#which is a silly way of saying that hearing the term 'boy' used is such a turnoff for me when it comes to kink

[valrvn]

enough talk of boy pussy. I am here to discuss man cunt

#which is a silly way of saying that hearing the term 'boy' used is such a turnoff for me when it comes to kink #it especially feels demeaning when it comes to mpreg #idk why #it's probably a personal thing and i don't judge you if you do it #i just wish more people would use the term man rather than boy #maybe it's me being an old man appreciator

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

I know I’ve spoken about my issues with ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ (2023) before, both in my initial thoughts post about the film after it released and a couple of smaller comments since, but I’ve realised something this past week after rewatching the original Disney cartoon and the 2003 non-Disney live-action while sick, and I feel I need to talk about it.

It’s about Wendy Moira Angela Darling.

While I stand by that Ever Anderson was one of the highlights of the film and that she did a great job as Wendy, the Wendy in the film is not really the Wendy seen in Barrie’s book, nor the one in the play and other films adaptations. It’s a very different character in a lot of ways, and while it’s normal for characters to differ from adaption to adaptation - especially over the course of 70+ years - I feel like the Wendy seen in the 2023 is more like Jane, Wendy’s daughter, from Disney’s Return to Neverland sequel in 2002.

Let me preface by saying that I actually love Jane in the sequel as a character - I see a lot of myself in her, and while the sequel in itself is not really my favourite, I do have some nostalgia for it because I grew up with it and it’s a cute little story. I like that Jane is actually different from Wendy in a lot of ways; she’s a lot more headstrong and more of a tomboy, and while she’s also a storyteller at times like her mother (mostly to her brother Danny), she is a lot more practical I think and seems to be opposite to Wendy in that she’s trying to grow up too fast. Wendy believes in Peter Pan and doesn’t want to grow up, meanwhile Jane believes Peter Pan to be silly childish nonsense, that she has to grow up quickly and be more adult due to the war/her father being away - Wendy says to her, “you think you’re very grown up - but you have a great deal to learn”.

Obviously the 2023 Wendy doesn’t want to grow up, that’s still the same, but in terms of personality, temperament and the way she treats her brothers after the broken mirror incident (blaming John for it), she reminds me more of Jane than Wendy. Like Jane, she also doesn’t seem to have a good time going to Neverland (at least not at first?) and she seems to take on a lot more action than Wendy did in the animated film.

Of course, it’s not the first time that we’ve seen Wendy wielding a sword and fighting pirates - the 2003 Wendy was shown to play with wooden swords and use real ones, even remarking, “who are you to call me ‘girlie’?!”. I’m not saying that Wendy can’t be a sword wielding girl and fight because she can, it’s one of the additions I love the most about the 2003 film.

The problem with the 2023 version of Wendy is not her being a main character (she has always been a main character), nor her sword fighting and being generally bad-ass - it’s the erasure of the other qualities that make her Wendy Darling.

One of Wendy’s primary character traits is her mothering nature - she is very motherly to her brothers, and when she hears that the Lost Boys don’t have a mother, she’s aghast and agrees to be their mother. The whole “Peter is father, Wendy is mother” idea is clearly a reference to how kids in the playground will play games like “mummies and daddies” - kids imitating what they see around them. It’s all a big pretend game in Neverland for fun. It’s also undeniable that Wendy pretending to be the Lost Boys’ mother is clearly reflective of her own mother, who she adores and is portrayed as the loveliest lady ever, and how she’s imitating Mrs Darling in a lot of ways during this “game” - singing to them, telling them stories, medicine etc.

Some would argue that Wendy is “forced” into being the “mother” and that while all the boys are off having fun, she’s left playing house, which I understand. But what a lot of modern audiences and filmmakers don’t understand these days is that motherhood is NOT an anti-feminist idea - there seems to be this view that portraying a girl wanting to be a mother or expressing the wish to be married/have children is some old-fashioned misogynistic notion, which is absolutely bizarre to me.

As a feminist myself, I believe that there is no clear cut definition of “womanhood” or what it means to be a strong woman with autonomy. Some women want to have careers and not have children, and that’s fine; some women want to have children, that’s fine; some women want both, and that’s fine. What matters is that it’s the woman who is deciding what she wants.

For me, Wendy has always been this remarkable and extraordinary character to look up to because she chooses to grow up - and for her, that means having her own children to tell her stories to. That’s what she wanted, that’s why she went back to England, and that’s part of her character arc, realising that by growing up she has things to look forward to.

For some reason, when 2023!Wendy thinks “happy thoughts” to make herself fly when being walked off the plank, her vision for the future that she looks forward to involves piloting automobiles that haven’t even been invented yet and then dying alone? Which… I mean, if that’s how someone wants to live then fair enough but that’s not Wendy. That’s not the Wendy Darling I grew up loving.

A lot of my issues with the 2023 version of Wendy do in fact link with other issues of the film in general: the Lost Boys including girls, for example. Like I get wanting to be inclusive, and I 100% wanted to be a Lost Girl growing up, but the Lost Boys are boys for a reason (“girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams”), and when Wendy arrives it’s a huge deal because they’ve never actually lived with girls before, and the only concept of girls they have is their memories of “mother”, which is why Wendy becomes their mother figure - because they literally don’t have any other female figures in their lives to compare her to other than the tiny scraps they remember of their mothers.

There’s also the issue of the thing prompting Wendy not wanting to grow up being changed; in the original, it’s because it’s her last night in the nursery and moving from the nursery - aka the room she has spent her entire life thus far in - to her own room is a HUGE transitional worry that a lot of kids probably go through (usually it’s in the form of moving from toddler beds to big kid beds but still). In the 2023 version, she’s being sent off to boarding school for some reason which doesn’t really make sense to me because the Darling parents a) are so poor they have to have a dog as a nursemaid and b) love their children so much that they would never do that to them. I’m not saying that being shipped off to boarding school ISN’T a worry for a young girl or a huge deal, but it isn’t one that I think necessarily fits with the story.

There’s the fact that Wendy is no longer the storyteller; in most versions, the reason Peter visits the nursery is because he likes her stories. Instead, the reason he comes to the nursery is not because he likes her stories but because he used to live in the house? And instead of bringing her to Neverland to tell stories, he comes to take Wendy away as he apparently heard her saying she didn’t want to grow up? It just doesn’t sit right with me, but maybe that’s just my opinion.

Also, for some reason, Wendy and Peter don’t actually seem to like each other at all in the 2023 version - I’m not saying there should have been romantic hints or whatever, but even just in a friendship way they really don’t seem to care in any way about each other. They just seemed rather indifferent towards each other, and it’s kind of jarring to see.

In some ways, I feel like 2023 Wendy was made a little too bad ass and on the nose super feminist: “this magic belongs to no boy!”, slapping Peter across the face (which was just…??? Why?!?!), constantly criticising Peter/Neverland, having WAY more action and heroic moments than Peter Pan himself… maybe in a different story it could have worked but for this one, it came across forced at times, like they were intentionally trying to show “look! Look how badass she is! She can fight off grown men all by herself! She doesn’t need a boy to help her! She can do everything by herself!”

This is why I feel like the 2003 version of Wendy is the best one (so far): while they modernised her slightly by making her sword fight and express an ambition to write novels about her adventures, she was still a storyteller and motherly figure to the Lost Boys/her brothers. For me as a child, seeing Wendy be the storyteller and her journey of acceptance about having the grow up was really important to me because I could completely relate to it.

Of course, I recognize I’m very biased because this is the one I grew up with (along with the animated Wendy of course) so I’d be interested to hear other people’s thoughts!

#peter pan #peter pan and wendy #wendy darling #neverland #jm barrie #j.m. barrie #disney #peter pan 2003 #peter pan 2023

[jamesunderwater]

Jily Microfic: Hostile

@jilymicro-oops - feb 29th, prompt: hostile - words: 1,812 Summary: The chaos concludes with a dramatic flourish. Part 3 of 3! Read Part 1 & Part 2 first; or, better yet, read the whole lil academic rivals micros series so you can catch all the references in this silly little trio-finale that I've had far too much fun writing :D

James is having a good time. Well – he's having a fine time. He's not hating the whole thing, anyway. After two weeks of hearing it beside his ear, he's starting to get used to the volume of Tamara's laugh, and she is actually funny sometimes. Her dark hair falls across her shoulders in a way he should find attractive, and her foot keeps “accidentally” touching his calf in a way he should like, and she peers at him through her lashes in a way he should find enticing…

But he just keeps thinking about lemon tart.

Because, here's the thing. He knows it's Lily's favorite – she complained about its absence at the start of term feast last year, and when they had the lesson on Amortentia it was the only scent she actually named, and she told him – and only a few weeks ago, at that! He'd offered to share his sticky toffee pudding and she'd pulled a face, remarking it was far too sweet for her liking, and he'd said, “Ah, right, lemon tart,” and she'd smirked and shrugged, which, alright, wasn't a firm ‘yes, that's my favorite’, but he knows her smirks…so what's she playing at? 

“James?” Tamara's sweet-like-toffee-pudding voice draws his attention back. “You alright?” she asks with a laugh. 

“Oh, yeah,” James chuckles, waving a hand. “Sorry, got, er… Well, your hair just looks really nice.” 

She beams, and he's an arse. He’s very aware of this. He’s always sort of teetered on the edge of being an arse – though, yes, on a number of occasions he’s fully fallen on the side of the arseholes… Alright, fine, for a number of years he fell on the side of the arseholes, but, you know, barely, and – the point is, he never would have become this big of an arse on purpose… It all just sort of happened. One moment he’s awkwardly agreeing that a girl is cute, the next moment he’s talking to her in the hallway because he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying ‘sorry, that joke was really only for my mates’, and all of a sudden, she’s eating lunch with him every day and asking what he’s doing for the Hogsmeade visit this weekend and he’s trying to come up with something other than ‘obsessing about fucking lemon tart, what about you?’

Tammy giggles. “Thanks…” she says, nervously tugging on a strand of hair. “Well, erm, I was saying – I’ve never actually tried butterbeer, but it’s really good.”

James nods, “Yeah, definitely.”

Merlin’s mother's saggy tits, though, if it isn't lemon tart, then what the fuck's Lily Evans’ favorite dessert?

—

“‘Join me’?” Lily repeats, incredulous at this request. “You want to help me crash your best mate’s date?”

The three Gryffindors share glances between one another and mumble unintelligibly before turning back to her each with a shrug and a nod. 

“We’re really bored,” Peter explains. 

“And I don’t actually think he’ll care much,” Remus says, shrugging again.

“Plus,” Sirius adds with a grin, “I’m dying to see how red James’s face’ll get.”

“Wait,” Lily turns her eyes to Remus. “Why don’t you think he’ll care much?”

The three boys start sharing glances again, and Lily huffs.

“Would you quit with that!” she barks, glaring when Sirius chortles.

“Blimey, Evans, no need to get hostile…”

“At least it’s only a Level Three…” she hears Peter mutter.

“Level Three, really?” Sirius sounds incredulous. “Pete, c’mon, she’s clearly only at Level Two.”

“I’m what?” 

Annoyance pounding in her veins, Lily checks over her shoulder out of habit, and catches a glimpse of Tamara’s foot tapping James’s leg beneath the table. The tips of her ears burn and she feels nauseous. 

She can’t stand this a minute longer.

“Fine,” she tells the boys, then turns and enters the pub before she can change her mind.

(This really ran away from me, so read the rest on AO3!)

#jily #jily* #jily microfic #jily micro-oops #jily microfics #my writing #james potter #lily evans #jple #jily fic #hp #academic rivals

[flowerbloom-arts]

Hey, sorry if I'm repetitive but what do you think happened to the humans in the Moomin universe.

Absolutely do not worry about asking too many questions, I love answering them!!!

Humans in Moominland is a very interesting subject... In that they're a LOT less of a presence than even I thought they were.

Alot of people (including me) thought that when, in Moomins and the Great Flood, Moominmamma was talking about Moomins living behind huge stoves before the invention of central heating she was talking about humans' stoves.

But no.

She never uses the word human, she says people.

(...) In those days they lived together with the house-trolls in people’s houses, mostly behind their tall stoves. “Some of us still live there now, I’m sure,” said Moominmamma. “But only where people still have stoves, I mean. We’re not happy with central heating.”

“Did the people know we were there?” asked Moomintroll.

(...)

“[A Hattifattener is] a kind of little troll-creature,” explained Moominmamma. “They’re mostly invisible. Sometimes they can be found under people’s floors, and you can hear them pattering about in there when it’s quiet in the evenings. (...)

And it's not like "people" was used as a specific term in Moomins and the Great Flood, either, because we have instances like these;

“Thank you so awfully much,” said Moominmamma. “You must have invited quite a lot of people up here for sea-pudding, I should think.”

“Oh yes,” said the boy. “People from every corner of the world. Snufkins, Sea-ghosts, Little Creeps and Big Folk, Snorks and Hemulens. And the odd angler fish, too.”

(...)

The armchair bobbed slowly along towards a hill where a lot of people were running about, pulling their belongings out of the water.

(...)

“Well, well,” said the marabou stork, who was beginning to feel touched. “I think I had better put you down on dry land and try to rescue a few more before the sun goes down. It’s very pleasant, rescuing people.” And then he took them back to the shore while they all talked at the same time about all the dreadful things they had been through. All along the shore people had lit fires at which they were warming themselves and cooking food, for most had lost their homes.

So it could be that Moominmamma was just talking about living behind regular creatures' oversized stoves, like how the Moomin ancestor did in Moominland Midwinter, which is honestly a very silly image. And it's not like it'd be impossible - the Hemulen and the Marabou stork in Great Flood are absolutely massive compared to our main characters.

Marabou storks tend to be about 5 feet tall so relatively speaking, if we assume this stork is still the same size as he would be irl, then our main characters would be relatively mouse-sized.

However. Tove didn't seem to have committed to this concept, and more or less just retconned it out of canon. Since the cats in Moomins and the Great Flood are seemingly regular-sized relative to the Hemulen's chair;

But in the 1968 revision of Comet in Moominland including future adaptations of the story, Sniff's cat is regular-sized, and so are the cats that appear in the Moomin comic strip, like the one in Moominmamma's Maid.

(sorry for using a screenshot from the 90s movie adaptation, I couldn't find a book illustration since I don't have a PDF of the revised book, much less an illustration of Sniff and his cat next to eachother, if that exists. If anyone has a way to read the revision in English pleeease give it to me)

But that's just Moomins and the Great Flood, which practically functions as a "pilot episode" for the whole franchise; it set up the concepts but is not representative of the rest of the franchise and has alot of things that get retconned but not entirely removed for the rest of the series, it wasn't even translated into/published in English until 2012. What about the rest of the franchise?

Well, the only instance of the word "human" being used in the books is in Moominpappa at Sea, while Moominpappa talked about how stone-faced the Fisherman/Lighthouse Keeper has been for the whole book;

‘There’s something wrong with you that I can’t make out,’ Moominpappa said to himself. ‘You’re not a human being at all. You’re more like a plant or a shadow, just as if you’d never been born.’

Which implies either of two things; the LHK is human or human-adjacent, or human is a normal adjective in the world of Moomin aswell.

And the only instance of the word "human" in the comic strip (there could be another instance I'm forgetting, however I'm not talking about Lars' comics because I am kind of prioritizing Tove's intentions here) is in a conversation between Snorkmaiden and Mymble Jr in Moomin Winter Follies;

Which... Kind of implies Mr. Brisk is human, I think? It's hard to imagine but there it is, the one instance of the word human in the comics.

And that's like... The only thing we really have within the original medium of Moomin.

But Tove had also worked on other things first-hand, and one of them had actual human characters.

That being Mumintrollet (1969, nice), a live-action show primarily known for the body horror of the Moomins removing their heads to reveal human heads inside. But with that obviously inapplicable facet of the show aside, we have this guy, the main antagonist, the King;

This guy is an explicitly canon human (can't be 100% sure since the show hasn't been transcribed or translated from its original swedish but I'm close to sure), and he's about the same size as the Moomins (probably because of the nature of the show, kinda like the whole head thing and Little My's normal human size in the show, but ehhh)

And that's, like, it for the canonicity of humans in Moomin, everything else is questionable or vague or a bit bewildering.

Like, is King Jones from Moominpappa's Memoirs a human? Why is he so big? What's going on here???

But that's all up to speculation, even the examples of the instances of the word human I've shown doesn't totally prove the existence of humans as we know them in this world. Alot of the characters look human but aren't, and others aren't stated to be not human, there are some oversized things like Muddler's tin that don't get explained, but who knows, really.

In short, I don't think anything has exactly happened to humans. They're either living among Moominland's society like fellow creatures (heck, maybe even some of the characters we know are human) or they're like... Rare or extinct or didn't even truly exist in the first place.

It's one big "who knows?".

#moomins #moominvalley #the moomins #moomin #fb answers #moomin books #moomin comics #moomin analysis #long post

[mymoodwriting]

11.7k, yandere, vampires, memory manipulation, drugs, disassociation, needles, kidnapping, self-inflicted wounds, restraints, knives, blood (@starillusion13)

Welcome to Happy Vampire Village

    The name was silly, but you understood why they had chosen it. When the vampires revealed themselves to the world, everything changed. They were no longer a fairy tale, but a very real being that had quietly lived alongside humans for centuries. It wouldn’t be so easy to hide in the modern world, but they also saw that humans had changed. Now all they wanted was to peacefully coexist without either side living in fear of the other. Of course that was easier said than done, so this lovely little place had been set up. A small village where vampires and humans could live together, to show that they weren’t bad.

    You couldn’t really remember why you had agreed to it, but here you were. The idea was to live with them in this village for a few months and then share your experiences with the world. Although it was just you, one human living with eleven other vampires. The first few weeks were certainly awkward on your end. The boys were all very friendly with you, too friendly, in their attempts to ease your worries. Honestly you didn’t really believe they were vampires at first until you stayed up late one night with them and saw more than you were ready to handle. It seemed they came alive once the sunset.

    Their eyes had a crimson glow, and they proudly showed you their fangs. You understood they could still eat human food, and enjoy it, but their main food source was blood. They had their own specialized food and drinks that were laced with blood, as they didn’t want to straight up drink blood in front of you. Once you got to really see them as what they really were, it really helped break the tension. They were like you, they just had a different diet, and could do things that you couldn’t. Looking at it that way, you found yourself coming to terms with the fact vampires were real, and for the next few months they’d be your next door neighbors.

“Morning, y/n!”

“Morning, Sangyeon!”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yup. My arm feels a bit sore, but otherwise I’m fine.”

“That’s good to hear. Breakfast is all set out so you can come join us.”

“Great.”

    Since the idea was for everyone to get along, you shared all your meals together. There was a big open area behind one of the houses with multiple tables put together. Everyone took turns cooking throughout the day, getting help from others as well. Although they were all way better cooks than you, which was funny considering they didn’t need human food. Still, it was a great talking point and something to make you feel more at ease around them. If you didn’t know they were vampires, you’d probably never figure it out.

“How are you guys so good at cooking? You don’t even need human food.”

“But we still enjoy it.” Juyeon explained. “Not to mention we lace it with blood, so it’s important to know how to make it right.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“You’re a pretty good cook yourself.”

“Thanks. I had to teach myself to cook if I was gonna be able to live on my own.”

“How long have you had your own place?”

“Uh, a while now. I’ve lived alone since my second year of Uni.”

“And what were you studying?” Eric asked. “Perhaps the arts so you could be a TV star?”

“I don’t think I’m made for TV.”

“You never know.”

“Eric.” Sangyeon hissed. “Behave.”

“I know, I know, I was just saying.”

“What about you guys? I know it’d be silly to ask how old you are, but what exactly did you get up to while in hiding? What did you do to pass the time?”

“Everything and anything.” Kevin began. “Study, learn to play instruments, or sports. With practically endless time you can fully invest yourself in anything of your choosing.”

“Lucky. I wish I could do as I please, but I was wondering if you had a job or something.”

“It’s difficult for us to have a job.” Jacob added. “We have to constantly hide our true selves, and it wouldn’t be easy to socialize with other humans.”

“You have a point. It sounds lonely though.”

“We had each other.”

    After breakfast you helped wash the dishes. There were plenty of group activities to participate in to pass the time. Although, since quite some time had passed, Sangyeon suggested fixing up the houses. A new coat of paint, adding some lights, a big group project for everyone to participate and show their personalities through their preferences. You were excited as you had never done something like this before. The first day of the project you all figured out how you wanted to proceed, picking out the colors and planning what to put where.

    When you actually started you decided to work on the painting. At first you painted the outside walls with Younghoon, both of you making conversation. He seemed to have experience in all this so he guided you on how to do it properly and have fun with it. Of course the harder to reach parts required a smaller tool. Once the walls had dried you got on a ladder to paint the undersides of the roof. You were humming and in your own little world, not aware that the ladder was unstable, not until you lost your footing. You yelled, expecting to hit the ground, but instead found yourself in someone’s arms.

“Hyunjae?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… yeah, thanks.”

“You should be more careful, we wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

“But I’m okay thanks to you.”

“True.”

    No one allowed you back up on a ladder, so you stuck to the groundwork for the rest of the day. Good progress had been made so you had a campfire at night to celebrate. After roasting marshmallows you all sat around. Haknyeon handed you a glass of lemonade to cool down. The afternoons were hot, and even if the nights were cool, you could always use something more to wind down. The lemonade was always delicious, and you wished Jacob would share his secret with you. He wouldn’t but he assured you it was safe for you to drink.

“You guys live in big houses don’t you?”

“Yup.” Juyeon said. “Why do you ask?”

“You must have done a lot of redecorating over the years as new trends came to be and all that.”

“Oh yeah, it was always a hassle but fun too, just like this.”

“It’s getting late.” Sangyeon mentioned. “You should get to sleep y/n.”

“Yeah, you’re right, busy day tomorrow.”

    You smiled and wished everyone a good night, heading back to your own little house. It was easy to fall asleep as you were tired and looking forward to tomorrow. The night was peaceful and you were ready for the morning. Once again no one let you on a ladder, but there was still plenty to do. Some things were being torn down and rebuilt, so without realizing you ended up nicking the palm of your hand on something. You yelled, and then immediately started worrying. This was the first time you had hurt yourself here, and it was probably the first time they had smelled fresh blood in a while.

    You were scared, and quickly wanted to get back to your place so you could clean yourself up. As you rounded a corner though you came face to face with Chanhee, his eyes glowing red which you knew wasn’t normal during the day. His gaze was only on you for a moment before he looked over at your hand. You pulled it close to your chest, taking a few hurried steps back. You thought of running only to bump into someone else, Sunwoo. His eyes were red as well, making you all the more fearful. You wanted to say something but it was all getting caught in your throat.

“Y/n.”

    Sangyeon suddenly appeared and pulled you closer to him. He glared at the other two, baring his fangs and hissing at them. Before you knew it you were inside one of the houses, not yours, and were in the bathroom, Sangyeon having you run your hand under warm water.

“Are you okay?”

“I… yeah… I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

“My hand…”

“Are you saying you cut yourself on purpose?”

“No! But… fresh blood… Chanhee and Sunwoo…”

“I will scold them over that later.”

“Sorry…”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It would have been a miracle to make it through all of this and not have you get hurt.”

“Still…”

“They’re still young, and fresh blood is always tempting. So don’t apologize for their lack of control. I smelled the blood immediately and would have stopped them.”

“Thank you.”

“Let’s disinfect the wound and then wrap it up.”

    Since Sangyeon seemed to know where everything was, you figured this was his place. He sat you down while he gently treated your wound and bandaged it up.

“Stay here for a bit while the blood flow slows down. I’ll have a word with the others.”

“Okay.”

    You didn’t hear anything about your injury since then, but on occasion you’d catch some of them staring at your bandages. You didn’t say anything about it either, not wanting to get any one in trouble. Things were as they were with no real changes, but celebrating a vampire’s birthday was something very unexpected. They didn’t share their age with you, but it was a good night for celebrations anyway.

“Happy Birthday to you!”

    Everyone cheered as the candles were blown out. It was gonna be a little bit of a celebratory night. You probably would have been up for hours if Haknyeon didn’t wind up bumping into you, causing you to spill your lemonade all over yourself.

“Oh shit, sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine.”

“Probably need to call it a night.” Changmin commented as he came over with a rag. “You shouldn’t be in these kinds of clothes for long.”

“Yeah, I guess I should go to sleep. Don’t stay up and make so much noise.”

“We won’t.”

    You said your good nights and went home to shower and get to bed. You were tired from the day so you fell asleep easily, although you wound up waking up in the middle of the night. This was a first for you, and you were so groggy. You lazily got up and went to one of the windows that showed you the front. You could see the boys moving about, and you went over to the front door. You barely took a few steps outside before someone noticed you.

“Y/n, what are you doing awake?” Kevin asked. “You should be sleeping.”

“I… um… I don’t…”

“We’ll be quiet, okay, let’s get you back to bed.”

    Kevin gently led you back inside and into bed. He tucked you in and pressed a kiss to your head. You swore you saw a bit of red, but exhaustion pulled you under and you went back to sleep with ease.

❤

    The next morning felt like any other, and you didn’t really recall your late night stroll. No one else brought it up either, so it felt more like a dream. Everything else continued on as normal, and you forgot about the incident. That is until your next strange night. You were up late with the boys, having a bit of a festival. Jacob had given you a glass of lemonade to cool down with after some dancing, but before you could take a sip Chanhee pulled you away for more dancing. Another hour or so later you finally decide to call it a night, heading to bed. You were exhausted enough to fall asleep quickly, but woke up randomly a few hours later.

    You didn’t think too much of it, simply getting up and going to the kitchen to get yourself a glass of water. As you drank you stared out the window, doing a double take when you saw two people floating in the air. You nearly panicked before remembering that vampires could fly, they just didn’t do that when you were around. You watched them for a while, wondering what they were doing when a knock on the glass pulled you back down. Eric was standing outside with a smile on his face. He waved at you and motioned for you to open the window for him.

“What are you doing up?”

“No idea, I was thirsty though.”

“Well you should get back to sleep, don’t want you tired in the morning.”

“I could just sleep in.”

“The others would miss you.”

“As if you aren’t nocturnal creatures.”

“But we’re all together here and it’s important to socialize. This is all about you, remember?”

“Yeah… I’ll go back to bed, don’t worry.”

“Alright. Sweet dreams.”

    The glowing red eyes were something you had gotten used to, but not the flash of red. It always made you a bit dizzy, but it was nothing harmful. You went back to sleep with ease, but come morning there was something on your mind. In all the weeks you had been there so far you hadn’t had trouble sleeping until now. Even at the beginning when you were nervous to be around them you could still fall asleep with ease and get plenty of rest. Nothing had happened as of late that should affect your sleep. If anything things had gotten better, so it made this all the more troubling. It had been on your mind all day, and of course that wasn’t gonna go unnoticed.

“What’s on your mind?” Haknyeon asked. “You seem very quiet today.”

“Oh it’s nothing, just trying to figure something out.”

“Which is? Perhaps I could help?”

“Doubtful. Just had some weird nights and was trying to figure out why.”

“Maybe you slept on your arm or something, nothing to worry about really.”

“Don’t you all sleep in coffins though?”

“Occasionally… but you won’t find those here, I promise.”

You chuckled. “Would have been cool to see.”

“Speaking of cool.” Haknyeon disappeared for a moment. “Here. A little something to cool off.”

“Lemonade is the staple of this little village, huh?”

“Our special recipe.”

“Thanks.”

    Usually you get sick of things when you have them every day, but the lemonade was always refreshing and tasty. You tried not to focus on your sleep habits and enjoy the rest of the day. You turned in early, and thankfully had a peaceful night of sleep. Everyone had their sleepless nights, if anything it would be weird if you always slept well, so you stopped worrying about those nights. Even if you had troubles, you didn’t have any responsibilities that needed you to be well rested. You could always sleep during the day like a vampire if anything.

“How about a movie night?”

“Huh?”

“We haven’t had one in a while.” Younghoon explained. “Is there a movie you want to see, we can get it all set up for tomorrow night.”

“Not a bad idea, nothing scary though.”

“Fair.”

“But… how about an old vampire movie?”

“Seriously? You want to embarrass us?”

“I want your commentary.”

“Okay. I’ll ask Sangyeon and hopefully he won’t say no.”

“I’d be very upset if he did.”

“Noted.”

    You two got some lemonade and made a toast for good luck with tomorrow’s movie night. You drank first, Younghoon watching you before taking a sip of his drink. You were excited for the next night, managing to sleep well and wake up with a lot of energy. Sangyeon had agreed to your movie suggestion although the others weren’t aware of the film until it started and they all quickly looked over at you. A shy smile was on your face, but they could see that you were going to enjoy the night. Even though you had seen the movie before, you were so immersed because it was a new experience. You didn’t touch the popcorn or lemonade, just asking questions and listening intently as you got a glimpse into the vampire world.

    It was definitely a stay up late kind of night so at some point you ended up falling asleep. When you woke up you saw that you were still outside, and were all bundled up in a blanket. You looked around but didn’t see anyone else around. You managed to get up, keeping the blanket around you. Once you got up you knocked over the lemonade and popcorn around you. It had remained completely untouched so the smallest of movements made it fall over. Now that you were up you felt a bit thirsty, seeing other lemonades around and grabbing one. You only took a few sips before realizing it had a different taste. You were getting worried when a voice suddenly caught your attention.

“Y/n? What are you doing awake?”

    You dropped the drink from the fright and Juyeon quickly picked you up in his arms. His fast movements startled you, but you were alright for the most part. You were feeling a bit dizzy though, grabbing onto Juyeon.

“Easy there, are you alright?”

“Yeah… just… dizzy…”

“You should go back to sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Hm…”

    You looked up at Juyeon to see his red glowing eyes, leaning against him. You weren’t feeling so good and shut your eyes. Some sleep would do you good, and hopefully you’d feel better tomorrow. That was the idea but you certainly felt sore in the morning. When you woke up you just stayed in bed for a while. You didn’t want to get up just yet, but you were also thinking about something else. The lemonade you had last night was different than what you were used to. Maybe it was because it had been left out for a couple hours, but something said there was more to it. There was only one way to find out really.

“Jacob.”

    After getting out of bed you went out to find Jacob. He was setting up his cute little stand so you were just in time.

“Hey, good morning, did you sleep well?”

“For the most part. I’m a bit sore but I’m okay.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“So, I was wondering if I could help you with your lemonade stand. You make lemonade for us every day and I haven’t had a chance to help you yet.”

“If you want to, I don’t mind the help.”

“Awesome.”

    You helped squeeze the lemons, although Jacob was still secretive with his recipe.  Before you even knew it he had made the lemonade, and came over to hand you a glass.

“Here you go. For all your help.”

“Thanks.”

    You gave Jacob a big smile, and took a sip. It tasted just like usual, and that’s what you expected. There were more glasses on the table, and when Jacob stepped away you went over and took one. As you feared it tasted different, but before you could really think about it Jacob came over and took the glass from your hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Why does it taste different?”

“Huh?”

“The lemonade. The one you gave me and the ones on the table have a different taste.”

“I… uh… there’s blood in it…” Jacob mumbled.

“What?”

“There’s blood… in the lemonade… except yours… the one specially made for you… that’s why it tastes different…”

“Oh…”

    You started feeling a bit sick over what you had tasted, running off before Jacob could say anything. Not to mention scolding yourself over jumping to conclusions. You weren’t alone for long before Chanhee found you. He had overheard everything, not surprising actually, the others probably knew too.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine… just feeling silly…”

“We probably should have mentioned it earlier. We just wanted the lemonade to be something we all shared naturally, but of course with our diets it would still be different.”

“I know… I just had other things in my head… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

“You’d never do such a thing.”

    Even if you slept well you still felt silly over the whole lemonade incident. Although you didn’t really want to drink it anymore. The next day you played games all day, and focused on that. You were offered some lemonade multiple times but you never really drank it. You had lots of fun though, so by nightfall you were very exhausted. You would have thought you’d sleep through the night but instead you woke up. It was probably stress and the whole incident, but you tried to move past it. You got up and got a glass of water. As you looked out the window you didn’t see anyone around, so you decided to sneak out.

    You went over to the hillside, wanting to stargaze, but when you looked up there was a starless sky. It was all black, the only light coming from the lights by the houses. It was weird though, cause you could have sworn you’ve seen stars in the sky before. The last movie night you had came to mind, but maybe you were imagining things. You still stayed where you were, laying back on the grass and looking up at the sky. It was a peaceful night, and you were lost in your own head that you didn’t notice someone approaching. Not until they laid down next to you, looking over at you.

“Hello.”

“Sangyeon…”

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to stargaze, but there are no stars… I could have sworn there was.”

“Maybe you’re confusing it with a movie.”

“I think so too.”

“Anyway, you shouldn’t sleep out here. Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

    Sangyeon didn’t hesitate to pick you up in his arms, carrying you bridal style back to your place. You could never really get used to the red eyes, but you had to admit they looked nice. Something soothing to see before you fall asleep.

❤

    The next morning your arm felt sore, but you didn’t mind it. This time around you’d be helping out with breakfast, which was always quite a lot since it was for twelve. You were so busy that when you got thirsty you just grabbed the nearest drink and chugged it down. Then you grabbed another until you finally realized the taste. This wasn’t your lemonade, and the realization made you faint. By the time you came to you were in bed, and it seemed to be dark out. You looked over and saw Hyunjae and Changmin at your bedside. When they saw you were awake they jumped up.

“Y/n! Are you okay?”

“We were so worried about you.”

“Hm… what happened?”

“We don’t know, you just suddenly collapsed.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you guys. I was just lost in thought and ended up drinking your lemonade… when I realized I kind of freaked out…”

“Gosh, you really scared us.”

“Sorry…”

“As long as you’re okay.”

“Yeah… I should probably go back to sleep though.”

“We’ll let the others know you’re okay.” 

“Hold on a second.” Changmin went to get you a glass of water. “Here. You should have some water since you didn’t have much all day.”

“Thanks.”

    As you drank the water you noticed a strange taste similar to that of the lemonades. You didn’t say anything though and just thanked the two and went to sleep. Come morning your mind went back to the same issue about the lemonade. Something was wrong. You got out of bed and got yourself a glass of water. It tasted nothing like what you had last night, but presumably you got it from the same place. You couldn’t really go to any of them with your concerns, so just kept it to yourself. As you thought it over you looked back on the nights you had woken up, and if there was anything in common.

    You basically had lemonade every day, it was a staple in the little village, but now that you think about it, you didn’t actually drink it on the days you woke up in the middle of the night. It could just be a coincidence, but every other time you slept fine you could recall drinking the lemonade. This all sounded crazy to you, but there was a way for you to test it. That day you got your special glass of lemonade but you didn’t drink it, spilling it out onto the yard when no one was looking. As you feared you wound up waking up that night. It could be a one off, you needed to run more tests, so you decided to go back to sleep on your own.

    You were drifting off when you suddenly felt hands grab you. A loud scream ripped from your throat as you got up, seeing Sunwoo in your room. He screamed as well when you did, quickly apologizing though. That didn’t change the fact you were freaking out. There was no reason for him to be in your room, and all the yelling attracted attention. Soon enough the others had gathered as well, but you were still freaking out and yelling incoherently. Sangyeon came to your side and grabbed your shoulders, getting you to focus on him. As always those glowing eyes were mesmerizing, and he was getting you to do some breathing exercises with him so you could calm down.

“Are you okay?”

“I… I think so…”

“Good. Do you think you can explain to me what’s going on?”

“I… I don’t really know… I was trying to go back to sleep when I felt Sunwoo grab me…”

“Did he now? The boy must have been sleepy and thought this was his bed.”

“I… I guess…”

“He didn’t mean to scare you. Sunwoo apologize.”

“I’m so sorry…” Sunwoo apologized. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Okay… apology accepted…”

“There, see, nothing to worry about. Get back to bed okay.”

    Sangyeon tucked you in while the others headed out, some scolding Sunwoo under their breath. You were feeling sleepy so it was easy to just close your eyes and drift off. Although come morning, when you hadn’t woken up in a panic, and could properly put the pieces together. Something was wrong here. Last night, the incident with Sunwoo, was very strange and was making you feel uneasy. You couldn’t let anyone else know, so you did you best to act normal. You avoided the lemonade again, and just went about the day as usual. No one seems to suspect anything, and you decided to turn in early that day. You only pretend to go to sleep, waiting for the night to become quiet.

    Once you felt it was safe you snuck out. You didn’t see anyone around at all so you went out to the hillside. Truth was you didn’t trust this place anymore, you didn’t trust them. You kept low, carefully looking back to make sure you weren’t noticed. You had dressed in some sweatpants and a hoodie, hoping that would be alright. As you made your way down the hill you suddenly came to a stop. The sight before you terrified you. At the bottom of the hill, the grass just ended, the road ahead just smooth concrete leading into darkness. This didn’t make any sense, causing you to question everything you had known, but you couldn’t go back.

    You swallowed your fear and stepped onto the concrete. You gave it a moment to see if something happened, but nothing, so then it was just one foot after the other. After a bit of waking you get your phone out. There wasn’t much signal in the village, and you didn’t seem to have any here either, but at least you could use your flashlight. Before doing so you looked back, but it was mostly darkness. You turned the flashlight on and aimed it at the ground, moving slowly. You weren’t sure for how long you were walking for but eventually you came to some sort of wall. You slowly lifted up the light, seeing what appeared to be metal. You carefully reached out to touch it confirming it was real. It was a wall, which didn’t make sense, but surely there was a door somewhere.

    You picked a direction and followed it. You were scared with every step, wondering if you would find what you were looking for or not. When the structure suddenly changed you took a step back and could make out a door. You reached for the handle, feeling that this was a sliding door. You looked around in the darkness for a moment before carefully sliding it open. You didn’t know what awaited you on the other side, but it brought you to tears. Beyond the door was an empty lot, and as you stepped out you could see other buildings, but most of all you could see the sky. Stars and clouds hung above you as the tears slid down your cheeks. You looked back at the huge building you had just exited, feeling such panic rise in you. All you could do was run.

    You turned around and ran, wanting to get as far away from that place as possible. All this, being out here, those monsters had kept you locked up like some animal, playing house and acting like you were friends. For who knows how long you had been living a lie, and you had no idea how you wound up in their grasp. You just kept running, beyond the lot and finding a small town nearby. You could see cars driving on the streets, buildings, and people walking around. There was life there, although you were still too much in shock to just ask for help. You pulled up your hood and made your way over to the town, keeping your head low and looking around. Everyone seemed normal, going about their lives as if you hadn’t been held hostage nearby. Since nothing appeared out of the ordinary you thought it would be safe to find the nearest police station, but then you froze in your tracks.

“I don’t think I’m made for TV.”

    Hearing your own voice sent shivers down your spine. You looked around for the source, finding a bunch of kids gathered outside a store window. They were looking at the TVs on display in the store and you cautiously walked over to see what was playing. As you got closer you could make out the images, coming to see yourself on the screen, along with the other boys. As this scene played out you began to remember that day, mumbling the next words spoken to yourself before hearing them from the TV. This whole time your life had been filmed, and now it was on TV for everyone else’s entertainment. You couldn’t believe what you were seeing. You took a step back, feeling as if reality was fading in and out. Nothing made sense.

“Are you the girl from TV?”

    One of the kids who had been watching the TV had noticed you. He approached you, and soon the others were aware of you too. They all got closer, and one of them even leaned in to smell you.

“You are! You must be the human from TV!”

    The kids eagerly crowd around you and that’s when you finally realize their eyes were red. That shock gave you the energy to run and you bolted down the street, not looking back. You weren’t paying attention though and wound up running into a couple. You stumbled to the ground and your hood fell back, revealing your face.

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you- wait, are you… oh my gosh! Could I have a bite?”

    This time you were well aware of the red eyes the two individuals had. You ignored their words and quickly scrambled to your feet and ran off again. You had to get away from such a public area so you bolted into the nearest alleyway, but ended up tripping over something. When you looked back you saw a human leaning against the wall next to a trash bin. You both stared at each other and you noticed they didn’t have glowing eyes.

“Are you… are you human?”

“What? Never seen a homeless human before?”

    You didn’t think twice about rushing over to them, which greatly startled them. You didn’t mean to and quickly put your hands up.

“I… I’m sorry… I just… what is going on here… there are vampires… everywhere and… I don’t understand…”

“Where have you been living?”

    Even with the strange question, you got an answer. Vampires had revealed themselves to the world, but not in the way you had believed. They took over, seeing themselves as superior and basically turning humans into cattle. Some were even pets, and that seemed to answer the question of what you were.

“If humans got… taken away then how are you still on the streets?”

“We’ve avoided the hunters.” Another person popped out of the trash bin. “That’s the only way to stay out of those care homes and keep our freedom.”

“You two are together?”

“Yup. I’m Shane, and that’s Pete.”

“How long have you been on the streets?”

“A couple months now… maybe longer, honestly lost track of time.”

“So how… how do you survive out here? Can you help me?”

“Where are you from?” Pete asked. 

“It’s… it’s complicated…”

“It won’t be easy to feed another mouth.” Shane commented. “We barely manage on our own.”

“Please, I don’t have anywhere else to go…”

“Alright, fine.” Shane hops out of the trash bin and pulls up your hood. “Stay warm. We gotta lay low, that’s the most important.”

“Okay…”

“Come on then, we can stay out in the open like this for too long.”

    You didn’t really hesitate to follow them deeper into the alley. They led you into an abandoned building. They found a place to start a fire, safely as they explained to you, and settled around it. You helped find some cardboard and newspaper, needing something to sit on besides the cold floor.

“Here.” Pete offered you bread. “You need to eat.”

    This wasn’t what you were used to, but you were grateful. It was better than nothing. You took the bread and thanked him. As you ate and stared at the fire you couldn’t help but think back to the campfires you used to sit around. The fire itself was the same, burning bright and hot, but your circumstances had changed. You really tried not to cry but you couldn’t help the tears. Once you finished eating you laid down on the cardboard, watching the fire and slowly dozing off. Then you suddenly jumped up as you felt a pinch around your neck. You looked around in a panic thinking something had bit you, but then you realized you were completely alone.

    The other two were gone, as were the belongings they had with them. You pulled your legs up to your chest, feeling that fear of being alone, and worst of all abandoned. There was nowhere else for you to go and now you were really on your own. You noticed a small bag next to the fire and reached over to it, finding some food inside and a note. It explained that they couldn’t risk having someone else with them, but that they wished you luck. They don’t know what your situation was but they told you there wasn’t any shame in surrendering to the hunters and going to a care house.

    The problem was you didn’t want to go back with any vampires, so you were going to have to figure out how to survive on the streets all on your own. You really did need to sleep though, so you laid back down, trying to get comfortable when you heard a noise. Now you were on alert and looking around. You got up and found something to swing like a bat, carefully taking in your surroundings. When you suddenly felt a presence behind you, there was no hesitation in your swing. You were worried about hurting someone, but you weren’t expecting the person to catch your weapon, let alone be a familiar face.

“Haknyeon…”

    He ripped the weapon away from you, and then he had his hand around your throat. His grip was firm, and you soon found it difficult to breathe.

“You my dear, are in a world of trouble for the stunt you’ve pulled.”

“Let her go.” Sangyeon ordered. “It’s not your turn.”

    Just as he was told, Haknyeon let you go and you collapsed to the ground catching your breath. You were gasping in air when you were suddenly grabbed. For a moment you stared into Sangyeon’s red eyes, and then he was on your neck. You felt a pinch and yelled from the initial sting before you were suddenly overwhelmed by this euphoric feeling. The scream died down, replaced by a ragged moan and a dizzy feeling.

“There, that should keep her docile. Let’s go.”

“But what about-”

“Later, Chanhee. We should get home first.”

    Your vision was a blur, but you could vaguely make out Jacob picking you up in his arms. You had no idea where this home was, although all that came to mind was the village. You were taken out of the building and into another alleyway. Jacob was careful to put you into the back seat of a car, having you rest against Kevin’s shoulder. You could feel the car move beneath you, vaguely making out the world outside the window. At first you could see buildings but then that all turned to trees and soon enough you had arrived. This time Changmin got you out of the car and you found yourself before a very big house.

“… where…”

“Sh, we’re home now.” Changmin assured.

“You know where to take her.” Sangyeon said.

“Of course.”

    Everything felt like a dream as you were carried up the steps and through the front door. The house was just as big on the inside, like a mansion. You didn’t know much about luxury, but from what you could see, this place was fancy. You were taken into a room and laid down on some kind of medical table. Before you could really process you felt your arms and legs being strapped down.

“… wait… wait…”

“Just calm down, we’re not gonna hurt you.”

    Those words didn’t really provide comfort. Especially once you saw the needle and watched it go into your arm. You started pulling on your restraints then, only for them to take advantage of your distracted state and push a gel pill into your mouth. It dissolved on your tongue, and you froze upon recognizing the taste. You had this before in every glass of lemonade they had made for you. This was what they had been giving you for weeks.

“Sorry, but you need to take that.”

    You wanted to say something to them, even yell, but you were starting to feel drowsy. Without wanting to, your body relaxed against the table, and you began to have trouble keeping your eyes open. Soon enough you drifted off to sleep in a very unfamiliar place. You didn’t know how long you were out for, but when you regained consciousness your vision wasn’t as blurry. That’s when you noticed the blood bags, and looked down at your arm. They had been drawing blood from you this whole time, every night as far as you knew. It didn’t even make sense, it shouldn’t be possible.

“Oh, I see someone’s awake.” Eric smiled. “Hi beautiful.”

“… what… what is this…”

“Don’t worry, it’s just routine, but you don’t remember that right now.”

    Younghoon came over to your side and removed the needle, placing a soft kiss on your arm where a drop of blood bloomed. He liked his lips and smiled at you, sending shivers down your spine. Juyeon then came over and undid your restraints, pulling you into his arms. He carried you out of the room and to another one. It seemed like a bedroom, and you were placed down on the bed. He was going to leave you to rest but you grabbed onto his arm.

“… what’s going on… why did you lie to me… what… what’s real…”

“Sangyeon can answer all your questions after you eat.”

    A while after Juyeon left, Eric came in with a food cart. He had you sit back on the bed, placing a tray in front of you. As you moved to lift your arm you got a familiar sore feeling, further confirmation as to what they had been doing with you. Eric noticed you were struggling and decided to feed you himself, which you accepted. It was weird, but you were hungry, and feeling so weak from the blood loss. When you had your fill Eric tried to get you to sleep but you refused. You wanted to talk to Sangyeon before anything else.

“You should really get some sleep.”

“I feel like I’m always sleeping…”

“Touché. I’m rather busy, but I always have time for you.” Sangyeon sat down at your bedside. “So what is it you want to ask?”

“I want you to explain.”

“Explain what?”

“Everything.”

“Well, where do I even start?”

“You could start by telling me if anything of what I believe is real.”

“Good choice.”

    Sangyeon was honest with you, or at least you believed he was, there was no way for you to know otherwise. He told you that vampires had been living in hiding for hundreds of years, but decided to make their presence known as it was becoming clear to them humans couldn’t take care of themselves, or the planet. They’re not monsters so their methods were kind, and humans were now well taken care of and the planet itself was also thriving.

“So we’re your pets.”

“Not quiet. You’re more like-”

“Cattle?”

“You are really trying to make us out as monsters.”

“Isn’t blood your food source? Doesn’t that just make us cattle to you.”

“But you’re not animals. It’s true we do need your blood, but why would we be so cruel to our food source? Humans are well cared for. If you’d like I could perhaps arrange a visit to a care house and you could see for yourself.”

“This isn’t a care house, is it? So what am I?”

“You, well, you are our pet.” Sangyeon gently caressed your cheek. “Not every vampire can have one, but we can. You’re our special little girl.”

“Is that why I’m on TV?”

“Hm? Who told you that?”

“I saw it! My face on a screen with the rest of you! My life on display for entertainment!”

“Easy now, there’s no harm-”

“Why does that exist!?”

“Why else? We like to show you off, and it’s good money. Everyone has fun, and your blood.” Sangyeon took your hand and kissed your wrist. “It’s worth quite a lot. You’re famous.”

“So my whole life… it’s been a lie…”

“Not quiet. We’ve simply made it so you believed what we wanted you too. It’s very important as it makes the show, and your performance, all the more authentic.”

“You’re a monster.”

“You don’t mean that. You don’t even remember what your life is actually like.”

“Make me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Why!?”

“We still have a lot of work to do since our filming schedule has been interrupted. It’s better for you to remain this way until we wrap everything up.” Sangyeon took a breath. “You have caused quite a lot of trouble, but perhaps something good can come out of it. But first, I need to know how you realized you were on a set.”

“…”

“Answer me.”

    A moment ago you were just having a conversation, but now Sangyeon was glaring at you with glowing red eyes. It sent a chill down your spine, making you very nervous.

“It was the lemonade.”

“What?”

“It had a weird taste… and my sleep schedule was questionable… then there was the incident with Sunwoo… and the lack of stars in the sky… I knew there was something wrong…”

“Hm. Impressive. You picked up on a bunch of little things out of the ordinary and put the pieces together. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“How did you find me though… I was only gone for a few hours…”

“It was at night. We clean up at the end of the day and take you home. It wasn’t long before we realized no one had gotten you. We searched all over, and then found one of the back doors opened. We could have just tracked you by scent but with your memories things would be more troublesome, so we used the tracking chip.”

    Instinctively you reached up to your neck, remembering that jolt of pain you had back in the abandoned building.

“I’m not some animal!”

“But you’re our pet, and plenty of owners tag their pets. We wouldn’t want to lose you now would we. You’re too precious and valuable.” Sangyeon chuckled and pet your head. “Thankfully you’re not on the news or social media, so this wasn’t as big of a mess as it could have been. You should get some sleep though, you still need to recover from the blood loss.”

    You didn’t have much of a choice as Sangyeon tucked you into bed, giving you a kiss on your head before leaving you to rest. You laid in bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what had happened to the world, and what had happened to you. Even if you didn’t want to sleep you couldn’t deny the fact you were still tired. You weren’t going to go anywhere, so you might as well use this chance to sleep and gather your strength.

❤

    When you woke up later you were feeling better, so you got out of bed. You looked around the room, opening the closet to find it filled with all kinds of luxury clothes and accessories. It was all your size too which made it more creepy. You quickly shut the door, not wanting to see any of that. You also didn’t want to stay in this room, so you carefully peeked out into the hall, seeing that it was empty. You made your way out, wandering around. The place was pretty huge, although you stopped to stare at a picture on the wall. The picture was of you and the boys, and you had a big smile on your face.

“What are you doing out of bed?”

    You jumped as Hyunjae startled you, having found some way to sneak up on you. Then again as a vampire it was probably easy for him to move around undetected, not to mention you were distracted.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“I’ve slept enough.”

“Then how about some snacks. There’s-”

“Who is she?”

“What?”

“Her.” You pointed at yourself in the picture. “Who is she? Where is she!?”

“Hm… well I guess you can say she’s sleeping…”

“Wake her up!”

“I can’t.”

“What is wrong with you? All of you? Did she agree to this, to be-”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“You, or I guess her, she did agree to this.” 

“…”

“What? You think we just rearranged your memories cause we can? No, this was a group decision. Even though this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Obviously. I still can’t believe I agreed to something like this.”

“Then how about a snack to take your mind off it.”

    Before you could object Hyunjae took your hand and dragged you over to the kitchen. It was just as big as you would expect in this place. You felt like you had snuck into a restaurant kitchen. As you looked around Hyunjae rummaged through the cabinets until he found some snacks, handing them over to you, which was surprising.

“What? The snacks were for you, not me.”

“Oh… I… I thought… you were gonna… you know…”

“We can’t all feed off you, but we can draw blood.”

“That doesn’t make sense… you drew blood from me practically every night… that’s not possible.”

“It’s cause of that pill you took.”

“What?”

“It makes you sleepy but also helps replenish your blood faster. Perfectly harmless and very effective. We can draw blood more than once every two months, and no we didn’t do it every night either.”

    Hyunjae went over to the fridge and grabbed a blood, opening it up and then hopping onto the counter top. He took a big sip and let out a content sigh.

“Your blood is so sweet.”

“Is that why you chose me?”

“No. It’s just a bonus.”

“Then… why…”

“You were very cute. We went to a care house because we wanted someone here with us since it didn’t have to be just us anymore.” Hyunjae took another sip from the blood bag. “It wasn’t easy though. The amount of paperwork we had to do just to get into the building and see you all.”

“What papers?”

“The basics, like proof that we could care for a human. That we’d be able to provide a good and healthy diet, as well as clothed them, and that we had a good environment for them to live in. Along with other things depending on the human. We had specialists all over the house inspecting it to make sure we were responsible and not lying on the papers.”

“I didn’t know you had to go through all that just to have a pet human…”

“Not everyone can just have one. It’s a big responsibility, and not all vampires have good self control. It is just our nature, and all the more reason to keep your kind safe.” Hyunjae smiled at you. “With all that done we finally got a chance to look around. That’s when we found you, all quiet and alone, sitting in the corner reading a book. When we approached you seemed so uninterested in us. You weren’t scared or anything like that. You seemed to be quite happy since you had all this time for yourself to do as you pleased. We offered you a comfy home so you could have all that and more. So you asked your cute little questions. If you could read all the books you wanted, or paint out in a garden, or watch TV all day or spend a whole day sleeping. Of course the answer to all that was yes, and you know what you said?”

“What?”

“I’ll think about it. We were all so surprised, but it made us all the more interested in you. So one of us went by to see you every day until you finally decided to come home with us. Gosh, the look on your face when you say this place, you were so in love. You had so much space, and such luxurious things. If you weren’t busy with something we would always find you wandering around the halls. Tell me, does any of that sound like you?”

“… maybe… but what about the show?”

“Ah, that. Sunwoo wanted to do something in film, and you suggested a comedy.”

“Wait, it was my idea?”

“More or less. You figured it would be fun if the theme was like a human living with a bunch of vampires and the shenanigans that would come from it.”

“No way…”

“Yeah, and it’s a big hit. Happy Vampire Village. We all did it more for fun but it was a big hit. Everyone adores you.”

“So… I’m famous?”

“Yup. And since you’re around right now, Sangyeon was thinking of taking you to this gala thing that’s coming up.”

“No thanks…”

“Well it’s not entirely up to you.”

“Yo.” Kevin poked his head into the kitchen. “What are you two doing?”

“Just snacking.” Hyunjae answered. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, just wondering if you wanted to hang out. I was gonna get some snacks and watch TV, you in?”

“Absolutely.”

    Kevin and Hyunjae grabbed some more snacks and then took you into this home theater room. They were channel surfing and you were vaguely paying attention until you saw yourself on screen. You asked to go back, watching yourself for a moment, remembering everything you saw since this was your life. You couldn’t do it for long though, excusing yourself cause you wanted to be alone. You wandered the halls, figuring you’d find your way back to your room eventually. Although you noticed a door open and heard some clicking noises.

    You slowly approached and poked your head into the room. There was low light and you saw Chanhee sitting in front of a monitor. As you looked closer you realized you were on the screen again, and apparently he was editing footage. You caught glimpses of this behind the scenes stuff. To a degree it was interesting, but horrifying as well. Every moment you had spent in the village was recorded. You had no privacy at all. That realization brought tears to your eyes and you ran off to hide, just wanting to be away from any lights or prying eyes.

“I’m sorry we can’t play hide and seek.”

    You had been curled up on the floor, hugging your knees to your chest and hiding your face when you heard a voice.  You didn’t even look at them, but could feel their presence as they sat down next to you.

“Cause of the chip?”

“Your heartbeat.”

“I hate this place.” You looked up to see Jacob. “It’s like a bad dream.”

“Sorry. We should have done better to make sure this never happened in the first place.” Jacob softly pet your head. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Well, I don’t want to do it.”

“Y/n-”

“How long is that show supposed to go for anyway?”

“Well, going along with your memory, I think there’s only like a month or two left. This was always a side project anyway.”

“And when it’s over? Then what?”

“We have to finish up the show first. We’ll end up erasing your memories to do that.” 

“So all this explaining is kind of pointless.” 

“Yeah, but it’s important that you feel at ease.”

“I feel like I’m gonna die.”

“I’m sorry… we didn’t mean to make things scary.”

    Jacob sat with you for a while before convincing you to go back to your room. It was probably better to be there anyway. Soon enough you were alone again just laying in bed and staring at the ceiling. You thought back on what you had been told, trying to make sense of it. Truth was that the world was so scary to you because it was foreign. Nothing really seemed to be bad. Nobody tried to hurt you, or was mean to you while you were on the streets. Then again you weren’t out there for long. Even now you were living quite comfortably, so you couldn’t know for sure what the world was like.

    You wanted to know, to see for yourself, but it was kinda pointless. Apparently you were happy here, but you just don’t remember. You were nervous and scared now, but deep down you had this sense of ease, making you wonder if you should trust the boys. While lost in thought Haknyeon suddenly came into your room. He let you know that you would be attending a gala tomorrow so they needed to figure out your outfit. You didn’t have a say in the matter as he pulled you out of bed and had you stand in front of the mirror. He went through your closet picking out some dresses and seeing what looks best.

“Do I have to go?”

“Yes. Everyone wants to see you, and you don’t have to worry about anything. Just smile and be positive. You can’t talk about the show anyway since we’re not done filming.”

“So I’m just arm candy?”

“Not exactly, but I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

“Doubtful, but I don’t have a choice in the matter.”

    The next day you were up early as you had a lot to prepare for. You were given a bath first thing. It was a deep clean and very relaxing, you honestly didn’t want to get out of the tub. Breakfast was a delight, and very filling, kind of reminding you of the good times back at the village. Although there wasn’t much time for reminiscing as you had to get your hair done, and get dressed, along with makeup and accessories. You never really had a moment to catch your breath until later in the evening. 

    The boys were all dressed in suits, looking very handsome. You thought you’d ride in one of their cars, but should have realized you’d be taking a limo. Even though you didn’t want to go, you were nervous about this whole event. You weren’t a random guest, but someone many were looking forward to seeing. As you arrived at the venue it became more apparent. All the boys reassured you that you looked amazing, and to not be nervous. Just smile and be polite, and no spoilers. The boys stepped out of the limo first, and you were the last, taking Sangyeon’s hand and being met by the flashing lights of the cameras.

    It caught you off guard at first but once you adjusted you could see more of your surroundings. As far as you could tell the venue was this museum, and the red carpet led you up the stairs towards the entrance. Many were calling your name and asking you to look towards them with a smile. You weren’t sure if you were smiling, but Sangyeon wasn’t really letting you stop to pose for a photo. You did manage to wave though, and that seemed to be good enough. Although once you entered the museum the atmosphere changed.

    The other attendees were happy to see you and said hello, but they mostly seemed interested in the boys. It made sense, they were of the same species and in here you really were more of a pet than some celebrity. You shook some hands and kept a smile, also being reminded not to give spoilers. Still, after the initial greetings the boys just kept you close while they mingled with others. Some calm music filled the air, along with business chatter. You didn’t care for any of it, but you were kind of hungry. As you reached for something on the table Changmin was quick to stop you.

“That’s not for you, sweetie.”

“Huh?”

“Vampire food isn’t good for you. I should probably take you over with the others.” Changmin took your hand in his. “Come now.”

    You were confused, but you followed behind Changmin. He took you to another part of the museum. You came across some security guards, which was strange to you, and then you found yourself in this smaller area. It seemed just like the main area, but with fewer people. Before you could ask what this was you got your answer.

“These are the other humans in attendance tonight. So mingle and have fun.”

    So this was basically the pet daycare. It annoyed you, but you wanted food more than anything so you went to get some. You feared maybe you’d get some attention here, but besides the occasional glance in your direction, no one paid you much attention. You were thankful for that, these types of things weren’t your scene. So you just sat quietly at an empty table and kept to yourself. You wished you had something to distract yourself with besides food, but soon enough you had company. Another woman came over to your side and sat next to you.

“You’re pretty quiet for a celebrity.”

“I don’t really feel like one…”

“Your fame is rather complicated.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It is weird though, isn’t it, for us all to be here. All the humans gathered in one place while the vampires have their party too.”

“Well, we are their pets after all.”

“And that’s not right. Just because those creatures think they’re better than us, doesn’t mean they are.”

“I mean… they’re pretty powerful.”

“But not immortal. They can still die.”

“Huh… you’re pretty hostile for a pet…”

“Wanna know a secret.” She leaned in close. “I’m not a pet.”

“If… if you’re not a pet… then how… what-”

“You think humans have just given up? There is still a resistance out there. We shouldn’t be living like this. We were once top of the food chain, and now this? We could have been equals with vampires but they chose to take over. They’re cruel creatures who claim to care for humans but I don’t buy it.” She leaned close and tapped your neck. “You know that’s not just some tracking chip in you.”

“What?”

    As you processed her words she took your hand and led you out of the room into the hall. It was just the two of you. Before you could ask she told you not to worry about security. They don’t see you as a problem or a threat so they won’t care about you two being out here. She stopped over by some statue, getting something from a hidden compartment. You didn’t recognize the device in her hand but you took a step back.

“What… what is that…”

“It won’t hurt much.”

    You don’t know what she did but you suddenly felt a pinch on your neck, reaching over to the area of pain.

“What did you do!?”

“I disabled your chip. Besides tracking you like some dog, it also functioned as an inhibitor. Makes it very hard to have any negative emotions or complex thinking with that thing. It keeps you docile and happy, like some kind of lobotomy.”

“No… no the wouldn’t…”

“You should come with me.”

“What… why?”

“I’m not some pet, I snuck into this event to find you, to help you.”

“… wa… what does that mean?”

“The vamps always parade you around, and with all your popularity you’re basically the face of human subjugation. You’re not some show dog.” Hearing all that started to make you feel guilty. “You can get away from this all and be free.”

“I… I don’t know… they’ve messed with my memories and I’m not sure about all this…”

“Really? That’s all the more reason to get away.”

“But I agreed to it…”

“Sure you did. Not like they have the power to compel you.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come with me. You can’t really make decisions for yourself with those creatures around you.”

    You were honestly considering her proposition. When you first discovered you were living in a false reality you wanted to run away. They caught you and took you back to a world you were unfamiliar with and this was your chance to get back out there and see the truth for yourself. You weren’t sure what the right thing to do was, and as you thought it over you heard your name being called.

“Y/n!”

    You jumped at the sound of your own name, and before you knew it the girl you were with was tackled to the ground. The security guard was pinning her down when you were suddenly flipped around.

“Are you okay?”

“I… how did you find me…”

“What?” Sunwoo questioned. “After your little stunt did you think we wouldn’t be keeping a close eye on your chip?”

“I-”

    Before you could say anything you heard a yell and looked back to find a surprising scene. The women had broken away from the guard, a silver blade in each hand. Once she was on her feet she didn’t hesitate to throw a blade in your direction. You screamed but Sunwoo pulled you into his embrace and turned you around to protect you. He held you tightly and after a moment pulled back.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… yeah…”

“Go after her!” Sunwoo yelled. “Now.”

“Sir-”

“I’ll be fine!”

    The security guard chased after the woman, but you were wondering what the other meant. That’s when you noticed a blade sticking out of Sunwoo’s back. You screamed and started to worry, but he told you to calm down.

“You’re hurt…”

“It’s okay, it’s nothing serious.”

“I’m sorry.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

“Still…”

“Come on, let’s get back to the others.”

    Even though he said he was alright you could tell he wasn’t. He was hunching over and leaning against you.

“Sunwoo…”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it… you need blood… don’t you?”

“Y/n…”

    You didn’t really listen to him, helping him down onto his knees. You apologized before grabbing the blade and pulling it out. Sunwoo yelled and threw a glare at you, eyes glowing red. He grabbed your arm holding the blame.

“Don’t… I’ll be fine…”

“I don’t trust that…”

    You pulled away from Sunwoo’s grasp. You wiped the blood of the blade and took a moment to prepare yourself before slicing open your palm. You winced from the pain, but held out your hand for him. He didn’t want it, but you knew he would need it, so you pressed your bloody palm against his wrist. Once he tasted blood he couldn’t help himself. He drank, grabbing a hold of your arm and holding you close. When he pulled back to catch his breath you could already see he was better. Although before you could say anything he lunged at you and pinned you to the ground.

“Sunwoo-”

    He sunk his fangs into your neck, making you yell before this feeling of ecstasy began to take over. You wrapped your arms around Sunwoo, your vision beginning to fade as your head swam. You tried to speak but you didn’t have the strength to form words and slowly, your world became black.

❤

“What the hell were you thinking!”

    You began to regain consciousness as sounds of yelling filled your ears. You looked around, vaguely able to make out the limo you were in, and felt the rumbling of movement.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to be she-”

“That’s not an excuse!”

“… sorry…” You mumbled. “… my fault…”

“Y/n, you’re awake.”

    You had been sitting on the floor, in between Sangyeon’s legs and resting your head on his thigh. Once he realized you were awake he gently caressed your cheek.

“Are you alright?”

“Hm… I was… just trying… to help…”

“Your actions were crazy. You should never do something like that.”

“Sorry…”

“Just take it easy, you’re okay.”

“… what… the other…”

“She got away, but she’s not your concern.”

“Okay…”

“You just rest and focus on getting better.”

    The next couple of days you did spend in bed. Since you hadn’t taken the pill, and Sunwoo went a bit overboard, your body had to go about recovery the natural way. You ate in your room, getting help until you could feed yourself. Once you could get out of bed you were able to walk around the house, with some help of course. You were told that the events at the gala were kept under wraps, so there was nothing to worry about in regards to that.

“I want to go to a care house.”

“What?”

“I want to see what it looks like.”

“You’re not in a condition to be going out.”

“But I need to know.”

“Hm…” Sangyeon pondered it over. “Fine.”

    You still had to wait until you were capable of walking on your own before Sangyeon would keep his word. You weren’t sure what to expect, so it was all quite a surprise. The facility was huge, and you basically went on a tour. You saw how everyone had their own room, and a few items as well. They were given so many activities to fill their time with, both indoor and outdoor. This whole place seemed like a community home.

“Vampires mostly leave the humans to themselves. We only draw blood from them once a week.”

    Everything seemed to be well, and everyone seemed happy. You didn’t see an issue here but then you remembered the chip in your neck. You reached up to touch the area, feeling a bit uneasy. They were stronger than you but from what you had seen so far they didn’t mean any harm. Humans seemed to be okay, and you saw no reason to mess with it. On the ride home you stared out the window, thinking about the world you had been discovering.

“Are you okay?” Chanhee asked.

“Yeah… it just feels like I’m so new to the world…”

“It’s cute. You’re just like when we first brought you home.”

“But I don’t get to continue like this…”

“It is upsetting, but you’re practically at the point where you originally wanted to do the show.”

“Yeah.”

    You recovered for a few more days, and once you were better you were taken back to the village. It was weird going back to that lot, no longer afraid but having a new perspective. You followed the boys into the building you had run out of once upon a time. Except this time you were going in through the front entrance. You were only in the dark for a bit before you came upon a familiar scene. The village was the same as you remembered it, but you could see it in a new light now. Suddenly all the cameras and stage lights were visible, and you could see this place for what it really was. Makebelieve. 

“How did I not see all this…”

“Cause we made it so you wouldn’t.” Juyeon explained. “Since that’s the point of all this.”

“Right.”

“Are you ready to go back?” Younghoon asked. 

“Yeah. I should see this to end. Besides, you have all put so much work into this.”

“You have as well.”

“All the more reason.”

    You walked through the village, seeing all the things that you weren’t aware of before. It was kind of funny, making you wonder how you would feel in the future looking back on all of this. When you were satisfied you went off to find Sangyeon.

“You good?”

“Yup.” You smiled. “I’m good.”

“Come on then.”

    Sangyeon held out his hand and you gladly took it. You waved goodbye to the other boys, seeing all the smiles on their faces too.

“See you tomorrow.”

#the boyz #sangyeon #jacob #younghoon #hyunjae #juyeon #kevin #new #q #haknyeon #sunwoo #eric #lee sangyeon #bae jacob #kim younghoon #lee jaehyun #lee juyeon #moon kevin #choi chanhee #ji changmin #ju haknyeon #kim sunwoo #son youngjae #the boyz au #tbz #tbz au #the boyz scenarios #the boyz imagines

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

hi slug!!! what do you think of the block party trailers?

Thank you for giving me the excuse to go finally listen to them.

Rivals: Hmm, this is a really interesting comparison! I wouldn't have immediately classified Doppo as a "act first, think later" character, but he definitely has those moments. The music is bouncy but not immediately doing it for me. I think it's one of those songs I'll grow to like quickly, though.

White and Black: (not to be confused with Doppo's Black or White, naturally) SHADY BOYS, LET'S GOOOOOO! I love this match-up. I think they are the kind of people to have a meet-cute in which they committed identity fraud and/or credit card fraud on one another. Anyway, I love the style here. Team Rocket-ass mfers. I agree with the top YT comment at the time of writing, which is, "This is the most fanfic-y thing Hypmic has ever officially released, and I am here for it." I also love that neither of them makes one single effort to hide their scumminess. Truly a duo for the ages.

Thanks for Having Us! Now Look Alive! Osaka Big Up: (or whatever people are calling the Sasara/Roshou one) I adore the fact that Sasara introduces them as a three-person group ft. Rei, but Rei just happens to be doing something else (stealing Juuto's identity, most like) and thus it's a two-person act today. Sasara and Roshou's comedy/speaking dynamic is much more relaxed and natural feeling than it was in their first appearance in Ah, Osaka Dreamin' Night, which is a nice reflection of the current state of their friendship status. Music is chill. I'd like to hear more of it before forming more opinions. Their singing voices sound good with this older, slower style of song.

The Demons' Flowers: I appreciate how the MV style departs from usual Hypmic MV to mimic the MVs for this kind of music. Very JRPG-esque. The lyrics strike me as a little generic for music projects, which is atypical for Hypmic, but it's definitely appropriate for Juushi.

Get busy: I really like this match-up; their high energy works together well here, as does their commitment to working together with the homies to kick absolute ass. I'm not sure KR fully understands the connotation of the English title they've chosen; they're probably going for more of a "Take it easy...but take it!" vibe.

Viva la liberty: While the music itself isn't doing much for me yet, I like this take on how both Saburou and Ramuda have grown throughout the story while still acting in very similar ways to their act 1 selves. An unusual match-up, but I can dig it.

What Lies Beyond the Dreaming: Wow, I really like this. Like Scenario Liar, it almost feels confessional in the sense of how it creates a closed sense of solidarity with the listener (you're the only one I can trust, let me tell you my story for your ears only, etc.). In that case, it's being spoken to his brother, I suppose? Would love to hear the full song.

Closer: I like Hitoya's singing a lot in this one. The darker lyrics and tone suit them both quite well, and I wonder if this points to Jakurai and Hitoya finally talking things out, including Jakurai's experiences in the war, in act 3. Or perhaps that's simply wishful thinking.

My Life: Positivity: Aside from the obvious enjoyment of Hifumi wrangling the rest of the cast into being his enthusiastic background singers, I really like how this song is both bright and bubbly at surface level but says a lot of deeper things about Hifumi's character, like how he's willing to open himself up to being hurt again so long as he has the protection of his friends and loved ones. I don't think it's the kind of thing I'd listen to, but I am looking forward to seeing the full thing.

Move Your Body Til You Die!: Roger that, sir. o7 Very glad to see that Riou's solos are as silly as ever. I think this is my favorite so far in terms of music. It is most definitely my favorite in terms of music videos.

Will-o'-the-Wisp: I really, really, REALLY like the lyrics and how much growth they show for Samatoki. It's nice how you can tell just musically how much he's healed and mellowed out since the start of the series.

HIPHOPPIA: This is my actual favorite musically, and while I understand and appreciate the thematic point of having so many styles of music on this album, I'm personally a bit sad there isn't more of the classic hip-hop sound. Lot of interesting imagery in the lyrics.

Conclusion: Move Your Body Til You Die! is a work of art.

#not a translation #asks #hypmic asks

[1alchemistart]

I do like the way you draw dimitrius but I kinda disagree on presentation…it’s implied dimitrius is the “favorite” child, making me feel like the entire dynamic is a lot like Zuko and his family in ATLA.

Dimitrius may be the more menacing force here but that’s because he was born lucky, meanwhile Damian was lucky to be born

that's fair! i disagree, personally, with the idea of the sibling dynamic being the same as zuko and azula's — primarily because they have different issues and the age gap appears to be significantly larger (zuko was 16 and azula was 14 in ATLA, damian is 6 while demetrius' age is unknown but he is definitely at least a pre-teen and at most maybe 16-17), plus demetrius and damian are on speaking terms. and the parents being so different (and both present) is a very important factor...

...buuut we simply don't know enough about demetrius to make a solid interpretation on their dynamic, in my opinion! the lad has a singular scene where he speaks on the phone with damian, after all, and it took us like 25 chapters to just learn his name; not enough to make a good solid call on how he is as a person, which would be the first step in determining how he gets along with damian

i also must point out that everything i have drawn about demetrius is not a reflection of how i think canon should or will be, but rather just silly wishful thinking and a (very) mild exploration of how his character might end up being! i like drawing fluff the most, and canon evidence is currently pointing towards a lot of upcoming angst for all desmonds, so ofc most of my art can be described as canon-inspired rather than actually canon

that being said, deme has few enough canon mentions that i feel plenty comfortable just listing them all in case it might be helpful

SO!

✨in terms of strictly canon thus far (at the time of me writing this, we've reached chapter 84), there are 6 chapters in which he gets mentioned:

in chapter 8, twilight super briefly mentions that "he's joining his brother at eden academy this year," so we know that he exists JDFKLSD

in chapter 9, damian thinks: "never in my life has anyone defied me. even my older brother never struck me." this would imply that either demetrius has a temper, or damian just bugs him a lot. i'm betting on the former but both are an option

in chapter 25 (his name-drop chapter), jeeves mentions demetrius is returning home for the holiday, which can mean many things: he may be secure enough in his grades to afford it compared to damian who is staying in school because he is not; he could be missing his parents, meaning he may be on better terms with them than damian is; or he might not like the environment of the school dorms

in chapter 27, twilight thinks: "both of the desmonds seem to be exceptional students. especially the older one. he barely got a single question wrong." which confirms that demetrius is doing very very well in school

chapter 37 seems to be the first time where it's confirmed our lad is an imperial scholar! and is also the first time we hear him speak. he seems a bit tired, curt but not intentionally rude, and the line "don't get your hopes up" implies that he's sympathetic to damian's current situation

lastly, there's the very vague mention aaaaall the way in chapter 66, when one of the ladies says "with both their boys being so exceptional, they hardly need much attention," meaning that despite his accomplishments, demetrius isn't getting much attention from their parents either. in the same chapter, twilight says about melinda: "plus, she seems estranged from her husband and sons," so there's definitely more distance from melinda than from donovan, but it's fair to assume that demetrius likely isn't getting pampered or anything by his father, especially not with donovan's opinions on children DSFJSDK, and twilight does at one point also say "considering the relationships they have with their children," so donovan is still very very distant

all of this is not enough to easily build a dynamic for the brothers i'd say. we have more info on them as individuals than them as a unit, and not enough to build demetrius an actual personality with his whole 6 mentions, out of which only 3 give mild info on what he might be like

the conversation on him gets more difficult if you also count the fact that thus far, each forger has had a desmond counterpart, and yuri is like a big brother to anya in a way (despite being an uncle, since he acts rather childishly), making demetrius the most likely candidate for the yuri counterpart, but that is a whoooole different conversation that would require a lot lot lot more speculation than i feel like doing lol

but anyway yeeeeeee hope this makes sense!! :]

#i was debating on keeping it short but #despite the fact that i am short... i talk at length #so you get a List #asks #sxf #sxf manga #demetrius desmond

[liquor-liquor-lips]

Characters' train of thought explained through mycro expressions

Well, I say explained, but just hear me out.

It occurred to me just now that I was making one of my silly posts, that they way Sherlock and John react to Sally Donovan's words might reflect something that I hadn't previously considered.

Up until this point in ASiP, John has just met Mrs. Hudson, with whom Sherlock seems to be so close, and her first thought was not only that he and Sherlock were romantically involved, but that they were already serious enough to be moving in together.

Then, there's Sally Donovan. She calls Sherlock a freak, so from here on, it must be obvious to John they're not in good terms.

Sherlock then remarks Sally didn't make it home the previous night, and Sally knows he's right; furthermore, she knows why she didn't make it home; she was with Anderson, with whom she is actually romantically involved, but presumably, she doesn't want to give Sherlock, the man she constantly ridicules, the power to ridicule her back over Anderson, so she tries to prevent Sherlock from going any further with his deductions by deflecting to John and the reason he's there.

Sherlock proceeds to introduce John by his professional title, "Colleague of mine, Doctor Watson", because he's eager to show off his association with him, something I have previously theorised about in this post, but Sally doesn't care about that, now does she?

"Colleague? How do you get a colleague?" she asks then, and the question is obviously meant to imply Sherlock is so utterly unbearable that no one would want to be around him, but it serves another purpose too. By teasing Sherlock about his involvement with John, she can easily deflect from her own involvement with Anderson.

Now, let's see the boys' reactions to the question again, shall we?

Sherlock turns his head and rolls his eyes because he's obviously offended, but he's already used to it; after all, Sally is hardly the first person to treat Sherlock this way, but John, John frowns as if offended on Sherlock's behalf because at this point, neither Sally nor Mycroft have warned him about Sherlock being... well, Sherlock yet. It is then that Sally adds...

Sherlock lowers his head, once he finally gets what Sally is implying. It is true that Sherlock doesn't know that she spent the night with Anderson yet, but just the fact that she was out all night might suggest she spent it with someone, and now she might be asking if John followed Sherlock home for the exact same reason.

Thing is, at this point, they have just met each other, and they seem to be getting along. This doesn't happen to Sherlock that often, and he must know John is special, which is the reason he invited him along in the first place. Why would a man who is said to have no friends and who once said "Alone protects me" would immediately ask John to live with him and work with him within 24 hours of having met him if he wasn't the exception to the rule? I can only imagine how badly Sherlock wants to be the exception to the rule for John as well, and how scared he might be of driving him away; after all, he's learned from everyone else around him that he's a freak, that he puts everyone off, that he's meant to be alone, and he doesn't want John to see him in that light because he wants him to stay.

Sally's comments have effectively made John question why he's even there. He rolls his eyes and prompty suggests it might be better if he waits outside, but that's not all there is to it.

Why would John suggest that? He could have just ignored Sally's question, but instead, he reacts just like he did when Mrs. Hudson ("Of course we'll be needing two"), and Angelo ("I'm not his date") implied he and Sherlock were a couple, by retreating. Sherlock can't be happy about this, but he reacts like he did before too, by ignoring the situation and bringing John along anyway. He can deal with Donovan later.

The opportunity presents itself when they come across Anderson, and it takes Sherlock less than a second to deduce by his deodorant that he is the person with whom Sally spent the night, which is then confirmed by their reactions.

So this little remark...

This was payback. If Sally really thought she could make him look inadequate in front of John, well then she'd better take a look at her own choice of companionship first. Inappropriate and immature, sure, but so was Sally Donovan's behavior from the start.

So we're finally in, and who do we have next? Ah, Lestrade! Kind, and unassuming Detective Inspector Lestrade, who mirrors Sally's question upon seeing John, but Sherlock is having none of this.

Translation: "I'm not doing this again. This is nobody's business but our own. He's here, he's with me, and I intend to keep him, so would everyone please back off?"

I may be wrong, but I think that ultimately, this might be at least part of the reason Sherlock doesn't respond when they are interrogated about the nature of their relationship. Why bother when it's obvious to him people don't know the first thing about them? This is them, this is the two of them against the rest of the world, this is private, this is their life together, this is what they are to each other and Sherlock will have no one question it or ridicule it, let alone trying to understand it.

Almost 12 years later, and here I am, trying to question it, and trying to understand it, but that's neither here, nor there.

#i've written my second meta #bbc sherlock #sherlock meta #ok but hear me out #sherlock x john #sherlock holmes #john watson #johnlock #asip #a study in pink

[squishlordkiwi]

Did a 15+ hour road trip with my fam twice a little ago and I drove a good chunk of it. Used AA/DGS music to keep me awake bc music psych is a blessing sometimes. Anyway, just a roundabout way to say, I have discovered some fun things in the music that made me 👀👀👀 Idk if anyone else has noticed any of it (and I will say I have minimal music theory knowledge but I'm an English major with the tendency to read into symbolism way too much), but feel to keep reading if you're interested! Spoilers for DGS2 are in here, fair warning!

I'll try and include links to the songs when I can! It'll probably be a mix of Spotify and YouTube hyperlinks so bear with me. Fair warning, this is super long because I decided to cram everything in one post oops lmao

The Funky Time Signature

The first thing I really ever noticed was that Sholmes' "Dance of Deduction"s were weird in terms of keeping beat. It's not in common time aka 4/4 aka 8-count; I think it's in 7/8 time (so you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. etc.) which is a struggle to maintain counting since people are so used to 3, 4, and 8-counts.

Dance of Deduction - Type A

I found sheet music for easier counting! It says it's in 7/4: https://youtu.be/51vTmoQzwI8

Originally, I thought it was just because he's Weird and Silly™, but I ended up listening to "Partners - The game is afoot" which plays when Sholmes and Yuujin are on the S.S. Grouse trying to deduce where Jigoku is.

Partners - The game is afoot!

This one is surprisingly in 4/4 aka common time (you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 etc. etc. [though I have seen sheets put it in 12/8, which is close-ish, but it still has an even counting pattern WHICH IS WHAT MATTERS]). So in actuality, Shomles' Dance of Deductions aren't in a weird time signature because he's our favorite eccentric boy (okay, it might be part that too); it's because he's missing his partner after he left and investigating never felt quite right without him. Once he and Yuujin get to investigate together again, he's whole and happy. And it's just so fucking gay I can't.

Harpsichord

The big thing I noticed while I was driving (because there was nothing else interesting on the road) was the use of harpsichords in certain Londoner themes, specifically Stronghart, van Zieks, Iris, and Kazuma's prosecutor theme, as well as some of the final songs during 2-4&5.

If you don't know, this is what a harpsichord sounds like! Yes, I know I'm a nerd for being able to pick it out and name it while driving lmao

You can hear it a lot in Stronghart's theme, specifically around 0:38-0:49 (it's pretty in the background so you kinda have to strain your ears but it's there), but it's also pretty present throughout his theme.

Lord Chief Justice Stronghart - Time-Keeper of the Law

There's also a lot of it in van Zieks' theme as well; it's right off the bat and it's one of the prominent instruments throughout the piece.

Barok van Zieks - The Reaper of the Bailey

You have to really be listening for it, but it pops up occasionally in Iris' theme as well! You kinda have to strain your ears during 0:16-0:30 to hear it, but it's definitely there. It's more hidden compared to van Zieks'.

Iris Wilson - Young Biographer

I know Kazuma is Japanese, however, since he became a prosecutor in Britain, it still counts and it makes more sense once I tell you why it's all related (if you haven't guessed yet). ANYWAY, his theme also has a lot of harpsichord in it, even in the parts that were from his original theme.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

This could all just be a stylistic choice too, but do you see it yet? All the people who correspond with these themes are directly related to the Professor killings. van Zieks and Kazuma have the most prominent because we know by 2-4 the obvious connections they both hold. Iris and Stronghart's are more in the background since both of their involvements are big reveal-type deals by the end of the game.

Bonus points: the actual theme that plays when anything related to the Professor is mentioned also has some background harpsichord to connect it all.

The Professor - A Spectre Revived

I will note that I didn't notice anything in Gregson's theme, even though he played a big part in the false conviction. Courtney Sythe's theme also has some harpsichord, but I can't remember how she's related to it other than the fact that she helped with the autopsy (which probably means I should replay the games again lol).

Other game music that proves the connection:

Enoch Drebber - Rondo of Science and Magic

The Great Gateway to the Truth

The Prison Warders

The Great Closed Trial - Court is Now in Session

Reminiscences - The Fruits of Ambition

Others I probably completely missed

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Speaking of Kazuma's prosecutor theme, one of the really cool things about its composition is the warring back and forth between itself. It starts with the completely new theme, blending his usual string accompaniment with drums/cymbals, singular bell tolls, and harpsichord. When it gets to around 0:47, you hear the bells and then it switches back to his original theme from Adventures, though it's a lot grander now and lacking a lot of the traditional Japanese elements it once had.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Kazuma Asougi - Samurai on a Mission

And it bounces back and forth like that until the end of the song, the bells signifying the shifting. It goes to show this internal struggle Kazuma is having between finding the truth even if it's something he won't like (his original theme) and following his emotions to falsely convict van Zieks as revenge (the beginning chunk of his prosecutor theme).

I also think it's interesting how dominating the harpsichord is, again especially over the chunks of his original theme from Adventures. In connection to it being related to the Professor, aside from the obvious connection to his father, it also shows how much influence and manipulation Stronghart had over him, with him being the BBEG.

Siblings

One of my favorite things I noticed was Susato and Kazuma's connections through themes, though not the one you're thinking. Kazuma's official theme I'm sure has a few connections to Susato's (but I haven't listened closely enough to hear them), however I really noticed how intertwined the two were when I listened to Kazuma's unused theme they provided in Chronicles.

Susato Mikotoba - A New Bloom in the New World

Kazuma Asougi (Unused)

Many of the same instruments are used, as well as note and chord progressions. They have the same peaceful/serene vibes too, which is understandable in why Kazuma's was scrapped (even if I do like it a lot). But if this ended up being Kazuma's actual theme, I would've noticed the familial relationship they share instead of my initial thoughts of it purely just being professional.

That's all I've really noticed for now, but I'm sure I'll come across more things as I listen to the soundtrack to study. I will, however, shut up now and let you get back with you day/night/whatever time of day it is for you because this is getting l o n g. If you did read this far, thank you for indulging me and listening to me be a complete nerd ^w^ And definitely feel free to share your thoughts too; I love talking about this stuff if you couldn't tell!

#ace attorney #dgs #the great ace attorney #dgs spoilers #tgaa2 spoilers #herlock sholmes #yuujin mikotoba #mael stronghart #barok van zieks #iris wilson #kazuma asogi #susato mikotoba #symbolism #music theory #im just a nerd pls be nice lol #i had too much time to notice all this while driving #should i've put these all in separate posts? probably but here we are #i shouldve just recorded a video explaining it all LOL #i mean i guess i still can if i get reaaaaaaally bored at work #i've been out of school for a month and my brain really said damn you miss writing essays huh #slk.overanalyzes

[sp00kymulderr]

Pedro boy sexuality & gender headcanons

A couple weeks ago @perotovar shared their headcanons around Pedro characters and their sexualities and gender identities, here. It was such an interesting read as someone who has had many of my own thoughts around these things, it was really cool to see how someone else sees these characters through a queer lens and the little things in their characterisations that make us connect these thoughts to them, and that makes us connect to them in the way we do.

I mentioned that I would share my own thoughts and so, here we are! We actually have basically the same hcs. Just for a few of the boys for me though as I tend to stay in my Ezra & Dieter corner for the most part. I don’t know some of the other characters well enough to have any major thoughts about them.

I would love love to hear from other queer members of the fandom here, if you have any thoughts to share!

Also obviously these are just my silly little ideas and just for fun, I read all flavour of fanfic and whilst I would love to see more work from an lgbtq+ perpective I will happily consume all the (perceived) straight fic out there.

(I will also just ask that if you feel I have used any outdated/incorrect language here please let me know, I’m always learning, and I’d like to be corrected if there’s anything in here that could be considered harmful).

Ezra – I’ve mentioned it before and maybe it’s just because Ezra is my favourite character of all time but I very much see him as non-binary, genderfluid, using primarily he/they pronouns but doesn't mind any pronouns, and who really doesn’t care about or consider gender much at all. Honestly, this is a sci-fi character and I’d like to think that when we get to the point of living in space gender won’t even be a damn thing anymore lol. In the same vein, Ezra is pansexual.

Dieter – Bisexual king, of course. That’s literally canon. He would most likely label himself as queer and leave it at that though, rather than specifically defining himself as bi. I love to think about Dieter as somewhere under the non-binary umbrella but I’m not entirely sure where yet; gnc although again there is some fluidity there. Also, Dieter’s ideal way to love is in poly relationships, for sure.

Marcus P – Marcus is bi. He is a beautiful bi boyfriend, just look at him. He took a long time to come to terms with his sexuality, but now he is much more comfortable with it and allows himself to have the experiences he missed out on when he was less accepting of himself, and now he can be proud of who he is.

Joel – I actually hadn’t really considered Joel much in this way until Erin’s hcs but now...oh man…Joel is aromantic (and graysexual maybe). I feel it in my gut, like especially thinking a lot about the stuff with Tess. I don’t necessarily think it’s something he fully understands about himself, even in his later years, but it’s there.

Javi P – Hetero. Loves women. We know that. But, I can also see him questioning. I think when Murphy shows up, there’s something there. Something in his mind. He’s the least likely to ever act on it, given the external factors, but he’s certainly had moments of thinking about it which unfortunately probably cause him a lot of anguish.

Din – Aroace. I don’t even know what to say, this just feels very real to me.

Marcus M – Demi oh my god very much demisexual and demiromantic. He needs the connection first, and the rest will follow. He loves hard, and he loves forever when he gets there, much like Erin said he only ever really loved his wife.

[chocolatetheoristcloud]

SLAGOUIOUS

Paring: Bully Shikamaru x gyaru reader

Warning: EXTREME NSFW, bullying elements, dark content , porn, black mail,male receiving, mean Shikamaru, bathroom sex, semi public sex,under age sex,name calling, dirty talk, cursing,long-ish, grammar misspellings, cream pie.

Note:I posted this on accident there will be heavy changes

"Sorry I didn't hear you.. what did you just say...." You said to the boy infront of in a broken voice, not believing the words that fell out his mouth, that had enough weight to crush the ground and your thinking.

Shikamaru smirked at this with an evil smirk and narrowed eyes as he opened his mouth to repeat his words. "You heard me you whore, I said I know about how you were and mistake" he said as his eyes lit up like a light with amusement.

Your heart sank to the floor as you thought to yourself nobody but Shikamaru would somehow and someway find out about this.

Shikamaru Nara was your bully. He was by two years your senior, he vapes. He and his group of friends always teased you whenever they got the chance.

It all started last term when they were vaping in the bathrooms and all the people in the bathrooms that period of the day were called to the office and if nobody said anything everyone would get a pink slip you not wanting to get a pink slip told which resulted in them all getting in trouble and had to go on the school stage trying assembly and parents being called.

After that they bullied you all the time especially him. They would make fun of the way you dressed and called all kinds of names

"Hooker"

"Hey look it's the crybaby"

"Whore"

"Slut"

"She's trying so hard she's such a pick me"

"fatherless behivour"

"She thinks that she's all that just because she's dresses like that"

"All that makeup she wears is probably to cover up all her ugly ness"

Just anything to get under your skin even going as far to tripping you in the hallways when you're just passing through trying to get to class, hell Shikamaru would even go as to rising your skirt in the damn halls.

But this was way too far especially for him to have found out about this and now black mailing you was something entirely different.

I mean yeah they would mark up your desk and locker but this was way too far especially for Shikamaru.

You quickly shaked your head and breathed out before carefully opening your mouth that was now dry "What are you talking about Shikamaru, if this is another attempt of trying to mess me it's-" you were cut off by him "Stop lying Y/N I heard you're parents said it themselves trying parents day. I was passing by your homeroom where I over heard how your parents were teen parents and had you on accident." He said with a mocking grin as he locked eyes with you his hands in his pocket as he leaned against the wall.

"What do you want Shikamaru....?" you said in a small voice, not wanting to say it but have to. I mean what would happen if word got out about this? .You already have them down your throat already. Imagine what would happen if the school found out.

With a chuckle Shikamaru leaned off the wall and walked up to you. Only inches way from you as you backed away from him only a little bit. "What I want..." he said coldly with half lidded eyes as he walked up to once more and looked down at you and whrisped close to your ear "I want you to let me fuck you silly until you walk with a limp and then?...I wanna fuck you all while I record you and every little detail and nosie you make when you suck me off dry as I fuck your throat raw" he said with a wicked smile all while keeping eye contact.

What a sick fuck.

You gave him a shocked look not expecting that answer "W-what no way are you nuts!, I-im not doing that especially when we're in schoo plus I thought you hated me and all!"you exclaimed shocked and a bit embarrassed of the such dirty and sick words he used.

"Well then I guess I'll just tell everyone that-" "No wait I'll do it Shikamaru just please don't tell anyone, but on one contion you can't record me" you said cutting him off. He grinnied almost freakishly at you almost as if knowing you'll do it.

"Okay fine then, come on let's go to the boys bathroom, and another thing just because I enjoy seeing you suffer and bully you doesn't mean I don't find you less unattractive" he said pushing passed you to go through the door your heart pounding as you followed him through.

"Ladies first" Shikamaru said as he held the boys bathroom door for you as he looked back at you. You gave him an uneasy look before going in him yelped as you felt him smack your ass on the way in. You looked at him hard as he came in the and chuckled before going to the last bathroom stall and opening the door and made a signaling to you to come over and here is where you two were going to do it.

You slowly made you were towards him before going inside and he then came in and locked the door behind him, the sound of the door locking sending shrivers down your spine.

As you turned to face him, you felt him grab your wrist and pulled you into his tight embrace as he then wrapped a arm around waist and smashed his lips onto you as he then grabbed your plush ass and squeezed it before slapping it making you jump a bit more into him.

You wanted to push him off but quickly remembered what was at risk and decided to let him continued even tho you didn't like it tho. "Aww come on don't make it seem like it's all that bad now, think about ALL the pleasure you're little cunny is going to get from being fucked by my cock in just a few moments."he said seeing how displeased you were by the whole situation.

He began rubbing his body against her making her let out an uncomfortable whine as he continued his arms still with grip.

"And how much enjoy it's going to bring me after I see how much of a slut you actually are and a whiny cunt you'll be as I fuck into you so hard when I'm done with you you'll be walking with a limp as my cum run's down inbetween your thighs" he carried on only making you more uncomfortable.

He then turned you around and pressed your body up against the stall door as he pressed against your body trapping you under his weight. "Hey! hey! what the hell do you think you're doing don't press me up against the door it's gross!" you said desperately trying to put as much distance between you and the cold stall door.

That only made him press into you more, you rolled your eyes as you continued trying to keep distance between you and the nasty stall door,'typically Shikamaru always trying to mess with me I should expect something like this from him honestly'.

Finally having enough you shouted "Damnit Shikamaru stop it already!" You said getting tired of Shikamaru's and his shit. This outburst only earned you a twisting grin from him as he roughly snapped his hips into your back side."I think you're forgetting you're place in this situation you pest of a woman so let me remind you...." Shikamaru said, his hand reaching down under your skirt and ghosted his fingers over thick thighs.

You jumped at the feeling, earning a snicker from the sleezy bastard. "I haven't even properly started as yet and your jumping, hahaha. You're sooo pathic....., but sooo pretty....". He said in a vemon tripping tone that made shivers once more.

His long thin fingers then actually touched your thighs as he rubbed up and down them "Wow Y/N I always knew that your thighs were soft but not this soft" he praised. "Oh shut up already and stop touching my damn thighs, and hurry up already let's just get this over with it's done enough I'm doing this with someone like you....." You said bitterly only wanting to end this as fast as possible.

"Awww and I thought for a moment you actually wanted it there but alright fine just wanted to have a little fun before we started, also what did I told you of speaking to me like that huh?..... you hard headed bitch.." Shikamaru said the last part through his teeth as he then slapped your ass the sound echoing through the bathroom as you let go a whine in this discomfort once more at the unwanted feeling.

"But fine your right tho I'll give you that, let's start now shall we~" he then reached up into your skirt and sneaked his finger into your shorts before in one smooth motion pulling it down completely with your panties until they reached you mid knee.

You then heard the sound of him unbuckling his pants as you shut your eyes tight getting ready for what's to come. "Are you ready for me to split you in have with my dick?, for me to fuck out every one of your brain cells in the pretty little head of your's...? to be screaming out bloody murderer as my cock brings to a mind blowing orgasm?" He said chuckling as he stroked his length in his hands.

"Your sick..." You admitted, it was true Shikamaru could be such a sick bastard at times, he was a sharp tongue devil that was what he was alright.

Shikamaru frowned at this before roughly grabbing your hips and and lining himself up with you before roughly slamming into you. You screamed in pain at this."And your a mistake" he whrisped in your ear."Also just because this is your first means that I'll go easy, this is punishment for speaking back to me got it,so be the good little whoring slut you can be and keep quiet because if someone comes in were both dead".

He said as he leaned over pressing aginast her back as he continued his rough pace as his hands digged into your hips that were sure to bruise, your sweater around your waist falling off from just how rough he was going.

"Slow down!" You said moaning loudly just wanting for him to slow down his thrusts, not being able to take such rough cock as your face was pressed into the cold stall door.

"Shut up you good for nothing bitch!" Shikamaru hissed as he began going faster than he already was. "Shikamaru I'm being serious your tearing me!" You warned him as tears steamed down your face ruining your makeup that had already been pressed against the door leaving make stains.

"Does it look like I give a rat's ass Y/N?....also, what did I say about speaking?" He thrusted forward, quite hashly. It wasn't long before Shikamaru found himself getting closer to the edge.

"I-IM sorry!" you apologized just wanting for him to slow down,"I'm sorry who?" He asked contuinlessly thrusting in and out.

"Im sorry sir-ahhh!" you cut off moaning louder as he

#Spotify

[polybiusplayer]

i am once again thinking about ninejuice (for the first time in a whole month wow)

thats all! have a nice rest of your day

ME TOO OML!!

Oh boy I’m gonna take this opportunity to rant about them.

Nine Juice rant below, read at your own risk.

I’m thinking about them so often…. ITS LIKE!!! I can totally understand people seeing them as only platonic!! And I’ve always actually felt kinda nervous to ship them for some reason… the 17776 enjoyers haven’t been much to do shipping, especially since romance is not really the point of the story, at all. but I just really believe they have a bond that just, is a lot.

There is a level of understanding and compassion that Juice shows to Nine in his own ways, he knows exactly how to help Nine cope after the intermission, he knows what they’re thinking when their communications fuck up. (Nine was indeed cussing him out, they said “fuck you.”) He is teasing as always, but not hesitant to reassure them afterwards.

Nine is very observant. They make note of Juices usage of grammar, how he capitalizes thing that are important to him. I can’t remember exactly which chapter that’s in, but I’m like 100% sure Nine pointed this out. Obviously, Nines name is almost always capitalized . This is a notable exception

Has he EVER used this many exclamation points?!

I also love the way the infodump to each other. Ten by this point has heard Juices rants a billion times before, she loves him, but is sick of them! Of course he sees no problem in that. But then suddenly there’s a new listener who is intensely eager and interested in what he has to say! It feels special, because Nine never seems to get bored of it. They love to hear him talk, about anything really, but especially what he’s passionate about. -

Which is mostly football. Football is how he processes the world. With sports and all the things that come with it he was able to come to terms with reality. He looks at it through such a unique lense in order to make sense of it all. Even his own football game is not just insane rules strung together all willy nilly, it’s truly a work of art with a deeper meaning. It’s like he’s painting with the fields, you know?

Nine understands this, and if they don’t, they WANT to. In my mind, Juices voice and rambles about lunchables or whatever start off confusing to them, but once they understand where it comes from and why and what Juice is trying to attempt with all this, they understand a lot.

Nine copes with history, they look into the past for comfort and familiarity. they feel so intensely behind, at first it started as a way to catch up and feel up to date with their friends, but then they discovered that the history of this world was just sort of a safe space for them. Juice loves to hear Nine talk about stuff even he never knew about. Nine is quite the researcher, and is always able to pull up SOMETHING. He is too, but not to this level. They share facts and information back and forth, intently listening to each other and trying to understand. Always.

Juice knows what Nines going through, it’s quite obvious with what he says here.

They ground each other in this reality, they give each other a person to talk about football with. Someone to try and not think about things too hard with. And then when things DO get hard? And the thoughts are too much? They’ll always be there for each other to help.

An underrated aspect about Juices character is how intelligent he is. SURE, he spends a lot of time joking around, that’s just his thing!!! But he is by no means stupid, he’s a little silly, but so so much more than that. He also cares, a lot! He is lonely, he loves his friends so dearly although he doesn’t express it nearly as much as Nine.

Nine is also a lot more than their troubles. A lot of their arc has to do with coming to terms with the state of existence, but they’re also incredibly compassionate and loving. SO SO loving. They’re blindly trusting, showing no hesitation with their love for everyone. They’re observant, and also a bit of a jokerster! They got that from Juice.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just really like the two of them, I love their dynamic. I feel like if they could, they would hug for a real long time. Unfortunately they’re way too far apart and made of nuts and bolts. But they still love each other, nothing changes that, not in a billion years

#polybius talks #17776

[silverteacups]

someone actually DID ask! me!

anyway. favourite covers for the pjsekai characters :3 and maybe some unnecessary commentary on their vocals because WOW

mizuki akiyama

i'm gonna be unoriginal and say villain...... their "shingai", "hanabira" and "ageku no". woah

i think i'll put otome dissection as a runner-up though, AMAZING high notes

ena shinonome

nomad!! such an underrated song but so pretty

HOWEVER runner-up is, without a doubt, aishite, aishite, aishite

guys..... those notes at the end were so pretty did you HEAR THEM?

mafuyu asahina

saisei is really pretty how could i not

but bug is a close second!

kanade yoisaki

saisei again :3

i wanted to put a lot of covers in second but i had to go with IDSMILE

her voice is so soft and pretty <3

rui kamishiro

as you like it, probably with literary nonsense in second

tsukasa tenma

journey, 88☆彡 in second (though i was considering putting literary nonsense here instead)

nene kusanagi

starry sky melody, with into the night in second

best wxs vocalist imo (rui in second, then tsukasa)

emu otori

odore orchestra, telecaster b-boy in second!

i was gonna put positive☆dance time here but it didn't make it

toya aoyagi

utsuro wo aogu, with the runner-up being traffic jam (ft. kohane)

edit: that used to say "runner-being being"

akito shinonome

this was SO hard i love all his covers i'm pretty sure 😭

anyway

airhead/garando in first, alter ego being the runner-up :3

if they get covers for gekokujo and shanti (any of vbs) then ALL of my opinions for them will change

edit: giggles. i was so right. anyway alter ego in first and Something in second. the eh? eh? eh? in the shanti covers was so silly

kohane azusawa

NEO in first, beat eater in second, but odo was close!

you can hear the improvement i love it so much

an shiraishi

egoist (ft. akito although the line distribution was awful for him, though colopal did say they'd fix this), then machi - machi would've gone first but imo it sounded a little forced

anyway uh same as i said with akito, her voice in gekokujo and shanti>>>

edit: I WAS SO RIGHT. gekokujo in first, beat eater 2nd, odo came close

minori hanasato

milk crown on sonechka, then ai no material probably. i love her voice

haruka kiritani

the earth's final confession (shizuharu is definitely in my top 3 duos in terms of vocals), then nostalogic

which i just realised is also shizuharu

edit: I CHANGED MY MIND it's IF and then booo! probably

airi momoi

marshmary, then romeo and cinderella (im so original this is the rarest opinion ever guys)

shizuku hinomori

literal ANGEL. she is from HEAVEN. she is not of this WORLD

anyway shoujo rei in first, nostalogic in second (shizuharu ftw)

ichika hoshino

calc (so glad this song came to EN recently), then made to order

saki tenma

from tokyo, then stage of sekai! saki is really sweet but guess who's sweeter (and way more underrated)

edit: hare wo matsu, then teratera and ikanaide

honami mochizuki

this was another really difficult one because her voice is so fucking gorgeous

"but it doesn't suit leo/need's music!11!!" SHUT UP do you actually listen to leo/need. points at regulus.

as i was saying

morning glory in first (also my first master FC. edit: wow that was a while ago now), awaiting clear skies in second

shiho hinomori

last but not least, my girlfriend

but not actually i believe in poly/need because come on they're so gay

this was ALSO hard so i'm doing my top 3 (「1」 being my favourite)

「1」, meteor pulse, stella

#pjsekai #pjsk #proseka #project sekai #prsk #mizuki akiyama #ena shinonome #mafuyu asahina #kanade yoisaki #rui kamishiro #tsukasa tenma #nene kusanagi #emu otori #minori hanasato #haruka kiritani #airi momoi #shizuku hinomori #toya aoyagi #akito shinonome #an shiraishi #kohane azusawa #ichika hoshino #saki tenma #honami mochizuki #shiho hinomori

[the-scouts-codex]

This takes place during the "Glorious Masquerade"event. This can be read as a one shot or even a full length work. Each part connects and can be its own beginning. I hope you all enjoy these.

The second one is Deuce. The first was Epel (Which can be read there if you click on his name)

Word count: 1570

Um…May I have this next dance!?

Deuce was flushing red as the roses back at Heartslabyul. He hadn't realized that he asked the Prefect to dance so aggressively. Some other students that heard him were laughing at him. Even worse, Riddle saw him and had a look of disappointment on his face. So much for that advice he just got. 

“You had one job, Deuce,” Deuce thought. “Way to go, thunder head!” Ace’s voice rang in his head.  There was no way he would dance with him now. He made an utter fool of himself. The song was perfect and the time was right and he just blew with his cruddy way of asking to dance. If he he was more-

“Yes.” 

Deuce’s derailing train wreck thoughts stopped when he heard the Prefect's faint reply. “Y-You said yes?” Deuce asked again for clarification. 

Renmu nodded. “Hai. I would like to dance.”

Deuce reluctantly held his hand out for Renmu to take and once he did, he led him to a less populated area of the lecture hall. The song wasn’t a slow ballroom dance song, no it was more of a waltz. Deuce was thankful for the dance lessons their upperclassmen gave them. At least he wasn’t making a fool of himself…yet. Their dance started with Deuce bowing at Renmu then Renmu back at him. Renmu placed his arms on Deuce’s and their dance began. 

“Uh, thanks for dancing with me.” Deuce stammered, in the midst of their spin. “I-I didn’t think you would want to.” 

“Naze desu ka?” Renmu asked. 

Deuce stammered. “I mean, I kinda made a fool of myself just now when I asked you. It wasn't cool or gentlemen-like at all. Ace would have laughed his head off if he were here.” 

“That’s because Ace is a jerk…” Renmu mumbled. 

Deuce barked out a laugh. His lopsided grin coming back to his face. “Yeah, he is. It’s a good thing he got left behind.” 

Their dance continued, stepping in three quarter time with the music. Renmu could see some of the other Night Raven boys. Riddle was caught in a waltz with Che’nya. Renmu chuckled and nodded his head in their direction. Deuce looked behind himself and began laughing too. 

“Poor Riddle.” Renmu said softly. 

“Yeah,” Deuce mumbled. “You know Che’nya is probably poking fun at him as they dance. From what I hear, Che’nya loves to play tricks on people.”

Deuce led them into a few spins. Everyone around them was in sync. It was mesmerizing to those that watched from the sidelines but to Renmu and Deuce, it was just a swirling blur of colors. Capes, capelet's, and cloaks, fluttered and danced around them. Dancing like this with Deuce made Renmu realize how tall he was compared to him. He was only a head taller but like this, leading their dance, dressed like a gentleman, Deuce looked the prim and proper student he strives to be. 

Deuce stumbled with their last turn and bumped into another pair of Royal Sword dancers. The two exchanged a brief apology before picking up where they left off. 

Deuce Sighed. “Sorry about that, Perfect. Of course I got dizzy from all the spinning…” 

“Daijoubu desu,” Renmu muttered. 

“But that was so uncool and embarrassing. I-I want to look cool for once…” Deuce mumbled. 

“But you already do to me.” Renmu replied. “You don’t always have to prove it.” 

Deuce wasn’t expecting to hear that from the Prefect. He honestly thought that he saw him as a silly klutz that couldn’t keep his anger in check and sucked at school. He never knew that the Prefect already saw him and the person he strives to be.

“Demo, I like you just the way you are, Decue. Flaws and all. Were…how did you put it…”Dogs”?” 

Deuce couldn’t help but laugh at Renmu using that term. He didn't think he picked up on him saying that, then again, he used it all the time. It sounded silly when he said it though, so unsure and uncertain.

“Man, you sound silly when you say it like that.” Deuce said finally calming down. “But yeah, you my dog, Renmu and don’t you forget it.” 

“I won't,” Came Renmu’s reply. 

With every third step they took. They made an elevated step; raising one side up and swaying. The pattern was easy to follow, nothing too complicated. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. It was easy to get lost in the methodical mindless rhythm of the dance. It became automatic, doing the steps and listening to the music. Renmu felt blissful peace. He was so at peace that he hadn’t realized that he had closed his eyes. Deuce just watched the Prefect. He enjoyed seeing him so happy, despite what they had been through. Not just about what happened yesterday but since day one. He wanted to make the best of it for Renmu now that he was here. 

“Say, Renmu…” Deuce spoke out softly.

Renmu opened his eyes. “Hai?”

“So uh, I hope this little incident doesn't change your view on traveling to other places in this world.”

Renmu cocked his head in confusion.”Why would it? We’ve been through worse…”

Deuce shrugged awkwardly, “I-I don’t know. It’s just-Just wasn't sure if this whole “Rollo” thing was gonna make you not want to potentially come home with me…one day…”

“O-Oh, you mean your home country?” Renmu asked for clarification. 

Deuce nodded. “Like my hometown and stuff. I want you to see it all one day. Me and you. Well, of course Grim too and-and watch me become a Magic Officer!”

“One day?” Renmu thought to himself. Those words brought him joy yet sorrow. One day, he would leave this school and whatever happens to him after that would still be a mystery. One day, he would end up going back home, to his world, and never see them again. If he had a choice on what to do about “One day”, he would choose the latter. One day, he would travel all of Twisted Wonderland with his friends. One day, he would go home with Deuce and see him become an officer.

“And maybe we can come back here too and-” 

Renmu couldn’t help but laugh at Deuce’s eagerness to want to do many things with him. “Gomen ne, lets just go one day at a time, yeah? Who knows what more trouble we will get into.”

Deuce laughed too. “Yeah, we have gotten into a lot since we enrolled in NRC. But a lot of it is kinda fun…” 

Renmu nodded, “Yeah, it is.” 

They went back to the methodical mindless rhythm of the dance.  With every third step they took. they made an elevated step; raising one side up and swaying. The pattern was easy to follow, nothing too complicated. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. Three steps, rise and sway, rotate, and repeat. It became automatic, doing the steps and listening to the music. Everyone around them was in sync. It was mesmerizing, it was a swirling blur of colors, capes, capelet's, and cloaks, fluttered and danced around them. 

Their dance came to an end as the song finished. Everyone took a step back and bowed at their partners. The lecture hall erupted in a round of applause. It was a lot louder since they ended up more into the center of the hall by the end of their dance.

Deuce smiled brightly. “Thanks for dancing with me, Prefect!” 

“Zenzen daijoubu da ya. We’re dogs after all.” 

Deuce laughed and nudged Renmu on the shoulder. “Yeah, we’re dogs. See ya, dog.” 

Renmu watched the card soldier disappear off into the crowd. He was probably going to find Riddle to tell him about his success in dancing. Renmu took that moment to scoot his way out of the middle of the floor and to a less populated area. He should probably find his fur ball of a friend soon since he shouldn’t be left alone. Then again, nothing was on fire so he should be fine, right? 

Renmu was contemplating what he should do when a soft voice broke him out of his mini dilemma.

“Prefect.”

Renmu turned around to find Silver this time with a not so happy green haired freshman at his side.

“O-Oh, is there something wrong?”

“Oh no, nothing is wrong.” Silver replied to Sebeks dismay. “Sebek over here needs to ask you something.”

Renmu looked at Sebek whose face was a tad flushed. He looked like he was conflicted about something. Better yet, he looked nervous. He was fidgeting and grumbling to himself. That was something Renmu never saw Sebek do. He was normally overly confident and bold.

“Is there something wro-”

“Nothing is wrong!” Sebek shouted. “Silver, I can handle this myself!” 

“Are you sure?” Silver asked. “Malleus said I should make sure you ask nicely.” 

Sebek growled. “Of course I can! You’re ruining it Silver so just go back to His Majesty!”

Renmu was confused on why they were fighting and what it had to do with him. He was getting ready to ask what was all of this even about until Sebek took a breath and faced him, eyes determined, lips curled into that angry looking scowl he always had,  and yelled…

Thanks for reading the second part. Can you guess who might be next?

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst wonderland #thescout'scodex #disney twist #twisted wonderland x oc #twist disney #twist #twst deuce #deuce spade #twst sebek #sebek zigvolt #twst riddle #riddle rosehearts #twst chenya #twst silver #silver twst #silver vanrouge #twst rollo #rollo flamme #glorious masquerade #twst glorious masquerade #twst glomas #royal sword academy #night raven college #noble bell college

[wheeler-things]

So, uh... I'm sure a lot has been said about the first dnd session that we see the Party playing in s1e1, but I'm doing my incredibly slow analysis rewatch and I just can't really get over how much the game foreshadows the rest of the show? And also just... everything about it??

Like, I just...

So Mike's whole speech (minus his friends' parts) is: "Something is coming. Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It is almost here. [...] An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber! [...] Wait a minute. Did you hear that? That sound... boom, boom, BOOM. That didn't come from the troglodytes. No, that came from something else. The Demogorgon! [...] Will, your action! [...] The Demogorgon grows tired of your silly human bickering. It stomps towards you: BOOM. [...] Another stomp! BOOM! [...] It roars in anger! And... And..."

So the way I see it...

s1: "Something is coming. Something hungry for blood." The only monsters that we know of which are actively drawn by the scent of blood/which are actively hungry for blood are the UD Demogorgons (and Demodogs-- and possibly all Demo-creatures). This fits with the Demogorgon as the main UD threat of s1.

s2: "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." References the shadow monster.

s3: "An army of troglodytes charge into the chamber!" The Meat Mind Flayer and its army of Flayed humans (and rats).

s4: "The Demogorgon!" Henry/Vecna/001. Something so intimidating that our protagonists are "screwed" if they meet it.

If this understanding is correct, then it supports the "Will was Vecna'd in s1"/"Will was taken by Henry not the UD Demogorgon" theory. Because if the dnd Demogorgon represents Henry, then when Will says "the Demogorgon, it got me", what he's actually saying (in a metatextual sense-- obviously I'm not suggesting that he's known about Henry all this time) is "Henry got me". In this context, I also think it's interesting that the Demogorgon figure that Mike slams down onto the table doesn't look much like a UD Demogorgon, but does have tentacle limbs coming out of its back almost like vines (I am aware this is what they look like in dnd so it's definitely not evidence of anything on its own-- I just think it's kind of neat in light of my thoughts on this scene as foreshadowing).

HOWEVER there are some other elements of this scene which I find really interesting.

So, first of all, the lighting is kind of terrifying intriguing?

Basically, when Mike is narrating, he’s cast in so much shadow that he almost looks kind of sinister. This could just be the lighting of the basement, but none of the other boys are so dramatically lit. They have shadows on their faces, but they're softer and/or don't cling to the features of the other boys quite so much. The shadows only start to soften and dissipate on Mike’s face when he starts to get more into the game/starts to open it up for others to play outside of his narration.

^ Mike's shadows at the start of the scene

^ Lucas, Dustin, and Will's shadows around the same time

^ Mike's shadows softening/dissipating as he introduces the Demogorgon and moves from narration into active play

I think that what this means is sort of up to interpretation, depending on where you fall in terms of the possibility of Mike having some sort of special connection to the UD/being of particular interest to the UD? If that’s where you’re coming from, then the lighting here is kind of scary for obvious reasons. If you’re coming at it from a Mike’s mental health perspective, it’s not much better (something something Mike uses dnd as an escape from SOMETHING, so the shadows are representative of how he feels about himself and they clear up the more into the game he gets because he’s using dnd as escapism). I’m sure there are other interpretations, but I can’t see them right now.

Also, not to push my Mike-fell-first agenda, but if we assume this scene is in Mike’s POV (as I would argue it is), Will’s already being framed with fewer/softer shadows than everyone else/illuminated by a direct light source from behind him. Something something Will is Mike’s light, something something Mike’s feelings for Will predate s1.

One thing that I will note, though, is that because of the lighting, all four boys appear to have black-brown eyes. Obviously this is pretty close to Mike and Lucas’ eye colours anyway, but in s2, Will having eyes that colour suggested possession by the shadow monster, and I have no explanation for Dustin. Unless you buy into the theory about Mike being connected in some way to the shadow monster/UD, so when his friends are enraptured by his storytelling it’s almost like they’re poss— [gunshot]

^ everyone's eyes looking black-brown, regardless of actual colour

^ for context, Dustin and Will's eyes looking their normal colours (obviously any difference in Mike's or Lucas' would be much more subtle, so if it's there, I can't see it) in the last episode, when the Party is critiquing the end of Mike's campaign, so it's not just the basement lighting

^ note: you can also see the blue of Dustin's eyes in the very first shot of him, before Mike has finished saying "swallowing you in darkness... it is almost here"/before he has finished foreshadowing the shadow monster, also a little bit more of the brown in Lucas' eyes is visible around this time, though it's very subtle

In contrast to his friends, Mike's eyes are consistently so black you can't see any brown through this entire scene. It's honestly a little scary (even when he was most-of-the-way possessed, Will's eyes only ever turned dark brown, never BLACK). They rarely even show a spot of shine from the light. - It's there (in his left eye) when Mike is shown saying "a shadow grows on the wall behind you", then he looks away and when he looks back to say "swallowing you in darkness", it's disappeared. - His eyes continue to reflect no light until he introduces the troglodytes (it's again in the left eye). - After showing everyone's reactions, the camera returns to Mike as he introduces the Demogorgon and the light is gone from his eyes (it's VERY briefly at the far edge of his right eye for about two frames before disappearing entirely). - He finally has a point of light in both of his eyes when he says "that came from something else", about to introduce the Demogorgon (and start collaborative play)-- it's also one of the only times when he's clearly looking directly at Will (something something Will's always been Mike's light). - They continue to be in both eyes as Mike says "Will, your action", and as he gets more into roleplaying (he's still staring at Will this entire time). - Sometimes, as he looks away from Will, it goes down to one eye (the right eye), but he doesn't lose the light in his eyes again until after Will loses the dice.

^ Mike's eyes through the first scene, in chronological order (I've included a bunch to highlight that what I'm talking about is not dependent on face angle or general amount of facial shadows)

Note: I haven't gone through all of the relevant scenes but going through a selection of the basement scenes, it SEEMS like Mike's eyes are always black while playing dnd in the basement, while Lucas' vary more/are visibly brown often enough for me to think his lighting is being treated much the same as Will's and Dustin's (it's just more subtle because the difference between black and dark brown is harder to pick up on screen than black and hazel or black and blue). It's not that Mike's eyes are NEVER shown to be brown, though (ie. they're brown in the rain fight in s3, but for the whole scene in the basement before that, they appear black; alternately, in s1 in the moment when Will's voice comes over the walkie and Mike realizes he's still alive, his eyes are clearly brown), so it's not just a basement or s1 thing in general.

ANYWAY.

Returning to the actual content of what Mike said…

Mike says that a shadow grows on the wall behind the Party/swallows them in darkness, and I’ve established that I believe this is metatextually foreshadowing the shadow monster in s2. Then, Mike says “it is almost here”. This line on its own implies that whatever is casting the shadow is almost "here" . In the game, we can kind of assume this is referencing either the army of troglodytes or possibly the Demogorgon.

However, in terms of foreshadowing, I think it's really interesting that we don't actually learn what "it" is. This is highlighted by Will (adorably) asking what "it" is, to which Mike obviously does not reply. Dustin GUESSES that "it" is the Demogorgon, but Lucas insists that "it's not the Demogorgon".

In fact, if the shadow growing on the wall behind the Party is metaphorically the shadow monster from s2, then in that context, "it is almost here" isn't a reference to Henry or to the Demogorgon, but to the shadow monster. Which, to be fair, it literally true in the context of the show as a whole! The shadow monster IS almost here-- it will arrive next season/in just under a year.

However, I think Mike's expressions during this moment are really interesting, because the way that the session continues to go, it seems like the Demogorgon was supposed to be a twist. After all, he fakes the Party out with the army of troglodytes before introducing the Demogorgon. And yet, when Dustin immediately guesses the Demogorgon, Mike smiles.

^ Mike's expressions as Dustin and Lucas bicker over what "it" is

Note that Mike doesn't actually smile very often even before Will goes missing/he learns about the UD (which is a WHOLE other post for another day). It's obvious that Mike is having fun while playing, based on how dramatic his DM-ing is, but this is the only moment during the game when we can actually clearly see a smile on his face and, really, it's more of a smirk. On first glance, this could be simply because he is enjoying watching Dustin and Lucas bicker about whether they are about to go up against the Demogorgon. However, I do not believe that is the case. I believe that it actually indicates that Mike has something else up his sleeve. Another twist to come later, which he knows the others will not see coming because they are so focused on Henry the Demogorgon.

Firstly, IF "it" is actually (in-game) the Demogorgon/if the main threat of the campaign is the Demogorgon, then it's obvious by how obscure Mike is being and by the fake out with the troglodytes, that he is trying to lull the Party into a false sense of security. Yet, when Dustin's initial guess is that they are about to face the Demogorgon, Mike smiles. He does not seem at all concerned that Dustin has figured out his big reveal, possibly because the Demogorgon is also a fake out with something worse coming behind it/to face after it has been killed.

Secondly, Mike (the only character who actually knows what's going on in the campaign/what is coming next) never directly comments on what "it" is, despite Will asking him directly. Because the Demogorgon is revealed moments later, we take Dustin's word as the truth-- "it" was the Demogorgon. But Dustin doesn't actually know any more than Lucas or Will. He's guessing based on what he has already seen-- this is what he does throughout the show. He learns about the UD and he makes brilliant but reasonable deductions based on what he has already seen/already knows. With that being said, I do think that s4 was very likely setting up for Dustin to have a moment in s5 of being wrong in some horrible way/to have something bad happen as a result of a faulty deduction or a deduction built on limited information (I remain haunted by all the comments in s4 from Dustin about "how many times" he needs to be right in order for the older kids to trust him unquestioningly, and all of Steve's comments about Dustin's overinflated ego/inability to admit when he's wrong... the last time a character's flaws got pointed out that directly it was Mike's emotional obliviousness and LOOK HOW WELL THAT TURNED OUT). If that's the case, then it would be fitting for him to also be wrong in his assumptions in this game. Because the fact of the matter is, no matter how smart Dustin is, he can only make the correct connections if he has all of the relevant information. But they demonstrably do NOT have all of the relevant information about the UD/Henry/the threats they're up against as of the start of s5. And, similarly, it's entirely possible that in this first campaign, Mike could very well be hiding some important bits of information in order to keep the climax of his campaign a surprise.

Finally, the ending dnd session of s1 makes it pretty clear that the Demogorgon was not the "final boss" of the original campaign that Mike wrote. We know this, because when the boys kill the in-game Demogorgon, and Mike swiftly runs them through the end of the campaign, Lucas, Dustin, and Will all complain about it feeling rushed/not answering their questions about "the proud princess", "the lost knight", or "those weird flowers in the cave". Meaning there were elements of Mike's campaign which were not tied up with the death of the Demogorgon. Presumably, because they're tied into something bigger.

It is likely that Mike chose to change the ending of his campaign because his goals had changed. In the beginning, he wanted to entertain himself and his friends, to build an interesting adventure, to challenge them. However, in the end of s1, it seems pretty clear to me that Mike's new goals were to give the Party a win and, possibly more specifically, to give Will a win. To let Will have the opportunity, at least in dnd, to face down the monster that "got" him and to vanquish it. It's about empowering Will, and arguably the Party as a whole. So Mike finds a way to wrap things up with a bow before the plot is actually finished. Functionally, we can read his ending as the equivalent of if in s5, the writers suddenly decided they wanted to prioritize the characters feeling good about themselves over writing a satisfying plot. Henry starts to attack, but our intrepid protagonists quickly kill him, the portals close, and life goes on. The characters would be happy, but the audience would find it unsatisfying and be left with countless questions.

If I'm correct in this reading, then in theory the main issues still on the table with regard to the s4 finale should be paralleled by the questions left after the game.

To my mind, there are a few main questions left at the end of s4. 1) Where is Max? Will she be alright? Why can't El find her? 2) What's Mike's deal? Why has he been acting so strangely since s3? Where are his relationships with El and Will going? 3) WHAT the heck is going on with the Upside Down? Why is it stopped in time? What does it have to do with Will? What is El's connection to it?

1 lines up with Lucas' question about "the proud princess". 2 lines up with Dustin's question about "the lost knight", given that Mike plays a Paladin, and certainly the audience (very vocally) feels as though they've "lost" s1-s2 Mike. And, if the theories about Mike's declining mental health and/or internalized homophobia are accurate, then he likely feels lost. Plus, because of how he's been pulling away from everyone, there's a good chance that basically all of his friends feel as though they've "lost" him in some capacity. And... if this is about Mike, it could also reference him being lost/going missing at some point early in s5, though that's a bigger stretch and absolutely only a guess. 3 is possibly a little more abstract, but I believe that it lines up with Will's question about "those weird flowers in the cave", so long as you're willing to consider "the cave" an allusion to/metaphor for the UD (something something Hopper talks about leaving the cave in his letter at the end of s3, something something "the cave" can be metaphorically read to mean "the darkness" and also "homophobia", something something "the shame was on the other side", something something the UD is "the other side", something something the UD is "the other side", "the cave", "the darkness", AND "homophobia"). Because basically everything in the UD is plant-like/flower-like and also WEIRD (the Demo-creatures, the vines, the spores... hell, even Henry himself).

As a result, if I'm reading all of this correctly, then whatever ending Mike originally planned for that first campaign is what is going to happen in s5. To some extent, at least. I don't think that it should be overlooked that Mike (presumably) rewrote the ending to his campaign in order to give his friends and Will, in particular, a win. If my reading of this is correct, then I do believe that the show will end on a positive/successful note for our characters. I just... also suspect there's a twist of some kind that we can't see coming because Mike hasn't spelled it out for us. Anyway, regardless of whether Mike canonically has powers of any sort, or if he's just used this way as a DM in the interests of foreshadowing for the audience, I am fully of the opinion that whatever happens between the end of s4 and the (I expect and hope) ultimate success/victory of the protagonists or at least the Party, some metaphorical version of it was 100% written into Mike's (hypothetical) original scrapped ending for his campaign.

I also think that Mike foreshadowed what comes after Henry, as well. Because if we look back to his line: "it is almost here", then we're back to the fact that Will asked what it was, Dustin guessed it was the Demogorgon (Henry), Lucas said it was not the Demogorgon, and Mike smirked silently with dramatic shadows all over his face. But, at least based on my reading of the scene, metatextually, "it" doesn't refer to the Demogorgon (Henry) at all. "It" refers, in terms of foreshadowing, to the shadow monster, which we know existed in the UD independent of Henry.

Basically, I think the final antagonist, after Henry has been dealt with, is possibly going to be the shadow monster (the Mind Flayer? I'm still not 100% convinced that the meat monster and the shadow monster were the same thing, especially since we know the Russians captured a bit of the shadow monster-- likely the bit that came out of Will-- so that presumably wasn't powering the meat monster? And we can now at least guess that the shadow monster's spider-y shape which it shares with the meat monster came from Henry, AND we know that Will feels he's sensing HENRY not specifically the shadow monster, so... I'm really thinking the meat monster/the Flayed were largely Henry's doing in some way).

#mike wheeler #the party #byler #<- kind of at least #I mean I talk a bit about my Mike-fell-first agenda so that's something #my analysis #long post #tw eye close up #<- just in case #lots of eye screenshots in this one sorry #I'm aware of how unhinged and unnecessarily long this is #it's fine

[katrafiy]

do you reckon it's acceptable for people not assigned male at birth to use the terms transfem/trans girl/trans woman to describe their experiences? Like especially in situations with intersex/bigender/multigender/genderfluid/ folks who's transition includes multiple "conflicting" procedures? Or vice versa, amab people using transmas /trans boy/trans man? Not something you have to answer!!! It's just kind of a theory question I've been toying with because I find the conflation of trans id and agab to often be fairly useless and i wonder if transmasc/transfem would benefit from no longer being synonimized with agab. I'm a trans fella (mostly kind of? gender is silly) and I'd personally take no issue with rhe transmasc community welcoming amab people who find their transition to be transmasculine in nature but I wanted to ask a trans girl before fully forming my opinion on it. I realize there's concern about people claiming an axis of oppression they don't fall into but I also feel like we benefit more from inclusion and transmasc and transfemme don't actually tend to denote a trans person's presentation. (like plenty of transfems transition to be stone butches and plenty of trans men transition to be high femme) Still on the fence though auwgsbdv happy 2 hear ur thoughts because I reckon you know more than I do

My position on this, and I'm saying this as an intersex femminiello (neapolitan third gender) trans woman, is that people should use whatever label best enables them to communicate their identity to others and have their identity be understood.

Idk if you have seen my pinned post anon, but I'd suggest reading it if you haven't already done so. There's a part that is particularly relevant to the question you've asked, which is:

Essentially my position is that the specific identity labels we use are much less important than the communities of practice we share with one another. When you say "I am X" you are communicating not only an idea of who and what you are to other people, but you are also saying "I am the same as/a similar thing to/in the same group as other people who are also X".

If transfem is the label that best enables someone to do that, then by all means have at it. I might raise my eyebrow at someone who calls themself a transfem but then goes to great lengths to distance and differentiate themself from other transfems, because at that point why use that label? I can't stop someone from doing that, but they might want to consider how effectively they are communicating who they are to other people.

The way I see it, anyone who calls themself a transfem is my sister, and I would hope that anyone else using that label sees me the same way. I have certainly seen some "afab transfems" who definitely don't see themselves as being in any kind of sisterhood with "amab transfems" and those are definitely the kind that I talked about raising my eyebrow at earlier. It's like, why refer to yourself with a label that communicates to others that you are like me, and then balk at the idea that people might see us as being the same ya know?

I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you have any others. 💛

#good question anon #transgender #identity labels #transmisogyny #transfem