#anyway i know this track is a SUPER cliche choice but i do love it for any and all teeth havers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cockslutpadalecki · 3 years

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A Decade Under The Influence Writing Challenge

As I recently hit 10K followers and I’m approaching my 10 year anniversary of running this blog, (okay so it’s in 2022… let’s just skim over that part quickly), I would’ve normally picked a theme surrounding the number ten as per my other challenges, ‘cause who doesn’t love a good theme, but I decided to concentrate this one around my te(e)nage years, and the music that shaped it.

If you’re not familiar with any of the bands/artists below, I strongly suggest checking them out! Disclaimer: I’m purposely trying to include the cliche things we did back in the MySpace days... and the mood board is supposed to be awful so don’t even call me out, I’m calling myself out 😂

xXRULESXx

💕 Writers must be 18+ to participate.

💕 One creator per lyric choice. There is plenty to go around, but they will be given on a first come, first serve basis. So get yours in fast!

💕 Please send me an ask for your chosen lyric. My memory is like a sieve, I need to keep track of that shit.

💕 I have picked certain lyrics, but if you want to base your entry on the entire song, that’s fine. And if only the lyrics calls out to you then that’s all good too. Write where your inspiration takes you!

💕 End date is August 29th. Please get in touch if you need an extension closer to the time.

💕 Word count can be anything up to 4K. If you do need to go over (we’re talking a few hundred words, not by an extra 5K please!), let me know in advance. I only include this as I don’t have a lot of free time, and if something is super long, I can’t always read it all in one go.

💕 Anything over 500 words must be under a keep reading line break. And on that note, please include your “read more” line after a paragraph. Let’s keep everyone’s dashes nice and tidy.

💕 Story can be reader insert, OC, third person, gender neutral etc. This is the inclusion zone, we’re not here to exclude anybody.

💕 Submissions can be part of another challenge or bingo you are participating in, but not as an ongoing series. It will need to be read as a stand-alone.

💕 Characters “accepted” are:

- Jensen Ackles Characters: Dean Winchester or Soldier Boy.

- Jared Padalecki Characters: Sam Winchester or Cordell Walker.

- Chris Evans Characters: Steve Rogers, Ransom Drysdale or Andy Barber.

- Sebastian Stan Characters: Bucky Barnes, Lance Tucker or Lee Bodecker.

💕 No Stucky as a romantic pairing please. And while I do read RPF sometimes, this challenge is reserved for fictional characters only.

💕 A/B/O, every kind of AU and all other tropes are encouraged.

💕 Can be fluff, angst, smut, smangst, non-con, dub-con. Whatever makes your little heart happy, Honestly not a lot is off the table in this house… which leads me nicely onto my next point.

💕 The only things I won’t read are toilet stuff (yeah, I see you “Bucky has a piss kink” people… no thank you), lactation kink or paedophilia.

💕 That being said, please tag all of your warnings appropriately.

💕 You don’t have to be following me to participate.

💕 Tag me in your submissions! And use the tag #decadeundertheinfluencechallenge within the first FIVE tags. (If I haven’t liked your work within three days of your post date, please send me an ask or DM in case Tumblr has swallowed the notification. Please bear in mind that I like all fics to “bookmark” them so if I have done this, you don’t need to let me know it’s been posted).

💕 I reserve the right to not reblog any post if it goes against any of the rules stipulated.

💕 Please shoot me a message if anything doesn’t quite make sense, or you’d just like some clarification on any rules etc.

💕 Most importantly, have a blast!

-x- lyrics under the cut -x-

xXLYRICSXx

Note: I tried to pick the most popular songs by these artists, but some lyrics just didn’t translate in a fanfiction setting (for me anyway) so I picked others.

“I'm just a notch in your bedpost, you're just a line in a song” - Sugar We’re Goin’ Down: Fall Out Boy

"My hands are at your throat and I think I hate you" - Until The Day I Die: Story Of The Year

“My shadow's the only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating” - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams: Green Day

“I don't love you like I loved you yesterday” - I Don’t Love You: My Chemical Romance

“How does it feel when you kiss when you know that I trust you? And do you think about me when he fucks you?” - Your Love Is A Lie: Simple Plan

“I don't want this moment to ever end, where everything's nothing without you” - With Me: Sum 41

“You want nothing to do with me. I, I don't know what to do with you 'cause you don't know what you do to me” - Beating Heart Baby: Head Automatica

“You were fake, I was great. Nothing personal” - Break Your Little Heart: All Time Low

“In sorrow I speak your name, and my voice mirrors my torment” - The End Of Heartache: Killswitch Engage

“She's a dwelling place for demons. She's a cage for every unclean spirit” - Beast And The Harlot: Avenged Sevenfold

“Will you still hold me when you see what I have done? Will you still kiss me the same when you taste my victim's blood?” - The Crimson: Atreyu

“I know you touched her with them, you make me fucking sick” - Death Car: Fightstar

“I've never been perfect, but neither have you” - Leave Out All The Rest: Linkin Park

“And I'm addicted to your punishment, and you're the master, and I am craving this disaster” - Getting Away With Murder: Papa Roach

“But I'm not sleeping and you're not here. The thought stops my heart. Do you notice I'm gone?” - Letters To You: Finch

“Would you be my thousand fucks?” - I’m A Fake: The Used

“I still press your letters to my lips, and cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss. I couldn't face a life without your light, but all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fight” - Snuff: Slipknot

“When you tell me I'm a wreck, you say that I'm a mess. How could you expect anything less?” - Tell Me I’m A Wreck: Every Avenue

“You're so good at stretching the truth into a sugar-coated lie” - A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing: This Providence

“Your lipstick, his collar. Don't bother, angel, I know exactly what goes on” - Cute Without The ‘E’: Taking Back Sunday

“But I was too in love with you to leave. You were too in love with having someone, someone you could form to fit your needs” - Saving Seats: Across Five Aprils

“If I was to have just one more day, I’d make sure that I spent it without you” - Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life: Deaf Havana

“Your promises, they look like lies. Your honesty, like a back that hides a knife” - Attack: 30 Seconds To Mars

“I'll be waiting in the dark to drive this blade straight through your heart” - Ride The Wings Of Pestilence: From First To Last

“You're like an angel but with broken wings. A heart so cold can never show mercy, and you've got me right where you want me” - You Stupid Girl: Framing Hanley

“Yet I'm nothing more than a line in your book” - Juneau: Funeral For A Friend

“Standing over him, he begged me not to do what I knew I had to do cause I'm so in love with you” - My Bloody Valentine: Good Charlotte

“I watched his wildest dreams come true. Not one of them involving you” - Misery Business: Paramore

“You were everything I wanted, but I just can't finish what I've started” - My Friends Over You: New Found Glory

“I can't find a way out. And the clocks are broken, leaking time. One more second, I may die 'cause my wounds are open bleeding life” - Decorating For Cinco De Mayo: Kenotia

“I'm not gonna hear your reasons and ‘please-just-take-me-backs.’ We never were right. Don't waste your breath” - How You Love Me Now: Hey Monday

“All this time you were pretending. So much for my happy ending” - My Happy Ending: Avril Lavigne

“Come on let me hold you, touch you, feel you. Always. Kiss you, taste you, all night. Always” - Always: Blink 182

“Stripped down to my naked core, the darkest corners of my mind are yours. That's where you live. That's where you breathe. So go on, infect me. Go on and scare me to death. Dare me to leave you, tell me I'd never forget“ - SOS: Apocalyptica ft. Cristina Scabbia

“Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer” - Thunder: Boys Like Girls

“I lived through the damage from the heart you took from me” - Line In The Sand: Bleeding Through

“There's a glossary of dirty words for people just like you” - Taste The Red Heads: Dead Poetic

“You don't know how you've betrayed me. And somehow you've got everybody fooled” - Everybody’s Fool: Evanescence

“Dressed to kill, you look so right. I am drunk with lust tonight. Your wounds are opening wide, and they might be just my size” - Side Walk When She Walks: Alexisonfire

“And I didn't mean to fall in love, but I did. And you didn't mean to love me back, but I know you did” - A Lonely September: Plain White T’s

“I'll keep you my dirty little secret. Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret” - Dirty Little Secret: The All-American Rejects

“So let me get this straight, say now you love me all along? What made you hesitate to tell me in words what you really feel?” - A Day Late: Anberlin

“I feel you on my fingertips, my tongue dances behind my lips for you” - All Around Me: Flyleaf

“I'll wait for you, but I can't wait forever” - Ohio Is For Lovers: Hawthorne Heights

“I've found a reason to show a side of me you didn't know. A reason for all that I do, and the reason is you” - The Reason: Hoobastank

“Is it still me that makes you sweat? Am I who you think about in bed? When the lights are dim and your hands are shaking as you're sliding off your dress? Then think of what you did, and how I hope to God he was worth it” - Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off: Panic! At The Disco

“And I have reasons to believe that I'm not the only one you spend this time with” - Smile In Your Sleep: Silverstein

“I always knew you were such a sucker for that” - A Boy Brushed Red... Living In Black And White: Underoath

“I know you're gonna break my heart, and my life without you in it is a life that's not worth living” - Here I Stand: Marina Lake

“I need to hear your voice to talk me back into existence” - The Only One: The Mile After

“Pain without love. Pain, I can't get enough. Pain, I like it rough. 'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all” - Pain: Three Days Grace

“My broken heart's the only thing of value I have left” - Crystal Clear: Young Guns

“I hope you choke on every word you spoke when you were screaming at me” - Lovers and Liars: Matchbook Romance

“All the problems make me wanna go like a bad girl straight to video" - Straight To Video: Mindless Self Indulgence

“Remember when I said I love you? Well, forget it, I take it back. I was just a stupid kid back then. I take back every word that I said” - Stupid Kid: Alkaline Trio

“When you say those things in my ear, why do you always tell me what you wanna hear?” - All These Things I Hate: Bullet For My Valentine

“I know your type. Boy, you're dangerous. Yeah, you're that guy I'd be stupid to trust” - Good Girls Go Bad: Cobra Starship ft. Leighton Meester

“What if I can't forget you? I'll burn your name into my throat” - Caraphernelia: Pierce The Veil

“Every wound will shape me, every scar will build my throne” - Throne: Bring Me The Horizon

“Please send me anything but signals that are mixed, 'cause I can't read your rolling eyes” - Again I Go Unnoticed: Dashboard Confessional

“She's just a little girl. She knows nothing of this little game we like to play” - Sugar Skulls: Envy On The Coast

“A cloud hangs over and mutes my happiness. A thousand ships couldn't sail me back from distress” - Anna Molly: Incubus

“So just come back, we'll make it better. So just come back, I'll make it better than it ever was” - Maybe: Secondhand Serenade

“Tell me what you thought about when you were gone and so alone. The worst is over. You can have the best of me” - Best Of Me: The Starting Line

“Simply a look can break your heart” - Miss Murder: AFI

“But your love has never kept me warm when you weren't here” - My Darkest Hour: Scary Kids Scaring Kids

“They’ll tear us apart if you give them the chance” - Check Yes Juliet: We The Kings

Tagging a bunch of babes who might be/showed interested in taking part/could signal boost this: @winchest09 @deanwanddamons @sweeterthanthis @princessmisery666 @threeminutesoflife @letsby @waywardbaby @ozarkthedog @msmarvelwrites @avintagekiss24 @imanuglywombat @caffiend-queen @angrythingstarlight @stargazingfangirl18 @navybrat817 @river-soul @drabblewithfrannybarnes @the-iceni-bitch @myinconnelly1 @thinkinghardhardlythinking @jay-and-dean @fictionalabyss @impala-dreamer @kittenofdoomage @flamencodiva @sapphirescrolls @there-must-be-a-lock @downanddirtydean @katelynw93 @wonder-cole @deangirl93 @becs-bunker @watermelonlipstick @treat-winchesterswith-kindness @percywinchester27 @jensengirl83 @sams-sass @soaringeag1e @superfanficnatural @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @buckyownsmylife @hysteria87 @hoboal87 @phoenixblack89 @viinchester @holylulusworld @honeysucklesteve @manawhaat

#a decade under the influence challenge #writing challenge

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obeymeluv · 4 years

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Signs they Love You

Back for my 1 post a week to prove school hasn’t totally killed me! When I get a semester break, I’ll post more often. In the mean time, feel free to leave me chats or PMs for stuff you want to see! :) Something nice and sappy for an okay Saturday

These turned out really long so I only did Lucifer, Mammon, Levi, and Satan. I have to get back to studying :/. Maybe I’ll have part 2 next week?

Lucifer

You wouldn’t be able to notice it because his pride wouldn’t allow you to. One of the brothers (or, to Lucifer’s extreme mortification, Lord Diavolo) would have to tell you

He’s not sure if it’s just the appreciation of you not being as totally chaotic as his brothers or genuine human naivete that has somehow worn off on him, but he loves you

Will be outed by sappy, soft stares that last 2 seconds too long.

Asmo and Satan are the first to notice and he LOATHES that

If he’s tasked with waking you up that morning, his knock will be firm but his voice will be gentle. Almost persuasive or commiserating

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by school workload, he may have a private conference with the teacher and grant you a minor extension. Will you know it was him? No. Is he happy to see you brighten up and refill with hope just a bit? Definitely. Is it worth the teasing from Lord Diavolo? ...Sure.

If he responds to texts in the wee hours of the morning when he’s still pouring over paperwork, he likes you.

Anyone who knows him can see how his eyes soften when someone else talks about you. There’s a fond slowness to his actions, how he glides his hand imperceptibly over his chest as if to feel where that emotion is coming from. Boy is whipped.

Should Lord Diavolo invite him out for a meeting, he will bring you back something small. Something he thought you’d like. Beel is upset. Levi yells “SIMP!” from the second floor and prepares for Armageddon.

Actually reminds you about assignments if you’re not already up on it yourself. Your success is his joy.

Is very keen on if/when you burn the candle too long and has a sixth sense for bad sleeping habits. Will put you on a stricter schedule for your own health

It may take almost all of the brothers to do it (or just help from Diavolo) but if he gets drunk on Demonus you’re getting a whole BOOK about why he likes you. He almost charms your memory away but everyone practically dog-piles on him not to because he needs to deal with his feelings.

You’re the only one he won’t chase out of his study when he’s doing paperwork. He’ll even set up a little fire if you like the fireplace.

How he confesses: tries to take you on a fancy date to Ristorante Six. Does not know that Lord Diavolo and Barbatos know about this (damn time-travelling butler!) and basically crash the date just to encourage him. Just long enough to encourage him.

Kind of an, “So you chose this idea, Lucifer? Admirable! I’m sure your date will be amazing! Enjoy your evening!” as Diavolo walks back to his table.

Does Lucifer deny it? Look and see how red his face is. If you’re really not sure, ask Diavolo. He will gladly yell, “I cannot lie!” across the restaurant.

Mammon

For all his talk, when he really, really decides he likes you, he doesn’t know what to say.

He can console himself with how obvious it is and how you made the best choice, but he has to show it! What to do?

Mammon’s kind of confused about it because he doesn’t really change how he behaves. You didn’t catch on already?! C’mon, human!

What, does he have to spell it out for you? Do an interview with Majolish?

His first tactic is to just be around you. Be subtle, and maybe cuddle a bit more than usual. Things to show he’s kittenish and at your mercy. Comfortable with you.

You don’t seem to be getting the hint so he throws the net a little wider by trying to find things you like or that you’ve been talking about. They mysteriously show up at your door.

It sends the others on a gossip train about who your admire could be and when they list off everyone BUT him, he wants to slam his head on the table.

Feeling tired? Coffee! Backpack heavy? Silly human, the BEST man can help you with that, OBVIOUSLY! Mammon jumps at the chance to do any little thing for you because he cares. His actions always speak louder than words.

Feeling kind of defeated and embarrassed, Mammon will go talk to the flock of crows that meander around the House of Lamentation’s yard when he really needs them.

For the next few days you’re accosted in the nicest way, birds chirping at you and dropping off various shiny things

You collect them, finally showing them to Mammon and he’s embarrassed that his representative animal has taken to courting you on his behalf.

He calls them to him, embarrassed and ready to rant or fall into the ground never to be seen again, when they start talking. Repeating all the things he’s practiced saying.

“Hey baby,”, “Hey human,” “Love you!”, “Silly! Silly!”, “Dummy, no, dummy!”, “My human.”

It’s broken and confusing, six or seven bird children cawing in your face and bobbing, but you get it.

Levi

Levi’s not the best at expressing himself but it counts, right? As much as he hates to admit he’s some kind of shy tsundere, you know what that is, right? He doesn’t have to say it?

Yes. Yes he does. His brothers are getting too chummy with you and you don’t understand his signals. Time for Plan B.

If you get invited to stand in line for a midnight release, he hopes you take it. Then it’s just you two hanging out in line? What’s this? He brought snacks? Totally not for the two of you BUT you an have some if you’re hungry. It’s whatever

When he’s not doing boss raids and playing with online friends, he’ll ask if you want to play something with him. A Player 1 needs a Player 2, you know?

I headcanon that Levi knows how to play some unusual instruments like the kalimba or a real ocarina. I could see him making you a song on one of those. Or just playing it because you inspire him. He’s very good with a harp and will play it when he’s in the mood.

Boy also likes to draw and paint. Especially loves watercolors. Would it be weird if he gave you a painting of you as a mermaid? Just you and the ocean. Beautiful.

Was there a really cute plush or knickknack you liked? Levi has his ways, regardless of how rare or limited edition it is. It will be yours.

He has a hard time understanding a passing comment of interest versus a genuine want because he genuinely wants everything he’s interested in, so if you hear a whisper about him almost securing something, stop and look it up. Make sure it’s not super expensive!!

Probably outed by Belphegor, who feels like Levi’s broadcasting all of his stress, frustration, and hope through his dreams. (”His dreams are weird. Just different ways of asking them out, and if he messes up it restarts like a simulation. My brain hurts.” he says to Beel)

You’re allowed to come into his super-restricted bedroom haven when everything’s too much. It’s very exclusive since the Mammon incident. Be happy.

Might go swimming in his big tank and pick a seashell or rock to make a necklace out of. He hopes you like it.

If he’s not outed by Belphie, some of his online friends made a game demo they wanted him to try. They specified it was two player so he asked you to join in. While he’s in the middle of bragging about how he knows people, knows developers, he totally misses the dating-sim like dialogue and the big reveal.

Doesn’t really kick in until he realize the characters look like you two. You’re busy saying ‘Yes’ to “Do you like me?” as Levi absolutely threatens to rip them apart six ways to Sunday. Almost in full demon mode, too.

Everything falls out of his brain and quiets in his throat when he realizes the characters are kissing and ‘THEY SAID YES!’ flashes on the screen.

“Y-You like me?”

“Yep.”

It was that easy all along. Levi thinks he’s going to faint.

Satan

Becomes aware of it pretty quick but ignores it for a looong time

Is it rude or foolish of him to assume you would also like him back?

Run away into books. A solid plan. If you don’t think about it, it’s not an issue

Oh, but it is an issue when you fall asleep after a mutual day of reading, forced in by bad weather. He finds his heart fluttering in a painful squeeze as he quietly whispers all the things he dare not say when you’re awake

It’s nervous poetry, and it’s beautiful

Satan tries to get himself back on track, to focus on reading, and he gets frustrated when he’s stuck on the same page almost an hour later

When you’re on the brain he just can’t do anything else

How does one show their affection? He’s swimming in books for a new reason now, as voracious as ever

He brews you a pot of Melancholy Coffee and is a bit disappointed you don’t know the meaning behind the bitterness. Wants to break the pot when Lucifer jokes about how it tastes exceptionally bitter to him as well.

Okay, so coffee didn’t work. What else do people do when they show their affections?

Asmo suggests a ‘not a date’ date and Satan sighs inside. Sounds like a lot of work and effort. It’s not that you’re not worth it, but he has a feeling that everyone will know and look at him the whole time.

Tries anyways. You guys go to a beautiful nature conservatory and take a tour of the plants and some indigenous animals

You’re starting to realize it now, he can tell. Satan tries to answer your question without saying it while you’re at school. You walk together, he offers to carry some of your books, and always requests that he be your project partner

Nearly there. If there was a single defining moment for him, he’d want it to be classic. He shows up at your door with a rose and asks you to go on a moonlit walk.

Mammon’s poking fun about how cheesy and cliche it is, Asmo’s gearing up to shut Mammon’s stupid mouth, and Satan just whisks you out the door with an aggravated sigh.

No matter what side of the house you’re on, Asmo throws up the biggest, gaudiest handmade sign that’s like ‘CUTEST COUPLE! 10/10!’

#Obey me!#Obey me x reader #Lucifer x Reader #Mammon x Reader #Levi x Reader #Leviathan x Reader #Satan x Reader

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unrestedjade · 3 years

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Baseless Ferengi headcanons no one asked for and that get increasingly queer-navel-gazing and self indulgent because the horrible space goblins have consumed my brain:

- Mobile ears, because if hearing is so well developed and important to them they should be able to aim those big stupid radar dishes. Also because then they can emote with them and that's cute. THE AESTHETIC IS PARAMOUNT.

- Since they canonically sharpen their teeth with chew sticks and sharpeners, their teeth must grow continuously. So I submit: subcultures that let certain teeth grow out as a fashion/political statement. Ferengi punks and anarchists with 5" tusks. Ferengi with all their teeth filed flat (mom and dad HATE it).

- Corollary to the above, most of their teeth are crooked. At the least, they don't share our fetish for straight teeth. What if their teeth are deciduous, and there's no point in trying to force them into perfect alignment, since they'll just fall out and get replaced? So like, sharks but their teeth can also grow longer with no limit. WHAT HAST EVOLUTION WROUGHT ON FERENGINAR :V

- Parents nagging their kids to sharpen their teeth "or they'll grow up into your brain and you'll die :)"

- Personal space? Don't know her.

Okay I need a cut because there's too many now. WHOLE SOCIETY OF GAY HOMOPHOBIC UNCLES AND AUNTS GO I HAVE A PROBLEM

- I can't remember who on here put forth the idea of them having retractable claws but Yes. :3

- Pushing back against the worst canon episode a bit but: relative ear size being the only obvious sexually dimorphic trait, and even that having enough of a gray area that the only way to be 100% sure you're talking to a male or female Ferengi is if you do a blood test. Unless they're intersex! *shrug emoji*

- This is why they're so fanatical about gender conformity and their Victorian "separate spheres" attitude to men and women's roles. Capitalist patriarchy is fragile! And as artificial to Ferengi as it ever was to Humans! (self-indulgenceeeee about gender shiiiiit)

- You know how with domesticated rabbits, the rabbit getting groomed and paid attention to is the boss? Yeah. Go ahead and paint your bestie's nails, just don't be surprised if she cops a little bit of an attitude with you from then on.

- Their fight/flight/freeze/fawn instincts skew heavily toward the last three, and what a lot of other species read as annoying sucking up is the Ferengi in question feeling anxious and unsafe. Especially if they don't feel integrated into the group. Even being at the bottom of the pecking order is better than not being in the flock at all.

- If they DO opt for fight, it's ugly and typically their last resort. Bites or scratches will get infected without intervention-- microbes that their immune system can handle could cause big trouble for aliens. You might wanna check for full or partial teeth that break off and get lodged in the wound, too.

- Too many of these are tooth related but I don't care. :B More teeth stuff: you know what else has teeth that grow constantly? Puffer fish. Likewise, Ferengi can chew up mollusk shells as easy as potato chips, and they need the minerals for their teeth. (Imagine grandpa Sisko offering Nog a crayfish for the first time and watching as he just...pops the whole damn thing in his mouth and crunches away...)

- Their staple foods seem to be grubs and other arthropods, high in protein and fat. I've unilaterally decided their cuisine also involves a lot of edible fungi, ferns, plant shoots and seeds. Gotta get those vitamins. Overall flavor profile leaning toward umami, vegetal, and fresh herbs, and pretty mild (or "delicate" if you wanna be snooty about it, which a Ferengi probably would let's be real).

- Not much sugary food. I'm basing this solely on Quark's aversion to root beer as "cloying". Which could definitely just be his personal preference, but most of the people I hear hating on root beer cite the actual sassafras/sarsaparilla flavor (saying it tastes like medicine) not the sweetness. Nog might be the weirdo outlier for being able to enjoy it.

- Their home planet isn't bright and sunny, so their eyes are better at discerning shades of gray in low light conditions, with relatively weak color vision. Which could explain why they dress Like That.

- Conversely, human music has a reputation for stinking on ice because a lot of it is juuuuust lightly dissonant or out of tune because we can't pick up flaws that small. Ferengi can, and it drives them up the *wall*.

- Music? So many different kinds. Traditionally, maybe lots of percussion and winds, and water as a common component of many instruments to alter pitch or tone. Polyphony out the ass. Some of the modern stuff is an impenetrable wall of sound if you're not a species with a lot of brain real estate devoted to processing sounds. Pick out one melody to follow at a time.

- Yes, back to teeth again I'm sorry. It's a sickness. At some point in their history, pre-chewing food was just something you did for your baby or great grandma as a matter of necessity. Possibly your baby gets an important boost to their immune system and gut biome from your spit. At some point takes on a more formal intimacy aspect and gradually drifted from something all adults and older kids do to something only women do. Your husband and older kids have perfectly functional teeth, but you love them, right? =_= (Think old memes about husbands being useless in the kitchen if little wifey isn't there to cook, but even more ridiculous. Ishka was right about everything but especially this. Thank you for making your family chew their own food, Ishka. Not all heroes wear capes. Or anything!)

- How did they get started on the whole men: clothed vs women: unclothed nonsense? My equally stupid idea: men just get cold easier. Those huge ears dissipate a ton of body heat. Cue Ferengi cliches like "jeez, we could be standing on the surface of the sun and my husband would put on another layer." At some point, again, this got codified and pushed to ridiculous extremes in the name of controlling women and keeping everyone in their assigned box, to the point that women just have to shiver if they really are too cold and men have to pass out from heat stroke if the alternative is going shirtless, because That Would Be Inappropriate.

- Marriages default to five years, but they're also the only avenue for women to have their own household or any stability. Plus their religion places no emphasis on purity save for pure adherence to the free market and the RoA. So, curveball to the rest of their patriarchal bullshit: female virginity isn't a concern in the least. Bring it up and they'll rightly side-eye you.

- Family law is absolutely bonkers and lawyers that specialize in it make BANK. I feel like custody would default to the father usually but oh wait, the maternal grandfather has a legal stake in this, too, and your next father-in-law is asking HOW many kids are you dragging into my daughter's house, etc etc. Growing up with a full sibling is way rarer than growing up with half or stepsiblings, since it usually takes both men and women two or three tries to find someone they vibe with. (Not love, unless you're super cringe.)

- A misogynistic society is a homophobic society. Imo those flavors of shittiness just come in pairs. Homosexual behaviors are fine within certain parameters (aka "always have sex with the boss") but not on your own terms. To add spice, bisexuality is their most common mode (because I'm bi and these are my hcs for my fics I'm not writing, so there), but capitalism demands fresh grist for the mill so you better get het-married and pop out some kids you lowly peons. You have a choice so make the proper one. :)

- Corollary to the above, that doesn't keep all kinds of illicit "we're just friends with quid-pro-quo benefits for realsies" affairs of every stripe and every gender from going on everywhere. Many Ferengi have a lightbulb moment somewhere in early adulthood when they figure out their dad's business partner or the "auntie" who visited their mom every month had a little more going on.

- Plus there's way more gender non-conformity and varying degrees of trans-ing than the powers that be have a handle on. Pel isn't unique, even if most would have to somehow make it out into space to be able to thrive.

Damn a lot of these are just my personal bugbears plus THE GILDED AGE BUT WITH HAIRLESS SPACE RODENTS ain't they

- Women can't earn profit, okay. But lending or "lending" things to each other isn't commerce, riiiiiiight? To be assigned female is to master navigating a vast, dizzying barter/gift economy. Smart boys and men leverage this, too, and there are splinter sects that view this as the purest expression of the Great Material Continuum.

- Of course plenty of women make profit anyway, and just do their bast to dodge the FCA. The tough thing about insisting on using latinum as currency is that cash can be so hard to track, you know?

- Because of the RoA, guys are discouraged from doing favors or giving gifts without setting clear expectation of getting some return on investment. This can twist into an expression of friendship (and of course women do it too), and the ledger will keep cycling between debit and credit among friends for decades. A common mistake aliens make is to tell them recompense isn't needed without explaining why, or return their favor or present with something that zeroes out the debt. The Ferengi will assume you want to break off the friendship. (I cribbed this from dim memories of an African studies course I took in 2007 and whose textbook I know I still have but I can't frigging find it...)

- Flirting, they do a lot of it for a lot of reasons. Roddenberry made it clear that they're just straight up pretty horny, but there's no reason it can't pull double duty for building alliances with other people, smoothing over feuds or disagreements, or cementing friendships. Ferengi who are ace and/or sex-repulsed are possibly viewed similar to the way we'd view someone who's "not a hugger/not big on touching" and if they flirt just don't get offended if it doesn't go any further; aro Ferengi don't garner much comment aside from an occasional "wow how badass, never falling in love with anyone."

- where to even start on making sense of the Blessed Exchequer??? Like seriously, what is this literal prosperity gospel insanity, I need to force myself to re-read Rand and like, some Milton Friedman for this shit. Help.

- fuck I'm probably going to actually do that, RIP me...

#ds9 #star trek #meta #ferengi #i love them Too Much help #reliving my brief libertarian phase from high school from the opposite direction #my heart wants to make them simultaneously as queer and as repressed as possible #i didn't even make it to the goddamned blessed exchequer my head is too full #i will find beauty in this vulgarity if it kills me #this is too long #why did i spend my time this way

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brythebibliophile · 4 years

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Always Choose You—A Spencer Reid x reader

a/n: hi! so this fic is super personal for me because I struggle with abandonment issues, feeling inadequate to my sister, and many more things mentioned throughout the fic. I originally wrote this because I wanted to vent to someone so I sort of just manifested a conversation with Spencer Reid and I just turned it into an x reader for your enjoyment. I hope you all like it and just know my messages are always open if you need to talk. have a good day! (also I don’t think I used any gender-specific pronouns for the reader except at the end spencer uses the term “girlfriend”)

word count: 2132

Something had been bugging you all day and you really needed to get it off of your chest. The only problem with that was that the thing you wanted to talk about you got yelled at for talking about every time you did.

Oh well.

You picked up your phone and dialed the only person you wanted to talk to. You heard the dial tone and took a few breaths. Here went nothing.

“Hello?” Spencer’s voice came from the other end of the call. Gosh, his voice. It was high and curious and perfect and you were crazy for it.

“Hey! Hey, Spencer, it’s me,” you said, the nerves obvious in your voice. Not necessarily a stutter, though. More like confident anxiety. “Listen, I’ve kind of had a rough day and you’re the only person in the world I want to talk to. Do you think we could meet up? We could go somewhere or I could go to your place or…?”

“Yeah, yeah for sure,” his voice was so reassuring. Not to be cliche or anything, but hearing him talk literally cleared everything else from your head.

Spencer was your best friend. You had joined the BAU about four years ago, and as soon as you got there you knew that Spencer was going to be your favorite person in the world. If you were some other girl, you would probably say that you were absolutely in love with him, but since you’re you—the commitmentphobiac who can’t even handle the accountability of the word ”crush” much less the phrase “in love”—you were just a girl with a best friend that you love platonically(but also if he asked you out you definitely would not have said no).

Anyways, you and Spencer had been best friends for about four years now. Everything was going great until your sister joined the BAU team about six months ago.

Now, you absolutely loved your sister. More than anyone except maybe Spencer, and even that was a stretch. The thing is, all your life people had CONSTANTLY compared you to her. And 99% of the time, she was better than you. She was always the better daughter, better friend, better singer, better student, better athlete...basically whatever it was you two were doing people thought that she was better than you.

And you’re generally a pretty confident person who doesn’t compare yourself to others. But you fell into the comparison trap with her. every. single. time.

Which is why it was so important for you to have Spencer.

“Cool! So, umm, your place? I can be there in ten if that’s fine?” You said, anxiety slipping into your voice again.

“Sounds perfect! See you then, y/n!” You could hear him smiling through the phone.

“See you soon, Spence! Love you.”

“I love you, too, y/n.”

“Bye!”

So, you put on your favorite sweater, a beanie, and left your apartment.

As you walked the familiar path to Spencer’s apartment building, you contentedly breathed in the brisk air. It was mid-October(which was probably you and Spencer’s favorite time of year), and it was the perfect temperature. More on the cool side, but the nip the air gave your nose was perfectly delightful. You decided to stop and grab hot chocolates for the two of you.

A few minutes later, you were knocking on Spencer Reid’s apartment door. The pair of you had a not-so-secret secret knocking pattern so that the other would know it was you. Not only was it useful for dropping by unexpected, but it was also helpful since you were both a bit paranoid from the job. Spencer answered the door almost immediately.

“Hey! I brought hot chocolate. Also, we have to go for a walk later because the weather is perfect out,” you said as you walked in, sat on the couch, and handed him his hot chocolate.

“Wow, thank you so much. So what’s up?? What’s bugging you?”

His concern allowed delightful little butterflies to enter your belly. “Honestly, it was stupid. I don’t even know what I was thinking, you were probably busy. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“Woah, woah. Easy, girl. It wasn’t stupid at all. You’ve actually been acting weird for a while now, but I didn’t want to say anything because I was scared you would get angry with me.” He chuckled a bit.

“Honestly, Reid. I’m fine. It was stupid. Let’s just watch a movie or something.”

“Y/n,” he said faintly. “Nothing you do could ever be stupid.” You laughed a bit.

“You would be surprised, Doctor.”

There was a bit of a silence in which you both took a sip of your drinks. The warm liquid slid down your throat with a satisfying sweetness.

“Seriously, y/n/n,” he nudged you with his foot. “Talk to me. What’s up?” You gave in.

“I dunno, Reid. It’s just,” you struggled to find the correct words. “literally my entire life, I’ve been compared to my sister. She’s always just been so perfect. And you know me. I’m super confident and I hate comparing myself to others and I barely give a crap what anyone thinks of me but as soon as she opens her mouth my confidence just shatters. It’s absolutely obliterated. And I mean you know I have abandonment issues from everything when I was a kid but part of that is also due to having my best friend of literal years decide she likes my sister more than me one day and then basically ignore me for years after that and I just love my sister more than anything but she makes me feel so inadequate all the time but whenever I try to voice that to her she just tells me that I’m being crazy!”

You were starting to tear up. You looked over at Spencer to see how he was taking in your word vomit. The way he was looking at you nearly made your tears fall.

“Every friend group we’ve ever been in together, every teacher we’ve ever had, every church we’ve ever been to...she’s always the favorite.” Your voice broke a little bit. These were thoughts that had been bottled inside of you since you were eight years old or younger. No one had ever listened to you this much. You kept going.

“I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that even though I love [insert real or imaginary sister’s name] more than life, I’ve always appreciated the things in my life that were just my own. I know it’s selfish and I probably sound like I’m crazy but the BAU was kind of the one thing that I had in my life that she wasn’t a part of. And undoubtedly everyone else in the team is going to end up loving her more and honestly I’m prepared for that. I’ve made peace with it. I just-“ the tears were starting to fall. “I’m just not ready to- to lose you, Spencer Reid. You’ve been my best friend for four years and I might even love you more than I love my sister which is saying something but I just know that it’s probably inevitable for you to not love her and maybe (probably) even fall in love with her because that’s what happens to guys when they interact with my sister. I’m just not ready to lose you to her, Spence. I don’t think I can handle it.“

The tears had stopped a bit ago, but your eyes had been stubbornly focused on your feet basically the entirety of your little monologue. You risked a look up.

Spencer was staring at you with such an intensity you almost sank down into the couch. His jaw had slightly dropped and his eyes were trained on you like you were an unsub he was tracking down.

“It’s crazy, I know,” you mumbled, trying to recover the absolutely horrendous situation you just made yourself. “It’s just that I can see you doing it. Falling for her, I mean. And I just can’t- you know what, never mind. I never should have come. This was a mistake, just forget everything I just sa-“

You were cut off by something crashing into your face. It was Spencer. You just kind of sat there in shock for a second before literally melting into the kiss.

Holy crap, you thought. You closed your eyes and ran your fingers through his hair. Man, you had been wanting to do that. He tasted like cinnamon and hot chocolate and goodness and just overall everything that made you happy. He smelled like old books and his apartment. The kiss was gentle after the initial face slamming and it only lasted a few seconds, but you savored every moment of it.

“Y/n,” he whispered when you broke apart. “this is gonna be really difficult to articulate, so just bear with me here.”

He looked to you for reassurance. You nodded, probably looking like a fish out of water.

“I don’t know how anyone got it into your head that you were inferior to your sister. First of all, you two shouldn’t ever be comparable because you’re just so polar opposite. I mean she’s nice and all but you’re just so you. You’re just so smart and loud and if you have something to say you will be heard and you’re funny and dorky but you own it in a way that it doesn’t seem like you’re weird but you also have so many layers and it’s been so amazing just trying to uncover them all over the last four years. And you could never be selfish because you’re just so loving and caring and you’re just absolutely brilliant in every way. I could go on for hours listing reasons why you’re so amazing and that’s not even starting to mention how beautiful you are, like, physically. I just-” he was starting to fumble over his words. “You deserve the galaxies, y/n. You deserve so much better than everything you’ve gotten in life. I don’t understand how anyone could possibly choose anyone but you when given the choice.”

You were tearing up again at this point. “I know you’re saying all that, Spencer, but there’s no reason for me to believe it when ‘statistically‘ everyone thinks she’s better.”

He looked at you as if you had physically hurt him with this statement.

“Given the choice, I choose you. Every time. It doesn’t matter who the other option is. You’re the most important person in the world to me, and I need you to trust me on this. I know it’s difficult for you, but I need you to trust me here. Look at me.” You looked up to meet his eyes.

“I. Choose. You. Every time.”

“Promise?” You stuck up your pinky finger. He softly smiled at the gesture.

“Promise.” he said as he intertwined your pinkies. You both kissed your thumbs. You wiped a few tears from your eyes with your free hand.

“I really hope you meant all that, Spencer Reid, because if you were lying to me I have a pinky-back guarantee.” He smiled.

“There were no lies in this apartment tonight, y/l/n.”

He put his arm around you and you lay your head on his shoulder. You sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

“So,” you started, the anxiety seeping into your voice again. “What does this mean for us?”

“For us?” He inquired, sounding mildly confused.

“Well, you just kissed me, genius. I don’t think that came from out of nowhere.”

Spencer started to stutter things out.

“Well, I- it- I couldn’t think of another way to calm you down and I- it- just- I don’t know? I guess it depends on if you want a romantic relationship with me..? I don’t want to wreck our friendship but if you’re open to it-?”

You smiled softly.

“Yeah, I’m open to it. I mean, you kind of just promised me to never leave my side and if you do I have a finger-off warranty that’s never expires. soooo…”

“A lifetime finger-off warranty, indeed,” he smirked. “Just to clarify, I don’t want to tie you down. I just- we could be really great if we- if we tried.” You laughed a little.

“I already said yes, Spencer. Stop trying to sell me on it and just let it be.”

“Wow. So I have like a girlfriend now?”

“Yeah, you have like a girlfriend now.”

And with that, you gave him a kiss on the cheek and you settled in to watch a movie. You felt a lot better knowing there was at least one person in the world who would always choose you.

Every time.

#spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds #aaron hotchner #x reader #reid x reader #mgg fanfiction #fanfic

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 3 years

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Bulgaria brings a mentally reassuring anthem to Rotterdam 2021

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I’ve said so that VICTORIA herself sort of agreed to have done “Tears Getting Sober” if she was allowed to, but for one I have to thank that EBU said that the artists can’t have their 2020 songs back? You’ll see why when I get to the review after two boring paragraphs of text with technical info, for the country that is Bulgaria!

ARTIST & ENTRY INFO

Victoria Georgieva (or VICTORIA, but I can’t be arsed to continuously capitalize her name so I’ll just say Victoria from now on) was born a singer, for she started to sing at the age 11, went to a specific school of angel voices (no really that’s what it was called), and tried to go to the X Factor while a liiiiiittle too young until realizing that she needed to wait for a few years, and wait a few years she did, and went on to the X Factor again.

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She didn’t win, but she still got to sign a contract and sing some stuff in Bulgarian before she decided to rebrand, started singing in English, and completely decided that ballads is her style. She cannot really do upbeat most of the time. So you can’t really have a bop from her in the future. (Well except that there’s a couple of songs in her discography that I personally classify as “bops” but they’re more like... idek sad bops?? but they can be danced to, but I get her, she doesn’t do anything that’s more loud and upbeat and clubby and summery kind of - in short, nothing you can go “YAAASSSS QUEEEEEN” over to.)

The entry she ended up singing, “Growing Up Is Getting Old”, is what I can describe to be about overcoming the emotional twists and turns inside of you as you grow older, because as it turns out, it ain’t what you thought it would be - but if you push just a little further, you realize that if you’re growing up, maybe the life isn’t so bad, afterall - you are able to get up. Somehow. It was written as part of Boris-Milanov-led songwriting camp held during summer, and a lot of people seemed to be a part of it because multiple different folk have songwriting credits on the potential Bulgarian entries this year.

REVIEW

Let’s get this out of the way immediately. I prefer “Growing Up Is Getting Old” to “Tears Getting Sober”. The former sounds a lot less irritatingly underwhelming and a lot more positively overwhelming you with warm emotions and sunglow. “Tears Getting Sober” was a song I could never really connect with - maaaaybe the last chorus is much better on there, but it doesn’t do much for me either, I guess.

Their 2021 forray however is a much different kind of thing - once again, going for lyrical non-cliches, Victoria tells a tale about her inner turmoils and continuing in life, in a way that’s personal to her and also kind of relatable to all of us. We all have these moments of fear and anxiety and nervous systems aching. If only there was someone who’d tell us that we’re worth saving... thanks a lot Victoria, you’re the MVP. Filling in the void that Netherlands from last year had brought us but not anymore - another personal song about getting old and having those kind of feelings inside - and doing a great job at taking the baton in the right way (even with featuring the word “grow” in both of the titles, neat coincidence).

Not only the lyrics feel like a hug, the song just emulates ray of sunshine and golden glitter coming down from the sky, Molly Sanden style. The violins in the G major key playing so precisely, building up momentum throughout the entire song, slowly but surely - starting with the ticking clock in the first verse that may have subtle violin in there; and the first chorus is just so simple piano, and then the second chorus has a tinge of electronic something, and the last chorus goes full in with the backing vocals boosting the song, after Victoria performs the quite magnificent bridge... now I don’t have synesthesia but I associate music keys with colors, and to me G major would always come across as something yellow or orange - “Growing Up Is Getting Old” is a perfect example of why’s that for me. And obviously, Victoria’s love for harmony-humming (even if there’s just one instance of it after she sings “star crossed soul”) complements the song to a T.

And it turned out to be a much better choice than last year’s. Maybe finally a female ballad I am getting behind.

Now I wanna know why the bookies don’t appreciate THIS entry as much as last year?

Granted, now it’s 2021 and the environment is so much different, and the songs have changed, and the dynamics have changed, and now there’s suddenly more competition at stake. And for Bulgaria it fares quite much more underwhelmingly - well, at this moment they’re like 6th, which isn’t bad, but there’s a lack of sung praises coming its way, not quite a feat that “Tears Getting Sober” actually achieved, being the bookies fave right before the cancellation of last year. In general the year has been pretty dry for the previous winner picks like Iceland, Lithuania and this, but I can’t say that the previous winner bets from 2020 are all that dead either? Though I gotta say that Bulgaria wasn’t gonna win 2020 anyway, so it’s a lose-lose in this case.

Also I just can’t at that music video being a little dramatic at the beginning, with the cancellation of Eurovision being presented as if it were a worldwide disaster during which we all shall lock ourselves into bunkers and wait until the better days, eventhough the panini is not war and war supplies kit is not just enough to survive it. But it seems like that the world is quite literally falling apart, as evidenced by Victoria going through all kinds of pathways away from her living room, meeting a (presumably) mini version of her somewhere in between, and literally surrounded by the shaking environment by the last moments of the song

before we realize it was just reality recursing from the TV’s point of view that Victoria was watching all along, and then she leaves the living room again, but in her world, everything is normal and she could just go wherever she wants by car. Even I can’t come up with a storyline ending that’s somewhat intertwined and all plot-twisty and more confusing than that. But props to her team I guess

Approval factor: Let’s say I somewhat approve this message. Follow-up factor: For the sake of argument let me just say that Bulgaria is moving on a great path, eventhough the former entry leaves me cold, at least the current entry keeps me warm at all times, like a cup of cocoa and a good blanket. Please Bulgaria, never run out of sponsors. Qualification factor: I’ve seen one or two people throw around the “surprise NQ” tag for this song and I don’t get why??? There’s no way that the tense atmosphere of semifinal 2 would sure-fire-ly kill Bulgaria, even if they have a lot less chances to win this year than they had the last one. There can be some shock NQs indeed though, and if there are, I am paging... uhhhhh Finland? Idk why but you might see what I mean if I ever get around to reviewing “Dark Side”. Bulgaria? Never. It may not win the semi but it will cradle around the top 7 somehow.

INTERNAL NF CORNER

That’s right, Bulgaria managed to do both.

At the time when one other of Bulgaria’s songs got released, within the *Special* Eurovision September 1st-onwards range, people naturally succumbed to their primal instinct of asking whether that’s her Eurovision song... only for Vic to probably announce this early on that no, it’s just *one* of potential ESC entries she’s harbouring. And the remaining potential ones were all on her debut EP. Who actually got a more well-orchestrated schedule for everyone to follow, and yet, people were much more keen to cling on the first EP song out of the gate, “Imaginary Friend”. Now I get that the fans of that song were super upset at the revelation that IF is not going, but it is a technically strong song for the sake of being a technically strong song, and I don’t want to think that Victoria is only forced to choose the songs that can win for her, so she’s such a sweetheart for gravitating towards a song she could dearly care about. So props to her team saving the initial winner for last to be revealed, lol.

Though wasn’t her personal favourite a Billie-Eilish-lite-upbeat-kinda-track Phantom Pain?

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Which was also my personal favourite?

Look, I know that favouring the only non-ballad in the whole lineup (well “Ugly Cry” is also not quite a ballad but its beat is kinda so-so, so I tend to ignore it) is kinda sus, also, y’all are sick to death to Billie Eilish comparisons, but I do believe that Billie would never be able to do an “Imaginary Friend” while Victoria could do a “Lovely”. This makes me remember the cover art of Billie’s debut album where she sits on her bed, dressed in white, and so is Victoria on this very MV, with strange shit going on behind her in the mirror. To the mirror, her reflection acts creepy, back again.

The other 2 I don’t feel like caring about enough, sure they got their cred, sure there’s one entry properly crediting Milanov (who seems to not have an actual entry this year that’s purely attributed to *him*, as opposed to 3 last year, 2 of which were performed by acts that returned this year????), sure there’s the funny thing about having a funeral song where out of this and Finland only Austria managed to send a quote unquote “funeral” song, but I think the funeral song would’ve sounded better if the pre-section of it on the “Phantom Pain” video was THE “funeral” song itself, and not whatever was that other funeral song.

In between there was a public sort of survey where people could submit feedback and positive words to Vic’s choices to help her decide - I didn’t get to vote but I feel fine with the winner eitherway, and that counts for something! And the end result was revealed at the very end of Victoria’s very own rooftop concert.

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The colors on the circle thingy of this, they were meant to symbolize all Bulgarian entries up to Victoria’s 2nd one, in pictograms that kind of reminded me of Coldplay attributing every song on ‘Mylo Xyloto’ its own little symbol.

The concert was not only full of music and also adverts for the inaugural sponsor iCard (that also included some element of foreshadow in between the suspense, you’ll see why), but also the Bulgarian folk talking before each song, saying all the positive nice words they can for Vic; that she’s talented, and that they were so excited that Bulgaria was doing well in the odds last year prior to cancellation, bla bla bla... also some people were proud of voting for Bulgaria outside Bulgaia, and they made puns about the forthcoming songs on the concert that they were introducing, and so on, and there was also someone called Dara, whom I really want to be sent by Bulgaria one day to show off that they’re not afraid of doing trashy-esque bops that don’t necessarily win

Also they reminded me that Lucy from No Angels (aka the sole reason Bulgaria 12′d Germany in 2008) still exists.

Also Azis.

There was also an intermission where Eurovision 2021 acts could say all the nice words to Victoria on their own part. And several artists chose to... how shall I put it... use up their several seconds rather interestingly. Like how The Roop would say something real quick only to delve into more of their usual “let’s dance, let’s discoteque! *hand scissors* ;P” self-promo, and Senhit carelessly being allowed to say whatever she wants in Italian without subtitles <3 Sorry sis, they’re only given to people from another white-green-red flag-color country.

About the iCard foreshadow... so there’s their advert about Victoria waiting in the line to get something in the Soft Vocals Store, and people ahead of her giving her money the standard oldfashioned way, and the old lady at the counter is... slow, to say the least. After a good amount of time spent waffling around, Victoria finally pulls out the iCard application and pays for the imaginary items she wants, then narrates some stuff about said application, and a Eurovision entry of hers plays when the old lady is at home, spending time in front of TV enjoying the music. Before the concert, the song that played was “Tears Getting Sober”. The advert played once more before Victoria’s big entry decision and entry MV reveal, and in place of the 2020 entry, “Growing Up Is Getting Old” was the one that sounded out loud... Now you may think that there were attempts at some sort of spoilage here, but after that ad before the concert EP NF result, there was this other advert starring Victoria that played “Imaginary Friend” at the end, a last-ditch effort to trick viewers into going “see? just because that ad played the chosen song doesn’t mean it’s the chosen song!! this song could as well be a chosen song as well!!” yeah no shut up GUIGO IS the chosen song kthxbyebye.

ANY LAST WORDS?

Having said all that praise, I actually have “Growing Up Is Getting Old” fairly low on my ranking. It’s just because the year is so damn good and I have a lot more songs to care about more than this, but I appreciate the gesture that this singer is sending very much. Good luck on your road to conquer Europe, Victory-ia, I’m sure you get the best of the experience and all, because you would deserve it.

#eurovision #eurovision 2021 #rotterdam 2021 reviews #bulgaria #victoria georgieva #victoria #growing up is getting old #i was planning to publish this review on the same day as borisbubbles dropped his review of bulgaria #but my timing is lazier than his i gotta admit #so yeah #gif

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slytherin-team · 4 years

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

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

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

I want to talk about Petunia’s character.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, so this is soooo interesting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish this was explored more in the series.

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

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

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vagrantblvrd · 4 years

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yes hello may i please ask for snippets or not!fic of Nicky and Joe

Well hello there, friend!

You have asked for things I would love to gush about for forever because these two with the owning of my heart?

(Disclaimer: I’m not sure how ~in character/canon any of this would be because I’ve not had time to read the comics yet, but anyway!)

Also, this is totally going to be rambling not!fic so I hope that’s okay?

But just imagine being neighbors with Joe and Nicky, you know?

These two nice young men who are either really good friends or really good friends *wink wink* , if you know what I mean?

I’m totally imagining them having this nice little apartment somewhere when they’re not with the team or that year they reference in the movie where apparently they weren’t hero-ing about as a team?

At least one (1) little old lady in the same building and of course they help her with the groceries and errands, fixing things around her place that break that would take the landlord forever to get to. (And probably hire someone who’d do a terrible job of it.)

Sweet young men, and you know there would be all these jokes from them about this little old lady making them feel old because she’s taking a class for whatever hip, new exercise trend is making the rounds at the time at the community center a few blocks down and they’re yet to step foot in the place themselves and so on.

She’s delighted/blushing because such sweet young men? Meanwhile Joe and Nicky are sharing this look over her head because lol, if only she knew?

And of course she laughs and swats their arm all, you rascals, as they escort her up to her apartment after running into one another in the lobby or whatever.

Joe’s carrying her groceries and Nicky’s all :D at her - not flirting, goodness no, Joe would get jealous, he swears.

But also, okay, also.

Single mom with a kid in the building (I’m going hard on my fave cliches/tropes, sorry) and they help keep an eye on the kid when they’re around and the whatnot?

Like when Single Mom and her kid moved in there’s sort of kind of a basketball court out back? But no one’s used it in years and it’s a mess. The net/chain from the net is long gone/rusted away and the paint on the court is faded and it’s more the kind of place people toss stuff too big to haul off to the dump without renting a truck and why bother with the hassle when they can set it there and just...forget to do the thing they told themselves they’d do one day?

So, yeah.

And it’s like.

There’s this day where the kid’s out back practicing ball control or whatever, and every so often you can hear the ball get away from them because wow, yeah.

The surface of the court’s a little torn up, cluttered, crowded and there’s not enough room to do much without running into junk.

This little moment where they’re watching a movie or a show or whatever and that sound over and over and this well clearly someone has to do something kind of moment between them expressed in looks and eyebrows, right?

Maybe they’ve been hero-ing on the side or whatever, small, local things because I sincerely doubt they’d just not if there wasn’t a dire reason for it, you know? (Someone actively looking for them, and even then...yes.)

Anyway, anyway.

There’s a home improvement store not too far away and they have coupons, discount vouchers, whatever from fixing up their own place.

(I really want there to be at least one (1) hidden compartment/sekrit hiding place because much weaponry, and sure, let’s put this one in America because reasons? But also seriously suspect.)

Not asking too much to use those coupons/vouchers on stuff to fix the basketball court up, repaint it and put up new net/chain if not replace the baskets completely.

Weekend project that may take longer than anticipated if the team goes out to hero or whatever, but it gets done.

Has some of their neighbors getting curious enough to see what they’re doing, and then it’s a group project.

The kid is like !!! and cautiously hopeful about things because hey, you know, it’s nice of them and all? But also why? What do they get out of it?

Little Old Lady bakes cookies and the whatnot and someone brings lunch and it’s just a lovely bonding moment for everyone in the building.

AND THEN.

When the basketball court’s back to its old glory there must be a basketball game?

Vicious game of H.O.R.S.E. at the very least, and of course Little Old Lady takes part.

There’s an unspoken agreement to take it easy on her because little old lady? But then it’s revealed she used to play professional basketball, and also Joe and Nicky are sweet and all?

But they’re sloppy players, and then scores another letter without breaking a sweat and then it’s back to the way H.O.R.S.E. should be played. (No-holds barred cutthroat style. Except for maybe not so much because kid? But yes.)

Little Old Lady teams up with the kid against them once the others drop out - because picnic the building set up and it’s a nice day and idk, happy funtimes and people enjoying one another’s company while Joe and Nicky get utterly destroyed at H.OR.S.E.

These and other lovely shenanigans?

But also that time a Baddie tracks them down.

Because of course it has to happen, right? Not necessarily someone who knows about the whole immortality business so much as some hired goon with an axe (lol) to grind and they’re the asshole’s target?

Or maybe it’s a new baddie who’s head of the team and some operation of theirs or an ally’s the team fucked up but good, and decide they can’t let that stand.

Joe and Nicky happen to be the ones they find first - luck or whatever else - and it starts out civil, as these things go.

Goons in suits knocking on doors around the building and asking questions, hold up photos of Joe and Nicky taken from security cameras/snooping about.

And of course, of course, the entire building is fiercely protective of those two sweet young men, you know?

Why Joe and Nicky could never do those horrible things the goons (posing as federal agents with shiny badges and all) say they did. Why, those two couldn’t hurt a fly! You’ve got the wrong people, agents.

Joe and Nicky know something’s going on, but they’ve got Team business and are away a fair amount as the Baddie sets things in motion, right?

Come back after one bout of heroing to Little Old Lady showering them in baked good and all? Invites herself in to help them put it all away and chides them about not watering that one houseplant someone gave them as a gift not too long ago and so on.

Just.

Unusual behavior from her and the others. Even the kid is acting weird, telling Joe and Nicky their mom wants to thank them for the basketball court restoration thingamabob by having them over to dinner.

(Belated kind o deal because that was months ago, but she had a big project at work and all these other things since and anyway, anyway, she’d like to have them over to thank them and of course they can’t say no to that, you know?)

The baddie has his goons watch the building, and happen to see Joe and Nicky getting back from another “business trip”, but before they can get to them Little Old Lady pops up and commandeers Joe and Nicky. Needs their help moving her couch or what have you.

And then, okay, everything makes sense with what their neighbors have been doing, protecting them from the baddie’s goons and whatnot?

Sweet as it is, they can’t let it go on because someone’s going to get hurt.

But they play along for the moment, let Little Old Lady and the kid and everyone else think they’re getting away with it (only everyone knows what’s going on - no one’s trying that hard to hide the truth about it, so long as they keep the goons from hurting Joe and Nicky and just. Yeah?)

But then!

The goons get tired of everyone’s interference and go after Joe and Nicky and the fighting begins!

Super cool choreography using the environment (and hidden weapons compartments and such???) and also swords, because of course.

The fighting spills out of Joe and Nicky’s place and down the hallway - Little Old Lady opens her door and trips one of the goons who’s taking aim at Nicky before slamming it shut and taking cover - and by the end of it it’s pretty damn obvious that Joe and Nicky are far from harmless?

Like.

The expected amount of blood and bits and bodies. Joe and Nicky restrained themselves because civilian environment, and also cops aren’t fond of responding to a call to find a literal bloody massacre greeting them.

Also, trying not to traumatize the kid. (Who incredible, yes, but still a kid and even the adults who see what happened are a little yikes, you know?)

ANYWAY.

Joe and Nicky are like, well, damn, because no way they can just keep on living there after all that, right?

Still have to deal with the head baddie and also no way anyone in the building wants people capable of what they did around?

AND YET.

Little Old Lady plays up the little old lady aspect? Granny perfume, knitted shawl, bifocals and oh, my, and goodness, look at all the mess, and could you speak up, young lady, my hearing’s not what it used to be and so on as the cops take her witness account.

Single Mom is just. :O that something like that could have happened, and are Joe and Nicky okay? They’re such nice people. Always a kind word, and so helpful! It’s just awful that something like this happened to them.

Joe and Nicky just ??? while looking like horror movie survivors (...or not, because that’s a lot blood and do you two need medical care?), one of them half-heartedly trying to hide the sword they’re still holding where the cops won’t notice it.

(They did, though. They so did.)

The poor cops who have been called to a horrific scene and are met with everyone’s concern for Joe and Nicky while the goons are carted away for medical care/morgue.

Absolutely know Joe and Nicky are far from innocent in all this? And yet! They are the victims here, right? Minding their own business and attacked by goons in their own home, why of course they had no choice but to defend themselves.

(Also, also, I am choosing to make Single Mom a lawyer or soon-to-be lawyer in this because it makes me stupidly happy? Like the cops are all “Okay, yes, but the swords???” while she’s like “Officer, please,” because America and there’s a store down the street that sells assault rifles for God’s sake. Seriously.)

In the end the cops can’t actually charge them for anything - okay, wait, no. Noise violation or some such because the goons with their guns and later the screaming?

The cops aren’t that interested in digging into matters because reasons? Joe and Nicky being so popular among their neighbors, sure, but other things like the basketball court and such that helped make their jobs easier? Low-key neighborhood watch and so on ~disguised as helping neighbors to and from their cars while chatting about their day and then maybe anonymous/not-so-anonymous tips about shady types loitering about.

(Look. Distinct accents? But also backgroiund noise and Joe/Nicky asking the other what they want for dinner and the cops are just. Plausible deniability all the way on this one.)

But whatever.

Joe and Nicky are like uh, what now?

The obvious, smart thing to do would be to move somewhere else after dealing with head baddie?

But it’s such a nice neighborhood and once thet/the team deal with head baddie there shouldn’t be a problem if they stick around for a couple more years before having to move on because lol, they don’t seem to have aged a day and all that.

Also, though, also.

Some time after all that hullabaloo and Andy and Nile stop by to make sure Joe and Nicky aren’t getting into trouble? (Ahaha, yeah. I’m pretty sure Andy and Nile would be the ones getting into trouble, but I digress.)

Just.

Andy and Little Old Lady staring one another down?

Little Old Lady taking in Andy’s axe in its carrying bag and doing that sniff, head toss thing before telling her she better not get those boys in trouble, understand?

Nile is looking between Little Old Lady and Andy like this is the best goddamn thing she’s ever seen, super freaking delighted and desperately wishing she could record it all to show Joe and Nicky because you know they’d love it too?

Andy all Cool and Haughty but secretly/not-so-secretly loving Little Old Lady and just, yessss.

They get the same treatment from all of Joe and Nicky’s neighbors they run across just to get to their apartment.

And when they finally get there it’s like. If they didn’t know something went down before all that, they sure as hell know now, you know?

Andy just gives them this look because of course this isn’t the first time something like happened with Joe and Nicky.

And, sure. They probably told Andy about it all as a precaution/matter of habit in case Something Happened to/with them? But they also handled it fine on their own, but now she and Nile get all the juicy details that couldn’t/always sound better in person over drinks and food and family meeting up again and yeah.

AND.

Some poor cop following up on Joe and Nicky or something only to be greeted by Andy (possibly holding her axe not in its carrying bag because cleaning/sharpening/honing it or Deep Emotional Moment involving it and probs a flashback or whatever) and is just

!!! before telling her why they’re there and getting the hell out as soon as they can because they’ve heard stories about The Incident with Joe and Nicky and there were swords involved?

Like.

Actual swords???

And now some lady has an axe??????

So, yes???

I feel I glossed over Joe and Nicky and their stupid adorable lives with the making dinner together and in-jokes and absent-minded kisses in the morning or in passing whenever?

Bickering/teasing and stealth!kisses.

(Also? Sparring and swordplay because they wouldn’t want to get sloppy! Also stealing kisses and pinned to surfaces and cocky grins/smirks and you know how this kind of thing goes, so yeah.)

But also, also.

I don’t know how alcohol affects them with the whole immortality/healing thing they’ve got going on? I’d assume they can’t really get drunk anymore, but!

The thought of Joe being a little tipsy or what have you while Nile is introducing the team to a movie or show and says something involving the phrase “It’s a love letter to....” regarding a remake or genre or actor or what have you, right?

Only for Joe to be “Love letter? Love letter?! They don’t know the first thing about love letters!” and goes off on a rant/composes a love letter on the spot to Nicky who is :DDDD and looking at Joe all sickeningly in love with him because yes, this is not a situation that deserves such ~passion for a thing? And yet, it’s Joe and he’s staring into Nicky’s eyes as he speaks and Nicky’s like, :DDDD because feelings and such. (Also, I feel Joe would finish his love letter to Nicky with another passionate kiss, so Nicky’s not about to interrupt him on that one, you know?

Meanwhile Nile is like “Please, no, this is the millionth time you’ve done this since I met you guys and I just want to show you this thing. I’m sorry I said anything, Andy please do something about them?”

Andy’s sitting there like, ah, yes, my idiots all soft and fond and sappy as shit over her team/family as Nile tries to get Joe to maybe save his heartfelt love letter to Nicky for after the movie instead?

#the old guard #joe x nicky #joe/nicky #prompt fills #Anon #technically not a fic #vagrant fic #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#Anonymous

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theeeveetamer · 5 years

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Moar Headcanons!

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

Do we mean like, a physical location? Or are we talking physical acts like kissing and sex?

If we’re talking about physical locations/physically being present somewhere: Modern AU - Leo is terrified to bring Takumi anywhere around his father. I headcanon modern!Garon as an abusive alcoholic and honestly Leo doesn’t need to expose his boyfriend to all of that.

Takumi is probably nervous to bring Leo around Ryoma because Ryoma is an overprotective big brother. And Ryoma is probably not too thrilled about his little brother falling in love with a Nohrian.

Either way, family dinners are hell for both of them.

If we’re talking about physical acts (e.g. “Getting to first base”): I think Takumi is really nervous the first time they have sex because he’s got such an inferiority complex. He’s super worried that Leo is going to see him and be disappointed and not want to be with him anymore. Or he’s worried that he’s going to be really bad at it and Leo will make fun of him.

Leo would be really insecure about kissing Takumi for the first time. I imagine that Leo realizes his feelings before he knows if Takumi is 100% on board with this whole homosexuality thing, but they’ve been getting to know each other and it seems like Takumi is into him romantically but he’s not sure...

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

I’ve had a headcanon for this rattling around in my head for awhile actually so! Cliche time!

I don’t think they would officially be together when their first kiss happens in canon AU. I think they would both still be kind of dancing around each other and trying to feel out the other’s attitude towards being gay. Light flirting, but nothing that couldn’t be too heavily misconstrued.

Anyways, I think Leo and Takumi would probably be fighting in some battle and something tragic happens. Either one of them almost dies, or one of their comrades dies/gets very injured. Afterwards they lose track of each other.

I also imagine that after every battle they both end up in the library. That’s the next time they see each other after battles usually. They aren’t necessarily meeting each other, that’s just where they both go to unwind. So, Leo has no idea if Takumi is alive and well until he walks into the library.

He goes into the library and Takumi is already there, just chilling out and reading a book. Since Leo practically ran in it gets Takumi’s attention, and he looks up from his book and actually smiles because he’s also very relieved that Leo made it back okay.

So, at that point I think Leo would just say fuck it and throw caution to the wind, because life is too short to dance around this any longer. And he’d march right up to Takumi and kiss him then and there, no romantic fanfare. And Takumi’s response would be “Well damn, what took you so long?”

23. Where is their favourite place to be together?

I feel like a lot of these are too easy for Leo and Takumi but like... Basic ass answer? The damn library. It’s usually pretty empty, and there’s lots of comfy couches to snuggle up on together. And it’s quiet so they get to just enjoy each other’s company.

24. Where do they first have sex?

Honestly, I can see Leo being one of those guys that wants to wait for the “perfect time.” But there’s not really a perfect time during a war, so I think he’d do his best to make it special. Wine and dine, then take Takumi back to his tent which has a bunch of candles and flower petals strewn about. (Basically every virgin’s idea of a perfect first time)

And, if we want a bonus, Leo made Niles light the candles just before they arrived (to prevent them from accidentally burning down the tent). And, as a joke, Niles decided to arrange flower petals on the bed in the shape of a dick. Which Leo is kind of mad about, but Takumi thinks is kind of hilarious. Plus it probably helps break the tension for him, since Leo was working this up to be such a perfect evening which in turn made Takumi super self conscious about being absolutely perfect at sex the first time he’d ever done it.

25. Why do they fight?

Okay, I know that they’re kind of combative when they first meet, but I honestly don’t think they’d fight all that much. They might have little spats over small stupid stuff, but nothing I would qualify as a full blown fight. However, I do think that once Forrest got old enough they would have a series of increasingly volatile arguments over his clothing choices. Since Leo is so adamantly against Forrest’s dresses, and I think Takumi would be upset that Leo is borderline abusive over fucking fabric. I don’t think he would be super okay with the dresses either, but I also don’t think he would say anything against it because... Well, it makes Forrest happy.

Anyways, pure speculative headcanon time! Just based on his Fates dialogue I kind of think Leo had a similar “phase” when he was younger. Not necessarily dresses, but where he acted slightly more effeminate than one might consider acceptable for a young boy. And Garon probably quashed that whole thing soul-crushingly quickly. Forrest mentions that part of the reason he started wearing dresses was because Leo once called him adorable while he was wearing one. Seems kind of weird that he would turn around so drastically later in Forrest’s life, so I think Leo initially thought crossdressing was just a phase for Forrest and he would grow out of it (like Leo did). And once it becomes obvious it’s not a phase, Leo cracks down to prevent Forrest from becoming a “freak” in the eyes of society.

And Takumi would have to go through the painstaking process of explaining to Leo that, really, who cares if their son is a little weird? As long as he’s happy?

#leokumi #leo #takumi #headcanons #fe14 #fe fates #ship meme #headcanons meme

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kanasmusings · 6 years

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[Translation] SERVAMP Admission Drama CD - Sloth Pair

Remember how Alice in the Garden came with special drama CDs during the release~? Here’s the one for Sloth Pair! Thank you to @lia-snow who shared the audio with me!

SERVAMP Special Admission Drama – Sloth Pair Chapter

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission.

※ Also, if anyone knows where I can find the Alicein Brothers’ admission drama CD, please do tell me so I can translate it as well ^^

Under the cut, enjoy~

SERVAMP Special Admission Drama – Sloth Pair Chapter

(Kuro playing video games)

MAHIRU: Kuro, you have nothing to do today, right? Wanna go out for a bit?

KURO: Huh? If it’s a supermarket timed sale I won’t go.

MAHIRU: Today’s different! I was thinking of watching a movie once in a while.

KURO: Movie?

MAHIRU: Yep! I got special one-time viewing tickets from Uncle.

KURO: I’m busy.

MAHIRU: You’re just playing games! You’ll get fat if you keep eating potato chips and lying around!

KURO: Oh, don’t mind me. I’m the type who doesn’t get fat no matter how much I eat.

MAHIRU: … It’s true so I won’t retaliate…!

KURO: We don’t really have to go to the theatre if it’s just a movie.

MAHIRU: The ticket’s valid for today only! There’s the SERVAMP-Eve distance limit too so let’s go.

KURO: (munching on potato chips) What a troublesome contract.

MAHIRU: Don’t you say that!

KURO: Is that a movie you really wanna see?

MAHIRU: Yeah, the preview on the news this morning looked super interesting.

MAHIRU: An athletic team on the verge of closing down’s aiming for Nationals, it said!

KURO: You really do love that kind of cliched youth story, huh?

MAHIRU: Well, sorry for being cliched! Simple’s good, isn’t it?

KURO: Then, feel free to re-enact that trailer you saw.

MAHIRU: E-eh?! Re-enact?! Me!? U-um…

(Mahiru and Kuro begin re-enacting)

MAHIRU: “I’m Shirota Mahiru, a first year high-school student.”

MAHIRU: “I’m your average track-and-field club member. Is what it’s supposed to be but…”

(sudden dramatic music)

MAHIRU: “What?! Me, participate in a town revival project marathon?!”

KURO: “Mahiru, it all relies on those legs of yours.”

MAHIRU: “B-but, I only run short distances.”

KURO: “A 100 meter track or a 42 kilometer one is no different [from each other] in this planet’s long history.”

MAHIRU: “If I don’t run the marathon then… the world will be swallowed in darkness?!”

KURO: “In order to stop that vampire’s wild ideas, the only thing you can do is overcome your personal best record.”

KURO: “We’ll do some training in C3’s special facilities!”

MAHIRU: “I was supposed to be an average high-school student!!”

KURO: “And so, it will be revealed… A deep connection between vampires and a marathon. Right now, a seal shall be placed on Mahiru’s right leg…”

MAHIRU: (groaning) “M-my leg…”

MAHIRU: (in pain) “S-somehow… My body is… hot…!”

MAHIRU: “Why must I—Something like this…?!”

KURO: (in a cheerful out-of-character tone) This spring, the curtain will rise on the best youthful story!

KURO: “The SERVAMP movie, “Mahiru On the Road!” will be coming to theaters near you this coming spring on April 7, 2018!”

KURO: “We will be… one with the wind!”

(re-enactment finishes)

MAHIRU: NO, WE WON’T!!

KURO: Do it, Mahiru. With the winds of Hakone.

MAHIRU: Who was that doing the last narration?! Was it you, Kuro?! Stop using a cheerful tone all of a sudden!

KURO: Guess I have no choice. I got interested so let’s go to the theater.

MAHIRU: What part of that “trailer” interested you?!

***

KURO: Uwah… There’s too many people.

MAHIRU: This is normal for a theater on a weekend, you know? Come on, let’s go.

KURO: Impossible… Can’t deal. I’m going home.

MAHIRU: Wait a sec! Don’t go home!

MAHIRU: I’ll be fine even if it’s a movie that you wanna see so, come on.

KURO: What about “Mahiru on the Road?”

MAHIRU: That movie never existed from the beginning!

MAHIRU: Ah, anyway, it looks like they’re not showing the movie I wanna see in this theater.

KURO: Look that stuff up first before coming here.

MAHIRU: Sh-shut up! Sorry…

KURO: It’d be exposed that you’ve never had a movie date before.

MAHIRU: Sh-shut up! Leave it!

MAHIRU: Ah, look. What about this action movie? O-or this animal story, Nya-“Nyanderland…?” or something? It looks like it’s a tear-jerker.

KURO: Getting soothed by me is better than seeing Nyanderland, right? I’m much cuter than those actor cats. And moreover, mine’s natural.

MAHIRU: You just have too much confidence on your cat form—

(Kuro transforms into a cat)

MAHIRU: Ah!

KURO: Meow~ Meow~ It’s the soothing Kuro-chan’s big adventure~ Meow~

MAHIRU: Don’t turn into a cat in a place like this!

KURO: “I, the Healing Cat hero, go on an adventure together with my companions, the Hedgehog and the Fox in order to find a mysterious flower that blooms only on a full moon in order to wake Mahiru who’s fallen into an eternal sleep after pricking his finger on a spindle.”

MAHIRU: Th-that’s long…

KURO: “It’s to save Mahiru! Kitty Cat Punch~”

MAHIRU: What sort of movie is that?

KURO: (grunts) “Wh-who would’ve thought that Tsubaki would betray me?!”

MAHIRU: Tsubaki’s been our enemy to begin with.

KURO: (mimicking battle sounds) Nya, nya, nya, nya!

MAHIRU: Wai--what? You’re only doing sound effects now! Explain! What’s this cat doing?!

(Kuro transforms back into a human)

KURO: Well, all jokes aside…

MAHIRU: I can’t keep up with your “jokes” sometimes…

KURO: Shall I teach Mahiru-kun who’s never been on a movie date a smart way to buy tickets?

MAHIRU: That’s none of your business!

MAHIRU: I’ll go to the teller now so you wait there! Ah, don’t you go home either! (Mahiru walks away)

KURO: (sighs)

***

MAHIRU: Hey, Kuro, sorry for the wait—Not here!

MAHIRU: Did that guy really go home…?!

KURO: You’re late, Mahiru.

MAHIRU: Kuro! Where did you—

KURO: (munching something) The shops.

MAHIRU: That’s too much no matter how you look at it! Why are you holding like, what, a bucket of popcorn?! I can’t see half of your face!

KURO: A popcorn and soda is a must when watching a movie. (Kuro slurps from his drink) Oh, and also, ice cream and churros…

MAHIRU: You said it was troublesome and now you look like you’re enjoying…

KURO: I’m a cat with high adaptability after all.

MAHIRU: Don’t say your specialties!

KURO: So, what movie are we gonna see?

MAHIRU: Eh? Some are full so I bought one that had some seats still left…

KURO: Hmm…

KURO: “A cursed melancholic mansion. Unexpected happenings that will dye it red…”

MAHIRU: Um, yeah… It’s a little scary but I had no choice so…

KURO: Eh~ I can’t handle horror though… And also brutal things.

MAHIRU: You’re a vampire, what are you saying…?

KURO: Y’know? Things like where zombies are running around or where there’s blood all over. I can’t handle things like that.

MAHIRU: But you make my blood spill all over, you know?!

KURO: Huh? I haven’t done it that bad. Compared to other vampire works, mine’s still mild.

MAHIRU: D-don’t compare… You’ll get scolded.

KURO: I’m a qualified scholar when it comes to vampire-related stuff.

MAHIRU: Where did you get qualified?!

KURO: We’ll have to go see if that’s something up to my standards—Huh?

MAHIRU: Hm, what?

KURO: This movie… The director, lead actor, screenplay writer…

KURO: It’s Tsubaki…

MAHIRU: Tsuba—EH?!

KURO: Actor: Belkia, Sounds: Watanuki Sakuya… Hey, hey, aren’t they all from Melancholy?

MAHIRU: Why are those guys making a movie? Are they bored?!

KURO: I won’t lose… We have to make the movie about the Healing Cat’s adventures, too…!

KURO: The director is… Simply thinking, it should be…

MAHIRU: Me! Wait, no, don’t make me say that!

KURO: Ah, the movie’s starting.

MAHIRU: Are we watching this?! I can only sense a lot of danger from it!

==END==

※ Please don’t re-post the English translations without permission.

#servamp #my translations #drama cd #in all honesty i'd love to see a movie directed by melancholy team #i wonder how it'll go XD #also Mahiru on the Road sounds interesting too lolol #queued post

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superiordragonlorde · 6 years

Text

Deception

Hello hello again! This is for @fma-angst-week and their day 6- Deception. Warnings: vulgar language (sorry), guns, and implied death. I hope you all enjoy!

Envy loved the power they possessed. Father had chosen a fine thing to gift them with. Sure, Lust had her extending, clawed fingers, Gluttony was part of a corrupted portal, Wrath was given superhuman reflexes, Greed flaunted his impenetrable armor, Pride held power over the shadows, and Sloth obtained strength beyond comprehension. But none of their powers quite matched up to Envy’s. With their unique talent and gift, the whole world was their playground, and every pathetic weakling of a human was their toy.

A favorite of theirs was probably playing the role of Father Cornello. That stupid, haughty bastard had to be cut out of the picture, too many loose strings left uncut. And having Envy there, playing as him, boy was that a real treat. All of those useless humans, ripping into one another (quite literally, actually), screaming obscenities, killing left and right in a wild rage. It was like Christmas decided to come early this year. Or Hannukah. Or whatever it was humans celebrated. Heck, did it even matter, really? They’d all been so divided over whether “Father Cornello” was telling the truth that Envy, Lust, and Gluttony didn’t even have to lift a finger to start the bloodshed. As satisfying as it was, Envy couldn’t help feeling a slight bit of disappointment in the lack of action they were partaking in. Still, all of that was pretty fun. Especially getting a preview show on Gluttony getting a good meal out of Cornello. He sure seemed like an arrogant piece of shit.

Speaking of which, that pipsqueak of a runt fit the description pretty well too, and he was the reason Envy even had to step in at all for Reole. It was a shame he made such a good candidate. Envy would’ve loved to watch the little brat writhe in their grasp as they slowly choked the life out of him. Or maybe crush his chest leisurely beneath their foot, hearing his pitiful screams grow quieter and more desperate as he ran out of air. Well, it didn’t much matter now since Father had said to keep him “alive”. Alive never meant “in one piece” though, and it wasn’t like the kid had all his limbs anyway, so what was the harm in beating him up every once in a while? It sure made Envy’s day at least.

While the kid was an annoying pest at best, that shitty Colonel he was working for was a real nuisance. The idiot kept sticking his nose into things that it didn’t belong in, forcing them to be flexible and evade his insistent digging before he found something important and told people about it. Honestly, in Envy's opinion, the best way to stop a snitch was to kill them before they could snitch about it. The problem though was that Father had said he had to be off limits too, which truly and completely sucked ass. That didn’t mean Envy couldn’t make him suffer in the most excruciating way possible. Second most excruciating at least. Envy still thought it’d be worse to track down the Lieutenant Colonel that always stuck around by his side and kill her instead, but that other guy would do fine, they guessed.

And, Envy found, this human may be their new favorite toy.

Apparently, this new idiot had gotten his hands on some pretty important information that was key to Father’s plans. One peep out of this guy and the whole thing could blow up in their faces. It was bad enough the pipsqueak was on their tales too, with that Colonel right behind him. It was decided that they’d have to kill two birds with one stone: silence the snoop and throw the Colonel a different bone to chew on. That was when Envy was called up from Reole to have a little fun outside of the mundane massacre.

They found their toy standing in a phone booth, looking so desperate and frustrated. Envy had to silence their chuckles of glee as they shifted behind a tree only a few meters away. Wrath had given them a picture of the Second Lieutenant they were supposed to shift into. She was a typical human woman with a standard build and face. Nothing much to remember about except maybe her hair. As soon as Wrath had given them the picture they’d tossed it over their shoulder. Humans were so easy to fool they wouldn’t even have to get every detail right. Someone would tie two-and-two together and voila, problem solved.

Envy crept out from behind their tree, fingering the pistol in their hands. It was a foreign object, they preferred to use their own hands and strength to take down enemies, but this Second Lieutenant wasn’t particularly strong and her main weapon of choice was a firearm. So, to make it more believable for all those gullible humans, a gun had to be used. They came up silently behind the nosey man, still snapping at the phone. Envy only let their presence be known by clicking the hammer into place on the pistol.

“Sir, please.” Envy coated their voice into a smooth, feminine tone. “I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the receiver.” Wrath had also provided a recording for Envy to listen to. As annoying as it was, humans could identify each other better by the sound of their voice than their actual faces. So this one took longer than the photo, but Envy had a natural talent for this. It didn’t take long before they had her voice down to the last syllable.

The Lieutenant Colonel slowly turned his head, stiffer than a board. His eyes were wide and wild, the look of a man who knew he’d have to fight for his life. Envy had to suppress the urge to laugh at the fear dripping from him.

“You-” he whispered, hoarse. “You look just like...” A crazed grin cracked over his face and the wildness intensified in his eyes. “But you’re not, are you?”

“Sir?” Envy faked the confusion, but the snide undertone couldn’t be kept out of their voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m Second Lieutenant Ross. I think you may have lost too much blood-”

“Oh cut the crap already,” the Lieutenant Colonel growled. “Second Lieutenant Ross has a mole under her left eye.” Envy flinched, eyes snapping wide. Shit, did she? They guessed they could have taken a closer look at the picture, but honestly, this annoying human probably just had a keener eye compared to the rest of them. Didn’t Wrath say he worked in some kind of intelligence or something? Must come with the job. Well, since the gig was up, might as well have a little fun while they were at it.

“Well, well, aren’t you an observant one.” Envy slipped back into the coarser tone they had, smirking. “I can’t believe I forgot all about it.” They tapped a finger to their cheek, the mole appearing in a flash of red lightning. “There, is that better?” The man gasped and turned back around, gently placing the phone on top of the receiver.

“Please, tell me I’m hallucinating,” he begged to the empty air. “This can’t be happening. It’s impossible.” Envy chuckled, shifting their foot for a better stance, but something crinkled beneath it. They looked down, finding a black and white picture showcasing the Lieutenant Colonel, an adult woman, and a little girl. Oh, this just brought on a whole new level of fun.

“You’re pretty smart for a human, Lieutenant Colonel,” Envy praised, already beginning to shift into a new form. “Have you ever considered that such a virtue would turn into your greatest demise?” The man gave a hollow chuckle.

“Oh, come on. Don’t you have a heart?” he teased, fear still leaving him in a tantalizing reek. “I’ve got a wonderful wife and daughter waiting for me to get home. The last thing I could ever do to them is die.” With impressive speed, he whipped around, a throwing knife glinting in his hand, pulled back in an attempt to throw.

Too bad humans were so easy to manipulate. Envy had him pinned right where they wanted them. If he did have a wife and kid, then they had picked the perfect form to copy.

Envy stood in front of him, looking for every bit like the woman in the picture. Maybe the coloring wasn’t right for the eyes or the clothes, but it was close enough apparently, given the Lieutenant Colonel’s reaction.

He was frozen, hesitating, and weak-willed. It was obvious that the woman standing before him wasn’t really his wife, but that strange, pathetic human mind couldn’t seem to shake him out of his stupor. He only stared at them. Envy laughed.

“You should see the look on your face,” they smirked. “You look so surprised, it’s hilarious!” They couldn’t change their voice, they’d never heard this woman talk before. Surely that would have snapped him out of it and make him lash out, but he still didn’t. He was trembling, fighting a mental battle Envy would have loved to see happen in reality. It must be so much fun to watch, someone fighting themselves. His breaths were coming in stuttering gasps and the fear had grown into an atmosphere, filling up the entire phone booth.

“Wh-what the hell are-?” The bang of a pistol firing silenced his question. He fell back, betrayal and surprise coming across his face in pained waves. Envy watched him collapse, making sure the woman’s face remained plastered there. Oh, Envy chuckled, that pitiful expression. They were going to savor that look for a long time.

Well, there’s that. Another retelling from a different character’s point of view. This prompt was a bit trickier for me because I couldn’t really think of anything that wouldn’t have already been done or was super cliche, so this was my knock-off version. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it and thanks for reading it!

#fmaangstweek #fma #fullmetal alchemist #envy #envy homunculus #maes hughes #implied death #vulgar language #guns #deception #my fic #my writing

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daylighteclipsed · 6 years

Note

Man,I really hope there’s a better explanation for the portal being opened... otherwise the whole episode would be just as impactful and relevant as like... the 2 minutes when Jim was hallucinating because of the pixies. Not that those minutes weren’t important,or impactful and relevant,but not nearly as much as that entire episode. I mean,it would basically be useless,Merlin could’ve just sent a pixie in his brain and be done with it. I don’t know,it would be pretty disappointing.

I mean,it being an illusion,that’d be understandable. I don’t think Merlin has the power to alter time anyway. But at least he should show Jim something that would actually happen. If the whole thing is just lies to manipulate him,it would make it seem that Jim being the trollhunter wasn’t actually that important,and Merlin just chose him because… why,exactly? Would Jim not being the trollhunter have any negative consequences at all? Is anything in the show real/does anything matter anymore? By the way,sorry for spamming you with so many messages. I hope I didn’t bother you too much.

(So many of you apologize for sending me messages and its like please don’t i love talking to you guys okay)

The biggest thing that gets me is the broken Amulet. When I first watched Unbecoming, believing it to be an accurate portrayal of what would’ve happened if Jim wasn’t the Trollhunter, I thought it was a situation of the key (Amulet) being broken so the portal is permanently stuck open. And that could still be the case, I don’t know, but it’s true we’ve been shown (in s1 and s2) that the Amulet has to be in the bridge for the portal to open. The second it’s taken out, the portal closes. So its most likely either a mistake–which I find unlikely because of the emphasis put on the broken Amulet–or its a detail purposely included to hint at this being an illusion, not time travel.

The broken Amulet is super intriguing too in that it never occurred to me that someone could actually break it. How much power would you need to do that? Is it even possible or is it just part of the illusion?

It could still be a somewhat accurate illusion if Merlin can peer into alternate timelines, but I don’t know if he has that power either.

I definitely think there would’ve been negative consequences of Jim not being the Trollhunter. Regardless if the alternate reality is accurate or not, Merlin chose Jim to shake things up. Another troll would’ve probably just resulted in a similar outcome to Kanjigar, who was incredibly close to being defeated. But a human Trollhunter? Someone who can walk in the sun and forces enemies to prolong their attacks so as to not draw attention from the human world? You’re definitely going to get a different result than Kanjigar, who has no real way of prolonging attacks and is limited to the night.

Why Jim of all humans was chosen is one reason I support part-troll Jim. Because, not that Jim isn’t great, but there are tons of humans in the world, and even if Merlin wanted to limit it to the Arcadia Oaks area Claire is right there. Brave and confident and intelligent and charming with already established physical prowess from throwing javelin in track, parents who hardly pay attention to her/won’t notice her gone often, and a baby brother that’s directly tied into this mess and results in Claire getting dragged into the supernatural world anyway and bonding with a changeling who teaches her to speak and read in trollish so she can read the troll lore texts the Trollhunter is supposed to study. Claire would’ve been a better choice. Vendel even lampshades this in the show.

But Jim having some troll blood in him means the Amulet really is crafted for trolls only, and that severely limits Merlin’s options and eliminates Claire as an option. One of the WORST tropes is when the clearly more competent female character is sidelined because “destiny” says the man is the chosen hero, even though it’s obvious she’d be better. I’m begging Trollhunters not to fall into that. It seems that way now, but this show turns lots of cliche tropes on their heads, and the fact that they lampshade it in universe means they’re aware of it, so I have hope.

#don't let me down gdt #please this trope is the worst it's agony #th meta

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bwwrites · 4 years

Text

2019 Music

This list is incomplete, all lists are incomplete. But it’s a list of things that have stuck with me in 2019. There’s some recency bias, there’s some laziness on my part, but more than anything, it was a year where I just….. kinda listened weird.

My listening was often pragmatic. Fitting a mood, or background to other things, or rising and falling with my rising and falling depression and anxiety. (And if I’m being honest I really just listened to like, an unconscionable amount of Friends at the Table instead of music most of the year.) So if stuff is below it’s because I either listened to it a lot, or listened to it not that often but adored it when I did, or you know, just found it super interesting. I make no claims to this being a best of 2019, this is just stuff I wanted to write about, primarily.

It’s two lists, top ten and ten more that I loved. Across it all I wrote too much, a lot of it tangential. Who even knows who this is for! (It’s for me, that’s who it’s for.) None of it is ordered, except for the clear number one, 1000 gecs by 100 gecs. It is AOTY and they are a pop band, fuck off all you people who put that record in experimental lists, cowards. Anyway, enjoy too many words!

Top Ten

Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron - Lost Wisdom pt 2

I’ve loved Julie Doiron’s solo stuff for years and years and years. Seeing her live in Bloomington and overpaying her by one dollar for record is a story I told for awhile, in the form of oh Julie Doiron? Yeah, she owes me a dollar. Mount Eerie I’ve had a rockier time with. I liked The Microphones but never got it the way so many friends did, and have always enjoyed Mount Eerie when I’ve listened, but I’ve never been the person who thinks to pull them out when it’s time for a record.

That sort of changed with the first Lost Wisdom. I listened to that record so much when it came out. The best parts of Phil’s work were highlighted and augmented by Julie’s voice, and some of those songs still make me teary every time I hear them. And it was my entrance into really digging into Mount Eerie and falling in love.

Lost Wisdom Pt 2 is different, even while it’s sort of the same. It feels like more of a Phil record than the first, and it’s Phil in the post A Crow Looked at Me era, where his poetry has fallen away in favor of brutality. His lyrics are clear, direct, at times poetic, and often beautiful, but the beauty is raw. I love it. Their voices are still a perfect match, weaving in and out. Seeing it live was a revelation. It took it from something I liked, but worried was maybe less than the first one, and made it its equal. They are different records in some ways, but for the end of 2019, Lost Wisdom Pt 2 made perfect sense to me.

It’s good, you should buy it.

100 gecs - 1000 gecs (Album of the Year)

What if two delightful humans born 15 years after me loved nightcore, emo, screamo, trap, and, I don’t know, literally everything else(?), made a record on computers. What if? That is 100 gecs. A lot of people ended up loving this record which was a great surprise, because I initially filed it away as another thing I will freak out over that everyone will mostly hate, but these two have created something hyperkinetic and somehow both deep and shallow all at the same time. There is no greater meaning to a song about betting your money on a stupid horse and then losing all that money and then maybe.. sleeping with the horse? Or at least going home with it and smoking it out. But also, that song is a ska song, inexplicably, and that’s FASCINATING and an interesting artistic choice. So there’s no greater meaning, but it’s clear there’s SOMETHING there, you know? Even if the SOMETHING is simply a desire to kinda just fuck shit up. These two are making artistic choices, and it’s easy to wave that away, to treat this the same way people mostly treat nightcore at this point, as a good joke on the internet. But after getting up to 50 plays on this record in like a month I am convinced that it operates on both (hell, maybe every) level.

And all that said, that’s mostly for YOU the reader. Because honestly, none of that articulates why I love this record so much, and I really love it a lot. The energy isn’t positive exactly, but THEY are, and the energy IS infectious if you’re open to the hyper mood they inhabit. And it’s not some high-concept appreciation of how they’re exploding pop, it’s really just that when I hear these songs I instinctively sing along, and when I saw them live at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, a venue name that I say in full every time I mention the show, I got up and sang and waved my arms around and din’t care that I am 37 and one of the only people over 25 at the show who was not a parent. Like, they’re just good songs, you know? That’s what it comes down to. The songs? They’re good. I love them.

You should buy this one for sure. Like, this one above all the others.

Real Life Rock & Roll Band - Hollerin’ the Spirit

Andrew Weathers is a real one. When you’re a hermit you often have people who you think “aw man, I wish I was less of a hermit because this person rules and it’d be fun to be friends with them.” For most of my time in Oakland that I knew Andrew he was one of those. We had beers ONE (1) time and it was like a few weeks before he moved to Texas, haha. So, whoops to that. That all said, I’ve always loved the music he makes. Seeing AWE made me cry once, and that was cool.

I knew Real Life Rock & Roll Band would be enjoyable, but what I didn’t fully expect was this incredible collection of motorik rhythm emo rock and roll jams to just worm their way into my head.

A lot of folks try to smoosh rock and roll and weirdo music together, but often it ends up feeling like an experiment in a bad way, a little cold, a little calculated. These songs have heart, for lack of a less cliched way to say that. But goddamnit I’m right. These songs breathe and live, all chiming guitars intertwining, autotune, and locking into the groove early and often. You can tell this is the rock and roll that just came out when these people sit down to make rock and roll, and it’s refreshing, and good for the soul that I don’t know if I really think we all have. Very good, you should buy it.

Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay

Listen, I get wanting the bangers. Hell. I WANT THE BANGERS. But I got emotionally invested in Earl pretty much right after I found out about him, and watching him grow from that first record that made it clear this kid is a phenom and a huge talent, but that first one is also so young, so raw, so... kinda gross? Then he went away, and when he got back, seeing him in Oldie, I watched that video so so often. He just looked so happy, and that video is such a perfect thing in so many ways. And he grew UP, and Doris was full of bangers, and I Don’t Like Shit… had fewer but was better in my eyes, and then Solace, and then Some Rap Songs and now Feet of Clay…… this is Earl in a loose mode that I really love. It feels like Earl making EARL music, and while I do still hope he gets back to some bangers, hearing Earl spread out/stretched out/streaming out can’t help but make me happy. And god the ridiculous beat on East, ugh, just pump it in my veins.

This one is also good, you should buy it.

Pancrace - Fluid Hammer

I don’t even really know where to begin on this one. I think I only first paid attention because Sarah loved it, and I trust her, and I DO love it, but god it’s just SO bizarre in some ways, but also so weirdly beautiful. It feels like a place, it feels like experiments, it feels like a peek into a world I don’t understand.

Some of my favorite music feels like the people making it are doing something I don’t really…. get…. but it’s clear they are doing it for reasons, and that I’m meant to enjoy it. And I do.

Which makes this all sound way more, uh, austere and WEIRD that I actually mean to. In some ways the weirdness is just how pleasant some of these tracks are. It’s a record made of little vignettes, musical, conversational, experimental, etc.

It succeeds the most at being exciting, which is maybe the main thing I love. That I listen to this and get excited about what they’re doing. How rare is it to feel like you don’t know what’s coming next these days, especially in what we call experimental music.

Kamran Shafii - Corpora Vilia

Kamran is a friend, and has gotten me more drunk than almost anyone else has twice in my life. Once in Seattle, and once in Brooklyn. He also put out 2 records this year that are pretty different.

Pithy & Prolix is one long track of computer scrabble, chirp and silence with stretched voice and silence in between. It’s a ride, but feels like one thing. I like it quite a bit, but really…. this one from right at the beginning of 2019 is the JAM.

Corpora Vilia is a set of 3 pieces, that all feel like they are their own entire world. Voice and field recordings and thrum and throb, combine with piano. You can tell it’s pieced together from parts, but it all works so well together, with the final piece maybe being my favorite thing out of both records.

I feel like his music is held together be a thread I can never quite articulate, but I can always feel. It reminds me, not sonically, but uh, conceptually? (maybe structurally?) of Sarah Hennies’ music, which always feels structured in a way that warrants further investigation or repeated listening, not as a puzzle to be solved but because it’s so clear there’s some substructure that every listen through I get a glimpse of, different glimpses each time maybe, but you can feel it still. And revisiting it is always rewarding.

claire rousay - Friends

I’ve said things on my twitter (that no one really reads or should read) about how I think claire’s doing some of the most interesting work out there in whatever this weird world of music is. She has released a frankly astonishing amount of music between full on releases as well as some subscriber only things that are the length of full on releases in her bandcamp sub, and the best part is that all of it is worth hearing, a feat, and the vast majority I’d say is good. The move from scattered percussion, which she was honestly very good at, to this textural, abstracted, collaged sound world that incorporates life, intimacy, bodies, confusion, and care into compelling audio has been really great to be a small part of as a listener and I guess very very minor supporter. I think most of what she’s done rules, but Friends, which came out just near the end of the year rocketed to the top of the list for me. It feels like the most sure version of thing she’s moved towards/gestured towards/accomplished before, but the span of an entire album. (See also t4t, a moment in St. Louis and a moment at the beach which are my two other favorites of hers from 2019)

In some ways it’s frustrating that the most exciting part of her music is just how personal it feels, but that is a bit of a theme I guess. Frustrating mostly because I’m just so excited to actually feel the hand of a person making the music, and sometimes that’s more conceptual, but with claire’s music sometimes it’s literal. It’s that she’s reading a sext, it’s that you’re hearing the notifications come in in real time, there’s a person there, with messy relationships and ideas and her music is stronger and more interesting for it.

D=D - Don Brown and Dan Reynolds (this one’s a book and cd)

God, this is such a weird fucking thing, and I adore it. I don’t have much intelligent to say about it honestly. Joe and Bryan have both made music that I really and truly adore, and both are categorized in my brain as people I will always want to hear from in part because I trust them as artists, trust that what they put in the world is worth paying attention to. And I think that gets at something about this year for me. I struggled with some things I assumed I’d love, I loved some things I decided I didn’t want to write about because of people and disappointments, and learned I care a lot more about taking time for things that I knew I’d find compelling or interesting, less worried about whether I thought it was the best thing of the year. In some cases the interest may just be “well this is pleasant” in other cases it’s “oh wow there’s so much going on here”. For a long time I thought experimental music should be HARD, should be COMPLICATED. And that’s a way to be, but the stuff I am pulled to is more like confounding? It makes me interested, makes me want to spend time with it, makes me feel like I don’t know the tricks it’s playing or pulling. And that’s not to denigrate those tricks even. Like, sometimes you just want to listen to a very nice thing, and also something that feels like a trick may not be a trick for everyone, but this year especially I spent time with experimental music that felt like it was trying to do new tricks, or at least employing old (to me) tricks in new ways. With D=D, it’s a book, first and foremost, and it felt new, it felt fresh, it felt like a confusing object, garish pink, with inscrutable history, and inscrutable sounds. It's also occasionally very funny.

Derek Baron - Dress of the Century

Okay, so. Frank O’Hara. I read a really great biography of O’Hara this year that made me love him even more than I already did, and helped crystalize some things in my head about what I want out of poetry. O’Hara’s “I do this, I do that” form has grown and mutated and even in his poetry it varies from I do this, to we did that, to this happened, etc etc, and I wonder honestly if even he started it, but most important for what we’re doing here, reading more of his poems and reading about him, and how he wrote helped settle that something about that format sits so well with what I care about not just in poetry, but in art in general. His poems move so seamlessly between these mundane moments perfectly captured and profundity and sadness and joy and a winking nod, a silliness, an undermining of what came before, a hesitation, honestly, everything. But they don’t feel like whiplash to me, they don’t feel frenetic, unless on purpose, occasionally, they just feel like life, like the movement between big and small, love and hate, disgust and rage and peace and delight, all at once. Read Having A Coke With You again, go ahead and go read it….. you can read it as breathless running from thought to thought, but I read it as the ambling path a mind can take when you love someone, when you’re comfortable, when you’re letting them in. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do with my poetry I realized, let people in.

Now, sorry, Derek Baron.

So I couldn’t stop thinking about O’Hara every time I listened to Dress of the Century. And honestly, all of the work they’ve put out recently does this for me (Recollects which they put out last year late in 2018, and Permanent Six Flags - A Festival Play for the Consecration of a Stage (which is Derek and Emily Martin) which came out on Reading Group this year, and to a lesser extent I guess the duo with Zoots Houston but that is also very very good.)

But especially with Dress of the Century. They do this, they do that, and it’s all pieced together, and sometimes it’s beautiful and sometimes it’s rough, but it’s all placed so specifically, and so perfectly. It’s not even a sum being greater than parts, it’s that the sum IS the parts, and each part sits next to the other, and it’s not a frantic movement, it’s an amble back and forth, hazy memory, overlaps, sudden clarity striking then disappearing. In the best of Frank’s poems you feel let in, not to secrets, but to a world, and that’s how Dress of the Century feels every time I play it. Like Derek is letting us all in just a bit, and it’s curated, it’s a selection, but god, that’s what letting anyone in to anything is. If you’re going to let someone in, it might as well be beautiful. And Dress of the Century is beautiful.

Shots - Private Hate

I was surprised how much I loved this. It builds on what I got so excited about with some of the early Taku Unami making-weird-cardboard-constructions-era of improv. Small sounds, space, room, the feeling that there’s something going on you’re not quite clear about, but are happy to have been given the chance to hear it. I didn’t expect to be so taken, but I’ve listened to this one a ton over the last couple months. I don’t know how to feel about non-music as a genre descriptor or trend, but I do know that if stuff keeps coming out that feels like Private Hate, which is this carefully constructed thing full of nothing in the best possible way, fascinating nothing, then I’m all ears.

Other Ten

Wicca Phase Springs Eternal - Suffer On

Is this embarrassing? Who can say. This dude is sad, and used to be in a hardcore band or something, but now is an emo goth rapper and I love this record a lot.

La Dispute - Panorama

More emotional men! I think this is their best record, capturing all the energy and frontic yelping, but it’s less yelps, and way more listenable. I sometimes miss the frantic yelps, but overall know Panaroma is a much sharper/clearer/better document than the earlier records. I listened to this record for the first time on a Metro North train up to Beacon and then walked around looking at austere art I adore listening to it a second time.

Despot - all the weird songs/snippets Despot released at various points this year on his goddamn instagram stories just fucking put out the album please man. Like…. For real.

At one point I recorded instagram videos so I could relisten and he posted a song on soundcloud for like…. 1 day, and I copped that shit too. I think he is a very good rapper and I just want to hear an entire record so so much it’s impossible to know that he has essentially recorded like three records that have been thrown out. Also he’s the brother of the main guy in Vampire Weekend so opened for Vampire Weekend and that’s hilarious.

JPEGMafia - All My Heroes are Cornballs

I don’t know what to say here and wish I had more honestly, but I ended up listening to JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran on the subway a LOT earlier in the year, and when this came out it was exciting to have more. I adore that he just went ahead and named a song “JPEGMAFIA TYPE BEAT” because it is both true and very, very funny. It’s so good though. Also sometime in Nov/Dec he and Mr. Peck below showed up in each other’s instagram stories and <3

Oliver Peck - Pony

He’s a very attractive gay masked cowboy man who sometimes plays songs shirtless on his instagram stories. And this record is full of country music that is sad and gay and I didn’t return to it as often as I expected, but I loved it a lot.

Michael Pisaro - Nature Denatured and Found Again

It’s very beautiful in the way that Pisaro’s music often is. I was surprised by how often I returned to this one, but have almost no thoughts beyond “this is pretty”. Sorry Michael!

Deb Never - House on Wheels

This ep rules. Deb is annoyed at you, and a little bored, but it’s cool that you came around to her place I guess. And you LOVE it. That’s what it sounds like. You love EVERY minute of it.

Gil Sansón / Lance Austin Olsen - Works on Paper

This one took me a bit. At first I found the narration weird and distracting and decided I didn’t like it, but at the same time when both discs ended I just started from the beginning again. I think the main reason it didn’t get more play is because it’s a music that demands some attention, and this was a year where my attention was sparse. If I put it on as background I end up annoyed, but the few times I’ve put it on and just sat and brewed tea over and over and listened to it I’ve found a ton to love. I plan to revisit this more in 2020.

Lil Peep - Moving On (song)

It would not be a list without Lil Peep. I saw the documentary and liked it a lot, but it didn’t do what I had hoped it would, which is make him a little more accessible. It made me incredibly sad though, because it’s so clear everyone, including Peep, just got so fucking caught up in his rise that no one remembered to like… take care of this poor guy who was so hurt, and so sad, and who had such dreams. Anyway, this song rules, I listen to it like three times a week. It was one of my favorites of the “new songs” from the last tour videos that got out, nice to have a recorded version.

Y2K & bbno$ - Lalala (song)

This became a TikTok song which, hilariously, is how I found it. I got this thing STUCK in my head and listened to it over and over and over for weeks, and still now months later I listen to it once a week or so. The remix has Carly Rae Jepson and uh…. Enrique Iglesias?!??!?!???!!!! It’s a very simple beat and a very dumb song in a lot of ways, but god it just settled deep deep into my brain.

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antiques-for-geeks · 5 years

Text

Game Review : Slipstream 5000

PC / Gremlin Interactive / 1995 / Originally £29.99

Ah, the future.

Everything is shiny and new. All the time. The womenfolk are all improbably thin and dressed in tight fitting spandex or bikinis. Because that’s that happens in the future, we just go nuts for the man-made fibres. Just look at Buck Rodgers. Or Star Crash.

“Girls of 25th Century”, as envisaged by a boy aged 15 and a quarter with his bedroom door locked...

And in the future are sports; not sports as we know them, sports that are just a little bit different and played out to a pumping electro soundtrack that might just sound like Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten or Nitzer Ebb but played on a cheap Casio organ to avoid royalty payments.

Yes. The future. And it’s here in the shape of a racing game.

Set at a nebulous point in the near future, Slipstream 5000 brings us pilots racing their aeroplanes around courses around the world. There is no dystopian backstory, no settling our differences through sport rather than war - this is an out and out racing between between ten characters and their flying machines.

This is something of a relief. It gets a bit tedious to constantly be told that society has collapsed and to settle our differences we now play Bridge or Whist, all as an excuse for a developer to hide their slightly naff obsession with Gin Rummy behind a smokescreen rather than run the risk of them being discovered in a latex old-man bodysuit down the WI of a Thursday night.

Each race begins with a fly-through, showcasing the game’s graphics engine. It whips along at a good pace on Pentium level machinery without a 3D graphics accelerator.

Slipstream 5000 belongs to that first flush of 3D games where texture maps were planted on large polygons rather than using smaller and smaller polygons to create the landscape the developers wanted to convey. Sure, even at the time it never was the prettiest but is a fair compromise given the power of the machines it was designed to run on.

Controlling your plane takes full advantage of the 3D environment, allowing you to fly in all directions and creating a feeling of freedom. Playing with a decent joystick really adds to the game, although keyboard control works well enough. Oddly, no provision has been made for a mouse in-game, which combined with the keyboard à la Quake would have been as good a choice at the time as a joystick.

Some circuits verge on the spectacular; not just underground but underwater too. Don’t worry about hitting the glass sides, they won’t break.

The circuits that make up the championship are split between the metropolitan and the natural - one minute you’re flying through the Grand Canyon or Icelandic Fjords, the next it’s London and under (or over, you can choose) Tower Bridge. There are ten tracks in total; before you race each track, you’re treated to a fly-through to help you plan your approach to the race. Presented in a TV style, it can be quite like marmite. You’re going to either love or hate the way it’s done, which comes down to the in-game commentator. More on that later.

Slipstream 5000 makes the most of the axes you can fly in. Each course has its own challenges; enclosed circuits where you are racing through caverns or tunnels require skill and dexterity as the elevation of the circuit changes. Clattering around the courses, scraping the sides of your vehicle will work, but at the cost of performance. Each time you connect with the circuit, another player, or are hit being an opponent’s weapons incurs damage, either to the engine or the controls. As more damage is inflicted, your craft becomes less and less performant, making it easier to compound the damage to meaning that too much damage and it’s game over. Fortunately, each circuit has a pit tunnel where damage is remedied in blaze of lightning. Race wisely and taking the pits each lap can also make you quicker, even when you are not damaged.

Cash bonus? That’ll do nicely.

Each track is lined with bonuses and forfeits, either positioned randomly or dropped by shooting the drones that fly along as you do. Cash is the most valuable thing, but you can also pick up engine and control repair which fix your maladies on the spot, turbo recharge or a short boost of turbo. If you’re unlucky though you get a disrupter that’ll reverse your steering and is more or less guaranteed to chuck you into the walls.

You start the game by choosing your plane and unlike some games, they’re all equal. It’s not how they start, it’s how they are upgraded that is key. For a single race, it’s not that important, in a championship it can be the difference between first and midfield. Some upgrades and weapons just aren’t worth the money and it really becomes a matter of making sure that you chose wisely.

And, you’re going to need weapons. The AI pilots give as good as they get.

The point where you chose your plane is, erm, very much of it’s time. Cheesier than a pack of Wotsits and presented in a very stereotyped way. Clearly the developers were going for a Wacky Races vibe. This extends to the virtual characters in the game: Lyall Mint, the deliberately unlikable, ex-racer and his prim and proper career presenter, Crystal Eyes, as well as the game’s AI pilots.

This is one half of your commentary team, Lyall Mint. He's about to crack a funny, the zany ex-Slipstreamer that he is. Pity all of his comedy material is made up of Dad jokes and insipid sexual innuendo.

Each of your adversaries has their own traits and this is emphasised by their on-screen presence. You get transmissions periodically during each race - sometimes taunting, sometimes bemoaning that they’ve been hit or crashed. It’s a nice idea, if the implementation is rather cliched and adds to the feeling of rivalry in the game. This was something that was not common at the time and unique to the CD version of the game.

Flying against the AI players is good and fortunately Gremlin’s developers added the ability to go head to head with real players; old school two player splits the screen, but there is an option to connect two machines together. It’s not really network play as it’s known today, rather it’s via serial cable (yes, physically linking two machines together) a modem connection or being on the same physical network. Slipstream 5000 fell at that awkward time where the internet was a thing, but standards weren’t.

Yes, multiplayer is not for the casual gamer of today. Those of us playing games in the 1990s were made of sterner stuff. Man-up if you don’t want to be billy no-mates.

Dog fights are fun but can be time consuming. Sometimes it’s better to fly low, turn on the turbo and leave the other pilots to it

So Slipstream 5000, offers you a slice of the future like no other. Or, truth be told, like any other. This so easily could have been a franchise like WipeOut; maybe this would have really taken off (excuse the pun) with the console versions that had been planned. The game would have been really good on a Playstation or Saturn. It’s just a shame that this never happened.

Like so much of Gremlin’s catalogue around that time, this rather smacks of an opportunity missed.

Buying it today

You have lots of options for this today. You lucky, lucky, people. If you are looking to buy it on an auction site, you can pick up a copy pretty cheaply. The original big-box release will set you back in the region of £15, but be later re-releases in their paper sleeves, jewel or DVD cases can be anything from £2.50 to £5. If you’re going this way, make sure that you don’t end up overpaying for a budget version...

Finally, you can skip all this retro media nonsense if you have a PC and get it on Steam or GoG; you won’t have to faff about with DosBox or worry about converting those 3.5” floppies to disk images. Unfortunately, if you’re using anything other than Windows, you’ll have to make your own arrangements.

Commentariat

Tim : Slipstream 5000 was a firm favourite of mine; I first played it as a demo that came on a CD with PC Format in 1995 and excelled on the Pentium that I got to play it on. Although nothing to do with Magnetic Fields, the game had a ring of Super Cars about it in terms of tone and presentation. A sort of Super Cars ++ as it were.

Having played the demo to death, I bought it when it came out on budget - I was not, and am still not, made of money - I bought the title. The demo pretty much summed up the playing experience of the game and although there were extra circuits and a championship mode, it didn’t really add a huge amount to the fun in single player mode...

With only three levels of difficulty, it’s not that hard to finish quite high up the pecking order in every race. This may be ok in a single race, but in Championship mode it reduces the sense of jeopardy. Where the game does come alive is just right - when you’re racing. The action can be fast and frenetic; one minute you can be first, the next 8th after a misjudged corner or a missile strike from another pilot.

That the computer pilots can also mess up on their own adds to the excitement. Nothing more satisfying than seeing the computer pilot hit a drone and be faced with a disrupter. Even more so when it’s your mate in multi-player mode.

The other thing that disappoints - for me anyway - is the music, both in-game and between races does not do the game justice and feels more like an afterthought. That’s not to say it’s not well done; it is, it’s just doesn’t suit the game in my opinion. Add in the flight-computer voice that tells you you’re being shot at when you can hear the shots bouncing off the hull of your plane and it becomes an irritation rather than asset. We’re not talking Cybermorph levels of irritation, but let’s say it’s getting there. Good job you can turn it off.

Overall though, these are minor objections. I love the game and was one of the first titles I got working on DosBox once got that working properly. If only Gremlin had chosen to have taken it further...

Score Lord : I told you lot last time. I’m not reviewing games for you. Even this, which I quite liked when it came out and think it’s a crime it’s been forgotten. No. Go away and stop bothering me.

Meat : The explosion of 3D games at this time wasn’t a blessing; looking back today, there are some really, really ropey titles. Slipstream 5000 might have avoided this fate, but has trodden a fine line to do so. The cross between flight sim and racing game is novel and explored at around the same time by Bullfrog’s Hi-Octane, but there really is only so much you can do and a fair few tricks have been missed here. I’d have liked it to have been a little harder, with differentiation between craft being, well, present. A career mode rather than just a flat championship, where you could have more control over the different elements of your ship and crew would have made all the difference.

This doesn’t mean that the game is bad. Not at all. There are neat little extras, like the rear-view camera which although useless is pretty cool. It plays well, so much so that there is depth in the gameplay to last more than one run-through. For all my gripes about 90s 3D games down the pub, I like the way it looks too. It’s begging for a modern version with proper network play and slightly less patronising tone in the cut-scenes. I’d pay to have that on my phone, provided it came with a branded spandex flight-suit to wear while you are playing, natch. We are in the future after all, right?

Score card

Presentation 7/10

Stakes had been upped in the mid 1990s by the arrival of the fifth generation consoles, Slipstream 5000 holds its own against the kind of stuff coming out on those machines. The whole thing feels rather slick, with quite an authentic TV feel, even if its tone and jokes have dated quickly since the 1990s. PC games had yet to fall to the DVD-box format that is ubiquitous with today packaging, so you’ll still treated to the big-box experience if that’s your thing.

Originality 8/10

The idea of a racing game working on four axes that you can explore, rather than the traditional horizontal is still a pretty neat idea. The elements of rivalries that are generated by the computer characters comments feels a little synthetic, but the game is the better for it.

Graphics 8/10

From beginning to end, the games looks really good; sure it has aged, but more endearingly than some that feel like they have a certain something missing.

Hookability 6/10

The first course is well designed and eases you into the game nicely. From there on in, it’s a challenge, but not always enough of one.

Sound 7/10

Sounds fine, as long as you have the right sound card, but having different background music would have made all of the difference. The floppy disk version loses out on some of the speech, but that’s not the end of the world.

Lastability 7/10

Easy to learn, difficult to master. It can be a difficult but not impossible to play using the keyboard, but there is a lot there for you to explore and those jibes and taunts from your fellow competitors press just the right buttons to make you want to come back for more. Unless you’ve got the floppy disk version...

Value for Money 7/10

Was good value back in 1995 and it’s worth the price of admission today.

Overall 7/10

Gremlin did themselves proud with the game itself and the TV styling, the cliched and stereotypical characterisations of the pilots and presenting team less so. Slipstream 5000 really had the feel of a series in the making. The shame is that it never made it there; with today’s VR tech the game would really have been something else.

#pc #afg #antiquesforgeeks #retrogaming #retrocomputing #videogames #slipstream5000 #review #gremlin #gremlingraphics #retro

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itshyejung · 5 years

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She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not - Chen Linong

Type: Scenario

(Not gonna do genres bc tbh idk how to categorize my scenarios? I guess they’re fluff I mean they’re not rly angsty and def not smut so... just cute? Who even knows lmao)

Characters: Nine Percent Chen Linong x you

(Pics are edited by me so pls give credit. Scenarios are not requested, I came up with all these a long time ago but never really shared them publicly, so hope you guys enjoy! I tried to be creative with each scenario and not do super cliche or boring ones but I think all of them are still kinda cliche lmao...)

The florist’s had never been so busy before, but here you were hauling in boxes and boxes of flower orders your aunt had just placed to keep the stocks up in the shop. There was a large truck in the back parking lot that was filled with many floral arrangements. How many did your aunt even order? Too many to count. There was barely any room left at the display windows, so you had no choice but to push them towards the counter, where they almost crowded the cash register. You would have to deal with them later, there were more out back.

You thanked the delivery man, signed your name on his clipboard, and stood looking disbelief at the ros of pots and plants that were lined at your feet as he drove away. Where were you doing to find the time and spot to put them? With a sigh, you picked up the first pot of orchids and tugged it inside, searching carefully. At least the shop hadn’t opened yet, so you still had some time. However, you had to hurry. Any passerby might see the row of flowers outside an empty parking lot and think it was weird. You checked your watch: 45 minutes until opening hours to move 60 pots of flowers. You were in trouble.

Feeling like an idiot, you ran up the stairs to your ream and began fixing the flower pots all over the floor of your room. Besides, if you ran out of one kind of flower, you’d just have to run right up there and bring one down, pretending it was the second stock room. Right? No one would know. Except maybe your aunt, who was on maternity leave due to her pregnancy, might have a fit when she comes to visit, yelling about how the flowers don’t have proper sunlight and water supply. Speaking of, the ones downstairs probably don’t either. Oops.

You fished around the real storage room for the watering can and took it to the sink, impatiently waiting for it to fill up with water. You had ten minutes lefto before opening time. Hurriedly, you dragged the watering can over to the row of flowers spread in a row under grow lights, lightly sprinkling water over the delicate petals. Why was such a small watering can so heavy?

You stepped back to admire how fast you’d gotten it all done. Then you cringed. Hopefully you hadn’t drowned the flowers. They looked fine; presentable at least. As a florist’s assistant, that was good enough for you. Your aunt could check on it later.

It was a weekend and you had to managed the store, as the only other employee your aunt had hired so far worked on the weekdays when you had school. If this was going to be your potential job, the least you could do was work weekends while your aunt was on maternity leave.

You flipped the closed sign over to open and ran upstairs quickly to bring two more flower pots down, just for presentation. Although there was practically no room on your counter, you managed to squish them both on there without knocking over any of them. You heard the bell ring in front of the store as someone pushed open the door hurriedly.

“Yes hello, welcome to-“ You stopped short in your tracks when you realized just who had stepped foot in your store: one of your favorite regular customers, Chen Linong. He also served as your current secret crush. Your heart bloomed like the flowers in the shop whenever you saw him, and you definitely felt lighter around his presence. There was something about him that distinguished him from other guys that girls usually had a crush on: although he seemed shy, he didn’t care about things like people seeing a teenage boy hanging around in a florist’s shop. No one called him a loser for it either, because they knew a guy like him had his reasons.

“H-hi,” Linong blurted, turning an alarming shade of red in the face. Was he sick? Was it hot in here? Come to think of it…

Maybe the fact that a teenage boy coming to the flower shop was starting to eat at him. But you didn’t mind. You could stare at him admiring your floral arrangements all day, and every day you tried to perfect the arrangements to his liking. “Um, do you need any help finding a specific type of flower?”

“No thanks, I’m fine.” He smiled straight at you… wait, it wasn’t like there was someone else in the room anyway.

“Oh, um, feel free to look around!” You cringed. What were you saying? Didn’t he already say he was fine? Why did you keep bothering him?

“Yeah I will, thank you,” he said and knelt down so that his eye level was parallel to that of a pot of sunflowers. He was so close that his nose was almost buried in the petals. You thought it was a funny image and almost burst out laughing, but then you remembered that you hated your laugh, and besides, you’d rather not disturb the silence in the shop right now.

Just you and Linong… this was the way it should be.

_______________________________________________________________________

The florist’s was one heck of a busy place. Were there really that many people who wanted to buy flowers? All the times you had read about florists in books, they’d always had a quiet, tranquil attitude, not some busy, rushed attitude. Plus, the literal flower boys who worked there were always described so prettily and cutesy and here you were… scared you were going to knock over one of the pots on your counter.

“Ma’am, can I get a pot of lilies, please?”

“I still haven’t gotten my order of a six set amaryllis and astible mix.”

“Do you have any sunflower arrangements left?” Linong grinned crookedly at you and jokingly hid the sunflower pot he was admiring earlier behind his body secretly.

“Yes, I’ll be right there…” you called, barely hearing your own voice. What was it, roses, orchids, sunflowers? Or daffodils, carnations, sunflowers? All you remembered were the sunflowers hidden behind Linong’s body, and you hurried to get them. He had on a yellow sweater today, the same color as the sunflowers, and he sighed like he had been caught red-handed with his masterful camoflauge plan. But he smiled to let you know he was still joking. You rolled your eyes and dragged the damn heavy thing back to the counter, where the first two customers in line stood patiently waiting for their… delphiniums and irises. Sweat peas and lilac.

“Lilies, amaryllis, and astible!” you muttered a little too loudly to yourself, the sound of you snapping your fingers echoing off the walls of the small, cramped shop. You looked around at all the faces staring at you. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll be right back.”

You ran upstairs, oblivious to the fact that Linong was watching you trip over the stairs towards your room in the shop. In fact, there were many things Linong knew that you were oblivious to. There was the fact that he knew you lived up there, on the second floor of the building in which the florist’s shop lay at the bottom of. He also knew that every night, after you closed the shop, you would open the balcony doors to your room, sometimes blasting your music while you did your homework, which the neighborhood never minded of. You’d then water your hanging plants delicately before closing the doors again. Sometimes he rode his bike here, and as he was wheeling away, he would see your figure in the dim light of your room. He knew you lived independently, as you had been given the spare room on top of the florist’s ever since you started working there by your aunt. He knew all these things about your life and yet he still didn’t know how to talk to you.

You appeared at the bottom of the stairs again, dragging the designated flower pots with you and handing them to the right customers. linong sighed, waiting patiently as he rocked back and forth on his small heels, curling his feet along the insides of the rubber soles as he stalled for time. He couldn’t wait to get started with the new project he had planned in mind, and he really needed your help. But it seemed like you were too busy to notice him standing there. A bit dejected, he turned back to the flowers, now remembering you had snatched his sunflowers away. He chuckled to himself and began to browse along the rows, selecting a new flower in his mind.

The sound of a ringing bell and the clicking of cashier keys rang throughout the shop all day. Linong was getting tired of waiting. He stood up and suddenly saw a spare apron hanging off a crooken nail in the wall. He scrambled up to get it and tied it on himself. You looked at him incredulously. What was he getting himself into?

“Let me help you,” he said, sliding into a spot at the counter next to you. You smiled so big you were afraid your teeth would fall out right there in front of him.

“U-um… you don’t have to! I can manage by myself!” You gently pushed him out of the way and busied yourself with rummaging through the coin box to find change for the customer at the front of the line.

“Are you sure about that?” HIs eyes looked so sincere you almost felt bad about lying to him about how tired you were. BUt it wasn’t right to complain to a customer like him about your job. Besides, you’d picked this job because you genuinely loved flowers, and you especially loved your aunt, the professional florist who had given you this job in her very own florist business. She was even nice enough to let you have the small room upstairs. You couldn’t let her down, but… “I’ve been watching you all day, and I’m pretty sure you would love some help, wouldn’t you?”

You blushed madly, unable to believe he’d make you feel this way. “A-ah… whatever you say,” you said hastily, pushing a few flower pots aside. However, you forgot for a second how crowded the counter had been and you knocked one over the edge. Linong was quick to retrieve it, wiping his brow. “That was close, wasn’t it? Now aren’t you glad I came to your rescue?”

You blushed even more. “Sure.”

“Hey, it’s really sweet that you two lovebirds are chitchatting over there, but I need my order urgently, miss!” a lady in a long white trencth coat called from the middle of the line. You and Linong both scrambled a good distance away from each other and began to take care of customers’ needs and wants from opposite sides of the counter. Occasionally, you’d both turn heads to look at each other for a split second, then quickly look away.

When you finally turned over the “Open” sign hanging on the inside of the door, Linong was collapsed on the counter. Luckily, most of the flowers had cleaned away, so his tall frame had a lot of space to lean on. “Wow, I don’t know how you go through this every day. I-I mean the job is nice, it’s just… for a high school student like you, isn’t it a bit, um, too much?” he suddenly stuttered.

You opened another door to a small kitchen and grabbed two cups, preparing to make tea for the both o fyou. “It’s honestly fun work for me. Maybe it’s hard on you a bit, because you’ve never experienced this before, but that’s okay. You’ll find your strength someday and have a career that keeps you going. For me, it’s being a florist. My aunt was the one who educated me in this area, so I’ve always followed her footsteps.” You added water to the tea bags in the cups and carried them out to the main shop. Linong gingerly took the handle of the one you held out to him.

“Amazing,” he said in the most innocent voice he could manage. “Well, it’s good that you don’t mind this job. I think it suits you a lot. I mean, you’re practically as pretty as a flower yourself,” he complimented. You shied away, hiding your face in your hair for a brief moment.

“Hey, I just had an odd question. What are your top seven flower recommendations for girls?” He drained the last of his tea and set the cup down. It shined pristinely, like there had never been tea in there. Amazing. Did he like tea that much?

You were suddenly flustered. “U-uh, I have a list on the business website. You can find it there…. there are pretty much recommendations for everyone.”

“Thanks, Well I’ll be talking my leave now. Take it easy, alright?” He saluted you and backtracked out the door. You saluted him back with a small smile, The way he had voice his question was like he had someone in his mind that he liked. Who was it going to be? Maybe Yawei, the president of the debate team and co-captain of the cheerleading squad: both the brainy and athletic type of Asian. Or maybe it would be Tiancai, that one genius Asian artist who always got praised for her artwork even though she made a mess of it (“Now that’s real art!” the teacher said) and wore paint-splotched clothes to school without a care.

You trudged up the stairs with heavy feet, ready to literally crash into your bed. Then you remembered your lit homework sat untouched in your backpack for tomorrow.

Take it easy, my ass.

_______________________________________________________________________

After another couple of days, you were minding the florist shop as usual when Linong walked into the shop with a slight bounce to his step. Okay, unusual. Maybe he was just extra happy and bright today. After all, wasn’t that what he was known for at school? Being overly optimistic?

“Can I help you with anything?” you approahced him, just like a regular employee at a store would do. He shook his head like usual, explaining that he was just browsing. “In fact, I found a pretty cool flower along the way here. Do you guys have these?”

He held up a daisy and you laughed. “What don’t we have?”

You tended to a few more customers that morning, and sometimes your line of sight would stray over to where Linong squatted. When the last of the morning rush customers had gone, you turned back to Linong. He was like a stray cat that always hung out in your shop and stayed by your side the entire day, doing aimless things. Now, he had that silly daisy in his hand again, only this time half the petals were plucked off and were in a messy arrangement around his feet.

“She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me…” You chuckled as he counted the petals of an odd-petaled flower. Reaching the end, he jumped up and rushed up to your counter. Remembering your job, you also quickly rushed behind it. Linong never bought anything, which you didn’t mind, but you, as a florist, needed to attend to all customer’s needs.

“One orchid arrangement, please!” he said, placing an array of dollar bills and coins on the counter.

“Coming right up.” You reached beneath you and pulled out what you thought had been your best arrangement of orchids and proudly handed it to him. “Here’s your change.” Pause. “For anyone in particular?” You poised a pen over the blank tag on the pot, ready to get indirect dirt on the girl he liked.

“Yes, a very special girl. She’s the most beautiful one, too. Just write that down,” he said nonchalantly. You half-heartedly wrote that on the tag, secretly half-wishing it would be you. Of course it wouldn’t. You bet 60% that it was Yawei, but Tiancai wouldn’t be half bad either.

“Thanks! I hope these will do the trick. I got them from the list of recommendations you personally put on the website, you know.” He winked and left.

Earlier than usual. And little did he know orchids were your favorites.

_______________________________________________________________________

Every day after that he would purchase a new flower arrangement. Tulips. Roses. Delphiniums. Poppies. Asters. And finally, hydrangea. He even requested for a single sunflower. Each day he bought your next favorite. He seemed to get cheerier each day, his hands full of fresh dollar bills and coins. You found yourself forcing a smile each day he came. You had a crush on him so badly you couldn’t stand seeing him take flowers out of your shop for some other girl that he liked when he was the one you liked. How dare he?

Okay, okay, so it was your fault you never told him. Best just to be a regular old florist and not Linong’s secret admirer.

Strangely, on the eighth day, he hadn’t come in at all. With the amount of dedication he had to buying flowers for his girl, you’d think he would have bought something at your shop every day, 365 days a year. But there was no sign of him. Sighing, you flipped the “Open” sign over. You decided to call a few of your friends to help you with a project.

It was another huge flower arrangement order, but this time it was a surprise for someone special. In a few days, your aunt would have her first abby shower with her newlywed husband. This was an event you couldn’t miss, and you wanted to see her after missing her so much on maternity leave. In fact, your flower arrangements had been so successful a couple motnhs ago at her wedding that you suddenly loved your new skill and was soon obsessed with it. Ever since, you’ve had a knack for creating artistic flower arrangements and made the business of the florist shop even larger. That way, your aunt felt that it was afe to hand off major responsibilities to you. Besides, you were almost graduating. Shouldn’t all 17-year-olds have a small, stable job now?

As you waited for your friends to arrive, you heard a soft knocking on the glass of the shop’s door. It was Linong, carrying what looked like a giant lion head. Nope, never mind; in the street light it was more of a giant flower arrangement in a straw basket, with the single sunflower he’d just bought recently sticking out. You opened the door and stepped out into the cold, steam rising from the breath you took. “It looks nice.”

“Isn’t it?” He looked proud. “Thanks to you.” Your grimace dropped. “You really helped me out this time. I owe you. When I gift this to the girl I love, I’ll definitely make sure to give you credit!”

You remembered all those times he had secretly broken your heart, all those times he had left your shop with a new bundle of flowers, all those stupid gooddamn times you had to write “to the most special, beautiful girl I know” on the blank tags while gagging inside.

Your friends arrived soon after and you had to shut Linong out of your life now. He looked a bit disappointed as you ran pu the stairs to your room, beginning to work on the 250 flower arrangements for your aunt’s baby shower. His heart felt heavy as he carried the equally heavy basket back to his house. If only you knew…

The day of your aunt’s baby shower finally arrived, and you woke up worried. You had arranged carpools with your friends to get the 250 flower arrangements to the baby shower location before the actual baby shower started so that your aunt wouldn’t notice. Then you remembered that Linong would be there. Oh, screw him! Weren’t you trying to get over him anyway? Why were you still worrying about him? You struggled to lift the delicate flowers into the trunks of your friends’ cars. On the way there, you discussed your Linong dilemma with them, and they were very supportive in saying that they would stand up with you against him whenver needed.

Finally, everything was in place. Your aunt and new uncle arrived in a sleek black car and even got to walk down a makeshift red carpet of red rose petals. When they stepped out, all the guests cheered at the sight of an obvious baby bump. You couldn’t wait for a new baby cousin. Maybe you could be the next teacher in the family’s florist generation, and you could get to teach your cousin. Unless if he was a boy; then he wouldn’t be interested.

After listening to a long speech about how much your aunt was proud of you, she said, “All these flower arrangements today were made by my niece, and I can’t believe she surprised me like this. Coincidentally, I wanted to surprise her as well for working so hard during my maternity leave. Actually, I had a hand in helping someone else plan a surprise for her. So I’m going to introduce him right now. Her friend from school, Chen Linong, come on up!”

You saw Linong move towards the podium with a large basket of flowers in his arms. The very same flower basket arrangement he had shown you a few days ago.

“Thanks auntie,” he said. “Hi. I’m Chen Linong, and I’m a classmate of her niece who prepared all these beautiful flower arrangements. I wanted to surprise her by making a flower arrangement of my own to confess to her with, although it could never compare to hers. But I hope she’ll still like it.”

He stepped off the podium and the entire audience “aw”ed with enthusiasm. Your heart pounded as fast as a race car’s maximum mph rate as he walked closer and closer.

Until all you could see right in front of you were hydrangea. Tulips. Roses. Poppies. Asters. Delphiniums. Orchids. The single sunflower poking out cutely.

And the smiling face of Linong, the only (sun)flower that mattered right now.

#ninepercent #chenlinong #nongnong #ninepercentchenlinong #idolproducer #kpopmoments #cpopmoments #cpop #idolproducerthings

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yourswordship · 7 years

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10-10-10 Tag

I was tagged back by @crossroadsred and @sweatersonlambs

(I was gonna do two separate posts, but I was tagged a while ago by both of them and I know if I don’t do them both right now I never will! So you guys are getting a two-fer!)

@crossroadsred ‘s questions:

1. If you could travel to any time period, which one would you choose?

I wanna say something a little less cliche, but probably the 20′s in New York. Or maybe Ancient Greece. You know what, I think I’m liking the idea of Ancient Greece more. Like there’s so many questions! There’s so many gaps, things we don’t know about them. And the things we do know are pretty damn cool. So yeah Ancient Greece. Though I’d love to have my own Midnight in Paris type thing too.

2. If you could travel to any fictional world or universe, which one would it be?

I feel like a lot of the shows I watch are in places that I really wouldn’t want to ever find myself in (*cough cough* Game of Thrones). I think the the world in Avatar The Last Airbender would be pretty cool though! Especially if I had cool bending powers too!

3. What does your dream house/apartment look like? Where would it be (city, countryside, etc.)?

I always go back and forth with this. Part of me wants to live in a cozy apartment in a city. I just love the accessibility and energy of cities. But another part of me really likes the idea of living in the countryside in a small cottage type house, you know? I feel suffocated and get overwhelmed pretty easily. I guess I don’t really know what my dream house or apartment would be. Or even where it would be. But regardless I think it’d be cozy. I don’t that’d I be happy in a huge mansion. Just more to clean. I tend to have a favorite nook or room and never leave that area anyways, so yeah definitely small and cozy for me. Oh and this is a bit random but, I love fireplaces so my dream place would definitely have one. And a garden too.

4. What’s your favorite possession?

Would it be really materialistic of me to say my laptop?

5. If you had to eat or drink something for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Lemonade! I was obsessed with it when I was a kid- like my mom would buy me the powdered packages of pink lemonade so that I could make it at home easily. Like just buying a jug of it wasn’t enough. And yeah, that obsession never really went away, though it did tone down a bit.

6. If you had the opportunity to turn a book into a movie or tv show, which would it be? Would you prefer a movie or a tv show? Who would you cast?

I used to have an answer for this- 13 Reasons Why. It was one of the few books I actually read once I got to middle school age, and I really liked it and connected to it. Obviously it’s a Netflix show now, but I think it’s still a valid answer cause I didn’t really love it. I think it would’ve made a much better movie. I get the whole 13 reasons, so let’s do 13 episodes thing. But it was too drawn out. And they changed a lot. I know why they did, but I didn’t think it was necessary. They just tried to squeeze too much into it. I don’t really have anyone in mind to cast either. One thing I did like about the show is they cast a not well known actress for the lead. I’d like to do that as well if I were to make it into a movie.

7. What’s something that you’ve always wanted to learn (language, skill, subject, etc.)?

Languages for sure! All of them. I took Italian all through high school and even a bit in college, but I swear I cannot speak a word of it. I think I’d like to be fluent in all the romance languages. I also took a Latin class in a recent semester and I actually loved it.

8. Pick three characters. Which one would you want to be partnered up with for lab? Which one would you want to be stuck in an elevator with for an hour? Which one would you want to be stuck on a deserted island with?

Partner for a lab: Kala from Sense8. For obvious reasons. But also I relate to her so much, so I think it’d actually be a good time.

Stuck in an elevator: Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He’s super funny so we’d have no problem passing the time. And also he’s a police officer so he’s good in emergencies too.

Deserted Island: Rey from Star Wars. I just like her, okay? And she’s pretty crafty so she’d probably find a way to get us home.

9. Name something good that’s happened to you this year. It can be anything.

I got a job after having to take a year long medical leave from school. Making money and feeling like I’ve accomplished something has really helped me through the sort of detour I’ve taken with my education. I also got promoted after a month at said job. And yeah, that felt pretty good. I still have a lot of self doubt for sure, but I don’t feel like a complete failure anymore.

10. What’s a weird fact you know?

In ancient times, there were professional mourners. Women were paid to mourn- like hardcore bawling, screaming, clawing at their face type mourning. (I definitely have better ones, but this is what I got for ya right now.)

@sweatersonlambs ‘s questions:

1. Pitch me a movie you wish you could write.

Okay I actually started writing this a million years ago, but here it is: Death tracks down a teenage girl who has the power to heal people, even those inches away from death. But Death doesn’t want to get rid of her- they want to work with her. Death is going rogue. They’re tired of collecting people’s souls and having no control over it. They’re basically the world’s most infamous garbage man. But is the responsibility of choosing who lives and dies too much? And who’s decision is it their’s or the girl’s?

2. If you had a podcast, what would it be about? Basically, what could you talk about for an hour every week?

Make up? I'm not sure. I don’t really listen to podcasts, so I’m not sure what would work or not. I mean are make up podcasts a thing?

3. Talk to me about your pets! If you don’t have one, I want to hear about the pet of your dreams.

I don’t have a pet unfortunately. And shockingly, to myself and everyone who knows me, I think I’d want a dog. I used to be a cat only kind of person, but dogs have really grown on me. When I was a kid, I was terrified of them. I’m not anymore. And in a way getting a dog would be like the final step of overcoming that. Though I suppose that’s a very selfish reason. Really I just want cuddles. And all I want is a pet who wants cuddles too. So dog, cat, or stuffed animal, I think I’ll be happy. I do envision myself with a gentle giant type dog for some reason though. Maybe a Saint Bernard or even a Great Dane.

4. When did you feel the most proud of yourself?

Most recently in getting and keeping my current job. I’m taking a medical leave from school and honestly I wasn’t sure I’d be physically able to devote the amount of time and energy into this job. But I have. And I have had obstacles, hospital stays, getting sick at work, etc. But I haven’t quit. And that feels good. Cause sometimes I feel like that’s all I do. It’s not always my fault, I know. But the point is I feel somewhat normal. And even though I’m fighting hard behind the scenes for what comes naturally to so many others, I’m fucking doing it.

5. What are you looking forward to next week?

I don’t think I have any real plans yet. So 1) sleeping. And 2) going outside. It’s starting to actually feel like summertime and I really want to be present this summer.

6. Tell me about your favorite dessert. I want all of the details.

Oh god, the hard part about this question is picking just one favorite. I’m gonna go with the comfort food choice. Monkey bread. And I’m talking homemade. Gooey cinnamon sugar goodness.

7. Who is your favorite drag queen on “RuPaul’s Drag Race”? If you haven’t seen the show, please explain why.

Okay so I haven’t actually seen her on the show cause I don’t really watch it to be honest. But I’m definitely a fan of Shangela’s. She hosted the drag show my university did and she was just perfection. She ended the show with this routine to a mash up of Beyonce hits and it was BREATHTAKING.

8. What is your favorite thing to watch on TV while hung over?

Cartoons probably. Usually Avatar The Last Airbender.

9. Please share your favorite animal fact.

That snakes (the common ones people own at least) are the chillest pets in the world. The ball python got it’s name because it curls into a ball when it’s nervous or threatened, rather than attacking. Not really a fun fact necessarily, but I was a bit stuck on this one. I’ll think of something way better right after I post this, just wait.

10. What would you bring to a potluck? In other words, what is your favorite thing to cook for friends?

Chocolate chip cookies. I’ve perfected the recipe. Okay it’s from a Martha Stewart cookbook, but I have altered it a little over time I swear. At one point I was making these so often I had the recipe memorized.

So I’m not writing any questions since I’ve already done this tag. Though I was tempted to, this tag is fun!

I am however tagging anyone who wants to do this! Anddd you have two different sets of questions to choose from! Both @crossroadsred and @sweatersonlambs brought their A game with these questions!

#words #tagged #personal

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