#started with this one cos there's not much thinking required but fun to talk about haha | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ohimsummer · 3 months

Text

RANDOM HORROR GAMER! SATORU HCS

— one(1) suggestive under the cut so minors dni, gamer! gojo x reader, established rs, explicit language, some gamer! reader, pet names (sweetums, baby, (my) love), the link has body horror!!, horror-loving gojo in general <3

⭑ ࣪ ˖ sum’z notes.ᐟ gojo playing outlast and resident evil and silent hill and fnaf and and

horror gamer! satoru who always likes you around whenever he starts playing. doesn’t matter if you’re cooking, showering, or out for the day—and prefers you in his lap while in his comfy gaming chair, but if you’re even just on the bed nearby then that’s totally okay, too.

horror gamer! satoru who finds it so cute when the jumpscares actually startle you. laughs when you let out a yelp or a scream, giggling a ‘relax, baby’ as if his heart didn’t stop for a second at the same scare.

horror gamer! satoru who asks your opinions and recommendations on what games to play, even if you know nothing about them. if he’s stuck between two games, he’ll let you be the tiebreaker, shoving the two options in your face for you to choose from even if your reasons are inane. ‘you like the art on this one better? the title sounds cooler? okay, come check it out with me!’

horror gamer! satoru who finds it comforting whenever you’re cuddled under him while he plays. your scent and the warmth of your body soothes him, makes the scares a little less frightening and he calms down way quicker when he gets to hug you so tight. (refers to you as his emotional support y/n)

horror gamer! satoru who’s just about always eating his words about how terrified the game is making him. talks so much shit going ‘oh this dumbass monster isn’t even that scary’ and you just like to humor him even though you can feel his heart pounding in his chest.

horror gamer! satoru who enjoys when you also talk a little trash with him. ‘i could totally take that monster on, right, baby?’ ‘hell yeah, it looks weak as shit, you could destroy that thing.’

horror gamer! satoru and you both frantically talking over eachother when he gets to a fast-paced area of the game, parts that require swift puzzle-solving or thinking quickly on your feet. ‘fuckfuckfuck where do i go, where do i go ?!’ ‘that way, THAT WAY, no the other way, oh my god, run!!’

horror gamer! satoru who likes handing you the mouse/controller and watching you play. guides you through some parts when you get confused, and always returns your victorious grin when you’re able to get past the really scary or difficult areas by yourself.

‘look at my baby gettin’ through the little mini-boss after 26– ow, fine, 18 tries! so proud of you, sweetums, guess my super-awesome gaming skills are rubbin’ off on ya, huh?’

horror gamer! satoru who lets you get jumpscared even when he knows a scare is coming up. ‘didn’t wanna ruin the experience for ya, baby’ while he’s almost spitting out his water from trying to hold back laughter.

horror gamer! satoru who you have to gently drag away from his setup when he starts getting frustrated. he’s been stuck on this one part for hours now because of rng or the boss is just ‘stupid and rigged’ and insanely hard. you can see his jaw clench, his moves getting sloppier in his exasperation.

horror gamer! satoru let’s you pepper kisses up and down his neck, over his jaw and cheeks, on his forehead as you murmur suggestions to take a break in his ear. you hold your own drink up in an offer for him to take a sip, before slipping away to grab one of his favorite sweet treats to hopefully ease his frustrations. ‘give it a rest and come cuddle with me for a bit, my love, you can always try again later.’

horror gamer! satoru who buys another controller (in your favorite color) so he can play co-op horror games with you. he loves watching you improve, proud when he doesn’t have to carry you as hard anymore. and it feels so much more fun because it’s like you’re experiencing the scares together, not the same as when you’re just watching him play.

horror gamer! satoru who goes horror game-hunting with you. he loves that your interest in them has grown so much, and you two can actually talk in detail about them since your ‘horror knowledge’ isn’t at base level anymore.

horror gamer! satoru likes that you’re not just watching him play and listening to him explain what’s going on anymore. you’re more heavily intrigued in the game lore and spotting tiny details or references in the games.

you’re playing a multiplayer horror game with satoru, exploring a different room of the house since you two have split up to cover more ground.

‘oh, wow! satoru, look at this little figure on the desk!’

his avatar makes its way over, and he’s a little excited to see the tiny evil within 2 reference on the piece of furniture.

‘it’s obscura, isn’t that so cool?’ ‘fuck yeah, wonder if there’s any more hidden around here somewhere?’ and you both keep an eye out for any other allusions to more horror game characters.

horror gamer! satoru who convinces you that playing in the dark is so much better. and it is, it makes the whole experience that much scarier, and you hate (love) it. you find yourself peeping into the dark shadows of the room, goosebumps raised on every inch of skin. and also wanting to punch satoru in the throat when he grazes a finger up the nape of your neck, laughing at your fright when you just about jump out of your skin.

horror gamer! satoru who buys little trinkets or figures of horror game characters. bought you a silent hill nurse figurine to go next to his of pyramid head. you both dressed up as said characters for a Halloween party once, and then ended up, um, undressing eachother in someone’s bathroom later that night…

horror gamer! satoru who knows all kinds of horror game trivia and he loves exchanging facts with you, even if you tell him stuff he already knows. again, he just loves that you share his favorite interest! tell him over and over about how [char.] is your favorite horror game villain or how [song] makes that scene so much creepier! he will eat it up again and again and again.

horror gamer! satoru who gets so excited whenever you present a new game to him, especially if it’s one he hasn’t seen before! ‘holy shit, baby is this a new release? fuck, we have to play this tonight!’

a casual (horror-themed) date night with horror gamer! satoru could be going out to see a new scary movie in theatres, or even just staying in to play your favorite horror games together. on nights like those, he likes to suggest cheesy, parody, or nostalgic horror games like slenderman or some .EXE game.

tagz: @anthoosies @staryukis @hellkaiserinphoenix @biscuitsngravie @elusivemoon @rxddxvotion @babytoshiii

#satoru gojo headcanons #gojo satoru headcanons #jjk headcanons #gojo headcanons #satoru headcanons #gojo x reader #satoru x reader

305 notes · View notes

ecoamerica · 2 months

Text

youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

17K notes · View notes

visionsofmagic · 10 months

Text

⋆ ― ◜week of celebs◝ ― ⋆

DAY FOUR: christian bale x f!reader

previous | masterlist | next

• summary: it is the third movie you and chris playing together in, and it is last time he can hide his love for you. | wc: 1.5k | tags&warnings: fluff, kissing, confessing, touching, gentle!bale, reader is kind of a brat, co-workers, friends to lovers, young-adult!bale, mentions of a little nsfw content, short. [also, so so sorry for waiting for the ‘week’ thing but I had three important tests to take and I had to study :/ but now, I have no test left so, I’m back and the other works will be on soon! Enjoy. ^^]

“Isn’t it amazing that we can work together once again?” You ask, not trying to get an answer but just pointing the fact you think of while waiting for the next scene to be filmed. Chris only nods, something isn’t right with him but you guess it is because he has a remarkable role in the movie, requiring great deal of attention and focus, and you know very well how he wants to show his best every time. You admire his hard-working. He is like a model for you – also, a dear friend.

Maybe you want to become more than a dear friend but you are afraid how he will react, so, you let it go, only focusing on the friendship you two have – a beautiful friendship; he loves making you happy, you like seeing him in peace thanks to your presence, support and fun kisses on the cheeks. You think whether it makes him feel awkward with these kisses even though he never complains. It is just a thing you both share like the sharing of food, memories, smiles, cries and even the bed –in the nights – and sometimes daylights too – when the air fills up with sadness, happiness, exciting – oh, you think inside, maybe we share a lot.

“Hey,” You hear his voice. Coming to your senses – back to reality, you wink a few times, looking up to see Bale kneeling to the front, his gazes on your face, wondering what make you daydream for a moment. “Are you okay?” He asks and you can see concern in his face expression, making you want to just grip his cheeks, caress them and saying how much you realize you love him, especially after the memories you share with him come to your mind. However, you can’t. So, with a sad smile on your face, you nod, not caring whether he can tell the truth behind your smile.

Putting a childish kiss on his nose, you say, “Better than okay!”

The moment he is about to ask another question, his personal assistant comes, saying that the screen is about to start to both of you. Nodding to her, you get up as Bale straightens his posture, hands on his pockets.

Hugging him from the arm, you giggle with excitement. Pulling him with you, you say, “I am so excited! In this scene, I will throw a glass to you.”

“I didn’t think you like violence.” He remarks, one of his hand positions on yours – a true gentleman who makes your heart go weak in a second.

“I am not,” Turning to him, to tease, you chuckle. “Well, if it is outside the bed.”

He stops in his track for a moment before coughing in fake, staring to walk again. As you look at his side profile – a perfect sight to see with his sharp jaw, freshly trimmed beard, short hair – you wait him to be shy like always because being such a brat, you like to make him shy and blushing but not today, apparently, not today. He smirks instead of showing any sight of shyness, telling you to be more sensible – he just smirks, turning to your face, making you look at another way to hide your heat rushing to your face. Kneeling, his hot breaths find your ear, whispering dangerously, “What a nasty girl!” He chuckles lowly – you are already weak on the knees. “Maybe you just need a good lesson to understand why you shouldn’t talk in public so openly like this.”

When the director calls for him from the other side of the room, he is about to touch your chin. Nodding to himself, he lets you go after saying, “Don’t worry, I will teach it properly this time.”

You feel like he is finally let his inner voice to take actions instead of his logical side. You chuckle, taking your place on the room, still feeling drunk, and avoiding gazes from Bale. He is sure something else today.

•

“Then, he was right behind me! Can you imagine?” One of my co-workers says with a chuckle, playing with her hair, and telling a story about the director. Chuckling, I nod to her.

After the end of today’s scenes, everybody agreed on taking a break time, having a little fun in one of actors’ house. So, here you are, standing beside the window, a drink on your hand, a black dress covers your body. It was a choice of your personal assistant after she found out that you liked Bale and he was going to attend as well. She said how you looked gorgeous in the dress, getting you all blushing, thinking how Bale would react.

This thought on your mind, you turn to other side of the room, trying to find where Bale is right now in a crowded place like this one is but when you are about to give up, you see him; he looks so humble and gentle with the black suit on him while entering the room. You look at him from head to toe, no shame behind your gazes but you don’t care, not when his gazes find yours, only focusing on you and making his way to you slowly. You nearly become breathless at the sight. Feeling brave enough to make an attempt like he is doing, you turn and say your co-worker goodbye, approaching to Bale faster than he does.

Finally, meeting in the middle, you say after an awkward long silence in which you look into his beautiful eyes and he does the same for you, “Hi.”

He chuckles in a low tone, “Hi,” He takes your hand in his, putting a kiss on the head of it. You would hate it when other men do it but when he does it – oh, how it feels so right and magical when he does it. “Gorgeous.”

Smiling widely, you roll your eyes, taking back your hand from his slowly only to put it on his shoulder, making him tense but you get it is a good sign since his smile grow bigger, closing the gap between your bodies further, causing you to forget what you would say for a moment. He smells so good – he looks so good – everything about him is near to perfection.

“Don’t look too much or you will fall hard for me.” You tease him, winking and when you take a sip from your drink, you feel his one hand find your waist, pulling you closer until his lips touching your ear, hot breaths hitting your neck. Heat rising inside of your body as well as outside and you only stare at his beautiful blue eyes.

“You should warm me sooner,” He smirks, not a playboy type of smirk – just, showing how he knows his effects on you now. “I already have fallen for you – hard.”

“Chris –“ You try to say, try to comprehend what he really means by that. “So, you say –“ You can’t find yourself powerful enough to say it aloud but Chris is there for you. He knows you better than you know yourself.

So, when he takes your hand on his, not caring about other people on the room, you follow him because you always will follow him no matter what.

Entering in an empty room, he reaches to his balcony, still holding your hand – tighter than before, giving you goosebumps. He turns around to see you clearly under the light of the moon and garden’s white lights.

“Yes, I say it.” He says, and you trying to make his words since your mind is overflowed by the sudden emotions he is causing.

“What?” You ask once more, wanting to hear it aloud – wanting him to admit it while using his words.

He chuckles once more – oh, he is surely happy right now and you are the same. Putting both of his on your waist, he pulls you to himself, making his chest hitting yours. “I love you,” He says and you believe you would fall into the ground if he didn’t hold you like this. He takes your hand, putting it on his chest where his heart remains. “I love you so deeply that I can no longer hide it.”

Taking deep breaths, you firstly understand his words – already having effects on you; chest rising and falling, hands getting sweaty and face has a stupid smile on – then, you close your eyes, and open them only to see that he is real. This make him smile, shaking his head. “I am real.”

“But, I need to do something to believe it, Chris.” You say.

His one eyebrow rises and you take action without waiting for him to speak; your lips find his, his taste flows into yours, a hand on his collar to pull him closer and other one enters into his short hair. He, on the other hand, nearly moans lowly into the kiss you share right now, hands on your waist getting tighter, hugging you strongly.

You know from this day everything will change between you – the relationship you have but you have no fear, not when he kisses you so deeply, passionately and holding you close. You wonder how he both is your weakness and strength. However, your mind can’t make any judgement since it only focuses on him – breaking the kiss for a moment before he adds, “I love you.” once again and you giggle.

“I love you too handsome.”

The end. 💌

#christian bale #bale #christian bale x reader #christian bale x f!reader #dc #dc comics #celebs #week #week of celebs #masterlist #batman #the dark knight #y/n #christian bale x y/n #written by me #vom #<3 #rose

253 notes · View notes

jakes3resin · 2 months

Text

Blondes Have More Fun

Anyways, this is probably the closest I'll ever get to writing Crack fic for this fandom, so enjoy Blond!Bucky and his ability to drive Buck and the entirety of the 100th wild with his smile and hair! Also personally I think Callum looks like a 24 year old when blond, so imagine handsome charming, nearly thirty Bucky Egan running around looking like a baby faced newbie then you'll be half a bowled over as the 100th.

It is a truth universally acknowledged at Thorpe Abbotts that Major John "Bucky" Egan can be talked into anything. Anything. So long as you were convincing and Buck wasn't around to drag him away from the dumber ideas, Bucky was down to play ball.

Curt had once talked him into using a British accent for a whole week, even in meetings with the CO. Bucky hadn't even blinked before adopting an uncannily perfect London accent. It was so convincing that some of the newer replacements had asked if the man was British.

Another time, he got into a howl off with Meatball after Hambone said he didn't know which one was worse. The pair were so loud that no one could actually tell who won. Most were too busy covering their ears. The few that weren't couldn't decide. It was officially settled as a draw, but Benny still refuses to accept that Bucky would ever beat his precious boy Meatball in anything.

There were countless tales of Bucky getting into trouble simply because someone had said within his earshot the six words needed to wreck Jack Kidd's night.

"You know what would be fun?"

The magic words. That or a dare would send Bucky careening into trouble with half the 100th behind him to watch the fireworks. Honestly, most of the time, Bucky was already getting up to his own antics, so convincing him to do something else wasn't exactly hard.

It was one such utterance of the phrase that sparked a wildfire within the 100th Bomber Group that threatened to tear them asunder and send one Major Gale "Buck" Cleven to an early grave. Or prison.

The night was like any other Friday night. Bucky had gone out with Curt and Bubbles. Buck had chosen to stay in for the night reading, and Harry had done much the same. Kidd, the minder of the entire 100th, had gone to the officer's club while the trio had gone to a local pub in the town just off base. So the usual minders of this trio of mad men were missing, and as the saying goes, while the cats are away, the mice will play.

It started as Bubbles's idea.

At least that's what they think it started as. A few too many drinks had left the evening a blur for Curt and Bubbles and a blank for Bucky. That last fact will be important later.

"You know what would be fun?" Bubbles said, or perhaps it was Curt. Or maybe it was Bucky. But it was probably Bubbles. The man was quite the troublemaker, he just hid it better behind soft smiles and manners.

"What?" Bucky leaned against the bar to grin at Bubbles. Well perhaps a more accurate word would be slumped, he'd spent half the night playing some weird darts game that required shots for every bull's eye Tommy made. It was safe to say that the man was on the downhill slide to wasted. Curt kept an ear on the pair as he flirted with a pretty blonde next to them at the bar.

"Being blonde." Bubbles sighed. "All the movies make it seem fun, don't they? And Major Cleven sure is pretty with his blond hair. I bet it'd look really pretty as well on your curls Bucky."

"Sorry, sweetheart, one moment," Curt turned his head to stare at Bubbles. "You think Buck's pretty?"

"And you don't?"

"I do!"

"We know you do, Bucky," Curt sighed and leaned further onto the bar to make eye contact with Bubbles. "I mean, sure, objectively, you could say he is, but I thought you were wrapped up with Croz and Jean?"

"I am, but I still got eyes don't I? 'Sides ain't there something fun about being blonde?" Bubbles leaned against his cupped hand on the bar. "Can't a mind wonder?"

"Yeah Curt," Bucky rose in defense of his friend slinging an arm around Bubble's neck. The move was so uncoordinated that the pair were nearly sent to the floor. "Why can't Bubbles wonder? I wanna go blond, too!"

Curt rolled his eyes at them, but an idea was taking root in his head. An amazing idea.

"Well," Curt grinned. "Why wonder when you can do?"

"You boys aren't thinking about bleaching your friend's hair on your own are you?" A voice cut through the trio's conversation. It seemed the blonde woman from before had been listening in and was rightly amused by the drunk airmen's conversation.

"Cause you'll fry his whole head off in the state you're in, and the world would mourn those curls." She lifted a hand to tug gently on one of Bucky's loose wavy curls. He smiled at her, loose and happy. Usually, only Buck plays with his hair, but Bucky doesn't mind when anyone else does. Buck does though, which Bucky still hasn't figured out.

"Well, how do you suppose we save his curls then," Curt paused searching for the woman's name, "Nora."

"Good job, I half thought you were too drunk to remember my name handsome." Curt smiled, and Nora kept talking

"There's a drugstore down the way. Stocks up on anything a girl, or flyboy in need, could ever need. I'll help you boys out." Nora laughed. "You'll look mighty pretty dyeing those curls blond Major. I wanna see 'em first."

With Nora leading the way, the trio tripped over themselves into chaos. Bucky laughed as Bubbles rambled on about how pretty he'll look as a blond. Curt butting in to say that he'll need to either shave his mustache or bleach it too.

On base, Buck felt a shiver run down his spine as he laid down to sleep. Writing it off as just a chill from the cold British air, the man fell asleep.

Bucky groaned as he woke up. Voices drifted around him. His head felt like it'd be screwed off and used as a bowling ball all night, and as desperately as he wanted to go back to sleep, he knew that now that the sun was up, he was up.

"Curt, if that's you snoring on my legs, I'm gonna kick you off." Bucky pulled his pillow further over his head, trying to block out said snores.

"Fuck off," Came the grumbled reply. An elbow dug into the back of his knee.

"Get off," John whined. Curt huffed shifting just enough to let Bucky free his legs. "Why didn't you go to your own bed?"

"Yours is comfier." Bubbles murmured next to the pair, and Bucky really was starting to wonder what the hell they all drank the night before.

"It's the same cot as everybody else." Bucky grumbled, finally sitting up. Bubbles and Curt immediately swooped onto the space he abandoned. "Rude. You just want me for my bed."

"But it's such a lovely bed, sweetheart," Curt buried his face in Bucky's pillow, not even glancing at the man he was stealing from. Bubbles seemed to have immediately fallen back to sleep.

"I'm getting breakfast," Bucky yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Meet me there when you idiots wake up. I'll sneak you in."

"Sir, yes, sir." Curt's hand flopped into a mock salute that had Bucky rolling his eyes.

First things first, breakfast. Or at least coffee for his hangover.

Getting dressed as quickly as he could, Bucky didn't even waste time checking how he looked in a mirror. He went to smooth down his mustache only to curse when he found it missing. Thinking Curt must have shaved it off as a joke, Bucky groaned but moved on. He didn't even touch his hair after that, just walked right out of his barracks. The only thing that mattered to him was coffee and how he'd get his hands on a gallon of it. It wouldn't be the first time he ran around base with his hair going every which way. No one would bat an eye.

Had he known what kind of chaos he was about to wreck upon the poor, unsuspecting airmen of Thorpes Abbotts, Bucky would have at least styled it a bit. You know, just to ensure maximum chaos.

The bike ride to the mess wasn't awful. The fresh air helped at least. With his sunglasses on, his head felt less like it was going to split open and more human. What was weird was how everyone stopped in their tracks to watch him ride past.

"Is that-?"

"No way!"

"Someone get Kidd!"

"Holy shit!"

"Major Cleven is going to lose his mind!"

"Do you think he has a twin?"

"Hell if I know, I can't believe Major Cleven let him out of the barracks like that."

"Lord help us if there's another Egan running around."

Bucky ignored them. He was way too hungover to parse through what nonsense the boys were going on about, and he simply pedaled faster to get to the officer's mess. He just wanted his coffee.

"Major Egan, sir!"

Bucky glances up from securing his bike and meets the eye of one of the newer boys. Kid barely looks old enough to have enlisted.

"Uh," Bucky searches his memory for this kid's name. Bucky tried to know some of the newbies names, but it was harder than he'd ever admit. "Monroe, right?

"Yes, sir!" The kid squeaked, a bright tomato blush spreading across his cheeks. Bucky winced, the sound drilling right into his brain. "I wanted to say you look nice today, sir. Your, your hair is real nice!"

"Thanks, Monroe," Bucky smiled, thrown by how Monroe managed to grow even redder. He reaches out to clasp the kid on the shoulder. "You alright there? You look like you're gonna faint. Had any breakfast yet?"

"I-I'm fine, sir, thank you!" Monroe was stock still under Bucky's hand, but he wrote it off as nerves. Some of the boys got nervous around the older pilots, especially if they were officers. "I'll be going now! Have a good day, sir!"

In a flash, the blushing replacement ducked under Bucky's arm and ran as fast as he could down the lane. Bucky watched him go, head tilted not sure what the hell just happened to him. He heard a few shrieks behind him but wrote it off as typical background noise. There was always something going on.

"Weird kid." Bucky turned to walk into the officer's mess. He'd have to tell Buck about it when he saw him next. Maybe he'd understand what just happened.

Speaking of, Buck had better have saved him a seat for breakfast. Bucky was not going to battle the morning rush as well as his hangover just to find out he had nowhere to sit.

On the way inside, Bucky ran into Veal. As in, he literally ran into the man because he'd stopped dead in his tracks staring at him. Bucky hadn't even seen the other before he practically bowled him over.

"Veal, what the hell?" Bucky groaned.

"You," Veal stared at him wide-eyed. If Bucky were less hungover, he'd get quite a kick out of this. "You, you?"

"Shaved, I know," Bucky gestured to his face. He turned to keep walking into the officer's mess. "Yeah, Curt had some fun last night."

"Wait, no! Bucky-!" Veal went to grab him, but Bucky just swerved out of the way. Nothing was getting in his way in his quest for coffee. "Bucky! Stop! Don't go in there!"

"Yeah, yeah, Veal," Bucky waved a hand behind him. "I get you're shocked, but come on, man. It's not the first time any of you've seen me without it!"

Bucky rushed in, not paying anymore attention to Veal. He walked with one purpose. Coffee. He didn't care if the other officers stopped and stared at him slackjawed as he walked past. He was a man on a mission.

"Hey, coffee, please? Whole pot if you could," Bucky smiled at the attendant, who blushed scarlet before running off. Thrown but not deterred, Bucky just shrugged and turned to find Buck. Maybe he'd be able to steal Buck's coffee.

He found Buck seated near one of the windows with his back facing Bucky. Jack was at his table, but otherwise, it was empty. Bucky started over.

Jack saw him first and choked on his grapefruit juice.

"Oh shit," Jack choked out. Buck leaned over to check on him.

"Alright, Jack?" Bucky grabbed the seat next to Buck. Jack just stared at him, eyes wide. Bucky tilts his head confused. "Buck, what's with him?"

Buck turns and freezes. Bucky stares at him. Buck stares back.

"Buck?" Bucky reaches out to shake him.

"You," Buck starts but doesn't finish. His wide blues eyes stare at Bucky's face.

"Coffee, sir!"

The attendant from before arrives with Bucky's requested pot of coffee and a cup.

"Thanks!" Bucky smiles up at the other. The attendant trips backward. Buck turns and glares at the other man. He flees.

"Buck, what the hell?" Bucky nudges Buck. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Buck turns to stare at Bucky again, a clench to his jaw that Bucky's knows means he's holding something back. Jack seems to have started breathing normally again.

"Your hair!" Jack says. Bucky reaches up to touch his hair. Sure, he didn't style it this morning, but was it so bad? Monroe said it looked good!

Speaking of, why was everyone focusing on his hair today?

"What about it?" Bucky's genuinely curious now. Buck's still staring at him, eyes bright, and now Jack seems to be wishing for death.

"Its-!"

"Pretty."

Bucky turns to Buck. It's his turn to stare wide-eyed at the other. A blush rises up to his cheeks. Buck's not one to mince his words, and a compliment from him feels akin to a hundred.

The entire mess hall goes quiet as Buck stares at him. Bucky smiles at him. Buck goes rigid, and Jack chokes on his juice next to them. Again.

"Bucky!" Curt slammed his hand against the window, happy as a clam and utterly sober. Bucky hates that Irish constitution of his. "Let us in!"

Bucky stands up to hoist open the window. Jack's still too busy choking on his juice to stop him, and Buck seems to have frozen solid. Bubbles and Curt fall through seconds later. The pair immediately start talking over each other happily, and Bucky is starting to wonder if he was the only one who woke up with a hangover.

"God, you should hear the scuttlebutt going round!" Curt cackles as he launches himself into the seat across from Bucky. Bubbles nods next to him, already munching on a piece of toast Bucky thinks used to be Jack's.

"Anything fun?" Bucky dumps creamer into his coffee. He moans as he takes a sip of it. God, coffee really was the best hangover cure. Bucky doesn't notice how quiet the mess hall got until Bubbles finally answers his question a minute later. Odd.

"Just how pretty your hair looks now Major," Bubbles smiled at him. Bucky reached for his hair again.

"Is it really so different?" He asks. Buck makes a noise next to him like a dying chicken, and Curt cackles.

"Blond really is your color, Bucky! You look like one of those pin up posters running around like that!" Curt reaches across the table to tug on one of his curls, drawing it down into his eyesite. Buck bangs his knee against the table with a swear. Bucky would fuss over him, but he's reevaluating his whole morning with this new information.

"Oh!" Bucky gasps. Now he feels silly. "That's why Monroe complimented me outside?"

"Pardon?" Buck's voice comes out strangled. Bucky swings his gaze back to him. Buck's blue eyes are nearly electric, and Bucky gulps.

"Monroe? Cute kid? Brunette replacement with a billion freckles that disappear when he blushes?" Bucky rambles. Curt cackles again as Jack buries his face into his hands. Bubbles grabs a slice of Buck's toast this time.

"And he stopped you?" Buck's jaw was doing the thing Bucky knows only happens when he's pissed. But why would he be mad? Bucky tilts his head to stare at Buck, curls flopping down into his eyes now that Curt's untucked them from behind his ears.

Buck clenches his fist.

"Yeah, he and Veal both stopped me before I walked in." Bucky reaches over to grab Buck's hand. "You okay?"

"I'm fine John," Buck reaches up to tuck his loose curls back behind his ear. His hand lingers, and Bucky fights the urge to press his cheek into Buck's hand. "You look real pretty."

"Yeah?" Bucky sits up straighter, leaning into Buck's space. "How pretty?"

"Like a daydream." Buck whispers, voice low. His blue eyes won't stop staring, and Bucky can tell his blush is spreading by the volume of Curt's laugh.

Oh, Bucky could just kiss the other.

"Yeah, Nora did a nice job on your hair!" Bubbles pipes up having polished off Buck's toast. "We should write her a thank you card!"

"Nora?" Buck twitches.

"The girl who dyed Bucky's hair, of course!" Curt chimed in reaching for Bucky's coffee. Bucky batted his hands away, holding desperately onto his cup. "Pretty girl too! Kept running her hands through Bucky's hair saying how nice it was."

"I think nows a good time to stop that." Jack shoved his last slice of toast in Curt's mouth.

Buck's hand was still hovering over Bucky's cheek.

"Oh, now I remember!" Bucky leaned towards Curt and Bubbles with a bright smile. "She kissed me on the cheek before we left, right?"

Buck pushed his chair away from the table with a screech. Jack turned back to his grapefruit juice with a sigh.

Buck stormed out of the building, and it was through the combined efforts of Curt and Bubbles that Bucky didn't run after him. They could hear yelling through the still open window.

"Oh shit!"

"Everybody run! Major Cleven's pissed!"

"Who flirted with Bucky this time?!"

"Buck calm down, whoever it was they probably didn't mean anything by it!"

"Outta my way Crank."

"Buck, c'mon if you go to jail, who'll stay by Bucky's side?"

"Only gotta go to prison if I get caught."

"That's right-wait, Buck, no!"

Bucky sipped at his coffee. Jack sighed and turned to Bucky.

"Would you please go stop him? I'm not explaining to Harding why one of the 100th murdered a civilian, a fellow Major, and a replacement."

"Buck wouldn't do that," Bucky rolled his eyes.

Jack stared at him, judgement clear in his eyes. Bucky shifted under his gaze.

"Fine," Bucky groaned and pushed away from the table. He refilled his cup of coffee. "He wouldn't, but I'll go stop him."

Curt and Bubbles chirped their goodbyes as they waved down an attendant. Bucky mourned his pot of coffee as he glanced back and saw Curt gleefully pouring it into a cup.

Stepping put in the sunshine, Bucky reached for his sunglasses. Finding Buck would be easy. He simply turned in the direction of the yelling and started walking.

He ignored the boys all watching him and whispering. Now that he was walking, he could see his reflection in the windows of the buildings he passed. His normally brown locks were now a bright blond. He felt a bit foolish for not seeing it earlier, but hangovers tended to narrow one's field of vision to only what's necessary.

"DeMarcooo!" Bucky called out when he saw the other walking Meatball. "You seen Buck anywhere?"

"Just missed him," Benny yelled back. He pointed to the left of the barracks. "Went that way!"

"Thanks!" Bucky called back with a smile. A few of the boys around him erupted in whispers.

"Nice hair!" Benny yelled with a grin. Bucky rolled his eyes and kept walking. Buck couldn't have gone too far, right?

He found Buck only a few minutes later outside of one of the barracks the replacements were quartered. He was leaning against a wall talking to someone.

"Buck!" Bucky jogged over. As he got closer, he realized that the person Buck was talking to was the kid from earlier. "Monroe! Good to see you again so soon!"

"Major!" Monroe squeaked, eyes bouncing from Buck to Bucky. "Major Cleven was just reminding me about a few chores that I forgot about! I'll get going! Sirs!"

The kid ran off before Bucky could stop him. Buck watched with a satisfied gleam in his eyes, and Bucky huffed out a laugh.

"You know, you don't have to act all jealous to get my attention," Bucky pulled Buck to him by wrapping an arm around his waist. "I'll still only ever look at you."

"Just making sure everyone else knows that." Buck replied, voice low and serious.

Bucky reached up his free hand to drag him down into a kiss. Buck melted into his touch. Bucky laughed into he kiss as he tried to keep his coffee from spilling all over the two of them. He pecks the corner of Buck's mouth and pulls away.

"So you like the hair?" Bucky scrunches his nose into a shit eating grin.

Buck wiped that grin off his face with another kiss. Not that Bucky was complaining, of course.

Later that night, after making sure Buck didn't actually murder anyone, Bucky found himself in front of a vaguely familiar drug store.

"Well Major, I take it your boy liked the blond?" Nora grinned, pink lips spread into a devilish smile. She leaned one hip against the drug store counter. "Surprised you made it back here. You boys weren't exactly stone cold sober when you left."

"I always remember my bets, darling. I'll forget a lot but never those." Bucky laughed and set his hat down on the counter next to her. A single blond curl fell down into his eyes. "Now, what's this about makeup?"

"Oh, Major, you'll look lovely in something peachy."

#please ignore the fact that a small country town in England during ww2 had the necessary products for this during rationing #nora is an oc that exists solely because i have heard horror stories about people not knowing how to use hair bleach #and knew these three fools would burn Bucky's hair off if left unattended so thus NORA #everyone falls in love with Bucky #and blond Bucky is a bombshell no one survives #curt is only surviving because he thrives off of the chaos #internally he is also screaming about how pretty bucky is caude im a curtbucky stan as well #mota #masters of the air #buck x bucky #clegan #john bucky egan #gale buck cleven #bucky egan #john egan #gale cleven #buckbucky #my writing

62 notes · View notes

astercontrol · 4 months

Text

So…

I just watched Legacy again.

And… I keep coming back to the Ram-Castor theory.

Which first sparked from a paragraph on the Tron wiki, attributed in the footnote to Tron: Evolution…

Disparate accounts of Castor's origin exist. He was reputedly designed and created by Kevin Flynn in TC30 as an interpreter but quickly and naturally exceeded his original directives. Unconfirmed conflicting reports describe his origin as a "low-priority actuarial algorithm illegally co-opted identity of the obsolete protocol. More investigation required for verification."

This blew my mind, because... cryptic as it is, I found it easiest to interpret as:

The program that became Castor/Zuse was originally an interpreter program created by Kevin Flynn.

At some point, another program-- this "low-priority actuarial algorithm" -- took over his identity and took his place.

and… you know where my mind goes when I think of actuarial programs.

As far as I know, only one character ever canonically was described as such.

One who I cannot help but think of in the same category as Zuse (i.e., queer-coded, fun-loving, my favorite character in the damn movie, and died too damn soon.)

But... what would it take, for Ram to become Castor??

My initial impression was:

Ram gets rerezzed on the Grid, before the coup.

Perhaps Flynn sneaks in one of Roy's backups.

(Maybe this backup, unknown to Flynn, has been updated with some hacker code, for purposes of Zack-Attack shenanigans.)

And this Ram 2.0 is the "actuarial algorithm" who eventually assumes the identity of Castor/Zuse.

This was all months and months ago…

But now, having rewatched Legacy just now, the ideas have…

…. expanded.

Into the realm of the… something.

Here goes.

As to how Ram started out on the Grid:

I imagine that Flynn tried to give him something approaching his original purpose. Actuarial math is concerned with calculating probabilities, and this is useful for plenty of things besides setting insurance premiums.

(Ram probably would prefer many of those alternatives over setting insurance premiums, once he learns just how little insurance companies actually help people.)

His actuarial nature might even have him calculating probabilities about Clu, long before Flynn and Tron do… and seeing danger coming miles away.

And you know Flynn wouldn't have listened to his warnings.

Maybe this causes Ram to go into hiding early, before things with Clu go... clearly bad.

Now. Once in hiding, when the Purge starts, of course Ram decides to help the ISOs. He's a helper by nature. And he's lived under oppression and genocide.

Already he'll need to do this in some secrecy.

And this may very well be when he "reinvents" himself for the first time.

So. He hacks his way into the place of this …translation program that wasn't yet doing much of anything.

He takes on the new appearance, and the name Zuse.

Uses his hacking skills further, to control Solar Sailers and the permissions on other programs' discs, all in the name of getting ISOs to safety.

(This is all mentioned in the wiki, as well, attributed again to Evolution.)

(There also seem to be… hints? that Zuse himself is an ISO? but this is not clear on either the wiki, or in Legacy. There may be more data in Evolution? In any case, I'm proceeding on the assumption that he is not an ISO, just a regular program who may have been co-opted or hacked by another one.)

At the point in Legacy where Sam meets Zuse, some pieces fell together rather clearly for me.

When he says:

"Zuse has been around since the earliest days of the gaming grid. By necessity, he has to mind all the percentages, all the angles."

it feels to me that he was clearly talking about his past as Ram, the actuary. Perhaps calculating percentages of probability for gaming purposes-- betting odds and such-- back when the games were just for fun?

But, as he said, it was self-preservation that made him change his identity. With the Purge over, and Clu attaining greater and greater power… he had to reinvent himself again, to stay safe from Clu's wrath against anyone who supported either ISOs or Users. So he gave himself the name Castor, instead, and kept the Zuse identity under wraps.

"Castor" is actually a fairly clever choice of name. If he was going to go the Greek-gods route, "Ares" would have been the obvious code for Ram (the ram being the symbol for Ares/Aries).

(…AND I continue to pray, probably without hope, that Jared Leto keeps his mitts off of Ram completely. But, that's another topic.)

Ares was a son of Zeus.

Unclear whether this was why Ram chose the Zuse name… or whether the program had that name already before Ram took over him. (The wiki suggests that, like many names in Tron lore, it was an allusion to a famous name in computing history. In-universe, Flynn could certainly have named a program with such inspiration.)

In mythology, Castor was… one of the twins born to Leda after Zeus impregnated her. But the pregnancy had two different fathers, and Castor was not the twin fathered by Zeus.

From the perspective of a Ram in hiding, "Castor" could be taken to mean "false disguise for a true son of Zeus."

Not saying that was the sort of thing Ram himself would have come up with.

It's what I would have come up with, in his position.

But I am not an actuarial program. I am a goddamn pattern recognition program. This is obvious.

So, the above is likely all irrelevant.

Moving on!

By this point, Ram/Castor/Zuse might be pretty disillusioned with the Users, honestly.

Flynn's in hiding, doing nothing! He let Tron get corrupted, Yori either disappeared or never got rezzed in, and a tyrant with Flynn's face is in charge of everything!

I would NOT blame him for being unconvinced that changes at the top actually make a difference; that one leader's better than another.

I would not blame him for being earnest in saying, "I believed in Users once before."

And then, of course, the betrayal!

Clu's guards barge in.

Zuse…. stands back and lets everything happen. Gives them free rein to attack Sam. Stands back and watches in glee, as the whole thing goes down.

Watches Sam fighting back. Watches Kevin Flynn and Quorra bursting in to help. Watches the whole fight. Just watches, dancing and firing energy bolts randomly into the whole mess like a madman, as if he has no stake in it one way or another!

It would be easy to interpret this a number of ways.

He has gotten truly vengeful toward the Flynns, to the point of losing his grip on reality.

He has gotten truly vengeful toward EVERYONE, to the point of losing his grip on reality.

Perhaps his personality has even split somewhat-- the Castor and Zuse personas becoming somewhat separate entities?

This would fit with the idea that he started this whole business by co-opting the identity of another program!

Maybe that program's mind was always trapped somewhere within… fighting him.

Maybe it came to the surface more and more often as time went on.. becoming a possessing demon with very different views about everything Ram used to care for.

BUT.

There is one other possibility.

Let's take a look at just what he promised, and to whom, and just how the promises were followed through on.

First, to Sam. He offered Sam "a change of attire," "a forged disc," and "transport to cross the Sea of Simulation."

And then he stood back, and made no attempt to stop either Sam or his helpers or his attackers…

and the fight played out as fate would have it, letting Sam and Kevin and Quorra escape to safety…

as they, most surely, would…

as they could have been predicted to…

from the viewpoint of one whose probability-calculations have always been informed by faith.

One who, deep down, does still believe in the Users.

He might… just possibly… still care.

Also, consider.

Zuse does not allow Clu's guard to take the disc he stole from Kevin. He appropriates it for himself, as a bargaining chip to use with Clu.

For what? "Control of the city. A sizeable request, I know."

Here might be where Zuse finally miscalculates. He was expecting, or at least hoping, that there was a chance Clu would honor his end of the bargain.

If Clu had, indeed, allowed him control of the city, it would have given him an advantage from a large number of "angles"-- no matter how the political side of things played out.

It could have given him leverage to help the Flynns later on, and undo the damage caused by the theft of the disc.

He might, quite possibly, have predicted that Sam and Kevin would both be able to recover from the immediate problem of the disc being lost.

For all we know, that brilliant probability-calculating mind might have already had a plan for that, and for how to help them later.

And even if that plan failed…it could certainly have permitted Zuse to be involved on a much larger scale in the resistance.

(Kevin, deep in his "zen thing," had even said that programs forming a resistance from within could have a better chance of taking Clu down than he himself ever could.)

(Zuse might, at some point, have agreed with him on that, and prepared himself to play a part in it.)

But.

All this seems lost.

Because, instead of honoring the deal, Clu just takes the disc and then blows up the End of Line Club with Zuse and Gem inside it.

However.

We can easily imagine that someone with the previously displayed skills in

hacking

hiding

taking on new identities

calculating probabilities

and playing all angles / planning for all possible outcomes

…might have kept a backup of himself somewhere safer?

In any case.

Whatever was going on in Zuse's mind, in regard to helping or not helping the Users, and preparing or not preparing for Clu's betrayal…

you can't deny two things.

He doesn't give Clu any leads to find the Flynns. He tries to convince him they're already dead.

and, once they do escape…

there just happens to be a Solar Sailer right in reach, waiting for them to sneak on.

A "transport to cross the Sea of Simulation." Just as promised.

Just my thoughts.

#tron #tronblr #tron 1982 #ram tron #kevin flynn #sam flynn #tron legacy #zuse #castor #headcanons

70 notes · View notes

quotidian-oblivion · 7 days

Text

Not-Yet-Written Fic Game

Tagged by @chemical-processes!! Thank you so much for tagging meeee. Especially in writer games, i love them <3

Post about some of the fics you plan on writing

I'm gonna do both batfam and Merlin for this one. You can put down any number of wips. I have so many, but I think I'll choose 10 😅 Feel free to ask about any of them!!! I'd love that ^^

No pressure tags: @sardonic-sprite @igotthisaccountunderduress @pericreatesstuff @foursixtwonineoh-pieces-of-lego @foineswoine-writing

@uncertainwallflower @cygnusdoesthings @blightwritesfic @wakkoroni

A Dance Across the Stream [BBC Merlin]

A slave!Arthur fic where I really pump up the angst. Arthur has been a slave for so long that people are starting to lose hope that he's even alive. His slavers decide to auction him since his past status, health and general looks will get them a pretty penny. He's collared by magic that hurts him if he doesn't listen to his masters' orders. As he stares down blankly at the faces and hands rising eagerly to buy a slaved prince, he hears a voice-

"Twelve hundred and thirty gold pieces!"

For the first time in months, Arthur dares to raise his head. Because he knows that voice. Has heard it incessantly rabbiting on, talking his ear off several times a day before his capture.

But it can't be him. It can't be Merlin. Because the bid for him was only open to sorcerers. And Merlin can't be a sorcerer.

2. Let Me Die, Let Me Drown, Lay My Bones In the Ground [BBC Merlin]

(I'm cheating a little bit cuz this is actually written but) My first fic where I really unleash my angst weapons. I wanted to test my limits. And I did.

The storm that had passed through Albion didn't only bring devestation, it brought a party belonging to the king, queen and princess of a distant land on the edge of Albion's maps. As per propriety and courtesy, Camelot was required to hold a feast and provide accommodation for them. The feast started off smoothly, the royals of Camelot getting along quite well with the royals from Harden.

But a single questioned changed everything. Including the destiny of Arthur and Merlin.

"What are your stances on magic?" Uther asked.

3. Doesn't have a name yet, but the wip doc is named 'My Limits Tested Through Merlin' [BBC Merlin]

While writing LMDLMD (the above fic), I discovered that the angst I put in there was not actually my full limit. I could push further. I could write worse. So I started this multichap wip. And it's going splendidly. Honestly, this fic is such a good jar to add my inner demons to. And I decided to work in some foreshadowing, juxtaposition, symbolism and all that lovely fun literary devices stuff because I found that I actually enjoy that process. So this might just be my best mutlichap fic yet!

Summary: That the kingdom they traveled to was peaceful was a lie. That the king was a good and fair man was also a lie. That Merlin, Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table would be safe was the biggest lie of all.

As Merlin scrubs the floor beneath the king's feet, despite the pains and bruises on his body, he wonders if escape will also be a lie.

4. Empire For Two [BBC Merlin]

Part two of a two-part series. I've finished writing the outline and currently it's standing at 50 chapters, but as it gets written it might increase. Since it's MASSIVE and too much for me to take on alone, my lovely fwens Joan (@tireddruid) and Tristi are helping me with it! Joan's alpha and beta-ing while Tristi's gonna be a co-writer. For once, I'm not gonna start posting after it's written, but post as we write each chapter.

A Golden Age AU where I fix the fucking show.

5. Tim gets de-ages to a toddler fic [DC]

I've finished the outline for this too and it's currently standing at 21 chapters and I've already written 2. @mispeltnostalgia is beta-ing it ^^ And it's angsty. And fluffy! Majority of it is fluffy! But the angst at the end and major character death tag kind of overshadows the 19 chapters of fluff 😅 I also do a character study of Jason here. It's very enlightening.

Inspired by the very first fanfic I ever read (by choice) and Tim gets de-aged to a toddler because of a mistake Jason made. Jason's bonds with the family is already fragile and this mistake might just drive a further wedge between him and them. So he keeps the mistake a secret.

But the fact Tim is a toddler isn't. The batfam try their hardest to look after Tim while trying to find a way to age him back. Tim's an adorable kid but... there are warning signs. Too many warning signs. It makes everyone question just how well they had known Tim and his personal life.

For some reason, the toddler seems attached to Jason. And surprisingly, Jason seems to go actually well when dealing with him.

But after an explosive fight between Jason and the rest of the family, when Alfred opens the doors to the bedrooms, he finds both the toddler and the crime lord gone.

6. I Quit (not the actual fic name, just a wip name) [DC]

It started with a crack-genre scene where Tim accidentally resigns being Robin over the phone.

It quickly escalated to Tim running from the Bats, trying to cure Jason of his Pit Madness, and raising a 10-year-old assassin Damian when Talia mistakenly dumped the kid on him. Fully outlined, 19 chapters, I'm probably gonna start writing this soon.

7. Found Him [DC]

Not a multichap fic but a series with oneshots and twoshots and threeshots! Why? Because I was lazy and didn't bother with filling chapters. Why? Cuz I wanted to get to the action bits. Why?

Because this, my friends, is an evil!Tim Drake AU >:)

Tim wakes up in Titans Tower before Bruce and Dick can show up. He wakes up and all he sees is blood.

His blood.

He is in excruciating pain, but for some cruel reason, he can still think and feel clearly. His mind is not a haze, he has all his memories and he is very well aware of the carnage that has been made out of his body. Very well aware of the person who created the carnage out of his body.

In a Red Robin #4-esque style, Tim crawls out and sloppily secures the wounds that bleed the most, then grabs a bike and collapses in the middle of the road. The emergency services think he's a normal civilian boy since Tim had torn his Robin uniform and had ridden out in the blacks underneath. They manage to save his life but the damage was done.

Tim had snapped. He thought he was alone. And nothing was going to convince him otherwise.

8. All 'Board Mind Games [DC]

Inspired by Zugzwang written by sardonic-sprite. Ra's keeps kidnapping Tim and forcing him to play different board games from different cultures (cuz I like representation) and each member of the batfam is kidnapped along with him and with every time Tim loses, he gets to choose between forms of torture or being Ra's heir. Ra's gets what he wants either way because he wants Tim as his heir, but he also wants to see Tim suffer because he blew up his League's operations.

This fic I am so so so incredibly excited for because I am adding brain factors in it. Here is a plan for one of my chapters:

Damian — Barjees — Fear gas — "Be the person you needed when you were younger" (or Ideasthesia)

9. Talons (not the actual title) [DC]

What if Bruce didn't arrive in time to adopt his sons? What if the Talons did?

And what if, years later, Batman comes across four child assassins in Gotham whose eyes are screaming help?

10. Danny meets Tim (not the actual title, obvi) [DC x Danny Phantom]

Not very outlined, but the idea has been written down. During Tim's Red Robin arc where he's traversing the whole globe to find Bruce, one of the places he stops at is Amity Park. He heard about how ghosts are a regular here so maybe he can find something? Proof whether or not Bruce is alive?

Who he finds instead changes the whole trajectory of Tim's life.

And those are some of my wips! I am 100% planning on writing and posting all of them. They've all been outlined (except the last one) and are very much ready to be written or posted. I keep getting ideas after ideas for fics though so don't know when I'll be writing them 😂 Rest assured, I'm too excited to delay some of these wips.

#quotidian writes #quotidian fics #writer tag game #not yet written fic tag game #tag game #writers tag game #wip tag game #wip game #wips #fanfiction #fanfic wips #dc #bbc merlin #danny phantom #lmdlmd fic

25 notes · View notes

ecoamerica · 2 months

Text

youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

17K notes · View notes

ohsalome · 1 year

Note

What are some amazing, most read Ukraine authors? The only one I know is Gogol and I would like more on my radar.

First important disclaimer is that without knowing ukrainian, your pool of choice is very limited. Unfortunately, our translators haven't done nearly enough to make ukrainian literature acessable for english speakers, so a lot of genuinely amazing stuff would require you to know the language.

The second important disclaimer is that I am going to recommend you a lot of poetry, and, with no disrespect to the translators, it doesn't hit nearly as hard in english as it is in ukrainian. I've recently heard the phrase "to read poetry in translation is like to take a shower wearing a raincoat", and it is so true. So, apologies for this barrier, but there is nothing one can do.

With that in mind, let's start from classics:

The first most important author is Taras Shevchenko. He mainly wrote poetry, but has some prose works as well, and during his life he was more known as a popular artist. The Bible of his works is Kobzar (a ukrainian word for travelling blind musicians), and the same word is also often used as a nickname for Shevchenko - akin to how Shakespeare can be called the Bard. Among the most important poems pay attention to A Dream (the poem for which he was imprisoned by the russians with an explicit ban on writing and painting), The Caucasus, My Testament, Kateryna, A cherry orchad by the house, О thoughts of mine

The second big name to know is Lesya Ukrainka. Lesya is also more known for her drama and poetry than her prose, but she also was a prolific translator and a feminist. Her most well-know play is The Forest Song (a cartoon adaptation is soon to be released after 7 years of production, but from the trailer it looks like it's not going to be close to the text). I find her Бояриня play to be much more interesting and relevant, however, it looks like it has not been translated yet. Among her poems, some of the most important are Contra Spem Spero and Cassandra (the latter has had some successful stage prouctions in Great Britain last year, mayhaps it will gain popularity)

Some links to her works: [x] [x]

Fun fact: there are speculations about Lesya Ukrainka's relationship with her close friend Olga Kobylyanska. The letters they exchanged are quite intimate and sometimes even erotic in nature, which lead some academics to believe that they were more than friends (most still fall in the "gal pals" camp tho). However, if that were true, that would mean that Lesya Ukrainka is the only bisexual woman to ever be printed on banknotes.

The third pillar of ukrainian classical literature is Ivan Franko. Once again, we are talking about partiotic poetry, but there are also many socialistic ideas in his works (although he became dissilusioned with it in his later years ), which I think many western readers will find appealing - (side comment - it looks like "collective west" is going through the same processses that we overcame a century ago, so ehm... good luck, y'all will need it). I haven't been able to find much of his works translated in English, so here is a good master page. Zakhar Berkut is considered to be one of his greatest works (a ukrainian-american co-production movie The Rising Hawk was released a couple of years ago, it was shit). If you manage to put your hands on it, I would greatly recommend The Painted Fox and Moses. Also, reading Eternal Revolutionary imprinted on me so much in childhood and determined who I grew up to be, I pretty much consider Franko to be my spiritual father.

A great event that happened this year is that Valeryan Pidmohylny's The City is finally getting an english translation. I have been gushing about this book on this blog before (you can also find the link to the publisher there), because for the archetypical ukrainian literature this book is a breath of fresh air. It's beautiful, it's modern, it's urbanistic, the protagonist is irredeemable asshole, it's amazing and I should re-read it as well.

Among the authors that are much more difficult to find, I greatly recommend Ivan Nechu-Levytsky. In my humble opinion, he like no other has managed to capture the "ukrainian spirit" and his plots are extremely captivating and dramatic as hell.

I will always, always add Ivan Bahryiany to my lists of ukrainian "must reads". He is an author of the first ever ukrainian adventure novel Tiger Trappers/The Hunters and the Hunted, which is the book that is loved even by those who don't like ukrainian literature. However, I personally find his Garden of Gethsemane to be a much more important (but take care, it is much more depressing as well). This author is extremely important, but I struggle finding PDFs of his work - perhaps, you'd have to search the libraries or ukr diaspora publishers for paperbacks. I have also been unsuccessfully hunting for an english translation of Why I am not going back to the Soviet Union? pamphlet for years - and I know for sure it exists because the USA first lady at that time has read it and it influenced her opinion on the USSR - but I've had no luck so far.

Another very important author of the same time period is Mykola Khyvylovy. One of his plays has actually been recently put to stage in English (shamefully, I haven't watched it yet, but I can vouch for the text it was based on - it's brutal).

I can't speak about ukrainian literature without mentioning crimean tatars, and although their works are much, much less known (in Ukraine as well, unfortunately), please do not overlook it. It is a gorgeous culture, and reading it, I grew to love and value Crimea so much even without ever visiting it. There are some english translations avaliable, including those of Noman Çelebicihan - an extermely important figure in Crimean Tatar history, the founder of the unfortunately short-lived Crimean Democratic Republic, the author of their national anthem, and overall very influential revolutionary.

Now let's jump to the popular modern authors. Many don't have english translation, but the problem is much less prominent in comparison to the ukrainian classics. With these authors, you shouldn't have trouble with finding paperbacks. Among the most influential authors I can recommend Serhiy Zhadan (Timothy Snyder has once said that he expects Zhadan to receive a Nobel Prize in literature and I agree), Oksana Zabuzhko (she either aught to release soon or has already released an english-exclusive book about the russian-ukrainian war), Yuri Izdryk (extremely modern and unconventional, but he's a good represention of the current state of art), Yuriy Andrukhovych (love his mastery of language, hate his characters). These authors are more light-hearted, but a grim necessity for today is Stanislav Aseyev's The Torture Camp on Paradise Street. It is a autobilgraphical book describing his experience being imprisoned by russians between 2017 and 2019. Western journalism often describes the war crimes russians commit on our land, but just listing the number of people lost doesn't show the face of the russian horror. Read this book to understand why we were screaming about the russian threat before the full-scale invasion, and why every time we regain the territory we brace with terror of what we'll discover there - because everywhere russian army goes, they build hunderds of such Isolyatsya camps that the book describes.

Also check out Serhiy Zhadan's band!

#response #ukraine #ukrainian literature #thank you for this question this is much more fun to talk about than the usual topics on this blog

179 notes · View notes

astrangerthatlovesyou · 1 year

Text

My two year anniversary with two of my insys partners was a few weeks ago, and my one year anniversary with my other is coming up! It got me thinking about how much our relationship (all of us are with each other) has evolved and grown, even though at times sharing a body has been a challenge.

As many of you know, we have P-DID. Because I'm the host, that means l've been front-stuck since I formed. I have access to headspace most of the time, but it's made having extremely committed relationships in the system a little difficult. I wanted to share some tips for insys partners!

These should work for systems with front-stuck members or no headspace. (It's worth noting, some of this requires co-fronting, which isn't easy/possible for all systems. These tips have also really helped me with mindfulness, grounding, and mental health and could definitely be modified for self love!

(TW: metions of food)

Some ideas for dates/spending time together

Play video games together

Share meals

Read together

If you feel safe, go places alone with them (ie: the zoo, a festival, etc)

Dance together

Just talk, talk as much as you can

Cook each-other’s favorite meals

Lean on each other

The most important thing we’ve found is communication, understand that there might be times that you wish the relationship was different. It’s okay to acknowledge that it hurts sometimes to not be able to interact in the meatspace. It also proves that you’re worth fighting for, that obviously being with one another is more important than the setbacks. In system relationships can be just as fulfilling as outerworld relationships, but they arguably take more work.

Tell each other everything. Understanding each other better than external partners could is a gift and a huge strength you should capitalize on. It’s also important to really lean into the emotional aspects of your relationships, this really helps foster intimacy.

Remember that you are still fully capable of hurting one another. Despite being in a system together, you still need to nurture your relationship. Things won’t be perfect, and there may be times you have to fight for your relationship.

In system relationships can still be unhealthy, make sure you’re being careful and not allowing mistreatment. If you feel like not being able to escape your headmate may make you allow toxic behavior, you should avoid starting a relationship.

Most of all, have fun, enjoy being together, relax! Insys relationships are absolutely amazing! You are so valid! You can still be “meant to be” even if you share a body.

My partners truly make me so happy, I want to be with them forever, they mean everything to me! I know it can be intimidating to start a relationship with a headmate, and it’s definitely worth asking if you’re truly willing to put an internal relationship first, but it really is the best decision I’ve ever made. I’m so in love, and my babies are worth every sacrifice.

70 notes · View notes

knowlesian · 2 years

Text

fuck it i want to talk about the kiss.

because this kiss is perfect. absolutely perfect.

regardless of the exact level of experience these two actually have with the mechanics of kissing (and i would guess it’s not much), kissing like this is new to both of them.

stede has been accidentally giving ed an entire ocean of mixed signals. because this say fellas, is it gay when involves a list of things like ‘leans in close and treats you kindly and wears your pants and so desperately wants to make you happy and offers to co-captain a ship’ as well as ‘picks up zero hints, does not seem to be aware of the way you want to kiss him, there’s some chick named mary up in this, fuckin for REAL is he gay or from new zealand???? i cannot fucking measure this ratio, it’s so weird’ & etc

so ed has been making aborted moonlight leans and being like STAB ME! THE STABBING IS A METAPHOR! PLEASE WOULD YOU GET WITH THIS, MY THIRST IS INTENSE and staring at stede like he’s made entirely out of red silk handkerchiefs, etc.

and now that the shit has truly hit the fan ed finally, finally, is like. fuck it. here we are, alone on a beach together, my beard is gone and your ship is gone and everything is fucked up, but just being with you makes me happy.

literally at this point why not? worst case, stede clarifies that ed has been misreading the feelings building between them.

(it must be said because thinking it hurts and i am nothing but generous with sharing the pain: that he misread stede like he misread the party at first, because the rules of the social road ed learned require a whole different set of skills than stede learned in his fancy world of melon spoons and tureens.)

ed knows that if stede rejects him, he can always skip out to nurse his wounds alone. this is a perfect fuck it, shooting my shot moment.

so he pushes past the false start where he gets derailed by turtles and toes (and neatly sets up the finale at the same time, i love good writing i really do) and just lays it all out. right now, he doesn’t want to curve to fit around the spaces somebody else wants him to fill: he wants to do what makes ed happy.

and then because stede is at his core so fucking kind, he comes through in the clutch here and says the exact right thing once again, just like he did when he told ed he wore fine things well. there are a lot of responses stede could give here that would be... fine, or terrible, but this is the perfect one.

what makes ed happy means: i care what makes you happy. i might even want to be the one making you happy, on a longterm and regular basis.

it also means: i’m not going to staple my narrow, not you-approved idea of what makes you happy on your face and then get pissed when you’re not 100% into it, because that is a clear pattern in your life.

literally the best and most beautiful thing stede could have said. unerringly hitting the heart of the things ed wants most, and totally on accident.

and then ed delivers the favor in kind, finishing it off with the absolute perfect thing he could say to stede, slowly because hooooly shit this is much scarier than getting stabbed and also totally on accident: stede makes him happy.

not just the fun they’ve had together, or the access to shared fancy pants and plans to match. just stede, existing in the world at all, and being by ed’s side.

which implies, even in these much less pleasant circumstances stede makes him happy. (and the unthinkable thought: if stede makes ed happy when things are generally not going well, maybe ed could still feel that way even if stede himself makes him unhappy once in a while.

you know: like how people are when they say they love you and they mean it.)

so stede bluescreens a bit because this is the first compliment of his life on this calibre and also he has no idea what to say to that, since he’s never heard it before! literally nobody has been like: hey stede. the fact that you’re in the world is very cool. you yourself are a net positive, and you make me happy just by existing.

AND THEN. THE FUCK IT TIPPING POINT. SHE IS HERE.

it’s not a teenage first date thing, though the vibes aren’t far off: but these are two men who just heard and said the thing the other most wanted to hear.

what makes you happy, ed? / what makes ed happy is you.

they both emphasize the other in that moment; they both receive everything they’ve ever wanted.

(also it’s just some super fun wordplay. hate this team.)

anyway: the best slightly awkward but incredibly perfect first kiss.

i love that neither of them are in the perfect position for this; i love that stede is 100% not prepared and ed has to shift to keep it going and drops his hand slowly to the middle of stede’s back while he raises the other to touch his neck, and his FINGERS BRUSH STEDE’S THROAT which, fuck that. throats are vulnerable; thin skin, jugulars, the place where the pulse beats, etc. vampires like throats, weird serial killers like throats, lovers like throats. it’s all very metaphors gone wild and tender, because you have to feel pretty safe to let somebody touch your throat on purpose.

anyway: i love stede’s little ‘mmph!’ sound, it’s all just so fucking perfect.

and then ed cups stede’s face and i want to gnaw on SHEET METAL and he KEEPS IT THERE? KEEPS IT THERE. “your hand on my chest is my hand” style? look. i just. i hate the little details each of the actors on this stupid mean to me show emphasizes. the physicality of this cast is fucking insane and it makes me want to go full red stringboard doing a rewatch for each character and only paying attention to what they’re doing so i can really appreciate all these ridiculously talented people.

this show ruined my life, news at eleven, i will never think about anything else.

so yeah! ed is STILL CRADLING STEDE’S JAW stede is saying you make stede happy, i am throwing my fucking tv out the window, etc.

aaaaand then they start making the kind of plans that don’t have great longterm feasibility and the narrative starts to get the road ready for chauncey to royally fuck things up for everybody-slash-probably make things better in the long run but turns out we do not, in fact, have to hand it to chauncey for derailing a plan that would eventually have led to things going sour and then i cry, but that’s for the recaps etc.

#our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #my ofmd meta #how obsessed with this show am i? normal amount #hbo JUST RENEW IT ALREADY #they better give us the nod on s2 and 3 at once or i s2g #fuckin corporate fucks gimme our pirates

522 notes · View notes

irlwakko · 2 months

Text

OKAY my thoughts on the punishments that Mal gave all of the alters in Total Drama All Stars! Because @fraudulent-cheese asked and I've been waiting YEARS for someone to ask me about my theories!

(Disclaimer: I know the writers probably didn't put this much thought into this. I know that I'm being one of Those Total Drama fans and I categorically Don't Care because I have so much fun thinking about this.)

The reason I use the word "punishments" first of all is that 1. I need an easy name to call them to group them all together and 2. I do genuinely believe these are punishments Mal gives the alters as revenge for forcing him into dormancy. Because I ALSO think that Mal scaled them to how much he hated/blamed that particular alter.

(As an aside, there's a LOT to be said about Mal spending a formative period of time in juvie and then modeling his punishment for the alters after a jail, as Manitoba says. I wish we knew more about Mal's time in juvie so I could talk about this more.)

The first person we see is Mike, who's just all alone surrounded by (it seems like) miles and miles of nothingness. And I think his punishment is the worst, but we'll circle back to him.

Chester's punishment is really obvious: he's stuck selling skateboards because it's a symbol of the youth nowadays, which he absolutely hates. There's also something to be said for the fact that Chester's working a retail job, wherein you have to be constantly standing, and we know Mal took away Chester's mobility aid (which he had in the innerworld in Season 4 and did not have in Season 5). He probably didn't think Chester was capable of escape, but also put him in a position where he'd eventually become so physically incapacitated that he COULDN'T escape.

And ALSO, to skip ahead a little (sorry I have a lot of thoughts on this), Mal knew that even if everyone began to escape, Chester's legs would give out long before they reached the tower (which requires five people to enter). Mal was counting on the assumption that the others would leave Chester behind once he became unable to walk (more on this later!)

Second up is Svetlana, and though I don't know why Mal picked fish, I know why he picked butter: simple, because Svetlana's a gymnast. You can't do gymnastics if your hands are covered in butter. Being unable to do gymnastics would not only physically incapacitate her but also completely demoralize her. More than the physical impediment, the hopelessness of the situation would keep her from escape. I also think the reason he kept Svetlana under such close surveillance (the ears everywhere) was because he knew he might need physical control of her in the future (which we see when he forces her to co-front in order to fight off Alejandro).

Third is Vito, and Vito is my FAVORITE of these because his "punishment" isn't a punishment at all. It plays to all of his strengths! We already know that Vito loves attention; he would love to perform. Secondly, it's obvious by his reaction to his own joke that he REALLY enjoys cheesy jokes. Third-- and this is where I go from reaching to REALLY reaching, but bear with me-- in a very literal sense, Mal chose Vito as the mouthpiece through which he can speak to the rest of the system (the puppet is the only way we see Mal communicate with the alters, outside of the mirror he uses to talk to Mike, and only once).

Also, on rewatching the full scene to write this post, I wanna say two things I noticed: first, Vito seems... not all that surprised that the puppet can talk. He does clarify that he "didn't say nothin'" after puppet-Mal starts to talk, but he's mostly startled that it flew into the air and caught on fire. Everyone screams in terror when the puppet starts talking except Vito. Maybe Mal communicated more with Vito than we saw on camera. Mal must sleep, but we never see him sleeping, so it could totally happen then (<- completely delusional). And second, especially compared to everyone else, Vito doesn't seem all that enthusiastic. His exact words are "Woah, uh, sure" (in comparison to Chester's "I'm with ya", Svetlana's "hoorah!", and Manitoba's "took ya long enough"). It seems like he mostly just follows along because that's where his "audience" is going and also because he wants to find the club district.

So finally Manitoba! It seems like, besides Mal, Manitoba's the alter who feels the most animosity towards Mike, so it's understandable that he'd give Manitoba the job of destroying Mike's dreams (besides the fact Manitoba has lasso skills, I also think any other alter would probably refuse.) (Also, I think Manitoba's the gatekeeper/dreamkeeper/etc. of the system, so he'd be the one with easiest access to the dreams, but all the reasons I think THAT is a different essay for a different day.)

Also, like Vito, Manitoba's "punishment" actually plays to his strengths instead of to his dislikes and weaknesses, so like Vito, I think Mal doesn't feel too much hatred towards Manitoba either. Also understandable! Because it seems like Manitoba has a lot of the same criticisms of the system's inner workings as Mal does.

So what ARE the criticisms Mal has? They show through at the very start and very end of the journey-- how Mal punishes Mike, and how Mal sets up the guard tower.

(By the way, just for the record, I HATE the reset button. But for this post, let's accept the reset button as canon fact.)

The system has been Mike's coping mechanism and support system for as long as Mike can remember. And as much as Mike hates to admit it pre-season-5, he DOES need them. In Season 4, he got through situations that would've been impossible for him to navigate without Vito and beat challenges that would've been impossible to surmount without Svetlana and Manitoba (and he loves Chester too, even if he isn't always the most outwardly useful). That's not even to mention the emotional support (as shown by Svetlana's "Mike is the best" pep talk in Season 5) that he probably received from them over the years as well. As much as he hated them, they're so important to him.

The worst possible punishment Mal can inflict is cutting off all of his access to that support system.

To be fair, he did this to all the other alters too. But for Mike, it was the only thing he did. He felt that taking Mike away from the alters on its own would be enough to incapacitate and demoralize him. And he probably knew that it would prove a point-- you need them. You need us. And now it's too late.

But keep this in mind-- when Mal went into dormancy, he left behind a system that was constantly fighting amongst itself for control, that couldn't agree on anything (except for getting rid of him), and was bickering every time they interacted. So this is the lens that Mal constructs his prison with.

He doesn't count on the system working together! What he hopes for is that, even if one of them managed to escape, they 1. wouldn't bother looking for the others and would try to do everything themselves, which would leave them shut out of the tower, and 2. even once they did realize they needed to gather up everyone else, they would be too distracted by infighting to actually do anything to take him down.

And that's probably what season 4 Mike-- the Mike that Mal knew-- would've tried to do. He wasn't counting on the fact that the system would now be working towards functional multiplicity by the time he came out of dormancy! And it caused them to defeat him much sooner than he would've anticipated.

(Quick note: I know integration =/= death in DID, but I used the term "kill" here in some places because I feel like that's how Mal would view it. Literally none of this has anything to do with accurate DID because Total Drama is so so inaccurate and the absolute worst.)

Also, here's a theory I like: I don't think Mal would've just built a self-destruct button on his own life. He wouldn't build a button capable of killing him and then put it in a place where someone else could access it, even if the chances (in his mind) of them accessing it would be really remote. So I think the button was set up in such a way that whoever pressed it would become the core. It wasn't truly intended to be used by anyone except Mal. It was a final failsafe measure. Even if the system managed to work together long enough to free each other, reach the tower, and ascend the stairs, Mal was hoping that-- upon realizing that this button could give any of them the life they so desperately wanted as of pre-Season-4, and that if anyone but them pressed it, it would kill them-- the alters would return to squabbling, fighting for their lives, for long enough for Mal to intercede and ultimately take control. Just like Mal never counted on them working towards functional multiplicity, he also never counted on them being able to agree upon integration.

Why didn't Mal just press the button at the first opportunity? I don't know. Dramatic villainous timing? Lingering feelings of affection for the other alters? Perchance.

Anyway. I know TDAS is a horribly written season in literally every other aspect, and also that the writers probably didn't put THIS level of thought into things, but I read too deep into Total Drama as a hobby so I will be putting this much thought into it forever and ever and ever. :)

#i am NOT putting this in the main tags they do NOT need to know i live like this #but feel free to reblog

10 notes · View notes

izukuwus · 1 year

Text

Edible Arrangements 30

First - Prev - Next - M.list - Ao3

A/N: So usually I actually get pretty uncomfy around people who are drinking a lot, god only knows why, but this was insanely fun to write! Happy January 22nd New Year's lmao

we love some good fluff to break up all this plot <3

Chapter Summary: New Year's gets rung in the best way you and your friends can think of.

Warnings: alcohol, a single dubconny new year's kiss

Word count: ~3000 words

"I can't believe you actually invited him. You sure you're okay with it?" Mina sidles up next to you, her balance already sending her bumping shoulders with you whenever she comes to talk just a bit too loud. You appreciate her, though, horns jabbing your ear and all.

"Mina, play nice," you say. "And yes, I'm fine with it. Izu and Hitoshi are cool with it, too. I was gonna ask Tenya, but..."

Well, Tenya had insisted on you extending an invitation to Neito, though he'd warned that he’d be a bit distant should the wannabe hunters decide to attend.

Who had ended up attending: Tenya (stern parent to all), Mina (currently smooshing her cheek into yours and having pregamed the party before you even started setting it up), Tsuyu (Mina's designated driver to the event, now also partaking in the punch seeing as you have no intention of making anyone drive home tonight), Izuku (as your co-host), and Hitoshi, to start with. And then, the more surprising guests on your list, who Mina was now trying to appear civil towards: Neito, an enthralled and therefore completely nonthreatening but still just a touch creepy Ibara, and Itsuka.

Itsuka is really the one you’re a bit wary of. You know Neito well enough by now to know that he's not at threat of harming you or your friends again except on accident, and a very brief prying into Ibara's state of mind has made it pretty clear that she's forgotten her capacity for vampire murder, which leaves you the wildcard: Itsuka. You don't know much about her, except that she's the one that turned Neito and that they're still not really talking. Part of your goal tonight is to loosen her and Neito both up if you can, get them talking—though, honestly, you're mostly just impressed at yourself for being able to get both to attend.

Tonight will also be a valuable case study in whether or not vampires can get drunk.

Izuku has chosen, of course, not to partake too heavily—he's also interested in the answer, so he's opted to hang out awkwardly and commit as much to memory as possible so he doesn't freak out all your friends and assault charges in another world by actively taking notes on them where they can see. This, of course, requires his memory to be functioning, and that requires him to not risk the potential for alcohol to fuck with his memory tonight. You, on the other hand, are drinking socially with the hopes of feeling relaxed again. Those moments have been few and far between for longer than your brain will let you think about.

Tonight might be the first really relaxing night you've had that isn't just you and Izuku and Sbeve.

Speaking of Sbeve, Mina has let out a joyous squeal to chase him down after spotting him atop the network of cat trees in the living room.

"Careful!" you call after her. "He's soft, but he bites!"

You fed him earlier, so it should be fine... right?

With her gone, you sink into socializing, finding yourself awkwardly chatting with Itsuka. She's chill, it turns out. Friendly, even. And, important: she's drinking. She's joined by Hitoshi, though she keeps an eye on Neito and Ibara, who chat not far from the three of you. (Tsuyu has posted up with Tenya for the time being.)

"Itsuka, right?" You raise your glass to her in greeting as you finally wedge your way in. "Thanks for coming. I know it's probably not the most hype of New Year's celebrations, but..."

She shakes her head, grins. "No, thanks for inviting me! I was kinda surprised you invited those two at all."

"Well, you know. It's practically a vampire gathering. And, I'm not gonna lie, I kinda wanted to sus out Ibara. I heard she was... y'know, changed, but after everything that happened, I wasn't keen on risking it, you know? Had to see for myself." You pull a tight smile on the realization that that maybe... wasn't the best thing to say. Maybe you're already tipsy. Fuck it. "Sorry. I'm a bit of a lightweight."

"A bit?" Hitoshi snorts. "That's your first drink, isn't it?"

"Maybe so. Fight me about it."

The conversation quickly slides into high-spirited bickering, which poor Itsuka has become the unwilling referee for. And then, before you can challenge Hitoshi to a Smash-sponsored death battle, you note two things:

1. You need a refill.

2. Mina has declared her own death battle against Neito, something about the sanctity of your life and home.

And so you fill up your glass, break out the Smash, and watch a drunk Mina attempt to murder a completely lost Neito via Smash. Before long, it's all of you, piling in, any lingering awkwardness or worry evaporated in fair of virtual fistfights, swearing, and getting progressively drunker by the minute. By the time midnight rolls around, you've nearly forgotten about it being New Year's Eve.

Mina, in all her drunken glory, is not one to forget, however. "Oh my god guys we've gotta kiss."

"What?" Hitoshi chokes on his drink.

"We gotta! There's... uh... [name] count how many people there are."

You count dutifully. Eight.

Perfect.

"Eight!"

"Forgive me, but you seem to have miscounted," says Ibara, and you furrow your brow and count again.

Oh. You forgot you.

"Toshi. Toshi this is important." You have your hands on his shoulders, eyes dead serious. He seems unimpressed. "Hitsoshi. Listen to me."

"What?"

"You have to kiss Sbeve. It's the only way."

"I am... not doing that."

"You have to! It's the law! You gotta kiss someone on New Year's or you'll, like, die. I'm sorry, I shoulda only invited an even number."

"She's right!" Mina cheers. "The hosts gotta do it, and the twink's gotta kiss the thorny girl, and I gotta kiss the twink's sister for revenge, and Tsu's gotta do Tenya because they're the mom friends and mom friends gotta kiss each other, so you gotta kiss Sbeve! Do it for Sbeve!"

"Do it for Sbeve!" Itsuka echoes. She's barely drank anything. You gotta change that if she's comfy.

You shake his shoulders a little, tears in your eyes. "I'm askin'—askin' you as Sbeve's adopting momther. He's gotta kiss some—someone on New Year's, too. Or he'll be cursed."

Hitoshi slides a hand on his face. "Okay, this is stupid. You can't just—those designations are completely arbitrary. I'm pretty sure you made up nearly all those pairings on the spot except for the hosts thing."

"Just drink a lil more and you can do it! Do it for Sbeve, Hito'."

He sighs, accepts the cup pushed towards him as the other drunkards cheer. And, as midnight creeps ever closer, you look for the other host and find him in the corner. With the countdown beginning, you stumble his way, and he's there in a moment, steadying you with your hot face and dizzy smile. "Everything okay, [name]? You've had a lot to drink."

"I'm stressed," you declare. "But Mina said we gotta kiss when the midnight goes, and she's never wrong."

"K-kiss?"

"Yeah. We gotta!"

"Y-you know that—"

Your lips are on his, barely missing a lip lock. Your aim's off, your breath nearly enough to buzz him as you press into him and kiss the corner of his mouth. He adjusts, movements wooden as he steadies you more than anything. But he sinks into it, and you sink into it, and there you are, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, feeling the first kiss you can remember feeling right.

3, 2, 1.

and when you pull away, you're immediately looking with approval to see that, at minimum, everyone's at least gone for the requisite cheek kisses at Mina's badgering. Everyone will have a good year—you're satisfied.

Happy New Year!

Tenya wasn't going to get dragged along into this. For one, yours and Mina's harrowed prophecies of bad years to come for those that don't kiss on New Year's is so convoluted and, more importantly, so ungrounded in reality that the only point would be to satisfy those too drunk to realize the error of their ways. For another, he's half a mind to talk you out of it, before you've completely bought into Mina's idea that the hosts have to kiss. Of course they don't! There's no reason they should have to do that! There's no reasonyou should—

But there you are, confidently stumbling your way to Izuku, who crosses the room to steady you as though it's like breathing. And he has to admit, if he were in someone else's body, someone else's mind... He'd think the two of you looked great together. A perfect couple.

"This doesn't have to mean anything, but if it'd help..." Tsuyu says as the pair of them watch you panic to Izuku about New Year's kisses. "It'd be nice not to feel left out."

He sighs. He knows what's coming. Tsuyu is beautiful, and you are not the person he knew then. (You're exactly like the person he knew then.)

Even that purple-haired vampire has found the cat to give a kiss to the top of its head before midnight.

And there you are, loud enough that Tenya knows. You're asking Izuku to kiss you.

And there he is, not backing away, too stunned to form a response to you. You're a whirlwind. You always have been.

Tsuyu bumps his shoulder.

Fireworks launch on the TV as you drag a still-dumbstruck Izuku into a poorly-aimed kiss.

"Tenya?"

"Sorry I asked. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He pulls Tsuyu into a kiss before he can watch your vampire kiss you back, before he can feel the hurt hit him. And Tsuyu, for all she's worth, kisses him back.

When they pull away, there's a shared nod, and then a move to the drinks table.

Happy damn New Year.

The morning does not come gently to end the night. No, in fact, it comes in the form of Sbeve batting at your face, of light casting across the eyes of a pile of hungover college students plus Izuku. Those human among you groan—you can already tell that you're not the only one with a splitting headache. Izuku shuffles beneath you when you stir, and you soothe him back to sleep and squint through the light to assess the damage.

The first damage, you can tell, is the fact that the fucking blinds are open. That's an easy fix. You twist them closed, draw the curtains to leave the room sufficiently dark enough to elicit a muffled "thank you" from one pink best friend of yours. The next steps are obvious—water for the humans. Maybe for the vampires, too. You're not sure any of them drank enough to get drunk, let alone get hungover. You're also not sure they can get hungover. (Note to self: ask Izuku whether or not he can experience hangovers now that he's a vampire.)

You stumble to the kitchen, fill up Sbeve's water and yours in succession. You down your glass, fill it again. Tsuyu, Mina, and maybe Ibara need water, for sure. After a moment's deliberation, you get down enough glasses to fill everyone up with water once they're up, and start a pot of coffee for good measure. Painkillers abound, a tray brought into the living room and set on the coffee table, which you haphazardly clear to make room for some hungover bitches to take water as they need. Then, you're back in the kitchen, setting about some toast. You've definitely got the bread for it.

It seems you're the first really up. Mina hasn't moved or made a sound since you closed the blinds, and the others are all still. It's not until the first batch of toast is done and you're plating that you sense a presence in the room with you, and then there's a hand over your mouth to keep you from screaming.

"Just me," Tenya says in a low voice. When you relax before him, he releases you.

"So the sneaking around is just a vampire thing, then," you grumble. "Sleep okay?"

He nods, but he glows, too. You arch a brow.

"I confess, I'm not used to sleeping on the floor like that. I found it difficult to get comfortable."

"I'm sorry," you say, because you have nothing more to say. Maybe you should have offered a bed. You should know he's not like the rest of you. "I've got coffee. And water." The toaster going off has you yelping, jolting away. When you're settled, you smile sheepishly and offer a slice to Tenya. "And toast."

He shakes his head. "I'm heading home. I just didn't want to leave without saying anything."

"Oh. Did... did you have a good time, at least?"

He hesitates. You can see the gears turning and you know, deep down, that one of your dearest friends is searching for a way to lie to you.

"What went wrong?" you ask, distress seeping into your voice. "Was it because I invited—"

"It's not because you invited those hunters." He pulls an attempt at a smile. Your only consolation is that it's the truth. "They're actually quite good company. Had they not nearly killed us, I could see us becoming friends under some different circumstances. I take it you didn't mind working with him on the project, then?"

Oh. This is how you were able to be lied to for so long, isn't it? Tenya's not nearly smooth enough to pull it off.

(He’s avoiding answering. He’s redirecting you.)

"Tenya. What went wrong?"

Pain's written on his face. You wonder when you learned to read that on him. "Please trust me when I say that it was nothing you did."

"What did I do?"

He flinches. Maybe he doesn't want to blame you. Maybe he does anyway.

You take a step back, rest your back against the hard countertop. "Whatever it was, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know you didn't. I'm not mad at you."

You're not willing to look at him to test that statement.

Tenya leaves, and you eat your toast and clean around the still-sleeping remaining houseguests. They begin to wake and leave in your preferred order—Ibara and Neito and Itsuka get up and leave first, then Hitoshi (the day's biggest surprise). Soon, all that's left is Mina and Tsuyu, both of whom eventually wake up and linger with your hangover recovery spread for a bit.

"Mina," you say with a sigh as she downs a mug of coffee in one go.

She blinks owlishly at you. "Wha?"

"What do you remember of last night?"

"Why do you ask? Everyone woke up with clothes on, right?"

"Right, but..." Another sigh.

She tilts her head your way. "What happened?"

"Tenya was in a hurry to leave this morning. He wouldn't say why, but he was trying to find a way to get around my quirk to protect my feelings. So, you know, not the best feeling in the world for one of your best friends to tell you that you did nothing wrong while very obviously lying to you."

"Obviously to you, maybe," Tsuyu says. She's on her third glass of water. "If he's trying to protect your feelings, why dig into it? There's probably a reason."

"But if I did something, I want to fix it, not dance around it! What if he's actually mad at me?"

"Then you'll fix it," she reassures you. "I mean, you two moved past way worse. He's even playing nice with Izuku for your sake, because he knows it upsets you."

Gods, she's even more blunt with a hangover. "But how can I fix it if he won't even tell me—"

"You don't have to know everything or fix everything, [name]. Just let it be. He'll work through it on his own and it'll be like nothing ever happened."

You hesitate. On paper, it's reasonable, but there's that nagging thought at the back of your mind—intentional or not, he made it pretty clear that whatever upset him was something you were directly involved in, if not the sole perpetrator of. And if that's the case, shouldn't it be your responsibility to address it? Shouldn't you—

You snap out of your reverie to see Mina snapping a selfie, for some strange reason. Snapchat, probably. You wrinkle your nose anyway. "God, please don't save that. I'm sure I look like shit."

(Who are you to demand the truth all the time, anyway?)

"We all do, it's part of the vibes."

(The truth sucks.)

"What vibes? Hangover vibes?"

(You have to let it go.)

"Precisely. Here, you get one retake. I think you look good candid, though."

(You don’t want to let it go.)

You sigh and let her drag you and Tsuyu into one more selfie, this time with you actually looking at the camera and weakly raising your water glass. Satisfied with at least one attempt to look half-decent, you let her do what she will and turn your attention instead to the stirring Izuku.

"Morning, sleepyhead," you call across the room. You're almost certain he didn't drink last night, so he should be hangover-free, right?

He stirs a bit further, then jolts up, frozen until his eyes land on you. "Oh. You woke up first."

You snort. "For once. What had you so sleepy? I already cleaned up before you even moved."

"S-sorry! I didn't mean to make you—"

"Chill, chill, Broccula. If it bothered me, I would have waited until you were up. I woke up super early so I got to work before everyone got up. Coffee? Water? Toast?"

He comes to sit beside you in your little floor circle, draping himself over you. Every day he is more of a cat.

"Yes please."

(You give Tenya and his lie one last thought.)

(You let it go.)

Tags: @tooloudarts @sapid-rose @xxangelpridexx @warmchoccymilk @lirinstaalem @izoodles @my-bnha-things @denise-the-death-goddess @themerpenguin @sincerelybubbles @fudobaby @imabootywarrior @chickynn @fuc-kingmonkey @vinumumbra @the-secret-thief @lianatriestosurvive @kc-korra @kiliakit @hay-leeeah @meowkid1000 @mha-baku-todo-deku-kiri @jojo-buttercup @starfishlovingbnha @neomuxuxi @lollawindsay @mrsreina @anime-simps-blog @wwwwyamd @omiwashere @emilytheeggy @subwayslander @thelittle-witch @sparkexplosive @shoutaaizawas @vanilladyfics @stargazerunlimited @luigisdivorcelawyer @chaoticevilbakugo @deeplightgarden @stxrrielle @idonthaveanameideayet @snowymaltese @bnha-babygirl @xythx

If your name is in the list but not underlined, I was unable to tag you! If your name is on the list and in bold, this is my second attempt to tag you. You will be removed from the taglist after a third attempt. Please ensure that your blog is set to appear in search results to be able to be tagged on the taglist! If you would like to be added or removed from the taglist, please fill out this form! No hard feelings if you want yourself removed for any reason! <3

#midoriya izuku x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #deku x reader #my fics #bnha vampires au

60 notes · View notes

quodekash · 1 year

Text

i went to bed instead of watching abaab and i woke up and im ✨sick✨

its not the plague but i have a sore throat and im really congested and i feel like a dump truck ran over me and poured all the bin juices in my brain, but its fine cos im here, im queer, and threezo are near

CONTENT WARNING: if youve seen this episode, youll be aware that there will be discussions of rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia. if any of these topics are triggering for you, please take the measures you require to stay safe, and please call emergency services if you require help, and talk to someone you trust. remember: you are not alone, and there will always be people who love and care for you, but you havent yet met some of them. stay safe everyone, i love you

i cannot for the life of me remember how the last episode ended so its lucky that they have little summaries at the starts of episodes cos otherwise id have no clue whats going on

OH YEAH THOOP WAS ARRESTED

hang on, dont they still need to go to work?

i cant remember what day it is and what they were doing before cher got that phone call but still

dang it ive already had a cup of tea today but i think i need another one

THREEZO HELLO (ft jack's luscious hair on the side there)

THREEZO ARE SO SWEET WHY ARE YOUR FACES LIKE THAT JACK AND TUB

okay, yeah, fair

HE IS HAPPY

HIS HAIR IS FLUFFY AND HE IS HAPPY

GREHJKDFGKJRB

aww

AWWWHHHH

awhh thoop is cryinggg

bro is in desperate need of a hug

IM GONNA CRYYYY

i love deep platonic bonds

especially when its found family

fnjgbhfbvhfb

**gasp** despicable!

HELLO THREEZOOOOO

hes so prettyyyy

and hes also so prettyyyyyy

GJKRTBNFDHKJRG I LOVE THEM

am i crying? yes.

im crying a lot

i love threezo so much

the grip these two have on my mental health and sanity--

have i rewatched this scene four times? yeah. do i now kinda just wanna curl into a ball and sob for a day or two? yeah. unfortunately i have to keep watching the episode

okay so its literally like six hours later now, ive tried having two naps, ive had three cups of tea today, as much medicine as i can have, and the sickness has done nothing but get worse which is just so fun but the only reason i wasnt watching abaab is bc i was trying to sleep and that's just not happening so im continuing the episode now

the commentary is gonna be very little tho btw bc im having trouble making coherent thoughts through all the conjestion clogging my brain

the way they smile at each other is so 🥺🥹

im TRYING--

sorry, last week i couldnt stop talking about the freaking pomegranate i was eating, today i cant stop talking about how sick i am, ill try and shut up about it and just watch the episode lol

SCREW THAT GUY

VAFFANCULO

I HATE HIM

I HATE HIM SO MUCH

idk much about the mother

BUT THE STEPFATHER CAN GO SHOVE A PIGNA UP HIS CULO

look, i hate cops and law enforcement

but i even more hate thoop's stepfather

and law enforcement, unfortunately, have a lot of power, but thats fortunate in this situation bc they can force him to shut up which is nice

oh, wouldya look at that. i was right.

im not happy about it. its freaking horrible. and its even worse that it happens every day in every single country and state and city and suburb and yet nothing is being done about it.

um. yeah. thats all i can think of to say.

SHE HAD TO PUT UP WITH IT FOR THREE YEARS???

holy hell thats freaking disgusting

i hate this so much. not that they included this in the show, im really glad they included it because it's freaking disgusting and not talked about enough, especially in mainstream media and stuff. i just freaking hate that rape exists and people have to put up with it every single freaking day of their freaking lives, and NOTHING is happening to fix this freaking disgusting issue

this episode is a lot heavier than i was expecting and idk if anything im saying makes any sense because im too sick for this and the things that happened are making me even more sick

HUZZAH, I WAS RIGHT

AND THIS TIME ITS A GOOD FEELING THAT IM RIGHT

HES NOT HOMOPHOBIC

HUZZAH, HUZZAH, PRAISE OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JACK'S ALMIGHTY FLUFFY BEAUTIFUL HAIR

sobbing, i cant do this, theyre too sweet

AH SHOOT, I JUST REALISED IVE BARELY DRANK ANY WATER TODAY

as per usual, your hair is on fleek today, my friend

he's angry at laem, but his hair is perfection

the perfect way to get someone to shut up: shove food in their mouth as fast as possible (im using this at some point) (also how the hell is his hair so pretty i love his hair too much. i think i always spend more time talking about jack's hair than i do talking about the actual episode)

gun's mother has such a sweet sounding voice but her words sting like poison, jeez

OH HELL YES ITS THIS PART

IVE SEEN SCREENSHOTS

side note: look at three and zo's knees pressed together gjfngjbhfgbh

HEYYY GUYS

ITS SO FUNNY

WHAT ARE THEY DOING WATCHING SIMM

wait so. bad buddy exists as a series inside the msp universe. simm exists as a series inside the abaab universe. what's next??

the frame changed suddenly, kluen was looking down slightly earlier and now he's looking right in nuea's eyes (yes i had to include jack's hair in the screenshot, so what?)

side note: i love all of jack's ear piercings (and his hair) so much

(ive now used all my 30 photos for this post so you just have to deal with that. on the bright side, the final photo was of jack's beautiful face and beautiful earrings and beautiful HAIR)

i love this friend group so much, theyre all just sitting in a circle in their gaming chairs supporting cher as much as possible in their own little ways and its so sweet and so happy and gfbhbrhgb

ignore your bfs phone calls only to show up at his house with food

AWWW, THE WAY HE JUST PULLS HIM INTO A WORRIED HUG AS SOON AS HIS HANDS ARE EMPTY- I LOVE THEMMMM

"promise me no matter what happens, we will fight it together" RGHBKRDFHGKRBDFHB

AWWWW TEHY KISSSSS

"(talking to himself) if your mum knows about this, she will hit you to death, cher" "know about what?" "she gave me only one heart and i gave it all to you" "youre as cheesy as i am" IM DYING WHAT THE HELL THEYRE SO SWEET

BRO CHILL

CALM DOWN

I DONT NEED TO SEE THIS

I MEAN LIKE GOOD FOR THEM

BUT WHY DO WE NEED SUCH A LONG SHOT OF GUN'S BARE ABS

theyre so soft with each other what the hell

"i just want to hear it from your mouth-" AND CHER CUTS HIM OFF WITH THE SOFTEST KISS EVER??? (well, not ever. no one can ever kiss as softly or lovingly as freaking akk, but that's neither here nor there) THAT ONE TINY MOMENT IS GONNA PLAY IN MY HEAD FOR AGES NOW OMG

keep the pants on please guys

oh thank goodness they finished the episode before it got to that, i appreciate that

anyway THAT WAS SO SWEET GBFHGBFHBHG

im desperately hoping that next episode will be mostly fluffy happiness bc i cant take much more of this seriousness, especially not if my sickness persists (which i really hope it doesnt, id love to be functioning this week)

um yeah. that was that. i hope you enjoyed that? sorry for all my ramblings about being sick, i just really hate being sick.

once again, i hope youre all safe and healthy, if you're not, i hope you can find a safe space and people you trust, please contact someone who can help you if you need it. i love you all, have a great week :]

20 notes · View notes

airenyah · 8 months

Note

I’m very much in the gmmtv should split all their ships camp but joongdunk are an exception as well for me. They have such a fun dynamic with each other even in the bts and interviews that it would sadden me to see them separated. I’d also worry for their productivity, even Tee said for Hidden Agenda whenever they were apart they’d start sulking 😂

right!!!!! i actually rewatched the hidden agenda special ep where tee talked about that only a few days ago. them being sulky when they can't work together is just so cute and wholesome!! and you know what?? relatable djfkgjkfdgd (my best friend and went to this summer camp for like a decade, first as participants and then as leaders. and back as participants we spent 4 out of 5 years sitting at the same table at every single meal and usually right next to each other, even. then when we became leaders we had to split up, bc every table was required to have at least one leader. idk about her, but i was definitely sulky that we couldn't sit at the same table for the 4 years we were leaders. and towards the end of the camp, the more tired we got the more we ended up sitting at the same table anyway lmao. and again, idk about her but even the other activities and tasks that we had to do were always more fun when i was allowed to work with her. so. i absolutely 1000000000% get the boys)

that being said, me personally? i wouldn't necessarily be sad for them if they don't get to work together. they're grown-ass men and they are perfectly capable to function without the other. and they can always hang out and talk outside of work (if dunk picks up his phone when joong calls or joong manages to get dunk out of the house, that is kjdfkjdfgk)

will i be absolutely stoked if they get another series together? hell yeah!!!!!! (dark sexy vampire fantasy bl for joongdunk when???????)

but not gonna lie, purely from an acting standpoint i'd actually love to see them work separately at some point. especially dunk. he works extremely well with joong and i'm super curious if he manages some of the things i've come to adore about his acting when it's with someone else (whether it's another male co-star or someone of another gender)

not just that, another reason why i want to see them act with other people is because different acting partners can bring out different things with you because you'll have a different dynamic, a different way or working and interacting with all of them. and that can also help you grow as an actor, because you can take away something different from every partner you work with. and that is something that i would want for them, also

(plus, i wouldn't want them to get bored of doing series together. absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that, you know? i think it'll be more exciting for them if they do go off to work on separate projects and reunite every once in a while. i wouldn't want their joint projects to become like... a habit, i guess. i'm not sure how to phrase what i'm trying to say)

so either way, whether they'll get a series together or work on separate projects, i'll be satisfied. as long as i get to see both of them on my screen next year in some way (preferably as a lead)

the absolute best case scenario would actually be two projects per boy: they do one bl project together (hi dark sexy vampire fantasy bl) and one separately. unfortunately i'm never going to get this, though

#asks #anon #adrm #joongdunk #sexy joongdunk vampire bl #tbh even if they do only get separate projects next year... i can't imagine that this is the end of them as a branded pair tbh #i mean offgun are still up and running and they've had plenty of separate projects since they started as a pair with puppy honey #joongdunk clearly enjoy working together so i don't think hidden agenda will be the last of them even if they don't get a series in 2024 #i feel like they'd totally be up for doing more series together in future years even if it's not in 2024 #also i feel like they'd totally be up for doing a series like only friends together?? i REALLY wanna see them in an ofts-type of series ngl #and i want them to switch up the dynamics!!!!! let dunk be the quiet/calm one and let joong be a puppy!!!!! please!!!!!!!! i am BEGGING you #also i can't believe my asexual and kinda sex-repulsed leaning ass is actively asking for a sexy vampire series lmao #this is what joongdunk are doing to me send help

9 notes · View notes

dinitride-art · 2 years

Text

Stranger Things and Lighting (Season 2: The Snowball) - Full Analysis (Pt. 25.1)

Okay, so. This really isn’t a part of the Lighting of this analysis. But, the Rink O’ Mania disco ball has been haunting me ever since I noticed that it was positioned behind Will an ungodly amount for someone who wasn’t a main character in that scene (not Mike or El). Anyways, I’ve talked already talked about that.

So, what is this?

This is a theory post that I need to make to A. Get My Own Thoughts in Order, and B. Make What I’m Trying to Say Next Make Sense. First, before I get into The Snowball (I am analyzing this in the second half of the post, in case anyone would rather skip to that), I need to explain myself.

Mike’s Character Arc:

Mike Wheeler’s character arc is more of a dip than a circle or an arc. Season one starts with Mike at his highest, season two is going downhill, season three is rock bottom, season four is getting back up, and season five will be finding himself again.

This is related to how much he’s trying to fit into society and how much of an ‘asshole’ (Nancy’s words) he becomes. In season four, we do see Mike becoming less of an asshole, he falls short sometimes, but he’s trying. With the Hellfire Club, talking to El, and talking to Will, he’s trying to find himself again.

This dip, causes a parallel structure in the arc, season three being an outlier because it’s the bottom of the dip. However, this dip is not exclusive to Mike’s arc. It’s true for the entire series. There are a lot of parallels in Stranger Things, a lot. But there is also a pattern to those parallels.

We are only able to see the pattern emerge with what we’ve seen in season four. Because season four parallels season two.

Math and Patterns rant, you have been warned: (As a visual of what I’m saying, here’s this graph. To rant a little about patterns here, they aren’t always intended and thought out, but they are always present. Humans have many unconscious processes that use and require patterns that we don’t notice in our daily lives. Cell division, the digestive system, the nervous system: all complex processes and patterns in our bodies. So, yes, this is a sinusoidal function. It looks pretty close to y=cos(x). It’s got a max and a min, and can in fact be graphed. (which is pretty fun and funky if you ask me).

I’m not really saying that this was a conscious decision, but rather it’s a result of patters being apart of how we think and patterns being present in every aspect of life (or nearly every aspect, I don’t know, shit could be wild out there).

BUT, it does show what I’m talking about pretty well. Season one and five are parallel, as well as season two and four. Season three is rock bottom. The parallel structure is intended, the sinusoidal function perhaps not so much. But it’s still pretty neat!)

In both season two and season four:

-Max gets an extremely relevant plotline; Introduced in season two, is Vecna’s target in season four. She and Will almost trade spots in terms of a romance arc and being a target of the Upside Down.

-El has an independent plotline and is separated from the rest of the group; In season two it’s breaking away from Hopper and running away and finding Kali. In season four she kind of breaks up with Mike and goes and joins the Nina project. She finds out more about who she is and her past with the Hawkins lab.

-’I love you’; in season two Steve and Nancy break up because she doesn’t love him anymore, whether she ever really did is unclear. In season four Mike can’t tell El that he loves her up until the monologue due to outside factors. Jonathan and Will both try to help Nancy and Mike with their relationships but obviously love the person that they’re trying to help.

-Hawkins lab relevance with Kali in season 2 and Brenner in season four; the opening scene of the season in seasons two and four are about Hawkins lab and the people involved in it. Brenner’s memories of the incident in season four, and Kali’s introduction in season two.

- Mike and Will relationship development/ paired off and separated from the group. Emphasis is placed on their relationship but as a team. In season two Mike and Will were paired off and work as a team to try and stop the mind flayer and in season four they’re paired off while trying to find El.

-both have nine episodes; the episode numbers alternate by season. Seasons one, three, and five have eight episodes, while seasons two and four have nine. These further add to the parallel structure of the series/story.

The point:

Season two and season four are connected- just like how season 5 and season one are going to parallel each other (and maybe season three, although I’m not too sure on that one yet, because it’s the bottom of the arc and I’m not too confidant it will match up in this. But I’m also not 100%. So. Idk yet). This is the upswing of the series, season three was rock bottom, and now things are going to go up.

But that is not my point. My point is that the Snowball is a problem. It is in episode nine for a reason, that disco ball is there for a reason, the disco ball at Rink O’ Mania is there for a reason (other than drawing attention to Will): it’s all there because it means something.

I cannot analyze what is happening in the snowball scene (lighting aside, we’ve gone rogue- for now. It’s temporary. I’ll return to the light- lol- eventually.) without looking in depth at what happens in season two. More specifically the snowball.

So, I’m going to lay that out here. The snowball specifically happens at the end of episode nine of season two and about half or more of episode nine of season four. This is intended because of the parallel structure of the seasons.

Without knowing the themes of the Snowball in season two, the snowball in season four isn’t going to make very much sense. That being said, “forced conformity, that’s what’s killing the kids!” is from season four. But it is the entire point of the Snowball in both season four and season two.

S2:E9 - The Snowball (Pink and Blue)

Starting off here, we’ve got Mr. Clark putting up the banner. We can clearly see that ‘Snow’ is hidden and there is an emphasis placed on ‘ball’. This imagery is present in season four as well. The disco ball at Rink O’ Mania, Max’s memories of the Snowball, some other things that are relevant later (and I can’t explain fully here without analyzing up to that exact point).

Mr. Clark is wearing green and red, while the person standing and watching him is wearing blue and red/pink. The colour scheme for the Snowball appears to be blue, silver and red.

Will is wearing a blue tie.

Mike is wearing a red tie.

Lucas is wearing a pink and blue striped shirt.

Erica is wearing a blue and pink shirt.

Max is wearing green. Billy was also seen when we saw Max and was wearing blue.

Dustin is wearing blue but looks into a red mirror and has more red objects that compliment his blue.

Steve talks to Dustin, now that they’re friends and he’s trying to teach him how to talk to girls. Steve is wearing red.

The girls behind Dustin are wearing pink and blue. The balloons are white and blue (which may have changed in season four).

Steve looks past Dustin at Nancy, she’s wearing pink.

The balloons did change, they look tarnished and nearly gold instead of silver or white. (this is due somewhat to the upside down, but this memory is still set in a darker tone even when Max first arrives in it).

This shot mirrors the ones in season four, except we can’t see the emphasis on the disco ball as much here as we do there. This is also a juxtaposition of the darkness of Max’s memory. From this perspective we can also see green, red and blue as our main colours.

Looking at Nancy, we can see that she is indeed wearing a pink plaid dress and gold earrings. Her eyeshadow/eye liner is purple and her hair is nearly as curly as we see it in season four. Behind her we can see two girls in blue and pink dresses.

Dustin finds the rest of the party and is then told his hair looks weird. In the background we can see more blue, pink and red outfits.

Mike is in center frame, even though we’re mainly following Dustin. Will also takes up a lot of the frame considering it’s mainly Mike and Lucas who are joking about Dustin’s hair. Everyone in the party is important to watch in this scene.

We see more of Max’s outfit when the camera changes angle and she is wearing some red, but she stands out against the red and blue dresses that the other girls are wearing.

And again we see Mike in the center of the frame even though the scene doesn’t seem to concern him all that much.

The people in the background aren’t all wearing blue, red and pink, but the ones that are in our direct line of sight usually are.

Max is starring off where Dustin was when Lucas tries to ask her to dance.

We see Dustin watching it go well, and we see his hope start to crumble.

Despite Dustin being the one who liked Max, Will and Mike are still in center frame. We see all three of their reactions. Will looks relatively normally at them leaving, Dustin seems a but shocked but resigned, and Mike looks a little bit sad.

We see all three of them and then we focus in on Max and Lucas. Max is wearing a yellow watch, one that she is still wearing in season four. In season two Max also has green vans which change to red when we see her in season four. Green has connotations of hiding/ not being able to find the colour red just yet. That was established in season one at Will’s funeral.

After we focus on Max and Lucas we flip back over to look at Dustin in the center of the frame. We see him looking at them from a distance. We know that he’s sad because he liked Max, and she’s dancing with someone else.

(cutting it here because I now have the fear of the tumblr code instilled into me and have split this post into three)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 25.1 25.2 25.3 26 27 28 29 30 (to be edited)

#byler #the lights #the snowball #i am on a time crunch folks

69 notes · View notes

quickdeaths · 11 months

Text

@thenextbestidol

"And... 5, 6, 7, 8!" Yi-Chun hummed the main melody of the group's new single to herself as she hit the key poses right on beat. "It's okay to have messy transitions when you're starting out, as long as you can hit the flashy 'silhouette' poses." As a choreographer, she was probably supposed to be harder on them, but they were sweet kids who were just starting out, and what kind of self-styled big sister type would be so harsh on girls with big eyes and bigger dreams? It was better to praise them for what they could do, rather than chastise them for what they couldn't. "And even if you have a certain impression as a fan, trust me - it looks better on those steps and transitions to be too loose as opposed to too stiff. If you look like you're having fun, people will go along with it."

The agency's new quintet had been scouted with high expectations, but after a failed debut single, there were already rumblings of cutting them loose, or tearing them apart for other groups. That sort of talk make Yi-Chun sad, even if, as a choreographer and lyricist, there wasn't much she could do personally. They deserved a shot. Lucky, the second single had done much better, with some radio play and some minor TV appearances, just enough to squeeze them into a spot at the Japan Idol Festival. A bit of day-of training at the venue was in order, and the manager had asked her to come along.

Now, though, Yi-Chun was getting the impression that what they all needed was a bit of support, rather than a few extra reps. Going down the line, she patted each of the five girls on the head. "Don't worry, you've all worked hard to get here." She wasn't the kind of person to get caught up in the past, but it was a little nostalgic to think about a first festival performance. "A lot of people will say things like 'being an idol is selling perfection' or something like that, but I'm giving you all permission to mess up." She laughed, careful not to ruffle anyone's hair too much and require a quick application of hairspray. "If you have fun, and the audience has fun with you, that's the most important thing."

Shortly after that, the manager shooed her away, probably not liking her pep talk and wishing she'd stick to impressing upon everyone the importance of getting everything as correct as possible. Well, that wasn't her style, but with some time to kill, Yi-Chun decided to walk around with her hands in her jacket pockets and see some of the other idols from outside her agency. The small section for Strawberry Productions caught her eye - not for its size, or for its artistry, but rather for something she'd read not too long ago on some idol blog. After a decade of inactivity, B Komachi was returning to the stage... albeit with all new members.

In her opinion, it was maybe a little unusual to co-opt a famous name like that, but Yi-Chun was definitely interested. B Komachi had been one of Suzu's favorites, even though they'd disbanded years before, and what this new version could do was something everyone wanted to find out. At the moment, it only seemed like some blonde girl was around, but she definitely looked like a trainee idol. If it wouldn't be too distracting, Yi-Chun thought she'd at least check in and see what she was all about. "Hey!" She waved, getting the blonde girl's attention. "Are you one of the new B Komachi girls?" Under these circumstances, the new group would be pretty nervous, right? She should wish them all luck, if she could.

#thenextbestidol #c; the no. 1 tomboy idol #hope this works!#let me know if you'd prefer any changes!

12 notes · View notes

reggies-eyeliner · 1 year

Text

𝐌𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐏𝐒 (CLOSED)!

OPEN 2/26-2/24<3!! (5 SLOTS LEFT! [2/19/23])

I have not done matchups in ages but THEN I WATCHED Lockwood & Co?? I had this whole epiphany like. WRITING THESE WERE SO FUN HELLO?? matchups will be open from 2/16-2/24! please read through all of the rules :D If a submission doesn't fill out all the requirements, I am more likely to push it off until later, so please make sure to read it carefully! I SWEAR IM NOT GONNA MAKE IT TOO COMPLICATED OKOK LETS DO THIS VAMANOS<333!

(AND YES PLATONIC MATCH UPS ARE OPEN FOR MY AROSPEC/QPR/PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP LOVING BABES GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW)

THIS IS LIKE A BUFFET. PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT BABES MWAHAHAHA

FANDOMS (up to two*):

across the spider-verse*

most animated movies (httyd, bh6, rotg^^)

lockwood & co*

stranger things

julie and the phantoms

avatar: the last airbender

the legend of korra

rottmnt**

voltron: legendary defenders

haikyuu

* i've only watched the series so far + i'm about to start the comics/books (and very excited to omg) !! just an fyi that my pairings will most likely revolve more around the characters featured in the series IM SORRY I SWEAR I'LL GET TO THE BOOKS/COMICS ASAP

**exclusively platonic matchups preferred/qpr!

TYPES OF MATCHUPS:

the classic: submit in matchup information + get paired with (a) romantic partner(s)! in return for the matchup information, you will receive: a 1x3 moodboard, one song + a hefty list of headcanons + a mix-and-match randomized trope explanation! (ex: a blurb about sharing a bed, first time meeting, fake dating confession scene ; ~100 words!)

the Fave Homie(s)™: platonic matchups (my personal fave MWAHAHA)! you'll get paired with as many characters as you'd like<3!! in return for matchup information, you will receive: a 1x3 moodboard, one song + a hefty list of headcanons + incorrect quotes describing your dynamic between you and your found family/best bro<3

customized schedule: submit what your schedule looks like throughout any day of the week (up to two) + matchup information (platonic or romantic), you will receive: an hourly schedule on what life is like with said character i match you with + the aspects of your life with them! (ex: 8am, wake up by their side + they make you coffee blah blah blah), + a song for each moment of the day to describe your dynamic :D

MATCHUP INFORMATION:

name + preferred gender(s) to be paired with

preferred fandom (up to two are okay, but please let me know which one you'd like me to focus on more!)

platonic and/or romantic + polycule preference etc + preferred age group!!

you can include your sexuality if you'd like to (only if you want me to touch on the aspect on how your matchup will support you because. yeah<3)

giving + receiving love languages

hobbies, talents, things that make you you (think: if this wasn't in my life, how different would i be?)

mbti/zodiac (optional)

personality, how you handle difficult situations

what consist of a good memory for you

favorite songs + music taste/colors/any kind of aesthetics!!

anything that brings you comfort/anything that doesn't give you comfort (can be about a relationship or just in life :-D)

OTHER RULES?

preferably off anon! i'd love to talk to you more after the matchup submission as well MWAHHAHA<333 if you're planning on being anon, an emoji anon would be p cool so we can chat more!

as i'm also a busy student, i will prioritize school-- if you submit a matchup, please be prepared to have up to anywhere from a 1-14 day wait! i'll send you a message that i got your ask hehe

you should totally use a pick up line in my ask box i enjoy pick up lines so much.

OTHER THAN THAT MAN write as much/little as you'd like!

29 notes · View notes