “open road” to an sequel - but also tells us that even if we start to tackle our problems, trauma, with for exemple therapy, our ghosts will never really leave us alone. But that it’s getting easier by time, especially with someone on your side. Linou have studied film production for a year in Stockholm, and are now studying screenwriting in a program of three years (180hp) in Dalarna. This is what he came up with after re-watching the film and read “Hansel and Gretel” with his class and the teacher breaking down all terms for us.

8 notes · View notes

trashinaglass-archive · 5 years

Text

Accidents Happen

Y/n makes up stories for her injury and Tom clears up the confusion

Request: Okay so I have a story request because I just did this exact thing only I can hide at home until it heals Tom x actress! Reader where reader drops her phone and breaks her nose/gets a really bad black eye just days before doing a panel at a con and claims it happened in the gym/in a fight/every time it sounds more badass until Tom tells the real story

A/n: A legend😂😂 I can’t lie, I’m so injury prone. I have a popsocket for this exact reason. Otherwise this is something I’d totally do too, including making up a million stories of how it happened.

You and Tom were enjoying a lazy day off in bed, scrolling through Instagram and twitter and laughing at different memes. Lying on your back with your phone held directly over your face, you were laughing at a certain post. Your laughter soon turned into a shriek of shock as your phone fell from your hand, landing on the bridge of your nose.

Your hand quickly moved to where you felt the pain. It surprisingly hurt a lot. “Are you okay?” Tom asked. He started to laugh but it soon faded as he saw blood seeping from under your fingers. “Oh shit, babe.” He pulled you to sit up, moving your hand to look at your nose.

“Get me a tissue or something,” you requested, not wanting to get blood on the bedding. Tom reaches behind you and grabbed a random cloth that was lying around. He held it to your face to clean the blood off, looking at it closely.

“I think you need stitches,” he told you, pressing the cloth to your face with slight pressure.

“Of course it does,” you muttered. “Because I can’t just get a bruise like a normal person that drops their phone on their face.” Tom shook his head- it was true. You were the lucky one that gets hurt in the dumbest ways possible.

“Come on, let’s go get this checked out.”

You spent longer than you wanted in the hospital, but Tom was right. Four stitches going down your nose as well as a small fracture to one of your nasal bones, a bruise blooming over the entirety of it. It was crazy to think this all happened because your phone fell from your hands.

“No,” you said, stopping your feet as you approached the door of the flat. Tom turned to look at you with confusion covering his face. “I have do appearances at the con tomorrow.”

Tom couldn’t hold in his laughter at your sudden realization. “How do plan to explain that?”

You thought for a second before regaining your composure. “No one needs to know what happened. It’s fine.” You walked past Tom and opened the door to walk into the apartment.

“What do you mean ‘no one needs to know’? You can’t hide that,” Tom questioned you. “They said you can’t put makeup over it so what do you think you’re going to do?”

“Don’t underestimate what I’m capable of,” you told him with a wink before leaving him by himself in the family room.

. . .

You spent all day at the con. It was so much fun. As you expected, your nose was brought up in every single interview. You had fun with it though, giving them the answers they wanted instead of the true answer.

You loved getting to make up funny stories to cover the true embarrassing story. You finished all your appearances for the day and decided to make your way to the hall where Tom’s last appearance was being held, standing in the backstage area beside some security guards.

“So, Tom. We wanted to ask you- we sat down with your girlfriend, y/n, and her cast mates earlier, and I noticed her nose was injured,” the interviewer brought up.

“Yeah, she broke it and has, I think, three or four stitches,” Tom confirmed.

“Do you know what she’s been claiming to have happened?”

“No,” he said, his eyes widened as he anticipating a funny story.

The interviewer let out a small laugh, thinking back to the stories you’d told. “Well the first one she shared-“

“Oh so there’s multiple?” Tom interrupted with a chuckle.

“Yes. She said that you were trying to teach her how to do a backflip and that you dropped her.” Tom scoffed at the accusation. “I thought she was telling the truth because it sounds plausible, but then the next interview she said Thanos was in her backyard and she ‘handled it’. Others were that she was in a bar fight, she dropped a barbell while working out, and that she fought a bear.”

“Damn, I don’t want to spend time with her if that’s what she gets up to,” Jake joked.

“Yeah, she’s crazy,” Tom said, still laughing at your made up stories.

“Can you tell us what really happened?”

“She was laying in bed holding her phone over her face and just dropped the phone,” Tom explained. The entire room burst into laughter at the story. “It wasn’t anything crazy, I swear.” You smiled as you watched the interviewer and Tom continue to talk about you and your clumsiness before moving on. It wasn’t long until the panel was over, Tom finding you immediately.

“You did not have to expose me like that,” you giggled.

“I did if you’re telling people I dropped you on your face,” he defended himself.

“That’s okay. I really just wanted to be funny about it.”

. . .

Three days later you were looking at your Instagram feed. You saw a lot of videos about your different stories. Tom had sent you one of an edit that said ‘expectations vs reality’ with your different stories next to Tom explaining the real story.

Maybe I should do stupid shit like this more often😂

Thomas❤️: Just don’t make me the one that has to take you to the hospital every week

But then who’s going to be there to laugh at me. That’s the most important part, bubba.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland one shot #tom holland blurb #tom holland x reader

249 notes · View notes

imnotcameraready · 5 years

Text

chivalry is dead (19 [INTERMISSION 2])

A/N: cut to me rubbing my little fly hands together — i am SO excited to get this ball started that i’m literally boutta post 2 chapters, so bear with me here ,., also, posting them now because i’ve gotta go to work at around 11 and then dont wanna do posting/edits at like, midnight lmao

bc that’s when im just gonna. keep writing., im so excited for this arc y’all im literally shaking

WARNINGS: massive descriptions of disassociation, being lightheaded, mentions of being dehydrated, mentions of not eating, threats of being pushed down the stairs, bandage mention ig? — i think that's all on this one!!!

Words: 1181

AO3 link!

MASTERPOST! <– look here!! for the longterm warnings!! including sympathetic Deceit and cursing/swearing!

enjoy !!! <3 <3 <3 <3

“You’re in my world now, not your world~”

“Why are there so many stairs?”

“And I’ve got foes on the other side~”

“Wait, that’s not the lyric.”

“Sit down at my table~”

“.....Fine.”

“Put your mind at ease~”

“I put a spell on you~”

A small, tired laugh. “If you relax, it will enable me to do….”

“And now you’re mine~!”

“...Anything I please. I can read your future~”

“Be prepa-ared!”

“I can change it ‘round some, too~”

“Trust in me~”

More laughter. “Ironic.”

“Fuck off or I’ll drop you down the stairs. You started it!”

“I know, I know. It’s all almost done. I only hope Thomas is-I hope he’s okay.”

“Eh, who gives? He’ll be fine soon enough, don’t worry your bandages off. Come on, your gown is waiting.”

Thomas flicked his feet left and right, watching the television while paying absolutely zero attention while laying on the couch upside down. After failing to summon the Sides that morning, he’d gone to watch television, and found himself rewatching The Office again in a semi-binge state. It’d take a solid four days to watch it all but it wasn’t like Thomas had the motivation or drive to do anything else, despite the looming deadline on the new video’s script.

On any other day, he’d be able to hear Virgil screaming at him, Roman rushing around with ideas, butting heads with Logan over rewrites and edits. Patton’d pop in with some supportive words and an offer to make dinner sometimes.

But now? Now he wasn’t getting anything. It was as though all of his sides had clocked out at once — even Deceit and Remus weren’t delivering input. And whatever was holding back any of the other Sides he had (because, lets face it, Thomas had no idea how many Sides there were in total, especially not after Remus’ introduction) wasn’t letting up. So, using every ounce of deductive reasoning he had left, Thomas figured that he just. No longer had a personality.

The more he thought about that, though, the more he considered how irrational that would be. But he didn’t care enough to believe a separate reasoning? And didn’t have the focus, creativity, or capacity to think of a different explanation.

So, The Office.

He had been sitting on this couch for upwards of twelve hours. Probably bordering on sixteen to seventeen hours, but he couldn’t count. It was long past sunset outside, perhaps the stars were out.

An empty pizza box was sitting on the couch beside him. At least he had the common sense to eat one meal — an extra large pepperoni meal, but a meal nonetheless.

What the heck was happening?

The phone on his chin, balanced there out of boredom a few hours ago, buzzed and nearly fell off.

Thomas’ hand smacked up to it, causing his phone to fall and hit his nose. That caused a chain reaction of him falling over, first sideways onto the couch, then rolling off the couch all together and onto the floor.

So much for “nothing happening.” Thomas groaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbows and grabbed his phone, which had slid beneath the table.

He flicked it on.

JOAN —> IMG0492.JPG

Ah. Thomas squinted and opened it.

It was a Sanders Sides meme, one of the new templates. He covered his mouth and snorted with laughter, shaking his head.

Another text from Joan dinged.

JOAN —> you alive? you missed prime coffee shop writing hours

Oh, heck. Thomas mentally chided himself. He and Joan were going to hunker down at a cafe and hash out the new script today to get it done before the deadline. Of course he forgot, like an absolute doofus.

He began typing out a response. The thought of lying flitted through his mind, the excuse of being “out of it” wasn’t exactly the best reason. He thought for a second but he couldn’t even think of an adequate lie. Wow. Even Deceit had clocked out. Thomas probably should have tried to summon him, now that he thought about it. A little past time, but, oh well.

Alright, the truth. How the heck was he supposed to explain that he couldn’t think? Thomas pushed himself off the floor on his elbows, but winced as the weight seemed to leave his head almost immediately. He kept a hand on the couch as he sat up on his knees, one hand running through his hair and then resting on the back of his neck.

How long had he been sitting upside down again? Goodness gracious. Part of him wanted to be worried about the repercussions of not having a coherent thought process, but the other was kinda singing Disney songs on repeat.

In actuality, the most coherent thoughts he had held all day was the nonstop playlist of Disney songs that seemed to run through his head.

At least that meant Roman was still kicking? That’s what that meant, right?

Oh, yeah, the text. Thomas pushed himself up onto the couch, ignoring how both of his legs seemed to be asleep, buzzing with the prickly pain of pinched nerves and a lack of blood. Lack of blood. All the blood was in his head. Heheheh.

Gosh, he should sleep soon, he was getting light headed. Had he had any water today, actually? The thought of water made his throat run dry — no, no he hadn’t.

Focus, Sanders. He bit his tongue and typed out a response. Using both thumbs, because for some reason, his single-hand coordination was not working.

THOMAS —> Yeah. Sorry about that, I think I’m sick or something. Haven’t been able to hold a thought all day and my head is super light.

JOAN —> thats fair, do you have tea or some soup? :( if youre that sick do you wanna push the script deadline a day or two?

What did Thomas do to deserve Joan, they were always such a beacon of sunlight. He smiled to himself and responded as fast as he could while typing like a technologically illiterate fool, one letter per minute.

THOMAS —> That would be awesome. I’ve got tea, too. Think I’m gonna go to sleep soon though

THOMAS —> Could we push one day? And if you’re still not doing anything on Sunday, we could reschedule

JOAN —> okay, I’ll let the team know. you get some sleep!!

JOAN —> I’m down for prime coffee shop o’clock on Sunday. 9 am at brewed awakening?

JOAN —> if you need some soupy soup let me know

Then they sent a cat gif with hearts from Giphy. What an angel.

Thomas exhaled and leaned back on the couch. He put his phone flat on his forehead, then crossed his arms. That was the best news to come out of today, honestly. One day was better than no days. And if he and Joan could mix up some good ideas on Sunday, then all the better.

Hopefully that’d give the Sides enough time to figure out what the flip was happening in there.

taglists!

chivalry taglist: @starlightvirgil @forrestwyrm @daflangstlairde @marshmallow-the-panda @askthesnake @k9cat @patromlogil @theobsessor1 @ninja-wizard101 @fandomsofrandom

general taglist: @jemthebookworm @okay-finne

#chivalry au #thomas #thomas sanders #sanders sides #fic #my fic #roman #roman saners #ts roman #ts fanfic #pour one out for 1 braincell thomathy #hes been having a rough time #i like how as soon as remus was introduced ive begun sliding him in at every possibility #like im wow

32 notes · View notes

persephonealmana · 5 years

Text

My Thoughts On The Vic Situation

I’m aware that I’m going to be called a “cunt”, “bitch” and other vile names for speaking my opinion but this is just my thoughts on the whole situation.

~*~*~*~*~*

Considering that I'm more caught up with Overwatch VA's these days, but I have sadly learned of a situation with a VA that I loved.

Read the journal for more information:

There are some journals about this.

I never thought that the #metoo movement was going to be a problem movement. It was originally combating against Sexual Harassment, but I guess there are people out there to twist it for their own agenda. Like Monica and Jamie did. They twisted it to fit their own agenda to take a person down, just like anyone that uses this movement to twist it for their own personal gain. These fucking idiots felt like using it as a weapon to ruin people's lives JUST for the hell of it. Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave right about now, I can't blame her though. Since all of her female descendants are poisoning the feminist movement and forgetting about equality.

I also forgot that Vic was accused of sexually assaulting girls at cons, which there is no EVIDENCE of him doing that.

Both Monica and Jamie DON'T have evidence that Vic did this to them. Allegations like this require evidence and so far Monica & Jamie show none of it. It's all a hearsay.

These people basically don't know what sexual harassment is! They never met anyone or experienced what sexual harassment is like or how to feel. They decided to say; well I was sexually harassed by this person, but I don't know what it's like being sexually harassed anyways.

Was Vic being inappropriate? No. But yes, he is a bit of a touchy guy but he doesn't mean to be touchy it's just who he is. He always asked permission before giving hugs and kisses on cheeks, but there are at times where he does it without consent. The fans are ok with that. But what was his crime? Being Overly-friendly to people. Being too nice to people even his co-workers, now he's going to be afraid to hug his fans again after this situation, he's going to be afraid to give out his hugs and kiss on the cheeks to fans. Since he won't know if they will sue him or file harassment against him. Studying Vic's body language, tone, and speech during his apology he displays textbook remorse, sorrow, and self-awareness. From what I have seen he clearly got comfortable with treating everyone fairly, assuming everyone wanted to be hugged, kissed or fan serviced with a scene of one of his popular characters. The man has already apologized for becoming too lazy about hugs which display self-awareness and remorse.

They, Monica and Jaimie, think hugging and kissing on the cheek is sexual harassment. Which is not! Vic is very affectionate to his friends and fans, he's not afraid to hide that. Even they should go to some European countries that are big on giving hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

The fact that the voice actors of DBZ are throwing Vic under the bus to save face makes me sick to my stomach even their comments, don't get me started on the comments some made. Personally, they have a personal vendetta against him, which I'll explain at the end, they know Monica and just want to defend her of all this BS. Then again the majority of these voice actors at Funimation are narcissistic Leftists.

Funimation dropped Vic without hearing his side, cons banned him and now he's left with nothing. He's banned from Cons and fired for doing a job that he loves and a community that he adores.

It's funny that they dropped Vic without evidence, but remember the incident where another VA of FUNimation was accused of Child Pornography? FUNimation decided to wait until the evidence comes out. But with Vic? Nope, sorry bud you are cut from the scene.

The only voice actor that is on Vic's side is Todd. He is standing by Vic's side, which I praise him for.

I literally lost respect for Funimation, which I haven't watched them for years, they fired Vic without evidence shown. While Funimation said that they don't condone harassment, they still have Monica, Jaimie, and Sean who openly harass fans who question them over the lack of evidence.

Monica is basically acting like a bully who constantly says that they are going to tell on you but with her, it's like "I'm gonna screenshot this to show my lawyer!" She obviously now thinks she can sue people for disagreeing with her. Can I say that those who were sexually harassed sure as hell won't go online to tell the whole world what happened!

I’d say if you’re accusing someone of something serious you are OBLIGATED to provide evidence. Where has the mentality come from where you accuse someone of something horrible and serious and you expect people to go off nothing but word of mouth alone and treat the accused as 100% confirmed guilty? That’s a disgusting backward way of thinking.

Especially with screenshots being capped of people wanting to edit photos of Vic to make him look guilty because of their twisted sense of justice. The people who felt uncomfortable exist, but don’t you dare sweep under the rug the proven false allegations still circulating and people with malicious intent trying to lie to make things worse.

You can’t accuse people and when someone asks you to bring more info and proof to the table you essentially say “I don’t owe you proof, you’re supposed to just believe me completely.”

NO. That’s not how things should ever work in real life. It’s illogical and illogical to expect that of people.

Does she not realize serious allegations like this can lead Vic to depression and suicide? But then again she doesn't care nor does SJW's care about whose career was destroyed. Which I hope Vic doesn't consider even doing. No one wants that.

Monica Rial has officially gone on a complete meltdown on twitter. She's showing her true colors: she's a textbook narcissist with false victimization tendencies. She displays compulsory to lying, passive aggressiveness to hold herself accountable. She doesn't want to stop the harassment on Twitter, she's fueling it. She said that she had to be far from social network because of her lawyer's advice (which is the best solution honestly), and now she keeps threatening people like that. She threatens those that question her for evidence and to show proof. How can she still work at Funimation after this, this is unacceptable. She didn't give us any PROPER photo evidence, video or audio evidence to back it up these claims. Now if there was evidence I'll happily change my mind but this is all just a hearsay. When Monica threatened to sue anyone who simply makes a video that has a different opinion than her, it showed a guilty conscious. She bragged about getting his job after this, she claimed he didn't have the right of innocence before being guilty outside of court. Can I just say it's funny that I know two people that are treating Twitter like a courthouse? Monica Rial & Timethy Heller? Both are treating Twitter like it's their personal courthouse just to be sided with.

And FUNimation is basically defending her through this BS. Monica personally LIED to take Vic's job away from him.

Also, how can fans follow this VA that constantly harasses people that asks for evidence? Like, how can you still support her after what she's doing? She has no video evidence, no anything to prove her point that Vic did this to her, it's all a hearsay!

But now let's take a look at this at another angle, this is just a thought: If Monica Rial and other coworkers apparently knew that Vic Mignogna had been this “sexual predator” for years, why didn’t anybody do anything about it beforehand? Why didn't they report his behavior to HR(Human Resources) if he was sexually harassing them? Or even try to talk with him to curb his behavior.

How were they still working with him that whole time? No investigation, no police report, no credible evidence, nothing? And she’s saying she doesn’t owe any sort of explanation? Yes, she does! She OWES an explanation to fans about him. She and others put fans in danger because of him if he was a "Sexual predator".

Especially if she’s trying to make claims against someone regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment. Those are serious offenses that should be reported to law enforcement immediately, not some angry Tweet to vent to some fans and subscribers about on social media years after the supposed offense.

If Vic is proven guilty (which I doubt cause I've yet to see hard solid proof but there hasn't been any) then they should be held accountable as well cause they let a predator on the loose and turned a blind eye to his wrongdoings and all the people he "sexually harassed" after that are because of them cause they knew but didn't stop him.

Thanks to them they banned someone who's the most sweetest VA anyone has met, a lot of people had met Vic and they literally said he's the sweetest person. Vic also defended the LGBT+ community and told off a bunch of Christians in front of the building where the con was being held to leave so that those that were attending can enjoy.

To those who say he's "homophobic", he supports the LGBT. He might be Christian but he defends and supports the LGBT+ community.

Much to the saying says; Rethink your heroes and never met your heroes. Since you may not like who you meet. It's like a punch to the gut for fans to realize that these VA's of DBZ are shitty people. All respect that fans had for them, they lost their respect for them.

But I'm also saying that there are friendly VA's that you should meet and that you should have a great experience with. Just remember that VA's are humans too and they can have emotions just like us.

Continuing,

I need to add that Sean Schemmel, Goku's VA. Funny enough, I liked Sean since he seemed like a cool guy but after this situation (probably from the youtube videos that make him look like a cool guy). I stopped liking him as a person, I love him as a VA but not a person, he's also coming to Wisconsin Comic Convention so a lot of fans will give him shit about this situation. I bet that no fans would ever wanna meet him in person anymore and avoid him because he turns out to be such a rude, disrespectful douche. A fan talked about Sean that he's a mixed bag, he can be nice & Friendly but he stresses a lot, another said he has Bipolar Disorder.

He basically defended Monica and Jaimie after this situation, he absolutely has lost my respect by his behavior to some people. Some people like myself are trying to stay neutral and objective about this, but Sean is making it personal by tweeting this out.

Only, I think Sean jumped into the Vic situation because he doesn't like him. Maybe that he has a fear that he's not going to be FUNimations poster boy anymore since Vic is a very talented Voice Actor. People give Monica, Sean Schemmel, Chris Sabat and so on way too much credit. They've been planning to get rid of Vic for years, ever since Vic stepped into the studio. Now that the Super Broly movie has gotten so much praise, it was the perfect opportunity to get Vic in trouble with false accusations. Vic is a white European male who has strong Christian ties - it's exactly who the Leftists love to side against. This man is literally one of the nicest guys out there. And there's also proof that was leaked of people planning to stage evidence against Vic, such as photoshopped pictures to accuse him of something he didn't do.

Monica is one of many threats. There's also Chris Sabot, who stated only the so-called 'survivors' know the truth and that we should listen to them. Sonny Strait is also attempted to back up Monica's claims. And there's that Neil, who openly admits he's always hated, Vic. He posted a video of Vic riding on the guy's shoulders at convection. Almost like a damn parody, he tried using that video as evidence, claiming he felt assaulted. Which wasn't an assault, he got on his shoulders and was having himself a good time, Neil looked like he was having fun too.

Then there's Jamie, who stated she basically wants Vic dead. How psychotic do you have to be? Jamie is an absolute psycho, just like that Marzbitch(Who started the whole kickvic campaign). Even Jamie has a lot of nerve to tell Vic to apologize to her. What for, Jamie?! If you ask me, Jamie Marchi needs to apologize to him for the death threats, name-calling treating him like shit. She needs to apologize, but she won't because she'll refuse too. Every FUNimation VA's chose a side, some have remained silent on the matter, but some have decided to add fuel to the flames making it bigger.

Anyway back to Sean, he is dragging us through the mud throughout all of this bullshit. Fans want answers. Monica made this public on twitter. It is our business now. Which it shouldn't.

If they wanted to handle this professionally and privately, they would have done so. They did not do so. They are acting like children. Monica took to twitter, she made it public and now it's the fans business now. She's treating Twitter like a courthouse so that she can be believed and have fans turn against Vic, she's manipulating them into thinking that Vic is this monster, which he isn't. Those that want evidence, they know what's going on and they don't believe her. There is more proof coming out of the woodwork.

To everyone defending Monica, stop. You have fallen for her lies. This woman, instead of going to the authorities, staying neutral til proof was presented, choose to talk about something this serious on Twitter. She wants attention and she got it. Hell, her withholding information like this alone makes her a shitty person because of she alone, for those who believe that Vic is a monster, put more people in danger.

She knew that saying she was a victim would get everyone on her side because she voices Bulma, a very well-known and loved anime character. And you believed her. No questions asked just “Omg not you too!” “I’m so sorry you had to go through that!” “NoT mOnIcA!”

Doesn't take much to win y'all over huh? Anyone could say that Vic touched them inappropriately at this point and you’d immediately believe them without proof or a bit of an explanation on what happened, and no, saying “He was creepy” isn’t good enough. Not when it comes to accusations like this.

If they didn't want any of this to happen, they should not have gotten their fans involved. Now some people could be in serious danger because of these FUNimation VA's releasing private information. Do they think about their fans? No. This just shows their true colors, they don’t care about them. They don't care that they put their fans in a serious situation because they couldn't keep their mouth shut.

The swatting incident is absolutely awful and I hope whoever did it is found and charged with attempted murder. Sean talked about this in a tweet. This has already happened several times in the gaming community and has even lead to someone being killed. Swatting is a very serious matter and should not be done on any side. I know that a voice actor almost getting killed is terrible (it's a relief Reuben is alright and alive), but scapegoating the Vic supporters into this is just idiotic. We have nothing to do it with it and even if were someone who supports Vic, he's not doing a good job and we disassociate that person from us. If Vic is innocent, this is not how you prove it.

He's digging his grave ever deeper, just like Monica is. He's ruining his reputation more. He's showing more of how much of a douche he is. He's making more of his fans losing respect to him.

All of it is his fault, not the fans. He's dragging the fans down with him.

He said he was going to "stay off of twitter" but he decides not too. Why is it that hard for him to comprehend that?! If you want to "stay off of twitter" then do what you said before and not do a freakin' 180. All he had to do was say nothing. Stay out of this shit show, but no, he just had to take a side and add his fuel to the flames.

All of this SHOULN'T HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC. There are reasons why lawyers tell you to stay off the media to avoid letting people know about this. When this goes to court, these tweets can and will be used against them. Monica obviously should've listened to her lawyer's advice but nope, she refused to listen and threatened anyone who wants proof since "she has a lawyer". Obviously, Vic has a lawyer so he's doing a good job of laying low and not saying anything until they go to court.

Then what would Funimation do if these tweets are used against Monica? They would face an option on firing her, then try to find someone to voice Bulma or just keep defending Monica once everything was revealed.

In the end, if Vic is found innocent. Then we can all say karma played her sweet role in this. That still won't recover Vic's career sadly, since it's already been tarnished because of these allegations and it won't be the same. I even doubt he would even want to step foot in FUNimation ever again, due to all of them stabbed him in the back and ruined his career for good.

#istandwithvic

35 notes · View notes

wordsandshawn · 5 years

Text

Before Now - chapter 8

Previous Chapters

Kristen waits until we’re both back in her car before she brings Shawn up again. Its already past midnight because we didn’t leave the festival after an hour like we had originally planned to get back home at a decent time. We both love live music far too much for that.

As soon as I’m seated back in the passenger side of Kristen’s car, I immediately pull my laptop out and start importing the photos from my camera. I can’t wait another second to see them and get started on the editing. Kristen starts backing out of the parking stall, “What was that all about?” And even though it’s been almost three hours since Shawn left the festival, and we had been rocking out that entire time, I know what she’s talking about and she knows I know.

“My photography professor didn’t get me the gig,” I admit.

“I got that much.” She says shortly, her eyes glued to the road. “How do you know him?” She’s being a lot calmer about this than I expected, but I’m not sure if I should take that as a good sign or a bad sign.

I realize now that I’m in this situation, but I should have never kept this secret from Kristen. When I first met her, sure, it was understandable, but I’ve known her for two years now. I should have told her.

“Kris, I’m really sorry.”

Her voice gets low, “Skylar, just tell me how you know him.” She’s done with bullshit.

“I’ve known him my whole life.” I blurt.

“What do you mean?” Her voice is shrill and for a second, I’m afraid that she is going to crash the car. I’m starting to rethink having this conversation while she’s behind the wheel of the car, but there’s no going back now.

“I mean, my mom and his mom are best friends. They have been since they were kids, so we kind of grew up together, a little.”

She’s silent, and Kristen is rarely ever silent, so I know it means something. I know it means a lot. “You’re lying.” She says, but in a tone that says she doesn’t know how to believe me, but she knows that I’m telling the truth.

“I’m not. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“I don’t get it.” I know her mind is in a million places. I’m only grateful the anger hasn’t set in yet.

“I’ll explain whatever you want to know.” I offer, knowing she deserves an explanation, and it’s time for me to be honest.

“Well for starters, how could you have never mentioned it, not even a little? You know how much we love him.” She’s still in disbelief.

“It just felt weird to say after keeping it a secret for so long. I didn’t even know if you’d believe me.” She just glances at me quickly before looking back at the road.

When she doesn’t say anything in response, I take a deep breath, “In high school, when Shawn started to get famous, fans started digging up older pictures of Shawn and putting them on the internet. Some of those pictures had me in them. Shawn and I never went to the same schools, but when the kids at my high school learned that I knew him, that we grew up together, they wouldn’t leave me alone. They wanted information about Shawn, they wanted to be my friend because they thought that would mean they’d get in backstage to his shows. Some kids I thought wanted to be friends with me for me turned out to have only wanted to see if they could get to know Shawn through me. It hurt, and I got tired of being used like that. I wasn’t even close friends with Shawn by the time we reached high school. He was always gone, and we drifted apart. So, I just stopped telling anyone. I pretended I didn’t know him, and it seemed to work better.” After I finish talking, there are a few seconds of silence, probably because she doesn’t know what to say, and I’ve already said everything I have to say.

“Okay,” She pauses, still staring at the road, and I’m a little glad that her attention is divided between driving and this conversation. I’m not sure if I’d be able to have it face to face with all her attention on it. “Why didn’t you tell us later, when we were already friends. Why did you pretend to hate him? You knew we loved him.”

“Things are,” I pause, trying to find the right words. “Complicated between Shawn and I.” I dare to glance at her, and I notice her eyes widen. She knows that there has to be something within that word, complicated. And even I don’t know how to describe it, to explain what complicated even means.

“So, the ‘text me so I know you’re home safe,’ thing. That’s part of the complicated?”

I hesitate. I hadn’t thought too deeply about that sentence, except that it was what alerted Kristen to the fact that I didn’t just happen to get this gig for no real reason. “I think that’s just Shawn being Shawn.”

“I knew it!”

I’m startled by her shouting, but I ask, “Knew what?”

“I knew that he was a fucking sweetheart. You can’t fake something like that.”

I roll my eyes at her, but the smile on her face is so big that I can’t help but smile too. I’m glad that this took a turn away from the personal, even if just for a second or two. Surprisingly, Kristen doesn’t ask a ton of personal questions about Shawn. Instead, she’s more interested in what happened between us, my role in the story of the two of us. Eventually, we move on to other topics, although I know that we’ll be back on the topic of Shawn soon enough.

I spend the rest of the two-hour drive editing my pictures and trying to put together a mini video. I have a ton of fun editing the video, and I’m pleased to realize that both the pictures and videos turned out pretty great. I can get used to this concert photography thing. Tonight was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

When Kristen and I finally arrive back at our apartment, it's past two am, but I remember to text Shawn, well, Peter(bio101). We’re home, thanks for everything tonight. I’m sending a link to a drive of the photos and a video over in a bit.

I’m so glad you came, and I’m glad you got home safe. Looking forward to seeing the pics and vid.

I don’t reply for a while, since I’m busy uploading everything to the drive to send over to Shawn. During the ride back home, I carefully chose only the best photos and focused on editing those well. I’ve seen some of the photos that Shawn’s tour photographer has taken and they’re always stunning, so I know there’s a high standard for me to live up to, and I want to do my absolute best.

I send over the photos and the video, then text Shawn. I sent them over. If you post them, do you mind not tagging me or mentioning my ig? He’ll probably think I’m weird because the whole point of this was supposed to be to help my career, and I should want the recognition for my work, but I don’t. Not for this, not right now. I’ll probably use these pictures in my portfolio, but I don’t need Shawn linking them to my social media. If it's linked then people from my Uni will probably start asking questions, and Greg will find out. It’s that last part I’m trying to avoid most. I honestly don’t think Greg processed in his mind that the person who stood up for me that night at the bar was Shawn Mendes. And as long as he never does, then we should be okay.

I’m about to fall asleep when Shawn finally replies. It all looks amazing, Skylar! Are you sure you don’t want credit?

I’m sure. I type back. Thanks again, Shawn, I really appreciate it.

And I fall asleep before bothering to wait for a reply.

If last night was a dream, then I certainly wake to reality. Four missed calls from Greg, and a string of text messages I strain to read through barely open eyes. The essential message is that he knows I went to a festival last night when I said I had a photography project. I don’t answer right away, but I start planning my response. I’m tired of lying, but I feel trapped, like I have no choice.

Greg has been going through a lot lately with his work and his family, so I don’t want to make things worse for him. I don’t want to upset him, although it is so hard not to, no matter what I do. I open Instagram and see Kristen’s Instagram post from last night. Even worse, her Instagram is public, and Shawn followed her. How he found her, I have no idea, but it is what it is. Who else follows her, none other than Greg, so my first question of how he found out is answered. It isn’t Kristen’s fault, its mine. I didn’t ask her not to post anything from last night. I didn’t even tell her that I lied to Greg. It’s my own fault for not seeing it coming. And now I have to face the consequences.

I finally gather up the courage to call him, knowing I can’t put it off any longer. He doesn’t answer, so I assume he’s busy. I text him back telling him that I did go for photography and I didn’t mean to lie to him. He doesn’t respond. I try catching up on some homework, but I’m bombarded by my other roommates who have obviously found out my connection to Shawn. They have a lot of questions, even more than Kristen. Most of the questions I don’t even have answers for, and I try to explain to them that I don’t know Shawn anymore, not really.

When I think about Greg again, I realize it’s been three hours since I texted and called him, and there hasn’t been a response. I’m trying not to read too much into it, but I do anyway.

By the time its six pm and I’ve texted and called him several more times still with no response, I think it’s clear that he’s not wanting to talk to me. I normally spend Saturday nights with him, but since he’s not picking up the phone and I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing, I decide to go out with my friends instead.

This proves to be the second big mistake of the weekend because he texts me at midnight asking me why I’m not home. He’s at my apartment and he’s upset that I’m not there. I leave the club to call him, and this time he actually answers. “Where the fuck are you?” He questions.

“I’m downtown, at a club.” I say, forcing to keep my voice even although my heart is beating out of my chest right now. A club was not my first choice for a fun Saturday night, but all my friends were going, and my boyfriend was ignoring me, so my choices were club or stay home alone in my apartment.

He sounds angry, but he also sounds sad, which catches me by surprise since he ignored me all day. I ask him to pick me up from the club and we go back home together. He’s been depressed or angry a lot more than usual lately, and I’m never exactly sure what I’m going to get when I talk to him. I want to love him, to show him that I love him because he’s sad. But he’s still mad at me for not telling him about the show and for not inviting him, and he’s made it clear that even though he picked me up, things are not okay between us. I have a lot of making up to do for lying, but he’s so cold to me, I can’t even make it up to him. I’m torn with what to do. I’m confused. I feel like this is my fault, that it's my fault he’s sad, but I don’t know how to make it better. I don’t know what to do to make things better for Greg or better between us. I just want to stop feeling like I have to walk on eggshells around him all the time. It’s exhausting, but I don’t know how to fix things, no matter how desperately I want to.

chapter 9

#Shawn Mendes #Shawn Mendes fanfic #Shawn Peter Raul Mendes #Shawn Mendes imagine #Shawn Mendes fanfiction #Before Now

60 notes · View notes

azumaryuuji · 6 years

Text

a collection of asakisu hcs, past edition:

asahi’s first impression of kisumi in three words: annoying, loud but talented.

kisumi’s first impression of asahi in three words: easily flustered, handsome and passionate.

kisumi is the more romantic of the two, but asahi got a crush on kisumi first.

(kisumi stole a bite of asahi’s ice cream, and got some of it on the corner of his mouth. asahi pointed it out to him but kisumi couldn’t get to it. asahi reached out to help out and his first thought was “wow kisumi’s skin is so soft” and “his eyes are so beautiful” and then “...oh shit.”)

they were both very popular amongst girls and constantly got confession letters in their lockers. they always turned the girls down.

(one of the girls that confessed to kisumi was overzealous and very bold and forced a kiss on him despite being refused. that was kisumi’s first kiss.)

the first time kisumi felt something other than friendly feelings towards asahi was when they were both playing basketball on opposing teams.

(asahi was guarding kisumi and they both accidentally tripped, asahi landing on top of kisumi. kisumi came out of that with his heart beating too quickly and his new favourite colour being red.)

their club activities ended around the same time, and since haru and makoto walked home together, and they lived within the same area, asahi and kisumi ended up walking back together a lot.

(one of their favourite memories was when they both didn’t bring their umbrellas and it was raining heavily. kisumi wanted to wait it out but asahi pulled him along and they ran home in the rain. they held hands and felt electrified but thought it was just from the lightning.)

despite having his wet hair flat and matted to his head, asahi still thought that kisumi shone brighter than any light. asahi was tempted to sweep kisumi’s hair to the side but managed to resist.)

kisumi thought asahi was so handsome, especially with some raindrops clinging to his eyelashes. kisumi’s eyes followed the way the raindrops kept rolling down asahi’s face, he barely managed to resist reaching out and following them with his fingers.)

these two idiots ended up falling very ill. they both blamed each other. but wouldn’t trade that moment for anything.)

the first time they had a serious fight was when kisumi found out that asahi was moving away. kisumi found out via makoto and was livid that asahi didn’t tell him earlier. they didn’t talk to each other for 3 days.

(they made up and spent the last week sleeping over at asahi’s house.)

(both of them were too afraid of revealing their feelings and didn’t talk much. their company was more than enough.)

asahi sent out the first letter, and it detailed how his life was going, how he created a new swimming team, and about his new friends.

(he had several drafts telling kisumi how much he missed him, how none of his friends aren’t the same and how no one shone brighter than kisumi.)

kisumi initiated the first call. they talked from the time they got home, all the way till when their parents demanded they ate dinner.

(the call lasted for close to 4 hours, kisumi letting asahi go on and on about his duties as the swimming team’s captain since he started the club. they didn’t dare tell each other that they missed each other’s voices.)

kisumi also initiated the first video call.

(their first call had the introduction of hayato, and the little baby was so fascinated by the new person he couldn’t touch. asahi was fascinated by how natural kisumi was with his baby brother. and kisumi was fascinated by the little games asahi tried to play with hayato over a screen.)

(both of them at one moment, stroked the screen, trying to commit their grown-up faces to memory. they’ve changed so much, but so much has stayed the same.)

asahi dropped by to visit iwatobi a few times during the longer holiday periods.

(he spent a lot of that time hanging out with kisumi and hayato.)

(hayato was so shy, but warmed up to asahi pretty quickly.)

(kisumi was in awe of how asahi managed to bring hayato out of his shell.)

(one of these visits ended up with a misunderstanding. asahi was picking up kisumi from something he was doing and they were planning on having dinner, just the two of them. kisumi was running late and he saw asahi surrounded by girls and smiling and laughing. he felt his heart clench and snuck away.)

(asahi was the one who suggested their one-on-one dinner because he wanted to reveal his feelings, but kisumi didn’t turn up. kisumi didn’t pick up any of his calls, or reply to his texts. and he went back home feeling very confused and unwilling to open his heart.)

(kisumi felt bad, especially with all the missed calls and the texts asking what asahi did wrong and how he’s sorry. and eventually, kisumi calls him back, lying that he dropped his phone in the toilet.)

both of them got into a few relationships, trying to forget their first loves.

(no girl could make him laugh as much as asahi.)

(no girl could get him all riled up as much as kisumi.)

(they couldn’t forget.)

they never talked much about their university plans, both of them never trying to convince the other of entering the same school.

(that’s a lie, asahi managed to catch a glimpse of kisumi’s school choices and he looked into whether he could get a sports scholarship to hidaka.)

(kisumi was so relieved to find out that they’d be reunited once again.)

they both found out about each other’s feelings just a few weeks before university started.

(kisumi was already living in his tokyo apartment and asahi was planning on living on campus.)

(they were video-calling, and showing each other their accommodations.)

(kisumi, surrounded by plants, illuminated by the bright sun. he shone even brighter than the sun.)

(“you’re beautiful,” asahi blurted. and kisumi’s chatter ceased.)

asahi hung up immediately.

they didn’t talk for a week, the longest duration during their long friendship.

(asahi seemed like he dropped off the radar. and kisumi couldn’t find him at all.)

(but he eventually found asahi at hidaka’s swimming pool. and waited for asahi in the locker room.)

(asahi wasn’t expecting to see kisumi, and tried to ignore him but kisumi boarded him up against a locker. kisumi knew that asahi was stronger than he was but asahi didn’t put up a struggle.)

(they were always told that actions spoke louder than words. kisumi plants a chaste kiss against asahi’s lips.)

(that was asahi’s first kiss, and what kisumi considered to be his first real kiss.)

(asahi finally pushes against kisumi’s chest and they’re both red.)

(asahi tells kisumi to wait for him to shower, and then they’ll talk.)

(kisumi smiles when he saw that asahi took out his things from locker 14.)

(14 was kisumi’s jersey number, and both of their favourite number.)

their first date was at asahi’s sister’s cafe.

(it was before opening hours and they were left alone.)

(they were awkward and silent for a long time, a first for their friendship. and like a cliche, they both tried to speak at the same time. that broke the tension.)

(it also broke the dam, and they let all their emotions flow out.)

(asahi grasps kisumi’s hands in his, and all felt right in the world.)

(asahi didn’t consider it a date.)

their first official date was just a day before they started school.

(they both dressed up and it started awkwardly, because they didn’t know how to act. but it ended up feeling natural.)

(they had a lot of fun catching up and just taking each other in for the first time in so many years.)

(asahi has grown up so strong, more gentlemanly and more mature. but he was the same energetic and funny person who made kisumi laugh and laugh and laugh.)

(kisumi had grown up more beautiful and handsome, his lilting voice still soothes asahi’s soul, and he was still as radiant as always. he felt like home.)

(the date ended at the tokyo skytree, with them looking over tokyo’s skyline at night. kisumi secretly grabbed onto asahi’s hand, and asahi gave it a squeeze as they enjoyed the view.)

their second kiss was a lot more passionate than the first.

(heavy breathing, and then they rested their foreheads on each other’s. happy to finally be in each other’s arms. first love never lasts they say, but they made it work.)

#asakisu #shiina asahi #shigino kisumi #free!#free! headcanons #mine: words #this is very self indulgent #because i finished all my history readings lmao #i hold these so dear to my heart so i hope y'all like them too!#long post #this meant to consist of the past/present/future but i got too into it sorry #ask to tag if necessary!#oh god this is so long i'm so sorry

62 notes · View notes

geekygoddesss · 6 years

Text

“You’re so silly, I love you”

Requested by @teenageguitarist

Based on one of my favorite scenes from my favorite show, Friends.

Everyone knew that Mondays were boring as fuck, it was no secret, they came after everyone’s praised weekend and somehow this day always seemed like the longest day ever. But not today. It was indeed Monday, but not only that, it was the day my boyfriend and his band were releasing their last album and that deserved a celebration.

It obviously had to happen at Ashton’s place, with happened to be right beside ours and it was a little bigger than our place, plus, out of everyone in the band, he was the one that was more excited for this new record, he poured his heart out on this, throwing out a party almost felt like a necessity.

It was fun. We drank, we danced, we laughed. Just like a good party should be, so naturally, after a good few hours of a full house of people drinking and messing around, people started leaving, it was the start of the week and a lot of them have things to do the next day, it’s totally fine, we only got left with the same old group of friends, the ones that would be around no matter what and the ones we could always count on for a good laugh. It felt like home to have them here.

We were currently sitting on Ashton’s living room, I was comfortably leaning on Calum’s embrace, while everyone else was sitting around in a circle, the lights were low around us and there was music in the background playing so softly. I was holding back a laugh from seeing our friend Mitchy prank calling some guy who worked with him, telling him something about winning a new X box or something like that. Lame joke, but I found it really funny.

He ended up hanging up the call after five minutes of keeping it up, we moved on our little truth or dare game, something kind of childish to do, but always really fun.

“Okay, so (Y/n), truth or dare?” Mitchy points at me since it was his turn to pick someone.

“Truth” I answer lazily, I was starting to grow a little tired, since it was already almost 3 in the morning and I barely slept before. I was not totally in the mood for dares.

“Boring” someone calls out to me, I don’t even see who it was.

“Hey” Calum says frowning a little and rubbing on my arm.

Mitchy seems to really think about it, there are not many things that you can ask in truth or dare, let’s be real, in this dumb games if you weren’t creative enough you would end up asking the same old questions everyone always asked. That is exactly what he didn’t do “Tell us about something you did years ago and you haven’t told anyone about” he says in a daring tone. I was really not expecting that.

“Woah, that’s very specific” I hear Michael say from the other side of the room.

“Yeah, where’s that coming from?” I ask him with a frown, it was such a weird question.

“She chose truth, I literally can’t think of anything else to ask” he excused himself.

“You don’t have to answer” Calum whispers in my ear before kissing my head.

I think about it for a second, yes I technically don’t have to answer such a thing if I don’t want to and take a dare instead, but there’s something I need to say, maybe this is the time now that he brought this up. Nothing too harmful I guess, it’s just something that happened, I’ve been keeping this for myself for a while, we were all friends here, there’s no harm in saying it now.

“No, it’s fine” I smile up to Calum and move a little, sitting straight by his side “Well, Okay” I sigh, really thinking on what I was about to say, but there was no turning back now “Do you remember that time when we were in Australia and I was just starting to work with you?” I ask him.

“Yeah?” He nods with a confused look “Before we were dating?” He asks me.

“Yes” I nod. My hands were shaking a little.

I give a deep sigh and close my eyes. I start talking.

I remember that day clearly because it was fucking scary. I was 18, maybe 19 at that time, the truth is I don’t remember but I was young.

I was just starting my job as a general assistant for the band’s team, I would help anyone with what they needed, no matter what it was. It was my second, maybe third week working on this and to be honest, I was having such a blast, I loved my job.

I remember to be helping the merch guy to load up the little stores around the venues. There tons of boxes around and we needed to put every single one of them in place before show time, I was not the only helping on this. My boss, Mark came up to me that day, catching me just walking through the doors that lead backstage and just getting to the store closer to the stage.

“(Y/n), are you busy right now?” He asked me with a friendly smile when he saw me.

“Em, no, not really” I lie, putting the box down on the store counter, If I could do something better than carrying boxes I would take that chance, I wasn’t in total shape and I hated carrying heavy things “I was just helping Gary with all these” I say pointing at the heavy box beside me.

“Okay cool” he nods and gives a step closer “I need you to do something for me” he says and pulls a phone from his pocket “See this?” “Yep” I nod.

“It’s Ella’s phone” he explained, I knew Ella, she was the one that always helped with all the photography stuff, she’s nice “She has some footage in there, recordings, everything, even those edited tour diary videos” he explains “Just put it all of it on your laptop, save it, and send it to me” he Instructs me, handing me the phone quickly and stepping back to do whatever he had to do “Uh, also make sure to find the clue images to post on twitter and program it to be posted in an hour or so” he adds up, walking away.

“You got it” I say loud enough so he could hear me.

“Thanks, Kiddo” “Anytime!” I call back, walking to a whole different way than I was before.

I remember how quickly I got to the green room, which was the room right beside the catering. I grabbed my laptop and turn it on, taking my USB cable to plug the phone into the computer. It was such a weird moment, there was exactly what Mark said there was, footage, videos of the guys, pictures, but right beside one of the clues pictures I had to post on twitter, there’s was a really low-quality video showing on screen, it looked like a screen recording from the camera of another phone or this phone.

Out of pure curiosity, I click on the video, it’s my computer, after all, no one would find out. It started as a weird video (indeed a screen recording) of a boy that not only didn’t showed his face but showing off his body from the neck down. It was such a short video, around 10 seconds, but it was clear, the boy in the video took the hem of his pants and pulled it down, showing off his boner in a very clear picture before the image went back to an app main menu.

“Oh, what the hell?” I sighed with a big frown. what the actual hell?. I play the video one more time, trying to take a guess on who was the person in it, but it doesn’t take me long to find out, because I recognized that big tattoo on his arm, that big bird in black ink was really ringing a bell, that boy was Calum “Oh my god” I almost wanted to exclaim my cheeks getting redder and redder “Bitch” I groan, playing the video one more time, there was a laugh at the end. Ella’s laugh, what a fucking bitch. She recorded Calum’s dick. Bitch.

I try to take my mind off what I just saw as I do the exact thing that my boss told me to do, I sent him the videos, post things he told me to, but somehow I found myself looking at that video again, who the hell would do something like this and save it up along with videos of the band that was to be public, Obviously someone who’s brain was as big as a peanut or smaller than ant. I don’t know what I should but I was definitely going to delete that video.

I click on the video image on the screen and click again, showing all of the options that I could do to this footage, I was just about to delete it, but I hear my name being called once and then again, I look up and click the option without looking to then immediately shut my computer down.

“(Y/n)?” I hear a voice call me again and enter the room. Speaking of the devil. “Yeah?” I say with a very fake smile “Oh hi, Calum” I say putting my computer aside. He smiles back to me “Hey, I thought I heard you here” he says walking into the room towards the mini bar “What are you up to?” I hesitate a little to answer “I’m just here” I shrug “hanging out” “Oh” he nods talking out a water bottle and opening it up “Listen, I still have like an hour or two before I have to go on stage, I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, join me and go for coffee or something?” he says smiling and taking a sip of his water, he already looked ready to go for stage and he was now asking me out.

Isn’t he dating, Ella? “What?” I say for myself, but I snap out of my temporary trance before he thought I was crazy or something “I mean, Yeah, I would love to” I smile at him, my blushed, that’s embarrassing. “Nice” he says with a very wide smile “should we go then?” he says pointing to the door. “Yeah, yeah, I Just- I need a second, I’m finishing something, I’ll be done in a minute” I say, almost sounding rushed and I was not lying, I still had to send Mark a couple of videos. “Okay” he nods “I’ll wait for you outside then” “Okay” I nod back, to then wait for him to leave the room.

I wait to open my laptop until I hear the door shutting, I am very quick, I open my computer and go to my previous job, sending in what needed to be sent in, but I notice something weird, the moment I go to my twitter profile sitting right beside my mail is literally blowing up, not in a bad way, I guess, I have like a thousand followers, I was not popular. I scroll down and see what’s happening.

I hit send, not delete. Fuck. I’m stupid. “Shit, shit, shit” I curse under my breath, my hands are shaking so bad that I barely knew what I was doing “No, don’t do this to me” I say going to my profile and immediately deleting that video. about 20 people have already liked this. then realisation came “I’m gonna lose my job” “(Y/n)?” I hear calum call me out and I just close my laptop.

“Coming” I call out and get up my sit, taking the phone with me and leaving my computer away “I’m ready, let’s go”

So, that was the day he first asked me out, along with the day I almost ruin his career. This is fucked up.

“You posted my nudes?” He said in a not very happy tone. I don’t blame him if it was me I would be mad too. “It was you?” I hear Luke ask in surprise. “I’m so sorry, okay?” I panic, getting up my seat “I didn’t mean to do that before I could delete it some people already had the video” I explain, but I could tell this was not getting any better “it was an accident” “People kept making fun of me for months” Calum says getting up his seat too and almost trying to control himself from yelling “The management team went hammed on me because of it, you know that, I was so dead nervous thinking you would think badly of me for that shit” He groaning “And I didn’t” I exclaim, almost like if that was the good side of the story “listen, Calum I’m so sorry” “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He shakes his head, he’s disappointed at me. I shrugged and look down “Because of I kind of ignored it” I mumble “I didn’t want you to freak out” “Well, I am freaking out now!” he exclaims at me and I flinch, I wasn’t scared, just surprised that he suddenly raised his voice, I didn’t like when he did that “I am so sorry baby” I say looking up at him and trying to hug him but he walks back, getting away from my hold. “Well a ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it, I can’t believe you did that” he says shaking his head even more “Fuck this, I’m sorry, I’m gonna go” He says and with that, he just turns around to leave. “Calum” I walk towards me but he almost marches straight to the door. “Don’t follow me” he groans, to then walk out of his best friend’s house. I stand on my feet, not giving a single step towards him, he’s really mad at me and that was never good. So I decide to not push it for a little while and wait for him to cool down a least a little. I just hope he doesn’t break up with me over this. I really hope he didn’t. “Shit, (Y/n) I feel so bad, I’m sorry” Mitch’s says, clearly apologizing for doing that question in first place. “It’s okay” I say giving him a sad smile “I guess this had to be told someday, anyways” I shrug “I think I should go now” I say walking starting to walk out but before I could give a full step, Crystal, Michael’s girlfriend, grab my arm. “Do you want me to keep you company for a while?” She kindly offers. “No, thanks, Crys” I say with a shrug “I guess I’ll try to talk to him” I say and she nods at my answer “thanks for having us, Ashton” I wave my hand at me. “Anytime, good luck” he says with a kind smile. Good luck. That’s the best thing someone could tell me right now, cause I was fucking nervous. Walking home isn’t really a long way and I can tell Calum literally ran home because I don’t run into him on my way back. I left just a minute before he did, I should have at least see him enter the house, which I didn’t, however, the lights were on, he was clearly in there. I unlock the door with my keys and close the door behind me, I don’t even have to take a guess of where he Is because he always goes to the same place when he’s upset. The music studio. I walk to the door of his studio upstairs. It’s quiet inside, so I guess he’s just digesting what just happened, makes sense. I know twice and I hear his groan at the other side of the door. “Open up” I say softly. “Go away” “Calum, really, open up” I say grabbing the door knocker but the door is completely locked “I’m sorry okay? That happened years ago, let it go” I say as if that was going to make him be less mad at me. “How can I just let it go?” He exclaims and I flinch, he’s raising his voice again “You could have ruined my reputation” “I know,I’m sorry” I mumble and knock again “Just open up, talk to me” I beg but he ignores me. I ran out of words to say and I feel like I have no other way to Ale him happy again. But oh wait, there is one way, one really stupid and strange way of making him happy again. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I clear my voice for a second and prepare my voice for what I’m going to do. “(Y/n) says she’s sorry and she shouldn’t have done that” I say I’m a very high and awkward voice I only did when I was joking around with him “it was a big mistake and she won’t ever ever do that again” I hear him groan and little and walk to the door, opening it up and looking awkwardly at me “What are you doing?” He asks “She feels really bad for not telling you” I keep talking in that voice, I could see somehow it was making all of this a bit better. “Are you really imitating Tommy pickles to make me feel better?” He asks crossing his arms over his chest. “Well” I shrug, keeping my voice high pitched “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do” He tries to keep his face still but I can see his smile starting to crack and breaking up into a full-on laugh, it felt like music to my ears, just beautiful. “Did I do it?” I say in my normal voice with a big smile on my face. “Oh my god” he says in between laughs, looking at me like I was the greatest thing that ever made him laugh “you’re so silly, I love you” he says and I (literally) freeze. “What?” I ask, my face can’t help but smile. That was the best thing he has ever said. In all of these years we’ve been dating he’s never told me such a thing, it had nothing to do with me, it was just him, he wanted to be sure that he would say those three words to the right person and believed that saying it marked a very important phase in the relationship. I respected that, and hearing him say it to me felt special. “Nothing” he says, starting to freak out “I said you’re silly and then I just stopped talking” My hands are covering my face and then my mouth, I point at his chest and make him give a step back, his eyes were wide in surprise, he was totally weird out by this “You said you love me, I can’t believe this” “No, I didn’t” he denies “Yes, you did” “No, I didn’t” “You love me!” I exclaim in emotion, while he keeps freaking out. “No, I don’t” he freaks out “Stop it, Stop it, Stop it” he says running his hand through his hair and giving a step back. “You Stop it!” I laugh, my eyes were filling up with tears. “Oh my god, you love me” “Okay well, yeah! I do” he says in realizations to then look at me “Are you crying?” He says softly, walking to me. “I’m so happy” I cry, feeling him pull me into a hug “you finally said it” “I did” he said running my back softly “I’m sorry I freaked out” he apologizes “I’m sorry about the video” I said back, looking up at him. “It’s fine I guess” he shrugs “it happened a long time ago” “But I’m truly sorry about it” I apologize once again, crying into his chest. “I know” he says softly to then caress my hair “stop crying” he chuckles, caressing my head really softly. “I can’t” I laugh a little, I really couldn’t stop crying “Calum?” “Yeah” he mumbles in response. “I love you, too” I say and look up at him with my already red eyes. “I know” he says, kissing my forehead “I know” We stay quiet for a good while, embracing each other and feeling the warmth of the moment, it was definitely a weird night, but thankfully, it turned out better than what it could have been. All I needed to know here was that we now know how much we love each other, and that was more than enough. Well, that’s really all I need.

#calum hood imagines #Luke hemmings imagines #Ashton irwin imagines #michael clifford imagines #5sos preferences #5sos imagines #5 seconds of summer imagines #5 seconds of summer preferences #5sos #5 seconds of summer

239 notes · View notes

possiblyimbiassed · 6 years

Text

Sherlock and the media – ‘the full story’?

I’ve been thinking of writing this meta for a long time, but maybe now is as good a moment as ever? For the umpteenth time in the history of this show, a large part of the audience seems to pay more attention to what’s said in the media about it, than what’s said in the actual show. This show is screaming to us ‘don’t believe everything you hear from the media – it’s fairy tales!’ The show runners have told us repeatedly to not believe everything they say about the show, because they’re ‘lying liars who lie’. And yet… Same thing as always.

So let’s pay attention to the actual show instead. What is it with the media cover of Sherlock and John in this show – what role does it play? An essential role; in fact, I believe it’s one of the most important topics in BBC Sherlock. I’ll go through it episode for episode, so please bear with me.

Ariane De Vere’s transcripts are a veritable gold mine for this kind of research; all the spoken words are transcribed, but also what we see as text in the show, plus descriptions of the scenes. I can’t stress enough how useful this is.

I looked up all the times the words ‘press’, ‘paper’, ‘media’ and ‘journalist’ occurred in the dialogue or the descriptions, and the hits were so many that it almost got a bit worrisome. There are media references in every single episode except TFP – even in MHR - and in some of them media plays a central role.

Observations:

To begin with, John and Sherlock read newspapers a lot. This might give a touch of domesticity to the scenes at 221B, but maybe it could also mean something more deep and symbolic. Media is of course useful for Sherlock’s professional work, and we often see him studying newspaper clips as data collection for the cases. But in general, it’s not exactly a positive picture of the media that this show paints; all the contrary in fact.

Secondly, the whole show begins with a case that alerts the media. Apart from the scenes with John Watson’s solitary bedsit, the first thing we see in ASiP is a supposed suicide followed by the press. It escalates to a bigger police press conference when the number of similar ‘suicides’ grows to three. One of the journalists seems to be a bit sensationalist, since she’s immediately asking about serial killers and the public’s safety. Sherlock appears to have the phone numbers to all the attending journalists, since he repeatedly sends them the same text message, synchronized with Lestrade’s statements: “Wrong!” This indicates, to me, that the media isn’t getting the right picture of the events; thus, it’s not a reliable source.

This is a literal monster-post, so I’ll put most of it below the cut.

The forth victim of ‘suicide’ in ASiP is from the media according to Sherlock, going by the ‘alarming shade of pink’ of her clothing. (And what does he imply by this? Maybe that media people tend to want to draw attention to themselves, when they rather should reflect other people and the events?)

TBB Another media guy is murdered; Brian Lukis, a freelance journalist. This topic sounded promising to me; was this an investigative journalist onto some interesting case-related info? But in the end he turns out to have been a smuggler who was suspected for treason by his own criminal gang and executed. His diary does help Sherlock and John to solve the case though.

TGG Sherlock has collected old newspaper articles from the eighties about Carl Powers, the young swimmer who was killed by a supposed seizure in a pool. This info was wrong, however, as Sherlock could prove in what became his first ‘case’. But no-one listened. In the next case in TGG, media is gossiping about a dead celebrity – Connie Prince - and her family relations, which leads Sherlock on the track of the murderer. John and Sherlock themselves pretend to be from the press when they interview the victim’s brother. The murderer turns out to be the brother’s lover, who is crowded by the press when the police take him away.

ASiB This is where Sherlock and John start being famous; thanks to John describing their cases on his blog they have become an ‘Internet phenomenon’, and even Scotland Yard reads it. The press creates Sherlock’s famous deerstalker style when he grabs a random hat at a theatre crime scene to protect himself from photographers. But the effect is exactly the opposite; now Sherlock and John are suddenly ‘Hat-man and Robin’. The details of a news article (transcribed by someone in Ariane DeVere’s comment section here ) is particularly interesting; this is where media starts to make insinuations about the “confirmed bachelors” at 221B and the “salacious truth about their home life”.

(By the way – this newspaper also claims that John’s blog “has become one of the Internet’s most visited websites”. Yes; it got stuck on 1895 hits in ASiB, but if this newspaper is right (never trust that, though ;) ) the number from T6T – 18 493 – cannot possibly be correct either; the Internet is a vast thing… )

Sherlock doesn’t like his deerstalker image at all, but John publishes it on his blog, claiming some dubious reason for it: “People like the hat”. He thinks the whole hat thing is funny and can’t seem to resist teasing Sherlock about it when the picture shows up in a paper in THoB.

The central case in THoB is about Henry Knight, who believes a gigantic monster hound killed his father 20 years ago, a mythical animal which has eventually become the local tourist attraction of Grimpen village in Dartmoor. Media helps greatly to feed this myth, when TV makes a spooky reportage of it where Henry is interviewed. Sherlock does not approve of this take of the events, however; he stresses that he prefers to do his own editing. (Another little comment on media’s role, on the show’s meta level? Or maybe a hint about his mind palace being active?).

(In this same episode, Sherlock is also suspected of being a journalist when he starts asking questions about the Hound, but he quickly denies this).

TRF This is the point of no return I believe; Sherlock and John start getting literally harassed by the media. In fact the whole episode is a big media circus. Every new case of any public importance that Sherlock solves, the press seems to be present. It annoys Sherlock to receive unwanted gifts of gratitude in public – especially when Scotland Yard (smirkingly) gives him a new deerstalker to fit with his (false) press image. It’s also in this episode that Sherlock finds hidden cameras inside his and John’s flat. We’re never told who put them there, though; it could be Mycroft (who talks about ‘surveillance’ in ASiP), it could be Moriarty (who according to John’s blog breaks into 221B around this time and makes a video of it) or it could be someone from media.

By TRF, the ‘confirmed bachelor’ insinuations are suddenly all over the tabloids, a fact that now seems to worry John to the point of telling Sherlock that they “need to be more careful”.

I find this particularly interesting, because for the first time John is reacting negatively to their fame – which he is personally responsible for, having tried to draw attention to Sherlock’s work with his blog posts for quite some time. And John was never particularly ‘careful’ about the things he wrote about Sherlock. But now the whole thing seems to be descending into the area of homophobia; the papers’ badly hidden speculations about John and Sherlock being a gay couple are done in a sensationalist way, violating their privacy. John doesn’t take this lightly, but actually seems to blame Sherlock for it, who never wanted public attention in the first place (“try to stay out of the news”…) Shouldn’t John have to eat his own words here, having claimed earlier that ‘people want to know about the real you’? Which means they’ll also want to know about the ‘real’ John Watson? John seems to have some negative experience of this, going by how he now describes the media:

I believe this point in the story is crucial; here Sherlock starts to see himself as ‘bad for John’, believing that it’s he, Sherlock, who is drawing unwanted attention to John. If homophobia is personified by Moriarty in this show, this is where it starts to seriously persecute Sherlock, and by proxy John. Maybe this is the real reason why Sherlock faked his death and disappeared from John’s life for two years? John was threatened by media’s homophobia, which made Sherlock believe it was basically his fault, and that he ‘needed to disappear’ so John wouldn’t be associated with him any more, at least until the storm had blown over? Perhaps that’s why Sherlock was looking sad when John couldn’t see him, as Molly suggested? I strongly suspect this is actually the case.

This is also the point in the story where Moriarty appears again, commits crimes to drag Sherlock into his little ‘game’ again and meets him for the first time since the pool scene in TGG. And the media – press and TV - cover it all thoroughly, to the tunes of ‘Sinnerman’ by Nina Simone. It’s all so suggestive that I believe the homophobic implications must be intentional.

There’s also Moriarty’s trial at the Old Bailey and Sherlock put behind bars for contempt, in spite of being summoned there as a mere witness. This is the same court room and very similar procedure as that of famous writer Oscar Wilde in 1895 (same number of hits that John’s blog was stuck on in ASiB, by the way). There’s even a sub-textual pun about it in the press: “Crown Jewel thief is to be tried at the Old Bailey.” The same prison (Pentonville) figures, where Wilde was held in hard labour two years for ‘gross indecency’, which broke down his health and spirit entirely and eventually led to his premature death. But homophobia Moriarty walks free, after having blackmailed the jury.

In another detail beautifully captured by Ariane De Vere, The Guardian writes at the end of their article: “The case is riddled with irony and intrigue but perhaps reflects a deeper malaise that seems to be at the heart of a society.” Is this ‘malaise’ perhaps meant to be homophobia?

(I’m aware many of these things have been pointed out before, by meta writers far more eloquent than me. I just think they deserve to be mentioned again and not be forgotten. Feel free to link to those meta if you have the links at hand).

During Moriarty’s trial, Sherlock meets a particularly nasty tabloid journalist in the men’s rest room: Kitty Riley. Kitty is pretending to be a fan and tries to flirt with him in an over-sexualised way, in order to get some juicy story out of him. Which Sherlock of course immediately sees through. He deduces an ink smudge on her wrist: “Journalist. Unlikely you’d get your hands dirty at the press”. So - what does this tell us about Sherlock’s view of journalists? Not willing to do ‘leg work’? When he refuses to give an interview, Kitty chases after him, starts making insinuations about him and John and offers to help him “set the record straight” for the press. It ends with a furious Sherlock expressing his disgust right into her Dictaphone:

Some time after this, John is summoned to Mycroft’s Diogenes Club to talk about Sherlock. It turns out Kitty Riley has published a defamatory story about him in The Sun - a big tabloid known for its misogyny, homophobia and Thatcherism during the eighties, with some insulting right-wing messages that even its own print workers refused to print. Possibly a hint in Sherlock’s little comment to Kitty about not getting her hands dirty at the press? When John sees the tabloid he asks Mycroft: “You read this stuff?” The article claims that Sherlock is a fraud, supposedly revealed by his ‘close friend’ Richard Brook (Moriarty in disguise).

Interestingly, when the Chief Superintendent of NSY later orders Lestrade to go arrest Sherlock, after Donovan has told him about her (very poorly founded) suspicions regarding Sherlock, he refers to him as “That bloke that’s been in the press” – a direct cause-and-effect scenario regarding media’s influence? Another interesting thing is that Moriarty claims himself (at their later encounter in Kitty’s apartment) to be an actor, a ‘story teller’ – something that he then repeats when he meets Sherlock next time, up at the roof top of Barts hospital: “’Genius detective proved to be a fraud.’ I read it in the paper, so it must be true. I love newspapers. Fairy tales. And pretty Grimm ones, too.”

And consequentially, after Sherlock has jumped, we see Mycroft reading the headlines and straplines of The Sun: “Suicide of fake genius” and “Super-sleuth is dead” and “Fraudulent detective takes his own life”. Indeed; in this show the media is not depicted in anything remotely like a positive light.

MHR In this little interlude in the hiatus between TRF and TEH, we get another noteworthy detail: As Sherlock travels around Eurasia solving crimes in disguise, he manages to get someone called Trepoff sentenced for murder (a reference to ACD canon) in Germany. And the case makes it to the headlines of the British press: CAM Global News writes “Trepoff ‘Guilty’ Sensation!” So this is Charles Augustus Magnussen’s news empire – the media personified. More about that later. And who has the ‘guilty sensation’? Who is feeling guilty? Could it possibly have to do with Sherlock feeling bad for what he did to John?

TEH The episode starts with Anderson trying to make a case for Sherlock still being alive and theorizing about how he made it, while the TV reporters are telling the world that Sherlock has been posthumously freed of all accusations; Moriarty did exist for real (they don’t mention Jim’s supposed suicide though). But the blame is now on the police - never on the media! At the end of the episode, Sherlock seems to have resigned to his media image; now that he has ‘returned from the dead’ and finally meets the press, he puts on his deerstalker and talk to the reporters outside 221B. It’s unclear to me why he actually does this - any suggestions?

TSoT By the time we reach this episode, media attention has turned to other stuff: a series of bank robberies have been committed during the last 1½ years, and according to the papers the police are ‘baffled’. Greg Lestrade thinks that the only way to capture them is ‘in the act’. But when an opportunity eventually comes to him, and they’re waiting for the criminals to fall in their trap, Greg receives an emergency call from Sherlock (or at least that’s what he thinks it is), and has to leave the credits to someone else.

Later in the episode John tells Sherlock about his friend and commanding officer, James Sholto, who lost a battle in Afghanistan and let a group of new soldiers to their death. Sholto is now living isolated because “the press and the families gave him hell”, and consequently he receives death threats. Yet another negative example of media’s influence. And when John and Sherlock later visit the Queen’s Household Guard to speak to private Bainbridge, Major Reed receives John in a rather condescending manner. Reed suspects him of being a journalist, and doesn’t want to let him in. But in spite of this, we are yet again confronted with “I’ve seen you in the papers - hang around with that detective – the one with the silly hat”. No end, apparently, to the negative influence the press has on John’s and Sherlock’s work.

Another case in this episode shows the Mayfly Man, who uses the newspapers’ obituary columns to find empty apartments where he dates certain women for just one night. There’s no sex involved, though; he just does this to get info about Major Sholto, whom he intends to kill. It might be of interest that the criminal in this case is the photographer of John’s wedding. Which could mean, if you want to look at it symbolically, that ‘death in the newspapers’ is connected to taking photos of people, which leads to attempts on their lives.

HLV And here we get to Charles Augustus Magnussen (CAM); a villain whom Sherlock loathes. On John’s and Mary’s wedding in TSoT he sent a card saying: “...Oodles of love and heaps of good wishes from CAM. Wish your family could have seen this.” Which makes ‘Mary’ look worried, as if there is a threat to this.

In HLV we learn that CAM is a petty but very powerful blackmailer who owns a news imperium. Sherlock sees him as a shark with dead eyes and is absolutely disgusted: “I’ve dealt with murderers, psychopaths, terrorists, serial killers. None of them can turn my stomach like Charles Augustus Magnussen”. “He uses his power and wealth to gain information. The more he acquires, the greater his wealth and power. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he knows the critical pressure point on every person of note or influence in the whole of the Western world and probably beyond. He is the Napoleon of blackmail...”

This goes far beyond the evil Charles Augustus Milverton in ACD Canon, and I think this is extremely telling: media is depicted as a villain – by Sherlock as well as by the show itself. It’s not about individual journalists; it’s about the whole concept of persecuting people, finding their pressure points, stalking their private lives and publicly speculating about things like their sexual orientation. It’s a form of blackmail which is mostly legal (in the name of free speech), but which totally has the power to destroy lives. Like Jeff Hope in ASiP, media CAM drives people to suicide whenever they try to resist his blackmail.

Isn’t the fact that CAM personally intrudes into Sherlock’s apartment, uninvited and with armed body guards at his side, quite symbolic as well? They don’t go in with unsecured guns like the CIA agents in ASiB, so why would Sherlock even allow this? Why would he allow them to intimidate Mrs Hudson with their mere appearance (remember what Sherlock did to the CIA guy in ASiB)? Why would he allow CAM to urinate in his fireplace without even a protest? Something is too weird to be true here, but that’s for another meta ;). What I want to point out is the metaphorical similarity between CAM and media’s methods: violating people’s private lives, getting into their homes and doing what he wants with them, because he has a hold on them: anything an individual say can be used against them, to smear their reputation. And there’s no way of stopping him from printing rubbish; “The world is wet to my touch”, indeed.

I believe the symbolism is unmistakable here; media has its grip on the nation as long as people sheepishly lap up whatever ‘warm paste’ they are served; even the authorities are under its thumb. Sherlock believes that he can fool media CAM, by distracting CAM’s attention to something he is prepared of (his drug use). But he learns in HLV that this is delusional, because CAM has his weakest pressure point entirely in his hands: John Watson. And as we perceive in TSoT, CAM clearly has some dirt on ‘Mary’ that can potentially harm John, even if I do think this might be something different from what it seems to be in HLV. Following the logics of TRF, I believe it’s more likely this has something to do with destroying people’s private lives, than with assassins and such.

The interesting thing is that Sherlock doesn’t actually solve this crime; instead he kills CAM in frustration, which temporarily keeps John safe (or at least so Sherlock believes).

But before this, there’s the whole debacle with Sherlock being shot (by ‘Mary’). His fake girlfriend Janine (who is CAM’s PA) comes to visit him at the hospital, but is acting very strangely. Janine has of course all reason to be upset that Sherlock lied to her and used her only to get into her boss’s office. But instead she has taken a supposed revenge on Sherlock by telling the press that he’s some kind of a sex god and have the tabloids print it. Why would this be so detrimental to Sherlock’s reputation, considering the reigning heteronormativity in society? It would rather ‘set the records straight’, as Kitty put it in TRF, so I find this a bit hard to understand as revenge. The weirdest thing of it all, though, is that not a word is printed about the famous detective being shot and almost killed! How is it even possible to keep this secret?? This isn’t really media as we’ve known it from the show; too ‘good’ to be true. I can totally understand that it hurts Sherlock on a personal level to be called straight, though, particularly since he’s in love with John Watson. But that’s not public, is it?

TAB Even in TAB, which partly happens in the Victorian age (where ACD canon took place), media is mentioned repeatedly. The Strand Magazine with the Sherlock Holmes stories (directly from ACD Canon) is sold on a London street, and Watson gets a copy of course. But Holmes doesn’t seem the slightest interested in talking to the news-vendor. In other papers, there are lots of sensational headlines, though, about ‘murder, mystery and mayhem’. The unsolved case of Emilia Ricoletti - the vengeful ‘ghost’ - seems to have particular coverage. Later in the show, Holmes gathers the news clips and tries to solve the Ricoletti case inside 221B, while influenced by drugs. Apparently even here, where the events are confirmed as happening inside Sherlock’s mind, the press is gathered outside his home. And for some reason Mrs Hudson seems to be serving them tea…

T6T The few things I can find in T6T that has to do with media is a) that John (supposedly) says on his blog that “You’ll have seen on the news about how Sherlock recovered the Mona Lisa”and b) that Ajay, ‘Mary’s old AGRA companion whom Sherlock had been fighting with about a Thatcher bust, seems to have a false identity as a journalist; Eshan Mohindra. Strangely, this is the third media person who gets murdered in this show (the first being Jennifer Wilson and the second Brian Lukis).

TLD In this episode, the media is back again as a concept; this time in the form of entourage around Culverton Smith, a philanthropist and TV celebrity who owns a hospital. According to Sherlock, though, Culverton is “the most dangerous and despicable human being”; a monster that “must be ended”. Sherlock is attacking Smith on social media, trying to make him confess to being a serial killer, but he gets caught in Smith’s public shows aimed to gain fame and sell products. There’s the Cereal Killer adverts and then Sherlock’s public chat to the hospitalized kids, together with Smith. But Sherlock seems unable to present any kind of evidence against Smith; at the end of the show we still have no idea who he has killed or where or when. But Sherlock gets his confession while Smith is trying to suffocate him (on his own request!). Hmm.

TFP In the latest episode of BBC Sherlock, media is surprisingly absent; not even 221B being blown up or the capture of Sherlock Holmes’ dangerous, murderous sister seems to have attracted any press attention (and not much of anyone else’s attention either, by the way). I wonder why that might be?

Anyway, this means we’ve now arrived to the end of my little monster-post research - thanks to everyone who has had the patience to read this far! Just for the fun of it, I’ve intentionally tried to write parts of this meta in a speculative way, in some ways resembling media’s methods of asking leading questions, of which there are many examples in the show. But even so, I think there are also plenty of evidence in it that begs the audience to pay attention to the mechanisms of media, and hopefully apply critical thinking to it.

In summary, I think the negative picture of media’s role in BBC Sherlock is blatantly obvious. What this actually means is not entirely clear to me, because in our society I believe media also has a very important positive role of spreading knowledge and important information, providing public insight into things like power abuse, investigating wrongdoings that otherwise never would be exposed, etc. This is not depicted, though. But since I tend to believe that this show is entirely presented from inside Sherlock’s head in one way or another, what we see might actually be Sherlock’s view of media. Which also would be consistent with his personal negative experience of them in TRF.

But in any case, the message I take from all these negative media references, is that we - the audience - should not just lap up whatever is said about this show in real life media. There’s definitely more to it than the ‘face value’.

Tagging some people who might be interested: @ebaeschnbliah @raggedyblue @sarahthecoat @gosherlocked @sagestreet @tjlcisthenewsexy

#media in sherlock

173 notes · View notes

sntgoodposts · 4 years

Text

Boogie and Frank Hassle

Unlike other critics, Frank Hassle is notable for the impact he has had on Boogie’s life. As a member of the comedy troupe MDE, Frank has a caustic and somewhat negative reputation, though he has never physically hurt someone in his videos, or even touched someone. His MO is to say controversial things to people, and film their reactions. However, Boogie worked himself into hysterics over Frank Hassle, culminating in attempting to murder him.

Introduction: According to Frank, one of his fans told Boogie that Frank Hassle was "coming for you”. As a result, Boogie panicked and began to DM Frank begging to collab with him. However, Frank refused. This often involved Boogie accusing Frank of trying to kill Boogie, and Boogie begging Frank not to kill his dog.

The Initial Meeting: Frank and Boogie were appeared together on the Killstream podcast in mid 2020. Boogie initially DMed Frank on Twitter to try and beg for leniency, applying varying manipulative tactics. Initially, he leveraged his usual emotional blackmail to try and tell Frank he wasn’t worth it. He accused Frank of planning to hurt his dog and family, and said he would happily be given pink belly. When Frank mocked this tactic, Boogie said he would ‘play along’ with Frank to help his audience. Boogie now tried to befriend Frank in order to stop the criticism.

As the show date drew nearer, Boogie seemed to understand that he would probably get angry on the show, and assured Frank that the ‘meltdown’ would be fake. Before the show, he told Frank he ‘trusts’ him. He demonstrated that he would not take it personally, and told Frank to ‘go nuts’.

The Killstream: On the stream, Frank called Boogie out on his signalling of children, his abuse contradictions, his weight gain and his manipulation. Boogie tried his usual emotionally abusive tactics of trying to shut opposition up by recounting his sexual abuse, mentioning his inverted penis, and talking about his low testosterone. He also warned Frank not to hurt his dog or family (which Frank never mentioned), and said that if he came to Arkansas he would be shot by Boogie’s neighbors. Frank in return insulted Boogie and told him he would come to Arkansas to document and ‘hassle’ him, and cited the SamandTolki megathread.

Notably, in the stream Boogie repeated the idea that he was a pacifist, and had never fought back in any physical confrontation in his life after a middle school fight. Boogie claimed he had hurt a child so badly that he never wanted to fight again. This matches previous claims when Boogie has claimed to be a pacifist who would never fire a gun.

After the stream, despite insulting Frank constantly, Boogie tried to play friendly and thanked him, which Frank rebuffed.

The Next Day: The stream led to a large amount of ridicule for Boogie, further losing even more fans due to his inability to defend himself against accusations of child molestation and lies. Boogie began to claim that he had rhetorically beaten Frank. As his critics accused him of having another meltdown, Boogie and his fans engaged in mass reporting of Frank’s videos, simultaneously reporting the SamandTolki Subreddit to Reddit admins by claiming it now had an association with the banned MillionDollarExtreme subreddit.

This censorship was successful, and Frank was banned from YouTube alongside the SamandTolki subreddit. Frank tried to appeal his ban unsuccessfully, while Boogie celebrated it despite claiming to have had nothing to do with it. Frank was understandably mad at Boogie however, and promised that he would be held accountable. He made some joke Twitter posts to try and bother Boogie more. Boogie continued to worry that Frank would one day visit him.

Months later: After Frank mentioned he was in Arkansas to visit a friend, and decided to take a picture to tease Boogie. Boogie began to panic. He uploaded a video of someone casually ringing his doorbell and walking leisurely away. Critics suspect this of being either Boogie’s friend or a delivery person, but Boogie contested that it was Frank Hassle. After being criticized for the fact this person looked nothing like Frank, Boogie changed the story to suggest it may have been a friend, incorrectly claiming that he said that initially. Finally, Boogie acknowledged that it could have just been a fan or unconnected person, before backpedaling completely.

However, Boogie still felt determined to end his feelings of persecution. Initially confident, Boogie went on Keemstar’s podcast with Frank, culminating in him threatening to kill and take pleasure in the death of the bemused Frank. In the interview itself, Frank said he had a personal friend who had been victimized by Boogie’s lies. Further, he said Boogie engages in ‘almost pedophilic’ behavior, and said he had seen Boogie coming on to girls under 25. He said “He’s a 45 year old man hitting up teens and girls in their early 20s”. In response, Boogie claimed “I’ve literally never done that, that’s a lie, why are you lying?”. It should be noted that Lucy Foxx was 20 when she met Boogie, and claimed he had come on to girls younger than her. In the interview, he said “C’mon pussy! C’mon pussy! C’mon pussy pussy! (mocking voice) I’m in your town but I won’t drive the extra three miles, I won’t drive the extra three miles because I’m such a pussy. Show the fuck up, I will end you”.

Boogie would panic after this, accusing Frank of claiming to have evidence of Boogie’s pedophilia and abuse of women. Although he claimed this evidence had no merit, he continued to demand that Frank come to his house to debate him, while also threatening to kill him if he did show up. He accused Frank of being too scared to rise to this impossible challenge, displaying a perverse excitement.

The Fans’ view: Boogie’s fans and critics alike showed a concern and willingness to call the police, but Boogie said not to involve the police, and claimed to have contacted a police officer, who falsely informed him that Boogie’s death threats towards Frank were justified. Critics believed this was an attempt to avoid another welfare check, however as Boogie claimed to be sitting in the closet with an illegal firearm, it was certainly not out of the question.

Boogie ultimately claimed he was turning his back on the previously claimed pacifist stance, bizarrely justifying this by retroactively claiming that he had been harassed for his entire life. Some critics believed this was an attempt to try and monetize his criticism, something he has wanted to do before and wanted to do earlier that week. However, the general consensus was that this changed after being confronted with potential evidence of misdemeanors.

Rising to the Taunts: After being taunted repeatedly on Twitter, Frank understandably felt he had to confront Boogie directly. He showed up at Boogie’s house. Unarmed, and filming, he rung Boogie’s doorbell. Boogie opened the door, gun in hand, and immediately pointed it at Frank. A friend stood behind Boogie, holding Boogie’s dog as a shield. He fired a warning shot, and Frank left. The facts were clear, Boogie had broken Arkansas law by taunting Frank and firing a warning shot, and the police came to his house. As Frank walked away, Boogie would taunt him, calling him a ‘pussy’(3:15). Boogie had the choice to keep the door closed, and knew Frank was unarmed. He also demonstrated that he was mentally aware of his actions at the time.

After Frank left, Boogie returned to Twitter to justify why he had seemingly abandoned his pacifism, claiming that Frank and the SamandTolki thread had resulted in death threats, a claim with no evidence. Boogie asked his fans to send him memes about the event and bragged about almost killing his ‘stalker’ on Facebook. Finally, Boogie declared he was going to bring a defamation suit against Frank, however given that the claims Boogie disputes are factually documented on this very blog as well as elsewhere, it is unknown how well this will go for him. A police investigation is ongoing, with Boogie’s neighbors upset with his actions.

Later that day, Boogie went on Matt Jarbo’s podcast to justify his actions, explaining how it was politically motivated to get attention to his bullying. A partial transcript of ‘Boogie’s Speech’ can be found here.

Frank would later upload a heavily edited video.

A Summary:

Boogie, by his own admission, is mentally ill and medicated. That and having a medical marijuana card federally disqualify him from possessing a firearm. Furthermore, Arkansas is a duty to retreat state and the castle doctrine only comes into effect when someone has entered your residence and poses a violent threat. Frank was not in Boogie’s home as Arkansas law does not define the front lawn as part of the residence. Finally, Arkansas does not allow warning shots as in their own code it states "what goes up must come down". Frank might be on the hook for a misdemeanor but Boogie committed felonies and bragged about it.

Did Boogie Fear for His Life? Boogie’s legal defense is contingent on whether or not he feared for his life. As a result, he has reacted with intense anger, even gaslighting Matt Jarbo on his podcast when people suggest that it could be partially staged. Frank is well-known as a prankster who is known for not physically touching his victims. Therefore it is irrational to expect him to escalate this, especially on camera.

Chronologically, Boogie’s initial attitude towards Frank was offering to play along with his ‘meltdown’. Boogie didn’t talk too much about Frank after that, but after finding out he was in Arkansas, began to claim Frank had harassed him for months (there is no evidence that this occurred). He said he had tried to talk rationally with Frank, but that Frank wanted to harm his mental health. He claimed that Frank was here to ‘harass’ and ‘scare’, and was chosen by Frank to trigger his PTSD. On the other hand, Frank has always been clear in conversation with Boogie that his main issue is with his creepy behavior towards young women, and that Frank has a friend who has been emotionally abused by Boogie.

During the shooting, Boogie acted oddly. First, opening the door unnecessarily. Boogie could see that Frank was unarmed from his external camera, and could also communicate with him from inside. In addition, he immediately pointed the gun at him upon doing this. He also stepped out through the doorway, towards Frank to fire a warning shot. Boogie acted in a way that some critics have said seems rehearsed, though displayed odd familiarity with the gun that he legally could not own. In addition, the repeated taunts, including calling him a ‘pussy’ while he walks away, do not seem the actions of someone fearing for his life.

Initially, Boogie claimed these taunts and provocations were justified, however on Matt Jarbo’s podcast, state that the police later told him otherwise. After the shooting, Boogie changed to say that he was scared for his life or health, completely going against the previous narrative. Many have raised the question that the entire series of events is fake, and an attempt to promote storyfire on Boogie and Keemstar’s part.

Boogie should not be armed

In addition to not fearing for his life, the question is also raised if a man who has admitted to wanting to use guns to kill himself should be allowed access to a gun in the first place.

0 notes