#ok basically the entirety of costume party

[lmelodie]

Ok SO!!! I just recently read through the entirety of the junior novelization of the Santa Clause 3 and yall. There's a handful of crazy stuff in here, and I see no one talking about it so I WILL. I didn't cover EVERY changed detail, but I think I did mention a lot of them lol.

I read the book so you dont have to!

So, some of the big changes between the Movie and the Novel:

The change probably everyone cares most about is that yes, Bernard is in it. But he basically shares character screentime with Curtis throughout the whole thing, very very minor role. Any scenes Curtis has during the movie, Bernard would also sometimes be there, and that's pretty much it. 

But the biggest shift story wise in the book is that Jack uses Curtis’s jealously of Bernard (Head elf position) and Curtis JUST TAKES JACK STRAIGHT TO THE HALL OF SNOWGLOBES HIMSELF. Just lets the man inside and explains the whole escape hatch thing. I don't think it's ever explicitly said but I think from this point on he just has the snow globe now for the entire rest of the time while he goes around fucking shit up. 

So that whole mess kinda shifts around some of the other events as a result. Jack and Lucy have a talk (So that he can distract her) way earlier then in the movie, after messing up just one machine. 

AND LUCY RECOGNIZES HIM IN THE NOVEL. She says Jack Frost? and he says YES! THATS ME! She talked about how she knows him as the guy to give us the first good winter freeze, and then she starts bringing up Christmas in association, which immediately brings down his mood about the whole thing. 

But because of the whole shifting of events here that also means that JACK NEVER FROZE LUCYS PARENTS IN THE BOOK. I don't even think he directly interacted with them at all.

And in the Book version when Scott gets reset to his Santa-less life, it's in the middle of a house party celebrating his new CEO job. And he gets all the supplementary information on his new life from a very confused very huge bodyguard/assistant, instead of the twink he talks to in the movie. 

When it gets to Santa Jack in the north pole, hes still described as being very wrong and off-putting (even actually scaring some of the children) but it's implied that the Santa look IS ALL FAKE. The clothing is very deliberately described as a COSTUME, and it describes how THE ENTIRE BEARD IS COMPLELY FAKE. LITERALLY GLUED TO HIS FACE. Even more of fraud then before. 

And it's revealed by Jack that after midnight that night, SCOTTS MEMORIES OF BEING SANTA WILL BE WIPED. HE’LL, JUST COMPLETLY FORGET ABOUT IT. 

And there is no secret mission for the snow globe back either. Lucy plays no part here. Scott just sneaks into the hall of snow globes, yoinks Jacks snow globe and then messes up his show. But he instead baits Jack into saying the magic words playing it off as memory loss. What magic words?

Finally, because Lucy's parents were never frozen in the book, there was no magical hug taking place after everything happened. And it seems that the concept of being thawed/frozen and magical hugs was thrown completely out the window here. So instead of a magical hug, Jack instead gets banished to the south pole as punishment.

And now for some not so big details about the book that I find interesting:

It's mentioned when Jack is talking to Carol that HE CANODICALLY HAS A MOTHER??? IMPLYING THAT ALL THE LEGENDARY FIGURES HAVE PARENTS??? I'm glad that its almost practically cannon that Jack has mommy issues confirmed. I take it as canon casual Winter Frost mention @safyresky​

Speaking of the Legends! They actually get a little more time in the meeting at the beginning and therefore just a little more personality which I LOVE. There's a line that's describing Father Time brewing Sandy some coffee for him to stay awake. AND I QUOTE, “extra caffeinated triple espresso extremely strong coffee.” FT is a peach.

They just have some good lines in this meeting scene that just wasn't in the movie.

Another really funny difference that I love is that in the book when fixing the sign JACK COMPLETLY FALLS OFF THE LADDER ALLTOGETHER. HE DOESNT KNOW HOW TO USE A HAMMER AND JUST FALLS OFF A ROOF HEIGHT LADDER. Icon

Charlie in the book, while being almost exactly the same, has a completely different girlfriend named Nikki. THAT SCOTT HAS NO IDEA ABOUT until she walks straight through the door while he’s visiting the family. And as a cover up Charlie told her that HIS DAD WORKS FOR THE CIA. AND SCOTT LOVES IT.

It should also be noted that while Bernard is in the book, Jack forgoes messing with him all together for his plan. A WISE decision. 

Scott actually has a pretty cool break scene thrown in there where he needs to clear his head, so he goes off to the reindeer stables to more or less hide from the chaos. He sits down on the floor with a comet and just cuddles with the reindeer for a little bit while he vents about his problems and it's actually really sweet.

And I also find it interesting that Laura was called in specifically to help delivery Carols baby. She was also the one in charge of the delivery room renovations while the in laws were visiting. Dr. Hismus is in the book and he’s there, but for some reason Laura also had to be there to deliver the baby. 

At the council meeting there was mention of Frostmas Dolls. I don't even wanna know what those would look like.

We also get a foreword by Bernard and Bman’s signature

#nonart #text #The Santa Clause #the santa clause 3 #the santa clause 3 novel #the santa clause 3 book #It was a WILD RIDE yall #reading this thing was a trip #but also! It will serve as great inspo for my main storyline i hva eplanned #a lot of little things about the book i actually really liked

[joysmercer]

thinking about how cfa has so many pandemic-related lines even though it’s not about a pandemic

#'stop bringing toilet paper into the lion's den!' #// #'28 hours / over an entire day…everyone knew every inch of tha tplane' #/// #'I woke up to the smell of... freshly baked bread?' #'We've got 7000 scared and angry people who don't want to be here' #'feeling different…strange' #ok basically the entirety of costume party #musicals #come from away

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

#miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous salt #adrien agreste #marinette dupen chang #marinette salt #master fu salt #ladybug and chat noir #fandom salt #thomas astruc salt #adrien deserves better #miraculous season 4 #miraculous season 3 #miraculous rant

[flowers-of-io]

@eri-223​ you brought it upon yourself, now I won’t shut up c:

OKAY SO

I can’t really draw neat straight lines between the two, but there’s so much aesthetic similarity to me, particularly with Toland and the Hive-Ascendancy thing. Maybe it’s just me dying for the vibes (or loving POTO in general since I was 9), but it struck me today how Eris/Toland--when it’s made a Working ship--is basically everything Christine/Erik is not. There is so much to be said about Christine/Erik alone, but to me it’s an epitome of why gothic-novel-esque dynamics don’t really work in the long run when they don’t move past being just Gothic and Tragic. And hear me out. A goodhearted, elfin woman at her vulnerable point (grief over father) meets a honey-voiced stranger and has this secret thing with him, this music they share in the dead of night, and it’s intoxicating because music *is* her passion (and something she has deep emotions over in itself, the thing that is most hers in the world) and it’s secret, and a whole other world to what she’s facing in the daytime. The mystery is intriguing, and that’s intoxicating too. And there’s an uncomfortable power imbalance but it doesn’t bother you just yet, because there isn’t really any attraction between the two--not in the romantic-as-in-love sense at least, rather this romantic-as-in-romanticism pull all dark beautiful secret things have.

And here we can shout a fucking thank you at Erik for completely ruining that beauty by being an absolute creep. But Chrissie doesn’t know that yet. And so he leads her deep down into the dark, into his world of darkness and secrecy and yet twisted beauty, and she is living the mystery now, she’s in this nighttime world they would share in secret. And she’s close enough to take a peek behind the mask, something she was so violently curious about and attracted to, a glance into the dark abyss of his soul that is so intriguing. And so she does peek, and what she finds is terrifying rot.

And this, THIS is the best moment of the entire thing to me. This story could be well off without Raoul (whom I deeply love and cherish but he ruins the gothic) because he adds this romantic tension of a love triangle (which I absolutely loathe because ugh. love triangles.) to what could have been a tale of a girl torn between the world of day and night rather than two men who each love her in a different way. There’s so much of Persephone-sque struggle in Christine’s soul that has been shunned by the story imo, and would have made the whole thing better in the long run (and maybe less grossly-abusive on Erik’s part).

So let’s circle back to Toland, another pale, bony, possibly disfigured brunet in a dark coat with a living room full of skulls and candles (the vibes, huh. he probably owned a boat and a horse too). If we take Eris/Toland as starting off before the Hellmouth (I’m really starting to tentatively test my ground on this hhhng), it feels like the same story slightly to the left. Granted, Eris has more agency, but there’s still a huge power imbalance in her and Eriana coming to Toland--an exiled genius|madman with an evil black crow (Guren) perching on his shoulder--and asking him for help, laying their and their team’s lives at his feet - him, who could probably kill them in seventeen different yet equally fancy ways were he more invested! And there is so much darkness here already because how dark it must have been in Eris’ soul to agree on this revenge fantasy, what an abyss Eriana’s eyes must have been hiding; how desperate they must have been to come to him, to even consider this, to choose a possibility of painful, screaming agony in the Hellmouth over the ache they were feeling now. And so there’s vulnerability, too, in a way - because they’re desperate, because they’re hurting, because everything has been taken from them and they have nothing else to do but this ridiculous, mad plan. And oh he can abuse this void, he can make them do whatever he wants and they’d do it gladly, and I have a feeling both Eris and Eriana are aware of that.

And so they work, in secret, cracking secrets of the Hive, tasting the rot of the forbidden fruit, hiding from the daylight with their dark, heretic, nighttime folly. I think there is a threshold at wherever it is they are meeting--be it a room or a house, Eriana’s kitchen or Toland’s disturbing “lab”--in the doorway, between the bright but empty world of patrols and strikes and dead friends and this horrid, twisted, yet fascinating realm of promised vengeance. And I think Eris learns, hungry for secrets, hungry perhaps for Toland’s eyes on her because all dark beautiful secret things have a pull, and she can’t tell if she’s more drunk on the adventure, or the heresy they’re so blatantly committing, or him. And maybe he reciprocates in his own twisted way, maybe they talk or kiss over the parchment pages, and she cannot tell--she cannot tell if his eyes are truly for her or the Hive, the mystery, the thing they’re doing. I’m thinking of what you wrote, how “he wanted Ascendance as badly as she wanted him”. But despite that--or maybe because of it--she allows herself to be led deep down into the dark, into his world of darkness and secrecy and yet twisted beauty, and she is living the mystery now, she’s in this nighttime world they would share in secret. Is it the Hellmouth? Maybe, though I think it’s a process that spans between their secret studies of the Hive and the midst of their descent, when Vell is dead and maybe they’re all doomed, and Toland’s eyes twinkle in the dark and it’s such beautiful madness she cannot help staring. And the checkpoint has come, time to show cards--and she’s close enough to take a peek behind the mask, something she was so violently curious about and attracted to, a glance into the dark abyss of his soul that was so intriguing. And so she does peek, and what she finds is terrifying rot.

I think this is Ir Yut, or maybe a little bit earlier, but nevertheless the bubble bursts and Eris is left in the dark alone and betrayed. That’s of little concern, of course, when the Hive is hunting you down and all you hear is your friends’ dying screams, but it still hurts, it’s still bitter, it’s still so, so wrong. I like to think he comes to teach her then, maybe give her the journals, and it’s a whirlwind of madness and horror and fury and gore, but he’s whatever comfort she can hope for at this point. It’s twisted, it’s awful, it’s dark-gothic rotten, it’s as wrong and horrid as Erik/Christine is as a whole.

But then they’re given the chance Erik/Christine never got. They’re allowed to outgrow the rot. There’s so much dysfunctionality and disturb going on in most gothic-esque “love” stories because it’s not love, it’s attraction taken for a spin and often grossly abused. Love is growth. I like to think of what must have been going on in Eris’ head (and Toland’s too, perhaps, though I doubt he had one at that point) when they were exchanging the letters, the dearest Eris right next to did you watch me carve out each eye; now that she’s wiser, and scarred, and not so stupid anymore--but there’s still that dark pull she can’t help, now even scarier than before that she knows him for what he really is, now that she’s seen the rot. There’s so much hurt to be outgrown, so much betrayal, but she finds he’s yet again whatever comfort she can hope for (that entry *is* called A Light In The Darkness, huh). I could wax poetic about this whole process but I think you captured it so well in STM I don’t have much else to add.

I wanted to throw quotes into it but couldn’t quite fit them into this, uh, essay (which I didn’t absolutely re-read), and I guess Music of the Night would apply here but it’s ripe with uncomfortable sexual tension?? And aside from that (which is in its entirety a trip) just consider these ah

this whole moment

also this

He'll always be there singing songs in my head  Is this Eris in the letters phase? maybe. I performed a vibe check and it showed positive

Wandering Child for how unhealthy-twisted and beautiful it is (ignore Raoul, I have no metaphor for him in this au)

For either way you choose, you cannot win  It’s just a good quote y’all

Farewell my fallen idol and false friend / We had such hopes, and now those hopes are shattered 

Angel of Music, you deceived me / I gave you my mind blindly  (HOW SHE WHISPERS THAT LAST PART IN THE MOVIE OK)

Stranger than you dreamt it  now you’re stranded in the Hellmouth good job

What warm, unspoken secrets will we learn / Beyond the point of no return

The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn

Down that path into darkness deep as hell  but Toland smiles while he sings this

And of course the classic,  And in this labyrinth where night is blind / The Phantom of the Opera is here inside my mind

Wow! I didn’t even get to the Dreaming City! It’s way more vague than the whole Eris/Toland thing because of course ships take up 80% of my brainspace but idk I just find it so incredibly fitting when it comes to paralleling Savathun/Dul Incaru terrorising the Dreaming City with what Erik does to the opera. Like, everybody knows he’s There but no one can do anything about it, he sends vague threats and kills people but nobody can catch him, and the place is just a giant playground for him to have fun and achieve his personal goals in. And whatever the hell is going on in Masquerade, like

Masquerade! Seething shadows breathing lies Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes Masquerade! Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you

wow that sure is subtle. Seething shadows breathing lies, huh. Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you :) And then he crashes the party in a fucking Red Death costume. If this doesn’t have huge Dul Incaru/Siren of Riven energy I don’t know what has.

And of course the shitshow only starts when we kill Riven but the seeds have been planted long, long ago. If you listen closely, you can hear Petra screaming in confusion somewhere under box five.

I know most of this second part is a stretch, BUT! this is my au. And for the record, I know there are very mixed feeling about the 2004 POTO movie but to me personally it was a formative experience, first watched on a very crappy TV in music class at the age of 9 and not even in its entirety, but I was already captivated and shaken to the core, and there’s still, after all those years, something that screams at my soul when I hear the first notes.

And, as a treat for those who suffered with me until the end of this essay,

#i may or may not be singing up to three poto songs next tuesday on a concert #which may or may not have been my teenage dream #reply #eri-223 #phantom of the opera #toland the sarky #eris morning #eris/toland #destiny 2 #npc talk #what is this even #i have no idea how to tag this #headcanon #ships #ir yût #dûl incaru

[themeanbeanwrites]

Spooky kisses tordmatt (sfw)

Since @the-milk-was-expired was so thirsty for this fic I decided to post it here also I would've posted it sooner but tumblr was being a bitch

Matt was in the bathroom applying red lipstick for his Marilyn Monroe costume, Edd was showing off his cat costume to Tom (who was dressed as a skeleton). Tord was still in his room putting on his costume, which was of course tuxedo mask. Tord soon had his costume on and headed toward the living room, which was getting set up for a Halloween party...well not really a party just four losers eating food and playing games ment for 12 year old slumber parties...anyway Tord couldn't help see Matt angrily reapplying his lipstick as he walked past the bathroom. Tord just stood there admiring Matt in that iconic white dress, his bare legs sticking out. Tord just stared well until Matt noticed, "uh can I help you Tord?" Matt asked a tint of pink on his cheeks. Tord blinked blankly snapping back into reality. "Oh uh I just really like you're costume! Uh who are you supposed to be?" Tord asked obviously already knowing the answer. "Oh I'm that famous american actor...uh Marilyn Monhoe!" Matt exclaimed "You mean Monroe?" Tord corrected. "Uh yeah! Anyway what do you think about my costume?" Matt asked turning completely toward Tord, his dress twirling slightly. Tord could feel the blood rush to his face, "Y-yeah you look great, but doesn't she have blond hair?" Matt gasped "you expect me to hide this beautiful natural ginger hair! Never!" "I was just- "Hey guys are you ready yet the party is about to start!" Edd yelled across the house. "Yeah we're coming!" Matt yelled back walking to the living room, Tord followed. "Sorry I took so long makeup was a nightmare" Matt chuckled. "What are we going to be doing tonight anyway?" Tord asked. "Oh I figured we'd play some games then watch a movie!" Edd explained. "What kind of games?" Matt asked. "Since Tom let me borrow his smirnoff bottle I'd figure we'd play spin the bottle!" "Ew edd that's gross...and gay" Tom groaned. "Yeah and I what if I got tom!?! There's no way I'm kissing that thing" Tord rudely remarked pointing to Tom. Edd scoffed "fine we won't play it but we can still play seven minutes in heaven!" "Isn't that worse?!" Tom asked slight worry in his tone. "No all you have to do is stay in a closet for seven minutes....it's up to you what you do in there" Edd wiggled his eyebrows as he said that last part. After a pause of silence everyone sat down in a circle, Matt across from Tord, and Tom across from Edd, with Matt sitting next to Edd and Tom and Tord sitting next to eachother. "Alright who should spin?" Tord spoke breaking the silence. "You should!" Edd answered quickly "Why me?!?" "Cause you asked" Tord sighed and grabbed the bottle placing it in the middle of the circle and spinning it. The brunette could feel heart pounding as he nervously watched the bottle spin rapidly around and around, till slowly slowing down then finallg stopping on.... ....Matt Tord could feel his face heat up under his mask. "OK IN THE CLOSET" Edd yelled opening the coats closet. "W-wait!- Tord managed to stutter before Tom shoved him and Matt the closet and slamming the door. Tord was now basically touching touching noses, so close they could feel each other's breathing. After what seemed like an entirety of slience Matt finally spoke "T-tord can I kiss you?" Tord could feel his entire face heat up, he nodded unable to speak. Matt reached and took Tord's mask off revealing Tord's red face and wide grey eyes. Matt dropped the mask and grabbed Tord's face gently pressing his lips against Tord's. Tord kissed back feeling lipstick stain his lips.

The ginger pulled back only to plant kisses all over the Norwegian's face. "M-matt stop you're getting lipstick everywhere" Tord weakly spoke, Matt didn't acknowledge him though he just kept giving small kisses making the smaller male groan and squeak in embarrassment. Soon seven minutes have past, of course Matt and Tord wouldn't know because they were too busy smooching. Edd unknowingly opened the door, "alright guys time to- woah" Edd blushed. Matt and Tord stared back both clearly embarrassed. "If we left them in there any longer they'd be fucking" Tom chuckled. After Edd and Tom made fun of Matt and Tord for a good solid ten minutes they went on with the night, ignoring all the lipstick stains on Tord's face.

#ew tordmatt #ew mattord #ew tatt #ew tord #ew matt #ew fanfiction #my writing

[theexcogitativelibrarium]

Woke Wednesday - Cultural Exchange? But that's normal right....? Oh.....

♒️- My brother just called me a fan girl

♓️- Ok....and we're not?

♒️- I feel like people use that in a derogatory way tho. He may not be but others have.

♓️- Yea. People do use it in a derogatory way but then turn around and publicly support something considered "normal" themselves....😶

♒️ - I just always bristle when people say that. He didn't judge me for stanning them but others do and use fan girl in that way.

♓️ - Yea. It's because they aren't into it themselves. If they were, they would see their behavior as normal. Wouldn't football fans be considered fanboys and fan girls? People dress up and don costumes and fly across the country whether for team or home games...they host watch parties and have fantasy leagues....but that's normal right....? Oh....

♓️ - While there are different levels to every fandom...we are ALL doing the same thing

♒️ - For real! Some of them would be considered saesangs. There was a hostage situation at Bama after the Bama Clemson game. Of that's not saesang behavior I don't know what is.

♓️ - Fans will literally T R A S H the street after their team doesn't win but that's normal right....? Oh....

♓️ - Like ok closed minded people who obviously don't have mirrors in their home to see who they are....

♓️ - It's that "other-ing" thing again. "Oh I just do this but I'm not like THOSE people...."

♒️ - They'll riot and loot even when they win

♓️ - But that's normal right....? Oh.....

♓️ - And then physically attack other people. But that's normal right.....? Oh......

♓️ - And yell insults and profanity at people they don't even know before the game starts up. But that's normal right......? Oh.....

♓️ - Creating signs with derogatory language for the opposing team's fans to see and taunting them....but that's normal right.....? Oh.....

♒️ - Ex'Actly! Just because it's another language, another country, another culture.

♓️ - Eurocentrism and Xenophobia at its finest!

♒️ - Yep, they're so full of crap

♓️ - "This is what Americans do! This is what Westerners do! This is what we do over here....why are you interested in that stuff over there...? What does it have to do with you....?" But we were all normal for tuning into the Royal Wedding a couple years ago...? That's normal right....? Oh......

♓️ - All day coverage on every single detail and then when the children were born as well......ok but that's normal right.....? Oh........

♓️ - And "why are you over there reading this or listening to that music....that's not from our culture....that's not from America...?" And yet we learn the classics that "inspired" Americans.....? Americans especially need to recognize they aren't that long in the game and they ain't the most original either. America is because of the world in its entirety. The world is America. It's completely normal for us to study other cultures (and at the most basic level) in school but to take your interest further by seeking out different artists, literature, history, etc and so forth is weird.....? What kind of backwards stuff....?

♓️ - Other countries/continents have inhabitants of their natural descendants....while Americans (save for the indigenous people of this continent) are all immigrants from elsewhere....so I don't....??? How is it that they're trying to make the distinction between what's "normal" and what isn't...? Nothing about this is "normal".......

♒️ - But then how is it normal to go to eat at the restaurants that serve food from these other cultures? Or is that the extent of what a normal amount of cultural exchange looks like? You can only eat their food and dress up like them for Halloween but oh no don't watch the movies, listen to music or read literature in their language. And when you do go over there for a vacation you're not even open enough to try to speak their language in THEIR COUNTRY but get upset that no one speaks English?!? That's the extent of what is a normal amount of cultural exchange?

#Woke Wednesday #Cultural Exchange #Topic Discussion