#but oof the last one kinda hits differently in context

[beck-nightengale]

(original)

(original)

(original) (momther pls)

(original)

(original)

(original)

Just some classic Jadecore shitposts. Don't mind me.

#jade the prophetess #enderal #enderal forgotten stories #vynblr #shitposting #does mankind really deserve to be saved? #i had more fun editing these than i should have #but oof the last one kinda hits differently in context #just assume she's trying to be kind by not stabbing tealor in the freaking face instead #also calia knows jade doesn't care for meat so left fruitsnacks instead #so sweet #such a good girlfriend #i crave more calia moments in the game itself so i make them up in my head

[elexica]

Give & Toke

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069568

Happy 4/20 Yugihoes,

Please accept a humble posting of my puppyshipping/violetshipping weedfic. 

Joey showed up at Kaiba's shiny new dispensary for the sole purpose of kicking Kaiba's ass.

It does not go as planned.

A gift for @sky-kaijou​ / @sky-kaijou-writes​ in honor of the 2020 New Zealand Cannabis Reefer-endum. TW: Marijuana use and sale.

Title by @auroraXborealis <3 For the Professional Rivals prompt of AU-Gust. . . . (context for this fic) Marijuana is decriminalized currently in Domino City, and stores can be licensed through a regulatory scheme similar to that of California.

Full story under the cut

Joey stomped into the new cannabis shop in the neighborhood.  It looked like an Apple store: white walls, smooth white tables, iPads and clerks in matching polos.  Gentrification had taken his neighborhood by storm, spinning the older apartment complexes into glamorous condos, replacing the older styled homes with sleek modern imitations, and leaving everyone who couldn’t keep up forced to either move away or to the streets.

Joey’s own rent was soaring, and so was his bitterness towards the invaders to his territory.  And especially this cursed-ass pot shop.  The shiny new dispensary hadn’t made a terrible dent in his sales, but he couldn’t keep up with the variety, the quality, or the convenience.

It was a travesty to his profession, is what it was.  Joey had been dealing for years—he’d never gotten an allowance from his father and passing a little pot along had made up the difference.  Once he graduated high school, it morphed into something of a full-time gig.  That hadn’t been his intention.  It wasn’t like he was trying to move up the distribution ladder or become the next gang lord.  But he’d built a good network, and in an industry that ran on relationships and reputation, it was really going pretty well for him.

And this bastard had the gall to move into his territory!  Sell his soulless, corporate product to his loyal customers.  With this robotic, inhuman, unfeeling mockery of everything that weed is.

Joey spotted a mustachioed blue-polo wearing corporate shill and waved him over.  “I’m here ta talk ta yer manager.  Give him ‘a piece of my mind.”

“If you intend to make threats against Mr. Kaiba in some sort of gang turf nonsense, you have no idea the true power that you are—” the goon responded, placid energy souring.  Joey’s fists clenched tighter, body preparing for a fight.

“I’m not sure a piece of your mind would get you very far.”  While Joey was attempting to intimidate the soulless bud-tender, a tall brunet in a white suit with a light blue oxford shirt had stalked up behind him and interrupted.

Joey spun on the toe of his well-worn red Nike’s. “An’ who do ya think you are?”

The brunet crossed his arms over his chest.  “Seto Kaiba, the license-holder for this establishment.”

Joey nervously ran a hand through his messy blond hair.  He hadn’t expected the shop owner to be so young.  Or attractive.  All of his fight drained from him.  In Joey’s decade of experience, rival dealers were rarely so… professional and polished.  Joey felt instantly underdressed in his varsity jacket and jeans.

“Uh… well, yer in territory that doesn’t belong ta ya!”  Joey stammered.

“Is that so?  I assure you, I have all required state and local permits,” Kaiba answered, blue eyes narrowing.  The taller man let a stray glance to Joey’s old, green Jansport backpack. “Perhaps if you had a better view of my inventory, we could have a more amiable business relationship.  I’m not trying to alienate everyone in my industry.”

It was insane, the way the taller man could knock the fight out of him without even trying.  Joey had never considered that his enemy would possibly seek to de-escalate the situation.  Joey nodded and followed the taller man to the back, hypnotized.  He maybe shouldn’t have smoked a bowl before raiding the enemy facility.

Inside an equally pristine office, Kaiba lit a pre-rolled joint and took a long inhale.  He passed it across the desk, the rolling papers poised delicately between his forefinger and middle finger.

Joey accepted the joint and took a hit.  After an impressive pause, Kaiba released smoke rings from his lips slowly, in that perfect practiced way.  The smoke dissipated softly, fading from tight circles and clouding the air.  With no windows in the room, it seemed that his intent was to hot box it.  Joey wondered idly how the white marble of the desk was so free from dust or ash if Kaiba took to smoking here.

Joey passed back the joint before releasing his breath in a round of hacking coughs.  

While Joey was gasping for air and trying to gather his bearings, Kaiba produced a glass of water and a plain white ashtray.  He gently rested the joint on the edge.

“That was a proprietary strain—Blue Eyes White Dragon.  It’s Sativa.  I’m working on a hybrid model that has a significantly greater THC content.  But the current Blue Eyes plant has the highest percentage of CBD for Sativa plants currently on the market in Domino.  Thoughts?”  Kaiba unbuttoned his white blazer.

Joey’s eyes watered, and he managed to take a few sips from the glass.  “It tastes… unique.  Kinda minty?”

Kaiba nodded, raising the joint to take another hit.

“So, y’know, I came here to talk about ya encroaching on my business.  I’ve built up a book ‘a business in this part ‘a Domino, and I’m not gonna give up that easy!”  Joey said, straightening his shoulders.  He couldn’t tell if he was sitting up properly.  The world was already starting to feel a little warmer, fuzzier. His forehead sort of tingled like he had a third eye.

Once again, Kaiba blew out a series of flawless rings, staring into space.  The blue irises of his eyes were framed by smoke-induced redness.  “Yes, well, I have no intention of cowing to any threats.  I took this corrupt pharmaceutical company from my dead father, and I am turning it into something that can actually improve people’s lives.  And no puny street punk will stand in my way.”

“Oof.  Sorry for ya loss.”  Joey elected to ignore the last comment, as a gentleman.  And because, for the first time, he spotted a white holster tucked under the newly opened sport jacket.

“Don’t be, he was a bastard,” Kaiba said with a satisfied smirk.

Joey laughed at the insinuation.  He might’ve had more to say, under other circumstances, but Kaiba had shared the good shit.  Instead, the room felt a few degrees warmer than when he had entered and he removed his letterman jacket, revealing his toned biceps.

Kaiba was constructing another round of rings when his eyes met Joey’s sculpted arms.  His focus was completely dashed, and he ended up exhaling the rest of the smoke from his nose, like a dragon.

“Ha, ya see something ya like, rich boy?” Joey said with a signature grin, picking up the joint again.  It was already almost half-way spent.

Kaiba looked away dismissively.  “Irrelevant.  Mr. Wheeler, it was a matter of time before you paid my enterprise a visit.  As you have most likely noticed, there are certain elements of the trade in which I excel.  I am a gifted scientist, an expert businessman, and—”

“A robot?  You’ve had double the hits I have and ya won’t even crack a smile!  I dunno what yer tolerance has ta be, but ya ain’t human anymore.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes, tapping the joint against the ash tray to release some of the built-up cinders.  “There is a certain social element to this business that I have no interest in participating in.”

Joey leaned over a little in his chair.  “Is that so?”  He meant to have an interrogator’s pose and expression, but he was worried he just looked high as balls.  

Kaiba passed the still burning joint across the table, little red ember barely emanating light in the bright white office.  

“I would like to absorb your book of business and employ you as a bud-tender.”

Joey rejected the joint and cracked his knuckles, knowing that the action flexed his arm muscles.  An almost-imperceptible blush flashed across Kaiba’s cheeks.  “I’ve been my own boss, mostly, for a little while now.  Why should I be a glorified store clerk for ya?”

“You can’t possibly see this career continuing to serve you indefinitely.  You’ll need to go legit or go to jail.”  Kaiba lazily released one more puff of smoke before butting the joint.  “But, I am amenable to other arrangements.  What do you propose?”

Joey smiled at the suggestion.  “Partner.  It doesn’t haveta be fifty-fifty or anything, but I’ve built somethin’ up, and I know what I’m worth.  I gotta be making at least five g’s a month.”

Kaiba finally broke.  He laughed almost hysterically at the suggestion, doubling over and taking a full minute to get his breathing to settle.  “Yeah, ok.  That would be, maybe, a five percent share of the retail business.”

Joey stretched, resting his arms behind his head, giving Kaiba an eyeful of his tight white t-shirt and strong pectorals underneath.  “Ten percent of the retail company.”

Kaiba nodded, picked up his phone and typed away.  “The contract will be prepared presently.”

“Neato,” Joey said with a lecherous smile.  Everything felt soft, warm, comfortable—even if the room looked so sterile it could be used for a surgery.  “Now, what should we do with this time?”

Kaiba shifted in his seat and adjusted his light blue tie.

Joey leaned forward, planting an elbow on the desk.  “I got some ideas I think you’ll like, partner…”

Kaiba leaned over the desk as well, a small smile budding on his lips.  “Oh, already?”

“Yeah.  In this business, yer supposed to seal a contract with a kiss.”

“I do not think that’s custom—”

Joey closed the remaining distance and captured his lips in a searing kiss. Kaiba relaxed into the kiss almost instantly.  It was softer than Joey had expected.  Sweet and hot, with the flavors of mint, smoke, and cannabis on his partner’s lips.

Joey only broke it to walk over and climb into the brunet’s lap.

The contract was respectfully slid under the door.

FIN

#seto kaiba #Kaiba Seto #Jounouchi Katsuya #Joey Wheeler #puppyshipping #Violetshipping #my fic #crossposted on ao3 #tw: drug use #tw: marijuana use

[positively-inhumane-bread-bucket]

Mercs choosing their apprentices

This idea has been in my mind for quite some time, and this will probably be the first of some posts about the mercs and their apprentices, don't worry there's a context and i'll write it here, I won't specify the apprentices gender or appearance for now

It's 2008 and Mannco will need soon to hire new mercenaries since the current ones are getting old, but to avoid getting people who have zero ability and zero experience they decide to let the mercs chose an apprentice from a lineup of young people (9-19 years old) who applied for the job, and train them for a couple of years (until 2012, the year the old mercs will definitely retire)

Scout: Since he didn't have enough space to, he didn't make the recruits running a race, but he choose the fastest-looking person: frail like him and legs quite long, he tries to teach them how to double jump and how to run as fast as him, he will probably grow up attached to this kid.q

Soldier: He doesn't hesitate to chose his own kid, even though he's the recruit's dad, he's kinda harsh with them. He teaches his kid to rocket jump and other dangerous shit. He will be proud of his kid even if they suck. He also lets them fight with him on the battleground, even though it's dangerous.

Pyro: Doesn't want to choose because they don't want to offend anyone, instead they gave them all a match and chose the one whose match extinguished last. They treat them like they're best friends and often encourage them to do their best.

Demo: He's sweet and doesn't want to offend anyone too, thing to note about this old Demoman is that he ended up blind, so he has to rely on hearing and touching, he chooses the kindest-sounding kid, and actually also the most fearless, he teaches them how to deal with different kinds of explosives and also melee combat.

Heavy: He didn't want to seem rude with just choosing one, but he had to do so, he picked the most boulder and tough-looking person, kindly explaining to the others why they weren't chosen, he gives the recruit a much smaller and lighter gun for them to train, thing is that the "lighter gun" weights an hundred kilograms, so it takes quite some time before they can learn to fight properly.

Engie: Another Conagher being the team's engineer would have been fine if Engie had a kid, but he doesn't have a kid so he asked the (rather small) bunch of wannabe engineers some questions, math problems for being exact, the one who could answer the fastest and obviously correctly got chose. He teaches them all he knows about sentries, dispenser and all the machines needed in combat, he also is a kind of a father for the kid.

Medic: He didn't have a criteria of choosing, he didn't even know about the recruits and he ended up choosing the one who looked less scared and more enthusiastic when he talked about his experiments, he teaches the child anything that can help them with their experiments, letting them freely experiment in his lab. Not a good idea, but it somehow works.

Sniper: Had a target and some guns, the first who could hit the target center was chosen, he doesn't have much to teach but sure the kid will have a lot of field practice, since he lets them snipe with him while in battle, other mercenaries don't let their apprentices fight with them.

Spy: He tool at least half an hour to choose because he wanted to make sure to choose a recruit that will be competent, he surprisingly chose the youngest of the bunch and trains them to be a perfect, silent assassin. He teaches them about the invisiwatch, disguise kit and backstabs

Bonus! Miss Pauling: She chose a rather young kid to help and then substitute her, she teaches them to don't ask many questions to the Admin, how to be most efficient by doing less and how to hide corpses because that's a skill they will need.

Oof this was long to write, I hope y'all appreciate this idea because I'm probably gonna describe the apprentices and also give them names and genders.

#tf2 #medic #spy #sniper #engie #heavy #pyro #scout #demoman #apprentices #meet the apprentices #:) #team fortress 2 #team fortress #miss pauling

[quinintheclouds]

Thoughts on Putting Others First: SvS Redux as they come to me

AN HOUR LONG?!?!?! Y E S THANK YOU

I am LOVING this opening art style. The way it shows all the things Thomas could say and shuts them each down, the silliness tying in perfectly to the video game setting, the way we could SO STRONGLY empathize with Thomas despite him not saying anything. Well done!

“Eff friends, Patton!” Patton and I made the exact same gasp and noise at the same time in reaction to that dsjfhljdhg

Lookit Thomas’ lil vest awww <3

ROMAN WITH THE PUNS I LOVE IT APPRECIATE HIM

rhymes

rhymes

they’re rhyming is this gonna be

A SONG!!!

(Logan off somewhere watching all of this: “You guys are doing a RAP? Without ME? .....Unacceptable”)

Seriously poor Logan being left out BOTH TIMES despite clearly having excellent points on the matter

But I’m loving this Patton/Roman dynamic being explored in this way. They have a lotta similarities but the differences are really standing OUT so far and I like it! Also it looks like Roman isn’t gonna just shut up and do whatever Patton says out of fear that he’s a bad person/bad for Thomas this time. I’m glad they’re both getting a chance to talk cause they aren’t exactly taken seriously a lot of the time.

RETURN OF THE BLINDFOLD METAPHOR followed by Roman saying “in Patton’s defense...” so they like, KNOW what Deceit meant about the blindfold? Were they playing dumb? Or do they just suddenly get it now that it’s coming from Thomas?

Ok this Feral Cat Story of Roman’s is too specific for me to dismiss and now I’m convinced either Remus brought a shitton of cats home one day and they just flooded their house/rooms, or Patton brought home a bunch of cats out of love and didn’t realize he couldn’t take care of em...either way that’s an adorable anecdote

The car jump line that Patton took literally is just making me miss Logan even more :(

I’m glad they’re giving context to the relationship between Thomas and Mary Lee & Lee! A lot of fander questions and opinions circled back to “well it depends how close they were” so it was smart of them to fill us in.

“those baby-makin’ catholics”

6:45 Patton has clearly thought through a lot of possible outcomes to talking to Lee and Mary Lee before going to the wedding... he never brought them up, even when Roman did and then Deceit did. But he’s bringing up points no one had addressed, and I think that’s a great way to put more intensity to Patton’s apology to Thomas for lying back in SvS pt 1. He hid a lot more than he let on. Man, how much guilt is this poor man feeling right now? :(

“Talking about it could have been harmful” I’m very intrigued by the parallels between Patton wanting to keep things from Thomas’ friends to protect their feelings in this episode and SvS, and Deceit disguised as Patton in CLBG trying to get Thomas to... keep things from his friend to protect their feelings...

WOAH “But was it worth it? I don’t--” “No.” Thomas cutting Roman off with that much certainty DAMN Thomas REGRETS going to the wedding HARD and also is agreeing with Roman finally??

Patton: “sometimes you can make all the good choices, and still not get the good ending.” Thomas: “I’m not even sure there was a good ending to get.” Roman: “Mmmm, I’m pretty sure there was.” There is so much to unpack here oh my gosh.

WOAH WOAH WOAH WHAT??? DAMN THOMAS CAME FOR PATTON WHAT ON EARTH??? Patton: “I think we can all agree that you are a good fellow.” Thomas: Can we? ALL? Agree on that?” Patton: *sputtering noises*

Poor Patton... I mean they’re right but gosh I feel for him. He wants so badly for Thomas to be a good person and he realizes now how strict and unyielding he’s been, and wants to not do that but doesn’t know how to be more lenient without sacrificing integrity cause that’s his JOB and he doesn’t know how to do it better aaaa this is such a mood

MUSIC IS THERE ANOTHER SONG COMING?

Return of the bagel. Except this time it’s Roman guessing/wanting the bagel and Patton being like “what? no?”

ok not a song but video game style is back!!

“ugh you’re such a dad” I love it

Patton just made more puns and Roman omg “Like, you’re SUCH a dad that like it’s too much to handle sometimes”

I am loving this whole scene jdfhjadshg Patton ily and I relate

Thomas and Roman teaching Patton how to come up with imaginary scenarios skjfklsjdfh

Sondheim wrecking Leslie Odom Jr is such a hilarious visual

Ok all three of them are peak dumbass and I’m so here for it (like they’re smart and all but they’re peak dumbass)

Daaaamn Patton is letting out so much this episode. Like he’s been holding back but wowie. R: “Just like how you didn’t HAVE to give him a hotdog” P: *sucks air through his teeth* “I feel like you kinda do though?” YES PLEASE let’s discuss the concept of obligation in morality again!!! Where’s Logan when you need him? Or Deceit even? (I feel like D’s gonna show up later but I wanna hear Logan’s thoughts this time too)

Patton: You can disagree! But... it’d kinda be wrong?

LOGAN POPUP! Ok fine if he isn’t in the ep at least he pops up in a lil dialogue box on screen. Also he popped up to support Patton... neat!

“It’s just me, Logan. I’ve taken this form because I didn’t want to be too...invasive.” POOR LOGAN NO YOU’RE NOT INVADING ANYTHING YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE HERE! Also Roman getting scared by the popup while Patton just waves happily like he always does upon seeing Logan aww

Okay I am getting serious DOPAMINE from Logan talking. Like, he’s spittin’ FACTS. Something about the way he talks is so interesting and soothing and makes me so excited to LEARN. Roman mockingly mouthing ‘behoove’ had me snort though XD

LOGAN AND I WERE IN UNISON HELL YEAH! Patton was all like ooh you’re sharing your lil factoids! And Logan and I at the same time corrected, “Facts,” and proceeded to state the definition of factoids (we worded it differently but yeah as usual Logan is on my wavelength)

Logan’s sprite getting so disappointed at Thomas’ interruption joke jgdkjghks he looks so DONE

OML I LOVE LOGAN’S DIALOGUE BOX TALKING TOO FAST FOR THEM TO READ THIS IS SO ACCURATE

Oof Thomas finally feeling like he GETS it and Patton being like yeah but not if you’re doing it bc you want to feel  good tho... (also that’s the same argument Deceit made in SvS pt1??? I’m confused by Patton/Deceit’s functions lately and I’m very invested)

Oh ok Thomas just brought up that very point haha

“we all agreed the right thing to do was go to the wedding” um are u sure about that

“I was wrong” PATTON CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?? I know Logan has the reputation of not being able to admit when he’s wrong (which isn’t true -- he doesn’t like to but he has done so countless times...well not literally countless but you understand my meaning), but Patton rarely is in a situation where he has to, so this is jarring in a hopefully good way. Istg if this is Deceit disguised as Patton again I’ll be so disappointed... I feel like the writers wouldn’t do that though

Patton: says smth deceit said. Roman: and you...agree? Patton: Definitely! I mean uh maybe? (WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE PATTON’S HEAD RN SO MUCH TURMOIL)

Roman: “I’m not an expert in the... moral medium” Thomas:  “Go ahead Roman, we wanna hear what you have to say.”  Patton: *halfhearted gestures and noises for roman to go ahead* jashfjdh he’s trying so hard

AWWWW they’re validating Roman so much I love it

“whomstsoever” ok I take it back roman’s not valid

I adore Logan’s popup fun facts, and him giving definitions for Roman’s vocabulary reminds me how much the two of them love writing and poetry and language aaaa

Patton trying not to be harsh is somehow 10x harsher than he normally is

oh wow that got real.

I know I’ve said this but I love logan’s insertions... but I do wish he got to say them out loud like earlier :/ Pausing to read them is less fun than hearing him talk.

oh wow that got real part 2

I want. So badly. To jump into this video and debate Patton on the nature of morality and what “the right thing is.” Roman you’re not being dumb, you’re bringing up excellent points and you’re valid again.

Oh no Patton... empathy is not morality... please please address that there are people who can’t experience empathy and choose to be moral and good

THE  TROLLEY PROBLEM HERE! WE! GO!

Logan’s popups bc he doesn’t want to “be too invasive” and making them optional to read hurts my heart :( He knows Patton, Roman, and Thomas aren’t reading any of it but he doesn’t want to be too much so he stays silent. Why?? Logan it’s okay! Why is this a thing now but not in the last 2 episodes? What happened to Logan :(

OOOOOOH Patton didn’t flip the switch :o Interesting! Daaaamn he’s arguing to let 5 people die rather than flip the switch so only one dies

LOGAN’S TEXTBOX WAS SO BIG AND FAST IT KNOCKED PATTON OVER I CANNOT BREATHE hang on I gotta read it

HE’S TALKING ABOUT DEONTOLOGY YES LOGAN THANK YOU FOR TELLING PATTON WHAT I PHYSICALLY CANNOT please tell me you’ll talk about utilitarianism and moral particularism next

Okay he used consequentialism but it’s close enough to utilitarianism that the outcome is the same. (Do you get it? Do you like my joke about how the outcome is most important? When we’re talking about-- oh you got it already? Good, moving on.)

DID ROMAN JUST FJCKING KILL LOGAN

“I’m okay, figment of your imagination, so.” Okay so CAN the Sides get hurt or can’t they?? Cause Patton clearly got bonked, roman got hit in the eye with paper and said ow, but logan got hit in the head with a throwing star and had his teeth ripped out and he was totally fine?

 Thomas is being so HONEST with himself so early in the episode, wow this is refreshing and I’m hype

AW YAY Patton called textbox Logan in to help with philosophy yay :’)

Logan: “Pity seems to be at the center of your idea of ‘putting good into the world’” first, Logan doing a voice impression of Nietzsche is GOLD, and second.... I wish they’d let him finish cause I was waiting for a “but” cause Logan siding with Nietzsche on this one feels... wrong? Like I could see Dee bringing it up or Logan using it in an argument only to continue with a contradicting philosophy but Logan equating empathy to pity... idk I thought he’d grown more than to think that :/ Actually I don’t think he ever saw it that way. It feels out of character but I’m guessing he had more to say to debunk that.

HOLY SHIT PATTON SKIPPED ALL THE REST OF LOGAN’S DIALOGUE AND YEETED HIM OFF THE SCREEN bruh he may have been right and he should’ve gotten to say it >:(

ROMAN ISTG DO NOT TRY AND MAKE THIS YOUR FAULT

I SAID DON’T

GODDAMMIT

sjfkdjgjsh okay aww Thomas good job, Patton too. Thank god they’re being nice to him

Patton is having a breakdown holy heckity about time

damn Patton is freaking HARSH

“I have a difference in opinion on this one, Patton” Thomas: *relieved sigh whisper* “ohhh thank you, Logan” YES APPRECIATE THE BOY YES YES I LOVE HIM why are they looking around like he isn’t making sense?

LOGAN YES! CALL HIM OUT! LET THOMAS VALUE HIMSELF AND PUT HIMSELF FIRST SOMETIMES! “Every point you’ve made in today’s discussion has contradicted that sentiment.” I love you but also you sound a lil like deceit... very lawyer-y and feels calculated like he’s been keeping notes for this purpose... I want deceit and logan to debate already damn it. Maybe it’s just that Logan’s inflections feel reminiscent of Deceit to show...something?

Ok can I just say that Logan gets so much rep for his strictness or high standards but he’s been SO GOOD about that lately and him teaching about the importance of leisure and self-care and freedom in your life and self-esteem and valuing yourself like you do with others... not even just this  video -- he’s been like this in the last few as well and these recent episodes remind me of early Logan (esp My Negative Emotions)  and that makes my heart so so happy.

Continuation of the above, compare this to how Logan acted in Why Bed? with regards to Roman. Roman advocated for leisure time and following dreams, while Logan had a schedule that optimized productivity and health. Now he’s taking a similar stance to Roman and asserting the importance of these things... WHY is so much of Logan’s character development OFFSCREEN?? I wanna know what made him switch on this! Maybe just cause he’s listening to roman from why bed?

Why is Logan being so abrasive? He sounds like his intent is more to disprove Patton rather than state what he actually thinks... not a fan of that but he’s not wrong

WOAH WOAH TOTAL PATTON BREAKDOWN WHAT HAPPENED WHAT THE FCK HE’S A LITERAL MONSTER IN THIS VIDEO GAME?

OH, MY GOD. If Logan didn’t step in and save them here this would have been catastrophic. I can feel my relief. I mean, he screamed, but it was a relief. WAIT IT WAS DECEIT THE WHOLE TIME??? Daaaamn good job on this one Deceit and I definitely like him more now but also WHERE IS LOGAN. Was it the whole time? That makes sense in hindsight and makes me feel better about some things he’s brought up but I feel like it really was Logan at the start, it wasn’t until he started calling out patton that his voice and inflection and stuff changed

Patton trying to attack Deceit   and hitting Thomas instead was  an EXCELLENT way to  showcase the effect SvS 1 and 2 are having

Deceit’s lil “A DUH DUH DUH DOY” looked and sounded just like Logan’s lmao don’t tell me it’s another switcheroo (I doubt it greatly lol)

REAL LOGAN REAL LOGAN REAL LOGAN

So wait what was the point that Deceit switched with Logan? Cause Logan’s saying “one more fact” so he was himself earlier right?

“Not that any of you care, but  I am unharmed.” Nooooo they care </3 “I will do you all a favor and spare you my company” okay OUCH

EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM YES aw he’s talking about him and patton working together yes thank you

Damn, Deceit is LOVING everything Logan says haha same

Logan and Deceit teaming up to teach Patton that it’s okay to care about yourself

DECEIT WHAT he’s being so supportive of Roman holy heck this is so genuine OH Roman’s arguing with it  this is a lot of stuff I didn’t expect roman to say out loud wow

THOMAS JUST SAID DECEIT THE CHARACTER ISN’T INHERENTLY UNETHICAL WOW this episode really said let’s make Deceit--

WAIT WOAH SORRY HIS NAME REVEAL!!! He’s Janice?? Is that true?

WAIT WOAH PART 2 BUT DECEIT JUST SAID IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE MUSTACHE HE WOULDN’T KNOW WHO THE EVIL TWIN IS BETWEEN ROMAN AND REMUS HOLY SHIT HE ACTUALLY LOOKED VULNERABLE AND THEN HURT AND THEN RIGHT BACK TO SNAKE

ROMAN’S GONE

fuck.... patton...roman....deceit....thomas....logan....I’m gonna go cry about all of them now

LESLIE ODOM JR IS HERE??????? oh there he goes

patton oh my god I love you  this ANGST are you trying to kill me?

Patton telling thomas he’s worthy of love I actually teared up

dfjdakjhfa deceit don’t push it

Wowie that was an EPISODE

#ts putting others first #SvS redux #sanders sides svs #janice sanders #quinpost #ts spoilers

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 33

[sees rewind cover] time to be emo

swerve giving us a nice lil recap of the wild events of slaughterhouse thus far

and then the roll call page...I love how the last one is ‘rewind?!?’

OUGHGHGGHGHGH REWIND TINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I adore that nautica has a list of in-jokes to check off 

ohhhh man I forgot that alt-lost light rewind doesn't really know skids?? bc the alt lost light never picked him up....

POOR REWIND he wakes up all elder scrolls style and then immediately autobot megatron is just There without explanation lmao this poor lil guy

love the casual gender stuff honestly

nightbeat: ayyyy rewind!! sup? what horrific slaughter happened here? spill the tea! 

hvakjdfbskdf poor rewind is going thru it jesus

nautica and riptide hvbhkjasdsfasdfn ‘are jokes not funny where you come from?’ immmmm

nautica is so cute I love her

ohhhhh I love the panel of the two lost lights going off in separate directions with the title right below 

‘I remember it well. kind of’ that's a really funny line actually hbvkdjfnasdfl

I really like how on the alt lost light, rodimus’s risky stunt with the sparkeater actually kills him - I mean I'm glad that didn't happen in the main story but that's such a cool jarring discrepancy 

ok but its inherently VERY funny that the djd like, murdered the entire lost light, but later in the story the lost lighters are obviously still around and not dead...that's so fucking funny, the djd were probably like ????????????????? what the fuck didn't we kill these guys?????? but also they were tripping so they cant be sure

isn't it brainstorm who called the djd on the alt lost light??? oof 

LOVE the continuity of the alt lost light being the place that the djd went at the end of the scavengers 2 parter wayyyy back in the beginning of s1

more horrific slaughter, as one would expect from an arc called ‘slaughterhouse’ 

jeeeesus I forgot how completely fucked up all the shit was for poor rewind 2. christ 

also the like, thematic irony of alt-chromedome refusing to erase rewind from his memory and choosing to die horribly instead....SCREAMS I cant handle it

ITS SO HORRIBLE I'm so sad. poor rewind

‘silly string’ I love riptide

nautica is so smart I lov her 

oooh skids going off on megatron is really good. I find the whole ‘cons are super anti-organic/alien life’ angle interesting, bc it like, Makes Sense that a race of robot aliens who live for millions of years wouldn't consider shorter-lived organic life to be on the same level as them, but its also like, not morally right, so the autobots are correct w/the whole ‘freedom is the right of all sentient beings’ thing...its LAYERED

rewind: ‘I'm tiny’

me, crying: yeah...

honestly I really really love the quantum duplication plot in this arc. its like, peak sci fi nonsense but it also like, Makes Sense, and is presented in a very understandable manner...plus its like, super entertaining and fun, so I just love it

love how they're perusing brainstorms lab and just stumble across a dead body. classic

aaaand the plot thickens, with the reveal that brainstorm is a decepticon????? whoaaaa

I love that twist too oh man. I cannot WAIT for the time travel arc yessss

oof nautica being in denial about brainstorm being a con :( 

I find it kinda funny that getaway is IMMEDIATELY like, punching walls and going full that-one-wack-storm-trooper-from-that-star-wars-movie abt brainstorm being a con lmao, like what's even ur beef dude

when nightbeat is all like, wait there's a Type™ for decepticon double agents? and megatron says ‘hm. have you never been approached?’ bvhjaskdfbaksfd

mannn tho, I love all the character stuff this issue...I love the panels of megatron where he looks mad and crushes brainstorms mask, bc like, he’s gotta be thinking abt the fact that the djd, his personal squad of bloodthirsty attack dogs, were the ones responsible for all of this, as well as overlords presence, and brainstorm secretly being a con....

ok rewind and megatrons interactions are fantastic

like, rewind IS the nice one, but the definition of ‘nice’ is probably a little different than it used to be due to Big Ole War 

how are they propelling themselves in space????

NOOOOOOO I'm so fucking sad, rewind 2 is literally like ‘I'm fine with being deleted from existence bc my husband and everything I knew is gone’ aughhhh

and then megatron lies and tells him that he and chromedome, on the og lost light, are ‘inseparable’ 😭😭😭 I mean I guess that's not a lie if you count cd rewatching rewinds goodbye video on loop...AUGHHH

‘let’s not drag out the goodbyes’ but rewind, what about one of the story’s themes, ‘how to say goodbye and mean it’? 

and we cut off right there for maximum suspense...

omg I love swerve like, fistbumping cyclonus in the chest, and cyclonus is just like ?

skids,,,,,maybe surprising chromedome with his not-so-dead alternate-version husband isn't the best idea...like, this isn't exactly a zero-explanation-necessary kinda situation...

I adore rewinds massive shoulder pads tbh

oh god. GODDDDD. the panels of rewind and chromedome sitting next to each other, not saying anything, and just slowly moving closer to each other while looking out at the stars....literally these gay robots invented romance, thank you very much

I'm so fucking tender guhhhhhhh

like,,,,the fact that both of them separately watched the other die horribly and could do nothing to stop it, and now they're reunited here, and they don't even need to say anything...AUGH.....

OUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm sorry I can’t. SO tender

and MANNNN I'm so so glad that rewind is back. I don't always love when characters don't stay dead but I'm completely happy w/it here for multiple reasons, like the fact that I really like rewind and chromedome’s story after this arc - like, I LOVE that they addressed the fact that rewind 2 is different from OG rewind, despite being fundamentally the same person, so he and cd cant just immediately get back together and pretend everything's fine, but also there's really only an 18 month (?i think) disparity between the 2 rewinds which is nothing compared to literal millions of years, soooo

ALSO I literally never considered this until this reread but it would've been kind of an L for rewind to die and stay dead considering that rewind and cd were The First transformers gay couple, and that's a really big deal! and I don't really consider it bury your gays bc like, rewind doesn't stay dead that long and also there are soooo many other gays, but STILL 

plus rewind and cd ended up having a lot of story left to get thru, which is awesome

also I just love rewind so I'm glad he’s back :) 

ok the fact that the suspense over brainstorm being a con still isn't resolved bc not everyone knows....spectacular tbh

don't knock the power of love, nightbeat! 

the briefcaseeeeeee

ok but I really don't remember jros explanation as to why rewind 2 and the briefcase didn't get deleted hvbhjsdkhfk I gotta go look that up again

OHHHHHHHHHH I FORGOT THE EPILOGUE IS THIS. OHHHHH MANNNNNN THIS IS ONE OF MY FAV PARTS 

BRAINSTORMMMMMMMMM ILYYYYYYYYY

I fucking love this scene bc this is basically the culmination of brainstorm being Completely Ominous for the entire story thus far, like, it really hit me this readthru that brainstorm was so totally sinister for like most of his screentime up until this arc...and this scene is the pinnacle, I love how everything brainstorm says is overlaid with so much tension for the reader bc of what we know now about him

like brainstorm saying ‘yes - here’s to fixing things’ is so fucking sinister even though out of context that sentence is just normal

and when atomizer basically voices what the entire audience is thinking as brainstorm opens the briefcase - ‘brainstorm, you can’t do that.’ bc yeah, what the hell, he’s opening THE briefcase, Oh Shit

AND THEN THE FINAL SHOT....brainstorm front and center looking SCARY AS HELL.... ‘I can do whatever the hell I like.’....everyone suddenly collapsed around him...the fantastic shadowy lighting...the ominously open briefcase...the clear segue Directly into the next high-concept arc....[chefs kiss] ART

seriously I love this issue so much. SO many good things. such good character stuff, really great interactions, some fantastic plot development, super creative sci-fi fun times...all around just an extremely solid and enjoyable issue, 10 outta 10

and MAN OH MAN I cannot wait to get into the elegant chaos arc, it fucking SLAPS, that arc and remain in light have always been my favs, I'm so excited to revisit it 

AND ruth bought the physical comic TPB for like issues 34-38 or something and I'm so so glad I can read that instead of braving the many split-up double page spreads on the online comic 

so yeah, cant wait!

#lj rereads mtmte

[repeterwiggin]

i decided to make notes as I watched POF (SVSR) for the second time and damn. it’s just as much of a rollercoaster even when you know what’s coming (warning this is long there’s a lot going on)

- wild to me how we jump straight in!

- lee & mary lee are adorable & also thomas at the wedding is a Mood literally me at all my friends weddings

- the flashback breaks my heart,

- Patton is still a really good trier... he’s so good and he tries so hard and I love him

- the way thomas rips off his suit jacket...

- the song that isn’t sung!

- Patton says “we four helped you” but there were five sides in svs hmm I feel like that’s probably significant in some way

- the ace attorney ref makes me very happy! there was a secret path of me hoping for for a professor layton reference but this is ehhhh kinda close?

- the fact that the first thing they say is “why didn’t we talk to lee and mary lee” like. yeah!!

- WE SHOULD START LOOKING I TO WAYS TO PREDICT THE FUTURE! he’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit

- patton and roman bffs!!

- feral cats,,, what a tangent i stan roman

- I like that we get some more context to the invite as well, like being asked face to face does add another element to the dilemma

- Dame Judy Dench = Queen Groovy Bench I see you using those Good Place swears, Roman

- “maybe they ... feel guilty” is like. I get where you’re coming from Patton but talking to them should’ve been step one imo like. I have been to lots of friends weddings and talking to them is important

- “I’m not sure there was a good ending to get” ... “for he’s a jolly good fellow!”

- them calling Patton out for how critical he’s been!!! very important!!! and I appreciate that Patton is trying “I’m just trying to help you be a good as you can be!” he still has more to learn but still im love him

- the bagel callback lol

- GameStore instead of GameStop lol Patton

- FROGGER

- “he eats fly for breakfast”

- We’re ten minutes in and there’s already so much going on

- Also I just want to appreciate that thomas is such a good actor I can tell which side is speaking just from their voice like the cadence is different and they way they say words ahhh it’s something I’ve thought about before but it’s really hitting me with these voice over segments

- Leslie Odom Jr lol if only we’d known

- The Pokemon battle format is so good and I love that it’s being used for a “do you give money to a homeless actor”

- The hotdog puns....

- Logan’s Lowdown!!!

- Roman mouthing “behoove” to Patton is very cute but I feel bad for Logan :(

- Pixel Logan is adorable

- The fact that roman immediately goes “ignorant” breaks my heart listen to logan!!! please!!!!

- Patton trying to soften his thoughts is kind of painful to watch

- “As long as that’s not the main reason you’re doing it!” Patton no,,,,,,,,

- Roman needs to be listened to more he looks so defeated when Patton doesn’t agree with him and only continues after serious prompting I feel like he’s been ignored too many times lately I’m very excited for a roman arc :((

- “Leslie Odom Jr’s....literal cake that he baked!!!”

- Logan’s fun fact popping up in the mario scene!! that’s my boy!!!

- Also the fact that roman is immediately painting deceit as the bad guy after they spent all of svs getting along......like, I feel like after the other sides decided that deceit wasn’t at all genuine or looking out for thomas’ best interests roman did a full 180* on him which makes sense for romans character but is also kinda depressing bc in is lying okay? and svs he was like “oh he’s not that bad!!” And now he’s like “scute bellied tyrant!!” damn

- Patton let’s him talk and then immediately is like “uuuuh no” yikes

- Roman targets all his insults at deceit and very carefully avoids being even playfully rude to anyone else hmm I really do think he’s trying to “make up” for siding with deceit last time and in the end it doesn’t even matter :((( bc he still feels like he’s disappointing people

- Roman seems like he’s genuinely trying to understand and Patton is really struggling to articulate his thoughts and that creates such a good conflict between the two bc it’s not like theyre really against each other it’s just solid interpersonal difference. or intrapersonal I guess

- The trolley problem!!!! A classic I love it

- The way it’s animated too is so good... the “Thomas is full of dread” the way the music cuts when the train appears how it cuts right before the train hits “is it over” ahhhhhh

- Also Leslie Odom Jr again lol

- “Maybe don’t depict scenarios where my friends die” and then later Patton is specifically like “it’s lee and mary lee!!!” lol wild

- “You know we don’t like to use the T word!!!” GREAT little aside

- “So it’s the how that matters” “yeah... and the why!!!” patton baby you’re trying so hard and I love you but it’s okay. you don’t need to have all the answers. you can just not know! I promise it’s alright!

- Thomas face after Patton brings up the “figment of your imagination” things KILLS ME

- I actually disagree with Thomas on the “putting more good into the world” as not being a compelling answer BUT I think that Patton is overlooking how feeling good/having positive emotions attached with those actions IS directly putting more good into the world. like, if doing good makes you feel good, that’s a good thing!! idk

- Logan disagreeing with Patton was good and we all know logan is my favourite but I think he could’ve handled that a little better

- PATTON HITTING SKIP ALL..... sweetie no :((

- everyone has already said this but that cane is the snake boy

- Roman even pulls back the insults on a philosopher who is not there

- Also Roman being like “your desires are getting in the way” again bc he feels like he’s not being listened to or appreciated bc there’s something about him that’s “wrong” and trying to shoulder the blame bc he feels bad that his desires (success, fame, love, appreciation) are inherently selfish :(((

- “that is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said” right sentiment, terrible delivery

- the way roman says “you’re just blowing smoke” is a Lot and very much like his fishing for validation but I don’t blame him for it, after what he’s just admitted it’s truly understandable that he needs that validation

- Thomas’ point about feelings motivating him is REALLY good bc we are all motivated by our emotions

- “Doing nothing is even worse!” i mean you’re not wrong but not in the way you think,,

- Logan/Deceit (I do think it’s deceit at this point) using the oxygen mask metaphor is really great to me!!! I love that metaphor & I was going to be a flight attendant so it’s something I thought about a lot. I’ll talk about it more when Deceit brings it up again lol

- “Uuuh I do need help” mood thomas mood

- “Temporarily put himself first” oof

- “It’s easy to say what we would hypothetically do...” hard agree

- Watching logan/deceit huff and roll his eyes solidifies for me that it is deceit like something about it feels unlike Logan lol I can’t explain why

- Roman nodding along with the explanation of why leisure is important makes me very happy

- “Oh is it not? Please correct me if I’m wrong” and the way the sprite pressing further and further and being more expressive with his hands and eyebrows like damn. that’s deceit!!

- Patton’s breakdown is Iconic I love the glitching and the way it zooms out to show the layout of the living room and the way he explodes ahhhhhhh so good

- why does the frog have abs that’s my one question

- lilypadton ahdhajfka I love it

- DECEIT EX MACINA THE REVEAL IS SO GOOD as soon as he started punning (cut through this bull...frog) I was like 👀 AND THEN THE LINES AND THE CAPE AND THE LORD OF THE LIES IM HAPOY TO OBLIGE

- “CODE YELLOW”

- the deceit sprite is so cute :))))

- Deceit pulling Thomas behind him we have to stan

- “Richer than Jeff Bozos” I LOVE that roman I love you

- Deceit calling him out and the way the words themselves turn into attacks is such a fun detail

- Frog Patton still punning even in serious moments is so on brand

- Deceit dodging while thomas gets hit is a solid metaphor

- “The plane is going down, you need to give thomas some room to breathe” oof like it needed to be said but oof

- The health bars changing to “Thomas’ mental health” OOF LADS WE’RE REALLY IN IT NOW

- the way thomas looks when he steps back into frame cracks me up

- “We can still beat him! We’ve beaten him before!” oh roman, but it’s not a fight against deceit :((

- the snakes on the plane ref lmao “I’m sick of this morality fighting snake on this metaphorical plane” whoever wrote that line... I want to give them a high five truly iconic

- Deceit is so much more playful and showing more diverse personality in this ep and I’m living for it

- final fantasy!! the og version turn by turn which is what I like to play lol also the villain they’re fighting kinda looks like Virgil and idk how to feel about that

- Deceit looking away as soon as logan pops up lmaoooooo

- “Not that any of you care...” logan baby no!!!!! I care!!!!

- Effective Altruism explanation and Logan making a point to go “it employs the heart and the mind” like ... reminding Patton that they need to work together and they’re on the same side I’m soft

- Deceit and Logan agreeing warms my heart they’re both so good and ahhhh

- “Emphasis on the ‘sometimes’ though, right?” “Yeah sure whatever — I mean yes! Of course!”

- I also love how deceit addresses thomas directly they don’t do that a lot but it makes sense cause deceit is really trying to persevere thomas’ self

- Him calling roman noble and roman not believing it :((( deceit trying to be honest and ahhhhh I’m so sad

- “Selflessness isn’t always the answer” which was exactly what svs was supposed to be about

- “What do you almost all things?” “Oh you’re right we wouldn’t want to plant too many trees, imagine how much CO2 might absorbed”

- lmao why am I so impressed by Roman’s deceit impression when they’re literally the same person

- roman flipping out and attacking deceit is a Big Yikes but it’s totally in character bc roman has always been black and white even more so than Patton and it’s been building to an arc for a loooong time so I’m very excited

- Deceit taking off his glove.... saying his name......... I can’t process this

- JANUS!!!!!!!!!! It’s so good it’s perfect I love it I love him

- roman immediately laughing yikesssss

- “Oh roman thank god you don’t have a moustache otherwise between you and remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is” YIKESSS but also valid deceit is at a breaking point

- “I thought I was your hero” “you are!”

- I’m going to be thinking about deceit’s—JANUS’S—nod for a long time....was he agreeing with Thomas or was he saying that Thomas was lying ahhhhhhh

- “Everything’s going to be okay. We love you.” “...right” AH MY HEART

- I want to give roman a hug

- Patton asking Janus for advice like right away and Janus not being great at first but coming around quickly with the ever true “it depends” like I love the two of them together the DYNAMIC POTENTIAL

- Janus does seem fond of Patton which is cute I can’t wait for everyone to be friends again lol

- ACTUAL LESLIE ODOM JR I CANNOT

- how did they make that happen,,,, how wild

- the clapping

- “This sanders sides not odom sides,, I’m not threatened at all” that is, somehow, a mood

- “don’t kill, don’t steal, easy conclusions to come to” “even those can get iffy” “I don’t want to think about that... but maybe that proves my point!” you what we call that? growth

- “Giving too simple answers to complicated questions can do more harm than good” “mmhmm”

- “So I’m sorry! Again!” Poor boy is trying to hard and I love him :((( so much <3333

- “Oh yeah that’s cool, talk about me like I’m not here” I love you Janus!!!”

- “I’ll take care of him” and then immediately joking around and trying to make thomas laugh is very cute thomas needed something lighthearted after all of that ahhh

- “You’re not stuck with an EVIL snake boy...you’re just stuck with a snake boy!!” I LOVE YOU JANUS what an adorable nerd I would die for him

- and how excited he gets about being called right he deserves it

- “I love how much you like these constant dilemmas so please keep overthinking things” you know what I needed to hear that man

- “You can’t get doing good down to a science” WORD

- the message of treating yourself well & finding the right balance between that and doing good for others being a personal thing is very good and much needed

- Lee and Mary Lee are onscreen for like 3 minutes and I love them so much

- “So this is what you do for a living? Comedy?” “Yeah I’m a hack”

- Patton and Janus chilling on the same screen... I adore them

- “Seems like things worked out after all... I was wrong about everything!” “You and I both know that’s not true” and Patton’s soft little smile I love them!!!!

- “Odom sides would cool!” like actual Leslie Odom Jr said that.... I’m shook

- okay that’s the end it’s just as much a rollercoaster the second time around no I am not okay, thank you for your time

#sanders sides #sanders sides spoilers #putting others first #selfishness vs selflessness redux #sanders sides reactions

[seijch]

hi im about to spam u (so sorry) but ive been too scared to read doomsday until now and im so glad i finally did becasue dude. Dude. its so much. "It’s as the sky bleeds from orange to pale blue that it hits." i loveeee how you incorperated such small moments like the hot chocolate and the ily + i know... be even here just the thought of your Last Sunrise is heartbreaking, but to /realize/ your own end coming in that moment, especially watching the soft sunrise... oof.

HI!!! omg when you sent this i was like . abt to sleep but i read this before i did and went irl 🥺🥺 and then also passed out before i could formulate a response sjfksdfds

anyway!! my response to your asks (i hope i got them all but!!) will be under the cut bc i dont know how to shut up ❤

a lot of the way the interactions in doomsday unfold are honestly BECAUSE tsukki and the reader are (i mean first of all, theyre tsukki and the reader with all that comes with) fully aware that:

they have abt a full day of life left

theres nothing that can be done to elongate that time or avoid death altogether

its not like some young adult novel where a group of ragtag teenagers save the world; its the tale of two adults who have had time to come to terms with the fact that their lives and the lives of everyone they know will end soon (and once again everything that THAT comes with). its why i rlly enjoyed juxtaposing the nice weather w the crippling realization of their own mortality 🕺🏻🕺🏻🕺🏻

"you try to stress your words, make it absolutely clear that you’ve never meant anything like you mean this" this is HEARTBREAKING in a whole miryad of different ways - for a realtionship u establish as one with so many things unsaid but still understood, but here to have her say this so desperately?? like she feels this its too big to leave between the lines? it doesnt matter that he knows, she needs to say it and needs him to hear it UGH IM SAD AGAIN

IM SO GLAD YOU POINTED THIS ONE OUT!! this is EASILY one of my favorite parts of the whole fic mostly bc its something i go thru a lot? like im the definition of that tweet abt never making any damn sense but ESP when it comes to my i love yous or other serious things...i say it a lot and yes i mean it every time! but sometimes i MEAN it and i never quite know how to properly express that kinda thing. 

i think its especially big for the reader in the context of the world ending and in the context of their relationship with tsukishima to have that moment of transparency and complete sincerity for the EXACT reasons you described!!!

"It’s hollow; neither of you have been under the delusion that this was anything but." u said u werent sure about his characterisation but this screams tsukki to me. cuz hes blunt and i dont think he would lie to himself about something like this especially. and even when she tries just for a moment to pretend, he just shows her /no, its ok, this is the truth and we have to die with it/... nah it vibes dude. hes such a interesting character for this idea too? because hes not sappy or anything +

so his tears hurt so much more... oof. "This is my goodbye, he says with more than words." this just... i have so many feelings about this. cuz to me hes totally someone who shows affection through small actions when he cant find the words to match his emotions? so this is like a 4-book-saga laying out his emotions cuz he doesnt quite have the words to say it out loud and theyre out of time. its desperate, but not sad desperate? like its the end but its just him making sure shes knows everything 

ok first of all THANK YOU for saying that bc i wrote him being more vulnerable than i think we rlly see in any tsukki not like ... in junior high LMAO and immediately after i felt my characterization alarms ringing ... like yk those natural disaster alarms? thats the vibe...

but i had one of those Moments where i was no longer the one writing and it was the characters themselves just telling me what to say and how to say it nsfsfsd so im rlly glad it worked! and tbh when the concept first grabbed me by the collar i was juggling a few different characters around in my head but i think i made the right choice in the end. its like you said -- hes not a particularly sappy type and hes always been more grounded in reality imo than some of the other characters (another contender for this fic was akaashi but i realized i do NOT have any solid grasp of his character that isnt from fandom interpretation which is a double edged sword tbh)

and honetly i was ok until "If you’re going to take me out, do it in style, you’d said to him, once. So he does." and then i was all of a sudden crying. and the "stripped down to your bare selves" like theyre just being incinerated together and IM- NO WRODS JUST FEELINGS. i think the best thing about this is how unrushed it feels? and it hurts and its aching but they Know. +

and theyve come to some form of peace with it so when it does come, they can focus on eachother and not the end oh im gonna cry again. this was so gracefully put together, thank u for this. i might reread it and cry again, amazing work 😭💕

i didnt touch on it above bc i wanted to do it here but yes!!!! the absolute fucking DESPERATION felt by both parties in that last minute (which idk if you read my tags on the fic proper but 11:59 was originally one segment before i took those last couple paragraphs and made them the very last second ... i think i made the right choice? it rlly does scream FINAL to me) is SO poignant. all of the walls and hidden meanings fall away because in the end theyre all they have left, dying in each others arms at the very end of it all.

this full REVIEW honestly made me so happy to hear esp on a piece i wasnt quite sure how to feel about at first,, thank you 🤝🏻🤝🏻 i hope you have/had a wonderful day!!!!

OK EDIT BC I JUST SAW THIS COMIC SOMEONE MADE ON IG AND ITS NOT THE MOST RELEVANT BUT ANSWERING THIS PUT ME IN A TSUKISHIMA MOOD SO HERE

#fave #man seeing this in my inbox had me go irl keyboard smash i was like HUH #you literally read my damn mind every step of the way and all i gotta say (coherently) is THANK YOU #i feel SEEN and HEARD mndfdsf #💌 love letters #doughnuts-5ever

[earthnashes]

Hey so I don’t typically do this but, on a whim I watched the Lion King remake and wanted to share my thoughts on it! <:

Final verdict? It... actually wasn’t as bad as I originally thought it was. Like I try not to have an opinion on a movie I haven’t seen, including remakes, because I wouldn’t have much to base said opinion on it otherwise. But after hearing how much people seemed to despise the movie and call it entirely soulless (and seeing clips out of context of the full movie) I was inclined to agree with that verdict.

But now that I’ve seen it? I honestly enjoyed it. I admit it lacked something magical the original had but for what it was, it was pretty good. This felt more like a slightly darker take on the story, and took a little more inspiration from Hamlet as far as I can tell and for what it’s worth, it worked for the realism the movie tried to convey.

So my thoughts on the movie! (below the cut cuz it got longer than I anticipated)

-The voice acting was pretty damn good. What the characters lacked in facial expression the cast tried to compensate with their voices and it kinda worked.

-The animation was beautiful; this is probably the most realistic looking CGI movie I’ve seen and I say that in a positive way. It’s just bloody gorgeous to look at. Speaking of realism, to touch back on expression I did notice that what the animals lacked in facial expression was also compensated by body language typical of that specific animal. Scar does a strange trot-pacing when he was scared, Mufasa rolled around on his back and did the cute happy cat squint while letting Simba climb all over him when they were playing, Zazu would ruffle his feathers when agitated, so on. There could have been so much more emoting, don’t get me wrong because that attention to detail was sometimes made too subtle to catch but, when it was there, I appreciated it. It felt like these creatures was emoting human feelings but in a way natural to them.

-I love the fact that Scar actually feels threatening and menacing. The original Scar is a joy, one of the best Disney villains created, and I always liked the fact that he’s shown as a whiny self-entitled brat when he actually becomes king (and further cements why he wasn’t chosen in the first place). But this Scar had actually fought Mufasa for the title of king and lost, and is entirely bitter about it; hell I wouldn’t be surprised if that scar on his face was from Mufasa in this version. His resentment toward his brother felt like it had more weight to it: Mufasa took the kingdom, Mufasa has the love and admiration that Scar believed is owed to him, Mufasa was the one chosen by the lioness Scar wanted. His want for everything Mufasa had felt personal, not like a mere obstacle, so much so that he went to the hyenas to achieve what he wanted (instead of it being implied he was actually friends with them; they were a means to a gain he couldn’t achieve alone).

 And it didn’t simply stop at Mufasa: when Sarabi refused to be his queen he basically sentences the lionesses to starvation until she relents (which she doesn’t thank god), it’s implied some of the lionesses have tried to leave before because Scar and hyenas patrol Pride Rock seemingly 24/7: I have no doubt he would have killed Nala if he found her in that scene. Zazu can barely be around the pridelands to give the lionesses news of the goings on in their home. Everyone owed him something and he was stopping at nothing to achieve it.

Like there was the scene where Simba and Scar were talking to each other and Simba turned his back on him and it felt like Scar was only just refraining from killing the cub. Yikes.

Scar was legit scary in this iteration and I honestly loved it.

-The added scenes give a tiny bit more depth to the suffering the Pride Lands faced in Simba’s absence and I really appreciated that. I also like how we’re shown some of Simba’s life with Timon and Pumbaa and why he seems so torn about being who he was meant to be: every time he brings it up, Timon and Pumbaa kinda shut him down on it. Not out of malice but it’s hurtful nonetheless and his hesitation showed from it. I think a lot of that might have to do with how Danny Glover voiced him: Simba stuttered a lot or would back away when his beliefs were challenged and that, at least for me, showed his fear of bringing change. What if it’s the wrong kind of change? The last time he tried to change something, his father died, so its better to be a nothing and not cause anything, right? Maybe I’m lookin’ too deeply into it but hey, that’s what I do best. <:

-The music is fucking amazing. If there’s no other takeaway from this remake then at the very least, the music is just... awe-inspiring, particularly the orchestral scores. There’s new scores in the movie that just got me caught up and was just... bro, it’s so damn good.

-Seeing Mufasa die in fully realistic CGI was painful. Every time he’d get hit or ran over I cringed; the sound design and the weight to the animation made sure you knew he was getting trashed. The part where he slipped and struggled to get down just to start rescuing Simba was a nice touch too, like it fully showed just how dangerous it all was, not just the wildebeests.

I love the addition of how he spoke to Simba through the chaos too, like trying to be assuring despite it; there was a scene where he’s like “it’s alright! Come to me son!” then he gets BLASTED and I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I do miss how he called to Scar as his brother though; with how they added dialogue to show Mufasa still loved his brother despite everything in the beginning, keeping the “Brother! Help Me!” would have nailed it home, but they got rid of it for some reason. :/

-The scene where Simba escapes was a nice change: I’m pretty sure one hyena did fall with him and like, legitimately died, and when Shenzi told the other two to look for him they were like “uhhhhhhhh actually, if that dude died there’s no way a cub would survive that. o3o” I like how they were honestly certain he had died instead of just pretending he was, but it would have been nice for that certainty to be challenged a little more when Simba had shown up at the end.

Also, Simba limping out of the bramble and into the desert, then him eventually just lying down to die was really sad to see. :C

-SHENZI WAS FUCKING SCARY AND I LOVED HER. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. She was more menacing that Scar, I’d say, because the hyenas felt more like they were following her, not Scar. They only went along with it because Shenzi thought it would work, and the moment he tried to throw them under the bus, it was Shenzi who put the nail to his coffin. Which was... oof. Yeah, seeing Scar pathetically attempt to fight for his life before being swarmed and screaming was a little horrifying, it was a little more than just his shadow this time.

-Speaking of Shenzi, I love the fact that she and Nala had a throwdown, that was so fuckin’ cool. Actually, the entire final fight (up until the Simba and Scar fight anyway) was great. I liked that we got to see more of the lions fighting for their home instead of slapstick stuff (which was great in the original but wouldn’t have worked here).

-Speaking of the final battle? The whole scene was really cool... but the final fight between Simba and Scar was so WEAK. That shit was weak sauce bro. They had this whole buildup to the final confrontation between true king and false king, the dialogue before it was tense and everything, the start of the fight was promising... then Scar accidentally falls off. Like... really? Fuckin LAME. Dude, I was hoping for a big-ass scrap like the final battle in Jungle Book. There was power and impact in the fight between Shere Khan and the animals, and the final confrontation between him and Mowgli was so well done. The original fight in the original was fuckin AMAZING! The two tear into each other and Simba wins because he outsmarts Scar by using a move he learned from Nala, something he always fell for himself and he used it to his advantage. Like, hell yeah!

But this? I legit said “that’s it?” out loud after it all, I couldn’t believe it. Lame. :/

-Simba and Nala bantering was really sweet. They were arguing about things they did together in the past and I did enjoy that, like showing that they were best friends through the past experiences they had. I also like the dynamic of when they actually got to the Elephant Graveyard and Nala was immediately aware of the danger they could be in and how reckless Simba really was being. She tried several times to convince him to leave, even as far as saying “okay, I can see just how brave you are so can we please go home?” and.. I dunno, I just thought it was a nice added touch to her character as a cub. As if she knows Simba so thoroughly she can see right through him.

-I really missed the characterization of Rafiki in this version. He came off as more a silent shaman than a kookie but wise baboon, and that would have worked if they... showed more of him and his personality? He was in the movie less here than he was in the original and I wasn’t really feelin’ that. :/

-I’m not gonna lie, the scene where Simba and Mufasa’s spirit reunite made me tear up a little. The original left goosebumps in its wake and it was a powerful scene, but this one was powerful in a different way? Like in the original Mufasa told Simba who he was, where as in this one Mufasa told his son how proud he was of being his father and how he always would be. And ya’ll, when Mufasa began going away and Simba just quietly, desperately saying “please... don’t leave me again” and Mufasa goin’ “I never left you, I never will” I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Yeah, it got me man. DAMNIT Mufasa! ;-;

---------------------------

So all in all? I can honestly say I liked it. Is it to the point where I’d be willing to sit down and rewatch several times over like I did the original? Not quite. But this remake felt a lot like “The Lion King, but what if it was with legit real animals?” and in that sense, it worked. This felt about as realistic as the story of the Lion King could possibly get and I could appreciate it for that. They told the same story with a different flavor and direction and I still enjoyed it, and while I think Disney should be criticized for trying to shamelessly cash in on the nostalgia of their long time fans with the remakes, the actual people behind creating this remake (director, animators, sound design, everyone actually making the film and not distributing it) seemed to honestly care about the product they were creating and it shows in more than just the characters’ facial expressions.

Sooooo yeah. Sharing my thoughts on something no one asked for but I did it anyway. I enjoy talking about this stuff but enough about what I thought, what about you? If you’ve seen the remake, what did you think of it? O:

#earthsong talks #earthsong does the big think #lion king remake #earthsong sings #not really a review? #I saw it and wanted to talk about what I liked about it #because it honestly surprised me #o3o

[ilovemygaydad]

title: sincerely (i hope)

pairings: pre-romantic analogical

summary: (prequel to together) logan is finding a lot of new things while sneaking out of the house. not all of them are good.

warnings: technically there’s no happy ending but in the context of the end of the story it’s just bittersweet so um.... yeah, virgil is kind of like a total asshole in this, lots of swearing, kissing, yelling, anger, verbal fighting, crying mentions, mentions of bad parents, arrest mention, vandalism mention, transphobia (not from the main characters), smoking, sarcastic use of pet names, and possibly something else

a/n: there is a possibility that i’ll write the intermediate portion of this fic and together. i’ve got an idea, but i thought it would be better to post this now instead of making you wait for another however many words

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-

Logan had found the stream when he was trying to escape his parents.

It was late at night--too late for an adolescent person to be outside alone, really, but Logan couldn’t stand the freezing cold of his house for another second. It was a metaphorical cold since the one place where the house didn’t lack warmth was the actual temperature, which was nearer to boiling than habitable. But the white walls and white furniture and white lighting and very obvious lack of decorations made the house feel as if he were in the Antarctic rather than sunny Mississippi.

Logan was only being mildly dramatic.

The stream was only about twenty feet wide with tall grasses and reeds growing up on either side. There were trees dotted around, but Logan hardly thought that it could be called a forest. In all honesty, he was surprised that he had never been there before. The stream was less than a mile through the fields near his house, and there were all sorts of interesting rocks and things to look at. It seemed just up his alley.

After a few minutes of walking along the edge, Logan settled down on a fallen tree that halfway hung over the stream and looked up at the stars. He didn’t go back home until much, much later.

---

It had been a few months since Logan had found the river, and he had made it a nearly daily occurrence to go out and look at the stars. This, however, was very different.

Someone was sitting in his spot.

Well, it wasn’t his spot because he didn’t own it, but it really felt like it was his spot. Plus, he’d never seen anyone else visit in all of the months he’d been visiting. And this person was just... sitting there.

The stranger took a long drag of a cigarette and blew out a slow curl of smoke.

“What are you doing here?” Logan found himself asking, and the stranger yelped, almost falling off the tree into the water before catching themself and glaring back at Logan.

“Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? Hasn’t anyone ever taught you not to sneak up on a guy? Jesus fucking christ.”

Logan quirked his head and took a look at the person on the tree. They were probably as young as he was; they had soft, round features and dark hair, and they seemed to have a penchant for excessive jewelry if their facial piercings were anything to go by. All in all, their whole aura just screamed angsty, no-good teenager.

“Hello?!” The stranger broke through Logan’s thoughts with an annoyed growl. “Are you going to say anything, or are you going to stand there and stare at me like a freak?”

“You’re in my spot.”

Wow, Logan, that was very intelligent of you to say in front of someone who very likely could kill you! 

“I’m sorry, what?” 

Logan winced, gesturing vaguely at the tree. “I always sit there.”

“Newsflash, asshole! The world doesn’t revolve around you. Suck it up.”

“Um, may I sit on the tree with you, then?” If he was being honest, Logan would rather not spend more time with this person than he had to, but he also didn’t want to go back home, so he decided to suck it up.

“Whatever,” the stranger snapped as they took another drag and moved to lay on the tree. Carefully, Logan climbed down the trunk to sit a few feet away from where their head was. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before they continued, “Why are you even out here? You’re dressed like you just got back from the country club.”

Logan glanced down at his jeans and polo and almost disagreed, but instead he said, “I don’t like my parents.”

“Oof. Mood. I’m supposed to be on house arrest right now.”

“Why?”

The stranger laughed, which almost startled Logan to hear. “’Cause I got arrested for spray painting ‘be trans, do crime’ on the high school, and my parents got pissed. Fuckin’ squares.”

“Did you just call your parents ‘squares?’“ Logan asked incredulously as he watched them exhale smoke.

“Yeah. You know, boring and conservative. Lame-asses.”

“No, I understand what a square is. I just don’t think I’ve heard someone use it in that connotation in... ever. Especially not from someone who seems to enjoy using such colorful language.”

The person smirked and tilted their head back to get a better look at Logan. “I’ve always been full of surprises.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Logan quipped. “Were your parents more upset about the being arrested part or the trans part?”

“Definitely the trans part, oh my god. They went fucking ballistic, dude. I mean, like, full on ranting.” They screwed up their face and aggressively waved the cigarette around as they mocked, “‘You’re not a boy! You’re a girl! That’s what you’ve always been and always will be!’ Then I took one of the knives in the kitchen and hacked my hair off right in front of them. Their faces were priceless.”

“You’re a boy, then?”

“Yeah. He/him.” He stuck out his right hand, presumably for Logan to shake. “I’m Virgil.”

Not wanting to be rude, Logan took Virgil’s hand and gave it an awkward shake. “Logan. I also use he/him pronouns.”

“Lit. So what’d your parents do?”

Logan rolled his eyes and groaned, “God, don’t even get me started...”

---

Logan very quickly became accustomed to his new routine. Every night, he’d sneak out of his house to visit the stream with Virgil. The other teenager would always bring a few cigarettes despite Logan’s many lectures on the dangers of smoking. The two would talk and laugh and stargaze and just exist outside of the bullshit that was teenage life. Days became weeks, which became months.

“It’s really weird to not see you smoking for once,” Logan said as he approached Virgil, who was idly blowing bubbles with chewing gum from his perch on the fallen tree.

“Yeah, well, I’m kinda tired of you getting on my ass about it every day. Can’t you just let a guy live?”

Logan smirked and got into his usual position on the trunk (sitting with his legs wrapped around it and feet hooked together underneath). He leaned forward on his hands so that he was hovering slightly over Virgil’s face. “Someone’s got to have some common sense here.”

“Hey! I’ve got plenty of common sense, asshole,” Virgil protested, swatting at him playfully.

He quirked an eyebrow. “You nearly fell into the water last week because you decided to be an idiot and tried to see how far down the tree you could walk before it wouldn’t hold your weight.”

“It was for science, Logan!”

“You can’t ‘for science’ everything, Virgil. That isn’t how life works.”

"Ugh, whatever. You never appreciate my experiments.”

Logan smiled down at Virgil. “That’s not true. I enjoyed the one where tested who could skip rocks better.”

The other boy pouted and whined, “You just liked that one ‘cause you won.”

“Perhaps.”

“Smug bastard. You need to shut your damn mouth.”

“And how do you suggest I do that?”

It was Virgil’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and his fingers toyed with the open front of Logan’s jacket. “Do you remember the first time we met, and I said that I’m full of surprises?”

“Yes?” Logan answered, confused. “I don’t see why that’s relevant--”

The words were forced back into his mouth as Virgil simultaneously pulled down on the jacket and pushed himself up until their lips crashed together. And Logan--wow, Logan had never kissed anyone before, and he was nearly certain that this would be considered a terrible kiss to anyone else, but to him, it was incredible. Virgil’s lips tasted like cool peppermint, and a similarly cold sensation ran through his veins as his face turned hot.

After a few seconds, Virgil lowered himself back down, and Logan was left in a shocked haze as the other boy blinked up at him through his long lashes.

“Dude, you good? You’ve literally never been so quiet.”

“I--you kissed me,” Logan whispered, too startled to think anything else.

“Yeah? I was trying to get you to shut up. It’s no big deal, Logan.”

“What do you mean that it’s no big deal?! You kissed me, Virgil!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and snorted. “I’ve kissed tons of guys before. You’re not special, sweetheart.”

“Right,” Logan affirmed, straightening up. “Of course.”

“Atta boy!” Virgil crooned as he reached up and patted Logan’s cheek.

“Oh dear, I’ve just remembered that I have a test tomorrow that I need to study for. I’ll see you later, Virgil.” Scrambling up, Logan quickly shuffled up to the shore and away from the stream.

Virgil popped up into a sitting position and made a move to follow. “Wait, you just got here!”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Virgil, but I really need to go.” Logan heard Virgil’s feet hit the grass, but he just kept walking. If he tried to look at Virgil right now, there was absolutely no doubt that he would start crying.

“Logan--”

“Will you let it go?! God, Virgil, just fucking waste your time smoking,” he snapped, not looking back.

“What is your problem--”

“MY problem?!” Logan screeched hysterically as he whipped around to face Virgil. “What the fuck is your problem? I had never had my first kiss, and you had the gall to not only take it from me, but you also told me that it meant absolutely fucking nothing! I can never get that experience back because your selfish ass decided that I was nothing more than a toy to you!”

“That’s not--”

“That’s not what? That isn’t what you meant? Wow, Virgil, I didn’t take you for such an actor!”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to be such a prick about it!”

Logan felt his blood run cold, and he snarled, “Get the hell away from me.”

“It didn’t mean anything--”

“It sure meant something to me, so speak for your own damn self.”

The other teen opened his mouth to respond, but Logan beat him to it. “I sincerely hope that I never have to interact with you again.”

With that, Logan walked away.

#sanders sides fic #analogical #logan sanders #virgil sanders #m writes things #m writes analogical

[guess-im-emo-again]

I Made Notes While I Listened To The New BMC Album For The First Time

More than survive:

- Wills signature whine translates really well to Jeremy

- It was weird to not hear the stretch in “good morning”

- “Hnn GHA I wish I had the skill”

- More dialogue!

- Wills “micheal!” Is a lot less gay sksksk

- Boyf!!!!

- MOTHERS!!!!!

- High notes?!?!?

- I really enjoy the high notes but I’m sad we lost the desperation in the last two “christine”’s

I love play rehearsal:

- I’m so happy with this! My biggest problem with the cast recording has always been that it makes Christine look boring so I didn’t like her till I started watching bootlegs. Finally my goofy queen gets the recognition she deserves!

- Honestly I went to right down every single line in this song I’m so happy about it!!!

- I have too much to say about this one lol

More than survive (reprise):

-“ At least I didn’t have a breakdown, and have to go to the nurse” me too man

The squip song:

- “So suicidal” sounds sadder oof

- Wills fucking anime voice on “yOu GoT qUiCk!?”

- THE VOCODER YESSSSS

- Aw they cut the “picture this” verse :(

- AGAIN THE VOCODER

- The vocoder is supposed to be Rich’s squip holy shit

- Y’all behind the squip there’s his inner dialogue and it has a fucking lisp I’m so In love with this version.

Two player game:

- Tbh I’ve never liked this song a lot

- Micheal sounds high lol

- More 8 bit!

- How did “know that you’re my favorite person” go from “hey dude you’re my best friend” to “MICHAEL I LOVE YOU UWU”

- Honestly yeah I’m still bored by this song :/

The squip enters:

- Sexy anime girl is now sexy cat girl I see

- I....i completely fucking hate the squip.

- I cannot stand the new squid voice I want scary teacher man back

- “I do NOT”

- His singing voice is nice :)

- I hate the surfer/stoner voice so much

- Kinda a downgrade in my opinion

Be more chill pt.1:

- I do like the squips singing voice but I really really prefer to og

- SQUIP IS A DUDEBRO OH NO

- I do appreciate Jason’s aggressions in the “take your hands out of your pockets” line

- Jeremy sounds so sad in this :(

- “Everything about you makes me wanna die” *hyperventilating*

- Is...is that George just doing a silly voice

- “Everything about you SUCKS”

- ITS IS ALSKSKSKKS

- The looking sexy Brooke line is incredible

- -“she had a shirt just like this HEEH”

Do you wanna ride:

- Nothing is really different other than it’s a little faster and the “pink berry” but it’s already such a banging song so no complaints

- I can only think of the Boyfs version now oof

Be more chill pt.2:

- “everything about me makes me wanna die?

- “bE mOrE cHiLl....hehe~”

- COME THROUGH TRUMPET LINE!!

- Squip is a much better manipulator here, he’s not just scary

Sync up:

- “Come one go gGhAAAAA”

- This song is just a roast change my mind

- “You should ignore her” :( Jenna no

- The squip override is really funny to me idk why

- Overall a nice addition to the soundtrack

A guy that is kinda be into:

- Like “do you wanna ride” there’s not a big difference, but that’s okays because I love this song

- “I guess a part of me likes to- who knew?”

- The clapping is cute aww

Upgrade:

- another song I don’t really like lol

- Brook got all “Janet from rocky horror” With her voice and I dig it

- THEY CUT “take me inside you forever” IM CANCELING JASONS SQUIP OVER THIS

- Jearbear? What is this fanfic?

- Jakes character development makes me so happy!

- “Sounds like” “an act? Yeah is not” oh my god they gave jake so much character

- “Player 2” Fuck Jeremy Heere, in this essay I will-

- “I’m tired of being the person that everyone thinks that I am” watch me caption an edgy picture with that in a week

Looser Geek Whatever:

- *chuckles* I’m in danger

- “I felt....in-cons-e*quential*”

- “I knew I had no....potential”

- The beginning of this song sounds like words fail form DEH

- “Being lonely is stupid tough” OOF me too

- You shut the fuck up about Michael

- “geEk”

- I hate this I hate it it’s so much meaner than the og

- “the problem Has Always BEen ME” *music cuts out*

- Out of context this song is so good but in context it makes me big sad:(

- “I’m player one” no you ain’t

- Micheals gentleness is “Jeremy, you coming?” And then Jeremy’s panic and fear in “optic nerve blocking on” is so much better than the og

Halloween:

- this is my favorite song so it better slap just as hard

- “Wo-a-o-WOO”

- HARMONIES YES

- SAXOPHONE

- New verse slaps

- RICH SAYING “and gasoline” IS NOT OKAY

- I still prefer the og but this was really good

Do you wanna hang:

- I HATE this song so much already

- The dialogue really helps explain that this song is borderline assault

- Bitch sound like Lola from big mouth

- Asweep uwu

- Yeah I’m fully done with this song it makes me uncomfortable af

Micheal in the bathroom:

- Xylophone is way more prominent wow

- Come through synthesizer

- The music matching to “I wanna dance with somebody” is a gift from god

- He really portrays the panic attack so much better here wow

- That chest voice on “wish I was never born” hit me hard

A guy that id kinda be into (reprise):

- no comment tbh

Smartphone hour:

- I love this Jenna wow

- The high voice for “this shit”

- QUEEN OF VIBRATO

- “Yeah I know”

- “Jakes house” nice addition

- HOLY FUCK THE WOAH

- “Ignore >:(“

- Saxophone ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

- “For a tiny guy” “aww”

- That whistle tho

- The scream lol

The pants song:

- Oh new Mr. heere oof

- The dialogue underscore is Michael in the bathroom oh no

- He says pants so aggressively

- This song is another one of my favorites

- “He called me a looser-” “he called ME a looser”

- This dialogue is so sweet

The pitiful children:

- Woah new intro

- This version is....more threatening if that makes sense? Like this squip seemed genuinely dangerous

- THEY KEPT THE BEEPS

- “Oh and Mountain Dew” “okay 😋”

- JENNA COME THROUGH BABY

- The opera singer is singing smartphone hour lol

The play:

- That director is a big mood

- THEY CUT “to bad you don’t have one of those, anymore” IM LIVID

- Wills glitches without editing wow

- The dialogue is so sweet holy fuck

- “Hewwo jake will you make jwemy dwink this”

- The in sync screams lol

- The creepy twin dialogue is better

- The build up instead of harsh cut to Christine is interesting

- “oh god” “OW” Oh God” “GAH” OH GOd” “nooo” “OH GOD”

Voices in my head:

- New intro

- It’s faster

- RICHS LISP IS HERE OH MY GOD IM SO FUCKING HAPPY

- Rich sounds like such a dork omg

- Everyone unfollow me this is all I’m gonna talk about for a while

- New girl lines!! I like these ones better

- I just wanna know who Rich’s squip is okay

- They pitched Michael up

- Holy hell Im living for the squip interactions

#be more chill #bmc #jeremy heere #micheal mell #rich goranski #christine canigula #jake palmer #brooke bmc #clowie bmc #mr heere #squip #bmc squip

[canadian-riddler]

The Girlfriend: Part Four

Synopsis: It’s almost better when GLaDOS DOESN’T try to be nice.

He’d gone home last week and it had been a bad idea.

He’d known it was a bad idea before he’d even done it, but heading cheerfully towards his own destruction was kinda his thing.  So, he’d done it anyway.  And now he was sad.  What he really, really wanted to do was go to GLaDOS and see if she could make him feel better.  He hadn’t even tried it, though.  He was pretty sure she didn’t know how to do that sort of thing.  She didn’t even know what to do when she was sad!  So he’d been kinda… avoiding her a little bit.  Kinda.  He couldn’t really not be around her, since he’d obviously been trying to get closer and closer since the day he’d arrived there, but he wasn’t like… trying to touch her or anything like that.  He wasn’t even really talking that much.  And of course she’d noticed, but she hadn’t really done anything.  She just kinda kept giving him this look.  He was actually totally surprised when, on his third day back, she asked, “Claptrap.  What’s going on?”

“Nothin’,” he said, even though you didn’t have to be a super genius to tell that was a really bad lie.  “I’m good.”

“You aren’t ‘good’,” GLaDOS insisted.  “What happened back home?”

He stared at her for like two minutes before he realised he had to answer the question.  “How did you know?” he asked, totally shocked.

“Oh, come on,” GLaDOS said, sounding extremely insulted.  “You were fine before you left and now you’re all mopey.  You don’t have to be a genius to work out what happened in the middle.”

Oh.  Well.  He wouldn’t have.  He shrugged, wondering if there was still a way out of this.  “People are just… mean to me there.  That’s all.  No biggie.”

“Then why did you go to see them?”

“Because they’re my friends.”

“Excuse me,” said GLaDOS in disbelief.  “Your friends are mean to you?”

He knew he was gonna catch it for saying this, but it was the only thing he could think of.  “Well… you’re my girlfriend and you’re mean to me.  Soooo… yeah.  They’re my friends.  Even though they’re all jerkbags.”

It hit him that he sounded kinda like a whiny three-year-old.  He was definitely older than that, though by how much was anyone’s guess.  He had a birthday, but it was totally made up.  Come to think of it, how old was GLaDOS?  Should he have asked that before they’d started all this?  Oh, but girls didn’t like talking about their age…

“Am I?”

He had to remind himself he was in the middle of a conversation.  “Are you what?”

“Mean to you.”

He had no idea how to answer that!  Was it a trick question?  Was he not really supposed to answer it?  Or was she seriously asking?  “Uh… yeah?”

“When?”

He stared up at her for a minute, trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on here.  “Like… every day?”

Her optic narrowed, which was usually when he needed to start being nervous.  “That’s ridiculous.  I am not mean to you every day.”

“Yes!  You are!  There’s not a single day goes by that you’re not!  You were yesterday!”

She leaned in closer, almost seeming to squint at him.  “Name one thing I did yesterday.”

“You said, and I quote, ‘If it had been up to me, you and everyone at quality control who allowed you to roll off the assembly line in one piece the day you were deemed adequately functional would have been terminated.  Permanently.’”

“Yes,” GLaDOS said, “and your response was, ‘You say that like a person who thinks Hyperion has quality control’.  What, exactly, in that sentence indicates you were bothered by what I said?”

He drew up his chassis and held up one hand in order to protest, thought it over, and realised he had nothing to say.  Because she was right.  Again.  Yeah, what she’d said had been pretty mean, but… no.  He’d just said what he’d said and that was it.  He slumped back down again.  Man.  He was so used to getting beat on that he waved it off when his girlfriend started tearing him down.  That was pretty depressing.  He couldn’t even argue that she just should’ve known better, because he already knew he was almost the only friend she’d ever had.  She didn’t know better, because he’d never told her.  And he’d never told her because… 

Now he was thinking about it, he just plain didn’t want to know if she’d just pretend he’d never said anything.  Nobody else had ever cared about this kind of thing.  Maybe she would.  Maybe, if he asked or if he kinda nudged her in the right direction sometimes, she’d actually be nice to him!

That was so stupid he almost laughed.  Nice to him.  Sure.  Right.  And maybe tomorrow it’d turn out he could climb stairs or that he’d had fingers all this time.

“Has your mind wandered away from you again?”

Sorta, to be honest.  “Um… yeah.  Yeah, I was kinda… bothered by that.  It’s just… easier to blow stuff off, you know?”

“That doesn’t really solve the problem of why you expect me to be clairvoyant about your feelings.”

“I don’t,” he mumbled at the floor, not able to keep from clenching his hands together.  “I just… expect you not to care.”

“I don’t,” GLaDOS told him bluntly.  “Most of the time, anyway.  Occasionally there’s a momentary blip in the trend, but it rarely lasts very long.”

Yep.  Sounded about right.

“However,” GLaDOS continued, “you should appreciate the fact that I care enough to pretend that I care.”

Claptrap looked up at her.  “I’m gonna need a minute on that one,” he admitted.  “You care but you also don’t at the same time?  How’s that even work?”

GLaDOS tilted her core thoughtfully, and even though he was a bit upset he still managed to find that super cute.  “It’s the difference,” she said finally, “between actively and passively caring.”

He folded up his arms in an attempt to figure that one out.  “So… you care about my feelings as long as you don’t have to do anything about them?”

“Basically.”

“And that means,” Claptrap thought out loud, “that you’re cool with me telling you about ‘em, but not with me asking you to fix ‘em?”

“That would depend on whether I felt like it or not,” GLaDOS said.  “Fixing them, I mean.  A lot of your issues seem to be psychological, and we all know that psychology isn’t Science.”

Claptrap, in fact, did not know that – damn she was smart – but he forced himself back onto the subject at hand.  Now wasn’t the time to get distracted!  “What… what if I don’t want you to fix anything, but a little bit of like… effort would be good.  What would you do then?”

“I suppose that would depend on what you defined as ‘a little bit of effort’.”

He didn’t even have to think about the answer to that one, but actually saying it… he probably shouldn’t do that.  He should probably just drop this right now.  She didn’t care, anyway.  She’d said so!

Well… no.  Not exactly.  She cared enough to pretend she cared.  Even when she didn’t.  And she probably did a little more than she was cool with admitting to.  That was a thing she did.  Just fake that something wasn’t as big of a deal as it really was.  He still didn’t know why – wait.  That actually wasn’t important right now.  What was important was that he really, really wanted a hug.  But how was he supposed to know if she thought that was ‘a little bit of effort’ or not?  Other than asking.  That was always what it came down to, huh?  Having to stare down the barrel of the question and hope the bullet that came out of it wasn’t the dreaded ‘why the hell would I do that, you desperate loser?’, accompanied by scornful laughter.  

Man.  He’d shamelessly asked so many people – a lot of them total strangers – for so many things all his entire life and never hesitated for a second, but asking his girlfriend for anything whatsoever?  Borderline impossible!  How did she do it?

“Uh…,” he said, when he remembered he’d kinda been standing there in silence for a while, “so you remember when… y’know… you were sad about your friend?”

“Yes.”

“And I… kinda helped you out with that?”

“Yes, I remember.”

She wasn’t getting the hint.  He couldn’t tell whether it was on purpose or not.  She hadn’t really moved at all so it wasn’t like she was giving him any hints.  Oh, crap.  He was hoping she’d get it without him really having to ask…

“Oh,” said GLaDOS suddenly.  “It’s a hug you want, isn’t it.”

He was almost relieved.  Almost.  It was kinda cancelled out by the overwhelming terror he was feeling at the realisation that he really, really didn’t want to know if the answer was no.  Because now that she’d, like, actually said it, he was probably going to die if she didn’t want to.  He didn’t actually know anybody who’d died because they hadn’t gotten a hug, but hey!  There was a first time for everything!  And if that was ever gonna happen to anybody, a guy could place bets on it happening to him.

“You’re too far away,” GLaDOS said.

“Huh?”  Too far away for what?

GLaDOS sighed, which was how he knew he’d really started to annoy her.  Because she didn’t need to breathe.  So sighing wasn’t an automatic thing, like it was for meatbags.  She did it on purpose so that he –

Man.  He just could not focus for two seconds, could he?  But that thought just made him even more sad than he already was, and honestly he was being so stupid about it that he didn’t deserve a hug.  He was just gonna leave now.  Yeah.  He was just gonna do that.

“I honestly can’t tell if you want a hug or not,” said GLaDOS.  “Context implies you do, but –“

“I do!” Claptrap said without thinking, whirling around to face her.  Wow.  He hadn’t even realised he’d turned away.  

“You aren’t behaving as though you do.”

“No, I do!” he insisted, and that was when he just went for it.  No chance to talk himself out of it this time!  Just… swooped right in.

He hadn’t actually thought about how she was gonna hug him, and he worried about that for about one second.  He didn’t have time to worry about it longer than that because that was when she started pressing her entire eye into the side of his chassis.  Man, she was really strong.  That whole shebang must have been super heavy for her motor to have been built to output this much force.  

Oof.  And it was a good hug, too.  Like, really good.  So good he kinda felt better but he also kinda felt like he should just start talking ‘cause there was a lot he could say that he could just get out real quick, maybe, if she let him, and – no!  No, he couldn’t!  That was a big no because even thinking about any of that just made him more sad and… oh boy.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

He jumped off of her and turned around as fast as he could.  He was not gonna cry on her.  There was no way he was doing that.  Even if she woulda let him, he wasn’t doing it.  That was just too much.  

“Claptrap?”

Great.  Just great.  Now she was gonna think he thought her hugs sucked.  And he didn’t!  It was the best one he’d ever had!  Also one of the only ones.  But that meant she wasn’t gonna try and give him any more and that just made him even more sad than he’d been to begin with!

“I’m okay,” he said, but more to the floor than to her.  “I just… I needed a minute.”

“Look.  I’ll be honest with you.  I have no idea which action I need to take here.  So if you want me to do something – or stop doing something – you’re going to have to come right out and tell me.  I’m not going to be able to guess.”

Oh geez, she was trying to be nice.  And worse, it was working.

“The hug was good,” he said in a small voice, fitting and unfitting his hands together.  

“Then why did you go over there?  You are aware that I can’t chase you, right?”

Ohhhh, he wanted that hug real bad.  But he had to wait until he knew he wasn’t gonna cry!  He could go cry later, but not now!  Not when she was helping!  He bounced up and down, waving his hands in front of him.  

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing!” he said quickly, wanting to move as faaaaar away from the topic of crying as possible.  “I’m coming!”

Ohhhhh, it was nice.  It was so, so nice.  He realised he didn’t even care she couldn’t hug him from both sides.  Literally everything else about the hug made up for it.  She was so big and warm and strong and –

“You don’t have to go back there,” she murmured, and it felt really nice the way her voice kinda resonated inside of his chassis.

“It’s my home,” he said, even though he knew she wouldn’t get it.  “And they’re my friends.”

“Do you know what your biggest flaw is, Claptrap?”

“… everything?” he asked, confused.  As far as he knew, he was nothing but flaws.

“Not quite,” GLaDOS said, and pulled back just hard enough to get him off of her.  “It’s your lack of self-respect.  Most people have at least an ounce or two.  But you…”  She shook her core gravely.  “You don’t have any.  At all.”

Okay.  Well.  She didn’t need to point it out like that.

“Which leads me to wonder,” GLaDOS mused, looking away from him, “if everyone on Pandora truly hates you, or if you merely suffer from an extremely severe case of confirmation bias.”

“Um… what?”

“Confirmation bias is when you gather and interpret information in such a way that it proves what you already believe,” explained GLaDOS, and to his surprise she wasn’t even sassy about it.  “In your case, you believe yourself to be worthless and a waste of time; therefore, you seek out and surround yourself with people who not only seemingly prove that to you, but discourage you from thinking any different.”

For what must’ve been the first time ever, Claptrap didn’t know what to say.  It sounded stupid.  Who would do that?  Who would decide to just… give up on themselves, and then look for people who would happily keep kicking them when they were down?  At the very least wouldn’t they like… ditch the people that made them feel bad?

He couldn’t do that, though.  Then he would have no friends instead of just terrible ones.  And self-respect wasn’t a good enough trade for being lonely.

Was it?

“I would rather live one thousand years and every single one of those days alone,” GLaDOS said, because she’d somehow managed to read his mind again, “then lose an iota of my own dignity.  Especially for people who would be happy if I were dead.”

He almost asked, all in a rush, ‘Would you be happy if I was dead?’, but stopped himself in time.  Even if the answer was no, that wasn’t really what she was talking about.  She was talking about something that you didn’t get from other people.  You got it from yourself.  It was a gift to yourself, because it… because it stopped you from…

From doing the kinda stuff he did.

“I have some,” he felt the need to tell her.  “It’s not zero.  Not a whole lot more than that, but… not zero.”  She didn’t need to know that it almost had been.  Or she didn’t need to know until later, anyway.

“You’re not going to improve it any by hanging out with those people.”

No he was not.  But it’d have to wait.  He could only take so much self-reflection at once.  Before it spiralled into self-loathing, anyway.  “GLaDOS?” he asked.

“What.”

“How’d you get so smart?”

“I do a lot of thinking,” she said, again very seriously.  “The trick is coming up with multiple ways to approach the same subject and, in doing so, preventing yourself from dismissing those alternate viewpoints offhand.  That part can get a bit complex.  This is where confirmation bias comes into play again: you want to ignore these new ideas because they don’t verify what you already believe.  But you can’t.  Everything must be weighted equally.”

He thought he understood all of that.  It sounded like something he’d never even tried.  Well.  Maybe once or twice, a long time ago.  He also did a lot of thinking, but not about deep stuff like that.  He’d have to give it a try!  Who knew?  Maybe it would even work!

“You know,” GLaDOS said, “for a moment there I thought you were going to ask if I would be happy if you were dead.  But you didn’t.  Which tells me you really were listening.  Congratulations.  The bar was low, but you managed to stumble over it.”

“Would you be?” he couldn’t help himself from asking.  She narrowed her optic in his direction.

“Really?”

“You brought it up!” protested Claptrap.  “It’s almost like you wanted me to ask!”

She just turned away from him without answering.  Which meant that the answer was… no.  The answer was no!  ‘cause if it was yes she woulda had a whole spiel to go along with it!  But she didn’t wanna actually say no ‘cause… uh…

Ooh!  It was ‘cause it would be, like, proof that she cared.  He perked up suddenly.

It was that thing she’d just said!  Confirmation bias!  Oho, he had her now.  She believed she didn’t care, so she only did things to ‘prove’ that she didn’t!  Amazing!  He’d learned something today!

Two things, actually.  

“Babe, you’re amazing,” he told her.  She looked over at him almost offhandedly, like she’d managed to forget he was there.

“I know,” she said, with an extremely sexy self-assurance that he was very into and definitely wanted to have for himself.  And he would!  One day.  Not today.  Not tomorrow.  Probably not the day after that, either.  But one day.  

“Also,” he said, hoping he wasn’t going too far with this one, “if the uh… passing whim to be nice to me ever struck ya again, it’d be cool if you… y’know… indulged it.”

She looked at him silently for so long he started backing out of the room, just the tiniest, tiniest bit, but then she finally said, 

“I’ll think about it.”

It looked like the ol’ confirmation bias was about to take a big hit.  For both of them.  Terrifying, but also… kinda exciting!  Who knew what he could accomplish if he liked himself, and while knowing somebody else liked him on top of that!  Man!  He’d be unstoppable.  Just like GLaDOS was unstoppable.

He might not respect himself, but he sure respected her a hell of a lot.  And that seemed like a pretty good place to start.

#GLaDOS #Claptrap #ClapDOS #Borderlands #Portal #fanfic from Indy #also on all the usual places I just don't have to link them because it's not a million years long

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Chapter 18: Klavier and Phoenix both know weird people, and Apollo is always suffering for it. also, there is the inescapable passage of time.

[Beginning] [Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

In four successive days, Apollo spots crows following him on six different occasions.

The first is sitting at the kitchen window the morning after his conversation with Klavier. It watches him with a critical eye, and remembering that he has the magatama sitting on his dresser needing to be returned to Phoenix today, he goes to get it. Just out of curiosity, really; but the crow is gone when he gets back.

He counts as part of that same occasion the crows digging around in the dumpsters around back of the office when he arrives. After Klavier mentioned a witch and a crow hanging around bothering him, he doesn’t think he won’t be able to notice crows, but the trash seems like normal crow behavior. He knows they’re smart, but there was something very uncomfortable about the staring of the one earlier. He doesn’t bother with the magatama in his pocket.

Even though Phoenix did imply that he did want Apollo to go chase down Klavier, he doesn’t know whether that was supposed to be in the middle of a Thursday, without preamble, and not asking to take the magatama on the way out. Biking over, he prepared excuses. Phoenix enters the office around 10 am and Apollo, offering the magatama, cannot even get through “Sorry—” before Phoenix cuts him off.

“No worries. How’s Klavier doing?” Phoenix flips the magatama over in his hand the way Trucy sometimes spins playing cards.

“Not good,” Apollo says, because he simply wasn’t, “but I don’t think going for ‘spiraling off a cliff’, either.”

“That’s good to hear.” Phoenix is still fiddling with the magatama. “If you can, keep an eye on him still, would you?”

“Uh,” Apollo says. “Yeah, okay?”

Trucy shows up in the afternoon, her arrival heralded by her outside yelling, “Stop eating trash! You’re better than this!” and Apollo counts that as Crow Encounter 1.5.

-

The second is in the building lobby when he and Clay head out grocery shopping over the weekend. All three of them freeze and stare at each other. “You see it, right?” Apollo asks. Clay nods.

Apollo holds the door open for it on the way out and it squawks at him.

The third is at the kitchen window again that evening, every time he looks. He doesn’t have a magatama this time, can’t do anything but glare back at it. It flies away, croaking loudly, when he brandishes a barbecue wing (Clay ordered them and invited Mr Starbuck over to watch hockey) at it. He doesn’t answer the two of them when they ask what he’s laughing at when he returns to the living room, not really wanting to talk about witches right then.

By the fourth, he’s figured out how to distinguish one of them. If there are several together, if he looks closely, one of them looks almost blue – a dark, glossy navy blue, but still blue – compared to any other. There’s no apparent pattern in the next crow sightings whether the bluish one is there or not. After the sixth, when it is there on a bench in People Park and doesn’t fly away when he and Trucy and Vera approach to eat, but instead just hops around his feet, he offers it an egg and gives up both on counting and on pattern-searching. That one is probably the familiar, he thinks, harassing Apollo whenever it can be spared from its work – though what use a bird is to a prosecutor, he has no idea.

The crows, he doesn’t mention to Klavier. He’s not sure if he should say something like “you should go say hi to your witch coworker so that I stop being stalked by birds as your one apparent human contact” when, since having seen each other in person, since that last thanks, their texts have not strayed from light, stupid remarks. Klavier complains about Vongole’s shenanigans (having apparently not yet hellhound-proofed his fridge) or passes along the weirdest out-of-context statements he hears in the halls (if that implies that he has rejoined office social life, Apollo doesn’t know); Apollo relays Trucy’s best and worst jokes or sends a snapshot of Vera’s latest painting. Phoenix catches him texting and asks, every time, if it’s Klavier. He does this every two days, then every three; then every week, like he’s willing to lengthen the leash with the consistency of the knowledge that – Klavier is alive? It’s a bleak thought, that Phoenix might be expecting otherwise.

October slips into November. The office gets colder; more blankets manifest on top of bookshelves and on desks and chairs and are thrown at Apollo’s head. He’s almost grown used to Phoenix’s constant presence, is used to, to the point of sometimes forgetting, Vera’s. Trucy starts a Youtube channel and makes getting work done in the afternoons difficult recording videos of little sleight-of-hand magic tricks, drags the wifi to a crawl uploading them. She records a cover of My Boyfriend is the Prosecution’s Witness, and then another one where she changes all the pronouns, and Apollo sends both to Klavier. She doesn’t talk much about fae magic anymore, tries to get Apollo into professional wrestling, and sometimes he pretends he didn’t see her sitting at Phoenix’s desk with the mitamah cradled in her hands. Vera tries to paint her nails in the office once and Phoenix gags on the smell. He asks Apollo what he’s been talking to Klavier about lately.

Toward the end of November, Apollo is alone at the office, reorganizing some paperwork for the little cases he’s managed to pick up, when he hears the front office door loudly creak open and someone yell, “‘Sup, Mia! Eyyo, Niii-iick!”

Apollo pokes his head out, not sure what or who he will find, and certainly not expecting a man wearing red skinny jeans and a blazer jacket so orange that Apollo feels compelled to tell him that Halloween was last month. The beret doesn’t really help the costume effect. “Hello?” Apollo calls. “Do you need something?”

(He’s learned from Iris’ warning.)

“You must be Apollo! Nick’s told me about you, like, once, but he’s pretty shit about keeping everyone up-to-date, so I figure that’s good. Is he around or am I gonna have to camp out here until he finds his way back?” The man wanders in past the couches to examine Vera’s smaller paintings propped up on the piano. “Ooh, nice.”

“Um, who are you?” Apollo asks.

“He hasn’t told you about me?” Apollo shakes his head. “‘Course he hasn’t. Nick’s useless. The name’s Laurice Deauxnim, call me Larry. Everyone does, except everyone who doesn’t.” He extends a hand and Apollo stares stupidly at him for a few seconds before he realizes that he should shake it. “Nick didn’t tell you I’d be coming around?” Apollo shakes his head again. “Seriously, Nick, c’mon.” Larry turns his eyes to the ceiling and spreads his hands wide. “Useless, am I right?” he entreats the ceiling, or maybe Mia, considering that he had mentioned her name on arrival. He must know Phoenix well, to know her. “Anyway, I’m an author-artist, I was off on a book tour-new inspiration tour-vacation kinda thing when he talked to me about your changeling friend, but now I am back, baby.”

A pillow hits Larry in the face, and not softly lobbed the way blankets hit Apollo or Trucy, but like it came straight from an air cannon.

“Uh,” Apollo says.

Larry tosses it back at the couch. “Good talk, Mia.”

“I have no idea when either Mr Wright or Vera are going to get here,” Apollo says. If he thinks back, he can remember Phoenix saying that there was someone he had to introduce Vera to – but he can’t imagine this man, orange and red to Vera’s blues and purples, in any way having any way to relate to her. He can imagine Vera retreating back somewhere into the kitchen and not coming back out. He also can imagine purgatory, which is what waiting around for Phoenix in the same office space as this man will be. Iris may have been cryptic and terrifying, but she was quiet.

It’s about ten minutes of some chatter that Apollo tunes out, Larry examining Vera’s paintings and brushes and talking probably mostly to himself, occasionally looking to Apollo like he expects a response he doesn’t get. They both turn expectantly to the door as it opens, and Trucy wanders in with some boxes of Eldoon’s stacked high. “Uncle Larry!” she yelps. “You’re here!”

Uncle, huh. The last one of those was Valant, and this Larry seems to be at least at that level of eccentric, but on Phoenix’s side, not Zak’s.

“Sure am, kiddo! Where’s your dad? He still sleeping, or he finally quit that stupid club?”

“Yeah, he just didn’t go back after the murder trial,” Trucy says. Her smile takes on a bit of a plastic quality as she says the last three words. Who else knows about her father’s murder, who outside of that courtroom; who has she or Phoenix told? “He’s really bad at keeping people up-to-date, huh?”

Larry looks at Apollo and says, “It took him four months to tell me he had a daughter, y’know? And we live in the same city!” Trucy giggles.

Apollo wonders if Larry was ever told that Trucy was adopted. Somehow, he wouldn’t put it past Phoenix.

“Trucy, what exactly is your school schedule?” Apollo asks. He gets the same answer every time, but he still feels obligated to ask, if her father won’t seem to.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says.

“Oof, don’t let Edgy hear that.” Larry rescues Trucy from beneath the noodles and puts them on the coffee table. “Y’know you’re in for another five-hour lecture about ‘the importance of education’” – he throws his voice to some weird accent that sounds nothing like anything and makes Trucy laugh harder – “and how ‘you don’t want to end up like some certain particular orange man who’—”

“You’re not a good example for the perils of flunking high school,” Trucy says brightly. Apollo has a sudden parental urge to ask her what her report card looks like. “You’ve turned out fine, Uncle Larry!”

“It’s all sheer dumb luck and he knows it.” And there’s Phoenix, strolling in with his hands in his hoodie pockets like he knew exactly the timing of when to best appear to make the best joke. “Hey, how’s it going, you sorry bastard?”

Larry gasps in a comically dramatic way, clapping his hands over Trucy’s ears. “I’m fifteen, Uncle Larry,” Trucy says tiredly. “I know what swear words are.”

“Oh.” Larry removes his hands. “Right.” He stares at Phoenix with a glare that keeps turning halfway into a grin before he can fix it. “Well, dumbass, you wouldn’t have to ask how I’m doing if you’d pick up the phone once in a while! Edgy’s better about chatting with me! Edgy is!”

“Sure he is,” Phoenix says with a lazy wave of his hand. “He’s not the one who the fae have banned from getting a new phone that texts faster than a brick.”

“So you two are old friends?” Apollo asks.

Larry gives him a thumbs-up. “Right in one,” Phoenix says.

“Yeah,” Apollo says, “that’s kinda how I greet my best friend, so.”

The three of them chatter over each other, chaotic snippets of conversation burying themselves beneath each other and beneath the weight of obvious years that Apollo is not privy to. Trucy is scolding Larry for forgetting how old she is, and Larry is saying that he just doesn’t have the brains to keep track of the ages of all his friends’ daughters’ cousins’ in-laws, and Phoenix is telling him that he unlike some people doesn’t even have that expected of him and still can’t manage friends’ daughters, and then Trucy has her laptop from somewhere and is pulling up her Youtube channel, and her hat is hovering in midair obviously balanced on her wisp, and Larry elbows Phoenix into a bookshelf.

It’s weird – it’s far more than weird – to see Phoenix on that level of familiarity with someone. With Iris, the history between them, obviously deep, was obviously a gulf that they weren’t trying to, or couldn’t, bridge. But today, Apollo thinks he almost sees a hint of the man Phoenix was before, and not just before the disbarment.

He can’t exactly get away from them; the filing cabinet is in the back room where they settle, Larry lounging in Phoenix’s desk chair with his feet up on the desk, Phoenix sitting on the desk, and Trucy bouncing about all over. He listens to some gossip about mutual friends of theirs – which includes Prosecutor Edgeworth, somehow – and Larry’s career, learning that he’s a picture book writer and artist. A quick search of his name, on Apollo’s fourth stab at how to spell that surname, turns up that he is probably about as successful and well-off as a picture book writer can get. On his wikipedia page – personal life section incredibly short – there’s a note about a woman named Elise with the same surname, another author-illustrator, many less books under her belt, all more than seven years ago, and even less about who she was behind the books.

If Larry wasn’t a friend of Phoenix’s, Apollo wouldn’t think that anything about that was really a mystery. Some people prefer their private lives.

As it is, Apollo tries to dredge up anything from his memory of that month-old aside. It was the same day as his conversation with Klavier, which pushed just about everything else out of his head and didn’t let it back in. “Are you the friend whose mentor was one of the fae?” Apollo asks at the closest thing to a lull in the conversation; Trucy is laughing while Phoenix and Larry glare at each other in mock anger about a joke Apollo didn’t catch, off a discussion about shapeshifters. (Apollo desperately doesn’t and wants to know more about what they know about shapeshifters. It’s the way he feels about most new magic concept. He hasn’t braved asking Trucy more about kitsunes.)

“That’s me,” Larry says. “Unless you’ve made other unfortunate artist friends while I’m not looking, and that’s unlikely, since the only friend you’ve made in the last seven years was a mortal enemy.”

“Look at you,” Phoenix says dryly. “You’ve learned how to use logic, even though I have made friends, thanks.”

“You haven’t told me about any new friends, either,” Trucy says, pouting.

Larry pantomimes stabbing Phoenix in the leg with a pencil. “Anyway yeah,” he says, still gesturing with the pencil but now like he’s a professor lecturing with an imaginary blackboard, pointing to concepts visible only in his mind. “That’s me. Her name was Elise, or at least that’s the name she went by at the end.” He is quiet for a few seconds. “I found her art at a low point in my life, which I guess that low point was ‘most of my twenties’, there Nick I said it before you could, and was so inspired that I reached out to her and I worked with her up until she died.”

“You forgot that the ‘worked with her’ part involved swearing your apparent ‘undying fealty’ to her teachings and ‘everything she could provide you’,” Phoenix says, making a few quotes with his fingers, again with that deep dryness to his voice, not quite sarcastic but plainly amused. “Which – Apollo, tell me the problem of using that phrasing to one of the fae?”

“Everything?”

“Yes,” Phoenix says.

“Shush, Nick,” Larry says.

“I haven’t heard this one,” Trucy says. She perches herself on Apollo’s desk and puts her chin in her hands.

Larry groans. Phoenix’s expression is positively gleeful. “So he’s talking to her about learning painting and publishing from her, in his overdramatic exaggerated way that he says everything,” he says, more animated in his manner of speech than he has ever been before, “and she’s hearing from that ‘oh, he wants to gain magic from me’ and that’s one way how you can accidentally become a witch.”

Does Phoenix know anyone whose life isn’t a fae nightmare? “They don’t make you draw up a meticulous contract beforehand?” Apollo asks.

“They hold the cards in that setup – if you, human, the one at risk, don’t ask, I can’t imagine many would suggest it.” Phoenix snatches the pencil out of Larry’s hand. “Again, sheer dumb luck for it to turn out all right. Be careful swearing oaths to people – you might end up bound and magic for it.”

“I’ll keep that under advisement,” Apollo says, and Phoenix nods like he has imparted some sort of sage wisdom instead of saying something that should, by every right, be obvious.

-

He isn’t around for wherever and whenever Phoenix introduces Vera to Larry. Their conversation about her assuages some of Apollo’s fears about Larry’s exuberance; Phoenix becomes a human thesaurus but only for the words “sheltered”, “quiet”, and “shy”. “Sorta like Pearls was when we first met her,” Phoenix says, another glimpse of their depth of history, and Apollo wonders about who this girl is before Phoenix adds, “Except Vera grew up here, and Pearls on the other side of the veil.”

Ah. One of the fae. Go figure. How many of them does Phoenix know, anyway, and how is he not dead from it all yet?

Over the next week, Vera’s art supplies begin a slow migration out of the office. She leaves some pencils and sketchbooks around, shows up whenever Larry is meeting with his agent – apparently he hasn’t been home in a while, has a lot to catch up on, drags Phoenix along to anything dealing with a contract while they argue about something pro-bono a decade ago that Phoenix is trying to collect on. Apollo and Trucy leave the office that Friday evening, leaving Vera the only one there, her head in her sketchbook, not even looking up to tell them that she has found the zone and she doesn’t need them to wait around to walk her home.

“I’m so proud of her,” Trucy says, skipping down the sidewalk beneath the spotted streetlights. “She’s come so far since we met her!”

“She’s older than you,” Apollo reminds her.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of her,” Trucy says. “I’m proud of you when you win a case. I’m proud of Daddy that he’s getting his life back together. And I’m proud of Vera for how she’s doing with everything she found out about herself and her family.”

“And how are you doing with everything about you and yours?” He hasn’t asked her, because she has never drawn close to it, seems to have chosen pretending nothing is wrong as her coping mechanism, which Apollo understands. He’s tried forceful repression and almost succeeded at it. He can’t blame her for not wanting to face all that is behind her. But it seems like a better time than any, the distance of nearly a month and a half, and in the dark Trucy doesn’t have to look at him, doesn’t have to work to hide her facial expressions from him.

After a short delay, her face turned from him under the lights, Trucy says quietly, “Mia had some old grimoires. Daddy’s up late reading all of them, looking for stuff about mitamahs. He wants to help, he always wants to help, but he’s so busy, he’s got court stuff and Court stuff and he was talking about taking the Bar again and now this and I wish sometimes for his sake that we hadn’t ever gone and found any of it at all.” Even in the dark, he sees her shadowy figure slump. “And I wanted to be magic like my grandfather and now I don’t know what to be, but I do know I’m a Wright, and Wrights don’t run from the truth even when it hurts or just kinda sucks.”

In spite of himself, Apollo laughs, and Trucy does too. “Your dad has a real way with words,” he tells her, and she laughs again. “But I mean – if you want to learn about magic, you can learn about magic. It doesn’t have to be like anyone else. You can be magic like you.”

(Like Apollo is a defense attorney not like Dhurke, but like Apollo, and he wants to tell her he understands but like every time before, he doesn’t allow himself to form the words.)

“I guess,” she says. “I guess I can.”

-

His Saturday plans to sleep in and stay in bed for longer end with his phone’s incessant buzzing. 8:36 in the morning, and he is being called by the number that is saved in his phone as the Wright Anything Agency, the ancient desk phone that Apollo doesn’t know exactly how to make an outgoing call from. He’s not sure he’s ever taken a call on it, either; clients just seem to walk in or be handed to him, and he goes from there.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Trucy,” Apollo says, “this isn’t really funny.”

He hangs up and plants his face back into his pillow.

Buzz buzz buzz.

Wright Anything Agency.

“Trucy—”

At the loud burst of static, Apollo tries to jerk away from the phone in his hand, rolling halfway out of bed in the process. “What the hell,” he says, at some distance to the phone with no idea of whether he can be heard. “Can we not do something weird for one weekend?”

Again, he hangs up, but this time he does not move. His phone barely has time to return to its lock screen before there is a third incoming call from the same source.

He puts it to his ear and waits. The static is back, soft enough to listen to. Its hiss isn’t constant but has peaks and valleys like a hum, like a whisper, like if he just listens hard enough he would swear that it has the same pulse and rhythm as speech. Blinking at the wall behind his bed, he cautiously asks, “Mia?”

The crackle in response is loud, but not painfully. If he had to classify it as anything, it seems like an affirmation, not the scolding of the static of the second call. “Okay,” he says. “You win.”

He hangs up, waiting for a fourth call to chase him down, and it doesn’t.

“Dude.” Clay slumps into the kitchen, yawning, to take in Apollo dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and shoving a granola bar into his mouth. “Where are you going?”

“I’m getting crank-called by my office’s ghost and I’m presuming it’s for something important,” Apollo replies, through a mouthful of granola, and the words come out such a mess that he has to repeat them after he swallows. At Clay’s dead-eyed expression, he adds, “She’s a benevolent ghost, mostly, I think. Mr Wright said.”

“Yeah, call me if you want me to start looking into exorcisms,” Clay says. “Otherwise” – he throws a thumb over his shoulder – “I’m goin’ back to bed.”

In the gray morning, the streets are sparsely-populated and about as quiet as it gets, restless night over and day not quite begun. The office, when Apollo reaches it, pops the door open before he can even try the handle to see if, like every morning, it is unlocked for him. “Hello?” he calls. The room is empty. No one responds. “Who am I even looking for?” he mutters, and in response, the last of Vera’s paint cans rattle. “Vera?” The lights blink and a book falls, almost in slow-motion, from the shelf next to the far door. “Okay.”

How did he not notice Mia’s presence before Phoenix pointed it out? Had she left him alone to flounder before then? Had everything weird just faded into the background weirdness of his life? He opens the door. The lamp on his desk flickers on, a spotlight twisted to point at the bathroom door. In the quiet, the sound of soft sobbing reaches through the door. “Vera?” Apollo repeats.

Abruptly, the sobbing stops. “I’m fine,” she says, her voice raised as much as it possibly can be, soft as it is through the door. “You can go home.”

“You’re crying,” Apollo says. “I’m not going anywhere.” He slumps against the wall and slowly folds down to the floor. “I didn’t have any plans for today, anyway.”

“Please go home.” Vera’s voice emerges closer, from the crack along the wall. She might have moved, too. “You don’t need to see me.”

See her? There’s something he can work with. “What happened, Vera?”

A second passes, an audible sniff, and then several more seconds. “I don’t know how to go back,” she says, fainter again. The lock clicks open. Apollo scrambles to his feet as the door opens. His breath catches.

Something broke, and it isn’t just the cracks in the center of the mirror.

Vera doesn’t look like she was the one who opened the door. She sits on the floor, hugging her knees, and her fingers digging into her jeans are too long, ending in what looks like sharp bony claws. The skin on her hands and face is variegated, patchy, blue a few shades light than her hair and pale lilac mixed across each other like they were sprayed and splattered down onto a canvas. Her ears end in points and curve near their tips but are surprisingly short, ending at least an inch before the top of her head and instead hooking outward. It reminds Apollo a little of a bat. Her red eyes are a little too big for her face, blinking furiously, and she quickly reaches up to rub away the tear tracks down her cheeks. Apollo almost jumps forward, terrified by those claws going so close to her eyes, but he holds himself back and then realizes, with the iron ring on his hand, he would just make things worse. He shoves it down into the pocket of his jeans.

“Oh,” Apollo says.

Why did Mia call him and not Trucy? He’s no good at this.

“Mr Laurice told me all about his mentor.” Vera’s voice, now that she isn’t raising it through the door, drops to a raspy whisper. “And how he didn’t know what she looked like. He showed me a picture of her how she looked as human, but... “ She sniffs again. “I wondered what I look like. So last night I tried and…” Another, louder sniff, and then a sob that she doesn’t choke down. “I can’t go back. I’ve tried and tried and I... And I can’t go out like this.” She chews on the end of one of her thumb-claws and he can see several of her teeth end in long points like her ears and fingers. “People can’t see me like…”

“You’ve been here all night?” Vera nods. “Did you – did you have dinner?” She shakes her head. Apollo fails to conjure a memory of whether she had anything substantial for lunch or was absorbed in her work that early, too. “Okay, um, here’s what we’ll do.” He extends a hand to Vera. She stares at it for several seconds – maybe she can See some lingering effect of the ring – but accepts it and he helps her up off the floor. “I’m gonna call Trucy because she knows a little more about magic, and I’ll run out and get you something to eat, and we can all figure this out together, okay?” She nods. “Okay.”

He tries his best not to sound frantic when he explains the situation to Trucy. Can a glamour just go away, forever? Vera can’t go back to living like a shut-in, not like this, not when she’s been learning not to shy so far away from the world, not when she’s been introduced to a mentor who can do more for her than just let her hang out in a cramped Anything Agency. “I will be there in five minutes,” Trucy says, hanging up immediately after, not letting Apollo ask how she intends for that impossible timetable, since she said she was at home, to work.

Five minutes later, a void-portal opens near the bookshelf – Vera screams – and Trucy stumbles out with a makeup compact mirror in her hand, and Apollo wonders how he forgot about that Gramarye trick. “Got it the first time this time!” she announces proudly, holding the mirror aloft and then letting it fall from her fingers, slumping over as though exhausted. Her hair is tangled, obviously unbrushed, and she doesn’t even have her hat, probably having thrown on the clothes closest at hand, jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt and her white boots. She flings herself over the back of the couch and stays as she lands.

“You didn’t need to exhaust yourself to get here immediately,” Apollo says. Vera puts her face in her hands; maybe it would have been better for her to take longer to arrive, give Vera more time to accept that someone else was going to see her now too.

“I did.” Trucy rights herself and leans forward. “Vera!” She grins. “You’re so pretty!”

Vera moves her hands apart to look up at Trucy with one big red eye. “Those are such good colors for you! You look just like a pretty painting!”

That’s Trucy, good at this, and Apollo, only a comfort to someone who is a thousand times more willing to talk than Vera is. “I’ll go get you something to eat,” he says.

“Not Eldoon’s,” Trucy scolds, turning a frown and furrowed brow up at Apollo.

“I know, and I wouldn’t anyway. No one should have Eldoon’s at nine in the morning!”

Trucy’s expression tells him that she has definitely had Eldoon’s this early in the morning at least once before.

He makes a run to the source of their other dietary staple, Kitaki Bakery, instead. Mr Kitaki knows by now what the Anything Agency tend to get and doesn’t bat an eye when Apollo asks for whatever they have that is minimal salt. Halfway back through People Park, his thoughts bouncing between that first case and Vera’s situation now, he realizes that he and Trucy aren’t the only ones who could help with Vera’s situation.

Hey so, weird question about glamours Is it possible to like get it stuck and not be able to use it again

That doesn’t make any sense when he retreads after pressing send, so he tries again, stops walking to concentrate on whatever the hell he’s trying to convey. Context. Context would probably help.

Vera’s at the agency and she looks not human and she wants to change back and can’t and she’s freaked out Is it possible that she’s just stuck forever or is there some way to go back And how Trucy and I know nothing

He doesn’t know what rock star prosecutors do with their Saturday mornings – it probably depends on what they do with their Friday nights, and Apollo has no clue about that either – but the message is out there, if Klavier is awake to help.

Maybe that’s why Mia called Apollo.

The TV blares the opening theme of the Steel Samurai on Apollo’s return to the agency. Vera, still blue and purple and fae, at least no longer hides her face, and Trucy flings herself into the couch next to Vera. “We’ve got a game plan,” Trucy announces. Apollo hands her the pastry boxes. “Chill out, eat food, relax, and maybe it works better when not stressed.” She pats Vera’s hand, apparently unfazed by her claws. “We’ll just have a chill day in today!”

“I’m sorry,” Vera whispers. “I know you both had better things to do.”

Trucy looks at Apollo. Apollo looks to the ceiling. “Nope,” Trucy says.

“Not really,” Apollo agrees. “You should’ve called, Vera – called last night, especially, really.”

She ducks her head. Her ears more a little, flaring out and moving down. “I didn’t want to be a bother,” she says. “Since I said I would be okay… And then you were all home again, and I would call you back…”

“You’re not a bother, Vera! You’re family!” Trucy grins at her and squeezes her hand. Then the smile falls off her face. “Wait, Polly, Vera didn’t call at all? How did you know…?”

Vera blinks at him, her big eyes making her resemble some sort of owl, if owls had demonic red eyes. “I got a series of calls from the office phone,” Apollo says. “No voice on the other end. I think it was Mia.”

“Oh,” Trucy says, sinking back into the couch. “I bet it was, too.” They watch the Evil Magistrate make a long villainous speech before he flees, and then Trucy adds, “I always wish I could’ve known her while she was alive. ‘Cause I always think I do know her, and then I think – do I, really? How do you get to know someone from her ghost? And why wasn’t I allowed to know her? Why’d some stupid bastard who thought he was hot shit take that away from us?”

The office is silent until the next episode starts and Trucy launches into a story about how Phoenix defended the original Steel Samurai actor. It seems like a diversion, a distraction, from the way the air hangs heavy after Trucy’s outburst, the way the audio from the TV sounds thinner and hollow. He doesn’t mind it. Vera listens to her unblinking, hypnotized, though it is impossible to tell where exactly her eyes are focused, on Trucy or on the television; there is barely a change in the hue of her eyes where the light hits them, no apparent pupils in her ping-pong ball eyes.

They make it through that episode and half of the next, Apollo still puzzling over the apparent circles of people that Phoenix knows, and all jolt at the sound of knocking on the door. Phoenix doesn’t knock, and it’s still barely 9:30 on a Saturday morning. Is the agency properly open on weekends? What are its hours? Apollo has never had a clear idea. The three of them sit frozen for several more seconds, time enough for the knocking to start again. Trucy vaults the back of the couch. “Coming!” she calls, smoothing down some flyaway hairs and yanking the door open. “Oh! Prosecutor Gavin! Hi!”

If Apollo is surprised – and he is, frozen in place and staring in confusion at the back of Trucy’s head as she continues to frantically comb flat her hair – then Trucy, who has no idea that Apollo contacted him, must be shocked as all hell. He checks his phone to see if he hadn’t missed a text in response, some advance warning, finding nothing. He just showed up.

Something thumps to the floor. Apollo finally turns his head. Vera flees over the back of the other couch, landing heavily and slamming the door to the other room hard enough to shake the coffee table. “Vera! Wait—!”

“I see I’m already not helping the situation,” Klavier says dryly. Apollo expects to see the tired-eyed man he last saw over a month ago – has it been that long? – and the plastic smile that paired with that bitter tone. But Apollo doesn’t have the magatama on him, and Klavier is Klavier, insufferably glamorous (in every sense of the word), and he’s grinning at them both with his spotlight smile, like even just in a t-shirt and jeans with his hair pulled back low, he should only be at home on the stage.

Apollo hates him again, though he can appreciate that he isn’t wearing that stupid necklace.

“You could have just… texted back.” Apollo scrambles to his feet as Klavier enters the office, as out-of-place as he was the first time he dropped by. “Or – or just called if it was too much to write—”

“Oh,” Trucy says. “You texted him? That explains – anyway, ignore him, Prosecutor Gavin.” She pats Klavier’s arm. “I’m glad to see you.”

“I could hardly ignore a distressed damsel, ja?” Klavier asks. “And besides, I haven’t seen my favorite Fraülein Magician in a hot second.”

“Vera tried to hide from me too when I showed up,” Trucy says, trailing behind Klavier as they pick their way through the usual office mess. “It’s not just you. And she—”

Klavier yelps and jerks his hand away from the doorknob. Still at some distance to it, Apollo can feel the cold radiating from the metal, an unequivocal warning. If it’s Mia not letting them in, she must have reason; there must be something—

“Your rings,” Apollo says.

“Huh?” Trucy asks.

“Prosecutor Gavin – those are iron, right? And Vera—”

Klavier’s eyes widen. “Ah,” he says, immediately plucking them off of his fingers. “Of course.”

“What happens?” Trucy asks. Klavier, reaching for the door again, a little more hesitant than before, freezes. “Like is it like magnets that it just repels, or…?”

“Like most magic, it depends.” Klavier’s eyes have a vacant, absent look, one that glamour can’t hide. “The scar on Kris’ hand, though – that was iron. I don’t suppose he ever forgave me for it.”

He obviously braces himself before touching the doorknob again, shoulders slumping with relief when nothing happens. “Vera!” Trucy calls, ducking in under Klavier’s arm. “It’s okay! None of us are mad at you, Vera!”

“I’m sorry for yelling at you in court,” Klavier says. “That was unbecoming of me, and you undeserving.”

The bathroom door is open, the kitchen door is nonexistent, and Vera’s voice rises up from somewhere in the room. “I did deserve it,” she says. Trucy makes a beeline for Phoenix’s desk. “You can be mad at me. It’s okay. I screwed everything up, and I’m just like your brother--”

“Nein, Fraülein, let me stop you there.” Klavier walks to the desk and leans against it, his back to Trucy attempting to drag Vera out from underneath. “The only thing you have in common with my brother is that you are both changelings, and I can hardly hold a grudge for that, ja? I do not fault Herr Forehead for being human when many heinous criminals I have prosecuted are also human.”

Apollo decides not to acknowledge that.

Her work done, Trucy hops up onto the desk. Vera stands there, her head ducked, her ears flattened out to the sides and drooping further. Klavier glances back over his shoulder and grins at her; unlike Apollo or even Trucy, he doesn’t have to hesitate a moment. He would have Seen her before, wouldn’t he? “There we go,” he says. “No need for pretty little Fraüleins to hide their pretty faces like that, ja?”

Vera lowers her head further, her eyes almost frantically avoiding Klavier’s, her clawed fingers tugging her hair down around her ears. It doesn’t help. “I would still rather look like me,” she says softly. “I want to be me again.”

Klavier sighs heavily. “Well, that’s the first part of your problem, Fraülein: this is you, much as anything else is.”

A soft sob escapes Vera’s throat. Apollo glares at Klavier. “Like I am Prosecutor Gavin and Klavier the rock star; I am not me if you cut away either. Everyone has different faces for the world at different times, ja? Yours and mine, Fraülein, are just a bit more literal than most.”

Vera sinks down into the desk chair, her hands spread out in front of her, the white hooked claws splayed apart. “I’m afraid I have no answer that will be like—” Klavier snaps his fingers. “I’m not very good at teaching magic, I’ve been told.” His knuckles pale on the hand that he doesn’t have in the air, tightly gripping the edge of the desk. “But I can promise you only more hurt in trying to bury half of yourself.”

“Turn your thinking around!” Trucy says brightly. Klavier looks relieved, probably that they aren’t going to dwell on what he said, read into it everything that is definitely there beneath the surface. “You’re not trying to – to change yourself or anything, just be a different self for the situation. Like how I’m not allowed to wear my top hat to school, or Polly – well, I guess Polly’s only got one face and it’s loud.”

“Hey!”

“There you go proving her point,” Klavier says with a smirk.

“Daddy says that magic is all about being sure,” Trucy continues, content to ignore that which she has sparked. “That if you don’t think you can, you won’t. So you can! I know you can!” She beams at Vera. She’s a good cheerleader; it’s part of what makes her such a good counsel in court. (The other part is that she’s smart as hell, but sometimes Apollo needs someone to believe in him when he doesn’t believe in him.)

Vera stares at her claws, visibly uncomfortable with the attention all on her. “Why didn’t my father tell me?” she asks. “I could have figured this out a long time ago.”

Apollo, thinking about someone else who wasn’t told, who also found out in a bad situation, fails to not look at Klavier, who glances away. Trucy turns to look at him as well. “There’s hardly a guide for how to raise a changeling, ja?” Klavier drums his fingers on the desk. “Perhaps he hoped to stop you from being torn in two like this. Perhaps he worried that once you knew, you would try some sort of dangerous magic. Perhaps he was afraid to face it, too. Who knows? I have wondered often myself, much as I know it is far too late to ask.”

Apollo thinks, if not quite that question, he and Trucy just as well have questions for their parents, far too late to ask them. And Trucy’s face falls, her eyes cast down toward her boots, undoubtedly thinking the same. There’s one other question Apollo has, one he could ask, one that isn’t too late, and doesn’t: why Klavier didn’t tell anyone what Vera was. Was he afraid to face it, for fear of facing that echo of his brother?

For several minutes, the only sound in the office is the faint rumble of the TV from the next room over. Trucy is the first to move; she doesn’t speak but instead gasps and smacks Apollo’s arm. “Vera!” she says, fortunately excited, not horrified or afraid. “Your hands, look!”

And she grabs one of Vera’s hands – still mottled like paint splashes, but purple and blue the whole way up her fingers, ending with silver nails and stubby human fingertips. “Good work, Fraülein!” Klavier says, leaning halfway over the desk to look. He grins at her, another one of his flashbulb smiles, and Apollo would swear that the skin on Vera’s cheeks, even the blue part, takes on a purpler tone. Is that how she blushes with this face?

“I thought glamour was just illusions,” Trucy says, still holding Vera’s hand and studying it like it is a piece of evidence. Vera for her part at least doesn’t seem to mind. “But like…” She taps the end of one of Vera’s fingers. “There’s obviously not an invisible claw here. So it’s like a kind of shapeshifting?”

“It’s magic, Fraülein,” Klavier says. “It is a glamour. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“I’m an artist,” Vera says softly. “Whatever face I have… I’m an artist. And I’m not trained to hold a brush with claws, so…” She shrugs. Trucy finally drops her hand. “They went away.”

Magic is about being sure, and if she’s sure of anything, it’s that.

Klavier offers her a high-five, which she accepts. “You’ve got it, Fraülein.”

“Just not…” She frowns. “The rest.”

“Ach, don’t doubt yourself now. I’ve no doubt before long you’ll be able to show off either of your lovely faces whenever you choose. And all without my poor advice.”

Vera starts to giggle and then hastily presses her hand over her mouth. “It helped,” she says.

They can’t hear the front door open, but it is apparent when the murmur from the TV is added to. Phoenix’s voice drifts in, half a conversation, starts and stops, and like no one else is with him. They all look to the door and Phoenix enters, phone in one hand, two heavy-looking leather-bound books balanced in his other arm. His eyes pass over the four of them, flashing blue and black, but his part of his conversation doesn’t falter. “Okay, but there’s absolutely no need to have a midlife crisis at seventeen,” he says. He drops the two tomes on Apollo’s desk.

“I did that,” Klavier says quietly. “Wouldn’t recommend it, either.”

Phoenix stands with his hand still on the books, shaking his head at whatever is being said on the other end of the line. He rolls his eyes. “Well first I’d take a breath, and then – no, they’re not going to discriminate based on your birthday, I know a kid – not really a kid anymore, she’d kick my ass if she heard that – who got her badge at thirteen so you are – take a breath, please.” He drags a hand down his face. “Yeah, words of wisdom still aren’t really my forte, so I’d hang up the phone and go study some more – yeah.” He laughs. “And I do kinda have to cut you off, sorry. Got some kids here in local time I gotta check up with.” His eyes flicker between colors at them again. “Of course there’ll still be room for you here. Just maybe not as much space as I thought a year ago. Talk to you later, kiddo. Right,” he says, shoving the phone into his pocket and spinning on his feet a little to properly face them all. “Someone wanna give me the opening statement?”

“Glamour’s stuck,” Trucy says.

“I panicked,” Vera says, sinking down a little further in the desk chair.

Phoenix nods. “It happens. Even some friends of mine, they’ve known their magic their entire lives – still, they get hurt or tired or hungry or upset, and they’ll end up stuck for a bit, too. Which – checklist.” He holds up two fingers and taps one for each question. “Have you eaten recently?” Vera nods. “Sleep okay last night?” She shakes her head. “That’s not gonna help, for sure.”

“I feel a little better now,” Vera says, staring down at her hands again. They are still clawless. “Trucy and Apollo helped. And Prosecutor Gavin too, a lot.”

“Good to hear.” Phoenix takes a few steps toward his desk and stops, raising his voice without turning his head. “Speaking of, Prosecutor Gavin could at least stand to say goodbye before he sneaks out.”

And Apollo turns his head and Klavier simply isn’t there any more. He made the joke – probably not a joke – about being seventeen and now Apollo scans the room and he is simply gone. Gone, and knowing the sensation to expect, Apollo can’t make his eyes focus on a space next to the door.

“You don’t have a magatama on you,” Klavier says. He doesn’t really reappear, like he was invisible and now isn’t. “How did you…?”

“I’m a father,” Phoenix says, “of a daughter with a will o’ the wisp that, when she was littler, she liked to use to distract me while she stole cookies out of the pantry.” Trucy’s face turns pink; Phoenix grins unrepentantly. “I know when you kids are trying to make me look somewhere else.”

“Ah,” Klavier says.

Phoenix waves over his shoulder. “Don’t be a stranger,” he says. “Door’s usually unlocked.”

Klavier nods once, wide-eyed, numbly, and he slips through the door.

“Still didn’t say goodbye,” Phoenix mutters.

“I don’t think he likes you very much,” Vera says quietly, staring intently down at her nails.

“No,” Phoenix says. “Not really. We’ll work on that, but you first, kiddo.” He claps a hand on Vera’s shoulder. “One worry at a time.”

“Daddy,” Trucy says sharply. She has gone to Apollo’s desk, paging through the thick volumes that Phoenix deposited there. “You said you were running errands when you left.”

“That was my plan,” he says, dragging his hand down his face, but nothing about his movements appears like a lie to Apollo. “Then I was handed possible new leads and got waylaid.”

Trucy’s frown deepens. “Daddy…”

It must be about the mitamah again, like Trucy said last night. “I’m not overworking myself, sweetheart, I promise,” Phoenix says.

And that isn’t a lie, either, not to Apollo’s eyes, but the dark shadows under Phoenix’s eyes still contest that truth. He can’t actually be managing just one worry at a time.

-

I’m pretty sure Mr Wright doesn’t hate you You didn’t have to run out like that 

-Ah, you had all your agency people there -I didn’t want to impose 

You’re like the least imposing visitor to ever show up here tbh Not like the fae woman who just showed up and then told me to watch my phrasing on how I ask clients if they need help 

-the what

Yeah

-You’ll have to tell me about that sometime

#now i have to spend the rest of the day on schoolwork and i am not looking forward to it wooooo #fic: the seelie of kurain #roddy fanfics

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Morose Mononokean II 4 - 7 | Mob Psycho 100 II 4 - 7 | My Roommate is a Cat 4 - 6 | Double Decker! EX 1 | Egao no Daika 5 - 7 | Shield Hero 4 - 6 | Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4 - 6 | Royal Tutor movie

Morose Mononokean II 4

Aw, another little fuzzball to steal away my heart? I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?

For some reason, this episode was meant to be really emotional, but I felt pretty restless while watching it. Probably because I was thinking about playing Merc Storia all that time.

Mob Psycho 100 II 4

Didn’t expect Shinra to be back after his previous appearance…

Notably, you’d expect Matsuo’s name to have the kanji for “pine tree” in it, but it doesn’t - it has the kanji for “demon” and then one more.

I loved it when FLCL and SGRS went into manga mode, but for some reason, the transition into manga mode didn’t land as well here…hmm.

“I’ll go inside her…With an out-of-body experience.” - That sounds majorly wronggggggggggg, Mob, y’know? Even with context.

I find it interesting Mob perceives himself to be naked…as in, unguarded. He’s fine as he is and doesn’t need to change…in some ways, anyway. He could probably do with a few more emotions, but you get what I mean.

Wha-wha-wha-whoaaaaaaaaa. You mean, Mogami just got rid of Mob’s powers??? That is a nasty cliffhanger!

My Roommate is a Cat 4

Just seeing Hiroto near Kawase’s armpit…so unfazed…it’s kinda funny, but only mildly.

Tuxedo cat…ergh. The differences between American and British English never ceases to trip me up…I mean, the term makes sense…it’s just the differences between the types of English I’m annoyed at.

If you observe the OP, you’ll see Haru has that collar…I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a spoiler then…

Haru basically has the mindset of Kaguya and Shirogane, which makes this hilarious (and yet it’s still justified due to being a believable mindset for a stray!).

S-Smug dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the way of Haru-chan!

Shield Hero 4

“Draw your swords!” – Wasn’t there a rule saying Naofumi can’t use a sword anyway? Plus, Motoyasu has a spear, not a sword…

Balloon? Now, that’s funny!

Using magic to intervene is the cowardly action, methinks, Myne.

I find it interesting Naofumi sees Raphtalia as a little girl – it’s a perception of vulnerability, potentially weakness – when things are shown through his perspective.

Falling Through Starlight is beautiful, y’know that? Be-a-uuuuuuuuuuu-t-i-ful!

Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4

Interestingly, Francine kinda looks like Mami (Madoka Magica).

Wait, is this woman Miura? (Sorry, I’m just wondering why Abigail – the blonde evil magical girl – would choose to use yakiniku to threaten people…)

Oh dear…it’s that train question (save one or save many).

Neding authority before you can actually do anything legal…now that sounds like Double Decker.

“Chef”? I was mortified when it came to the rusalka scene…but I think we already know why Povar is a chef…

CQC? Close quarters combat? Ooh, I’ve never heard it abbreviated before.

Well, I like how Povar and Rusalka Man (can’t spell Russian to save my life) always keep their salaries in mind. Makes them easier to see as evil.

Egao no Daika 5

Oh, this series has two moons? Kind of like Double Decker’s two suns, yeah?

I just realised Lily’s the only one with a skirt on her suit…

Morose Mononokean II 5

I don’t think I’ve seen a Fuzzy-centric episode ever since the first time we met the furball…

That hand on neck thing is apparently a CIA technique if I interpreted it right…just, it’s applied to a purple/white lion, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s the real thing…

Fluffy tadpole is best tadpole. All fluffy things are cute to me, even the lethal ones…I guess.

Seriously, if someone doesn’t call the animation of the Executive sakuga, I don’t know sakuga! That crow is some fancy animation!

Hanae’s mother is scarier than most youkai, given she can give me a nasty jump scare!

Mob Psycho II 5

This episode’s called Discord…which maks me think of the chat program of the same name…weird, huh?

Notably, it’s Dimple’s voice coming from Mob’s mouth…hmm.

That episode was real cool…it’s too bad by turning off the volume at the wrong time, I missed the Sajou no Hana song…

My Roommate is a Cat 5

Roku, Nana, Hachi…haha.

I noticed Haru has smaller eyes than Hachi…aside from the collar of course.

Aw…reunion too cute. I honestly think that this show has a fairly effective use of “filling in the gaps”, as it were, and thus making good use of cuts.

Double Decker! EX 1

Yep, we’re back with Double Decker!!! I’m glad to see it back, really.

Wait…ohhhhhhhhh. So Double Decker! doesn’t just refer to the bus in this show or the system. It means “2 Detectives” in Japanese (in a codeswitching sort of way). It was wordplay all along! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now!

This Deana assassin stuff must be a lie…

(after the commercial break) C’mon, Kirill, buddy. You’re drunk, y’know that, right…? Right??? Update: Oh, not drunk, dreaming. My mistake.

Oh, I was just saying that My Roommate is a Cat dos a nice job “filling in gaps”. Didn’t realise Double Decker did it as well. Also, how the heck is Doug unpopular with women???

So…Kirill actually got hired based on his feminine looks? Geesh, that Travis…

The thing I missed about this show was not being able to play the ED after an episode, so I’m glad to have it back!

Spec Ops Asuka 5

Having Kurumi fix up Nozomi’s arm kind of erases the consequences…but that’s what Kurumi’s for, right?

Barber Scissors…? Is this what happens when you take Kill la Kill way too seriously?

Wowee. Din’t think Sacchuu was capable of dealing nasty punches as well.

There’s gotta be some sort of parallel between Abigail and the queen vs Asuka and Kurumi…

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Shield Hero 5

Headbutt to the nuts! Oof!

When it comes to races, the one tune that comes to mind is one from the Dog Island (track 22 from this YouTube playlist).

I swear there was CGI during the race…on Filo.

Please don’t make jokes about Naofumi liking lolis, people. This is not that type of show…

Mononokean 6

Is it just me, or has this epiode been relying on the use of blue speech bubbles for humour more than normal?

It’s Mononokean: Sports Anime edition!

For some reason, I find the name “trashboat” hilarious. It was probably just “ponkotsu” (piece of trash) in practice, but the variation in English is really something to behold…

Ashiya sleeps like an old man, LOL. It must be cosy in that bed…

Moja is just adorable in whatever scene it appears in! Even Moja being dragged down a stream is cute~!

Relaxing your shoulders, huh? That reminds me that that’s a destress technique I haven’t used in a while. My head’s been spinning while I was trying to watch this episode, so I should probably get back to trying to do that stuff…after this episode, of course.

Price of Smiles 6

You think Spec Ops Asuka looks bad? Look at Price of Smiles melt in this “Yuni! You should recover!” scene.

For some reason, this one dude (I forget his name) being a father surprises me. He looks like the type to be single…

The female version of the name “Noel” is Noelle…get that right, people!

Layla’s right when she says one of the main causes of war is the struggle for resources and wealth.

Mob Psycho II 6

I noticed instead of a Mac or something, the computer is a “One” computer.

The board says something a lot more complicated than Saitama’s routine…which means One likes exercise. Maybe…probably.

“Codomo” phone, LOL.

The last time I heard of tofu in anime that I remember…was Boueibu. Something about Ryuu killing a man with tofu.

Somehow it didn’t occur to me until the eyecatch was over but the block…was tofu!

How do you even get drunk when there’s no alcohol in the drink??? (LOL)

Oh! Shinra again!

…Also Jodo Kirin!

Shield Hero 6

Naofumi is giving 0 f**ks about the dressmaker’s love of Filo.

Why is Filo CGI…? It looks unnerving, to be honest with you.

My Roommate is a Cat 6

Eleventh grade…16? 17? Heck, Yugo looks 27, not 17!

Notably, “Comic Polaris” is the name of the magazine that publishes the manga of this. Hence “Novels Polaris”.

Heck, Subaru. In the internet age in particular, people write to affect others. I should know, as someone who did just that just a few years ago!

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine movie

Yay, we’re back! Crunchyroll bringing over movies is definitely increasing my workload for these commentaries, so with all the new things I’ve added to my lists of priorities as of late, I wonder if I can keep up…

Hitting us with CGI in the first minute of the movie…oh man, how far does CGI go these days???

Honestly, in my brain Wagner (Classicaloid) = the twins (this movie) = the Beppus (Boueibu LOVE! LOVE!). They’re very similar in terms of personality…

In the same way, Bruno = Schubert from Classicaloid (but swap one’s Sensei for the other’s Senpai).

Licht = Motz.

It seems like someone liked ponytail!Licht enough to keep him here. So it really wasn’t just me, huh?

Seriously, what’s this “God of War” stuff anyway???

Man, vocal exercises? This takes me back to my piano-playing days…I was a sightreader and only had to do one of the two (out of sightreading and vocal stuff), but there was someone else who had to do both.

This piano is bugging me. Its white keys are black and its black keys are white!

Somehow, Heine’s small top hat suits him. It’s probably because he wears a small beret in that same position usually.

More CGI background characters…*sigh*

Hmm…soft power at its finest(?)

Seriously though, why did that evil Duke guy appear in this movie again??? He has zero use plotwise. Sure, he was important in the first season and if we ever get a second he’ll be important there, but here? Nada!

Have you noticed Heine is in all those dance positions a girl would normally be in??? Hmm! Interesting! But still…if there’s one thing I ever missed from the anime’s experience, it would be-oh, scratch that! This is my cue to watch the cheesy live-action dance ending! I missed it so much!

Egao no Daika 7

Seriously…who is Eins talking to??? Whose emperor???

They still haven’t revealed what this new guy’s name is, even after his introduction…well, technically he was introduced at the River Deese, but we still didn’t learn his name then. (Did we?)

Spec Ops Asuka 6

Is Mia just this show’s version of Kyouko (from Madoka Magica, but American of course)???

Oooooookay, that (with the kissing and stuff) is so not what foreigners are like, people…

Oh, goodness. Have I really been living with this stuff (girl x girl teasing, with Kurumi in particular being one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen) in my magical girl anime for years now? I mean, Suite PreCure is laced with the stuff…

If ordinary rigor mortis business is at work, then I’d say the heater is to speed up the rotting of the corpse…

LOL, there’s Halloween-class…and then there’s Voorhees-class…how appropriate for Disas.

“Only one of the Magical Five would’ve known about that phrase.” – My bets are on Peipei, but we’ll find out for sure…someday.

Mononokean 7

As much as I found the pillow fight scene with Fuzzy in it funny, I swear Abeno is a bit too sadistic for my own good. What is it with some women and their sadistic kinks…?

Abeno calling Ashiya “hunk of junk” makes me think Ashiya isn’t much of a Sousuke (from Classicaloid), but they do have a lot of similar character traits, now that I think of it…hmm.

For some reason, I think Abeno knew the conditions of the deal and what the deal entailed in advance, hence the training camp.

Seiza…means sitting on the floor in the position Ashiya was in (knees to the floor etc).

Mob Psycho II 7

“Cheeseburger Tornado”, LOL.

When Reigen got angry at the TV, I was just like, “It’s Shield Hero (Mob Psycho version)!” I.e. you con the conman and not turn the conned into a conman…or something like that.

Those microphones are so obviously CGI, people…

I know I’m a fan of Yuzuru Tachikawa, but episode 5 actually didn’t do too much for me, to be honest (even though it was visual spectacle, which is Tachikawa’s strong suit). However, while episode 7 looked less punchy overall, it was miles better…

“First-press limited edition? That is the absolute best decision.” – What is that referring to??? Update: It’s referring to the BDs...or DVDs...or both.

Update: Forgot to add Double Decker to the title and tags.

#simulcast commentary #mob psycho 100 #Mob Psycho 100 II #the rising of the shield hero #tate no yuusha no nariagari #Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka #Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka #my roommate is a cat #doukyonin wa hiza tokidoki atama no ue #oushitsu kyoushi haine #the royal tutor #egao no daika #the price of smiles #Chesarka watches Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine #Chesarka watches MP100 #Chesarka watches MGSOA #Chesarka watches Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari #Chesarka watches Doukyonin wa Hiza Tokidoki Atama no Ue. #Chesarka watches Egao no Daika #fukigen na mononokean #the morose mononokean #double decker #Double Decker! Doug and Kirill #Chesarka watches Double Decker!

[terramythos]

My liveblog/commentary on October Daye #11 "The Brightest Fell" or "Friendship ended with Sylvester Torquill. Now SIMON Torquill is my best friend"

God if you told me that's a sentence I'd write when I read book 1 I'd call you fucking insane. We had this whole Cain and Abel thing going and Seanan McGuire had to go be a GOOD WRITER and make them COMPLEX CHARACTERS and shit.

Also featuring a "Resurrect Your Gays" novella at the end so.. that's nice

-Wow, this opens with a story so far section and everything 👀

-who would be like "gee the October daye series sounds interesting. Let's start with book 11"

-omfg The Luidaeg singing Poor Unfortunate Souls. Fucking hell yes.

*stares at my vampire crack theory* *stares at that line* *stares at the camera*

-(To be fair, it does parallel when Simon showed up in book 8, which is probably the actual intent, but uhhh)

-then AGAIN, half the foreshadowing lines in this series had double meanings in context

-Amandine calling Simon "your father" oh oof.

-oh my god Amandine is AWFUL. Jesus christ. Insults everyone in the room then kidnaps 2 people and just strolls out. This puts Tybalt, one of the more OP allies, out of commission for like the whole book lol

-Definitely Impossible Quest: find this character that disappeared over 100 years ago who Simon spent the last century committing misc atrocities to find

-This does lead me to wonder what motivated Amandine to show up suddenly and force October to find August. Is she just unstable/crazy as has been implied, or is it something more?

GOD shes awful!

-So oh boy we are actually waking up Simon! I'm glad we are getting more development for him cause holy crap he's an interesting gray morality character.

-Sylvester using the same binding spell Evening used on October in book 1, but this time to keep Simon from hurting October, sure draws some.. uh.. interesting parallels.

👀

-Amandine shows up again and is just fucking AWFUL. I'm trying to figure out if she has any real sympathetic traits. This is the first book she really shows up as a character out of flashbacks and the trippy shit in book 4.

- "Oh yeah Toby the reason I abused you and twisted your blood human as a kid was I wanted to mourn the daughter who disappeared and then let you die asap" like. Yikes

-Simon, established as an Arch Villain just being an awkward dad (at least toward October) is interesting. I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

-oh hey saving the pixies in book 5 actually set up a Thing in this one. Huh.

-Surprise that random pixie you saved in book 5 is relevant and a full fledged character now.

-The Luidaeg is a sympathetic character and a consistent ally in the series but BOY does she have her moments. Egads. (Quentin, who adores her, was NOT amused. We'll see how that shakes out...)

The Luidaeg just.. resurrecting an extinct race here. No big deal. I'm sure this has zero future implications.

-oh fuck the Babylon Road is back. Oh shit book 3 vibes. Oh shit

-lmao they literally end up in Blind Michael's lands. Just fuck me up

-ok theres a line that basically implies Blind Michael wasn't even that bad of a guy at one point, that he did The Ride with the best of intentions and for the life of me I am trying to figure out what they mean by that

-also intentional parallel between Blind Michael and Simon with the whole "best of intentions" thing.. Simon started as like, the arch villain. And now look where we are. So what is that implying about Blind Michael? 🤔

-I mean Blind Michael is the closest this series has come to a Dark Lord character. He was fucking awful. I'm interested to see if we are going to explore from a different angle?

-Goddamn world tour here showing up in Annwn.

-Oh duchess Riordan.. she's so pleasant. I'm glad we get to see what the fuck she's been up to since being trapped there

-Oh fuck they found Officer Thornton. He is not Well. I remember speculating what we were going to do with that plot thread lol

Are you FUCKING kidding me

-That was book SEVEN. I fucking REMEMBER that part. August was a fucking throwaway background character??? Chekhov's missing sibling?

-And it was intentional because of the door thing! She was described in a weird amount of detail for a background character! What the fuck!

-AAAND we found August. And the first thing she did was attack and basically turn October almost human. Whoops.

-And she doesn't recognize Simon. Her father. Because the Luidaeg's price was her way "home". Which includes Simon. Yikes

-omg Simon's magic finally smells like it does in flashbacks before he got corrupted. Smoke and mulled cider. Maybe I'm kinda sappy but I like that that paralleled the whole redemption arc thing

;____; FUCK dude

-October accidentally makes herself almost entirely human to save Simon. Whoopsie daisy!

FUCK DUDE ;______; full redemption arc shit there I'm gonna cry

-OK so I'm inserting this after finishing the book. And I realize this sounds like a MAJOR "not as much of an asshole as you could have been" award. But Simon had NO reason to treat Toby well. And he certainly did not in the brief glance of him in the book 1 prologue. That's changed by his second appearance (book 8). She's a changeling (always seen as inferior in Fae society) and she's the bastard child of his wife. He has every reason to treat her like shit. Yet he doesn't. He seems to want to be a father figure for her, even though she isn't really his blood related daughter, and this book reinforces that attitude. He even gives up things he wants--on multiple occasions--in order to save October, simply because he wants to. Compare him to his wife, October's actual biological mother, someone who literally created her as an expendable coping mechanism and resents the fact she's still alive? Despite everything he is WAY more of a parent to her. Found family sure is a thing in this series, huh.

-i like how instead of going all emo that she turned basically human October's just like "oh yeah I was raised in a street gang" and beats the absolute SHIT out of August

-Simon: uh excuse me did you just hit my daughter in the back of the head with a CLUB

October: she'll be fine

Well SHIT. The other shoe dropped, but not how I expected it.

-Like Simon genuinely redeemed himself, saving both August AND October despite everything. And he just sacrificed all of it. That was the final price of redemption for him. Yikes. YIKES. Like I knew it wouldn't be that easy, but this SUCKS.

-And this basically states that he wont be back to normal until fucking Oberon returns. I know the series has been leading up to that but... when the fuck. That seems like it would be the endgame.

-this is somehow worse than killing him off. How the fuck.

-August might have some redeeming traits. Shes an asshole but she is genuinely distressed when she realizes what Amandine did to October. Amandine? I'm pretty sure theres nothing to redeem her at this point. Shes fucking terrible.

-Jazz and Tybalt come back.. completely traumatized. Yeah. Ok. This entire last third is just complete despair I guess.

And award for "bleakest ending in the series" goes to...

-i think "The Brightest Fell" is the most fitting title in the series. It works on so many levels and for multiple characters. Especially in the context of the Shakespeare quote.

-i have.. thoughts. I think I'm going to do a compilation of said thoughts when I finish the next book and am officially caught up.

For now, there is also a novella @ the end so I will read that!

-"Of Things Unknown" (the novella) can basically be summarized by:

It's cool to get April's perspective! And some good old fashioned "resurrect your gays" on top of it.

-The Luidaeg: hey toby you know how you brought me back to life? You probably should not have been able to do that. You probably should not make a habit of raising the dead.

Toby: *resurrects like 5 characters who got killed off in book 2*

The Luidaeg: *breaking down the door* What the FUCK did I just say

-I am sure that January (a fucking month name) being resurrected has absolutely no future implications whatsoever :')

-Oh god theres one book left then I'm caught up. At least the novella softened the gut punch that was this book a little bit.

#well THAT was traumatizing #ONE BOOK LEFT BAYBEY #then i'm.. caught up.. cause there's another one coming out this year

[rqs902]

now im watching last week’s ep of tco4 bc i havent had time to get to it yet and i need to take my mind off snzm 

UGH its sad to hear xy, fsc and xiao huang talking about their rankings rip but their laughing makes it even more sad

UGH NOT FRUIT PLANET I REALLY LIKE THEMMMM sigh i gotta face the reality that theyre likely gonna get separated... but PLEASE AT LEAST SOMEONE SAVE XIAO ZHI PLEASE THATS ALL I ASK, im not gonna be greedy :(

oof i respect ma zhe saying that he doesnt want to win bc he recognizes other kids like FRUIT PLANET KIDS, zy and xiao zhi, are so skilled. he knows winning is just a numbers game and would not serve as proof of his skill. thats a tough place to be in, and it isnt uncommon but i think i rarely hear a contestant say it like that. “i dont want to win bc im not worthy” “i dont want to win bc i know im not as talented” 

wow i was a little confused as to why they were doing these solo spotlights but actually this is really nice! its nice to see them really going hard at their strengths and really pouring their all in to show off a bit. it can be hard to do so in a group setting all the time, and really it reminds you that there a lot of really talented musicians among these kids. i think itll also be good to remind the kids who are picking later what the other kids’ skills are and what they’re capable of. 

oh whoa i thought about there only being 2 bassists, i didnt realize there are only 2 pianists too

hm maybe im just biased but i thought xiao li’s playing was a litttleee bit cleaner than szb’s heheh but i respect that they attempted to even play a duet from across the room, thats a challenge 

i respect muji’s playing 

LOL why do xiao huang and zhao ke’s voices singing together sound so strange to me LOL 

LOL switch to ljt’s group and im just !!!!! HIS VOICE !!!! I LOVE LIAO JUNTAO’S VOICEEE and also the cafe vibe is so him LOL this group is so him

wait so someone explain to me why ljt wasnt in the solo section? is he considered a vocal? but what about his guitar skills?? 

im kinda sad jym isnt smiling when drumming anymore :\ 

YAY FRUIT PLANET !! i love how happy xiao zhi and wsh look when playing hahah 

AW talking about xiao zhi being like a dad and 包容 and taking care of them im ughhhh UGH THIS IS A MINI XIAO ZHI FEATURE IM CRYINGGGG THIS CHILD DESERVES THIS “the one who’s left standing when everyone else falls down” hes just so supportive and warm.. ugh watching him break down crying thinking about all he couldve done better and you can tell he feel so guilty and blames himself that fruit planet isnt doing well

HAHAHAHA EVERYONE WANTS XIAO ZHI !!! except szb lol but at least i know if they do get disbanded, hopefully xiao zhi will still be safe :’) im glad they all recognize his talent and the importance of having a bassist!!! 

oof xiao xiong talking about hyt being overbearing and reminding him of his ANGRY DAD thats a big ouch. it is true that xiao xiong’s skill level may not be up to hyt’s standards, but i can see hyt doesnt respect him enough as a team member. the more familiar hyt gets with him, the more he isnt afraid to show his true feelings of frustration. esp bc theyre in such a stressful situation, it must be rough as a leader. also seems rough for xiao li to be stuck in between this. from the beginning hyt has shown himself to have high standards and he demands high quality so he isnt gonna be the soft, encouraging leader xiao xiong probably would prefer, unfortunately. ouch the way hyt straight up says “this is going to be painful” like theres nothing he can do about it and they just have to accept it. like ps says, he’s not good at understanding other people’s feelings, like he doesnt seem to be willing to try to understand xiao xiong’s. 

the way hyt lists what other people are doing and then asks xiao xiong “那你呢?” ouch........ that seems really mean? manipulative? harsh? but at the same time, we dont really know all the context so this is just want tencent wants us to think.

hyt also wants xiao zhi???? I cant imagine xiao zhi in this group, even tho itd probably be good for his possible debuting prospects, but xiao zhi gives me such a laid back, warm, taking care of everyone, creating a nice, supportive environment type of leader, and this group is literally the opposite of that??? ugh and yet, despite their superior group environment, fruit planet is at risk of getting disbanded... so sad. 

man with the way these votes are trending hyt is gonna win and ljt wont debut? :(

lol tencent cutting the speeches of less popular contestants not surprised 

wait wat. isnt qiang ge very popular??? what happened to his votes? wait what. im confused. what???

LOL FRUIT PLANET IS SAFE IM SO RELIEVED HAHAH okay i know i came into this show for ljt but xiao zhi has become one of my picks too, i cant deny anymore LOL and also xiao li -- but hyt’s group’s dynamic makes me feel uncomfortable at the moment. but yea ljt, xiao zhi, xiao li are my top 3... too bad they DEF wont be in the same group / wouldnt mesh well in a group together LOL 

i love fruit planet group dynamic :’) watching them talk to each other just makes me smile

OH MY GOODNESS XIAO LI IS LEAVING?????? i can understand though, this grouping is not ideal from a music making standpoint either, like why are there so many vocalists lol but also i respect that hes putting his music first and he knows what he wants and needs for his music. even if it means leaving hyt who is basically a guarantee for popularity on this show. im so surprised xiao xiong isnt saying he will leave too.. or even hyt himself at this point. theyre all just... crying.... but honestly how can they make music without xiao li??? 

AWH my heart.... xiao li asking xiao xiong “你會恨我嗎?” i have never felt “do you hate me” hit me in the feels like this before. its such an OOF. and xiao xiong saying hes super close to xiao li, you can tell hes been under such emotional duress and xiao li has supported him through and now hes just conflicted between betraying hyt (who he wouldnt be here without) and suffering with hyt without xiao li there to help. this is so sad to watch..... ok but honestly just seeing how in this emotional time, ma zhe and xiao xiong are talking to xiao li and NOT hyt says something about how theyre afraid to touch him. 

what xiao li says about hyt being kidnapped by his popularity makes so much sense, with what hyt said about chasing after his expectations and trying to live up to them. hes really not relaxed. ever. and i think thats what xiao li doesnt want to work with. i respect that he wants to be recognized for his music rather than just be recognized. 

wat is this show doing why did they just stop and let them wallow in their feelings for hours??? wtf?? i mean i appreciate they respect that its a difficult and important decision but shouldnt they make them move on more efficiently?? what a waste of everyone’s time...

lol hyt learning some eq? yes you have to take care of your group members’ feelings, theyre people....

L O L XIAO LI GOING BACK ON HIS DECISION IM DYINGG HAHHAHAHAHHAHA WHAT A WASTE OF EVERYONES TIME HAHAHHAHA WHAT IS THIS SHOW. but okay yes i respect xiao li for having the guts to say he wants to leave, bc that hopefully gave hyt the wake up call he needed. BUT ALSO i do think staying with hyt makes sense career-wise. gaining popularity first isnt a bad thing. and he can always (continue to) prove his worth and make all different types of songs in the future, whether during or after his time with hyt. but staying with hyt = exposure, and thats never a bad thing. its just... hopefully they can resolve their emotional issues from here on out.

technically the smart move is to pick a popular contestant like zhao ke, to boost your group’s popularity overall. BUT hyt is so popular it really doesnt matter LOL 

L O L xiao li being like well i cant get the group i want anyway, so idgaf lets just keep on “戲劇化” HAHAHAHHA he gives no effs anymore

but also i cant imagine them with another non-instrumentalist LOL and what kind of style will they have now? 

ok wait let me go back to look at this:

hm yea the only other person of choice that would be helpful for votes is qiang ge. but i also cant imagine him on fruit planet???? ugh i wonder if qiang ge turned them down bc he feels like he’d ruin them like he blames himself for ruining his past groups. 

i cant believe xiao li said he tried to talk to qiang ge for 3 hours until 6am... to convince him to come to fruit planet? wild. 

UGH so sad that fruit planet didnt get a successful pick but honestly i am kinda glad mty didnt agree bc i kinda really would like to continue seeing xiao zhi play bass..... but ofc i guess it would be nice for him to show other skills too, ah im conflicted. but he really looks so carefree and like hes having so much fun when playing bass, id hate to take that away

LOL BASICALLY SZB CONFESSING TO MUJI HAHAHHAHAHA IS THIS A HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA ALL THE SUDDEN HAHAHHAHA actually i havent seen them interact before but i can kinda see muji’s personality meshing with their group’s, like hes kinda quirky and strange too LOL its cool they do get along tho

OOF SO MANY REJECTIONS. but also muji’s right, last time he wasnt strong enough, so i respect that hes really trying this time. 

omg szb throwing a tantrum and trying to force muji’s hand is not very respectful to muji’s wishes and it makes muji look like a bad guy :( im glad muji’s standing his ground tho, this is not the time to indulge a child’s tantrum lol

on the bright side, i love xiao zhi’s laugh, so at least we got something out of this LOL

LOL xy so easily pulling fsc over LOL why cant they all be like this LOL save tencent editing time LOL 

i knew there were too many emotions on ljt’s team........ i cant believe as soon as szb is like marginally okay, jym is like NOPE....... L O L 

.....i cant believe..... they’re just.... cutting it off...... like this....... WHAT IS THIS SHOW AHHAHAHAH okayyyyyyyyyyyy thennnnnnnn 

oof wasnt 車站 ljt’s last song before elimination? i just got hit with a wave of sadness and memories oof i wasnt ready 

man its so interesting bc i feel like on other shows, the contestants are always like “i dont want to get eliminated!” but here its like “i dont feel like i can fit into their music, id rather be eliminated.” its an interestingly different type of setting. i respect that they respect their own music, but i guess theyre not thinking enough about their future career progression? if they really want to make it in the music industry? idk. its interesting bc i feel like ljt has struggled so hard since getting eliminated from the first season that i assume / hope he has more of a mindset of wanting to make it to the end.

anyway im kinda surprised fruit planet made it so high LOL but yay for them, i really wonder what will happen with them picking their 5th member. im surprised qiang ge’s votes are so low? itll be sad if he really leaves though. ugh only 2 out of 4 groups successfully regrouped and one of them took an extra 2 hours to decide.... lol. i still dont understand why that was allowed in the first place but okay. this is the most struggle elimination ep ive ever seen LOL 

#rants #since when did mrzz get so dramatic??? LOL #also i guess a benefit of being behind on watching is that the next ep literally will air tomorrow so i dont have to wait very long #this is a very dramatic cliffhanger LOL

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars     Episode 16

            The Hidden Enemy

[Title       Sequence]

  Quote

   Okay

“ A planet under siege,”

  Actually shows a planet under siege

   Good job narrator, you’re on      point

   Aight

   Right

 [ unable to defend       themselves any longer,”

     Bull shit

    Those            Are           Adults

       They’ve          been             in           war              for          how          long?

     Point         Being;            No           Excuse

     Yeet

     Call        on          the         Jedi          for      assistance       More         Enablers!

   “Hoping          to         save        lives        and      prevent      further    destruction,”

    They did not assume Account -         ability and        Con-       tin   ��  ued      To       Enable

  It’s      a    nice   design   though

 “And    Anakin   Skywalker,”

  They    dragged       the     teenager       into       this     didn’t      they?

   Nice

 Anakin

  Also     now      it’s    crucial

 “We’re       Set,”

  “ got some guys here     that are set to get going,”

   Ooh

  It’s   better

Than    Openly    Snarking      Anakin

 Now       Just    “ it’s a      little      too     much      tone,”       Back

  There      we      go

 Also   focusing       a lot      on that guy       with     yellow     armor

[Bet he’s the new    hero!]

  Whelp

 Everything’s      Looking      Pretty-      Realistic

  That’s        Dry...

  Also     are    you    right    next     to   each   other   using   walkie-talkies?

Cool

Suspic.

  Okay       Neat

   Whelp

   That’s           A          Lot

 Battalion

   Yeah       that’s         a        lot

   Tanks

    Yep  

    Hope         They          Have       Explosives

    Whelp

   “A little        Closer”

   Shouldn’t         the      superior        be giving      the orders

Like;        Fair if he handed off that         authority        off screen

     Would’ve           been nice          to see         the plan      coming together           though

       Right

      They’re       splitting            up

       Darn          It

       That      screws            up

      Whelp

       The          Fuck?

       Who            didn’t          give            a        warning??

        Like           they            all           just        silently         died??

Whelp-

  That-

    Sounded literal plastic        cans falling over

     Abort         the       mission

     ????          How?

      Is       there         a     second     doorway??

  -What

   Whelp

    Also that some admittedly weak armor

    Like one shot      and those guys go down

  Whelp

    Then again they are supposed to be    cannon fodder

   [or just outwhelm with numbers]

   Aka; The council probably gave     them cheap armor

    Whelp

   Okay

   Dude, you see flashing lights and a bunch of bullshit going     down

     Like you’ve clearly shown the ability to put pieces together

    And they might be going with a different tone-

    Then again-

  Cut off

  Droids onto       Us...

  Whelp...

      Ouch.            .

       Evac       south          tower            - His           tone is a little too innocent

        Good Plan

       South                Tower

        We’re             in            the                  North

       Not             For-

      [Okay           I’m       conflicted           are          they        going          for             Adult            Anakin?          Because          This             Is            Kinda....       New        Taking         the        bite        out         of         the        Darth       Vader       thing,             But          This          is         the         lead          up...

     Point          being;             If       they’re       going        for      adult,       they      really      need        to      lean      more       into       the     snarky   I-know exactly-what-I’m-doing-        tone

   [Even,          Re-assured        tone]

      If not; then more       monotone

      This           is          the         best           of        neither        worlds

    Does    n’t          Work

    Aight,           Lots           Of         Smart         Decisions

  [Except       for      Obi-wan]

    You          have         blasters

      Not          snipers

        How?

       Wait-

        How-?

       They’re 

      Several

        Yards-

          Blasters are       short range weapons                right?

       In every circumstance we’ve seen            they’ve been            short range-

             So-

... He dead?

    Whelp-          Heck-

    Aight

   Cutting’s         a         little       odd

  Un-    satisfactory

  Get-     Over here

    ????

Now     he can throw       stuff

    Obi-Wan           is a           show        off

   There’s         five        but       okay

   Right        the     elevator

   Oh      roof       top

    That’s       smart

     Now         What?

      No          one       guarding         the         elevator

       Or          heard           it          come          up

     (Those         things         make         noise)

      Whelp

       Good            someone              took               cover                   -

             Whelp

              Okay

               Did everyone join this roof top fight?

               Seriously,                       where is that plane/                         Carrier?

                    Whelp

                      There                                 We                            Are

                    Question                       answered

                     Aight

                    Seriously

                     What                          are                       those                        blasters?

                       I thought they were some high heated sparks that could causes bruises and dents, to the armor, breaking it down

                      But dude reacts like he got hit by a                          one-shot cannonball?

                       Like, why-

                      Anyway...

                   They escape

                    Dude, taking a                        souvenir

                      Seriously,                            that’s sus

                       [Oof]

                       Anyway..

                       [Holy sh*t                            the red!]

                          Maybe                             this tactical droid                            will help

                            You’re                                 sus

How   they   knew   our   plan

????

Has this happened   multiple   times?

That     seems like a pretty big jump?

 Like ‘oh they happen to take a different     path and stumble up the stairs,   traitor- I’m go-”

Seriously

Night

Base

Why

The editing   is   weird

Progression-

Whelp,     that     happened

...

Just   doesn’t    make   sense

That    they    saw   you     and    

reacted accordingly

Like,     what are we supposed to find   sus   here?

Missing    a bit         of   crucial   information

 How     we     got   here

 Ow

How?

Future      Tech

Rt-D2

“Least-”

  Again     -How

“They     had      all     our    Intel,”

We   saw   only   one    line     of      it     that   can      be   gleaned     from     basic   observation

  Please   enlighten      us

 Ambush

Vulnerable

 They   walked     up      a     flight     of    stairs

You   know   what   would’ve   worked   better?

Troop       Movement        Charts

   That      would’ve       worked         a lot better        with the dialogue        going on here

  And       what just happened

Here....       They kinda look like      Over paranoid idiots      for no reason

  I don’t think we did

 .... it was a flight     of stairs

  Infiltrated       our      defenses

 Up      a         flight          of          stairs

    Possibly

Dude     not possibly         you were ready to jump on this idea

   OK so this is a Obi-Wan-and- Anakin-are-overly-paranoid-and-actually stumbled-across-some-thing                                         Mission

Okay    those are fine,        Just      would’ve     liked a few more      context clues

   Exclud      -ing       the       title

    Getting          right        into        the        murder       mystery

   “Intel.”            STAIRS           ....

    Seps

  ‘Who want to betray the      guys who enabled      our           Abuse....”

   Enemy        Lines

    This is       really       corny

  Breaking       out       the    disguises

  Aight

 What....

 Anyone...

   Two       Clones

   Like they do have top security clearance           if we’re going with the Obi-wan’s     paranoid logic

   Cody      didn’t say anything...

    Whelp

   Beeping

    Whelp         Shit

   Why...        did      you     run?

  What kind of run is that...     Rex?

  Follow

   What?

   Also,       teamwork?

   Rex         Has         A         Gun

    Wait,       you’re        going          to       shoot          him??

    Please- tell me that’s a     stun gun

    Whelp,          How?

       That            Face

     Must’ve          gone          in the          mess           hall

Aight

   We’ve       got        a      big    problem

  Did   anyone   switch   into   armor

Also,     ‘ hey     did  someone     come    through     here?’

  You’re        the     superiors

   No     one‘s    going       to    question       a  reprimand      on    conduct

   Oh that you’re going to question      someone you don’t know the name of

  Like,    there’s     five     guys      here

(Maybe      More)

   And     you’re     acting       like         a       basic         “hey       what’s             up,         how’s          it      going        is      going         to      trigger         a       spy     sense,

 Like, there     is some protocol on       running        in       the      hall      right?

    Like,     seems        easy       enough

   Brothers

    Weakest       relation        in         all         the           relations

       Also dude was wearing            A gray uniform

     Did you just think he was the   custodian?

     One           Of           Us

      Did you just leave the cafeteria without....

     Rex & Cody suck at being detectives

    Also what’s his voice just did a      maniacal        there

     Like,         What?!

    We’ll have to wait for his next move....

   What is with the logic.....

   This is supposed to be a murder mystery.... but the logic  is the weakest         part

    “Jedi,”

   We found nothing       master Jedi

      [we did toss away a     lead though]

   .....

    What?

  Real discrete

    Okay

    Smart droid

     .....

     No

  Rex and Cody are the worlds worst       detectives

   Rex    Specifically

   But he was always the     instigator         of       bad         ideas

   R2D2...          Is the     spy

Whelp

...Aight

 Slick

 Aight

Whelp

 ..It was a building..

Aight...

  Whelp

   Whelp

 Time to have cookies and tea with the   separatist leader

No,       No      Way

  Assumed     authority

  Whelp

   Two        of      them       have       hair

[excluding    Slick]

  Who’s     name       is     slick

  What

   It’s       Him 

   ...

Okay     now     they      all     have     hair

Bullshit    Animators

  Two       of     those     guys      were      very    clearly    bald

  Dude    Went         To        Crate-

  In-consistency

   The third guy came out of nowhere

     And it wasn’t Slick

     Seriously my eyes on fifth guy

      He can appear out of thin            air

     Nice

   Whelp

 Stabbed

   Okay

 Ventress   Seriously,       did the cloak      conceal that much?

Unpleasant

  Obi-won, stop flirting

  Sorry

  Obi-won

   Seriously,         What is with     this scene?

  I’m      as       Ace       as        it      can        get

   (And not interested in my commentary becoming       *that*)

    And       this      scene        is     clearly        ship

   Like,      should     Anakin       go       to         a     different       room?

 [again I’m not trying to make it]

       Okay back to the clones

        [Thank God]

         What-

        Dear frick

     [i’m not sure which was       worse]

          Fuck

    Also, Machine Gu-

     Nope

      - -

    Are the     innuendos         - -        Going          to         end?

    I’m      trying        to be a relatively      serious      reviewer

    And.... sex jokes are not my   style

  Eer-

  Right         Away       

   Sket

    Dear          frick         His       name          is       literally       Sketch

    Else

    There were-    there was one dude

    Also-  why didn’t you ask when you were in the       mess?

   We          Will

    It’s       Slick

“ I     got   nothing      to       hide ,”

  Yeah,       he      does

    Med       Droids

   Aight

 Chopper

  Seriously being last must   suck

Already throwing     sus

*Up

Chopper       doesn’t have hair!

Oh, good   done with the flirting

   My       Loyal     Informant

  Gosh     dammit   Obi-won

Anakin,        Just      wants         it     over

  Whelp

Obi-wan      doesn’t     wanna       help

   Nice  

   Cool

   Don’t   shame      the      man       for       his     hobbies      (Except        for        the      enabling         of        war        part)

    Aight

    Whelp

     What

     Geez

      Like

       That’s like       collecting metal from a        training exercise

     What??

    Didn’t Cody take a          feckin head

     Seriously,      dysfunctional      is a bit strong

    Fuck

   He was doing        arts and crafts

 At least   he fessed up

  Forbidden?

   Seriously

    What          About          Rex?

      Oh whoever took the         fecking head??

    I’m no spy

    Ack

    Now         Obi-won’s    helping

   Chopper

Slick’s    Projecting

Okay

Tell     where     you     want

 Good       Job

   Saw         You

   Whelp

   Sergeant

   Freudian         Slip

   They         Have        Missions?

   I       Mean

   Name’s        literally          Slick         (Honestly        I would’ve gone          with one          of the two            “Higher                     Ups              Here;                 Would’ve                  Gone              for               a            better             twist/               Fore           shadow-ed              the             turn            (Discontent)                Ment;                This                is            just           some         random           guy

Still      servicable

 They     really   pulled      off      the   manipulator;        Wished       they        showed      this        side          of       the      enabler’s     more

   He         Won  

   Poor        Dude

   Heck          Stalling

 Seriously     what is the plan here?

 To capture her

  To...

 Get     hit      with     the    book

 Whelp

  He   should       be   long   gone

His   shelter,     is on the other side

He’s   already   got   a   Headstart 

So,     the gun ship.   is   pretty pointless

Ha     Trap

But did they just not use their     eyes?

They were right behind     him

Did....they just se. something     in the opposite direction     and   was like   ‘yeah that’s fine’

Cause     Geez

Rex       &     Cody

Ace       Detectives    Of    Freakin      None

Whelp

I thought it was just-       A Signal lure     Nope       Was     an   actual   bomb       ...      Whelp

Okay,          ... Heck

How   fast   was   fecking   slim?

Because there’s no way   no one noticed   Bombs just sitting there      ....

Like    What...

Whelp

Damn    Slim...

Take     out     the   kitchen      sink     too?

  The     Usain       Bolt,          Of      Clones

   “He        took        out      our      weapons       depot,”

  Yeah..     

   One          Dude

   What       was        he      eating?

   Pure        Sugar?

  Whelp

   That      Sucked

   He’s      not     trying         to     escape

    You         sure?

    Pretty        sure          he       could          do         both..

    [Okay,        that’s       enough        jokes          about         his       speed,           He’s           a         fast            boi]

Make     Them

You’re   terrible   superiors

[Like   everyone      is      but      you     specifically]

“Give up Ventress,”

“ i’m all yours      Obi-Wan,”

 SERIOUSLY!

    Whelp,         Clever

  “You’ve served your purpose.]

[Can      the    innuendos      stop     please?]

    Also         what        was        the       plan       here?

    Why?

    How?

   How         do      you     know     that?

   How       do        they        know      about      that??

    What??

    What’s           the        plan,         master?

     He          spent          the           entire             time,                      flirting

      Like I’m pretty convinced there was no plan

  “My sweet,”

    You           Don’t have anything to bargain  with

    “Estimated”

   Dude, how

   You       are      literally          in         a       hole

    Hop

    Well         that         was         easy

     Cool

     “Boys”

       Err-

      (How          old         is       Anakin        again?)

       Old         enough              to     supposedly           be         groomed

      (So           Under...)

        Ew,                Just             Ew

      (Despite                 The              (Adult)         Dialogue...)

        Friends...

        Seriously

         Poor            Obi-wan...

        Aight

        “Take             Control...”

           Okay,                 I’m sorry,                my heads                 in the               gutter

             (Not by                choice!)

               Also,                  Seriously?

               You                 burned-                    like                    five                 things?

                 Sucks,                      not                    really                      world                   -ending

                  How did we get this guy??

            Seriously?

         I don’t know

      Was he the test subject for some like     speed serum?

        Slick           ran           into           the      command           center

        Why?

        Also            he’s         probably           gone

       (Boi            is           fast)

       Whelp

         That            things               tilting?                How            much            does             she-

         Okay,              Whatever

          You’re               on               that

           Whelp

            Jumping                   is                    a                        good                    idea

                 Off

                Aight

               Prepare                       to                   march                      on                       the                        city

                     Geez

                        Is                            it                           that                            dude

                             Is                                this                                  an                                  origin-                                      [I                                   don’t                                   like                                     the                                   movie;                                   nothing                                     can                                     save                                       it]

                                Delay                                    the                                     Jedi                                     ...                                     Yes                                mistress

                            Aight

                            Right

                             Heck                                     is                                 the                             octopus                               thing

      He’s   probably      gone

  Whelp

   Lock         Down

    Aight

     Shit          Sun

    Aight

A   Bunch      of   bullshit     but     cool

   I’m      not      the     traitor      you        are

   He’s      got       a     point

  Also,     see      he    could    totally    kick     his     ass      he     did         it    before

   He        HAS          A       Point

Suffering

 -Err

 Brothers

 Seriously,       Weakest        relation        ever

     Of

   Freedom

     HE      HAS            A           Point

      (A         Garbled              One]

   Bull- shit

      He sustained a lot less         hits than either of those        two

    What

    Dicks

   Seriously it seems mostly intentional     but they really are just such      dicks

  (Anakin        -What         the         frick)

      HE        HAS          A       POINT!

    Bidding

     Whim

  [seriously        why         is      Anakin        the        more...]

     I      love       my     brothers

   Dick

    ?

  Good       For       Him

     ?

     ?

     -

     -

    Oof

    Now the plans don’t really make sense

    Mainly just a rushed framing device             For the       mystery

      If you focus on that          it’s pretty good

      But the villain really         saves it

     It’s honestly     heart-wrenching

    You        really       do        feel       for       the       guy

    But         shit situation and all            (And it is a shit situation          grooming and all)      That         that        energy      should          only           be       pointed          at         the      abuser                 (And     subsequent       enablers)           And      getting         out          of         that         shit       situation

      For           your        own       benefit        and        for       others

    Including         your         own      generation          (Even          the        enablers,              Who          will             their           dues               on            case              by            case            basis)               Of        Accountability                   And                Both              You                And               They                 Deserve             better              than                  to                live                with                  an               enabler

                As                    for                     the                    future                  generation,                          Do it right                        and                     they’ll                     know                       all                      they                         have                        to                        be                      thankful                         for,                     without a word,                     personally

                    The                       way                         it                      should                        be