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treason-and-plot · 1 year

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REPLIES TO CONNOR FIGURING THINGS OUT AND SOME UNRELATED WAFFLE!

First off, I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation to @mysimsloveaffair @dandylion240 @hurricanesims @bool-prop @simbico @windermeresimblr @oasislandingresident @pixelcurious @simlicious @simsdada @nectar-cellar @percosim @wannabecatwriter @ninjaofthepurplethings @muses-circle @zosa95 @simsdada @parystrange and @anamoon63 for your sweet well wishes on my flu post. I don't think I have ever had the legit flu before, although of course I have had my fair share of colds and viruses, and it really hit me hard. Worst thing was the fever and the loss of interest in everything. I still feel a bit weak and shaky but I'm 99% better. Thank you again for helping me get through it! I love youse all!🤗 Now, on to the replies to my last story post:

@justanothersimsblog

Why lie about it? Just be the supposedly proud you are of being the side piece

Because it matters to her what Connor thinks of her despite her denials. That's also why she didn't have a cigarette on the way over, in case he smelled it on her ;=)

@wannabecatwriter

Truth hurts, especially when someone smart confronts you with it.

This particular situation must be very unsettling for Saffron, who's used to being the smartest person in the room!

@echoweaver

Well, being that she's a high school student, the other explanation would be that he knows his peers would be creeped out regardless of his marital status -- as they should be.

I don't know if that would be a deterrent to be honest- at least not amongst Aussie men. In my experience they would be high-fiving him and offering their congratulations, as vile and depressing as that sounds!

@queeniecook

Hahaha, I love this!

@oasislandingresident

I am waiting for Saffron to either burst into tears or bust out of there tbh

Saffron bursting into tears would be epic. I can't remember an occasion that she has ever burst into tears! You're probably in a better position than me to remember if it's ever happened, lol!

@simsaralove

There’s no fooling Connor!

Try and fool Perceptive Sims at your peril!

@ktarsims

LMAO - Deny it all you want because you don't want him to know, Saffron, but Connor's very perceptive. You might fool him into thinking you don't know the guy's married, but he's certain of his facts. (He's right, too.)

Also I get the feeling that once Connor has made up his mind about something it's virtually impossible to get him to budge!

@sweetnovember77

First of all, it’s none of Connor's business. Saffy, you do not owe Connor an explanation. Most, if not all, of your mistakes can be excellent learning opportunities. If Connor wants to be with you, make him earn your love. —Not badger you for it. He needs to back off.

Except they are playing Truth or Dare so she kind of agreed to be badgered when she signed up. I think one of the underlying rules of Truth or Dare is that you don't participate in anything that makes you uncomfortable and hopefully Saffy would understand that. And I totally agree that mistakes can be excellent learning opportunities, except Saffron hasn't yet realised that she has made a mistake...which is going to be potentially disastrous.

@kscriba

In a vacuum, if I didn't know Saffy, just based on her answers I would assume it's a sugar baby situation LOL

This made me guffaw! I really can't imagine Saffy being in that kind of situation though because she is so strong-willed and independent. I could actually imagine her being a sugar mama though once she becomes a wealthy and successful lawyer!!

@muses-circle

I can't decide if Connor is honestly interested in Saffron and going about it the wrong way, or if he's doing this to be a smut jerk. He's totally right (and the truth hurts), but at the same time, Saffron's there to hang out...right? IDK, something about this feels off.

I think the first line is true! It may not be immediately obvious because of his good looks and privileged aura, but he is definitely lacking in key social skills. But he does genuinely want to get to know Saffron better.

@batsheba

Busted! Me thinks Saffy do protest too much. Maybe she's a tiny bit embarrassed of the relationship or that Connor so easily figured it out?!

I also think she knows she is protesting too much but feels temporarily powerless to stop herself! Connor has really gotten her flustered. And she feels torn between wanting to stay and being scared she will expose herself further.

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WAFFLE:

So I've been reading some of the comments posted in response to that aesthetics poll, and people have had some very interesting and diverse opinions. Here are a few of my thoughts.

As a storyteller my primary focus is on my writing, and editing my screenshots comes a very distant second. I have to confess though I once did try to download Reshade, around the time Sims 4 was released because as a Sims 3 blog I was hemorrhaging followers and I thought I had to up the ante as far as my screenshots were concerned to stem the flow. Anyway it froze not only my game but my entire PC, and I was so scarred by the experience I never tried again. I have never owned Photoshop either. I use Picasa and Pixlr to edit my pics and I'm generally happy with the results although I am envious of certain Simblrs who manage to combine lush photo editing skills with engrossing storytelling! But if anyone ever came into my ask box and criticized my screenshots I would reply that virtually all my creativity is expended on my writing, sorry, and if you're not following me for my Sims story you may want to reconsider that decision!

I'm probably not typical of most of the community either because I don't *get* a lot of the aesthetics that garner hundreds of notes. For content to resonate with me it has to touch something emotional, and a picture of a Sim with no context just isn't going to do that for me no matter how amazing and beautiful the edit. I'm here for Sims stories, and legacies and gameplay that communicate the lives and loves and all the idiosyncrasies and quirks of our Sims, no matter what iteration of the franchise you're into!

#replies #blather

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riyangiis · 3 months

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I LOVE FILO ZB1 CONTENT SMMMM i usually have these random thoughts in my head abt what the members would be like as filos AND BRO for me ricky is definitely englishero. specifically those kinds that are fluent in tagalog but just prefer speaking in english

actually ricky is so me what the heck.. 😬😬 HE DEF LISTENS TO HEV ABI😬😬😬 it's either he's conyo and is horrible at filipino or he's just what you described him.. this guy is a bgc boy you can't say no

I think I would still keep the chinese and american in him😂😂.. guys guys what if he's a chinese-filipino that grew up in the us and has little to no knowledge abt the philippines.. bro when he gets there he would be THE airport crush wtf.. his parents told him that he should try to go to a public school but he's concerned and worried that he might get made fun of.. A LOT. so he goes to a private school first, then goes to public once he's able to speak filipino properly and stuff but he's only gonna stay there for a year..

bro def goes like "what's the orange ball with the little egg inside?" LMAOOOO🤣🤣🤣🙏🙏⁉️⁉️ he cringes at those err what do you call them.. the genggeng boys😬 they often tell him to try and hangout with them but he just.. ignores them.. "kumaldag ka nga!!" "wtf is a kaldag??"

bro tries so hard not to show off in the days where you're able to wear civilian clothes instead of the uniform but does it anyway.. "bat may lalaking mukhang pupunta sa party.." he even ricky-fies his own uniform and makes it look richer and more classy than it was originally supposed to be.. ehh you get it

def the guy that has EVERYTHING you need for a project, he doesn't really do anything except make the art and have the supplies.. "gaga nawala ung ink ng marker!" *biglang may 7 na marker, bago pa..* the main reason why he doesn't really do anything in the project because his group mates find it hard to communicate with him since his first languages are english and chinese and when he speaks filipino, he has this weird accent..

he knows how to speak filipino naman, it's just that accent that messes everything up.. medyo insecure siya abt it so he just doesn't speak at all. he also doesn't understand kanal humor AT ALL so his classmates don't really like his type of humor.. when he found out that he actually has english-speaking classmates with aircon humor, he tried his best to befriend him but they thought he was weird or didn't want to become friends with him since they thought he was some rich spoiled kid who knows nothing but money.. heck people even used him because of his wealthy status and got hold of the fact that he likes giving gifts to people he's close with..

he's famous around the school just for his looks, nothing else. when he thought his popularity would give him an advantage to get more friends and have a good image. he caught girls trying to sneak gifts or trying to state at him, he thought that this whole thing was making him uncomfortable but he can't do anything though. that's only gonna ruin his reputation. so he didn't mind and ignored the admirers, they're not really his business anyways. he knows he's handsome, he doesn't have to show it off at all times.

he stopped trying to make friends in his school and just sticked to doing his hobbies when he was bored and continued talking to his friends from china and usa, the others just viewed him as some rich kid anyway. the teacher assigned a project that needs a partner for the class, everyone gets to pick their own partner. he looks around with people debating on who should be their partner. he just continued drawing whatever was in his mind waiting for some unfortunate person to have no choice but be partners with him (to his admirers it's very fortunate to be partners with him.. you can see them fighting on who should be his partner, ricky is just enjoying the thought of being alone with no one disturbing him.

ricky suddenly felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. he looked up to see someone, is it an admirer?

"hello? can I be your partner?"

"huh? oh, sure.."

his attention is now on you instead of the drawing of a rose, ricky was caught off guard because of how.. quick this person asked to be his partner without being shy or nervous. he looked at the group of admirers, now fuming because he already has a partner.

(medyo inaccurate ito sorry😭😭)

#riyangiis #talk2yura !#yura.writes !#zb1 #zerobaseone #zerobaseone x reader #zb1 x reader #zb1 x you #zb1 ricky #ricky zb1 #shen ricky x reader #ricky x you #ricky x reader #shen ricky #shen quanrui x reader #shen quanrui #zb1 imagines

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juleworm · 1 year

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hello!! given that it is the first weekend in june, i'd like to go through everything that i read in the month of may and say if i would or would not recommend it and why. lets go !!

in chronological order of reading:

king of pride - ana huang: YES absolutely! god i loved this book. more specifically, yes i would recommend it if you like opposites attract in romance and dating, or if you like income gap relationships ( he's a billionaire, she's a struggling author ), and yes if you like incredibly hot and well written spicy scenes between characters. i honestly can't even think of a no unless you literally just hate spicy romance as a genre; even then i still think this book deserves a chance for your time. i absolutely adore this book.

2. den of vipers - k.a. knight: yes if you miss reading self-insert on wattpad and like pick me fmcs. the vipers themselves do have a lot of good character behind them, but as far as the fmc...i just really didn't like her. i did finish the entire book hoping that it would get better towards the end, but in my opinion the ending was one of the worse parts of the book and throughout it all it felt very predictable. would i generally recommend this? no. but it's definitely a hit or miss book. you'll either really like it, or not like it at all.

3. does it hurt? - h.d. carlton: yes yes yes yes yes. this was my favorite read of the month of may. i'd recommend it even more if you like witty and funny fmcs; it's sort of a dark romance version of grumpy x sunshine. it has a lot of spice and it's very creative if that makes sense? it's not just boring vanilla missionary, that's for sure. the mmcs character is phenomenal and both of them each have very full character arcs. but i wouldn't recommend it if mentions of incest and domestic abuse trigger you, or if body horror and gore triggers you.

4. never lie - freida mcfadden: yes if you're new to thrillers and want something easy to digest. definitely not if you're not new to thrillers and have read some absolutely breathtaking ones that kept you up at night. to me it had a rather predictable storyline, a twist that falls flat, and characters with absolutely zero depth or anywhere near a completed arc. i really did not like this book at all. also yes if you like a quick read; this didn't take me very long to get through.

5 + 6. there are no saints / there is no devil [ sinner's duet ] - sophie lark: yes if you like a "beginner" dark romance that doesn't stray too far into depravity, but still has a very dominant and demanding mmc. no if you've read things by h.d. carlton or other dark romance authors and that's your expectation level. this might come off as boring to you. however as this was a bit tame for me storyline wise, the spicy scenes were amazing and i did like that they were both artists. i feel like usually billionaires are business-oriented but it was cool to see a wealthy and famous artist. also yes if you like mentor romance dynamics.

7. iced out - veronica eden: yes if you like boys who are very clearly written by women ( in a good way! ). the mmc is perfectly balanced; he's as hot and dominant as he is cute and sweet and nice and thoughtful. he's pretty much the picturesque model citizen for what a girl typically would want in a perfectly healthy romantic relationship. there's very little drama between characters, which i personally liked. but no if parental death or familial death or grief/loss are triggers for you. for a more in-depth response, i did a spoiler free book review here!

if you do read any of these let me know! i'd love to see how our opinions differ :))

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a-trick-or-two-with-lepers · 1 year

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Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (NBC 2018) Breakdown and Review

Quick disclaimer: This is the second version of JCS that I've seen in full. I was introduced to the rock opera through the 1973 movie, and I'm not afraid to say that that is where my bias will always be, especially considering I'm more of a film buff than a theater nerd. However, I am aware that putting a feature-length film and a live recording of a performance on the same level for criticism is unfair, so I'll try to keep the comparisons to a minimum.

With that out of the way, here are my (slightly deranged) thoughts on NBC's JCS Live!

~Overture~

I can only imagine how hyped JCS enjoyers got while watching this live back in 2018. Not only is the live orchestra doing an amazing job, but the guitar players get their own time to shine on stage! This is so damn cool to see, because the guitar riffs are really what makes the song. When the "Heaven on Their Minds" riff began and we got to see one of the guitarists on stage just going at it, I knew I'd be in for a treat.

I'd like to take a moment to talk about the set design as well. One thing I know to be true about most JCS productions is that the set is almost always bare-bones - but in a meaningful way. The story relies more on the actions and emotions of its characters than the environment, which makes sense as Jesus and his compatriots were not necessarily wealthy. This remains true for this particular production. The staging is really impressive; you're never short of something or someone to look at.

Also... the outfits! I'm a sucker for leather, and this production has no shortage of it. The costumes, while aesthetically pleasing, show how much the ensemble in this play favor rebellion.

I love when casts are as diverse as possible - in ethnicity, skin color, body types, gender presentation, etc. This cast fits the bill, and everyone does a fantastic job in the overture. In fact, the ensemble this cast provides are just amazing in general. You can tell each and every one of them has oodles of experience under their belt. I have no complaints about any of their performances.

I will say, the flashing lights during the more chaotic bits were a bit much for me, but that's more due to my propensity to get overstimulated. Overall, the choices made in this section were top-notch, and I really can't be mad at any of it.

Enter: John Legend.

You know how I was really digging the costuming? Well...

Look, I understand that most productions have Jesus just looking like a normal ass dude with normal ass clothing, but was the grey shawl really necessary? Whatever, I'm not too put out by it. At least we get to see some John Legend tiddy.

It occurred to me during this part of the play that I am not a fan of live audiences. Once again, my easily overstimulated brain may be to blame, but I found myself wishing for most of the play that the audience would just quiet down. Nevertheless, I'm sure the cast was happy to be so outwardly appreciated.

~Heaven on Their Minds~

youtube

I'm gonna say this once and I won't say it again. THE MARKETING TEAM LEFT BRANDON VICTOR DIXON IN THE GODDAMN DUST. Seriously, every time I came across a video of this production on Youtube, his name was either not in the title, not in the thumbnail, or he was labeled as Tim Minchin. The poor guy is the main fucking character and nobody could be bothered to give him the credit he deserves. I understand that Legend is more famous, but seriously. That just rubs me the wrong way.

Anyway...

I'm back to loving the costuming. Judas' vest is so cool, and I love the symbolism of his tank being red. Honestly, any Judas in red has my heart immediately.

His performance here is good, but nothing I'm overly impressed by. I can understand wanting to save energy for later performances, though, and I'm definitely not offended by Dixon's singing. He's a bit stilted in his delivery, a little nasally in his vocals, and I sometimes have a hard time believing his performance. Though, I can imagine it's kind of hard to stay in character when you're struggling to be heard above the audience. I mean seriously! When Jesus did the bit where he reached out to the audience, the crowd got so loud that if I didn't know the lyrics to this song by heart I wouldn't know what Dixon was saying. It made me a bit mad, to be honest. I don't know, maybe that in itself is symbolic or some shit.

I do like Dixon's phrasing in some parts, especially when he sing-speaks the line "do you care for your race?" as well his sassy delivery of the titular line. I did not care for the way he sang "how put down we are," but he later totally nailed the original riff on "sour," which is one of my favorite vocal runs of all time. The way he interspersed the bits where he wasn't singing with spoken complaints was cute. He also did a really nice break at the "puh-LEASE" bit.

He really made the song his own. The last twenty seconds gave me chills. Dixon is clearly a very skilled performer, and though there were parts of his performance I didn't love, I overall really enjoyed watching him sing one of my favorite musical numbers.

One last thing about this part: I don't really like how Judas is singing directly to Jesus. A big part of Judas' characterization is that he is a sort of outcast-loner type, and his relationship with Jesus fails mainly because both men fail to communicate effectively. When Judas is literally expressing his concerns directly to Jesus, and Jesus outright ignores him, it makes Jesus come across as an unresponsive dick. Again, this is the first theater JCS I've seen, so I'm not sure how much of this is written in stone as part of the Broadway production. Instead of doing the right thing and researching that, I'm just going to judge the play based on how I initially responded to it.

~What's the Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying~

I'm not sure if this is a constant in most JCS productions, but "What's the Buzz" feels too slow to me. It's a bit jumpier in the '73 version, but that may be because they were recording it in a studio rather than in front of a live audience. I will say, there's not much room for breathing in this song. Once again, though, the ensemble is doing a banger job.

I came into this not really having a strong opinion on John Legend. I really only know the one song from him ("All of Me," obviously). I've heard people criticize his performance in this, and while I'd much prefer a rock singer or seasoned Broadway performer in this role, I can't say I'm too offended by his casting. He's more focused on his voice than his acting. When it comes to musical theater, each line should be treated as its own and should portray a slightly different emotional tone. With Legend, all his lines kind of sound the same and seem to hold the same level of importance. He's also not very good at the kind of talk-singing that is usually present in this role. But, I can't deny that he sounds pretty damn good. I especially liked how he sang "Mary, oooh, that is good." Very sexy indeed.

Speaking of Mary! Who doesn't love Sara Bareilles? (No seriously, who? I just wanna talk...) I really really really love her dress, and her voice is just lovely. Very soothing and unassuming.

When Judas comes in for "Strange Thing Mystifying," he is once again portraying the perfect amount of sass and shade. I really missed the "hey cool it man :(" line from Simon, though. It's so adorable in the '73 JCS.

I really liked Legend's staccato "Who. Are. You." parts! Whoever made the decision to direct him like that knew what they were doing.

All around, there was more singing than acting going on from the main cast. In my opinion, this makes the characterization kind of weak, but it doesn't make the songs unenjoyable.

Also, I love the choreography here! Especially when they sing "when do we ride into Jerusalem?" Still can't top the '73 choreo for me, but that's a very high bar.

~Everything's Alright~

While I absolutely adore Sara Bareilles' voice, I wish she enunciated a bit more for this song, but that's just a personal preference. Her singing and her entire vibe is just so calming and gorgeous, and her runs are spot-on. Then we get to the little Judas and Jesus interaction.

In the original movie, this is the scene that made me realize, "Wow. These men really love each other." Every scene with Carl Anderson and Ted Neely is just so emotionally intense that it's impossible to look away. That is not really the case with Legend and Dixon.

Though they both sound good (for the most part), the desperation and emotional overflow is just not there. And I say for the most part because both Dixon and Legend struggle a bit with the higher notes. Dixon went for the belt, but was a bit flat. Legend opted to sing "when I'm gone" with a poorly sung falsetto, and it just. Does not fit. Whatsoever. It was a weak performance of a line that is meant to be fraught with emotion.

Also, by the end of the song, I'm pretty sure the point is supposed to be that despite Mary's careful ministrations, Jesus is still stressed and upset. But here? Nah, Jesus is just snoozin'.

Despite J and J's subpar deliveries, I enjoyed this song even if just for how Mary was presented.

~This Jesus Must Die~

Norm Lewis! I! Don't really... have a pre-formed opinion on him. So many people seem to, but I just haven't been involved in theater for so long that I'm a bit out of the loop.

Nonetheless, he is a wonderful performer. His vibrato is liquid gold. However, I was under the impression that Caiaphas is a role usually played by bass singers. Lewis is very clearly a baritone. I'm not sure I'm too happy with this choice, especially since he seems to struggle a bit with the lower notes. It's not nearly as noticeable as Legend's struggle with high notes, but I really wish we got to have a beautiful, gravelly bass voice in this role. Even without the inhumanly low tones, Lewis manages to make this role just as intimidating as it should be.

Jin Ha does a good job as Annas. I don't have much to say about his performance.

What I find particularly funny about this part is that you can tell who the stage performers are. Legend is a singer. He sings. These priests that have like, two lines each? They're PERFORMERS. They are taking their fifteen seconds of fame and milking them as much as possible, and I respect the hell out of it because it makes for some very enjoyable performances. The "What then to do about this Jesusmania?" guy killed it.

I love the costuming here as well - very cool geometric designs on the jackets.

Though I would love to say I fancied this version of the song, they didn't include the "Jesus is cool" line. And for that, this is my least favorite song in the production. (/j)

~Hosanna~

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. It was good! Just a few little tidbits:

-Legend starting a crowd clap was cute

-This song works really well for Legend cause it's right in his register and he doesn't have to reach for any super high notes

-The key change is super cool! I LOVE Legend's runs during this part as well

-The last part where they all sing "SUPERSTAAAAR" was awesome and I can imagine them using that for a lot of cable advertisements

~Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem~

First of all: Simon's cute as hell! Look at his lil' hair!

I just love when this role is played as the most energetic, chaotic, batshit insane guy you've ever seen. And I cannot express how delighted I am to see a role in this play being done by a rock singer! Erik Grönwell's performance here is my favorite out of anyone in this play so far. His belts are out of this world.

The ensemble can't be discounted here either, 'cause they sound freaking amazing. But I've already expressed my love for them.

Surprisingly, Legend's falsetto actually works well for "Poor Jerusalem." It makes sense, though, as this part is meant to be a bit gentler and more downtrodden. He sounds really nice.

Side note: when did they change the "but you close your eyes" line to "but you live a lie?" Is that just for this version or was it changed previously? I feel like it doesn't really add anything.

~Pilate's Dream~

Not much to say here either, it's a pretty short song. I will say I really like Pilate's outfit. The colors are reminiscent of '73 version, which is an immediate like from me. I also like how Pilate looked straight into the camera at the end of the song. Pretty impactful even if I know for a fact they went to commercial break right after that.

~The Temple~

Okay. I'd die for these guitarists. I love whenever they're on stage! They're killing it!

Anyway, I found it pretty funny that the temple-goers just started dumping glitter on the ground. I wrote in my notes "Slay ig," so, slay ig.

It's pretty cool too how the "temple" is literally just a huge cross on the ground. The slow movement of the camera makes this a languid realization, which is neat.

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention that the camerawork so far has been really good. I never feel like I'm watching something stagnant, yet I still feel like a part of the audience. Good job, NBC crew.

"My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" is my favorite part of the original movie. It's so undeniably powerful, and Neely's rock-belt is just heavenly to listen to. (He performs it live, too, so I know it isn't just a trick of the recording studio).

Legend's version of this line? Eh, it was alright. It was honestly better than I was expecting. I was really worried he was just gonna sing it the way it was written and go for the falsetto, but he instead chose to stay in his range. He also has an intentional voice break, indicating a bit of emotion, which is nice to see. I don't know why he sings the "get outs" in lowercase; it's just kind of funny.

The lepers sound really good, but when Legend is trying to sing his part over them, I can hardly hear him. What I did hear, though, was like? Really good? Super rock-sounding. Hopefully we hear more of that later...

~I Don't Know How to Love Him~

No notes. She slayed.

Yvonne Elliman supremacy, but Sara Bareilles Mary Magdalene now has a place in my heart. I'm glad I watched this production if just for her, honestly.

~Damned for all Time / Blood Money~

What can I say? The priests are spooky, the lighting is badass, and Norm Lewis is the best singer here.

As far as Judas goes, Dixon is doing exceedingly well for how ridiculously hard this song is to sing. Carl Anderson owns this song in my heart, but Dixon is not disappointing. He makes up for the lack of insane belting by adding his own runs, and it works well. I wrote in my notes that "Brandon actually looks like emotions are happening," so, yeah. Also, the BICEPS! Needless to say, I was enjoying it.

~The Last Supper~

I forgot why I wrote "Aw, gay apostles" in my notes, but going back to it, I noticed how much hugging kissing was going on between these guys. Can't complain, love a good smooch.

Mary is also in this scene, which differs from the movie. And she shows her hospitality towards Judas, which is cute. I always wished they had Judas and Mary interact more in the movie.

Legend sounds good at the beginning. Once again, this song is well within his range, and his falsettos don't feel too out of place. However, they didn't put a pause between the "when you eat and drink" line and the "I must be mad" line, which I thought was odd.

When the accusations start flying, Jesus just. Doesn't seem mad. Judas does, and Dixon completely upstages Legend in this scene.

After the apostles sing a second time, and Judas starts dishing out the insults to Jesus, I feel like it should have been more one-on-one and personal. I would've had the apostles move further away or even leave the stage for this part.

Oof. Legend singing "Get out!" in falsetto was just... not good. When the audience clapped for it I cringed so hard.

Let's see if Legend can redeem himself with the next song...

~Gethsemane~

With how bad everyone made it out to be, I was expecting Legend to completely biff it here. But to my surprise, he really stepped it up here, in both terms of singing and acting. Obviously, it was nowhere near as impactful as Gillan or Neely's versions, but I could at least see that Legend was trying. This part made me recognize that he isn't necessarily a bad actor, he just isn't consistent enough in his performance for it to be believable that he is in character.

He displayed some really impressive rock-belting midway through the song, right around where most people usually go for the g5 note. It sounds so gravelly and crisp, and I really wish he used it more during this performance. Additionally, I am very happy that he didn't go for the g5. That part usually makes or breaks the performance, and with Legend I think we know which way the egg was gonna fall.

There were some good choices made here as well as some bad ones. He still did some nasty falsettos in the latter half of the song, which actually made me laugh. Seriously, who convinced him that was okay? I feel like this would have been a well-regarded performance without that.

Overall, I'm impressed. The weak points were weak, but few, and the strong points were really strong. It wasn't nearly as poor as people made it out to be.

~The Arrest~

The kiss was nice and tender. I like the way Jesus hugs Judas afterwards too, that was very sweet. For some reason it sounded like Legend said "Judas, must you betray me with a gay?" which I thought was pretty funny.

I like how the arrest was framed as a news stint, with reporters and mics and all that. It was also pretty neat how they interspersed the solo lines with ensemble lines.

~Peter's Denial~

Peter was good, but the real standout here was that guy with the phone that sang "But I saw him too, he looked just like you." God DAMN! They went OFF!! Can he play Judas next please?

~Pilate and Christ~

Pilate is really the one bringing the camp here. He ate this up.

~King Herod's Song~

Well. What do you want me to say here? It's Alice Cooper. Do you really think I am physically, mentally, or legally capable of criticizing Alice Cooper?

I'll spare you the fangirling I did in my notes app; just know I, as well as the audience, was very happy to see this man doing his thing.

Also, as a rocker, he actually made this song fit with the rest of the play, which is truly a feat.

(Still not as good as his episode on The Muppets).

~Could we Start Again Please~

Even though I love Sara as Mary, and Peter did a good job as well, I wish they included more ensemble in this song. I feel like it's more impactful that way as it shows that there were still people who believed in Jesus. Still, I'm so glad they decided to keep this song in most JCS productions because it's one of my favorites.

~Judas's Death~

Oh no, he lost the leather vest! I'm not complaining though... 😏

This is the part where I praise Dixon for his showmanship, 'cause this man just got THROWN and he KEPT SINGING! I found that to be very impressive. Though I will say, the increase in his emotional performance seems to cause his singing to suffer a bit. To be fair, it's an incredibly hard part to sing.

Aside from Jesus going bonkers in the Temple, Judas' reprise of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" is my favorite scene in the original movie. Did Dixon live up to my expectations? Well, considering my expectations were pretty low to begin with, he exceeded them.

This is seriously the best acting I've seen in the whole play. Dixon completely sells his performance. Consider me a proud and satisfied viewer.

Although, quick PSA to the audience. You don't actually have to clap every time a man sings in falsetto, mkay? Thanks <3

~Trial Before Pilate~

This song is notorious for its difficult timing considering it's just talksingtalksingtalk *BUM* talksingtalksingtalk *BUM* for a bit. This Pilate though? Yeah, he nails it. I was really impressed by his performance. Also, when he said "talk to me Jesus Christ," that was the most sexual tension I've seen in a stage play, wow.

I don't really understand what was going on in the flogging scene, because the ensemble members were just running past him individually, but Legend was selling it. It definitely looked like he was in pain, and the lashes on his back didn't look sloppy or rushed.

Another emotional crux of the play is when Pilate basically yells "DON'T LET ME STOP YOUR GREAT SELF DESTRUCTION!!" I was a little let down by this guy's performance of these lines honestly. However, he was virtually perfect the rest of the time so I can't really be mad.

~Superstar~

THIS. THIS IS IT.

For whatever reason, Dixon just decided to turn the iconic scale up to 1000. The diamond laced fit. The dancing. The footwork. Everything about this performance was absolutely incredible, and I am just ecstatic about it. I mean, the man was full on spinning on the ground while singing. Every run he did now has a permanent residence in my brain. If you decide not to watch this version of JCS, I understand. I don't blame you. But if nothing else, please please PLEASE watch this part on Youtube. You won't regret it.

In the words of a close friend of mine, he slayed, ate it up, left no crumbs, licked it clean, you could eat off that plate again.

~The Crucifixion~

There were some lines in here that definitely weren't in the movie, and again, I'm not super familiar with the broadway play so I'm not sure how much of this was changed for this version alone. Nonetheless, Legend did a good job here. I mean, attempting to portray Jesus dying on a cross is a task to be sure, and he accomplished it.

~John Nineteen: Forty One~

There seemed to be some resurrection imagery here, so, congratulations Christians. He did the rising. (I am not religious, can you tell)?

I love me a good curtain call. They're just so joyous.

So! Was this production worth two hours of me composing my thoughts on it into a Tumblr post approximately five people will read? You tell me. I certainly enjoyed my time with it, and I hope to do this with more productions. I'm looking forward to watching both the 2012 revival and broadway productions, the 2014 Swedish one, and the 2000 movie. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for others I might enjoy or that you would like to see a breakdown of.

#jesus christ superstar #jesus christ superstar 2018 #review #jcs 2018 #jcs #john legend #brandon victor dixon #alice cooper #nbc #sara bareilles #Youtube

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daswarschonkaputt · 2 years

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Oooooh so many choices. And I'm torn between asking about mpreg kinnporsche and teenage Porsche! I mean, we don't want you tire yourself out but if you're up to a little titbit... Either?

okay well i have some good news, there is already mpreg kinnporsche content floating around on my blog. the not!fic is here, and i posted a snippet here a bit ago.

teenage porsche... okay so i started this not!fic when i was working on sheets chapter... probably six? i think. and then i got sick, and had to pivot to focus on finishing the fic, so the not!fic just sort of fell to the wayside. i do want to finish it, eventually.

essentially, there was a line in between the sheets about porsche at seventeen -- which was something like this:

Porsche isn’t without sympathy. In the grand scheme of things, Porsche generally wouldn’t pit a seventeen year-old orphan armed with cookware against an experienced bodyguard carrying a top-of-the-line fire arm—with the exception of himself, at seventeen. As a teenager, he’d been – as Yok once said – feral. Porsche maybe wouldn’t have been able to take down Pete, back then, but he’d have probably left the man with one less eye, and maybe a few missing fingers.

and this prompted my readers to tell me they'd pay good money to read feral 17 y/o porsche and 20 y/o kinn ruining each other. and i was like. damn. that's a good idea.

so: feral, angry-at-the-world teenage porsche thrown headfirst at deeply unhappy just-post-tawan kinn. that's the fic's idea.

i'll give you a snippet of the not!fic, but exercise caution. content warning for implied/referenced underage prostitution (no underage sex takes place). let me put it this way: reading this, the group chat complimented me on the knives. so. take that as you will.

the premise:

Porsche is 17 and angry at the world. It’s been about five and a half years since his parents died in a car accident, and the grief has had just enough time to stew into a futile kind of adolescent rage. The world is cruel and unfair, and Porsche is furious at it.

Porsche works two jobs – three, if you count competitive taekwondo, which you probably should – and attends school full-time, when he bothers to show up. His attendance is shit, his grades are barely acceptable, and he’s literally always broke. On top of that, about 80% of his spare energy on any given day has to go to persuading his little brother (Chay, 11) that absolutely nothing is wrong. His stress levels are through the fucking atmosphere.

Porsche attends a fancy private school on an athletics scholarship – which he really wouldn’t bother with, if not for the fact that his scholarship means that Chay also gets to go to school for free, in the attached junior school to his high school. Porsche has a quiet side hustle where he steals shit off his wealthy classmates and gives it to Uncle Thee to sell.

He has no friends, no support system, and the only person he talks with semi-regularly is his taekwondo coach, who thinks he’s cocky and lacking drive.

Recently, Porsche has taken to sneaking out of the house to take part in underground fighting matches. If he’s honest with himself, it has less to do with the money – which is… not bad, but honestly, not the best – than it does with giving Porsche an excuse to hit something until it just—stops. Porsche is scrappy – the kind of fighter who always gets back up, when you knock them down.

It’s the aftermath of one of these matches, when Porsche is staggering through the streets of Bangkok. He’s beat to shit, frankly – his ribs are definitely bruised, if not broken. His kidneys are aching in the way that means he’s going to be pissing blood for a week, or so. He’s just having an altogether bad time.

Porsche is heading for Yok’s bar – well aware that he can’t show up in need of medical help at home. Porsche doesn’t know Yok all that well, at this point, but she has an open door policy for him after she found him passed out on a bench outside her bar, once, and brought him in and patched him up. Yok’s the closest thing Porsche has to an adult he can count on, and he doesn’t even know her that well.

He takes a break on his trek to smoke a cigarette on a street corner – and that’s when he meets Kinn.

This is Kinn. 20 years old, university student, mafia heir. He’s fresh off the Tawan betrayal – cynical about love, cynical about people, and even a little cynical about his family. He’s floundering, and he’s in pain – he’s looking for whatever he can to erase it. Alcohol, sex, oblivion. He’s reckless with his security, because he doesn’t know if he wants them to keep him alive. Miserable and self-destructive. He’s wearing a silk shirt, unbuttoned to the navel, and he stumbles out of a nightclub door, to the sight of Porsche. Porsche is—well, he’s pretty. He wears seventeen with none of the awkwardness his peers do – Kinn looks at him, and he wants.

the meet not-at-all-cute:

Kinn: How much?

Porsche turns and looks at this rich asshole who’s just stumbled dead-drunk out of a nearby nightclub, who’s mistaken him for a whore and his immediate thought is, “Fuck this guy in particular.”

Kinn: Ten thousand?

Porsche gives him a withering look. Kinn misreads this.

Kinn: Fifty thousand?

Porsche puts out his cigarette, ready to fuck off.

Kinn: A hundred thousand?

Porsche pauses. And it’s—it’s awful, but here’s the thing: a hundred thousand baht is… That’s a years’ wages for Porsche and then some. With that much money, Porsche could probably even quit one of his jobs, maybe spend a bit more time with Chay.

It’s kind of shitty, to realise that you have a price. Porsche turns around at Kinn – this rich asshole, blind drunk, throwing around a hundred thousand baht on what he thinks is a street whore – and he thinks, Well.

Porsche: 150.

Kinn agrees. Porsche makes a little beckoning gesture, like, Hand over the cash, and Kinn’s like, “I’m going to have to go to an ATM first.”

You know what’s awkward? Standing next to the guy who’s bought you, as he withdraws the cash to pay you. Porsche rocks on his heels, asking himself, Am I really doing this?

Kinn has the money, and hands it over to Porsche. Porsche takes it, counts it, and does his best to pretend like this isn’t the most money he’s ever handled in his entire life. He puts it into his back pocket. Kinn looks at him like, Well? And Porsche is like, Yeah I’m going to pretend like I do this all the time.

He leads Kinn into an alleyway, and then Kinn kisses him. Porsche lets him, and then he drives his knee straight up into Kinn’s groin. Kinn makes a noise like he’s been shot, curling over in agony, taken completely off-guard. Porsche goes to run, with the cash, not expecting Kinn to get his feet under him and fight back.

It’s—brutal. Kinn is drunk, but also incredibly well-trained. By comparison, Porsche is sober, injured, and fucking feral. He comes out on top, but barely. He manages to knock Kinn out, and just stands there, breathing.

He looks down at Kinn on the ground and thinks, You know what? This fucker deserves this. And then he steals his watch, too.

after:

He manages to make it to Yok’s before the adrenaline wears off, but the weight of the 150,000 baht in his pocket is heavy, and he doesn’t go inside to ask for medical attention. Instead, he calls a taxi, and goes home to Chay and his uncle. Porsche gives his uncle the watch to sell, but doesn’t tell him about the cash, which he hides under a floorboard in his room.

Getting up the next morning is—weird. He feels like shit, but when he goes to check his hidey-hole, the money’s still there. His happiness is ruined when his brother comes into his room without knocking, and sees the awful bruising on his torso. Chay makes Porsche promise to go to the school nurse about it, and is generally just very fussy and worried about it all. Porsche capitulates easily.

Porsche spends the entire time at school waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it just—doesn’t. He gets home, the money’s still there. For the first time in nearly two years, he feels like he can breathe.

A week passes. Porsche begins to spend the money. He’s not profligate with it, or anything – but he buys a few things he might have put off. New shoes for Chay. Take-out for dinner one night. He gets on top of their bills and debts. Quits one of his jobs.

And then at school he’s called in to the headmaster’s office.

Headmaster is meeting with a fancy-pants donor who’s supposedly going to pay for a new scholarship at the school – and wants to meet the school’s most famous scholar, the national taekwondo champion. Mr Headmaster is basically tripping over himself to be nice to the donor – who turns around and smiles at Porsche.

It’s Kinn.

let the ruining commence:

This is so patently a power play that Porsche is almost pissed off about it – and the worst thing is that it still works, because Porsche is fucked. If Kinn tells the headmaster that Porsche scammed him out of a hundred grand, beat him up, and stole his watch – Porsche will lose his scholarship. Kinn is smug – he knows this.

Kinn executes a light bit of conversational manipulation to get the headmaster to leave him and Porsche alone. With the witness gone, the gloves come off.

Kinn: I have to say, I admire your bravery, if nothing else. It takes a particular kind of nerve to steal from me.

Porsche: I didn’t steal shit.

Kinn: [straightens his cuffs, just enough to draw attention to his watch, the one Porsche lifted off his unconscious body] What would you call the 150,000 baht of my money you ran off with, then?

Porsche: You gave that money to me.

Kinn: I gave you that money in exchange for a service to be rendered. That service did not include beating me unconscious and leaving me in an alleyway. I think we could make a case for breach of contract, at the very least.

Porsche: I didn’t sign shit, and I don’t owe you anything.

Porsche goes to leave, but Kinn catches his arm. Porsche throws off his touch.

Kinn: My money, Porsche.

Porsche: What about it?

Kinn: I’d like it back.

Porsche: I don’t have it anymore. [He goes to leave. Once again, Kinn stops him.]

Kinn: Then we have a problem.

Porsche: The only problem we’ll have is if you keep putting your hands where they don’t belong.

Kinn: The implicit contract was as follows: the money, in exchange for sex. As you have failed to uphold your end of the bargain, I’m going to have to ask for the return of the payment.

Porsche: I already told you, I don’t have the money anymore.

Kinn: Even gutter trash like you would struggle to spend 150,000 baht in one week. Return what you have.

Porsche: [Yeah, you know what? Fuck him.] I know your type – rich assholes who’ve never had to work a day in their life. Does your daddy know you spend his money on teenage rent boys?

Kinn: Is this a blackmail attempt?

The bastard sounds amused.

Porsche: Sure.

Kinn: Go ahead. Tell my father all about my twisted little proclivities. I think he’d be more appalled that I spent 150,000 baht on a mouthy little shit like you than the nature of my deviancy. [He steps aside from blocking the door.] My money, Porsche. You have 24 hours.

Porsche: Don’t call me, I’ll call you?

Kinn: Don’t get cute. [Hands Porsche a business card.] Call this number when you have the money. Someone will be by to pick it up.

Well, that’s Porsche’s day ruined.

Porsche thinks it over, and realises it’s probably just easiest to give Kinn back the 120,000 baht he still has from the affair. He goes back home and checks his hiding place, only to find it empty.

At first, he’s furious – he thinks that Kinn set all this up as some sort of twisted mind game. And then Uncle Thee comes shuffling in, surprised to see Porsche back from school so early. Porsche has this moment of hope.

Kinn had his watch back – which means that Arthee doesn’t have it. Did he manage to sell it? And Uncle Thee—hesitates. At which point, Porsche realises that Thee did manage to sell the watch, but something happened to the money. Which is that Thee gambled it away. He’d been trying to get a return on investment – but had lost big. He’d taken Porsche’s little money stash to the casino today to try and win back the money, but had lost that, as well.

Porsche stares at his uncle, and despairs. He’s—so completely devastated, and not even fucking surprised, that it wraps right back around to anger. He goes for Thee’s throat, throttling him, demanding to know what the fuck he was thinking—

At which point Chay gets home from school and pulls Porsche off their uncle. Chay’s mad at Porsche, without any of the context for why all this is happening, which makes Porsche even more upset. He storms out of the house, without thinking about where he’s going.

His feet take him to Yok’s bar, where Yok is accepting a delivery of alcohol. She sees him stood there, in his school uniform, after having trekked across Bangkok, and wordlessly takes him inside.

The entire story is too humiliating to tell Yok, so he lets out bits and pieces – that he owes someone a lot of money, that he had the money to pay them, and his uncle spent it all. He hands over the business card, which Yok inspects.

Bank, one of Yok’s bartenders, peeks at the card, and is like, “This is his card? This is really his card. Porsche, you’re fucked.” Cue a bit of background information about Kinn Anakinn Theerapanyakul – and the extent of his family’s power. Bank is highkey amazed – how on earth did Porsche get tangled up with the mafia?

Yok’s immediate thought is that she can lend him the money. She asks how much it is, tells him he can work off the debt to her by washing glasses in her bar. But Porsche knows that 150,000 baht is too much for Yok – she doesn’t have that kind of money just lying around. He turns her down, tells her he can figure something out. Yok is hesitant, but Porsche is insistent.

the knives get worse:

Porsche leaves Yok’s bar, and calls the number on the card. He says he wants to talk about the debt in person.

Kinn sends a fancy car to pick him up. It’s driven by men in dark suits, who all look at Porsche like he’s gum they scraped off their shoe. Porsche gets in the car, and lets them take him to Kinn.

He’s taken to a fancy skyscraper in the centre of Bangkok. It’s all very grand, and Porsche feels like the worst kind of fraud, in his school uniform and ratty converse. He tries to pretend like the décor doesn’t get to him. He mostly succeeds.

Kinn is waiting for him in a fancy office. It has floor to ceiling windows and a light fitting that could be described as a chandelier. He looks up and down at Porsche.

Kinn: So, do you have something for me?

Porsche: [looks at the security detail] I’m not talking about this with them in the room.

Kinn: [pauses, considers] Big, leave.

Big: Khun Kinn—

Kinn: If he disables me, I’m sure you’ll catch him on the way out. Leave.

[They leave.]

Porsche: [clenches fists] You gave me the money for services to be rendered, right?

Kinn: I did.

Porsche: So if I rendered those services, I wouldn’t have to return it to you?

Kinn: [Eyebrows rise.] 150,000 baht in less than a week – quite the spending habit. What’s your poison? Drugs? Sex? Gambling?

Porsche flinches.

Kinn: Gambling. I see. But not you. The only risks you take are with your safety. A relative, then – probably not the baby brother. Your uncle?

Porsche: Do you want to fuck me or not?

Kinn: [Looks at Porsche.] I like my partners to enjoy themselves. I’m not convinced you would.

Porsche: [Clenches fists.] I can make nice. I can even moan your name, if you want me to.

Kinn: The last time I tried to fuck you, I ended up unconscious in an alleyway, missing my watch. I rarely make the same mistake twice. We’ll come up with an alternate repayment plan. [Calls out.] Big!

Big enters the room again.

Kinn: Take Porsche to Chan. Tell him to make him useful.

Porsche: I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me what’s going on.

Kinn: You sold me your body. Don’t get mad because I have other uses for it.

This statement makes Porsche think that Kinn is—pimping him out to whoever this Chan guy is, which is an awful realisation to have. Porsche considers running, before he spots the gun holster on every bodyguard around him. He’s fucked. He’s so very fucked.

Only—Chan doesn’t want to fuck him. In fact, Chan looks kind of pissed off about Porsche’s entire existence. Chan’s an older guy – middle-aged, but handsome – and he’s wearing the same suits and firearms routine as all the other bodyguards. He has Porsche fight against someone, and Porsche demonstrates that he’s scrappy, skilled, and absolutely impossible to keep down. Once Porsche has knocked the other guy down, Chan just sort of stands there, pinching his nose, like, Fantastic. Wonderful. Just what I want.

Chan then takes him to some sort of office? And has Porsche read and sign a contract – which is, to Porsche’s immediate relief, for a position as a part-time bodyguard. Then Chan drives him home.

Porsche started off the evening thinking he was going to lose his virginity to some rich asshole he scammed out of 150k baht. He’s ended it as a bodyguard working for the mafia. If he weren’t so fucking exhausted, he’d probably be more upset.

i have more, but i have to hold something back, you guys :P

#kaputt writes stuff #the teen porsche au #sorry for the subheadings tumblr apparently has a 4000 character limit on blocks?#idk #kinnporsche fic

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justadram · 1 year

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Were the Knights Templar good or bad?

I mean, depends on your definition of good/bad, I suppose. And whether you're judging them by today's standards (let's not) or the day's standards. They were certainly wrongfully accused and suppressed. That's a fact. And none of the bizarre stuff is true.

So, I've done a lot with military orders, because while I study heresy, I do so within the framework of the rise of Christian charity, and they were pretty much one of the if not the most popular charities of the day. They became really wealthy, which tended to happen with the religious groups in the Middle Ages that thrived on gifts from people who were looking for ways to keep themselves from burning in hell or spending too much time in purgatory. They also invented innovative banking practices, which helped. That's all their downfall was about, wanting their riches.

I've looked very specifically at their suppression because I study the changing targets of inquisition. Once there are no actual heretics (people of divergent belief) to hunt, you start seeing bogeymen elsewhere, since you've already got the apparatus in place and you're prodding and unearthing weird (to inquisitors) stuff almost by accident that can end up being redefined as heresy. Women carrying herbal sachets and dried-up umbilical cords to encourage fertility? Heresy. Sodomy? Heresy. Now, sodomy wasn't new, none of this was new, but it wasn't defined as heresy before either. That's of course one of the things the Knights Templar got accused of, and previously, like in the 13th c., that wouldn't land you afoul of the inquisition.

Another thing I'll say is while we might look back and find the military and spiritual nature of these orders baffling and maybe even want to assume the spiritual aspect is merely a front, it made perfect sense to a culture predicated on knightly culture and Catholicism. It's why crusading as a concept took off like a shot. They must do violence: that's their trade, that's their role in society--it the source of their place in society. But: violence, especially killing is sin. Now, the Church swoops in and says, we're going to offer you the job of protecting pilgrims to the holiest of pilgrimage sites and if you have to do violence, it won't be a sin, actually, you're going to be absolved of all the sins you've ever committed! You're a pilgrim! With a sword! Do you sign on? YES! And if you can't wield a sword but you can outfit one of these knights on their expensive journey? Perfect, you're absolved too. Do you donate? YES!

This is a world of true belief. This is a violent world. Crusading and the military orders seemed like the perfect solution to a lot of people struggling with those opposing facts.

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firephoenix23 · 1 year

Text

A Dr. Blakk discussion

I wanted to do a post on Dr. Blakk since his grand arrival for Ascension is coming up in a few weeks. The reason I really wanted to make this post is that it feels like no one really talks about him as a villain or like his motivation. I mean, the guy has such a horrible childhood, from his father abandoning him to basically becoming a child slave to working as a gangster, and yet despite all of these awful things that happened to him, he's not treated as a villain that could be redeemed but really just a man who got so lost in the sauce with power that he can't stop himself. And him coming back to Slugterra and giving up his powers just so he can get another shot at retaking Slugterra, only to probably lose again, is just proof of that.

All of this came down to the fact that I never knew what Blakk did when I was a child. I just thought oh, he's the villain and a bad guy because he ghouls the slugs, which isn't wrong. But when you're a child, you see things in a very black-and-white way; Eli put it the best in Back to Blakk when he said to Blakk, "Why be evil? Why not use your power for good?" And the answer is, well… because he's a capitalist, Eli. That's right, I'm about to get all political on this bitch, so stand back!

So, I wanted to get it out there why I feel like Dr. Blakk is the LITERAL definition of a business tycoon or a capitalist. Okay, not literal, but a great spokesman. Now that I'm older (I know a lot more about politics now, unfortunately), it's so apparent. I never knew when I was younger what Dr. Blakk did. I thought he just was a bad guy because he corrupted slugs, which is true, but I never thought much of it. It's evident in Back to Blakk when he talks about taking an old railway station and states he "turned it into the backbone of Slugterra" that he's really the equivalent of Vanderbilt for Slugterra.

The wiki constantly talks about how Dr. Blakk was using his business to hide his ghouling slug progress, which I didn't feel was the case in Back to Blakk. Blakk said power is everything, and what better way to be feared is by gentrifying people's neighborhoods with his train for the affluent and wealthy.

It wasn't until Will Shane directly confronted him that I feel like Blakk realized the only thing he doesn't have control over is the slugs, and that's why he turned to ghouling or at least tried to find a way to control them without putting in any more work. If there's nothing capitalists love more than maximizing their profits, it's doing it at little cost and as effectively as possible, even at the expense of their workers. And that's basically what the slugs are; workers that Blakk is exploiting to make himself more powerful.

There are also moments when Blakk just completely takes over a market just so Blakk Industries can become a monopoly. Destroying the beast forge means that everyone has to take his train. When he found another cavern with lumino ore, he came to the old one to destroy it, saying, "You're the competition." And you would expect people to stop supporting Blakk, but I see the opposite.

Literally, in the next episode, Slugball, the announcers are holding up merchandise with Blakk's symbol all over it and state that there were rumors that Blakk destroyed the beast forge. Like only rumors!! How is that possible?!?

The people of Slugterra don't really care because as long as they have their railway and their slugball, why does it matter if Blakk is ghouling the slugs. They're just ammo, anyway. I don't think I'm reading too much into the show because all of this happens directly in the show multiple times (and in real life too lol). People like Dr. Blakk exist in the real world. They cover up the horrible things they do all the time. And people just either don't care or are too discouraged to even stand up to someone like Blakk. Slugterra is lucky they have the Shanes to do that for them.

Well, in conclusion, I guess… Dr. Blakk is a capitalist and a businessman. Man pulled himself up by his little boots straps, and everyone clapped, only for Eli to pull out a sign saying slug rights on it while walking back and forth in front of Blakk's citadel. The only difference in comparison to the real world is that Eli actually stopped Dr. Blakk… until Ascension dropped 👀

#slugterra #slugterra thoughts #The mental image of Eli standing in front of Blakk’s citadel screaming slug rights is hilarious to me #Will also says slug rights #I feel like I have more to say about Blakk #This won't be my last post on him #But don't ask me why he calls himself Dr #I have no thoughts on that one

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belle-keys · 2 years

Note

Ngl your review of yellowface really made me not want to read it and has made me sort of reconsider my opinion on rfk. I mean, I certainly don't want to say POC are at a disadvantage in the publishing industry (because I don't have the necessary information to either prove or disprove that claim nor the time to acquire it) but in her particular case I find it hard to believe that discrimination is really notable, if there is any? Rich people who've had the privilege of being educated at the best of schools are hardly someone agencies are likely to do 'dirty', usually that's something reserved for people with less resources imo. This isn't to say I'm against rfk, I liked tpw and have bought Babel, it's only that I've seen how privileged rich guys are regardless of race, and how usually they get away with a lot (in my school a black guy got away with assaulting girls because his dad was filthy rich). Just like, yk, white rich people. So it's strange that Athena is made to be a victim (I think?) and the paragon of POC being done dirty when she was probably so incredibly privileged.

This isn't a snipe at rfk's writing abilities, wealth/academic privileges (if that's a word), etc. She's obviously incredibly intelligent, and I don't know her personally to impose any sort of moral judgement on her person, but yeah.

Also, you said she was criticised for speaking over mainland Chinese voices? Would you mind telling me why?

Okay, so regarding your first points about rich POC not really suffering from discrimination in various industries: that's actually not true. No matter how rich a person of colour is, if you're in America or a predominantly-white Western culture, wealth helps you, sure, but it doesn't actually put a dent in white supremacy. Wealthy POC most definitely have an advantage over poor POC, and maybe (on the individual level) over some white people, but on the systemic level, the wealth doesn't actually prevent publishers from discriminating against them in a notable way on a racial and an ethnic basis. There are publishing diversity quotas and micro-aggressions and subtle racism and all sorts of awful things that happen to wealthier POC in white industries such mainstream publishing. I wanna #eattherich and that includes classist and billionaire POC (looking at Rishi Sunak) (and from my West Indian perspective, anyway), but the novel isn't entirely about wealth and Kuang actually does a good job at explaining how racism still severely affected Athena despite her wealth and success. I'm no expert on the stratification of race and class as it pertains specifically to America, but in giving the concept an intersectional outlook, I imagine that white supremacy still is harmful to rich POC. I have no idea what her personal, individual experience is like either in terms of her publishing journey, to talk about it in a quantifiable way at least. But she published TPW at 22 when she graduated, so. But I digress, cus that isn't even the point of Yellowface, tbh.

It's just that I'm still basically steeped in weird feelings about it, because it just lacks refinement right now. It feels like an enraged diary entry and not in the good way. Mind you, 3.5 stars is a very high rating, but I still can't get the few aspects about the book that I had an issue with out of my mind. (See: my review, for those of you who haven't read it).

As for the whole criticism about speaking over mainland Chinese people, it's a long-running discourse about diasporic authors profiting off of the suffering of persons from the "motherland" in the name of representation. It's not a topic specific to Kuang at all, but she's been mentioned in this conversation several times (online at least). And at least one other Yellowface ARC reviewer brought it up too on GR. The debate goes like: "What do you as a privately-educated and successful diasporic person know about the suffering of the people in a land across the world that you are most definitely disconnected from? Why should you be seen as any 'voice' in matters there, those that don't and won't ever affect you anyway?". Again, not anything specific to RFK at all, not at all, but she's been invoked in this discussion multiple times, and then fricking Juniper Hayward uses this same exact rhetoric to justify being generally evil and racist and a bitch. It's awkward. (See: another review on Yellowface that mentions these things).

#yellowface #rf kuang #the poppy war #babel #books and literature #book discussion #books #ask #anon ask #publishing

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ikemenomegas · 1 year

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So its established that the alpha is the one that keeps their silence when things get hard right? but then in the nightmare piece, megumi was the first one to notice that the alpha had a nightmare and wasn't in the right state of mind. And that gave me a thought, megumi noticing that they had a nightmare obv wasn't the first time so i headcanon that when megumi was still a child, whenever the alpha was depressed and needed comfort but shut up abt it to avoid troubling satoru more, megumi was the first to notice and comforted the alpha in his own megumi way like sending one of his divine dogs to play with the alpha

Just to clarify, I don't think the alpha is necessarily unique in the way they deal with difficulties! Most of sorcerer society is like this. Some people are lucky to have someone with whom to share their difficulties, but when they lose that person (like Nanami did), they go silent.

Gojo and Getou were that person for each other, but even then they never got to have that supportive relationships as adults, never learned to seek it out (understandable when you realize they don't consider anyone else their equal), and they seldom seemed to talk about what was bothering them head-on even as students (see the argument Shoko runs away from in the flashback arc). I can only speak to my experiences with the east asian part of my family, but that's pretty typical anyways. It takes trust and you still have to entice your loved ones into telling you what's up to them. It's not uncommon to get just as much information from careful observation as from an actual conversation. (Gojo actually doesn't say much either - he knows there are bad situations you can do nothing about, and in those cases sometimes the most you can do is just be there with someone in the shit)

Also, here's another old jjk fandom joke for you: that these people thought [single] parenthood at about 17-18 would fix them. The odd age gap between Megumi and the adults that inserted themselves into his life is part of what makes that relationship much less straightforward than just parent/child or student/mentor. If you like to read post 1800 British literature, benefactor really suits Gojo's role - he acts like one of those wealthy people in novels, snatching up talent because he knows that it will benefit him later, but also truly caring for his charge's well-being. It's a unique kind of relationship that's seldom recognized or codified in the united states, but it wouldn't be uncommon to cultivate these kinds of relationships for someone raised like modern day royalty the way Gojo was.

Shamans live a hard life. Alpha would definitely have had nightmares about something when Megumi was young, and they probably wouldn't have been very good at hiding it, being young themselves. Plus Megumi was an abandoned kid living in an unstable series of situations. He was probably hyper aware of his surroundings for a good little while until things settled with Gojo taking him in.

That said, this headcanon is adorable. Alpha really did have more room in which to be family to the Fushiguro siblings and that means Megumi in turn has more room to show emotion around them.

(I'm bad at social cues... especially online. I don't know if you wanted to see from my point of view what you're describing, but I blurbed it below <3. Thank you for sharing the headcanon anon!)

When staring at the dead TV screen had faded away into a restless sleep, you didn't know. At least this was a formless nightmare, which was both better and worse. Dreams in which you could fight, even with the world sticky-slow or slippery as ice woke you up irritated. The dreams which were made more from the hazy memory-stuff of too many battles, too many near misses and if only we'd been here yesterday's, left you with no specific images but hung themselves like weights in your chest upon waking, robbing you of much needed true rest.

At least, you thought, your consciousness bubbling rapidly back to awareness, it would be over soon. That was truly the best that could be said of bad dreams.

You snapped awake when a warm tongue licked your wrist and a low whine sounded by your ear - distinctly canine rather than human.

In the dark, the shape of White Jade dog glowed like the moon.

You sat up, looking around the room, but neither saw nor sensed anyone (or anything) else in it. Still you crept slowly through the little apartment.

Satoru and Shoko were out of town and you'd come here because you couldn't stand another night alone and now you were glad. The neighborhood was safe enough, but even so...

You trailed your fingers along the wall, the white dog padding along behind you and then slipping past into the kids' room ahead of you.

They were both in bed still, but if the shikigami were out, then that meant someone was awake.

You knelt in the space between Megumi and Tsumiki's beds. She was doing a much better job at pretending than her brother, but if he was awake, then so was she. You sighed softly to yourself. They were both so nervous, even though they hid it. And you didn't blame them.

Too tired for words, you chose to wait instead, and eventually, when you were almost drowsing sitting upright, Megumi rolled over and cracked open one eye. White Jade dog wriggled a little but at the slightest movement from Tsumiki, it stilled again.

Eventually, soon really, they would need separate rooms. Tsumiki had insisted on staying here until the school year was over, but as Satoru had described it, the situation was delicate enough without negotiating for a non-sorcerer to be exposed to the world of curses.

You reached over and tucked her duvet higher over her shoulder, grateful to see at least that some tension unwound from her.

When you turned back, Megumi was no longer pretending to be asleep at all, although that glaring stare of his was softened.

"I heard a noise," he said to your silence, whispered but still defensive.

It didn't take a genius to figure out at this point that you were probably the noise. When this used to happen on overnight missions, Suguru used to shake you awake and sometimes curl up behind you. Satoru would grumble his own reply to your murmuring until you woke and throw a spare pillow, still warm from his embrace, at your head. Shoko would have tugged you slowly into her arms and soothed you back to sleep with her precise fingers rubbing into your neck.

"Well thank you for sending White to come get me," you whispered back, shaking away the memories. "We should go back to sleep though."

Megumi frowned at whatever face you were making and looked at where the white dog was sitting, head cocked almost like a real dog, at the foot of his bed.

It was sweet that he'd sent his favorite of the two to wake you. Black Jade dog seemed to scare him sometimes, literally making him jump at his own shadow as it melted from the darkness.

When he said nothing in reply, you tried to unfold yourself from the floor. Megumi latched onto your sleeve. His face was turned away.

You carefully crouched back down. "How about I stay here tonight?"

He nodded after a moment, just once, barely noticeable except a shift against the pillowcase, but this time he let you go.

You smoothed down a blanket to sleep on and one to sleep under and pulled one of the couch cushions under your head in between the two beds in the narrow room.

Both of the children responded to your prompting "goodnight" and shuffled around to curl up again. Tsumiki's breathing evened out quickly, but the White dog's presence meant that Megumi was still awake.

It was curled around it's masters legs, head propped on his hip as it watched over you.

"Megumi?--"

Neither child nor dog made any noise apart from Tsumiki's sleepy snuffles.

"--I'm okay."

A barely perceptible little hmph came from the bed on your left.

You could hear a clock - the only thing that still had working batteries when you and Satoru had first visited the kids - ticking in the other room.

Almost five minutes later to the second, White Jade dog settled its head heavily over Megumi's side and disappeared with a sigh.

#ask answered #io.myy #gojo satoru #fushiguro megumi #fushiguro siblings #from the notebook #feel free to tell me if you do or do not want things blurbed #maybe that's another asian thing haha. “it seemed like you'd like it so I go it for you” is how gift giving wars start...#i am not beating the sleepy allegations and we are all going to bed right now #midnight fics #io.omegas

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vacantgodling · 1 year

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all the general questions for whichever ship is Most on the brain :3c

so i'm gonna do this for charissa and altair from tcol because i've been thinking about them a lot lately :3

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

so to be honest their relationship never really initiated. it was something like an unspoken reality that especially after everything they've been through together was kind of a given. it wasn't really something they talked about. though if you were to point it out, they'd pretty vehemently deny that there is anything going on between each other... even as charissa is sitting on altair's lap and they've been bickering about what they want to do once they get to their home for the past 20 minutes. lmao.

2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

not an official one no! but i like to think that the first time they go to papa's bar (papa is a character by the way; he has an actual name BUT everyone calls him papa lol) after they go through The Horrors is kind of like a first date; they'd sit in the corner, away from other patrons. drinking and laughing, and maybe a bit of crying. then charissa would get too drunk and altair would carry her to a room that papa gives them for free and they'd spend the rest of the night talking and holding each other. there's probably more crying and tender talks but yknow. when you go through The Horrors you're allowed.

3. What was their first kiss like?

edit; how did i miss this whole question lmao.

their first kiss wasn't really eventful? i think it was something that one day altair and char were talking and he suddenly just leaned in and smooched her. and she was like ? the fuck, and he was like don't worry about it, keep talking and so she did LOL. they're both just kind of like that lmaooo

4. Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

not really, i suppose first long term relationship though? they're in their mid-30s when they really settle into their relationship with each other and tbh i am a fan of characters who have had life experience/other partners before each other lol.

5. What’s their height difference? Age difference?

altair is 38 and charissa is 36. height wise, charissa is 5'8" and altair is 5'10"!

6. What’s their relationship with each other’s families?

altair comes from a very rich family in marthveil, wealthy from their involvement with the academy of the sciences and metaphysical (or the school where alchemists are trained). he doesn't have a bad relationship with them however they are not particularly close; his mother, the matriarch, didn't particularly approve of altair striking out from home and joining the labyrinth. rightfully so she viewed it as a suicidal calling but altair has always been a rebellious sort. i don't think his mother or family have any particular issues with charissa- they definitely are surprised that she is the only one who matches his barbs and fire lol. hilariously if you were to ask his mother about it, she would say "by all of cerullius i hope they never have children. i wouldn't be able to stand it."

charissa's family, like many families from hytroth, is very deeply religious. and while many people in terrae are to a certain extent, many from hytroth are very devout. they would think altair was a kind gentleman, and they aren't wrong he's pretty good at charming people (except char i guess LMAO) and she would be irritated at how much her parents and siblings like him LOL. they would ask them allll the time when they plan on getting married and it would drive charissa crazy.

tbh altair would probably propose to her JUST to annoy her lmao.

7. Who takes the lead in social situations?

both of them tbh! they're both extroverted, life of the party types.

8. Who gets jealous easier?

i don't think either of them have much of a jealousy problem? like i said they never even "said" this was a committed thing (though like, it definitely is lol). both of them have full faith and trust in the other person so they can't be bothered with shit like this.

9. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear?

L M A O. both of them do, but i think altair does more often pff. whether it be rude or sexual they're both thick as thieves in their corner lmaoo

#s: tcol #thank you for asking i'm kinda obsessed with them rn

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sylvaridreams · 6 months

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🛏️ 🤫 🤵 for auruim!! and the laugh one for literally as many of ur characters as you're willing to do 🥺

Looks deep into your eyes hi....

Does he have a morning routine, and what is it? - his morning routine is whatever the person in charge of him is doing. If he's with Alba, it comes down to Alba's morning routine. If not, it's whoever he defers to in the meantime. So technically no, he personally doesn't have any laid out structure to start his day. But depending on who he's with for any period of time, that structure will be chosen for him. That said he's a heavy sleeper post-reformation, and gets low quality sleep, so it's always a fight to get him up in the mornings.

The silliest secret he has - not 100% secret and maybe a little less than silly. But he needs glasses. In fact, he has glasses. Several backup pairs! He refuses to use them. He doesn't want people to see him wearing them and laugh behind his back. But he's very low vision without them; the eyes are one of the first parts to break down and lose function once you become mordrem. Reformation didn't help either, made it even worse. Part of why he looks so angry and scary all the time is just that he's squinting cause he can't see shit. There are maybe 5 people in his life who can bully him into putting them on to read or look at something, and less than 10 people who he'll let see him in them. otherwise he just refuses or tries to break or hide them.

His definition of dressing nice - he thinks this means suits and tuxedos and stuff. Haughty stuffy wealthy human clothes. He finds them garish and abhorrent and unnecessary, so being told to dress nice is like being told to come looking like a pompous stupid ass. But we should back up. Because Auruim’s definition of "dressed" is also "You can't fully see 100% of my exposed skin." If he's wearing something, any garment, he's dressed. This is why he's running around half naked most of the time; chest out, thighs out, tummy exposed, ass in the breeze. He's come to understand that for some reason OTHER people disagree with his sentiment on what constitutes being dressed. So he also takes great offense to being told that he needs to get dressed, because to him he is already. 🧍 overall the idea of putting on fancy wear is like a punishment. It's too constricting and uncomfortable and he doesn't like how it looks.

What kind of laugh do they have? -

Alba's depends on if he's in a professional or more personal environment. Professional = the quiet chuckle only. It's polite and unobtrusive. Personal settings = polite chuckle, but if he's caught off guard or if he's inebriated in any way he'll laugh out loud <- turns heads when people don't expect him to make that noise.

Auruim isnt the type to laugh much at all. does more of a sneer and an amused noise if somethings funny. Maybe looks away squinting and covers a smile if its REALLY funny. Shockingly doesn't think jokes at someone's expense are funny, even light teasing, because he can't separate saying something gently ribbing from being outright cruel and mean.

Bourbon’s got a deep rich laugh. He also has a polite, fake laugh for when things aren't funny. You can tell the difference immediately because it sounds so forced.

Aeris has a quiet snide chuckle but then also has a big uproarious laugh for when something's really good. Laughs until she squeaks and cries, hits you on the back so hard it hurts for a long time cause she knocked something out of place, doubles over and wheezes, etc. Struggles not to keep going back and laughing at it for a minute but once she's done she's done. Goes stone faced if you try to retell the joke.

#auruim #asks answered #alba #aeris windkin

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bryan-damage · 1 year

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Once a human being has accumulated a certain fortune--I don't know what the exact threshold is, but if you're talking about someone who is worth a billion dollars they have definitely crossed it--that "human" can no longer be regarded as a human. They are something else entirely because all of the things that make human beings human--love, empathy, kindness, mercy, and others--have to be forsaken before someone can accumulate that much wealth.

The only possible exception to this would be the very rare case of a human who was suddenly granted a massive amount of money, but human beings--real human beings--have a tendency to actually spend and enjoy money and so they don't tend to remain super rich. If they adapt to the wealth and retain it (or further amass it) they will usually lose their humanity like anyone else would.

"So what are the super wealthy, if not human?"

Well, biologically their bodies are likely still human but psychologically they are something else entirely. My suggested terminology is "vampire".

Yeah, I know, the idea of a vampire is heavily romanticized but there's already the concept of the "psychic vampire" or "energy vampire", which to my knowledge was coined by Anton LaVey back in the 1960s. The TV show What We Do in the Shadows plays around with the concept for comedic effect but a psychic vampire is very much a real thing, even though the person who invented the term was kind of a shit. (Even an amoral charlatan like Anton LaVey will occasionally make a good point.)

So I would propose the term "Economic Vampire" to describe the super wealthy. They own every single major media outlet so naturally they have oversaturated our senses with the idea that they earned their wealth, but that isn't true. The truth is they drained it from other people--good people, actual humans--or their ancestors did. Real human beings don't just accumulate wealth for the sake of making sure other people can't have it; economic vampires do.

And much like the mythological vampires, Economic Vampires do actually have powers that allow them to do things that real human beings can't do (flying by use of private aircraft, for example). And, while they are mortal, they do tend to live extended lifespans due to their ability to always have access to the very best medical care available.

One thing Economic Vampires have in common with their mythological namesake? Sadism. Pure, unadulterated joy at causing pain and misery. They don't openly display this joy they feel, knowing that their actions have caused horrible things (usually), but they don't show sympathy either. Their mask is indifference, because it's literally the best they can do. Economic Vampires do not have empathy because empathy is a human quality and they are not human.

Economic Vampires also have familiars, often in the form of politicians, lawyers, and other assorted corporate types. Familiars share a symbiotic relationship with the vampires because they economically benefit from the arrangement. In return, they clean up the various messes that the vampires carelessly leave around by manipulating the court system and providing material for the aforementioned media outlets. They also likely have been led to believe that they, too, might one day be transformed into an Economic Vampire.

Generally speaking, the members of the general population may either live in fear of the Economic Vampire or otherwise suck up to them. They aren't familiars themselves, they're more like the general villagers who just try to get through their days without getting drained and occasionally offer up some kind of appeasement through things like brand loyalty and such. Some of the villagers recognize that they're trapped and do their best not to enable the Economic Vampire, but can't really do anything about it because no matter what they do, they still need to buy things to survive and they are far too greatly outnumbered to actually do anything about them.

#vampire #vampires #economic vampire #psychic vampire #energy vampire #story ideas

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goddessofroyalty · 2 years

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Ok 2 things, ones a delightful rant and the others an actual question~

So I’ve recently finished catching up with all your ZaunFam Omegaverse posts and I love them all (shoutout to that Mylo and Silco bonding mini fic~) but what really got me cackling was that question on if Jayce was the Omega and Viktor was the Alpha~ I just love the idea that Viktor’s like that nerdy guy at school who was looked down on (not physically bullied as his family would destroy you~) for being physically weak though really smart, that then comes back years later extremely successful with a hot piece of eye candy on his arm (Jayce~) and everyone is just flabbergasted!~ Even more sweet/funny if you add the fact that Jayce has never considered himself conventionally attractive by Piltover standards (Makes me wonder how the ‘Golden Boy’ thing would change with that reality~) and doesn’t get what the fuss is about~

Also even better if Jayce’s pregnancy goes extremely smoothly, like through the whole 9 month to birth is a relative breeze (as much as a pregnancy can be~) and Silco’s just seething in the corner cause even though he’s happy to have a healthy grandchild he’d have liked Jayce to suffer like he did~ Oh the pettiness~

And now with my actual question~ I noticed that most of the post about ZaunFamily revolve around Silco/Vander’s relationship or raising of the kids/Zaun’s independence OR Jayce/Viktor’s relationship and generally terrorising Jayce to some capacity~ Which is all great btw~

So I’m wondering if you’ve thought of any interesting titbits or stories about the rest of the ZaunFam as people and their relationships?~

Omega!Jayce does really let you play with the whiplash of the Golden Boy - he goes from being seen as a bit plain to suddenly the most sought after omega in the city. But by that point Viktor already has won just by recognising Jayce's potential first (Mel also sits in that space of course but that's a separate verse/idea).

Unfortunately, it really give Viktor the vibe of the weird guy in highschool that comes back to the reunion with his arm-candy to upstage everyone. Which isn't what happens at all but... there are some in Zaun who think that. Especially seeing the whole 'wealthy family' thing.

When it's Viktor having it easier than Silco with his pregnancy Silco's envy is a bit more tempered because that's his son and he's seen Viktor have to deal with physical limitations his whole life. When it's the privileged (by comparison) Jayce he's more likely to get the kind of toxic mentality of you're supposed to suffer for your children. Even if healthy grandchild is definitively something he's happy with.

About the titbits or stories about the rest of the ZaunFam as people and relationships the answer is yes just they tend to either be

really tight moments (like 10 lines MAX) that I forget to write down (or are scribbled down somewhere really unhelpful and easily lost) because I'm waiting for them to find a home in another idea (often happens) - the Mylo & Silco bonding ficlet is a good example of that; the "she's not really my sister" exchange and the "what the siblings are good at" exchange both just sitting in my head for a bit and then when I got the "Silco in his full Act 2 style outfit with Mylo’s head in his lap" idea they combined to make that ficlet.

half-baked ideas that I'm waiting to either combine with something else or just generally continue fermenting into something complete - the example above also kind of sits here but the sick!Powder one is probably the better example, I knew I wanted to do something with both them caring for her it just suddenly gained A Form while sitting in that conference hall.

It's the reason why generally if you poke me about something I'll tend to spit out 5 rambly ideas pretty quick. They've been floating in the head void waiting for the right home. Or if you notice in a prompt I seem to have added another really strong theme/image - that idea fit nicely with the prompt so it finished it for me.

#Zaun Family #Ramblings of the Goddess #Q and A with the Goddess #Anon Question #Arcane mpreg #mpreg #Arcane omegaverse #Omegaverse #Arcane #Viktor Arcane #Jayce Arcane #You can see that writing/thinking habit all over my stuff #I've had Viktor was born breach since I watched the damn show #then this AU finally let me combine it with other ideas #to give it a home #Hell Silco as Zaun Representative has been a half-baked thing #for ages a well #it fit here so here it went

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cryptramesses · 1 year

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Lore Dump - She Who Held Little Sweetness

I've seen many tales of mothers who were beloved by their next of kin. In fact I'd say it's the norm. People recall sweetly their mother and how much she coddled and loved them, but for me it was a bit more complicated. I never hated my mother, but at the same time I never loved her.

What few people don't realize is that I had an older brother. Maybe one day I'll talk about him, but being effectively sandwiched between him and two younger sisters meant that I was often the forgotten child for a good portion of my life. Granted it wasn't a large portion of my life, but it certainly didn't feel small either.

Many people forget how long time feels when you're young. The lack of perception of what seconds, minutes, hours, or days really are - or at least what the manufactured concept entails - means that inevitably all that occurred before you began to solidly grasp what time is and compartmentalize it was really just one long train of thought. It never ends, it never pauses, and it continues on infinitely. Dreams bleed into reality, your emotions become true fact no matter how misguided, and most troublesome of all waiting feels like an eternity.

As such even though I know the first 13 years of my life, being forgotten time and time again, pales in comparison to the remaining 87 or so where I was so highly revered and recalled with ease, it still makes it difficult to say that such a time was not a long time. I don't know if that's just a psychological effect of some mild trauma (can that even be considered trauma? I'm not totally sure) which makes it feel like I endured much longer than I did, or the lack of a fluid concept of time until my early teenage years, but regardless of the reason it's hard to shrug it all off.

As such I can't say I loved my mother. But at the same time I was never beaten. I was never abused verbally or physically. I can't confirm or deny what lay behind closed doors of course, but I can say with certainty that in my presence I was treated well. Now I understand that to many the rich, well off, and wealthy do not deserve sympathy - I can understand that. I was always the type to be extremely conscious of the inherited prosperity of my life. I did not earn my wealth, I know this for a fact, but I tried to at least do good with the hand I was dealt and bring honor upon my kingdom, people, and the Gods.

Yet when your mother isn't the one to care for you, instead a myriad of impersonal servants, it may seem like a baby with a golden spoon crying over nothing - but I assure the emotional neglect was most likely definitely there. I never had to cry about food or a home, in fact the ideas of poverty were practically impossible for me to comprehend. That sort of thing is something I never had to worry about, until I witnessed it in others first hand and had to practice the empathy I taught myself, empathy that many around me so clearly lacked. (The Us versus Them mentality did not arise in modern day, it existed back then too; I am lucky I saw the flaw in such logic)

"Ramesses," You may be thinking, "Where is this going? What does bringing up your servants and mother's absence have to do with anything outside of why you feel the way you do?"

Well astute reader, thanks for the question, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Remember the siblings I mentioned before? Myself, my sisters, and my older brother, that was the majority of my full blood family. I had a multitude of half-blood relatives of course, polyamory was extremely common back then and even encouraged(yes even the Pharaoh's wives were in relationships outside of the Pharaoh, it was not uncommon - and yes even the Pharaoh had husbands more often than not; sexuality was as fluid as water back in these days), but mothers were usually responsible for their own children.

My mother was the queen, though, which meant she didn't need to be the one responsible for us. Her personality could best be described as cat-like... but without the affection. She was cold, distant, self fulfilling, and powerful. These traits aren't bad by any means, but knowing what I know now, they weren't conducive to being a good mother.

She would hand off me and my sisters off to servants to care for. These servants would rotate often and due to my father's paranoia, were hardly around for long. Now I don't mean they were executed, please don't get the wrong idea. I don't blame you for assuming such a thing, I did too. In fact when I eventually ascended to the throne and become Pharaoh myself, I expected to be met with scroll after scroll detailing the execution of all the servants who tended to me and my siblings, only to find no such thing. Instead they were either terminated of their position, transferred to some other estate, or moved elsewhere within my father's vast network of properties throughout the kingdom and even in other nations.

You can imagine my relief when finding that out I'm sure. But this made quite the predicament. This meant that we, as children, never bonded with our servants. We never received a mother, or really a father, figure in our lives. This led to... well... a lot of confusion. Children lean on their parents to teach them a lot. It's a miracle I turned out even remotely morally sound, although even I doubt my morality, but I wonder if I was so self-conscious about this topic that I didn't let myself slip beyond even the bare bones of the gray area of morality. I wanted to be known as the 'good guy' so badly, and now I'm thinking that maybe that was a bit of a mistake. It led to an, overall, dissatisfying life filled with hidden vices and personal let downs. But that's besides the point here.

My sisters were not as heavy adherent to the straight and narrow due to this absentee style of parenting. They got into fights, stole from people, and were often known for causing trouble. They weren't bad girls, quite the opposite. They were friendly in all ways. But at the same time, my own gullibility led to them very quickly throwing me to the crocodiles when things went wrong. They went wrong often in fact. It didn't take a lot for my paranoid and, rather smart, father to figure out the truth of course, but not after I had already been scolded for an hour or so.

He wised up to their antics around my 10th birthday or so. Shock it took him a decade, but he had far more pressing issues on his hand than his children.

You may notice, however, that one person is missing from this cast of characters however. I've mentioned my mother, my father, my sisters, and myself; but what of my brother. I did have an older brother. As you can imagine from the history books, he did not live beyond my father, after all I was the one to succeed Pharaoh Seti when he passed. When my brother was alive, however, he was practically smothered by my mother.

He was the crown prince. He was the one who was trained personally by my father since birth. He was the one that everyone believed would become Pharaoh one day. He was the golden child. I do not blame my mother for loving him more and providing him more one-on-one attention; yet at the same time I can't say I wasn't jealous. I mean who wouldn't be jealous? It made me even more jealous when my brother would vent and lament to me about how she was all over him all the time.

I would always bite my tongue however. I don't know why I did at the time. Whether it was playing in the riverbed, splashing in the river, or running through the city and causing innocent trouble in the temples and markets, his complaints always earned a sympathetic ear. I feel like most people would've yelled at him, called him insensitive, voiced their jealousy, but I think even back then I didn't blame him. I think I was too busy blaming myself, although now I've realized that too was wrong and stupid, but I was a kid. I can't really hold myself accountable to that.

My brother did not live long. You all know this... He eventually has to perish and perish he did. To this day I don't know what he had, I can only speculate. Disease took him, and while I know he would've left eventually to wander towards the west in search of the hall of Judgement just as I did, I know I did little to help except hurry out the door. What I mean by that will be a story for another day, if I feel well enough to unload my own consciousness one day; but I don't know if that will come. Then again, I am undead, I have all the time in the worlds.

When he did die though, things changed. The crown prince was gone, and just like the winds carry away the sands, so too did they wear away his name. Very few remember him, which saddens me even more. He was my best friend, and yet we mourned only for four months before the world moved on. The Kingdom stopped caring, and it seemed like I was the only one still honoring his memory. I honored his memory until old age was cruel enough to take even him away from me. What a cruel fate his memory has, with the only person to remember him barely able to even recall his names.

But I'm getting off track again. My mother began to give my attention after this point. I am ashamed to say I did not accept it. After the death of my brother, and the knowledge that she was using me to essentially replace him, even going to far as to suggest adding his birth name onto my long list of pre-existing names as if he had never existed and I was him all along, I didn't really feel clean enough to accept her attention.

Already there was guilt with my brother's death, now more guilt was added onto the pile with me being seen as his replacement. My father, on the other hand, did the exact opposite. We had sweet moments, but for the most part it was strictly business. My mother did everything in her power to grow closer to me, being sickeningly sweet all the while, but I kept her at arms length.

"I did so much for you, don't you remember all the times we played together? All the times I straightened your clothes? All the times I took you to see your friend in the market?"

Her words rang hollow for that wasn't me she did all those things with but my brother. Me and him did not look too dissimilar. Put us side by side and the differences were very obvious. My hair was slightly lighter than his. My eyes were a slightly more varied hue. Our complexions, while the same, still revealed the telling signs that at the time of his life I was far more interested in intellectual pursuits than physical ones. To this day I am still much more of a reader than a fighter, although I do fit comfortably into both categories(though I doubt my decayed body will handle fighting very well anymore). Most damning of all however was the fact that I was significantly taller than him! When I say I was taller than him I mean I was an absolute behemoth!

You see mummification would lead one to believe I am a mere 170 centimeters, that's 5'7" for those few who use the other system -- being brought back from the dead, however, has reduced my height even further such so I now stand, comfortably, at 165 centimeters, or 5'4". When I was alive and at my peak, though, I'd estimate I was closer to 182 centimeters, or 6'. My brother was a bit shorter than me. By that I mean he came up to my chest and I made a big fuss of leaning on him to brag about it.

He did not take kindly to it and the last interaction we had was of him playfully scolding me, saying that a Pharaoh's younger brother shouldn't be teasing him so. He was right, but he wasn't Pharaoh yet, so I was going to have my fun whether he liked it or not.

Yet at the same time when we were apart, it was easy to get us confused if you didn't know us. It was an easy misconception, our faces looked very much the same, and our outward demeanor around strangers was identical. How we wrote, held ourselves, talked, and fought were also very close to each other. We had enough mental spars with each other that we even solved problems similarly. We were practically glued at the hip for a lot of his life, until he began going on campaigns with my father, the first of which being most likely where he contracted his illness from.

Yet my mother, who gave birth to each of us, should've known immediately the difference between me and him. Yet she made a big deal of pretending he never existed, and instead I was him, and he was me. This did the opposite of what I think her misunderstanding mind would've anticipated of the outcome. I grew even more distant after this, and held her even further away from me from hereon.

When she too inevitably died, I felt guilt. Yet at the same time I knew my true feelings. Unlike when my father passed away a few years before, I wept when I was behind closed doors. At her burial, however, I felt no inclination for sorrow. Maybe it was because I was much older, having been a reigning Pharaoh for a few years. Maybe it was because my partners were with me, with my right hand man, my husband, being immediately to my right. He was always my rock during tragedies, and this was no different as he stood respectfully by my side, ready to provide any support I needed. Maybe it was because I was all cried out by that point in my life, there was enough tragedy and mourning and this was the breaking point. I am unsure.

What I am sure of is that I do feel a little guilty, but at the same time I don't think I would've changed anything. I had 3000 years to seek her out in Aaru and I never did. I do not know if she is there or not, and moreover I do not know if she would've even wanted to see me. I did see my father once, but only for a brief exchange where he wished me luck and told me he was proud of me. He also informed me my brother was well, and that he wished to see me and wasn't mad, but it was ultimately my choice. But my mother? She never appeared before me and never offered to spend an evening with me.

I never did see my brother in Aaru, but then again most people in my life I didn't seek out. I let them find me. I suppose that was my bad... But all the same I don't think she would've wanted to see me either.

It's for the best in the end, I suppose.

#lore #cryptramesses #mother #vent #kemet #kemetism #fiction #horror #vtuber

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izzy-b-hands · 2 years

Text

An argument. Talking about the past, and a flashback.

TW violence, blood, sex, an open relationship that really needs better communication (Ed/Izzy)

---

In theory, they should be safe for the rest of the day.

Stede helps him unpack and arrange the blood bags in the fridge. He also pushes him against the counter, a thigh between Izzy's legs, and kisses him until he's out of breath.

The rest of his day's work is only chores, and he knows Ed rarely wakes before sunset unless absolutely necessary. Even then, he demands the windows thrice covered over in thick black curtains, and certain rooms are avoided for safety.

Still, he's jumpy. Every noise, no matter how small, sounds like the lid of Ed's coffin moving.

"You're fine," Stede takes the broom from his hands. "We're outside. Even if he did get up, we wouldn't have heard it."

"That's worse," Izzy says. "Trust me."

Stede looks visibly nervous for the first time.

"You don't really know me," Izzy continues. "You have no obligation to stay here. Not that I don't appreciate it-"

"I like you," Stede interrupts. "I'd like to see if there's more there. But I won't do that if I don't spend time with you. Even if it's doing chores for your batshit boss."

A thud from inside the house, and Izzy winces.

Of course, Ed would hear that.

"You're back," Ed says dryly as they walk inside. "Should I wait to touch anything until Izzy's disinfected it?"

"It's nice seeing you again too," Stede replies with the iciest, yet nicest, smile Izzy's ever seen. "Sleep well?"

"He knows?" Ed scoffs. "Izzy, the fuck?! What else have you told him?"

"It's not a big deal," Stede says gently. "I employ some vampires, and-"

"Lovely, glad you filled your supernatural minority hire quota," Ed spits. "Izzy, we're talking. Now."

"If you're upset because I'm fucking him, then maybe you should have acted faster," Stede says smoothly. "I've only known him for two days, and I have no idea why you haven't made a move."

Izzy can tell Ed is seeing red. "Ed, just. I understand why you're upset. I'm probably moving too fast, but...I like him. I trust him. Would it help to see his bar, meet his staff, see he's harmless?"

"Well, not totally harmless," Stede chuckles, and steps behind him, arms wrapped around his waist. "May I demonstrate?"

Izzy has a good idea of what he's about to do. And that means he should say no.

"Of course," he murmurs, and sighs when Stede nips at his neck, licking and sucking at the sore spot.

His eyes are closed, but he hears Ed give a disgusted gasp, then storm away.

"I think I'm the only thing holding you up," Stede mumbles against his skin. "Is there anywhere we can go he probably won't interrupt us?"

Izzy nods. "Not in here though. I'll show you."

There's a bit of land behind the house. Not much, but enough for a large shed.

Ed has never mentioned it, so Izzy made it his own.

"Wow," Stede breathes. "You did a lot here. You don't sleep in here, do you?"

Izzy shrugs. "I have before. Probably will again. Some nights if we piss each other off enough it's easier to leave. By morning we carry on as usual."

"That's not great for either of you though," Stede says, and it definitely isn't a question. "Have you always butted heads with him?"

"Not really," Izzy replies. "Not like we do now."

He drifts back to one of his early years with Ed. Twenty-one years old and starting to get a hang of how things had to go:

They'd arrive in a new town, buy the cheapest house available, no matter how rundown. Ed paid in cash, though Izzy had no idea if he'd simply saved and invested well over the years, or if he somehow had some other cash flow.

That made him seem the eccentric sort of wealthy, and that meant they were left alone. Often more or less shunned, if the city was on the smaller side.

Those were more dangerous, and they never spent much time in those before the inevitable next steps:

Blood supply would start to dip for one reason or another, or they'd be limited in hospitals and other suppliers. Ed would subsist off animal blood if he had to, but over the years he'd become more and more reluctant to do so.

Izzy couldn't blame him, the way Ed described it made it sound disgusting. But the other options were a little more difficult, and then some.

The next was Izzy offering himself up, but Ed could only feed so much before Izzy would pass out, or he would risk killing him.

Izzy had told him he could always just turn him if he drank too much, and that would be that.

Ed never said anything in reply to that.

If Izzy was exhausted, the final option was hunting.

Izzy did that portion. He knew Ed's tastes by twenty-one, and how they ranked in terms of what Ed would want.

He had a particular taste for blond men, the prettier the better. Hence Izzy's fear that Ed might literally swoop in and steal Stede away.

After that, it varied some, but he could usually tell by how Ed acted that day as to what he wanted.

It felt like a twisted art form, right down to the chloroforming or stabbing or strangling. Just enough to get them knocked out and in Izzy's car, picked off late at night, in as isolated of areas as he could find.

Then it was home to Ed, to present him his meal.

From there, Ed took over. If they weren't entranced by his eyes right away, a touch of hypnosis kept them in place.

Some nights, it was almost erotic. Ed nearly naked, cradling his victim in his arms. Blood running down rapidly paling skin, Ed moaning with each breath he took.

Those nights he had to step out into the hall and will himself to calm down. Ed would be absolutely delighted to see him come in his pants like that. Not that Izzy wasn't into the kink, but it felt slightly malicious with Ed now.

He wished it could be otherwise, but that was like wishing he didn't have to clean the mess Ed made other nights.

Those nights were loud and violent. Ed's nails raking into skin until he drew blood, fangs ripping out shreds of flesh. Blood would gush with every remaining heartbeat, ruining countless rugs and floors despite Izzy's best cleaning efforts. He sometimes wondered how much Ed actually drank those nights, because most of it seemed to end up on his scrub brushes and in his mop water.

The night he found himself telling Stede about, they were reaching that desperate point.

"Not rats tonight," Ed shakes his head. "Not rabbits either."

Izzy sighs. "We haven't been here that long. I told you this one was too small to be sustainable."

"We couldn't know for sure until we got here and tried," Ed protests. "Anyone else in my position would do the same thing."

"It's real fucking convenient for you to decide to just up and rush the routine," Izzy scoffs. "You may have the final hit, but I do the real killing. Even if you didn't drink from them, they'd almost all still have died. That affects me, Ed. I didn't expect to be a fucking murderer by twenty-one!"

He feels the tears rolling down his face, and wishes he could will them to stop.

Ed stares. "Izzy, I love you. But come on, man. I showed you what this all encompassed before you chose to come with me. You didn't have to come with me."

"Like you would have let me live after watching you drain someone?" Izzy scoffs again. "How stupid do you think I am?"

Ed looks hurt, a surprise. "I don't think you're stupid. You made an educated decision based on what I showed you. That decision can still end up being the wrong one, but don't you dare put all of that on me."

Izzy can't decide if he wants to kiss or kill Ed, in a desperate attempt to shut the argument down. Finally, kiss wins out.

Ed moans against his lips, then pushes him back. "You can't do that every time we disagree. It doesn't mean anything after that."

"How fucking romantic," Izzy spits. "What means more to you in the end, the people I kill for you, or the kisses?"

"Go get me some food," Ed hisses, and turns on his heel, open robe swishing behind him.

"Of course, I can't end an argument like an asshole, but you can!" Izzy mutters.

"I heard that!" Ed shouts.

Izzy doesn't stick around to reply. After all, he has a meal request to fill.

Or rather, prey to hunt.

In bigger cities, he would have certain areas he'd try first. A railyard, shipyard, any outskirts. But in smaller cities, it didn't really apply. There was a higher risk of being caught in the act, and a good chance he'd end up beaten to death by some rural sheriff looking for any excuse to use excessive force.

So he takes to the streets looking for anyone, anywhere. Walking aimlessly, aware that the longer he took, the angrier Ed would be.

Even then, it doesn't take long.

"Izzy," Howell waves him over. "Awful late to be out! What has you out at this time?"

Izzy's heart sinks. Of course, it would be him. Howell Davis, the director of the community theatre company, and one of the first to welcome them to town.

"Uh, Ed's feeling unwell," Izzy lies. "And he asked me to go out and get him something to eat. Soup."

"Funny enough, I'm headed the same place," Howell smiles. "William has a terrible cold, and of course, we're out of medicine."

"Better to walk together this late, right?" Izzy asks. "Never know who else is out and about."

"Oh goodness," Howell laughs. "Around here? No. We almost all know each other."

"Yeah," Izzy nods. "We do."

They make it to the one open corner store, and he ends up buying himself dinner as if it were for Ed. Not a useless trip after all, and at least his last experience with anyone in town will be a good one.

Until the very end, of course.

"Say, you offered to walk with me to the shop," Howell says as they near their original meeting point. "Why don't I walk you home? Return the favor."

Izzy shrugs. "If you don't mind."

"I don't," Howell says, but he stops mid-step.

"Everything okay?" Izzy stops and turns to ask.

Howell is on him in a second, hands cradling his face, lips warm against Izzy's.

He knows Ed has his dalliances with Jack, whenever Jack happens to cross their path. Why shouldn't Izzy be allowed his own?

"Not here," Izzy gasps out in between kisses. "We're in the middle of the street."

Howell takes his hand, and leads Izzy down the road towards the park.

Behind a line of thicker trees, Howell pushes him against one. Bags from the shop are tossed aside, and there's no thought that their respective partners might wonder what's taking so long, when the shop isn't far away.

He should care. But Howell nips at his neck and his mind goes blank.

"Please don't tell William," Howell whimpers. "I don't do things like this normally, but...I mean, I married the first man I dated. We didn't even live together before then."

"Is that what you tell every twenty-something you fuck in the park?" Izzy smiles. "I won't tell him. We're leaving town as soon as Ed is feeling better anyway."

"Fuck you, I'm twenty-nine," Howell scoffs. "Why are you leaving?"

"Ed likes change," Izzy replies, grinding himself against Howell's thigh between his legs. "And he's the one that makes our money, so when he wants to move, we move."

"Sounds so healthy," Howell mutters.

"Says the man cheating on his husband with the first person he saw at night," Izzy snaps. "Are we doing this or not?"

Howell bites his neck hard, and Izzy feels his cock pulse.

"I'll take that as a yes," Howell smirks, and drops to his knees in front of Izzy.

"It is," Izzy says. "I don't care. Like I said, we'll be gone soon enough. It won't matter if this gets out."

"What if Ed finds out?"

Izzy balks. "I suppose we'll be having a serious talk. But he has his play time away from me as well, with no thought as to if I care or not."

Howell undoes the laces of his leather trousers, and pulls his cock out from his pants. "Huh. And here I thought he'd just kill you."

As Howell takes him into his mouth, Izzy silently panics. What exactly does everyone think about Ed?

"Howell," Izzy says softly.

"Already, seriously?" Howell scoffs. "I hope you give better head than you get."

"No," Izzy hisses. "What. What did you mean, about thinking Ed would kill me? Was that a joke?"

"Not really," Howell shrugs, absentmindedly pausing to suck one of Izzy's balls into his mouth. It lolls out off his tongue, and he continues. "He just gives a lot of people around here the creeps. We understand he has his sun allergy, but when he's been out at night he's been nothing but rude. There's no need for that."

Izzy nods, and leans back against the tree as Howell goes back to sucking him off. So that's it then. Even with Ed rarely going out, even at night, there's no hiding that he's different compared to others. A little bit sharper, a little bit smarter, and a little bit scarier. Somehow, it shines through no matter what. Not always a bad thing, but then, there was this.

Truthfully, Howell isn't doing much for him. He'd rather it was Ed licking the precum off the slit of his cock, taking him as deep as possible in his throat.

He knows they can't take forever, so he thinks of Ed.

Ed, on his knees, albeit with a good cushion underneath them. He'd been old enough to have had chronic knee injuries, but he refused to let that stop him from sucking Izzy off that way.

Ed, looking up at him with those soft brown eyes, through thick lashes, fluttering shut as he chokes on Izzy's cock. He'd let Izzy's cock pop out of his mouth, and giggle.

He bites down gently on his own hand to keep quiet. Howell moans around his cock, and it's almost enough.

Finally, Ed would pause to beg him to come, show off his own leaking cock, and occasionally simply stick out his tongue and wait for Izzy to jerk off onto it.

It was overtly, ridiculously pornographic, so it wasn't something they did often. But that made it all the more memorable: watching Ed swallow his cum and politely ask if he could jerk off on Izzy's tits.

Izzy taps Howell's shoulder twice, and moans around his hand as he comes. Howell swallows him down, moaning.

"I fucking knew it!"

Izzy's eyes snap open. William, in an extra heavy coat, running towards them.

He puts himself away as Howell practically spits out his cock, and makes a decision.

He yanks out the guitar strings garrote he's made, and swings behind Howell to wrap it around his neck.

William stops dead in his tracks and screams. Perfect, exactly what he needs right now.

Howell fights him, and it seems like it takes ages to get him down. William was unfrozen by then, and charges their way again.

Before he can plan an angle of attack, a shadow swoops in and drags William along the ground to rest by Howell and Izzy.

"How fucking hard is it to just get one meal?" Ed scoffs. "Fucking hell, Iz."

"You don't understand," Izzy starts, but Ed holds up a hand.

"I saw everything," Ed says. "Forget it. You forgave me for Jack, I can forgive you for this."

He watches Ed drain both of them that night. They drag the bodies home, and do their usual disfiguring and dismemberment. The parts get packed in duffel bags, and tossed in random locations as Ed and Izzy drove away with what little they had.

"Fuck," Stede breathes shakily. "Iz."

Izzy nods.

"That's a bit bigger than butting heads," Stede continues. "Come here."

Izzy snuggles inside Stede's hug. "I haven't been able to tell anyone that before. Thing is, I'm almost proud of it. Could have gone so much worse. Yet I've been hesitant to mention it to anyone, not even other familiars we've met on the road."

"I can sort of see why," Stede says softly. "Shall we lay down, maybe?"

Izzy leads him to the cheap, barely big enough for them both, cot he had shoved in the shed. It was rather big to be called that honestly, but not enough to be a garage either. Who knew what it had been before Izzy had made it over.

Stede is gentle and slow and exactly what Izzy needs right now.

Stede's hands wander, his fingers dipping underneath Izzy's shirt to trace patterns on his bare skin. It makes him shiver, and leaves him moaning into Stede's mouth.

Their hips bump, hard cocks grinding through their clothes, and Stede is just panting needily into his mouth when there's a pounding on the shed door.

"Ed," Stede mutters.

"Let me," Izzy tries, but Stede is already up.

"What the fuck is your problem?!" Stede demands.

Ed growls. "You."

#text post #ofmd fic #stizzy #blackhands #howell davis/izzy hands #i swear the steddyhands will make a full appearance as we go on #this is just turning out longer than i anticipated kandkfnfjg #it was gonna be a one shot #whoops

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