#i know the original meme the kid is holding a bow and like the do use bow and arrows but i felt like harpoons were more relevant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

baggebythesea · 3 years

Note

In a peacetime modern AU of SPOP where the characters are fans of a show similar to our SPOP, how would they engage in fandom? For example: Who would ship whom? Who would write fic or draw art? Who would write or draw smut?? Who would have a wall of theories with evidence connected by a web of threads? Who would do their own thing shipping a rare pair and who would be a card carrying popular ship shipper? Who would strongly empathise with their parallel character and who would just not get them at all? Would anyone cosplay? Which older adult would shock the young'uns by saying 'Well I wouldn't say no...' as they sip their tea from the doorway? (Obviously answer as much or as little as you like!)

Ooooh! Great ask.

Glimmer declares the show the best thing ever (because it's pink and princessy and kicks ass), and the best friend squad watches it religiously. Adora doesn't really get what the big deal with shipping is supposed to be, but she think it's neat that Netossa and Spinnerella is a couple. Lowkey ships Glimmer with Bow because she likes the idea of childhood friends falling in love with each other. Also, she really likes it when the title character gets a horse. Hangs out a lot in fandom space but doesn't really produce content, at least until Bow and Glimmer manages to talk her into writing down some of her many, many theories of how the show will turn out and just what the logistics network through the whispering woods are supposed to look like. She secretly worries when one of her posts don't get as much attention as the last one.

Bow is just hung up on poor Catra and want for her to get some love. Mostly he cheers on Scorpia, but he would ship Catra with Adora or even Double Trouble in desperation for someone to take the cat away from the hole she spend most of the series in. He takes up sewing and makes a point of cosplaying every single princess. Comments on everyone's fanfic and likes everyone's posts.

Glimmer sees a bit of herself in Catra (because she too knows the pain of having a mother who doesn't understand her). She totally ships the cat-girl with the glitter princess and writes really messed up fanfics about them. So much passion. So much delicious, delicious self-destruction. Practically drools at the end of season 4 and all the angst that goes down there. She regularly asks Bow to beta read and traumatises him badly. Gets into fan-fights on social media about stupid shit. Cosplays Catra on a con and makes out with a Glimmer cosplayer.

Angella vaguely recalls the first show from when she was young and earns some much needed mom-points with Glimmer when she digs up a mint condition original She-Ra+Swift Wind toy from a carefully labelled box in the basement. She ships Glimmer with Bow because she really likes that boy. Micah used to watch the show as a kid and had a bit of a crush on the original She-Ra. Ships Bow with Sea Hawk and cheerfully fills the hashtag #SeaBow with memes at least a decade out of fashion. Mortifies his daughter when he take them to a con and insists on cosplaying as Hordak. Ends up in the bar together with George and Lance and sings karaoke to My Little Pony-songs.

George and Lance don't really get the show but are happy to take the kids to con. Cosplays as characters from old Belgian comics.

Catra thinks the show is silly (and watches every episode passionately. Shut up. Just humouring Scorpia, is all). She thinks the Catra character in the show is a wimp, but ships her with Double Trouble because she likes it when villains get their way. Draws really good fanart. A bit of a troll on social media because its so fun to rile up people like Glimmer.

Scorpia ships Catra and Adora and cries just as much as Bow in the First One's Temple part of season 1. She is completely floored by the large, femme and kinda clumsy Scorpia character hooking up with the beautiful, beautiful Perfuma because... um... Writes really bad but 100% heartfelt self insert fanfics. Draws stick figures of Perfuma and Scorpia holding hands. Reads and re-reads her favourite fanfics until her eyes are red from crying and in the end leaves a shy little "it was good"-comment for the last chapter. Tries to work up the courage to go to a con and talk to other fans. Wants to cosplay but has too bad self esteem.

Entrapta thinks the robots are unscientific for reasons she is happy to write hundreds of blog posts about. Ships Darla with the Velvet Glove (the word 'docking' is used extensively). Considers Hordak a total hottie and draws really - and I mean really - explicit fan art. Spends her first convention on the parking lot trying to fix her Emily cosplay.

Lonnie rage-quits watching the show the moment Adora leaves the Horde but thinks Adora and Mermista should just do it already.

Kyle ships Bow with an OC named Lyle who everyone likes and no one makes fun of. Has written a ten chapter fanfic which no one has commented.

Rogelio ships Tung Lashor with Sea Hawk. His fanart can melt through steel.

Sea Hawk ships EVERYONE with Merm-iiiiiiiiiista. Runs ten different fan-events simultaneously. Mermista just ships Adora with Lonnie or whatever. They do duo-cosplay on cons, much to Mermista's embarrassment.

Perfuma ships Entrapta with Hordak, writes post after post exploring their psychosocial dynamic and is downright gleeful when it becomes canon. Spends the cons friend-momming on the rest of the group and makes sure they are all hydrated.

Frosta thinks shipping is stupid and want to see more of princesses teaming up and beating the shit out of the bad guys with the power of friendship. Also has a really detailed backstory for her OC. Only ask if you have plenty of time. Has a pretty good Glimmer cosplay.

Huntara ships Juliette with Castaspella and writes surprisingly sweet fics about them crushing on each other. Keeps order on social media.

Castaspella ships Shadow Weaver with Angella and writes fanfic that could easily be published as high class erotica. She's a really good commentor on other people's fics, giving tons of support and little constructive hints where she feels it might be well received.

Juliette has better things to do than watching a children's cartoon, but she does enjoy some of Castaspella's stories.

Spinnerella ships Catra and Adora and is just so proud when it turns out to be canon. Tells everyone who wants to listen how little representation was available in her first fandom and how far things have come.

Netossa ships Adora and Mermista and draws really hot fanart of them making out in gym showers and the like. Prefers modern aus and couldn't care less about canon as long as it gives her hot characters to play with.

Shadow Weaver doesn't ship anyone because no one is worthy of the love of Adora who is the only worthwhile character. Writes a 40+ chapter story about a badly out-of-character Adora who takes over the Horde and laughs at her enemies from the throne. Is enraged when people dare having the wrong opinion about things but can't tell them so because she feels social media is beneath her. Secretly reads Castaspella's fanfic.

Horde Prime ships Horde Prime with Shadow Weaver. She is written completely out of character in a rather insulting and sexist way. Completely insufferable on social media and insist on everyone signing up to his headcanon.

Hordak says he doesn't ship anyone because romance is silly. Cries over Adora's redemption arc when he thinks no one watches and ships her with Glimmer because he just wants to the poor, rejected Horde soldier lost in a strange land she doesn't understand to get some love and kindness.

Wrong Hordak ships Scorpia with Perfuma because love finds a way. Draws the purest fluff you'll ever see.

Double Trouble trolls social media at every turn and gleefully ships the most messed up shit they can think of. Shadow Weaver and Perfuma, Catra and Sea Hawk, Angella and Hordak, Horde Prime and Swift Wind... Also ships the characters they deem to have most dramatic potential to derail the story such as Entrapta and Hordak, Glimmer and Catra, Glimmer and Double Trouble... kinda has a low key crush on the sparkly character but denies it if anyone asks. Really good at cosplay and runs a tutorial at the cons.

Swift Wind thinks there are too few horse characters. Ships Swift Wind with Rainbow Dash.

Light Hope only ships canon pairings because by definition canon is the only thing that is valid. Writes long, convoluted predictions that she updates after every episode. She gets an existential crisis when her predictions don't pan out in canon.

Mara ships Adora and Glimmer. Still gets hot and fussy every time she thinks of the s1 hot spring scene. Wants the hardworking perfectionist to get love.

Razz write novel length stories where she ship a character mentioned in passing in an unpublished Dickens novel with her old middle school math teacher. No one has any idea what she is going on about or why she posts it in the she-ra tag, but her stories are good and she's a complete delight at cons, so she's welcome in the fandom.

#spop #asks

47 notes · View notes

honeysucklepink · 3 years

Text

A Very Darren Crissmas... my full review

So I have listened to the entire album four times now, and yes that includes the song I swore I'd skip. I recognized some songs, others I had to look up for the composers, and I think I am ready to make a full assessment, track-by-track. Note, I haven't received my CD yet and there may be liner notes that can give me further insight, but for now this is just me and the audio. Without further ado...

1. Happy Holidays/The Holiday Season I mean, I've already listened to this one plenty because this was the first single and the one we got with the pre-order. It's a great classic bop, a Michael Buble, big band jazz number, that would fit comfortably in the background of a luxury car ad featuring a sedan with a giant red bow in a snowy driveway. Great way to open the album, yet doesn't really prepare you for what's next. Which considering the self-professed genre-phile Darren is...it fits.

2. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas I don't quite know how to describe this one, just that I really, really dig it? It's got sort a groove to it, an alternative indie swag, that makes it sound way different than the traditional kids version.

3. (Everybody's Waiting for) The Man With the Bag The version I'm mainly familiar with is by Kay Starr, from a compilation of Christmas jazz songs I got from Pier One about 20-25 years ago (fun fact, that album gave me my first version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" from Dean Martin). I encourage you to give it a listen. I really enjoyed this cover from Darren and I do love to hear Adam Lambert's jazz voice, which he doesn't utilize often. I still don't like spoken word intros...they just always sound fake and cringey to me...and this is not one that surpasses the Kay Starr version, but I still really like it. Love it when Darren can riff off someone!

4. St. Patrick's Day When I saw this on the track listing, I blanked out... "huh?" Well, Darren is half-Irish after all. It totally slipped my mind that this was a John Mayer song, much less off his Room for Squares album, one of my favorites. But yeah, it's been a while since I've listened and I think the pandemic has done a number on all our memories. When I heard the opening chords it smacked me upside the head and I went "SHUT! UP!" And then the song went on and to quote Angelica Schuyler, I realized three fundamental truths at the exact same time: 1) in spite of the title this really is a Christmas song, in the same vein that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, 2) Nashville has the finest session musicians in all the land, and 3) I need Darren to cover all of John Mayer's songs.

5. River So, after the wonder and amazement of the previous track, I see that "River" is next, and we all know the original Joni Mitchell version, the Sarah McLachlan version (which was my introduction to the song, courtesy of an ER episode), and of course for us Gleeks, the Rachel Berry version. So when I say that my response to the opening horns and chimes out of a Ronnie Spector number was a combo of the memes of "blonde woman staring into space confusedly as mathematical equations float around her head" and "angry Karen ripping down her curtains," not to mention I was DRIVING at the time, I'm sure there were many concerned drivers wondering why this woman was screaming WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? and afraid I would skid off the road. "River" is full of heartache, and melancholy, and loss, and you turned it into a 60's mod bop? I sat there, trying to keep the car on the road, thinking it has to, HAS to get better. I was sitting through it like the 15 minutes you have to wait after a Covid shot, like driving past where a skunk was run over, like holding your breath after someone farts on the elevator. And it ended with a weird Warblers-does-the-Beach-Boys finish.

This makes it sound like the worst thing ever. Well, it's not. Not like Will Schuester leading a bunch of teenagers singing "Blurred Lines." But I've listened to it each time since, knowing what's coming, approaching it in a different light. But honestly? It still doesn't really work for me. I can ignore the lyrics, but even then, the melancholy I spoke of is right there in the melody and the key. I won't skip it, but I'll turn it down and engage in family conversation more when this track is on.

6. Welcome Home I did not recognize this song when I first heard it, and it took me a while to research it, but I see it has special significance to Darren! "Welcome Home" is from the 1954 Broadway musical Fanny, which in 1997 was produced by 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco and was his first professional role. The song has about as much to do with Christmas as "My Favorite Things," but since a recurring theme around the holidays is one of homecoming and reunion, the song actually fits. I was wondering why he was singing to the floor and the lamp and the chair, but I'm guessing it makes more sense in the musical.

7. All Those Christmas Cliches Another song that's new to me, maybe not to you, but I can relate. As he points out, he's spent Christmas in a lot of unconventional locations, but sometimes craves the conventional, Hallmark-card traditions. I've lived in the South all my life. I think I have literally had TWO white Christmases in all my life, and in both cases most of the snow had melted off by the afternoon.The last several years, thanks to climate change, has been short sleeve and flip flop weather, but even before that, we sang songs containing snow with more than a hint of irony. And to be honest it goes past that. Ever had a Christmas where your family decides "hey, let's do gumbo instead! Or spaghetti!" and all you want is turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and fruitcake? Okay, I've gone on a tangent... back to the song, which is swinging and fun and everything you want in a Christmas song AND season.

8. The Christmas Song This was the song I was really excited about. It's one of my two all time favorite Christmas songs, and the Nat King Cole version is a classic (adding this other video because the animation is cute and made me cry). I do have a warm spot in my heart for Kris Allen's cover and the Vince Guaraldi Trio version from A Charlie Brown Christmas. But after the debacle of "River," was Darren about to disappoint me again? Very happily and relievedly, he did not. This version is gorgeous, the guitar is warm, the strings as they come in feel like an embrace, the vocals are lovely. This is sitting by the fire with warm cider and snuggled with the person you love, and is now in my top three (sorry, Kris).

9. Somewhere In My Memory Okay, confession time. I don't think I've ever seen Home Alone all the way through. I know, it was the biggest movie that year but to be fair, I've still never seen Titanic and only just saw The Princess Bride two years ago. Yet as this song played I sat there thinking "this is totally from a movie, probably a 90s movie," and I was right. The incomparable King of Movie Scores, John Williams composed this, and I'm betting Darren and guest vocalist Evan Rachel Wood, as middle Millennials, were heavily influenced by Home Alone as a childhood movie the way us Gen Xers hold Rankin-Bass specials in our hearts. Their voices are sweet and lovely and blend nicely together. While I don't have the same emotional connection to the film or the song, you can hear the connection they have. Somewhere in their memories, I'm guessing *wink*.

10. Drunk On Christmas I know Darren can sing country because I've heard him cover Tim McGraw. And I will forever be sour that Glee didn't do more country in general (oh the Blam duets we could have had with a little twang to them). I absolutely LOVE this song! Darren wrote a great one that could easily have been on country radio (in my DJing days, before 9/11 ushered in the awful jingoist "bro country" era). Who knows, it could still be on the playlist when the radio stations switch over to holiday playlists after Thanksgiving. Now the one thing some may complain about is that he's not truly front and center on the song. That honor goes to Lainey Wilson (I'm a terrible country music fan because I'm not familiar with her work). But she's just awesome and she and Darren's chemistry is as sweet as hot cocoa spiked with schnapps. I will definitely be playing this alongside Dolly Parton's "Hard Candy Christmas," Willie Nelson's "Pretty Paper," and Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family" this season.

11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas This was the other one I was excited about, just not quite as much as "The Christmas Song" only because we've heard him do a little of this song, albeit as Blaine. This is my other favorite Christmas song. My favorite version is from Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders, with an honorable mention to John Denver and the Muppets. I'm adding Darren's version to the pantheon. This is simple, classic, just him and the guitar. It's all the song really needs. And thank you Darren for keeping "we'll have to muddle through somehow," from when Judy Garland sung it in Meet Me in St. Louis, because the whole point of the song is the hope that it will be merry, even through hard circumstances (see: my review of "New Year").

12. New Year Another song I was unfamiliar with, written by Regina Spektor, I'll cut to it... this made me cry. I don't think this was the reason he covered it, but I couldn't help but think of his mom, and how last year was the first without her husband, Darren and Chuck's dad. The second time I heard it I was in the car with my Mom, after visiting Dad at the skilled nursing unit, wondering if he'll be home for the holidays or ever again. I tried to keep the tears back for her. The third I was driving back to my house, and thinking of all the needless loss over the last two years, how many people's new years will be like that. Trying to think of the good things brought to us and not the things and people taken away. Even when you hear of the roar across the island from Times Square, you also think of the bells, pots and pans that would ring out as tributes to the medical personnel and essential workers at the start of the pandemic. "She sets her alarm" could easily be a doc or nurse, not wanting to miss the NYE countdown but also exhausted from another shift. Every year feels worse, and yet we go into every new one hoping it will be better. The eternal foolish optimist in all of us. I can't imagine a better way for Darren to close out a holiday album released in 2021.

Overall This is a solid holiday album, one that as Darren described is very him, and while yes I pray for the day we get a full album of all his own music not tied to a holiday, this at least has some tracks that span the year, and I look forward to having this in my regular rotation along with my Christmas music from John Denver and the Muppets, Charlie Brown, Emmitt Otter, Glee, A Very Special Christmas, and others.

#darren criss #a very darren crissmas #album review #christmas music #holiday music #added a BUNCH of links #figured I'd share OGs and favorite covers

13 notes · View notes

phoenixdnasty · 4 years

Text

The Problem with Season Five

this is already going to have a lot of you in the replies yelling at me. obviously, massive SPOILERS for s5 of she ra and the princesses of power if you haven't already seen it.

okay, so She Ra is definitely a kids' show, but it has a lot of themes aimed towards an older audience: abuse, war, found family, destiny and knowing who you are. I loved She Ra because it made me feel empowered, made me feel seen. after this last season, however, I don't feel the same. I will, however, talk about what it did well.

What She-Ra s5 did RIGHT

I very much enjoyed seeing the character development for most characters come to the forefront here. For example, SW returned to her original motivations. When she lived in Mystacor with the other sorcerers, her thirst for power was borne of a desire to fight the Horde. When she was rejected, then she chose to do what she did. We see a return to that in s5, where she takes a stand against Prime by enlisting Castaspella to stop her if she tries to take any power for herself. She ends up just wanting to help, to do what she can, which was excellent. Glimmer, Bow and a bunch of other characters are given some love here as well. I especially enjoyed seeing Bow and Mermista take on leadership positions in the absence of Adora; it was an excellent look into another facet of their personalities.

Character interactions in non-serious moments were, for the most part, good. Swift Wind and Scorpia being bros was not something I knew I needed but something I want more of. Netossa basically being Batman and knowing the weaknesses of everyone around her was great and an iconic scene. Bow thinking Catra was super adorable was also an excellent moment in the season and I could watch 9 more seasons worth of that. Something that surprised me was Entrapta's "not good with people"-ness being talked about and addressed by the other characters and explained by her; I wasn't sure if that was ever gonna be talked about in the show.

Side note: thank you Crew-Ra for giving Scorpia her own musical number, it was great.

Prime was also a fascinating enemy. He's this sort of religious figure, this world destroyer who's been around for seemingly centuries, maybe much longer. He's cold, calm and calculated. I've seen it pointed out that he's everything Hordak is not. He's manipulative, knows body language and facial expressions, and has a perfect grasp on how to get exactly what we wants. My favorite aspect of this season was the hive mind control. This was a very interesting plotline to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed HiveMind!Catra as well as Wrong Hordak. I loved the idea of pitting allies against each other and the angst and emotional weight that carried.

Going to use that point to segue into one of this season's strengths: Netossa and Spinnerella. Wow! We get a chance to see what a healthy queer/wlw relationship looks like, and two background characters get major upgrades in relevance. Two diversity points for one being a big girl and for the couple being interracial (in our world anyway), but diversity is the norm is SPOP and we might have to stan forever. It was extremely heartwarming and resulted in one of my favorite scenes to ever show up in animated media (one which I'll be stealing to add to my vows if I ever get married):

It was beautiful and I will absolutely never shut up about it.

There were some beautiful moments this season!! Absolutely gorgeous. A highlight for me cinematically was episode 5, which will probably bother some people when I say what I will below. I will be honest, the new transformation sequence and the scene of Adora holding Catra as She-Ra was powerful and had my heart pounding with excitement. It was awesome.

On the other hand...

What She-Ra s5 did WRONG

I'm going to break my issues with the final season down one by one, starting with the narrative of abuse.

From the very beginning, abuse is the most prevalent theme in the show. Prime (HP) abuses Hordak, Hordak abuses SW, SW abuses both Adora and Catra, and Catra abuses Adora. I liked the Crew-Ra tackling this issue. Abused people abuse people, right?

Why was everyone redeemed in s5? (Well, except for Prime, he was blasted away by She-Ra.) Hordak was given a blank slate to start over, even though he was the reason Etheria was war torn for at least a few decades; SW was given a hero's sacrifice, where at the end of her life she finally decides to do some good; and Catra is immediately forgiven for doing one good thing and all trust in placed in her simultaneously.

Hordak and H. Prime as abusers are pretty cut and dry; at no point are they ever remorseful for their actions, except for Hordak in the case of being abusive to Entrapta. SW is much more of an interesting character to analyze, because her motivations are geared directly towards herself. This seems to change in the final season, when she returns to her original motivations from back when she was in Mystacor. Defending her home. In her pursuit of the power needed to defend Etheria from the Horde, she fell into darkness. She began to abuse Adora and Catra.

One could argue that the hero's sacrifice she was given for redemption was unneeded. SW was an individual addicted to power. She was manipulative, using fake affection as a means to control. She didn't deserve a redemption. The only evidence we have of this supposed change of heart is a line to Castaspella: "...and stop me if I try to take the power for myself." Okay... so, SW, um... what changed your mind? Was it Micah? Because at no point has he forgiven you. In fact, there should've been much more hostility between the two of you (which is a point I'll address in a moment). In all honesty, the relationship between SW and Micah reminds me of what should've happened between Catra and Glimmer, or Catra and Scorpia.

And Catra... My problem with her story is that she was kinda just... forgiven? instantly. no repercussions, no long talks about feelings, no... consequences. Catra got the girl and that was it. A small list of things she did over 4 seasons, in no certain order:

Scratched what was implied were scarring marks down Adora's back

Was the cause of Angella's "death" #angelladeservedbetter

Kidnapped both Glimmer and Bow

Opened a world-ending portal all to ensure Adora failed

Also pushed Adora into what looked like an abyss

Verbally abused Scorpia into leaving

Wanted to pit Corrupted!She-Ra against her friends (dehumanization)

Got Entrapta sent to Beast Island, a deadly place no one ever returns from

And this is just the stuff off the top of my head. We all knew Catra was going to get a redemption, but this one was completely undeserved. She apologized to Adora and Entrapta. Two very short apologies for what canonly was at minimum, months of abuse, manipulation, intent to kill (which is literally mentioned by Adora) and general disregard for anyone or anything but revenge for something that didn't even deserve it. The entire cast should've been outraged. Glimmer in particular had a very big reason not to ever forgive Catra ("I'm not losing another parent!"), but it was all glossed over.

The biggest issue with season 5 was the abuse plotline completely dropped. You can't spend 4 seasons explaining how the cycle of abuse affects you and everyone around you... and shelve it. And we know the reason why it was shelved.

Let me first preface this with the fact that I am super happy we got representation. As a queer nblw who grew up feeling alone, it's so good to see things changing in media. An onscreen wlw kiss on a kids' show is groundbreaking and I'm very happy that She-Ra broke this barrier.

But all representation is not good representation. Catra and Adora is not a good representation of a healthy relationship.

Catra is shown throughout the series to be very unstable. This is even prevalent in season 5, when Adora "chooses SW" over Catra, she runs away. This breaks Adora's heart. The last thing that Catra needs is a relationship when she hasn't even confronted the issues that she has. There's no healing done in season 5, no therapy as the fandom loved to meme about, no long talks about forgiveness and the hurt caused. There's no callback to any of the pain and anguish that Catra put Adora through. Catra may love Adora, but if there is no healing done for the both of them, their relationship will fail. They will fall into the same cycle again. Adora will do something Catra doesn't like, Catra will do what she's done for all of the show, and it will repeat until something breaks.

I'm going to talk about the implications of the ending we have now, and feel free to argue with me.

She-Ra is a kids' show. Abuse is one of the main themes. Catra is shown to be an abuser. Here's what we are teaching younger audiences:

a. if you love someone enough, maybe they'll change

b. everyone deserves a second chance

c. your abuser will change as long as you're loyal and never stop trying to love them

d. things someone does to hurt you mean nothing in the wake of forgiveness

e. if someone who hurt you changes suddenly and wants to be back in your life, you should let them back in

Character interactions for the things that mattered (plot threads from previous seasons, general personality clashes, etc) were absent this season, in the moments where they mattered the most. (The best three in my opinion were Scorpia and Perfuma, the BFS inviting Catra in, and Mermista and Entrapta.) Glimmer and Adora should've had their time to talk. Scorpia should've gotten to say her piece to Catra. SW and Micah should've interacted more. Micah and Glimmer should've gotten more than an introduction!

I'm not going to get into how the entire final season was wrapped around making Catra and Adora get together (a fundamental writing no-no; it never ends up working), or how it was bad writing. I just want everyone to think critically for one moment. There are so many other glaring issues in what was, overall, a stellar show. If there was another season, or some mini episodes where the characters talk out their problems and past transgressions against each other, then I could excuse She-Ra. But I doubt we're going to get any of that. So I won't.

649 notes · View notes

shinsorokiri · 4 years

Text

UA Idol | Chapter Eleven

Hitoshi Shinsou x Reader

Word Count: 4,209

Warnings: Language, big nerves

A/N: IT’S THE FIRST DAMN CHALLENGE! There are two more and I low key may have just introduced all the other supporting characters in the story so 👀 I hope you enjoy this one. It took a while to write because of the length and also. the fact that it’s welcome week at my college and I work at a bookstore (RIP). I’ve been working so much, and not to mention the homework I’m getting for classes (DOUBLE RIP). But yeah, I hope this chapter is to your liking, and I will make a song list for everyone under the chapter! I do recommend listening to the version of Halsey’s Graveyard stripped because that was a game changer for that song for me. I listen to that one more than the original HAHA. Anyways, enjoy!

───────────────────────────────────

Sitting through the pop singers did not calm your nerves in the slightest. You already knew Mina and Denki were really good, but you soon found out that they weren’t the only ones. Especially when you heard Kirishima. He took Denki’s advice, and decided to sing Golden by Harry Styles. And to say you were impressed with the only acoustic version of one of Harry’s most hype songs was an understatement. And his voice was crazy good, and contrary to what he’d said previously you bet he could join Katsuki in singing rock songs. You’d have to tell him that later. “You know, this is only making me feel worse,” you say to Shinsou. All of the pop singers had finished their genre challenge performances and were waiting backstage to come out in lines and be told if they made it to the next part of Hell Week. The judges were currently speaking in hushed voices and choosing who would go through, and who would not go through. “You and me both. But you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You’re still better than everyone else who’s gone up there so far,” Shinsou whispers the last part to you, and you can’t help but smile. “Same to you, loser. Now, what did you think of everyone?”

“Denki and Mina killed it, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“Now as for Kirishima, I was pleasantly surprised. I knew he was already a loud guy, so hearing him go from straight belting at times to a small little falsetto was very interesting and very nice to the ear.”

“Yeah, not to mention his range is amazing.”

“Right? It was insane. Oh, and another person who stood out was the guy with the silver hair who kind of sounded like Kirishima. He was very similar to him, and he even sang Adore You.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. It’s kind of funny, they were like almost the exact same person. You know who caught my eye?”

“Who?”

“That blonde girl. You can tell she’s a little… wild. Especially with her song pick, I never expected anyone in a million years to ever sing a Chainsmokers song, especially Don’t Let Me Down, with only a piano backing them.”

“Yeah, that caught me off guard, gonna be honest. She did have a lot of energy and her voice was really good though. Fits that genre of singers, so I bet she’ll get through. She can also move, which is always a perk for performers. But, do you know what I just can’t get over?”

“The fact that we had to leave our cats with cat sitters?”

“Well, yes, thank you so much for reminding me of that, but also how absolutely wholesome the kid with the green hair was. Not gonna lie, it kind of made me want to die. I mean, he really came in here and sang Imagine. Of all songs, Imagine by John Lennon. That is so ballsy and when Aizawa commented on how ballsy it was this fucker answers with, ‘I didn’t choose it because it was popular, I chose it because I believe that someday we can achieve that level of peace.’ What the fuck.” You laugh at his disbelief before nodding your head. “I totally agree. That was low-key hilarious though, Aizawa just sighed and Toshinori almost squealed because he loved that answer. It was like he was in a pageant and answering the world peace question. Wait, hold on, speaking of ballsy, what about the blonde guy who looks like he could be a part of a boyband singing Africa by Toto.”

“I know! He pulled a meme, I literally had to reach over and grab your arm to keep from fucking screaming. I mean, I know pretty much everyone else did, but I need to keep up my little mysterious façade I’ve got going on here.”

“I mean, you just don’t show emotions like that, but yeah. You’re just too mysterious.”

“Shut up. I am mysterious. Almost as mysterious as that girl with the short hair and long bangs who looks like a literal cinnamon roll and then came in belting I Will Always Love You.”

“You could only dream of being that mysterious sir,” you tease him, and he rolls his eyes, but his smile deceives him. He went to fire something back, only to be told by all the producers that everyone had to quiet down again because the judges had made their decisions. You and Shinsou both nervously watched as they turned away about half of the pop singers that were there, and you two nearly broke each other’s hands when Denki and Mina showed up on the stage. “Oh, they are definitely getting through, look at who they’re with,” Shinsou whispers in your ear, and you look at the rest of the line-up. Kirishima and all the other acts you and Shinsou had just discussed were all in a line onstage. Sure enough, they all made it through to the next round.

“Knew that would happen,” Shinsou says and you nod. “So, who’s up next?”

“Country. But there’s only a few of them,” Shinsou says, and you lean back in your chair. “I wonder how many of these guys will make me feel incompetent,” you say, and Shinsou snorts. “None of them should, doesn’t matter how talented someone else is, it doesn’t lessen yours in the slightest.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” you say, grinning while poking his arm. He smiles at you and shrugs. “I try, kitten.” You both see Mina, Denki, and Kirishima walking back to their seats in the pop genre section and give them a thumbs up. They all look actually ecstatic and return the positive hand gestures. “How much do you wanna bet Denki and Mina will wanna go out for celebratory drinks after this?” you ask Shinsou and he groans. “Shit, you’re right.”

“How about we feign sickness and have them go and we just, you know, stay at the hotel,” you suggest, and he gives you a side eye. “Yeah, like they’ll fall for that.” He has a fair point, and you sigh. Maybe if you get through the first round you’ll be up for it. As long as Shinsou will be there, it won’t be too bad.

The country genre starts up and everyone in the category jumps right into the southern swing. There aren’t nearly as many as the pop category, which is odd. There truly aren’t a lot of country singers in this competition, now that you think about it. To be fair, when live shows come around, it’s very intense and since the majority of the singers in the competition are pop singers, country can definitely get lost in the mix. Oh well, the singers who are going are actually really good, so maybe this year it’ll change up a bit. One of the country singers who really caught your eye was this little short girl with long dark green dyed hair. She had this cute little bow pulling it back and had this little southern charm, but her style was more of a mix of country and singer-songwriter you noticed. Not all of the words she sang had that good ‘ol country twang to them, but it was still there. It could have been the song choice of making Before He Cheats into an acoustic (she played her own black acoustic guitar decorated with cute frog stickers), but you’d have to see more of her to be completely sure. She was really really good, though. And sure enough, she made it to the next round.

Up next is rock. You look over to see Bakugou with a stone cold unmoving resting bitch face. From what you know from the guy, this was normal. “If his singing is anything like his yelling, he’s one hell of a rockstar,” Shinsou says to you, which causes you to laugh. He was right, his screaming was pretty loud, gritty, and impressive, so that statement was true. And his singing was similar to that style as well. Even though he did a low-key song by a rock band, Good Riddance by Green Day, he still managed to get that rocker vibe with it. It was probably because of how angrily he played his guitar. That poor guitar. He wasn’t the only rock singer that really stood out though. “I’m not trying to judge because I know I look like a pretty miserable and intimidating guy too, but did you see that guy with the long gray hair and no will to live?” “Yeah, I saw him. Heard him, too. Didn’t realize anyone could make Disenchanted by MCR even sadder than it was already,” you say. It’s true, that guy had a really good voice, sort of similar to Gerard Way’s actually, but christ he made the song sadder than the original somehow. Then of course there was this mysterious guy who was wearing a black face mask to compliment the all black outfit paired with the multiple layered red choker and long black cardigan he was wearing. Somehow, he still sounded great and barely muffled, but it was such a weird visual. It was fitting for the genre though, and you can respect the brand. A cover of Creep sung by someone who covered half of his face was spot on for the song’s meaning. And his purple electric guitar with the symbol of a raven on it was pretty dope, you have to admit.

“Look, it’s Denki’s crush,” Shinsou says as the girl with the purple hair walked on the stage. Denki’s going for a rocker, huh? Fitting, he needs someone intense to balance out his stupid. And intense this girl was, she sang a killer rendition of That’s What You Get, and when you looked over at Denki you could have sworn his pupils turned into little hearts. Unsurprisingly, all of them got in, and Kirishima almost started crying when he realized Bakugo was through as well.

The producers then decided to combine the r&b and hip-hop genres at the last minute, making it the second largest category. But you didn’t mind sitting there and listening because, again, there were some really talented people in the categories. Especially the guy with the long black hair and infectious smile who sang Red Red Wine and absolutely and totally brought the reggae vibe. You could just tell he would sing something like that, too, the minute he got onstage wearing a drug rug and long flowy pants. You honestly dug his aesthetic and his voice, and so did Shinsou considering you both started dancing in your seats the minute the song started. To be fair, though, it’s a good fucking song. Another guy who caught your attention was a dude with a shit ton of piercings, you notices four on his ear, an eyebrow piercing, a lip piercing, and when he was singing you saw a tongue piercing too. His black hair was messy and almost completely covered his eyes, but you could just tell that he was intense. Take What You Want by Post Malone never sounded so dark and angry. They both made it to the next round.

Next thing you knew, it was your category. The smallest category. And much to your bad luck, you were the last one to audition. Luckily, Shinsou was second to last. “Think that was on purpose?” he asks you as you wait backstage. “What do you mean?”

“The judges like to be dramatic on this show. They said we were top two material in general auditions... think they made us the final two on purpose?” You hadn’t thought about that. But you have to say, it does make sense. “Huh. Wild. Guess we better pull out all the stops then.”

“Original?”

“Obviously,” you grin, and he returns it. “Well, might as well do the song I wrote based off of that old high school friend Monoma I told you about.”

“The one where he went to LA for college and wound up coming back to Japan all... different?”

“That’s the one. I feel like I need to be that poetic and mysterious guy and what better song to sing when we’re here. In LA.”

“Yeah, yeah okay Mr. Mysterious. As for me, I’ll just be sad singing about, you know, him.”

“Still warning you in advance, if I ever meet this guy, I’m literally fighting him. And I’m winning,” Shinsou says, and you can’t stop the smile that breaks out across your face. You don’t see it, but your smile causes him to smile. And then the two of you are just cheesing about each other without actually telling each other y’all are the reason for your cheesing. How cute.

Watching the other singer-songwriters do their thing was really fun for you, actually. There was a girl with a jet-black ponytail who did an amazing cover of Skinny Love. Your favorite thing about her was how creative she got with the guitar during it, she added a few new riffs and really just showed her skill with the instrument. Then there was the guy who had like absolutely no presence or personality until he started playing his guitar and singing What Do I Know by Ed Sheeran. He immediately came to life and everyone was bumping to it. His hair was also dyed half red and half white which looked really cool. And then there was the guy who had the typical nerdy indie look with his glasses and navy-blue hair. He played the piano instead of the usual guitar for his cover of Cherry Wine by Hozier and absolutely smashed it. Now none of this helped your nerves, but luckily Shinsou was there to put a brave face on for you and keep you relaxed. Then, it was finally his turn. You could tell he was nervous since he can only hide his emotions from you so much, so instead of psyching him out more, you just grabbed his hand and gave it a little squeeze. He’s the type of person who needs a physical reminder that everything would be okay, and so far, every time you’ve done that action with him, it’s helped calm him down faster than words could. Sure enough, it worked, and he gave you a small smile before walking out onstage. For his performance he’s playing the piano, so he walked over and sat down. “Hello again,” Midnight says, smiling at him. “What will you be singing for this challenge?” Keigo asks, and Shinsou clears his throat. “Um, I have another original for you all.” He could hear the crowd murmur and see a few people whispering to each other. No one had ever really done an original at Hell Week before. They all thought that the judges saying that in the beginning was a joke because of how intense this week could be. Well everyone except Mina and Denki of course.

“That’s great! What’s it called?” Toshinori asks. “Dying In LA.”

“I like the title. Whenever you’re ready,” Aizawa says, and Shinsou nods. He begins playing the opening, before taking a breath and singing.

“The moment you arrived they built you up;

The sun was in your eyes.

You couldn't believe it.

Riches all around, you're walking

Stars are on the ground.

You start to believe it.

Every face along the boulevard is a dreamer just like you.

You looked at death in a tarot card and you saw what you had to do.

But nobody knows you now,

When you're dying in LA.

And nobody owes you now,

When you're dying in LA.

When you're dying in LA.”

People immediately started cheering the minute he did his little rocker dying thing. And he loved it. He could honestly get used to that.

“When you're dying in LA.

The power, the power, the power…

Oh, the power, the power, the power

Of LA.

Nights at the chateau;

Trapped in your sunset bungalow,

You couldn't escape it, yeah.

Drink of paradise,

They told you ‘Put your blood on ice.

You're not gonna make it.’

Every face along the boulevard is a dreamer just like you.

You looked at death in a tarot card and you saw what you had to do.

But nobody knows you now,

When you're dying in LA.

And nobody owes you now,

When you're dying in LA.

The power, the power, the power…

Oh, the power, the power, the power

Of LA”

As expected, everyone was dead silent for a moment before breaking out into applause. Even the judges gave him a standing ovation. And you had to follow literally the most perfect human being and songwriter. Nice. The judges aren’t really permitted to say anything after the performance because they need to just listen to the singing and judge off of that, so Shinsou walks offstage and back over to you. “I warmed them up for you,” he says, and you snort. “Wow, thanks. Maybe next time don’t be that amazing.”

“Hmmm, that’s a tall order, kitten.”

“Yeah, my bad, can’t ask someone perfect to be less perfect.”

“You’re right about that, which is why your performance is going to be much better than mine was,” he pats your head with a grin, before shooing you onstage. You walk on, clutching your guitar as you greet the judges. “Hey chickadee, you gonna sing an original for us too?” Hawks asks, and Midnight hits his arm. “Don’t just go assuming that she also has an original prepared, what if she doesn’t? Do you know how stressed out that would make her you glorified Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel!”

“Actually, I do have an original prepared.”

“Oh, well in that case I’m excited to hear it! What’s it called?”

“Graveyard,” you respond, and Aizawa motions for you to begin whenever you’re ready. You take a deep breath before strumming away, picking at the strings of your guitar to make the melody you’d written so long ago. Then, you open your mouth.

“It's crazy when The thing you love the most is the detriment; Let that sink in. You can think again, When the hand you wanna hold is a weapon and You're nothin' but skin.

Oh, 'cause I keep diggin' myself down deeper, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. I keep running, I keep running, I keep running.

They say I may be making a mistake, I would've followed all the way, no matter how far. I know when you go down all your darkest roads, I would've followed all the way to the graveyard.

Oh, 'cause I keep diggin' myself down deeper, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. I keep running when both my feet hurt, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. Oh, when you go down all your darkest roads I would've followed all the way to the graveyard (no, oh).

You look at me (look at me) With eyes so dark, don't know how you even see, You push right through me (push right through me). It's gettin' real. You lock the door, you're drunk at the steering wheel, And I can't conceal.

Oh, 'cause I've been diggin' myself down deeper, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. I keep running, I keep running, I keep running.

They say I may be making a mistake, I would've followed all the way, no matter how far. I know when you go down all your darkest roads, I would've followed all the way to the graveyard.

Oh, 'cause I keep diggin' myself down deeper, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. I keep running when both my feet hurt, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. Oh, when you go down all your darkest roads, I would've followed all the way to the graveyard.

Oh, it's funny how… The warning signs can feel like they're butterflies…

Oh, 'cause I keep diggin' myself down deeper, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. I keep running when both my feet hurt, I won't stop 'til I get where you are. Oh, when you go down all your darkest roads, I would've followed all the way to the graveyard.”

Just like Shinsou, there was a moment of silence before everyone applauded. This was a weird feeling. You’d never really sung an original song in front of a crowd of people this big before, and you never expected to have celebrities give your original song a standing ovation. But here you were, Hell Week in UA Idol, and this feeling was honestly something you could get used to. You’re just happy people enjoyed it. You hurry offstage and go over to Shinsou who immediately encapsulates you in a hug. Huh. That’s new. You don’t hate it though. This is actually… pretty nice. He gives good hugs. And you love the lavender scent he gives off, it almost gives him a lavender hue, actually. “You did amazing, (Y/n). Better than I ever could,” he tells you with a small grin. But it doesn’t look like he’s jealous. If anything, he looks proud. Like he’s proud of you. Like you just did something that made him feel happier than anything in the world. You liked him looking at you like that. You want him to look at you like that more. “That’s a lie, you’re the best singer-songwriter I know.”

“That’s because you’ve never actually met yourself other than looking in a mirror. If you actually knew you, you’d take that statement back.”

You’d be lying if you said that didn’t make you blush. The producers ushered you all in a different room, allowing the judges time to talk about who was going through and who wasn’t. You and Shinsou stuck to each other like glue and tried to ignore the stares and looks at you two. That was when the guy with the navy-blue hair approached the two of you, and kind of screamed, but you could tell that he was just using his regular talking voice. “You’re both very talented! I hope one day I am able to write songs like that!”

“Hey, thanks man. I’m sure if you tried right now you could write songs like ours; everyone has the ability to write something good if they have the drive,” Shinsou tells him, and you can’t help but feel a sense of pride swell up in your chest. Shinsou was a really good person. And you were his friend. How did you get so lucky? “My name is Tenya Iida! It’s a pleasure to meet both of you, and I hope we all get through so I can talk to you both about songwriting some more,” he says, a big smile on his face as he sticks out his… very large hand. It wasn’t for a handshake or anything. The man just talks with his hands. You could see the callouses on his fingers from the guitar, though. Gotta love that. Since the singer-songwriter genre was the smallest, the judges seemed to make their decisions very quickly. You and Shinsou watched as people got turned away and as other got through to the next round. Iida, the guy with the dyed hair, and the girl with the black ponytail all made it through to the next round, which you were happy about. They were all very talented and deserved it 100%. But now, the only people who were left in the genre and the entire competition were you and Shinsou. “Do you think we didn’t make it?”

“Well… honestly I don’t know. If we didn’t, at least we got some exposure. Maybe someone will see us, and you can pay off your student loans and I can pay off my mom’s medical bills.”

“And maybe then you could go to university. I know you’ve always wanted to go to school for a music production major.”

He looks over at you with kind of big eyes. How did you know about that? He may have mentioned it off-hand like once while you, Mina, and Denki were around. Did you really just pay attention to him like that? And if you did, why did it just make his heart literally skip a beat? What is going on? Before he could even ask you, the producers gave you two the go-ahead to go onstage. You both walked out, obviously very nervous, but you stopped in the middle. “Well, well, well,” Midnight says, leaning into her microphone. “I bet you two are probably freaking out because what kind of line up of people is two people, right?” Keigo asks, and you both nod. “See, I told you. They know fear. Recording artists would be nothing without fear. These two are something,” Aizawa says, pointing at the two of you. Did the Shouta Aizawa just say the two of you were something? What? “Well, you don’t need to be nervous!” Toshinori screams, smiling very wide at the two of you. “Yeah, after all, we can’t just leave our top two in Hell Week,” Midnight says.

“Congratulations, Shinsou and (Y/n). You’re moving on to the next challenge.”

───────────────────────────────────

Song list:

Kirishima | Golden - Harry Styles

Mina | If I Were A Boy - The Queen, Beyoncé

Denki | Old Me - 5 Seconds of Summer

TetsuTetsu | Adore You - Harry Styles

Toga | Don’t Let Me Down - The Chainsmokers

Midoriya | Imagine - John Lennon

Mirio | Africa - Toto

Uraraka | I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston

Tsu | Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood

Bakugo | Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Shigaraki | Disenchanted - My Chemical Romance

Tokoyami | Creep - Radiohead

Jirou | That’s What You Get - Paramore

Sero | Red Red Wine - UB40

Dabi | Take What You Want - Post Malone ft. Ozzy Osbourne & Travis Scott

Momo | Skinny Love - Bon Iver

Todoroki | What Do I Know - Ed Sheeran

Iida | Cherry Wine - Hozier

Shinsou | Dying In LA - Panic! At The Disco

(Y/n) | Graveyard (Stripped) - Halsey

52 notes · View notes

tired-college-student-writing · 4 years

Text

Here we go Loopty Loo pt4

Summary: Graduation was supposed to signal the final time they all spent time together at UA, to show they have all grown into the Heros they dreamed of being.

It was supposed to be, but when has anything ever been easy for class 1-A?

pt 1

pt 3

pt 4 (HERE)

pt 5

___________________________________________

Loop #49

___________________________________________

To ask for normalcy in this class was too much, Aizawa knew this.

It was like asking it to rain gumdrops to expect these 20 idiots to behave like normal human beings for five minutes in the original timeline, and it had only gotten worse as they all fought off apathy at their time stuck just kept going.

But how Aizawa wished they would stop getting caught so he didn’t have to deal with the other teacher questioning it.

Cockatoo: Uh Shouta?

Cockatoo: Should I ask why Bakugo and Kaminari are yelling ‘Fuck your chicken strips!’ at a shellshocked Todoroki?

YallMight: I think it has to do with them finding out that Endevar and Hawks are dating.

Chloroform: THEY WHAT????

Sleepis4theweak: I wish Yagi was joking

YallMight: At least they aren’t singing ‘She thinks my tractor’s sexy’ this time.

He glared at the tall blond he was eating lunch with, “Fuck you, I know you put them up to that.”

“No proof,”

“Shut it,”

“If I make you smile will you, forgive me?”

“Maybe,”

Yagi just grinned, “I just helped Jiro finish a parody song of Aint No Rest for the Wicked, called Aint No Rest for Endeavor, where they diss Endeavor for three minutes straight, including some… uh, classified information and are going to play it during the Cultural Festival with Shoto taking lead vocals.”

Aizawa wasn’t fast enough to stop the snort from escaping, “These fucking kids,”

“It’s better than Bakugo’s idea of writing a parody of “Fuck You” to call out Overhaul or All for One… or both.”

“As long Dabi gets a recording,” Aizawa chuckled, “I’m going to allow it.”

“You were going to allow it either way,” Yagi teased, not even batting an eye at the fact that Aizawa basically adopted the villain, “But I suppose he would like to see his younger brother roasting their father.”

Aizawa shrugged, “I’ll talk to the kids when we get back, making sure they time the parody when they have the largest crowd. I’m guessing I’m going to be on ‘Stop Endeavor from burning down the school’ detail again?”

“I can take Eri during it if you would like,”

“Nah, I’ll let Mirio handle her, she misses him anyways. They can’t make more of a scene then the Host club they held last year. ”

He glanced back down at his phone, to see the flurry of texts had continued.

BloodyMess: Why is your class full of the troublesome ones? And why haven’t you expelled any of them??

Cockatoo: Cause Sho is soft for his ‘problem children’

Chloroform: Yeah, plus they take care of his daughter like they’re her big siblings and I’ve never seen Sho look softer.

YeeHaw: Soft? Are we talking about the same man?

Cockatoo : *SmilyBoi* Read em and weep

BloodyMess: Oh shit, the dude can actually smile and not look like he’s trying to murder you

SpaceCadet: Aw, he’s wearing a bow!

Cockatoo: Eri put it in his hair, he wasn’t gonna remove it after she called him dad

Cockatoo: Oh shit

Chloroform:???

Cockatoo: Monoma said something to a table of Class 2-A kids and Shinsou appeared out of nowhere and brainwashed him. He’s now dancing to Toxic by Brittany Spears in the middle of the courtyard.

Chloroform: Omg, please say you’re recording!

Cockatoo: I am, but now Kaminari and Sero are being backup dancers

Cockatoo: Mina just had to stop Kirishima from taking off his shirt when he joined

Cockatoo: We have a full-on flash mob going on right now.

Cockatoo: Sho, come get your kids. I don’t know when they had time to choreograph this stuff but it’s not really school appropriate

BloodyMess: Aizawa, control your class

Chloroform: He’s probably trying to stop a migraine from forming

YallMight: No, he finds the whole event funny.

Cockatoo: How do you know????

Yagi smirked snapping a picture of the usually stoic teacher wheezing at the mental image of his stupid kids before the picture was texted over the group.

Chloroform: Oh? Having a picnic together, are you?

Sleepis4theweak: And? Aren’t we talking about my dumbass class?

Cockatoo: Pretty defensive there Sho, anything you want to share?

Sleepis4theweak: I have no idea what you’re talking about

Cockatoo: Come on Sho

Chloroform: Let’s change tactics

Chloroform: @YallMight are you fucking Aizawa?

YeeHaw: You trying to kill the man, Midnight?

BloodyMess: The man spits up enough blood without you being like this nem

Aizawa shot his companion a look, “Don’t you dare,”

Toshinori raised a brow, a shit-eating grin crawling onto his face, “Too late,”

YallMight: Rawr (*ΦωΦ*)

Aizawa could hear the screaming from here, though that was probably just Mic losing control at the unexpected response from the world’s Golden Boy for all that was good and pure.

Oh, if they only know how corrupting spending 145 years with mostly horny meme teenagers is.

Aizawa couldn’t breathe at this point, putting his head down on the table they shared, gasping for breath around his gales of laughter the stitch on his side pulling. Toshi looked way too pleased with himself, as his full belly laughter echoed around them. After a minute the taller man shifts and looks away, laughter drying up almost as quickly as it had started.

Aizawa squinted up at him, “What?”

“Should we let them think we’re dating?”

Shouta felt a slight flush crawl over his cheeks as he leaned across the table, “Aren’t we?”

Yagi relaxed at the words, “I… wasn’t entirely sure where we stood on that. You know how tricky emotions are in these loops.”

Aizawa shrugged because he knew the man was right. Sexualities and attractions seemed as fluid as everything else in the loops. He’s gone through marriage, dating, divorce, breakups, flings, and hookups at this point, whether he weathered them himself or just recalled them from the memories he received from each loop. He had been romantically involved with Hizashi, Nemuri, Tensi, Oboro, Emi, and even Yagi at one point or another.

In this timeline, however, he had been devoid of any romantic attachments, his timeline memories not recalling a single long term partner, and only a handful of one night stands. His emotional attachment for the kind, gentle, flawed man went beyond anything that resembled normal, but what in their lives was normal anymore, and he wasn’t going to deny that even in the timelines where he was straight the number one hero was attractive in both forms.

He would admit that this was a loop where his physical attraction was... fairly overwhelming.

Aizawa just grasped Toshinori's hand in his own instead of answering, earning a blinding smile that made his heart flutter. If the attraction is mutual then, why not allow themselves some happiness in this mess?

His phone pinged again, his Class chat text tone… That rarely bore good things if he was tagged in it.

Sonic : *MaybeWeWentTooFar?* @dadzawa @DadMight um help?

“I’m gonna kill them,” He sighed as he opened the picture of Monoma standing on what seemed to be an ice version of Pride rock, holding Nezu aloft while most of 2-A and 2-B were kneeling at the base.

“And having them all prank you before you remember them next timeline?” Toshinori teased, puffing up as he rose from his seat, “I don’t think so.”

The homeroom teacher sighed but silently agreed. Dying before graduation seemed to dump affected loopers earlier in the loop then everyone else. They could arrive anywhere from a few hours before everyone else, to years earlier and there didn’t seem to be a set reason for how long they were sent back. After the first three times, the class seemed to come to a silent agreement to mess with each other as much as they could during the time they spent before everyone else remembered. Aizawa was still proud to say he had the best prelooping revenge on his problem children, even if it started accidentally.

“If I told Hizashi that we were engaged, what would you do?”

The sunflower man choked slightly at the out of the blue question, coughing up a mouthful of blood as he deflated once again.

Aizawa continued walking hiding his smile into his capture weapon as he neared the courtyard.

Yagi jogged slightly after him, already puffed back up, before offering a counter with a shit-eating twinkle in his eyes, “If you dodge the question until tomorrow I can have rings by morning.”

He slipped his hand into the other’s hands in his way of answering. They were practically married anyway, pretending to have a secret engagement wasn’t gonna be hard in the slightest. Toshi even came over enough that Eri probably not question it either, and it just gave them longer to be the happiest they could be during the loops.

His hair rose as he glared at Shinsou, capture wiping out to grab Nezu away from Monama as his grip slackened as the mind control faded from his system.

The whole courtyard whirled to look at them, and Aizawa notices too late how Midoriya’s eyes flash between him and Yagi, down to their hands and over to where Mic was still filming, a straight-up evil smirk flashing for barely a second before it was perfectly covered in a scandalized mask.

“OMG AIZAWA-SENSEI ARE YOU FUCKING MY DAD?!?!?”

Welp murder was outweighing the possible embarrassment of preloop pranks. Maybe he could bribe Dabi with those embarrassing pictures Toru had taken of Endeavor...

“Young Midorya!” All Might gasped, chopping his hand through the air similarly to how Tenya would do, “That is highly inappropriate! What my fiance and I get up to in our free time is our business and our business alone!”

Make that two murders.

Definitely two murders.

___________________________________________

Taglist: @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @plaguedoctorsnake (I’m so sorry for forgetting to tag yall in pt 2)

#bnha #boku no academia #yagi toshinori #aizawa shoto #all might #erasermight #all of class 1-a #midoriya izuku #presentation mic #midnight #bnha monoma #shinsou hitoshi #endevour #fuck endeavor #dabi is a todoroki #these children are memes

21 notes · View notes

radramblog · 3 years

Text

Top 5 Games, ever...?

This was sort of on my mind, considering the recent GOTY post I made. Come explore the hyperfixations that managed to stick around long enough to be my top 5 list.

5. Uhhhhhh

So turns out I haven’t figured out what number 5 is yet. I suppose instead I’ve got to split it among the honourable mentions, huh.

Kirby Super Star Ultra is probably the best game from the GBA/DS era of the series and is just a blast to play. It introduced Masked Dedede, and all the banging music and memes that come with it, and probably deserves a spot here just for that.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth removes all the awkward Flash Stuff from the excellent original, and adds so, so much more content- the game’s final expansion still isn’t out yet as of writing but even now there’s just so much to unlock. While some aspects of the game can be pretty unforgiving, you probably aren’t going to be exposed to the worst of it unless you get into it pretty hardcore, and if you do, you’ll get used to it. It’s a roguelike, after all.

Speaking of roguelikes, FTL: Faster than Light is chaotic yet serene, brutal but fair, and a bunch of other pretentious dichotomies wrapped into a neat little bow. It takes some getting used to the mechanics, but once you get the hang of it, building your little ship up and up in the face of all odds is extremely satisfying. Have fun dying hopefully not too many times.

SPEAKING of permadeath, Realm of the Mad God gets a spot here just out of sheer hours I’ve spent with it. After a messy few years with a not-so-great owner lead me to dropping the game, it seems finally to have recovered and has devs and community that actually freaking care about it, which is nice. Also, it’s free, and the recent transition to unity has the game looking better and playing smoother than 12-year-old me could ever have dreamed of.

Terraria isn’t just 2D Minecraft btw, its actually more of an RPG/Metroidvania thing, you probably know at this point, but its pretty good hey. Still haven’t fully dove into 1.4 but considering I thought Red was done at 1.1 I’m not complaining with what I have played.

4. Fallout: New Vegas

(...ish??)

I’d argue that between the primitiveness of the original Fallout games (I’ve tried to get into them, but I just can’t) and how…meh… the other Bethesda ones are, New Vegas is the only one in the series to stand up strong. Obsidian’s excellent writing and tweaks to the gameplay of 3 make New Vegas feel like an actual world, rich and characterised, which was something I found lacking in previous open-world RPGs I’d played up until that point (which admittedly might just have been Skyrim). It’s a game that challenges you to make choices that actually matter for more than the mere moments of an altered dialogue tree, both in dialogue and character building, which helps make the game actually replayable. It is also the first game in a long time that really sold the idea of DLC on me, seeing as each of the game’s 4 expansions adds an entire new region of world with its own stories and unique gameplay, tying together with the main plot but standing on their own. I am excluding Gun Runner’s Arsenal from this for obvious reasons, though it isn’t like GRA is a bad DLC or anything- on the contrary, the sheer scope of modifications and munitions makes playing a repair/science-based character incredibly fulfilling- but it just isn’t at the same scope as the other 4 (Courier’s stash barely counts seeing as its just oops! All preorder bonuses).

New Vegas is one of the few games I have actually 100% completed, achievements and all, but I’m still pretty sure there are bits I’ve missed, paths I haven’t taken, characters I haven’t talked to. Despite its inhospitability, the Mojave is always a comfortable place to return to.

3. VA-11 Hall-A

(Hey look, my phone background)

Vallhalla is a masterclass in storytelling, atmosphere, and aesthetic. Like all good cyberpunk dystopias, you get themes of class and transhumanism and artificial intelligence, but they aren’t the point of Vallhalla. Through the window and lens of cyberpunk and PC98 nostalgia is focussed a surprisingly human story centred around the protagonist, Jill, which through multiple replays still hits me in the feels just so. Of course, Jill’s story is not the only one being discussed, as every single patron of the bar has their own life going on, and the glimpses we get imply a rich, often interconnected, world. Glitch City is, frankly, a shithole, and it’s not like you don’t get some assholes coming into the bar while you’re working it. The first patron you serve, in fact, is a great example of this- Donovan D. Dawson, essentially a parody of J. Jonah Jameson, is a colossal prick and knows it- but its clear he has his own system of morals and it is mentioned that he’s excellent at his job, much as he gripes about it. He’s rude and more than a little sexist, but frustratingly charismatic and authoritative, and he’s just one of many people who show up throughout the game. Vallhalla is the perfect game to sit down, grab your preferred beverage, and just relax with.

2. Total Annihilation

(This image is on the steam page for this one, despite blatantly not being from vanilla TA)

I think I actually need to explain this one. Total Annihilation was a game released in 1997 made largely by Chuck Taylor, who would later go on to produce spiritual successor Supreme Commander. It’s an RTS game featuring exclusively robotic units with a fairly chunky aesthetic, allowing the visuals to age better than some, and a fully orchestrated soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, who would later go on to do work on a whole bunch of stuff, most notably Skyrim.

Total Annihilation is an intensely nostalgic game for me, being one of the first games I ever got to play as a kid outside of edutainment stuff, and I’d argue still holds up today (especially with the excellent Escalation mod). What it lacks in story (it’s pretty basic, but functional) it makes up for being miles ahead of its time mechanically, being the first (?) RTS to function in 3 dimensions- heights of things actually matter, hills exist and certain units climb them better than others, shooting down airplanes is difficult without anti-air but possible if you aim *just* right. While appearing pretty similar and having largely analogous units, the two factions of Arm and Core are well fleshed-out in terms of aesthetic and playstyle- Arm preferring fast and cheap equivalents to Core’s slow but powerful- and the unit variety is sufficient that strategies can vary wildly based on the map. Both campaigns as well as those from the game’s expansions are challenging, but satisfying, limiting the units you can produce to force exploration of different playstyles.

Total Annihilation isn’t something I tend to binge play for hours anymore, but I’ll pick it up for a bit every so often, and I don’t see that stopping for a long time (especially due to the recent steam release).

1. Pokémon Emerald

(At the top, where it belongs)

Yeah, this was inevitable. Pokémon is my favourite series ever; Emerald is my favourite in the series. Go figure.

Emerald, being the final game for the franchise’s days on the Game Boy, reflects everything Game Freak had learned in the first 3 generations of the series’ history. The game’s balance is challenging but fair, never spiking so tough that it is insurmountable but never holding your hand either. The AI opponents are throwing odd combinations of mons and moves at you from every corner, double battles are everywhere but rarely mandatory, and the variety of available mon both before and during the postgame is excellent. The added features on top of Ruby and Sapphire are great- Battle Tents serve to replace 3 of the contest halls (they should have all been under one roof to begin with) and provide a taste of what would later be available in the Battle Frontier. The Frontier is probably the single most expansive and challenging postgame in any Pokémon game, providing the game with a longevity that is sorely needed due to the inaccessibility of Pre-DS multiplayer. The game also manages to tie together the plot of both Ruby and Sapphire into something that feels natural, and provides the series’ first ever actual cutscene, which felt a lot cooler at the time than it sounds now. The return of animated sprites gives the Pokémon a level of life far beyond the static sprites of RSFRLG, and in my eyes wouldn’t feel the same until Black and White several years later. The return of the Pokégear phone in the form of Match Call, as irritating as it is to some, makes the world feel alive in a way that Sinnoh and Kanto probably never will, in addition to making grinding a fair bit less tedious and more beneficial. It is, altogether, probably the perfect Pokémon experience, and in my opinion only one other game comes close (its Platinum).

Oh also, they got rid of the font from Ruby and Sapphire, thank fuck, that shit is atrocious.

#ramble #video games #pokemon #retro games #lists

1 note · View note

ijustwant2write · 5 years

Text

We Irritating-Avengers x Reader

(GIF credit to @sulfer4)

(For anyone not knowing what the meme is cause I didn’t either :) )

Masterlist

Requested by anonymous

Summary: ‘the reader goes up to all the avengers and tries to recreate the we irritating meme with all of them’

Characters: Avengers x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: None

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Peter and I were practically rolling around on the floor laughing as we looked back at the picture we took. After looking at the 'we irritating' meme, we knew we had to re-create it, and what better way than in our suits? Tears were streaming down my cheeks, my stomach starting to ache. One minute we would calm down, then look back to the picture and start all over again. The only reason I stopped laughing was when an idea popped into my head.

I gasped loudly."I've just had the best idea ever!"

Peter let out one last chuckle before rolling onto his front, looking at me."What is it?"

"We need to re-create this with everyone."

His mouth dropped open."That's impossible?"

"Wanna bet?"

He smirked, reaching his hand out to me."Twenty bucks says you won't do it."

I shook his hand."Deal. Just be prepared to see the best photos of your entire life."

After getting changed back into casual clothes, I thought out a plan. Thor was probably the easiest, he would be all up for that, though the others would be difficult. I decided to try this out on the God first as a test run, still giggling at mine and Peter's photo. I hoped this would work, I wanted that twenty dollars.

I had a bounce in my step as I went on the look for Thor, finding him sat at the dining table. I sat next to him, returning the smile he gave me.

"Thor, would you be able to do me a favour?" I leaned my arm on the table, resting my head in my hand

"May I hear what this involves first?"

I nodded."I just want a picture with you."

"Oh, well of course."

“But we have to do a specific pose.”

“Um, alright but why?”

“It’s just this new thing going round. Thought you would like to be part of it.”

He gladly accepted, though it took a few trials before we got it. I had tried so hard not to laugh, though broke down when Thor did too. He kept asking me questions as to where he could find memes such as these, and as soon as I told him, he was glued to the tablet given to him, still chuckling to himself.

One down, five more to go.

Next was Bruce, and I felt slightly bad when I saw that he was extremely busy with his work. I made my presence known as I walked in, only receiving a short smile from him as his head bowed back down to his work. He asked how I was, only making small talk that could be delayed at times due to the fact he was so engrossed with whatever he was working on.

“OK, I’m going to be straight forward with you Bruce. I have a bet with Peter and I really need to win it.”

“OK?” he stood up straight, all his attention on me.

“I need you to take a picture with me, but we’re recreating a meme.”

His face scrunched up.“Oh no, I’m really not the right person to be doing this-”

“You know I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t need to.”

“What are you losing here? Five dollars?”

“Well, it’s twenty but-”

“I don’t know, it’s a little embarrassing.”

“Please Bruce? Peter is the only other person who will see it and I won’t ever ask something like this again!”

He hesitated, sighing before throwing his glasses off.“Let’s get this over with then.”

As soon as I took the picture, he was back to his work. I happily thanked him before skipping out of the room, holding in my laughter from how awkward the picture looked. Right, onto the senior citizen.

“Hey Steve? You know how you always want to stay up to date with everything?”

He had a knowing smirk on his face.“What is it?”

“Long story short I need you to take a picture with me to win a bet.”

“What sort of picture?”

“One like this.” I showed him the original source.

“Is this really necessary?”

“Yes, absolutely. Tell you what, if you do this for me, I’ll go to extra early training all week. You’ve been nagging me all week to do it.”

“Fine. Deal. Anything to get your training up.”

This was just too easy. And it got even easier when I found Clint and Natasha together. Nat had been all for it as long as she could see the other pictures (even though I promised Bruce no one would see them), and when Clint was hesitant she picked on him; he didn’t take any of it, proving he wasn’t ‘an old man’ and took the picture. Now for the boss man.

“I know what you’re here for.” Tony said as I walked into the kitchen where he was drinking his coffee.

“How? Oh, did the others tell you?”

“No, Peter did.”

“So...does that mean you’ll take the picture with me?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I promised the kid I wouldn’t.”

“Woah, that’s not fair! He can’t do that!”

“Look, you two can resolve this on your own.”

“Hold on.”

I unlocked my phone and put Peter on face time, my angry face meeting his smug one. That made me more annoyed.

“You’ve cheated.” I stated, pouting slightly.

“No, there was nothing in the rules about this.”

“Exactly! Peter, I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

“I wasn’t gonna lose twenty dollars!”

I suddenly had an idea, sitting next to Tony.

“Tony, can you come here for a minute?” He leaned his head in, putting his mug down. I pretended I noticed something on his face, looking at it through the screen.“What’s that on your face? Is there something in your bead?”

He looked at himself running his hand down his beard. My hand whipped up to my face, quickly taking a screen shot, a triumphant laugh bellowing out of me.

“What? What did you just do?” Peter asked.

I sent him all the pictures, and saw him react to the notification.

“You owe me twenty dollars!”

“What?!”

“Guys, you have gone through way too much effort for this.” Tony said.

“These are definitely being printed off and put into a photo album.”

#avengers #avengers imagine #avengers imagines #avengers one shot #avengers x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #marvel one shot #marvel x reader #marvel comics #marvel cinematic universe

448 notes · View notes

sp00ks-odyssey · 4 years

Text

A list of songs I like

A list of my favorite songs so you can know me better: 1. 123 Slaughter me street song By DAGames 2. 3OH!3 Bang bang (FROM THE VAULTS) 3. Why Love me - by Skyper 4. Aftermath - Go To Sleep (Hush Now Quiet Now Remix) 5. Aha! - Pentatonix 6. Angel with a shotgun by The Cab 7. ANIMALS by Maroon 5 8. Anti-Gravity By RUNAGROUND 9. Asking for it - Bye Shinedown 10. Aviators - Jaws (Five Nights at Freddy's Song) 11. AViVA - GRRRLS 12. Azazal & Said - I Said Meow (This is dubstep) 13. Backstreet Boys - I want it that way (Yes I love this song XD) 14. Bad Wolves - Zombie 15. Barnacle Boi - Don't Dwell (bass boosted) (There is only one word spoken the whole time and it makes me cry every time I listen to it I don't know why) 16. BAWITADABA - BY KID ROCK 17. Benny - Little Game 18. Breaking Benjamin - Dance with The Devil 19. Breaking Benjamin - I will not Bow 20. BTS - Dope 21. BTS - Not today 22. Capture the Crown - In My Head (A rock version of the original by Jason Derulo I love the original as well) 23. Centuries - By Fall Out Boy 24. Vocaloid Childish War (An au Sans Version I found) 25. Chopsticks Brothers - Little Apple 26. Classic - MKTO 27. Cooler than me - Mike Posner 28. Courtsey Call - By Thousand Foot Krutch 29. Da Games - Break my Mind (Fnaf 4 song) 30. Daughtry - Traitor 31. Demons - Imagine Dragons 32. DETECTIVE PIKACHU ( BASS HOUSE REMIX) 33. DJ Got Us Falling in Love - Usher (I love this song I hate the parody X( 34. Colors of the Rainbow - By ItaloBrothers 35. Doki Doki Literature Club Song Insanity - By Dolvondo {ft Chi chi} 36. Doubt - Twenty One Pilots 37. Dream Sans Sings - Legends Never Die (I love this version better than the original) 38. Drop pop Candy - English version 39. Eiffel 65 - I'm Blue 40. Error Sans sings Tell me Another (This is better than the original sorry Rockit Gaming XD) 41. Evanescence - My immortal (I love the original but I also love the male version I found) 42. Evans Blue This Time It's Different 43. Fan Girl - Ghost Town 44. Fire Burning - Sean Kingston (yes this is still around and yes I love it still XD) 45. Flo Rida - Low Ft. T-Pain (Radio Edit) The censored version :D 47. Flo Rida - Welcome to My house 48. Evanescence - Imaginary (I love the original but I found a male version that's beautiful) 49. FNAF Original Song - SharaX - Lockdown (there are more fnaf ones but let's not overflow with fnaf songs on this XD) 50. For your Entertainment - Adam Lambert 51. Gangam Style - PSY (YEs i still listen to this XD) 52. Give me Everything - Pitbull 53. Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams 54. Gumi - CopyCat 55. Hat Trick - Jonathan Thulin ft. Derek Minor 56. How Do You Love Someone - Nightcore Male version 57. Zero - By Varsity Club 58. Your'e so Creepy - By GhostTown 59. I Hate Everything About You - Three Days Grace 60. Ink Sans sings-Nightcore Butterflies (This is the best song I love this version) 61. Ink VS Error Sing Fight For Your Life - (Original song is by Simon Curtis but this version is mwah~) 62. iNSaNiTY - Vocaloid (Not the english one I love the none english one) 63. Jason Derulo - The Other Side 64. Jet Pack Blues - Fall Out Boy 65. Numb - By Lincoln Park 66. Karma - CircusP feat. Eyeris (Male version) 67. Killer - By The Ready Set 68. Lamb. GARDNiDELiA (This is a good Vocaloid) 69. The Living Tombstone - Grim Grinning Ghosts 70. The Living Tombstone - Spooky Scary Skeletons 71. Love Again - Pentatonix 72. Losing My Mind by Mystery Skulls 73. Manic Drive - Mic Drop 74. Maroon 5 - One More Night 75. Red - Let It Burn 76. Red - Hold Me Now 77. Cake By Melanie Martinez 78. My Demons - Starset 79. Nightcore 16 Shots (Male version) 80. NIghtcore - Anxiety (Deeper voice) I love the nightcore males as you can tell 81. Nightcore Male - I'm a Mess 82. Nightcore - Marionette (Male Version) 83. Nightcore - Monster (Male Version Gumi) 84. Nightcore - Pretty Little Psycho (Male Version) 85. Nightcore - Replay (male Version) 86. Nightcore - Rewrite the Stars (Male Version) 87. Nightcore - Rollercoaster (Male Version) 88. Nightcore - Things I'll never Say (Male Version) 89. Nightcore - Unconditionally (Male Version) 90. Nightcore - Truth or Dare (Male version) 91. Owl City - Fireflies 92. Owl City - Shooting Star 93. Pitbull ft. T-pain - Hey Baby (Drop it too the floor) 94. Pain - Three Days Grace 95. Rixton - Me and My Broken Heart 96. Scream -Usher 97. Yeah - Usher 98. The Script - Hall Of Fame 99. SharaX - Renegade (Sans + Papyrus character cover) 100. SharaX - Tick Tock (Vocal Cover) Chance Melt 101. SIAMES - The Wolf 102. Skillet - Awake and Alive, Comatose, Falling inside the Black, Feel Invincible, The resistance, Whispers in the Dark, and Monster) 103. Starset - Point of no Return , it has Begun 104. Super Junior - SORRY SORRY (This group is almost as good as BTS) 105. Take it Out On Me - Thousand Foot Krutch 106. War of Change - Thousand Foot Krutch 107. Three days Grace - Fallen Angel 108. Three Days Grace - Time of Dying 109. TULE - Fearless (fearless meme) 110. UndertaleClose to you - Sans (voice) this is beautiful when you find the right one 111. Flowerfell Secret Garden (This song is beautiful and makes me cry) 112. Usher - More 113. Walk the Moon - Shut Up and Dance with Me 114. Whataya Want From Me - Adam Lambert

#i hate country music can't stand it #i don't like alot of the new ones #these are what I like

11 notes · View notes

star-going-supernova · 5 years

Note

Imagine what would happen if there were an army of mothras.

I like what I’m imagining, but what if they were all different sizes?

the original Mothra being the largest and the unquestionable leader

a dozen or so slightly smaller ones. if they’re not in battle, they just sort of wander until they can be of use. they seem to love helping people, for as terrifying as it can be to have a moth the size of your house descend on you. car accidents and crime decrease drastically in areas these mothras frequently patrol, for lack of a better word. they are surprisingly good at tracking down missing people. their silk comes in handy for repairs. every now and then, one lands in a large grassy area—usually in a park—to take a nap. within an hour, they’re surrounded by people leaning against their soft fluff, relaxing as if she’s a therapy dog who is lowering their blood pressure simply by existing. the younger generations take to her—to all the mothras—faster than the older, more wary folks. but in those calm moments, even the most fearful can’t help but admit they start feeling something like reassurance when they see these creatures.

car-sized mothras everywhere. you’re watching your kid play on a playground and just get swooped up by a moth you could comfortably ride into battle. you’re having a heart attack; your kid is having the time of their life. all the other children are jealous and are shouting for their turns. parents everywhere are going pale. more show up and suddenly there are games of chicken being played twenty feet above the ground. this is the best day of all those kids’ lives. never have so many parents fainted at once. eventually, a teenager gets the idea to bow to one like in Harry Potter with the hippogriff, and what do you know, when you ask nicely and show proper respect, they do let you ride them. if you bribe them with treats, like various fruits, they’ll full on take you where you ask to go. it’s like uber, but you pay in snacks and it also makes for a much more dramatic entrance, descending from the sky on the back of a small titan.

dog-sized mothras. there are so many of them, no one can even guess at the total number. they seem to multiply any time people turn their backs. you hear something on your roof and get the surprise of your life when you step outside and find big blue eyes and a pair of beautiful wings staring back at you. some make their nests up against chimneys. your kids shuffle into the kitchen one afternoon and start babbling about how they found her on the side of the road and she was hurt, can they please keep her, they promise to take care of her. you expect to see a dog or cat, maybe a baby bird. it’s a mothra whose wing is torn. you feel like she’s looking into your soul, so you’re too afraid to refuse. within weeks, it’s like your house has been blessed—the ants in the pantry have vanished, you haven’t seen mosquitoes in the backyard for over a week, and your garden is flourishing. the kids have named the tiny goddess Fluffy, of all things, and you can’t help but commend her for her infinite patience.

and then the bird-sized mothras. small enough to hold in your hand, large enough to be terrifying if they dive-bomb you. everyone thinks they wouldn’t be of much use in a battle between true titans, but then something happens and oh, how you were all wrong. they are vicious when they want to be, snapping their little beak-things and tearing through flesh in groups. they’re too small for their opponent to have much of a defense against them. people are wary after that, but kids have always been brave. they figure out that if you pet them just so, they make an adorable high-pitched purr. they sleep on people’s shoulders and on top of heads. they’re the most common unofficial pets, but many stay loyal to a particular human. in some ways, this size is the hardest to adjust to, because unlike the others, there are enough of these that they exist everywhere. bonus: someone remakes the Finding Nemo seagulls meme but with these mothras. they throw a handful of strawberries on the ground in front of dozens of resting mothras and put the ‘mine’ audio over the video

#i answered a thing #anonymous #Godzilla: King of the Monsters #Mothra #multiple mothras #whoops this got long #life and times of star

30 notes · View notes

ladyanatui · 4 years

Text

Ultimate Daiken Playlist, Pt. 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

This is the abridged version of my Spotify playlist for all things Daiken, mostly in order from the start of 02 to...eventually. Even so, this is still a pretty damn long list. My original aim was for 30 songs, but...uh, yeah, I surpassed that pretty quickly. It’s around 75 now. Yikes. So I split it up.

I have problems with self-control. Especially when it comes to my babies.

Part 1 specifically covers from the start of 02 to just after the defeat of the Digimon Kaiser.

TRIGGER WARNING: This post discusses depression, suicide, emotional abuse, and PTSD quite a lot. Take care of yourself, folks!

Spotify Playlist

Click the song titles for YouTube links (apparently you can’t have more than five videos in a post), and otherwise, enjoy me rambling about Daiken...as I am wont to do.

One final note: Within the lyrics, I’ve emphasized meaningful words, such as night/nightmare, dark/darkness, miracle(s), kind/kindness, courage/bravery, friend/friendship, sun/star/light, fire/burn/ignite, angel(s), and words related to water/drowning.

“I’m Just a Kid” by Simple Plan

I think I got a lot of friends But I don't hear from them What's another night all alone When you're spending every day on your own

I envision this as Daisuke’s life before becoming one of the Chosen, before meeting Ken. It’s pretty well established that Taichi and Hikari are the only legitimate friends he has during that time, aside from (possibly) his soccer teammates, but he’s not close with any of them. And worse, his home life is obviously not great: His parents ignore him, and his sister irritates him just to irritate him. That may seem like a normal brother/sister relationship, but a 17-year-old slapping her 11-year-old isn’t normal or healthy.

The truth is, Daisuke has no legitimate example of healthy family interactions, and in some ways, his home life is as emotionally abusive as Ken’s was. His parents insult him (his father calls him his “stupid son” when Ken first visits) and ignore him (Daisuke repeatedly says his parents wouldn’t notice if he didn’t come home and lies to them to avoid spending time at home), so he has no idea how to respond to compliments.

This also means that he latches on to the people he cares about, much the same way Jun latches on to attractive boys. He idolizes Taichi (calling him senpai when speaking with him directly), and he constantly seeks attention from Hikari. Since we don’t know what Daisuke and Hikari’s relationship was like before Takeru shows up, it’s all speculation, but Daisuke was probably way less aggressive and possessive of her before someone came to try to take his one friend away.

So Daisuke has no idea how to show affection (whether familial, platonic, or romantic) in a normal, healthy way. He’s never had a close friend (or any real friends probably), and he’s never been close with any of his family. He’s actually lived an incredibly lonely life.

“Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin

This flood This flood is slowly rising up Swallowing the ground Beneath my feet Tell me how anybody thinks Under this condition So I'll swim, I'll swim As the water rises up Sun is sinking down

Similarly, this functions as Ken’s theme song for events prior to the start of 02. There are a lot of references to water--“flood,” “swim,” and I believe there’s talk about drowning as well--which is very fitting because of the Dark World (Ocean), but also because Ken obviously suffers from depression and the idea of drowning is one of the most used and most accurate descriptions of what chronic depression feels like (trust me, I know!).

But my favorite part of this is the last two lines from the quote. Let’s be real, the sun is a huge symbol when it comes to our goggle boys--they are bright, cheerful, energetic, and so fucking bright they could rival the sun itself. When Ken is so incredibly surrounded by darkness, Daisuke is the sun. There are so many things that support this, but most importantly:

The Crest of Courage is shaped like the sun. It doesn’t get more overt than that.

When V-mon evolves to Magnamon, it’s described as: “It was a miraculous evolution. As beautiful as the rising sun shining brightly on the world.”

Daisuke is the sun. Ken is the world. And Ken needs his sun to help him out of the darkness.

“Send Me an Angel” by Highly Suspect

Open fire on my burning heart I've never been lucky in love My defenses are down A kiss or a frown I can't survive on my own

Send me an angel Send me an angel Right now, right now

Before they met, before 02 actually starts, both Ken and Daisuke are effectively alone. Yeah, they’re surrounded by people (Daisuke more than Ken), but never of them have any real friends or close relationships.

This song is something I see Daisuke feeling in his more introspective moments (rare, I know), as what he needs more than anything is true love and companionship. When I say love here, I don’t necessarily mean romantic. While, yes, Daisuke has poor luck in romance (Hikari, hello!), he has poor luck with platonic love as well.

And I’m all for anything that references Ken as being an angel. Obviously, Ken would never agree to that sentiment, but a lot of the time, it feels like that’s how Daisuke views him. To Daisuke, [post-Kaiser] Ken is this amazing, beautiful, even verging perfect person, and you can see he feels that way just from the way he looks at Ken.

I also chose this song because it’s a small reference to something I drew not too long ago, which itself is based on a Lilo & Stitch meme.

“Duality” by Set It Off

I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways Or explain why I'm not sane All I can say is this is your warning

It's a cloak or disguise unleashed, gonna get it off No, I'll never get away Cause if I try to stray It only holds me closer No, I'll never get away I'll have it any way

Okay, this is very obviously a Kaiser song. But it’s also a Ken song. The whole thing about this song is that Ken is trapped as the Kaiser and doesn’t have full control over himself. And can he actually explain why he does the crazy evil shit he does? His explanation is that he thought the Digital World was a video game, but that’s obviously not the full picture. He can’t fully explain because the Dark Seed is what makes him evil as opposed to simply sad and lonely and traumatized.

“Numb Without You” by The Maine

You are my last, you are my first You kill me for the better You are the rising tide You're every fucking thing inside me now

You are the violence in my veins You are the war inside my brain You are my glitter and my gloom I am so numb without you

This is another Kaiser/Ken song. To an extent, this song has a sort of sadistic romantic aspect to it, but I’m choosing to ignore those undertones in favor of just the creepy sadistic part. This is sort of Ken singing to his Kaiser persona and also to depression in general. Because the Kaiser is the “rising tide” (oh, look another reference to water!) and the manifestation of his grief and trauma and mental illness.

But as the title of the song suggests, the Kaiser persona is also what allows him to still feel something. Without it, he’s in the complete numbness of his depression (which sucks, trust me), and he would rather have the Kaiser, who is violent and angry and bitter, instead of the absolute numbness of his grief and depression.

“Deer in the Headlights” by Owl City

Tell me again was it love at first sight When I walked by and you caught my eye Didn't you know love could shine this bright? Well, smile because you're the deer in the headlights

Met a girl boy with a graceful charm But when beauty met the beast, he froze Got the sense I was not her his type By a black eye and bloody nose But I guess that's the way it goes

Note: I (obviously) changed a few pronouns in the quote. It should be apparent what I altered based on formatting.

Here, we see the first time Daisuke and Ken meet. And I’m talking Ken (although evil Ken), not the Kaiser. Yes, this is referencing the soccer match they play against each other in episode eight.

It’s pretty damn obvious that eleven-year-old Daisuke is completely enamored when he meets the famous Ichijouji Ken. He blushes and stumbles over his words, and he is so overwhelmed and happy that Ken remembered his name after the match was over. He admires him, and when Ken tells him that he’s the first person to ever stop that move in the match, Daisuke just looks so pleased to hear the compliment.

Also, bonus points for any song that references the sun or light: “Didn’t you know love could shine this bright?”

“Love the Way You Hate Me” by Like a Storm

You say I'm insane I say You're afraid I get stronger from the pain I love the way you hate me

I'd rather be a sinner than a slave I'd rather be an outcast than just bow down and obey When it's all done there's only one Name upon my grave I'd rather be a freak than be a fake

Another Kaiser song. While the previous song could be placed pretty much any time during the first fifteen episodes or so, this one is distinctly set after they find out the Kaiser is Ichijouji Ken. The focus here is on the way the Kaiser (emotionally) gets off from how much the Chosen Children, Daisuke especially, fight against him and hate him. He enjoys watching them try so hard and keep failing because, while he desperately wants to have an opponent, he loves to win more--he does think it’s a game, after all.

“Lock Me Up” by The Cab

Why don't you Lock me up with joy and kisses? Lock me up with love? Chain me to your heart's desire

I don't want you to stop Lock me in and hold this moment Never get enough Ain't no way I'm ever breaking free Lock me up

This song is mostly in reference to the serious foe yay aspect to Daisuke and Kaiser Ken’s relationship for the first half of the series. The homoerotic subtext in their relationship is ridiculous, especially since they’re two eleven-year-old boys, one of whom (theoretically) has a huge crush on a female friend for the first half(ish) of the season. But you can bet that, if the Chosen Children had a second enemy during the Kaiser’s days, the Kaiser would be pissed and pull the whole “No! Motomiya’s my enemy. Only I can defeat him!” bit like he’s Kaiba Seto or something.

“Fallen Angel” by Three Days Grace

How can I take the pain away? How can I save...

A fallen angel in the dark Never thought you'd fall so far Fallen angel, close your eyes I won't let you fall tonight Fallen angel

But then there’s comes the very important part where Daisuke has a revelation. When he and V-mon meet Wormmon on the Kaiser’s base, Wormmon is determined and takes them to the Digimental of Miracles in an attempt to help them defeat the Kaiser and bring back his kind-hearted best friend. The moment Daisuke touches the Golden Digimental, something changes: It’s connected to Ken because it’s borne from his Crest of Kindness, and Daisuke is able to see that there’s more to Ken than his Kaiser persona. He knows that there’s good in him before they’ve even defeated him, and he wants to help him.

And seriously, bonus points for a song from Daisuke’s POV that refers to Ken as an angel. I’ll fight anyone who says he doesn’t see Ken that way. Legit.

“Breaking Down” by I Prevail

Lies, every time they ask me I just tell 'em that I'm fine Try to hide my demons, but they only multiply Keep me running from the voices on repeat inside my mind Everybody fucking hates you

I guess I never noticed how it came creeping in My enemy emotion but I can't sink or swim I say I'm feeling hopeless but no one's listening But no one's listening, but no one's listening

This song is in reference to the way Kaiser Ken’s psyche is falling apart. He’s having doubts. Creepy voices are talking to him. He’s confused about how the Chosen Children are actually defeating him. Chimairamon is a freaking nightmare and totally uncontrollable. And Ken is about to have a goddamn breakdown.

“Goner” by Twenty One Pilots

Though I'm weak Beaten down I'll slip away Into the sound

I've got two faces Blurry's the one I'm not I need your help to Take him out

Look how far we’ve come! We’re almost to the Kaiser’s defeat! (Dear god, this is a long playlist...)

Ken isn’t aware of how much he needs Daisuke to help him at this point. He’s too busy being the Kaiser and, you know, having a mental breakdown. But it’s important that Daisuke is the one there to help bring everything down. V-mon evolves to Magnamon and defeats Chimairamon with some badass moves (he is a Royal Knight after all), and Daisuke and the rest of the Chosen Children are finally able to get through to Ken.

“Not Gonna Die” by Skillet

Break their hold Cause I won't be controlled They can't keep their chains on me When the truth has set me free

Only when he realizes that the Digital World isn’t a game is Ken able to break through the hold that the Dark Seed (and Oikawa and BelialVamdemon, etc.) have on him. He tears off his Kaiser clothes and goes back to being just Ken. Just sweet, kind-hearted, adorable Ken.

Parts of this song, though, would be from Daisuke’s perspective. He’s determined, even though they have defeated their enemy, to help Ken, even that simply means sending him home to his family instead of letting Ken just waste away, which is frankly what it looks like he’s about to do during this scene.

“Tell Me Why” by Three Days Grace

Tell me why Does everything that I love get taken away From me? Why does everything that I love get taken away?

How come nothing ever lasts? It goes from good to bad to worse so fast All it takes is one and I'm gone, and you can't erase the past How come nothing ever lasts?

Obviously, this is a Ken-centric song, the focus being on his past when he saw his brother’s death, though Osamu’s death is nowhere near his fault. Yet again, Ken goes through a traumatic experience (Wormmon’s death), and for the first time, this is (somewhat) his fault.

While I linked the subs version, the English dub of this scene actually has a line almost exactly like this song: “Not again. Wormmon’s gone. Just like my brother. I was helpless to save him, and now I can’t save Wormmon either. Why do I keep losing people?”

Sorry, were you not wanting to cry today? ...Oops.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

#daiken #daisuke motomiya #ken ichijouji #digimon #digimon 02 #playlist #okay ultimate might be an exaggeration #but this is loooooong #and the actual spotify playlist is longer #i lack self-control #especially when it comes to daiken #welcome to my life #trigger warning #suicide #depression #ptsd #mental health #emotional abuse #anatui

4 notes · View notes

reaperthegenius · 5 years

Text

Invisible Ties (Part 1?) - My Hero Academia AU

The monotony of a school day is a familiar feeling, one I almost missed, but not quite. Studying to be a hero at UA was a dream and every day was so exciting. I was happy just getting to be around so much talent and to learn what I would need to be a hero one day. Yesterday those days were put in my past when I got bumped to the general studies path for my lackluster performance. I thought I was improving, but for a second-year student, it wasn’t enough. Now I am back to monotonous school days and trying to fit into a group of people where I’m the odd man out. It won’t be easy going, but I’m determined to win my spot back in the hero course and in the meantime, I’m going to try to survive the general studies path.

I struggle to find my new classroom since I’ve never been to this part of the school, but it doesn’t take me long to get going in the right direction. Within a few minutes, I’m standing outside of class 2-G and trying to build up the confidence to walk in with my head held high. I take a deep breath and just as I reach for the door, someone comes barreling toward me in a rush to enter the classroom. I step back to avoid colliding with the student and he throws the door open to run into the class. Before I can begin to enter myself, another student comes chasing after the first and flies after him through the door. Maybe my school days won’t be a monotonous as I thought.

I finally enter after the boys to see them still running around the classroom. Luckily, the teacher quickly tells them to both sit down or risk getting detention. The threat of more hours spent at school stop both in their tracks and they sit down in their seats, but not without grumbling as they do so. I start to head for the teacher when she catches sight of me and calls me over.

“You’re our new student from the hero path, correct?” She asks.

“Yes, that’s me. I’m Shirayuki.” I tell her.

“Nice to meet you Shirayuki, I’m Ms. Adachi. I’ll be your teacher for the rest of the year. Once everyone shows up, I’ll have you introduce yourself to the class and assign you a seat. Sound good?”

“Yes. I hope for a good year under your care.” I say and bow my head slightly. I decide to wait near the door until the bell rings and I can be introduced to my new classmates. While I wait, I observe the people I’ll be with every day from now on. There are the two boys from before, one is a bit taller and has dark hair while the other boy is shorter with silver hair. They seem to have a playful relationship and there is a third boy sitting with them who seems a bit more reserved than the other two, but he still joins in on their banter. Sitting just outside the small circle the boys have created, there is a beautiful blonde girl who seems to be their friend as well, but she doesn’t seem very interested in their playful conversation at the moment.

I continue to scan the room and spot several groups of friends chatting before the school day officially starts. Almost no one seems to be anyone special which is jarring after spending over a year with the hero course kids who are all someone special. Looking back over at the dark-haired boy, he seems special in some way, though I can’t seem to place how. He doesn’t appear to have a quirk, but the energy around him feels different. I can’t seem to stop looking over at him until the bell rings pulling me out of my thoughts. Once the bell rings and everyone is in their seat, Ms. Adachi calls me over to stand next to her at the front of the room.

“This is your new classmate, take care of her. I’ll let her introduce herself.” She tells the class.

“Hello everyone, I’m Shirayuki. I’ll be joining your class from today on, please take care of me!” I say and bow at my peers. Most of my classmates yell out a quick hello before Ms. Adachi begins to speak again.

“Shirayuki, the only open seat is in the back beside Obi. You may sit there and if you need any school materials, you can share with Obi for today.” As I go to the back of the room to take my seat, I observe my new seatmate is the dark-haired boy from before. At least I know his name now and maybe sitting next to him will give me an idea as to why he seems so interesting.

I go to sit down and Obi leans over and whispers, “Do you need the math notes or textbook? That’s our first lesson for today.”

“I’m good, I have my own but thank you,” I tell him and pull my notebook and textbook from my backpack. I hold them up for him to see and open to the page Ms. Adachi wrote on the board after my introduction. We don’t speak the rest of the morning besides to share a textbook for English since we were using a different one in my previous class. When lunch comes, I decide to ask about sitting with Obi since he’s really the only person I know in our class so far.

“Obi, would it be okay for me to eat lunch with you and your friends? I don’t really know anyone yet and I would love the chance to get to know you more.”

He stops to think for a moment before answering, “Sure, why not? My friends could probably use the excitement of someone new to talk to.” He says that but thinking back to his morning chase I doubt I’ll be any more exciting than his friends already are.

We move to sit a couple of desks away closer to his friends who all sit right near each other. “Shirayuki is going to join us for lunch, hope that’s okay with everybody,” Obi announces to them as he takes his seat and gestures for me to follow at the desk next to him. “So, to introduce you to everyone. Zen is the resident rich kid with silver hair. Mitsuhide is the handsome guy who keeps me and Zen in check. And our lovely lady friend is Kiki, the most beautiful girl to grace UA’s halls, besides maybe you.” At that last comment, I feel my face heat up a bit, but I just laugh it off.

“Nice to meet everyone. Thank you for letting me sit with you guys, it’s kind of hard adjusting to being in a new class partway through the year.” I comment as I open my lunch box and start to eat like everyone else.

Zen is the first one to speak, “Nice to meet you, Shirayuki. It must be hard coming here like this. I am curious though as to how this happened. I didn’t think transferring into UA was possible.”

“Well, I didn’t transfer. I was originally in the hero course here at UA and I got bumped so now I’m in the general studies course. It seems I wasn’t performing up to the standards of a second-year hero course student. It kind of sucks since it was my dream to graduate from UA’s hero course, but now all I can do is make the best of my time here. I’ve also gotten lucky to meet such nice people already so that makes it a lot better.” I explain to Zen and the group.

“Wow, I didn’t know that was even possible but I’m glad I got to meet you because of it,” Obi tells me and smiles at me. I smile back at him and the conversation starts to drift into our interests and what we all like. I spend the whole lunch period getting to know everyone more and when lunch comes to an end, I’m sad to go back to learning. I want to keep getting to know everyone, but I have all year to do that, so I go back to my seat. I managed to finish the rest of the day out without any real hiccups and when it’s over, Obi asks me if I would like to exchange numbers and said he’d give me the other three’s numbers as well.

After exchanging numbers, we go our separate ways for the day. It doesn’t take long before Obi creates a group chat for the five of us after school and by the time, I go to bed that night, we’ve all been sending memes back and forth for hours. It’s nice to know that despite the sadness of my transfer to general studies, I’ve found friends who make me happy. I go to bed thinking about the friends I’ve made and all the things we could get into together.

The next morning, I awake to find texts from the group about making plans for the upcoming weekend.

Who needs a silver spoon when I have silver hair: So, karaoke and maybe hitting the arcade?

MitsuHottie: Didn’t we do that last week?

Who needs a silver spoon when I have silver hair: Yeah, but not with Shirayuki! Besides, karaoke is always fun!

Rogue One: I’m down, I’d love to see that performance of “Love Story” again! You’re gonna give Shirayuki a real show, Zen?

Who needs a silver spoon when I have silver hair: Why do I have to sing Taylor Swift? Why can’t you embarrass yourself in front of her? Be a good guy and let me keep my dignity for at least a little longer.

MitsuHottie: Did you have any to begin with?

Can and will kick your ass: I haven’t seen it since I’ve met him. Also, karaoke is good with me.

Who needs a silver spoon when I have silver hair: Oh, come on you guys! You shouldn’t gang up on me, I’m your friend.

Rogue One: But that’s what friends are for, mister

After reading through the messages I figure it’s time for me to respond and put Zen out of his misery.

Hero to Zero: I’m down with karaoke and I’d love to go to the arcade. I’m ready to kick some serious ass at air hockey. I’m excited to see Zen’s performance as well, seems like quite the show!

Once I send my response, I hop in the shower and get ready for the day. The school day was pretty much the same as yesterday and went by fast. The rest of the week followed suit and flew by in no time. It was time to get ready to hang out with the gang before I even realized it. I decided to keep it simple with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I quickly made sure I had everything I needed and headed out to meet everyone at the karaoke place.

Hero to Zero: I got here a bit early so I’m going to head over to the café across the street to wait for you guys.

Right after sending the message to the group, I run into Obi who also got here early it seems. “Want to go sit in the café with me?” I ask him and point across the road to the storefront.

“Sure, it’ll be nice to spend a few minutes just us. We haven’t really gotten much one on one time; it’ll be a good change of pace.”

“Yeah, it’ll be nice to just chill together for a bit. Let’s head on over.” I say and start off towards the café. Once we get there, we both order a drink and sit down for a few minutes to chat and wait for our friends.

“So, Shirayuki, how are you doing? I know we all joke around a lot, but I know it must be hard losing your dream. I just want to make sure you’re okay and let you know that I’m here for you.” That was a lot heavier of a conversation topic than I thought we would discuss, but I’m touched to know Obi is concerned about me. Maybe that’s why I thought he was special that first day, he has this warmth about him and despite him acting like he doesn’t want to get attached, he really cares about those around him.

“I’m okay, honestly. It has been hard on me but meeting you and everyone else has made this all so much better. I had no idea what I was walking into on that first day, but I met people who accepted me right away despite my shortcomings. I couldn’t have asked for better friends even though we’ve only known each other a week. Thank you for checking on me, it’s really sweet.”

“You’re welcome, I’m just glad to know you’re doing okay. I know what it’s like to not get to live out your dream. The other three don’t know this, but I originally applied to the hero course at UA. I took the entrance exam and didn’t make it through. I never really saw much in myself but for once I really wanted to try and I failed. It really hurt to only get into the general studies course but like you, I found some amazing friends there so it’s worth it.” Obi smiles faintly and I can tell he’s thinking about Zen and the others. He’s really lucky to have such great people at his side.

Obi starts to speak again, and he almost sounds hesitant as he asks me, “Can we keep this between us?”

“Of course, it’s your story to tell. I’m glad you trusted me with this, it’s nice to know we have a little something in common. I have to ask though, you never mentioned your quirk, what is it?” I ask him.

Obi looks around a second and gestures for me to lean in and he whispers in my ear, “Invisibility.” He leans back and grins at me. “It’s our secret though, you can’t tell anyone. The only people I’ve ever told were the school because I had to, I like to keep it under wraps in case I ever need it.”

“Makes sense,” I tell him and pull out my phone to check the time. It looks like our little heart to heart is over since it’s time to go meet the others. “Looks like it’s time, want to head back over to the karaoke place?” I ask and start to grab our drinks to throw away.

“Sounds good. Let’s go.” Obi says as he takes the drinks from me to throw them away and he heads for the door. I follow behind and as we walk over, I start to wonder how many more secrets Obi holds and when I’ll get to know them.

#obiyukibingo2019 #obiyuki #my hero academia au #this may have more parts later but I'm not sure yet

14 notes · View notes

feralhogs · 5 years

Note

Questions 1, 2, skip a few, 99 100! ANSWER THEM ALL!!!!!!

LETS DO THIS

99 gay-ish asks

how tall are you?5 SOMETHING

what is your body type?SLENDERMAN

what is your favorite part about your body?THE T

is your current hair color your natural hair color?YES

are you more outgoing or more shy?SHY

are you more femme or butch?ITS COMPLICATED, BUT, BUTCH

are you tol or smol?APPARENTLY IM TWINK. NOT SURE WHERE THAT IS ON THIS SCALE

wine mom or vodka aunt?NO

weird habit?I EAT BREAKFAST FOOD AT ANY HOUR

favorite meme?VIBE CHECK, IM SMUG ABOUT MY URL

do you sing in the shower?NO BUT I USED TO. JUST SHY ABOUT ROOMMATES. I DO IN MY CAR

ever used a bow and arrow?NO, BUT MY BROTHER DESIGNED AND BUILT ONE, GOT IN TROUBLE FOR MAKING A WEAPON

are/were you a theatre kid?IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WHERE IM ALLOWED TO HAVE AN EGO, YES

have you ever seen a broadway musical?NO

do you think musicals are cheesy?NO I THINK THEYRE JUST A MEDIUM OF ART

have you ever been a part of a protest or a march?NO WEIRDLY

favorite Cards Against Humanity Card?IDK THEM

last movie you watched?PROBABLY MEGEAMIND

behind the camera or in front of it?BEHIND. BUT BOTH IS GOOD

favorite tv show?AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER

meaning behind your urlTHE ACTUAL REASON IS IT REMINDS ME I CAN TRUST MY INTUITION

reason you joined tumblrA CRUSH WROTE IN MY YEARBOOK I SHOULD GET IT. DONT WRITE THAT IN PEOPLES YEARBOOKS

who’s your closest tumblr friend?THE PERSON ASKING ME 99 QUESTIONS

what’s something most people love that you hate?TACOS AT WORK. THEYRE POPULAR OF COURSE. I MAY NOT KNOW MY TACOS, BUT PLAIN RAW CABBAGE ON THEM MAKES ME DOUBT

have you ever taken narcotics?NO

have you had sex?NO

have you ever gotten caught sneaking out or doing anything bad?I DONT GET CAUGHT!!!! IM SO SNEAKY… AND TRAUMATIZED. I ONLY GOT CAUGHT WHEN PEOPLE WERE LIKE, HUNTING ME. NOT FAIR. ALSO HOW DO YOU “GET CAUGHT” FOR DOING NORMAL THINGS LIKE READING AND HAVING CLOTHES

worst/funniest lie you’ve ever told?PROBABLY THE REASSURING CHRISTIAN VALUES THINGS I TOLD MY PARENTS TO GET MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST BECAUSE FOR SOMEONE INCONVENIENTLY TRUTHFUL, THAT WAS SOME PRETTY HARDCORE LYING IN A RIDICULOUS SITUATION, AND THE WORST BECAUSE WHAT A HORRIBLE THING TO HAVE TO DO. IT WAS HORRIBLE BECAUSE I WAS SO CONVINCING BECAUSE I MIXED IT WITH THE TRUTH I COULD SINCERELY EXPRESS

describe your passion without mentioning it.HEY GUYS IM WRITING CHAPTER 1 AGAIN I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT THIS TIME

describe your best friend.WARM STRONG RESILIENT UNCONDITIONALLY LOVING KINDLY HONEST CREATIVE TALENTED BRAVE HARDWORKING BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL NURTURING SELF CONFIDENT

give us one thing about you that no one knows.NO ONE KNOWS THE GRITTY DETAILS OF SOME SAD MOMENTS IN MY PAST. DID YOU KNOW I HATE THE SMELL OF HOSPITAL FOOD FROM WHEN I VISITED A FAMILY MEMBER IN A PSYCH WARD

how do you feel right now?GOOD, I SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED THOUGH

what is your biggest fear?BREAKING SELF HARM STREAK

what’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?SING A SONG EARTH WIND AND FIRE

what is the best decision you’ve made in your life so far?LEAVING MY PARENTS. ITS TAKEN ME AGES TO UNLEARN SO MUCH SELF-DEFEATING STUFF

have you ever tried your hardest and then been disappointed in the end?MOSTLY EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE BUT IM CHILL

something you fantasize about.ACTUALLY DANCING TO MUSIC I LIKE. I NEVER LEARNED HOW TO DANCE BUT I WANT TO SFM

last time you cried and whyTHAT PREACHER GUY IN LUCIFER. IT SUCKED BUT IM SO BLOWN AWAY BY LUCIFERS ANGRY YELLING AT THE SKY. WHAT A GIANT MOOD

what was the last thing that made you laugh?MY SISTER ASKING ME WHAT DILF MEANT

do you really, truly miss someone right now?NO. IF I MISS SOMEONE, ITS A SIGN THEY WERE A BAG OF DICKS TO ME AND MESSED UP MY INNER CLARITY

who do you feel most comfortable talking to about anything?YOU

the last time you felt broken?WHEN MY TWO FRIENDS AT THE TIME GANGED UP ON ME AND ABANDONED ME AT A NOT PRETTY TIME IN MY LIFE. I COULDNT EAT WHICH AND I STILL STRUGGLE WITH EATING, I NEVER USED TO

are you starting to realize anything?THAT IF I RELY ON MY LIFE EXPERIENCE, ILL EXPECT TO FAIL AND SABOTAGE MYSELF, AND INSTEAD I NEED TO TAKE RISKS AND PUT FAITH IN MY FUTURE.

are you more dominant or more submissive?THERES EVIDENCE FOR BOTH, BUT I THINK THE LATTER IS JUST FROM ABUSE AND GIRL RULES

i’ll only date you if _____. (fill in the blank)WASH YOUR HANDS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

do you prefer to date people the same age as you, younger, or older?AROUND MY AGE THERE IS SOME UNDERSTANDING

describe the person you’re in love with/have a crush on in great detail.IM NOT IN LOVE I DONT EVEN HAVE A CRUSH. I MAY HAVE A SQUISH

do you have any kinks?MAYBE SO

first thing you notice in a person?HOW THEY HANDLE STRESS AND PROBLEMS, IF THEY BLAME/GET ANGRY, OR IF THEY ARE COMPASSIONATE AND PATIENT. LOOKING FOR RED FLAGS

how can someone win your heart?FOOD. CHEESECAKE WAS A POWER MOVE. BONDING… OVER FOOD. I HAVE HAPPY MEMORIES ATTACHED TO BEVERAGES.

been rejected by a crush?YES

have you ever had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back?YES

would you have sex with the last person you text messaged?NO

is trust a big issue for you?YES

did you hang out with the person you like recently?NO

is confidence cute?YES, SELF LOVE LOOKS GOOD ON PEOPLE

what would you say if the person you love/like kissed another girl/boy?GOOD FOR THEM. I DONT LIKE ANYONE RIGHT NOW

would you be able to date someone who doesn’t make you laugh?NO. GIGGLING LIKE A LUNATIC IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY LIFE AND YOU NEED TO KEEP UP

does the person you have feelings for right now know you do?IF THEYRE FEELINGS, PROBABLY, BECAUSE IM TRANSPARENT

ever embarrass yourself in front of a crush?IVE HAD MY EMBARRASSMENT GLANDS REMOVED FOR MY FTM TRANSITION

do you want to get marriedYEAH WHEN IM FIFTY THEN ILL GET A BUNCH OF DOGS AND CATS AND CHICKENS

worst thing you’ve ever done?APPARENTLY IVE BORROWED BOOKS AND NEVER RETURNED THEM

three things that turn you on.IM GOING THRU PUBERTY 2, TEENAGE BOY EDITION, IT DOESNT TAKE MUCH

who do you hate?I DONT LIKE SUCH SIMPLE CATEGORIES, BUT I START TO FEEL HATRED WITH REPEATED CRUELTY/WHEN SOMEONE REFUSES TO HEAR ME

favorite term of endearment?MY FRIEND

who was your celebrity/fictional gay awakening?I DIDNT REALLY HAVE TVS/POP CULTURE GROWING UP LIKE MOST PEOPLE, PROBABLY FOUND IT IN CREATIVE WRITING

intimidating girls or kind girls?KIND

what do you look for in a possible partner?EQUALITY

do you tend to like more masculine, feminine, or androgynous girls?YES

are you good at flirting?PERHAPS. WHEN IM NOT THINKING ABOUT IT

who was the first person you came out to?I DONT ACTUALLY REMEMBER. A HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND. IT WAS A STRESSFUL COMPLICATED TIME, MY WORLD WAS UPSIDE DOWN, IT WAS GRADUAL

do you have any friends who are wlw?PROBABLY

is your crush wlw?IDK

last person to make you reconsider your sexuality?A DOUCHE CANOE UNFORTUNATELY

write a short love poem to your crush/self?DEAR PERSON,THANK YOU FOR THE CHEESECAKEIT WAS SO GOODBUT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS FROM YOU

do you fall in love easily?NO. I WISH I DID. I COULD USE THE HIGH TO GET STUFF DONE

is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about?I HATE TALKING ABOUT THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL HUMILIATED AND ASHAMED, SO I JUST DONT. I ALSO HATE TALKING ABOUT SELF HARM BECAUSE I NEVER KNOW HOW. AM I GOING TO TRIGGER PEOPLE? AND IT IS SHROUDED IN SHAME AND FEAR.

are you good at hiding your feelings?YES, WHEN I CONSCIOUSLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO

are you a forgiving person?NO. I USED TO BE ALL ABOUT FORGIVENESS, AND GREW UP FORGIVING ABUSIVE CYCLES, IT WAS SO UNHEALTHY. NOW I FEEL LIKE A CROW HOLDING GRUDGES FOR CENTURIES, AND I DONT WANT TO BE BITTER EITHER – I OFTEN FEEL BAD FOR NOT FORGIVING, EVEN IF ITS JUST FORGIVENESS FOR MY OWN SAKE. BUT ITS A NEW DEVELOPMENT THAT IM ALLOWING MYSELF TO FEEL ANGRY, BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT BEING WRONGED, WANT JUSTICE FOR MYSELF. AND MAYBE SOME THINGS SHOULDNT BE FORGIVEN.

what is your “type?”I DONT KNOW. I RECENTLY STARTED GROWING SOME SELF WORTH, AND I DONT THINK THE PEOPLE IVE SOUGHT OUT TO RELIVE MY PAIN COUNTS

fall asleep in her arms or rub her back until she falls asleep in yours?LAST ONE

tall girls or short girls?BOTH IS GOOD

hugs or kisses?HUGS

twirl her around or get twirled?I WANNA TWIRL PEOPLE

tummy kisses or thigh kisses?BOTH

hairline kisses or neck kisses?NECK

play with her hair or stroke her tummy?PLAYING WITH HAIR

making out or soft kisses?MAKING OUT

hugs around the neck or hugs around the waist?WAIST

how confident are you in your sexuality?I THINK PEOPLE WOULD ASSUME IM NOT. IM SHY, AND MY NERDY CHRISTIAN VIBE ISNT GOING ANYWHERE. IM ALSO JUST BEGINNING TO LIVE AS MYSELF AND IM RELEARNING EVERYTHING. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO REALLY KNOWING MYSELF IM CONFIDENT

when you like someone do you blush or get butterflies in your stomach?NO. I WILL START CRANKING OUT ART AND FOCUS LESS THAN USUAL

have you ever liked a friend as more than a friend? did you tell them?YES

how old were you when you realized you were into girls?20ISH BUT THE SIGNS WERE THERE LONG BEFORE

most embarrassing thing you’ve done in front of a cute girl?I GOT MY EMBARRASSMENT GLANDS REMOVED REMEMBER

do you have a favorite lesbian ship? is it canon?I DONT KNOW MANY BUT IM HAPPY FOR THE CANON MARCELINE AND BUBBLEGUM

what is the most aggravating thing someone has said to you about your sexuality?MY SISTER PROJECTING ABOUT HER LIFE. WE HAVE CONSERVATIVE MISOGYNIST PARENTS BUT WE ARE VERY DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND IT DID NOT AFFECT US IN THE SAME WAY

when was the last time a girl made your heart flutter?I FEEL LIKE IM FORGETTING SOMETHING NICE A STRANGER SAID ONCE

what is love to you?NOT SOMETHING YOU DISPENSE AT YOUR CONVENIENCE. ITS A WAY OF LIVING – IF YOU LOVE YOURSELF, YOU LOVE OTHER PEOPLE, AND YOU LOVE THE WORLD AROUND YOU AND TAKE CARE OF IT. ITS NEITHER FAWNING NOR CONTROL – ITS ACCEPTANCE

ask me anything.YOU DIDNT ASK ME ANYTHING SO IM JUST GOING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. IVE BEEN EATING POPCORN CHICKEN WITH HONEY

#zee5tarbug #asks #chatty tag #I DID IT

4 notes · View notes

fineillsignup · 5 years

Text

Covering Your Ears to Steal a Bell update and wild speculation re: Gan Ning

So in the latest chapter of my (dark fic!! history is dark!! warnings!! read them!!) fic Covering Your Ears to Steal a Bell, I weave a blend of Dynasty Warriors tropes, popularly accepted history (the Sanguozhi), and the 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi) to form my own fic. When you consider that ROTK is basically historical RPF and that the late Qing reform era Anti-Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Fan Sanguo Yanyi) was historical RPF fix-it fic where the author’s OC got to marry his favourite character (whose OC I have borrowed for my own fic), I am truly standing on the shoulders of giants when I wildly speculate on what a) actually happened b) would never have happened but is fun to imagine.

Now there’s a reason why my doc file for this Gan Ning centric story is “nice pirates are still not that nice”, and that attitude is basically how I approach this character who was, after all, a pirate living in decline of the Han dynasty China. Now, note, I’m not saying “everybody has to like Gan Ning, it’s compulsory”; but I am explaining why I like him and am not ashamed of it, even knowing all I know. Gan Ning gets the longest original section in volume 55 of the Sanguozhi, and the most later annotations, so you know what, people have liked talking about this guy for a long time. Was he their problematic fave too? Probably.

Gan Ning: Chinese pirate, my problematic fave

For people who aren’t aware, but for some reason want to try and follow along at home, the background: Gan Ning was a Chinese pirate active in the southeast-ish part of China around the year 200AD as the Han dynasty was falling apart. As regional warlords jockeyed for power, he joined up first with one (Huang Zu) and then with another who was going to beat the first (Sun Quan). The second one turned out to be pretty good at consolidating power, and carved out a kingdom called Wu in southeast China that became actually the longest lasting kingdom among the titular Three Kingdoms era of China.

They make him look something like this in the game series Dynasty Warriors. The bells and the feathers were actually his Marketing Trademark, and people remember them 1800 years later which goes to show how important it is to market yourself.

So when people are like “OMG did you know Gan Ning LIKED to KILL PEOPLE???” I’m like:

"Yeah but you don’t understand he liked to kill people for NO REASON!”

Yeah I’m still sitting here not terribly shocked. Even assuming the worst stories about him in his pre-Wu days were true—that he deliberately waited in houses where the occupants were away, just so that he would get to kill the people who lived there, instead of simply looting the houses and moving on—and not embellished to make him sound like more of a terror.... well, the end result is that he sounds like a terror, which, if you are trying to make your living as a pirate, is exactly the reputation you want? Or, to come at it with the same result but reversed, a person who is that eager to kill by nature is exactly the kind of person who would rise to significant power as a pirate in a chaotic era. So look at Captain Kirk there again for my reaction.

And again, it’s the era. What’s the difference between small-scale freelance murder and theft, aka piracy, and large-scale wholesale slaughter and theft, aka invading and conquering? In the latter case, often somebody to retroactively declare that you were emperor all along. In such an environment, I am even less eager to pass judgment.

And then there’s of course, the id. “Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to just go apeshitt” as the meme says. Well, actually, I’m fine with being nice in my real life, but as Lin-Manuel Miranda says, some part of you wants to experience everything. And stories—and historical stories are still stories—are a way to do that.

So that basically takes care of “he was a killer!!” as an objection to liking him, in my books.

So in this particular chapter of my story, I deal with the other reason people usually bring up for hating Gan Ning, which is a story from the Sanguozhi (and therefore probably at least somewhat true) that involves a kind of controversy about child death (I’m on the side of arguing: probably not a child), but even without the age controversy, definitely involves murder; so not everybody wants to read it, so it’s under a cut. It’s a really fascinating story on a lot of levels so if you can handle stuff like “what happened to the princes in the tower” and similar historical horrors then you should be able to handle this.

Alright so here’s the relevant section from the Sanguozhi, the more-or-less intending to be accurate historical record from the Jin dynasty, written by a man named Chen Shou who, to be clear, was not even born yet by the time that Gan Ning died. So “what REALLY happened???” can never be fully known in all details, particularly the little anecdotes that would naturally grow in the telling. But that just means that “so why did they write down THIS and in THIS WAY?” becomes its own interesting question.

Everyone who comes at this history seems to say “Chen Shou was biased in this and that way and what the truth must actually be is this, which coincidentally is my bias” so I might as well do that too.

So here’s the incident in question in the original Chinese in the Sanguozhi:

寧厨下兒曾有過，走投呂蒙。蒙恐寧殺之，故不即還。後寧齎禮禮蒙母，臨當與升堂，乃出厨下兒還寧。寧許蒙不殺。斯須還船，縛置桑樹，自挽弓射殺之。畢，勑船人更增舸纜，解衣卧船中。蒙大怒，擊鼓會兵，欲就船攻寧。寧聞之，故卧不起。蒙母徒跣出諫蒙曰：「至尊待汝如骨肉，屬汝以大事，何有以私怒而欲攻殺甘寧？寧死之日，縱至尊不問，汝是爲臣下非法。」蒙素至孝，聞母言，即豁然意釋，自至寧舩��笑呼之曰：「興霸，老母待卿食，急上！」寧涕泣歔欷曰：「負卿。」與蒙俱還見母，歡宴竟日。

I took only two semesters of classical Chinese but I never like anybody else’s translation of classical Chinese anyway so here goes (I also consulted a modern Chinese gloss). I am bolding stuff I am going to talk about.

[Gan] Ning’s kitchen boy [more on this in a minute] committed a fault, and ran to throw himself on Lü Meng’s mercy. [Lü] Meng was afraid [Gan] Ning would kill him, therefore he would not return him. Later [Gan] Ning brought many gifts to [Lü] Meng’s mother, going up to the house in person, so that the kitchen boy would be returned to [Gan] Ning. [Gan] Ning promised [Lü] Meng that he wouldn’t kill him. On the way back to the boat, [Gan Ning] tied [the servant] to a mulberry tree, and he himself drew the bow to shoot him dead. That accomplished, he ordered his boatmen to lengthen the mooring rope, and laid down in the boat with his clothes loosened. [Lü] Meng was enraged. He hit the drum to summon soldiers, and immediately went to the boat to attack [Gan] Ning. When [Gan] Ning heard it, he didn’t get up. [Lü] Meng’s mother ran out barefoot and scolded [Lü] Meng saying: “Our lord has treated you as his flesh and blood, giving you dominion over great things, so how can you kill Gan Ning out of your own personal anger? If [Gan] Ning dies today, even if our lord ignores it, you will have broken the law.” [Lü] Meng was always extremely filial. He listened to his mother’s words, and in a flash he comprehended their meaning. He went personally to [Gan] Ning’s boat, and called out to him laughing: “Xingba [Gan Ning’s style name, used between peers; here shows affection or comradery], my mom’s got food ready, hurry up!” [Gan] Ning shed tears, snorted, and sobbed, saying, “I let you down.” Then he went back together with [Lü] Meng to see his mother, and they feasted all day.

Okay so the first thing is this critical phrase 厨下兒 which has been glossed into some English translations as “kitchen boy” and similar and which English speakers have then looked at and then gone “oh my God Gan Ning killed a child, a literal child, a tiny baby boy”. Ok, Hold on. Please.

So modern Chinese gloss I consulted translates this as “廚房的僕人” which just means “kitchen servant”. Yes “兒“ means child but it has so many other meanings especially in a compound like this; and this “child” is not specifically the “under a certain age” form of child.

Moreover, even in English, when we talk about English phrases like “kitchen boy” or (more prominently) “cabin boy” we are not talking about a five year old or even necessarily a ten year old. A 13-16 year old could easily be covered under that phrase in English. So please understand how a Chinese phrase like this could also cover such an age range, and remember also, that in this era, Ling Tong was on the front lines of the battlefield at age ~15 with his father when he died. So the idea of when a kid is fair game to be killed as an enemy is not our own.

So I’m even willing to go with the phrase “kitchen boy” because I feel the original conveys the sense of a minor servant. I’m certainly not going to rule out that the servant was, by modern standards, a child. Gan Ning is doing something really bad here. He knows himself it’s bad, and that’s where it gets the most interesting.

The second point I want to bring up is what it put across in the phrases “On the way back to the boat,” “he hit the drum”, and “ran out barefoot”, which is everything happens so fast. Gan Ning doesn’t even wait to get the servant home; instead, he kills him between Lü Meng’s house and his boat (which presumably was how he traveled to visit Lü Meng). And he does it by tying him to a tree! Not exactly subtle! And then he goes to his boat and just starts chillaxing! When he tells his sailors to lengthen the mooring rope, he’s doing the opposite of trying to run away. If you wanted to get away quickly, you would untie the mooring rope, or at least have it ready to untie fast. But Gan Ning deliberately makes it difficult to escape. And then the story mentions that Gan Ning loosens his clothing, or could even be interpreted as undressing, and that he lies down. Again, is that what you do when you expect to want to get away?

And then we’re back to everything happening so fast: Lü Meng, it seems finds out that the servant is dead very quickly, immediately hits a drum to summon soldiers and just runs out. And when Gan Ning hears this, he doesn’t get up. Now some people interpret this as cowardly, that Gan Ning was hiding from Lü Meng in not getting up to meet him. But if Lü Meng’s mother hadn’t caught him in time, would Lü Meng not have known where he was? No, Lü Meng knew exactly where he was. His boat was still tied to the dock by the mooring rope, and all of Gan Ning’s sailors, remember, would strictly speaking have been under Lü Meng too.

So then Lü Meng gets scolded by his mommy and realizes that he has to let Gan Ning off the hook. And he goes and the way he speaks to Gan Ning, in the original, is so casual and affectionate, which is why I translated it as “my mom’s got food ready”. Now within Chinese culture, as in many cultures, this invitation to food is in itself a mark of affection.

And then we come to the most interesting part of all: the original uses four characters to describe Gan Ning’s crying. Now, Chinese is terse, and classical Chinese is ULTRA terse. These people are not using any more characters than they have to. Yet Chen Shou spend four whole characters to describe that Gan Ning was not only “shedding tears” but “snorting” and “sobbing”. Holy shit. Believe me, if you read a lot of classical Chinese, this rings like a klaxon. The person writing this down thought this was important.

Gan Ning’s motivations throughout all of this are just so opaque. Impulsivity? But it involved a certain amount of planning. Did he want to be punished? Did he have even a death wish? Why was he so fixated on this escaped servant? (The silence of the original text as to what the servant did wrong exacerbates this. It could be almost anything.) Why did he, in some ways, play it so coolly and so arrogantly (the tying to a tree, the lying down half-dressed on a drifting boat), but then suddenly flip to abject, sobbing apology? Was the latter apology as much of a lie as his original promise not to kill the servant was? Or was Gan Ning truly stricken with remorse?

And what do we learn from the story? Utility to the state as a way to escape consequences? Crime and punishment are difficult to separate from personal considerations of revenge and anger? Efficacy of shame based on personal connection over physical attack? Chinese mothers are always right? (It’s that last one, isn’t it.)

So that’s why I had to write my own version. And yes, it’s a version that, while not condoning Gan Ning’s many horrible actions, does portray him as a person sympathetically.

#gan ning #chinese history #pirates #chinese pirates #sanguozhi #my translation #classical chinese #historical revisionism #romance of the three kingdoms #three kingdoms #dynasty warriors #my fanfic

62 notes · View notes

fmdjoosungarchive · 5 years

Text

fmdmeme001

yes, i’m late. at the bottom, there are pictures of the asks i got for this meme back then, so you know i’m not cheating

what is your favorite single you’ve released?

“if it’s just about what single i like best as a song, i think it’s hola hola. i’m quite partial to more upbeat, summery songs. it’d probably be hola hola for what makes me happiest too, because it reminds me of officially debuting, and i was really excited back then! but i liked the concepts for you in me and bomb bomb the most. you in me has more of a story to it which i like, and bomb bomb makes us look really cool.”

what are your favorite b-sides/non-title tracks you’ve released?

“overall one of my favorite songs we’ve ever released, b-side or not, would be living good. it’s the song i’ve had the most hands on approach in creating, and i’m always wanting to give back to the fans and show them our love. if it’s strictly about sound, though, i think it would be trust me, in any which version. it’s the closest to the kind of music i’d like to make for myself some day.”

what is your least favorite song (title track or b-side) you’ve released?

“ah, i don’t think i have a least favorite? i love all of our songs! if i had to choose a song, it’d be bomb bomb. it was really nice to get to have a comeback and for it to do as well as it did, but it’s the furthest song we have from what i’d normally listen to. it’s a bit harsh for me.”

if you could do a duet with anyone in the industry, who would you choose?

“anyone? gosh, um, i’d do a duet with all of my idols if it were up to me. maybe [gold star soloist 1]? i’ve been a fan of her as long as i was into music, so about ten years now. i’d like to do a soft duet about love where i get to sing. she’d sing way better than me, of course, but i don’t mind being upstaged, especially by her.”

what do you think of your/your group’s concept?

“it’s really cool in my opinion! a lot of what we do has been very different from other groups, and in some ways, it’s worked in our favor. when the company told me i’d be representing the water element, i thought that was fun because i love swimming and the beach. and i think it fits with our fans a lot too, because they represent the world, and so do we, in a way.”

what is one thing (a concept, a genre, an outfit, etc.) you would least like your company make you do?

“i... don’t want to come off ungrateful to the company or the concepts that they come up with but, i would really not like to kiss anyone. i don’t mind romance concepts, and i think it can be fun, but there’s something different about being that intimate with someone. i’ve only shared romantic kisses with one other person in my life, and i’d like to keep it that way. i suppose i can’t choose what happens to me, though.”

what one thing (concepts, genres, styling, frequency of comebacks, etc.) would you like to change about your current career as an idol?

“only one thing? um... i don’t like the way the company leans into my looks, but i think more important than that is the frequency of comebacks. we had a very powerful debut, which gave us the momentum, but we’ve somewhat lost it, and i think part of that is because we don’t have comebacks super often. it’s not as fun listening to a group’s discography when they only have a small number of songs.”

if you could be in any idol group, which one would you choose?

“knight. ...was that too quick of an answer? i don’t hide that i’m a big fan of bc groups, and though i love decipher and charm, they’re getting up on becoming a ‘senior group’ now and still have an incredibly strong fanbase. but if gender wasn’t an issue, i’d go with wish. i don’t like playing favorites, but wish is definitely my favorite group these days. i love their concept and every song is great in my opinion!”

if you could say one thing to your ceo, what would it be?

“i’m not very confrontational, so i don’t think i’d be able to say much beyond thanks and bowing. truthfully, i knew her better as a trainee than i do now. but, if i didn’t have to say it to her face, i’d like to kindly express that i don’t think competition is the way to build a successful company, because if they put more behind groups like us, maybe we would be more successful. but i don’t like the business oriented mindset, so, i’m biased.”

if you were auditioning for your company today, what would you perform for your audition, or what would you change from your original audition?

“i’d change everything from my original audition! i had no idea what i was doing at the time because i’d never had any training in the arts. i know at the time i was passed through because i was scouted based on my looks, but if i did it today, i’d rather wow them with my dancing, probably to an impulse or origin song, since that would be what they’d be looking for from me. i’d like to say i would sing for them as well, but that’s still a few years off, i think.”

if you could do any special stage, what would it be and who would it be with?

“it would probably be performing bemyfriend with @fmdseyeon! it’s the first song i’ve officially released outside of element, and it would be a lot of fun to do with one of my best friends. we have good chemistry because of it, and i think, especially if we had some say in the stage, or the choreography, it could be a really fun stage to do together. i’m also always up for dancing more, and who better than a man who used to fall asleep in the practice room as trainees with me?”

what career opportunities would you like to pursue that you’ve yet to, or what achievements would you like to obtain that you’ve yet to?

“i’d like us to get a music show win. i don’t know if it’s in the cards for us, but maybe if the korean public start to like us more it could happen? i’m not sure... um, personally? i don’t think there’s much i haven’t pursued that i want to, as i’ve been trying to do more of that lately. i’ve liked what i’ve been doing as i create songs and choreography, though. it makes me happy.”

if you could become a model or ambassador for any brand, what would you choose?

“hmm, maybe for a cute character i like? like kkt, or hello kitty. or! a bookstore! that would be really cool. i don’t think bookstores have ambassadors, but i love books so i’d be knowledgable enough for the gig. that sort of branding stuff isn’t big on my mind, though.”

if you could be on any variety show, which one (or which type of one) would you want to be on?

“i really love kids, so if it were a current show, i’d like to be on the return of superman. stuff about kids makes me miss my nephew a lot, but i love meeting new people, especially kids! they’re all so nice and good, and the world needs more of that. but if i could choose one that isn’t on air anymore, i think hello baby would fit me better, and it’d be fun to do it with the rest of element! we’d make good parents.”

if you were offered the chance to become a ceo of an entertainment company, new or existing, would you take it? why or why not?

“that’s a bit of a difficult question. i don’t think so. i’d like to think that i could be a fair and understanding and kind ceo, but i wouldn’t like the job. i left my home for music because i didn’t want to be in a business position. i’m not very good at having the strength to win deals and be cunning in meetings, and i think when it comes to competing against all of the other entertainment companies from the ground up, you’d need a lot of that.”

what changes would you implement if you were the ceo of your company?

“again, i don’t like the thought of being a ceo much. it’s too much pressure. but, if this were a scenario where i didn’t have any holds barred, and could make decisions as i pleased, i’d let all of the artists contribute to the music as much as they wanted, so long as they were willing to be vetoed and work with experienced professionals. i’d treat everyone equally, and use idols not based on what will make the most money, but on what they are the most passionate to do.”

what do you do to relieve the stress of idol life?

“i take baths! it’s not always an option, especially when we’re out of the country and a hotel room doesn’t have a bath, but i love it! there are so many relaxing scents to waft through the room, and it’s generally relaxing to let your muscles decompress in warm water. besides from that, though, i like talking with my friends and reading.”

what tips would you give to a trainee about to debut?

“am i the best person to ask this? i’m unsure, given element’s debut was so unconventional. i have a hard time thinking of our debut being in 2017 because it feels like it was in 2016. but, um, drink well, eat well, and look after your health. no matter how much you want to push yourself, you can’t be productive if you go too far and get hurt. you’re a person at the end of the day and deserve to treat yourself kindly.”

what was the hardest part of being a trainee?

did you enjoy the lifestyle of a trainee or of a debuted idol more?

“both have their ups and downs, and i don’t know if one outweighs the other. maybe debuted idol? there was some sense of accomplishment and less worries over whether i would be kicked from the company, especially in the beginning. nowadays, i’m not sure. i think it doesn’t matter in the end, because they’re connected, and i couldn’t have been an idol if i didn’t go through the training, and similarly vice versa.”

what one song or album by another group or soloist would you have liked to release yourself?

“i think... @fmdtaeyong‘s album daydream? i’m not a very talented singer, but the sounds is something i would like for myself. that’s part of why i admire him as an artist, because i love the songs he creates. if i needed to stick to something more within my position, though, it’d be @fmdjaewon‘s biorhythm album, for a similar reason as ash sunbaenim’s. we may not have gotten along much in the past, but i have always admired him as an artist and would love to work with him in the future if that is the kind of music he enjoys.”

describe your dream sub-unit (members and concept).

“can’t i be a part of wish as a sub-unit? ...alright, um, if i really think about it, i’d want to have people that i think are very talented, and work well separately and together. [gold star soloist 1] would absolutely have to be a part of it. then, maybe @fmdxsuji. her vocal power is intense. @cindyfmd too, they both have the similar punching power that could contrast with [gold star soloist 1]’s soft vocals. and then, if we choose another rapper, probably [silhouette main rapper/lead dancer]. and that way, they make a very solid group, and i can step back more and have less lines, if any at all. i don’t think one singular concept would work for us, so maybe it could be like fuse or 7rophy where we can bounce around to whatever feels right.”

out of the following six options, would you rather be allowed to play a major hand in the lyrics, production, choreography, styling, music videos, or concepts you release?

“gosh, that’s really hard. i’d like a part in at least most of those if it were totally up to me. but if i could only have a major hand in one, i think i’d choose production, if that could mean production and composition in one. as much as i love dancing, i think a lovely part of the community of dancers is learning from one another. when it comes to the sound of a song, i think that’s the biggest point in what drive’s the rest of those things. like, in element, people think of us as summery and tropical because many of our songs use tropical beats, and a lot of our styling and concepts have followed that.”

which of the two other companies (out of bc, dimensions, and gold star) you are not currently signed under would you rather be an artist in?

“definitely it’d be bc! i have friends under the company that don’t like it, which i understand but... they make really good groups. many of them have stayed together for a really long time, some without losing members in so long, and they have a lot of money and fame to back up new groups. they get the best of everything for their comebacks. and i’d... like to be a part of a company that believes in me and my group.”

what is your least favorite part of being an idol?

“the way fans talk about me and my friends. i think they think we don’t, or can’t, see the mean things they say, but so many of them are mean for no reason. they like to do this thing where they fight each other over who is a fan of the better idol? i don’t understand it, and it never gets anywhere. they both leave with the same opinions they had, but more upset.”

what is your favorite part of being an idol?

“this may sound cliche, but it’s music. the art surrounding music is the reason i auditioned for the company, and the reason i spent eight years working as hard as i could to debut. music, and the things that come with it, like dancing, singing, composing, they’re all a part of my soul. i wouldn’t give any of them up without a fight.”

would you rather be incredibly famous with a terrible reputation and hated by most or be fairly unknown with a good reputation and adored by those who know of you? why?

“fairly unknown! that’s probably the answer more close to where i am now. i am... known, of course, but in korea, i can generally get away with going out on my own and not being recognized. and, unless i’ve missed something, i’m pretty sure i have a good reputation. some people may see me as a playboy of sorts because i have a lot of female friends, but it’s not damaging as far as i know. i don’t want people to think terribly of me, because i think if there are so many people who have that awful opinions of me, i must be doing something wrong.”

what moment in your career are you proudest of so far?

what have you learned about yourself and/or society since becoming a celebrity?

“i don’t know if i’d necessarily call myself a celebrity... but i’ve learned a lot since our pre-debut! time does that to anyone, i think. the standards i hold myself to have changed, in that, while i’m still competitive against myself, i know i can’t push myself to the point of tearing more ligaments, because it only hurts me later on. in my personal life, i’ve become a bit different. i think some of my naivety has drifted away, and as i’ve come to find love, i’ve changed there too.”

what would you like to change about how society views or treats idols?

#fmdmeme001 #ask meme

1 note · View note