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thankskenpenders · 7 days

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The Knuckles show

The announcement of a live action Knuckles streaming miniseries was surprising, to say the least. I mean, what would such a show even be about in a version of the Sonic universe with no Angel Island and barely any characters from the games around? Is he gonna go treasure hunting with the gang from Montana or something? Would a streaming miniseries have the CGI budget to squeeze in any new game characters, even briefly? Rouge? Amy? At least one member of Team Chaotix? Anyone?

Now the show is finally out, and it turns out what they actually made was a comedy show about bumbling deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, the minor comic relief character played by Adam Pally who you might not even remember all that well from the first two movies, with Knuckles as his sidekick. While, yes, Knuckles does get a decent amount of screentime and opportunities to punch bad guys and do cool moves from the games, large stretches of this show focus on Wade's personal life, to the point that a couple times I almost forgot I was watching a Sonic-related show. If you're judging it purely by the metric of how well it adapts and engages with its source material, this surely must be one of the worst adaptations the Sonic franchise has ever seen.

So then, despite some huge complaints... why do I kinda like it?

(This will contain full spoilers for the Knuckles show.)

A brief summary of what the show is actually about because I know half of you aren't going to watch it

The show picks up not too long after the end of the second movie. Knuckles is now living in Montana with Sonic, Tails, and the Wachowskis out of a sense of debt to them, though he doesn't really see it as his home. He doesn't feel like he belongs on Earth, and his life currently lacks direction. After communing with the ghost of Pachacamac, though, Knuckles is instructed to keep his culture alive by teaching "the ways of the echidna warrior" to a new apprentice: deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, who's currently more concerned about winning a bowling tournament in Reno than anything else.

Things are complicated by the interference of two rogue GUN agents - Agent Willoughby, played by Ellie Taylor in a bad wig, and Agent Mason, played by Kid Cudi. (Yes, the artist behind the second movie's credits song is one of the bad guys in this.) They want to steal Knuckles' power and sell it to a former associate of Robotnik's played by Rory McCann (The Hound from Game of Thrones), who now works as a black market arms dealer. Yes, they're still doing the thing where Sonic and friends' quills radiate some kind of super-energy that the bad guys all want. No, I don't particularly love this element of the Paramount Sonic continuity. Anyway, they go after Knuckles and Wade, complicating their straightforward road trip to Reno. Antics ensue.

The Wade show

So here's the thing. While the first episode focuses largely on Knuckles, the entire rest of the show is very much the story of Wade, and by extension the other original human characters invented for this miniseries.

Episode 2 is about Wade having to rescue Knuckles from captivity after the GUN agents get him. Knuckles spends most of the episode in a cage.

Episode 3 is about introducing Wade's Jewish family, including his slightly overbearing mother and weird sister, so that Knuckles can learn about their family traditions and have Shabbat dinner with them (and then save them from bounty hunters that the GUN agents hired).

Episode 4 only features Knuckles at the very beginning and very end of the episode, probably for less than a minute total. Wade is captured by a bounty hunter he personally knows, and Knuckles decides to let that be a trial for Wade to overcome on his own.

The last two episodes feature the climactic showdowns with the GUN agents and their arms-dealing ally, who comes in with a mech for the obligatory final boss fight. You'd think this would be Knuckles' time to shine, but really, these episodes are mostly about the bowling tournament in Reno where Wade encounters his estranged father, wrapping up his own personal arc. While Knuckles does get some fights, a lot of the finale is spent on lengthy bowling scenes where Knuckles isn't in the room or even mentioned. It frequently feels more like a spiritual successor to '00s sports comedy movies like Dodgeball, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory than it does a part of the Sonic franchise, and the presence of ESPN 8: The Ocho commentary in the finale only drives those Dodgeball comparisons home. They get so immersed in the bowling stuff that it's genuinely hilarious when the show suddenly pivots and remembers "oh shit we still need to do the final boss fight"

Throughout all this, Wade is the protagonist. He's the character we spend more time with, he's the character who drives most of the major events, he's the character who gets more of an arc. The emotional core is Wade's journey. Knuckles is still present - sometimes, at least - but he's there as Wade's wingman, and also just as the excuse for there to be some fight scenes.

How much Sonic stuff is actually in this show?

Honestly? Not much.

Sonic and Tails are only in the first episode. Sonic gets some good scenes, but Tails gets a grand total of five lines. I counted. Unsurprisingly, Jim Carrey is absent as Robotnik, though he does get mentioned a fair bit. (For that matter, basically the entire established human cast beyond Wade is absent, even including Tom, though Maddie is there in episode one.)

GUN is involved in the story, which helps it feel slightly more connected to Sonic, but it kind of feels like it's GUN in name only. They don't use any recognizable GUN tech, and they don't call in the military. It's just two agents in suits. They might as well be the Men in Black.

The Master Emerald is mentioned as something Knuckles has to guard, but it's never seen. Angel Island is pictured as a drawing during the show's intro, appearing exactly how it does in Sonic 3, but it's never referenced at all beyond that.

I guess the climax taking place in and around a Reno casino is a reference to Sonic's many casino-themed levels. That's something. I'll give them that.

Oh, and if you're wondering if this is the point where we finally start to get actual music from the games: no, it's not. The soundtrack consists of a lot of '80s needle drops, many of which are generic Hollywood picks like "Holding Out for a Hero" for the billionth time, thought it at least has some slightly less obvious picks than the Mario movie. The theme song is '80s rock song "The Warrior" by Scandal. You'll hear it many times. You'll hear the Adventure era Knuckles raps zero times in this. You'll briefly hear classic A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It?" before Knuckles takes the question too literally and breaks the radio in Wade's car.

Beyond a handful of surface level references for nerds (one of which is admittedly wild - we'll get to that), this is probably the least an officially licensed adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has ever tried to actually engage with its source material. I struggle to think of another Sonic adaptation that has less to do with Sonic. For as much shit as I and countless others have given Penders for seemingly ignoring the content of the games in favor of building his own convoluted mythos, his Knuckles comics honestly included way more elements from the games than this show does.

Somehow, the one new(-ish) Sonic character introduced in this is the ghost of Pachacamac of all characters. Not even Tikal! Pachacamac! A very minor character nobody has particularly strong feelings about! You can't even use the excuse that they already had the character model, because they completely redesigned him compared to his cameo in the first movie to better match his Sonic Adventure design. And he's voiced by Christopher Lloyd! Honestly, so many of his lines are strained that it sounds like he's on death's door here, but then he'll surprise you with a more casual line like "just do it, man" and it catches me so off guard that I can't help but laugh.

Pachacamac here has basically nothing to do with the game character he takes his name and appearance from. Where the game character was a cruel warlord who kicked off a 3000 year cycle of violence, Paramount Pachacamac is now just this chill old man who gives Knuckles (and later Wade) advice in two episodes of the show. Hell, he also feels completely disconnected from his established role in the movies, where he's literally the guy who shot Longclaw. The show will not grapple with this contradiction at all. He's just here to be a thing fans like me will recognize from the games. Again, if that's all they wanted, it's kind of baffling that they didn't just use Tikal.

I don't love Knuckles in this

But what about Knuckles himself? Well, he doesn't feel all that much like Knuckles to me. Ironically, he sometimes feels like one of the weaker elements in his own show.

Back when the second movie came out, I noted that Knuckles' characterization seemed to be pulling heavily from MCU Thor as a gallant warrior from an archaic alien culture who doesn't really understand modern day Earth stuff. That worked for me in that movie. It was just there for spice. Just a little extra flavor for the character in what was otherwise a very faithful adaptation of Knuckles' storyline in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Without those familiar elements grounding him and with a much higher reliance on comedy, Idris Elba's Knuckles becomes a pretty one-note character in this.

In damn near every scene with Knuckles, he's going to say something about being a proud, honorable echidna warrior, or brag about his glorious feats of strength, or be confused about some Earth thing and call it sorcery, or act like every other character is also a member of some noble warrior clan. He still has his moments for sure, but this schtick kinda gets old fast, and it just doesn't feel like Knuckles to me. His entire character feels derived from the scene in the diner where Thor smashes the cup on the ground and goes "Another!" Sure, I can picture game Knuckles smashing a radio to turn it off and being a little too gung-ho about busting holes through walls. That's Knuckles behavior. But building a barbarian combat pit in the living room so the Wachowski family dog can fight the mailman? Nope. That's some other guy now. It really does just feel like them taking a broad character archetype from something popular that kinda sorta fits Knuckles and just running with that, rather than trying to actually adapt the character.

Oh, but don't worry, he wears the OVA hat for like two minutes! AND he loves grapes! See, Sonic nerds? We read the wiki! That's his favorite food! Grapes! This is gonna come up like five times!

Knuckles kind of gets an arc here, but not as much as Wade does. I think the stuff about him starting to feel at home on Earth thanks to Wade's mom and the way he connects with their Jewish family traditions is oddly sweet. This arc is kind of let down, though, by the fact that Knuckles' heritage is treated as a complete joke. He's a cartoonish pastiche of various historical warrior cultures stuck together in a blender and used mostly for comedic effect. When Pachacamac's ghost appears, he's reading a newspaper and bemoaning the fact that the Mets lost again. This is not the place for a serious examination of Knuckles' feelings on being the last of his kind.

This is far from the only time the show undercuts itself with its jokes and attempts at self-parody. In the first episode, for instance, Knuckles clashes with GUN Agent Mason and his tech-enhanced punches, leading to an extremely on-the-nose inversion of the "Do I look like I need your power?" scene showcased in the trailer for the second movie. Except this time, Agent Willoughby butts in and points out how stupid that line is in this new context, since they're literally trying to steal Knuckles' power. The fight can't just be cool, they have to get cute with it. A lot of stuff like that happens in this show.

Given all these complaints, the first two episodes left me thinking I'd be fairly negative on this show overall. This seemed like the version of the show from the fandom's collective nightmares, one that undoes all of the progress the movie series seemed to have been making towards faithfulness to the games. Like, just look at these cast posters. Is this what you want out of Sonic? Do these excite you?

But then, something strange happened. Over time, I just kind of let the jokes and shenanigans wash over me and basked in how fucking weird this show is.

And I started to actually enjoy it.

Look. The Wade & Knuckles Show was never going to be peak Sonic. But that sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be entertaining.

This show is so fucking goofy

Here's the thing.

The show is funny.

Unlike a lot of other people, I didn't hate all the wedding stuff in Hawaii in Sonic 2, because I thought a lot of it was funny, both in its actual jokes and in the ways in which they tied everything back to Sonic. Tom looking wistfully at some bodybuilders doing Top Gun shit and spraying each other with beer and being like "I wish Sonic had that" is weirdly funny. The twist that those muscle bros are all agents of the newly formed GUN, who orchestrated the wedding as an elaborate scheme to catch Sonic, is funny. Mr. Olive Garden becoming the fucking GUN Commander is VERY funny. Are any of these elements of my dream Sonic movie? No, of course not. But my dream Sonic movie was never gonna happen in live action.

The Knuckles show follows up on the comedy of the previous films by being probably the funniest live action Sonic release yet. Did every joke land for me? God no. There are some stinkers in there that made me roll my eyes. But enough of them landed that it worked out for me overall. A big part of this is the fact that they've got a good cast of actors and/or comedians here.

Adam Pally is funny as Wade, and I found myself liking him more and more as a character as the show went on. He becomes an oddly endearing loser, with some sweet moments in his personal arc that made me feel for the guy. I like Wade more than Tom now, thanks to this show. I will now be happier to see Wade in Sonic 3 than I would have been previously.

The supporting cast is frequently great, too, many of whom are playing completely cartoonish, over-the-top characters. They took a cue from how exaggerated Carrey's performance was as Robotnik and decided to just abandon all pretense that this is the real world. Stockard Channing as Wade's mom is funny, and carries some of the more sincere parts of the show. Cary Elwes as Wade's very British dad who abandoned him as a child to run off and be the world's most egotistical professional bowler is funny. Edi Patterson as Wade's sister Wanda is... well, she's kinda trying too hard, but she has her moments. The Mighty Boosh co-creator Julian Barratt(!!) as a scenery-chewing bounty hunter, who was also somehow Wade's former best friend and bowling partner, is VERY funny. I love this guy.

(Honestly, they should let more people who were on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace be in Sonic stuff. Where's Matt Berry)

This is kind of a stacked cast for a bunch of stupid side characters in a live action Knuckles show! And honestly, that just makes it funnier to me. Even when they're not funny, the fact that this exists makes it funny. They somehow convinced Paramount to give them a bunch of money to make a spiritual successor to Dodgeball about a schlubby guy who wants to beat his dad at a bowling tournament... except also Knuckles the fucking Echidna is there as his personal life coach. My life is richer for the fact that I can say that sentence. I think about all the little kids who are probably watching this show this weekend, going in expecting a show about Knuckles the Echidna and having to sit through extensive bowling scenes and lore about Wade's family, and sorry kids, but I just have to laugh. Wade isn't even on the poster! The poster is just a picture of Knuckles!! They punked those kids!!!

In a franchise where every single aspect is so carefully micromanaged these days, it feels truly special to get an adaptation this bonkers. It frequently appeals to the same part of me that enjoys the fact that there's an officially licensed Knuckles comic in which Charmy Bee's best friend (also a bee) dies of an accidental LSD overdose from a drug-laced chili dog. Or like, everything about the original 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Or the fact that they made seven direct-to-DVD sequels to Alpha and Omega, one of which is half a retread of the adventure from the first movie (with more annoying supporting characters in tow this time) and half a literal clip show of the first movie. The sheer absurdity of the fact that these things exist is charming to me. Except, with the Knuckles show, it has the added benefit of frequently being funny on purpose! This is why I'm not sure I'd call it "so bad it's good." Like, it's not amazing, but there were a lot of parts that I enjoyed in the exact way I was supposed to enjoy them.

Look. Here's a list of real lines of dialogue from the Sega-approved Knuckles the Echidna streaming show that they're billing as a pillar of the Paramount+ lineup, to drive this point home. Let these marinate for a minute:

"I only eat grapes, and Cool Ranch Doritos™."

"Annihilate this little girl, Wade. Crush her spirit. Humiliate her so badly her parents won't even look at her again." "Doesn't that seem like we're going a bit far?" "Not far enough."

"So is he Jewish?" "Half, I think."

"I had a friend who when he listened to Alien Ant Farm he could lift a Toyota Corolla over his head."

"I'm in dire financial straits. Due to my lawsuit against an unnamed rainforest-themed restaurant franchise, I don't have two pennies to my name."

"We're here in sunny Reno, Nevada, which is so close to Hell you can smell the sparks."

"You can't threaten me with your Jewish karate chops because I am a federal agent."

"I will say, regardless of how you feel about child abandonment - and I'm against it! - the deals at TJ Maxx can't be beat."

This is a Sonic show in which they got Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel to appear as ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators.

This is a show where Wade's mom insists upon pronouncing "Knuckles" with the throaty Hebrew "ch" sound, and declares that Knuckles is basically Jewish. Later, they watch Pretty Woman together while enjoying a nice slice of key lime pie. Knuckles comments: "I don't understand. This young streetwalker with a heart made of gold, why do the others treat her with such disdain? Is it so wrong to walk the streets?"

This is a show where the fourth episode is directed by one of the guys from The Lonely Island and features a hallucinatory low budget rock opera stage musical put on by the ghost of Pachacamac. It recounts Knuckles' life story, with Wade playing Knuckles and the "evil" Longclaw played by the bounty hunter guy who's played by the Mighty Boosh guy.

Look at this.

And also, Knuckles' singing voice is provided by Michael Bolton, which they proudly announce in the middle of the musical.

And also...

Also...???

IBLIS IS IN IT????????????

Yes, Iblis!

From Sonic '06!!

Knuckles is said to have looked for a mythical power called the "Flames of Disaster" to avenge his clan, which ended up being the power that was within him all along that lets him do fire punches yadda yadda yadda. As part of this, he apparently fought Iblis off-screen at some point, as conveyed with the giant singing papier-mâché Iblis in the musical.

...Then Iblis sings about hitting up Facebook Marketplace

How? How does any of this exist? Why reference '06 of all games? How did Iblis get into the live action Sonic movie universe before Amy and Metal Sonic? Why are they using Iblis and the term "Flames of Disaster" in such a goofy way that completely disregards their original context?

I don't know. I don't know how any of this happened. But I love it. We got a Knuckles miniseries in which Michael Bolton sings the phrase "the Flames of Disaster." The world is a beautiful place sometimes.

Some people will tell you to skip episode four. "Knuckles is barely even in it," they say. "It's dumb and pointless," they say. "They clearly just ran out of special effects budget," they say. These are people whose opinions you should disregard. The episode with the least Knuckles in it is somehow the most entertaining episode of the show. I would, in fact, go as far as to say that if you only decide to watch one episode of the Knuckles show to see what goofy bullshit they get up to, it should be this one.

I cannot be mad at this show. It's so dumb, but it completely owns the fact that it's a dumb and unnecessary spinoff. Inferiority is baked into its very DNA. It's very self-consciously redoing the premise of the first movie, but stupider. It's about The Other Cop from the movies, instead of the competent one. Instead of being into a "cooler" sport, his life revolves around professional bowling. Instead of going to Vegas, he goes to Reno. Even his tragic backstory that shaped his entire life sucks. He was abandoned by his pro bowler dad in a TJ Maxx. Not even a nicer department store. A fucking TJ Maxx. This whole show is a Dril tweet.

They put a ton of effort into making it dumb in an occasionally spectacular way. So much effort was put into that joke rock opera that fans will just write off as stupid filler. They put their whole pussies into it. This is not a poorly made show. This has better production values than half the shit made for Disney+. This was made with love. Maybe not as much love for the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games as we'd like, but it's love nonetheless.

Maybe this show broke me and these are the ramblings of a madwoman. Maybe I'm just really nostalgic for the '90s and '00s comedy movies all the Wade stuff is modeled after. Maybe the Alan Wake fan in me just really loves it when a story pivots to a silly rock opera for no real reason. I won't discount any of these possibilities. This isn't high art. This isn't something I would recommend to anyone with zero interest in Sonic, and it also isn't going to sway Sonic fans who hate the Paramount universe. I really can't blame them for being bewildered by this show. But for a specific type of person, this is the absurd three-star Sonic-adjacent comedy miniseries of your dreams. It's a mid masterpiece.

Again, I just have to step back, realize the fact that this shouldn't exist, and smile. Sega's too afraid to do stupid bullshit with the franchise like this these days. And I can't blame them, after years of Sonic being a treated as a laughingstock. But part of me misses some of the goofy shit. No matter how much I tore some of the Archie comics apart as I was reading them for this blog, I just look back on stuff like Cal and Al or the Many Hands issues and laugh. And that same part of me looks at this show about Knuckles being the sidekick to this fucking guy, and just goes...

"We're so back."

In conclusion, I genuinely think this was a more enjoyable TV show than Sonic Prime.

I wouldn't go back and rewatch Sonic Prime anytime soon, aside from maybe, like, a couple of the Shadow-heavy episodes. Huge stretches of that show bored me to tears. The writers squandered all of that show's potential. But I would rewatch the Knuckles show, which takes a terrible premise and has a lot of fun with it, in a heartbeat. Even the bowling parts. The bowling scenes in the Knuckles show are more engaging than 70% of the fights in Sonic Prime. I am not trolling. I mean that sincerely, with all my heart. Don't @ me.

Stray observations

There is effectively zero meaningful setup for the third movie in this, unless Wade's family or the two GUN agents come back or something. Project Shadow is not mentioned in this. There is no secret post-credits scene with Gerald

The CGI in this is pretty good. Not quite on par with the movies, but pretty good. Sonic's weird forehead wrinkles are distracting in his scenes though. Please fix that

I wouldn't say I liked this as much as the second movie, which obviously gets a ton of points for, you know. The Cool Sonic Shit. But I had more fun with it than the first movie, which I still feel is a painfully generic family movie that was only saved by Tyson's redesign

"Grapes are an interesting choice for someone who doesn't use his individual fingers."

Agent Willoughby was apparently the one at GUN who had to buy the Olive Garden gift cards and set up the fake wedding. Her origin story is that she hated doing shit like that and wanted to go fight aliens

This miniseries contains another Keanu namedrop because Wade's childhood bedroom has a Speed poster on the wall. I swear, if Sonic doesn't say Shadow sounds just like Keanu...

Knuckles is familiar with Paul Blart Mall Cop

Near the end the ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators say that the 1974 Reno bowling championship was also interrupted by an extraterrestrial, and given that was exactly 50 years ago I can't write off the possibility that that was Shadow. Please for the love of god give us a sequel series after the third movie where Wade takes Shadow the Hedgehog bowling. I need this more than I need air

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cosmonabo · 2 months

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𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫

synopsis: The tale in which the honorable and once contemptible secretary of the student council ends up getting more involved than she would like with the respectful Mitsuya Takashi. But there's just one problem—he is part of the group of people the girl detests the most.

Pairing: Mitsuya Takashi + Fem!Reader.

Genders: Drama and tragedy, Angst, Comedy, Romeu and Juliet trope, (Predominantly) enemy to lovers.

Start Point [Next]

"Have you heard? There's a guy looking for [Name]-Senpai!"

Three days. It had been exactly three days of hearing the same whispers through the school corridors, punishing her with indiscreet glances and barely suppressed suggestive tones. She felt flattered by this sudden wave of popularity that covered her like the cloak of a king - beautiful and relentless. However, the crown of her reign was starting to weigh on her head like lead.

Anyway, [Name] had no idea who this person was or what they wanted, and as much as it bothered her, she was far from taking any initiative to confront the situation.

She took the last sip of the orange juice from the tiny carton, promptly tossing the juice box into the trash can next to the table. The school was a war zone - club assistants coming and going at an absurd speed, even though she had made it clear that they should consult their respective advisers. But it wouldn't be a mere misunderstanding or more than one that would stop her from continuing with what she was doing. In no way, she continued cleaning the camera lens. The Nikon D3100 also known as the 'Starting Point for Imminent Discord' - a loving nickname given by some kind members of the Student Council.

Speaking of the Student Council… The Counselors' room generously offered its valuable space to store some of the materials crucial for the school newspaper - needless to say, most were against the idea, but given the situation the journalism club was in, all that remained was to accept without hesitation.

Point for the Journalism Club. (Yeah!)

However, unforeseen events could not be avoided. That being said...

"What the hell are these boxes doing in here?!" The strident voice crossed the room seconds after the door was opened, unfortunately, she knew the owner of the voice well enough to know that he wouldn't be pleased with the news. He already wasn't, apparently.

"Oh, Yuuma!" she greeted with a false air of friendliness, which didn't go unnoticed by the brunette, who furrowed his eyebrows. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"These boxes weren't here earlier today, what happened? No one informed me in advance."

"Look at that coincidence; I can relate quite well to your mood," she replied without looking away from what she was doing, but felt the annoyance manifesting on her colleague's face within seconds. "My freshmen informed me that the table we received arrived today, and we need to remove our materials from the club room. Isn't it hilarious?"

"And who's going to sort this out? You can't just leave this lying around without a plan!" he said as he navigated between the boxes, as if treading on a floor made of glass.

"Don't despair; some of my assistants will come later to sort this out," she shrugged.

"Okay, and what about you?"

"Me? What about me?" she blinked repeatedly, feigning innocence.

"Don't you have your own pending commitments, [Name]?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, then shifted her gaze to the camera in her hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, really?" he laughed sarcastically. "Because there are some well-informed girls outside looking for you. You should talk to them to refresh your memory."

'Every day is a lousy day to be in the student council'. She sighed.

"Tell them I had to leave, or... I don't know, make up something else. I'm busy," she finally said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand and a yawn.

The guy felt a vein popping seeing the girl's nonchalance, but it quickly passed - much to [Name]'s surprise - and he soon returned to the door with his warmest smile.

"Of course she came!" [Name] widened her eyes, leaving her comfortable seat to press her fingertips into the arms of the well-padded chair. "Sorry for the delay, just a second."

He hissed a "Come here now!" with a nod and a scowl on his face. Frowning, she reluctantly snapped her camera shut and stowed it back in her bag, heading to the door with quick steps, hands tucked into the pockets of her college jacket. With her sweetest honey-eater smile, she declared:

"Contact the president, he knows what to do and can provide a copy of the notice board if you're interested," she warned, even before allowing the girls to take the initiative. Catching them off guard with her excessive, almost suffocating friendliness, she continued, "I can schedule a time or even—"

"No, it's not that!" Her harmonious smile felt a hiccup with the interruption. "We're looking for the chief editor, Kawaguchi [Name]-senpai!"

The short girl with glasses waved repeatedly, carried away by nervousness, while her short-haired companion nodded and patted her shoulder as encouragement.

"Yes, yes, we need to talk to you about the retrospective fair. We already have an idea to document the club events!" the short-haired one said, proud and exuding confidence.

"Retrospective fair...?" she pondered, scratching her neck in search of an answer. Then, an embarrassing memory about the club's proposal to the council for an event to conclude another school year by documenting extracurricular activities came to mind. This proposal seemed intentionally shooting oneself in the foot, aware of the consequences. "Oh, yes, I remember that well. You could have contacted the other secretary."

"We came to you because you're the chief editor. Is there anyone who understands your project better than you?" she asked.

'A valid point, but let's ignore that for now just to mask my disinterest,' she thought.

"And also..." the girl with glasses began quietly, "we want you to confirm our idea to make sure it won't be plagiarized or something. I-I'm not accusing any other club; I just..."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say," she waved her hand calmly, calming the exasperated girl. With not much else to do, she glanced briefly back at the table inside the room, only to have the displeasure of finding Yuuma comfortably leaning on one of the chairs, helping himself to a disposable cup of coffee. What a nerve!

She internally sighed, finding it hard to maintain the facade of a good Samaritan near the freshmen for such a significant amount of time.

She cleared her throat, dispelling the reveries and the bitter voice that had been stuck in her throat.

"I'm a bit busy taking care of some things right now. If you don't mind... Can you ask your representative to meet me during the last periods of class?" she asked, gentle but firm, with the patience of a saint. "I have a hectic routine, and I don't have the whole day." She pretended, but it didn't take long for her to resume her usual tone, with a suspicious itch in her mind. "By the way, who is your representative?"

"He's the leader of the Home Economics Club!" the short-haired one replied almost immediately.

"Alright, I think that information will be enough," she smiled, pleased with the information. 'Let's see, my good sir, what kind of person you'll be?' she thought in a mischievous tone. The smile might have gone unnoticed by the girls, but the way her lips curved suspiciously amused didn't escape the notice of the veteran still in the room. "Well, now I'll be finished my works. It was nice talking to you."

"Thank you, [Name]-Senpai!" they said their goodbyes with waves and wide, warm, and enthusiastic smiles.

"Bye-bye~" she said slowly, with a low wave, then disappeared with the loud bang of the door as the two freshmen walked away in the long school corridor. "Well, back to what matters..."

"What do you think you're doing? You have work to do!"

He watched incredulously as the girl circled the table completely devoid of her previous persona. If he didn't know her habits, would never believe she was the same person from a few seconds ago.

"Okay, and so what?" she asked, dismissing it.

"You can't just wander around like this!" he complained, frustrated with the secretary's indifference.

"I'll send someone in my place," she said, glancing away to the disorganized papers outside the folder, picking them up one by one. "Besides, it's not even your problem. I don't know why you bother so much."

"I don't want you tarnishing our reputation," he replied bluntly, pouring more coffee into his cup. "I work hard to give the impression that I do anything, unlike someone like you."

"Why all this disdain in your voice?" she suppressed a humorless laugh with the back of her hand.

"Even so!" he quickly changed the subject. "You don't even know what he wants. You can't just send someone in your place, or it'll be an endless game of indirect messages!"

"The messenger boys are precisely for that. I don't mind sending my assistant if necessary," she shrugged, impassive. "And we can always resort to bribery. Or blackmail."

"What a great example you set. If all honor students were like you, schools would be a perfect illustration of how the Cold War happened," he retorted.

"Come on, don't you have anything better to do?" she raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"Besides scolding you? No."

"If that's the case, you could go in my place, since you're so idle," she prodded.

"No way."

"Really? What kind of honor student are you?" she asked, feigning hurt.

"Get real."

She grumbled discontentedly, almost offended, as she sighed in deep resignation.

"So, I'm out."

"Wait, are you serious?"

He looked at her in disbelief, but the girl maintained a serious expression focused on the materials she was storing in her bag. Almost professional - Yuuma dared to say.

"Meanwhile, wait. Some of my freshmen will come to clean up this mess," she said calmly and steadily, unlike her usual self. He knew her personality was challenging, but even the few times he saw her like this, he knew she was putting effort into with something in mind. "I'll talk to Mizushima; he needed to edit the material."

And she left, giving one last look at the guy in the room, Yuuma, he was shocked and wide-eyed like saucers.

'Your coffee is getting cold.' She said and indeed, the coffee had been cold for a while.

Almost 4:30 PM. Most students were putting away their shoes and belongings, ready to head out, finding their groups of friends for a leisurely walk home. However, [Name] was reviewing her homework, oblivious to the hurried steps and the commotion outside the school.

A waste of time and energy. Just carefree people spending their youth on fruitless things.

"Aren't you going home, [Name]? You're usually one of the first to leave," the vice-president asked, her gaze somewhat concerned as she rubbed her forearm, apprehensive.

It was noticeable that her side bag hung on her shoulder, and the usual animal-themed folder from some TV program was absent from the grip of her arms. She was leaving too.

"Sorry to be insinuating, Suzume, but... was that a criticism?" she asked, giving her a suggestive, meticulous look.

"No, not at all! I just thought something might be wrong," she mumbled, lowering her gaze to her shoes. Disconcerted.

'Spare me your concern - your pity'. She almost rolled her eyes. 'I don't need this.'

"No, it's okay," she sighed, lowering her eyes to the newly completely filled sheet. "I promised to wait for someone here after class, but I'll lock the door when I leave, if that's what worries you."

"That's a relief, thank you!" she said, clasping her hands, releasing a sigh filled with laziness and serenity. "Since everything is fine, I'll be going. See you tomorrow!"

She waved enthusiastically, leaving and closing the door slowly. She mimicked the gesture but lacked the Suzume's enthusiasm.

The room lacked its absolute silence when a faint knock sounded, several minutes after the vice-president left. Lazily, she murmured a "come in" the sound of her voice as she uttered the word was so low and weak that it would have been a frivolous action if not for the silence - disturbing.

Soon, the sound of the door slowly opening filled the quiet atmosphere. Not that she would openly comment on it, but for God's sake, someone urgently needed to put some lubricating oil on that door! That screeching noise was ear-piercing. Setting aside the thought, she raised her eyes from the homework notebook. Shamelessly giving a good look at the person - read: 'Troublemaker' - in an attempt to find out more about that... extravagant figure from the neighborhood.

'Eyebrow cuts and an earring... Let me guess, you have a tattoo? If so, where? - Maybe I can report him to the administration for breaking some dress code.' She thought to herself.

"You can sit there if you want," she indicated the front chair, adjusting her posture in the seat.

"No, thank you. I don't plan on taking much of your time," he politely declined, a small smile forming on his lips, convincing. "But I appreciate the gesture."

Muttered a prolonged "Hmm," almost judgmental. But she corrected that attitude with a light and casual smile.

"All right, let's get going then," she whistled in understanding, pulling out some newly acquired papers from the folder that until recently was an irrelevant item on the table. 'Here's my trump card.' "Takashi Mitsuya-san, correct?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw him raise his eyebrows - or what was left of them - in surprise. Without giving any cues to the subject, she continued:

"The leader of the Home Economics Club, and..." she put her index finger on her lips, making a dramatic and unnecessary pause.

"Did the girls tell you that?" he asked intrigued, but [Name] noticed how his shoulders relaxed with the mere possibility.

"Indeed, yes. But I have my sources," she shrugged, and for a moment, the boy felt insulted by the secretary's intrusion, but only a little. "Don't worry, I didn't see anything too personal. I just took a peek at your academic record."

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

She almost wanted to laugh.

"Please, I'm part of the Student Council; invading other people's personal space is precisely my job," she mocked, as if it were obvious. "Besides, as the president says: 'It's all for a good cause.'"

She threw her forearm over the chair, turning a bit to face the figure standing a few steps from the door.

"But, putting the conversation aside, what do you want, really?" she finally asked. "forgive me, we lost track of the subject."

She could swear she saw him offer a brief prayer before responding.

"A portfolio."

Extending with one hand the authorization form that the secretary had assigned to the club representatives, lacking only the signature of a Student Council member.

"Excuse me?" Now she was genuinely confused, for the first time that day.

"I need your signature," he said straightforwardly, "right here."

"I can read," she grumbled, pulling the sheet from the guy's delicate hands to read it carefully, while he stared back at her with his dead-fish eyes (courtesy of the secretary's nickname).

"I can see," he teased, putting the playful banter aside, clearing his throat before continuing his speech. "As you can see, all the club members agree with the idea. We just need approval."

"What are you trying to saying?" She had to pretend not to be surprised by the information.

"That you are promoting the project," he deduced, making her widen her eyes with the irritatingly accurate accusation.

She gave a humorless laugh, almost as if she were raising a white flag of surrender. 'Looks like you got me.'

This is what happens when you work in the advertising field. Damn!

"All right, it seems there's nowhere to escape now," she admitted, looking away to the table, crossing her legs with a vacant look wandering around. "But... What makes you think I'll accept something like this? The school can't finance the materials, and don't even think the photography club will lend their things. If you want, you can talk to our treasurer, but I warn you they'll prefer to stick to the traditional yearbook."

"The project was independent from the beginning; the school won't spend anything on any of the other projects, and you know that," he pointed out. His patience was wearing thin. "Besides, some of the school's assets can be used by students; providing assistance during the project is a school obligation."

He's right again. So right it's annoying.

She took a deep breath without any shame before facing him with one of her smug smiles. Malicious, unfair.

"And what do I gain from this?" she sounded arrogant, almost a threat to the ears of others, resting her hand on her chin, seeking some composure after being unmasked, stripped, with her selfish exploits exposed.

Takashi looked at her with wide-open eyes, or maybe shocked?

"Let's suppose that, by chance, I help you... Do you know the precious time I'll lose providing assistance on your project? The newspaper won't write itself. As the president of the school newspaper, I say that this won't progress, and we'll all be disappointed in the end."

Spoke with her eyes fixed on the clear orbs of the delinquent.

"We can't abandon our priorities; I advise you to give up." She finalized.

"Since I came this far, I don't think giving up is an option," he countered. "And trust me, i can be persistent when I want."

"What do you plan? Remember that organizing something without the Student Council's authorization is equivalent to breaking the rules," she stood up, staring deep into his eyes. "But that doesn't affect you, does it? As a delinquent, you must be used to breaking the rules."

She practically spat out the word "delinquent."

"You really delved into my record, Secretary," he teased carelessly.

"As I said, and I'll repeat: it's part of my job."

"Is it also part of your job to dismiss any idea that doesn't suit you?" he raised an eyebrow with a small mocking smile. "Your attitude is a bit tyrannical, don't you agree, [Name]-san?"

He said, displaying his indifference, shifting to a sarcastic, almost mocking tone.

'This delinquent is laughing, laughing at me!'

'This can't happen, I can't allow this to happen!'

If one could describe the scene, it would be Takashi smiling while taking a selfie in front of a volcano erupting. Because one could never accurately describe with words how irritated - or offended? Or maybe both? - the girl was.

He was a bit surprised when he saw her lower her head, biting her lower lip. For a moment, he thought she was crying when he heard a low grumble. That's when she approached, marching in her shiny shoes, fists buried in the jacket pockets. With the look of someone about to commit an atrocity.

And she kept advancing. And advancing. To the point where he had to step back, only to hit the back against the corridor wall, realizing he had retreated all the way from inside the room to the corridor.

He was snapped out of his light reverie when he felt something hit violently against the wall. That's when he saw the secretary's shoe stuck in the wall, at the curve of his waist. Shocked, he couldn't help the surprise on his face. He wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she decided to punch him.

That's when she decided to break the silence:

"Exactly," she said, at a dangerous distance, blocking the delinquent's passage with her right leg. Takashi swallowed hard, staring back at her. "And what are you going to do about it, Sir?"

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kiryoutann · 1 year

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 ❀•°✮ [KYLIAN MBAPPÉ X FEM! READER]

MINORS do NOT interact. Warning(s): ex-fling, past friends-with-benefits relationship, alcohol, reader being a F1 driver.

Genre: romance, comedy.

Word count: 2,1k.

Blurb:

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But, how can you when you accidentally marry your ex-fling—the star footballer, Kylian Mbappé—as a madness in your drunken stupor?

If you'd just trusted your gut feeling that going to Las Vegas was a bad idea rather than brushing it off as just one of many crazy thoughts going through your head, this would not have happened. Hell, you should have known better that being in the same place and attending the same party as an ex-fling is not going to do you any good despite all your efforts to avoid meeting him.

You squint in the sunshine that enters through the window. Morning has come and you hope to be able to reduce at least a little from the brightness of the giant orb in the sky to continue your sleep.

Your hand brushed the material of your dress from last night, relief washing over you knowing you didn't wake up naked after yet another drunken night's blunders.

Just when you were about to close your eyes again, your ears caught a soft snoring. Your eyelids shot open, your brows furrowed as you wondered if you really heard them or were just hallucinating from the lingering alcohol in your system. You got out of bed, focused your ears on the sound, and crawled to the end of the bed in that direction.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

The man who was sleeping on the floor wearing nothing but his boxers startled and got up as soon as your yell reverberated throughout the room.

Finding yourself in your party dress laid out in bed is one thing; finding your ex-fling on the hotel room floor is quite another. The question on your face is so clear, not much different from Kylian who looks at you in confusion while he tries to gather consciousness as quickly as possible.

You crossed your arms over your chest, looking at him seriously. “Kylian,” you called out to him. "why are you in my room?"

Now that you mentioned it, he swept his gaze across the room. Your eyebrows rose one in curiosity as the corners of his lips curved up into a mocking smile rather than answering you.

"Your room?" Kylian chuckled lightly. “I never thought you had a PSG jacket. What happened to Mercedes?”

You follow his eyes and find a dark blue jacket draped over the arm of the sofa.

"Why am I in your room?" You corrected, can't help but almost wince from embarrassment.

As he sat down on the bed, Kylian shrugged casually, as if this were an everyday occurrence for him. Or perhaps it is.

“Kylian, I’m being serious.”

A groan came out of him. “How should I know? Maybe you got lost and knocked on my door and I was kind enough to open it for you." He gives you a half-hearted answer and then covers his face with a pillow in an attempt to get you to stop asking him questions so he can get some more rest.

Typical Kylian, always underestimating things. But you also get absolutely no hint that anything happened between you two except from the fact that he was only wearing boxers.

Well, he always sleeps like that anyway, you thought to yourself.

Feeling your gaze through his pillow, he peeked out to say: “Still here? Might as well cuddle with me, chère.”

It reminds you why meeting Kylian is the worst thing that could happen to you.

That should be good enough for you and him to be in the same room without anything seeming to be going on between you. But, anything can't be good enough when it comes to him—the same ex-fling you left the moment you know your last few sex didn't just feel like mere lust. Now that you think about it, you beg every God who exists not to give him the idea to bring it up.

Your lips had parted to respond to his smart remark when something started to ring. You and Kylian both turned to the phone on the nightstand, your hand took it to answer it after seeing the caller ID.

A beat before you answer in a cautious voice, "Hello?"

“Hey, uhm.. did you get my messages?”

“I guess? Sorry, Lewis, I just woke up and haven't checked yet—”

Your teammate interrupts you with a laugh. "A bad hangover?" he asked.

"No, no, not a hangover." You looked at Kylian who turned to look at you before answering, "Just confusion."

"Alright, well, I just wanted to let you know that.."

Lewis' voice mixes in as background noise as you sweep your gaze back across the room. From the PSG jacket Kylian mentioned earlier to the sunshine pouring all over the hotel's elegant marble flooring. Feeling an itch on your left ring finger, you intend to rub your thumb on the surrounding skin only to find cold touching it. You furrow your brows, landing your gaze on something shining around your finger.

A.. ring?

One that is definitely not to your taste. One that seems to be chosen in a hurry or chosen in a drunken state.

Did you steal someone's jewellery last night?

Obviously, you don't remember putting them on before walking into Lewis's party last night. Hell, you don't even like wearing jewelry around your fingers except for that one night where you punched someone in the face for touching your butt—which was a few years ago, which was the exact reason your manager wouldn't let you wear one anymore.

Kylian interrupts your train of thinking by removing something from his finger. You missed his confused look because you were too focused on what looked like a ring that seemed almost like yours, minus the large diamond in the middle.

Did you two somehow become partners in crime and rob a married couple last night?

No, that's too absurd, right? you think.

It's too absurd because if that was really the case your phone should have been bombarded with calls from your manager rather than Lewis. Rather than waking up in Kylian's hotel room—which is far too cozy to serve as a resting place for robbers—you'll instead be at the police station. Lewis's voice calling you fades into background as you scurry around looking for clues.

You're not even close to a nasty hangover yet, you're forgetting everything that happened last night.

The sound of you opening the nightstand drawer then rummaging through the dressers in the corner of the room made Kylian looked up from the ring in his hand. He follows your fast-moving figure, like a cop trying to find evidence of a crime.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

You don't answer. Your phone sits on the bed without ending the phone conversation with Lewis—the poor guy ends up hanging up before calling you again, probably thinking you've overslept his long babbling. However, the only thing that is currently occupying you is your confusion and your desire to know what really happened last night.

And why did you and Kylian wake up with wedding bands on.

Rather than relief, your heart dropped into your stomach as the answer presented itself before you.

Lying on the table near the shoe rack is a piece of paper with Kylian's and your full names written on it. You have a hunch you're not going to like what you read next but, continue by sweeping your gaze to the top of the document. Above it, the words 'Certificate of Marriage' were written in a bigger and more beautiful font.

The heart that fell into the stomach immediately stopped beating. You believe your life left you right then and there.

"Oh my God." Was the only thing you could say.

You hear Kylian scrambling down the bed. "What?" he asked, coming toward you, still not keeping his eyes on the document you were holding.

“We're..” You turned to him, staring with jaw hanging wide in shock. "We're married."

The frown between his brows deepened as Kylian opened his mouth, "We're what?" He was about to laugh thinking it was a joke, but his lips drooped after noticing you were actually serious.

The document in your palm caught Kylian's attention, and he picked it up to check it for himself. The writing on the paper is still the same; his name, your name, 'Certificate of Marriage' in large font, as well as some signatures and a stamp at the bottom that indicates this is legal and recognized by the state.

Out of all the things you could do when you're drunk drunk, you two choose to marry each other. Now, the thought of becoming a partner in crime and robbing a married couple doesn't sound so bad at all.

Kylian was as still as a statue. He inhaled deeply before turning to face you.

"Is this real?" he asked.

“It's..”

Unsure of what you know, you pick up your phone again and open Safari. Your fingers type fast before clicking on an article that nearly perfectly describes your situation. Kylian watched your eyes go up and down reading the writing on the screen.

“It says they had a client from the UK who got married in Las Vegas, thought it was a “souvenir” and found out it was actually a legal marriage, even outside of the US. She ended up having to re-marry her UK spouse after annulling the Vegas marriage." To double check, you open a new article, read it and then confirm that it's really legit.

Kylian did nothing but stand up with his shoulders slagging. He gave the marriage certificate in his hand one more glance before asking, "What do you want to do?"

“What do I want to do? I want an annulment of course! Don't you?”

"Do you want to do it now?" he asked.

Before you could give your answer to him, your phone rang again. You picked up without reading the caller ID, thinking it was Lewis checking up on you.

“Lewis, sorry. Something—“

“Lewis?”

Instead of Lewis's voice, you grimaced at your manager's long ramblings. It was so loud, you're sure Kylian heard it from his expression which is not much different from yours. You pull your phone away from your ears ringing from Mia's high pitched voice telling you that you have a busy schedule today so you should move your ass out of bed and get going.

“Are you even listening to me?”

You sigh. "Yes, yes, I heard. Briefing at ten. You want me to get there before nine.” You said, hoping it was exactly what she said to you.

"You better not be late!"

You chose to ignore the hint of threat in her tone and hung up. When you went back to look at Kylian, he was still facing you and this time, his top lip was raised in a mocking smile. He already knows what you're going to say.

"Can the annulment wait?" you ask.

"Of course." He sounds more like happy than disappointed, which pisses you off. "Enjoy your time as my wife then."

Always with the unnecessary comment. You roll your eyes from it, rushing to collect yourbelongings before stuffing them into your small purse. Kylian had already thrown himself back into bed, wanting to enjoy his spare time with another sleep. You're envious of how he can be this calm about the situation.

Maybe this isn't his first Las Vegas marriage. You almost laugh from that.

After making sure nothing was left behind (because God knows you would hate to knock on his door and say you left something), you turned to him.

"We’ll talk about this later. Just.. stay in touch.”

Kylian acknowledged you with a brief hum. "You sure you won't ghost me again?"

Fuck. What's the deal with him constantly nudging a topic you're trying to avoid? Your lips closed in a thin line, trying not to overreact to another of his smart comments.

"We'll talk via Instagram."

The instant it left your lips, Kylian immediately opened his eyes wide, staring at you as if you were a crazy woman who had just appeared before him. A satisfied smile crawls onto your face thinking you're finally going to have the last word.

Wrong.

“Fine by me.”

Kylian took his ring from the nightstand, held it up high for you to see before putting on a smirk that brought out his dimples.

"Now you have a lucky charm, make sure you win the race." His eyebrows shot up towards your ring finger.

You left the room trying hard to get the damn ring off your finger. As Kylian's laughter reverberates throughout the room, your ears do their best to pretend to be deaf. You want to slam the door, but, unlucky for you, hotel doors always close very, very gently.

You shouldn't have went to Las Vegas.

Please do not associate this work with the real lives of the people in this story.

#kylian mbappe imagine #kylian mbappe x reader #mbappe x reader #mbappe x you #kylian mbappe imagines #mbappe imagine #mbappe imagines #kylian mbappe x you #kylian mbappe fic #kylian mbappe fics #mbappe fic #mbappe fics #football fanfic #kylian mbappe fluff #football imagine

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hwaseonghwasworld · 4 months

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Best friends brother chapter 10 LAST PART: I Always Come Prepared

Summary: Yunho doesn’t want his baby sister (Y/n) dating any of his friends especially Mingi since they are like brothers to him and it’s an issue when all Y/n’s friends are dating Yunho’s friends but he wouldn’t let Y/n talk to any guys since he’s so overprotective, it’s such a shame that she’s been with Mingi for almost 2 years and no one knows. What will happen if Yunho finds out?

Song Mingi x Reader

Warnings: cursing, smut, fights

Word count: 1k

Genre: series, angst, comedy, fluff, hidden relationship, High school au

Updates: probably Friday at 10pm BST

“Mingi we should go to Kang Daniel’s fan sign” Mingi sigh eyed me saying “why do you like him so much?” I hit his arm a little “what do you mean his voice is so angelic and his dancing” I was blushing just saying those and he rolled his eyes.

“Can we go pleaseeeeee” “fine” “why do you want me to come anyway” I looked at him and told him “for comfort” “and you know I don’t like going places alone” he nodded then I jump onto him kissing his cheeks.

A couple year later me and Mingi live together in an apartment in Seoul but Mingi is a Kpop idol with his friends while I go to Yonsei University, and I study interior design. Mingi proposed to you recently since you two have been together for 7 years.

You were about to go to uni and since Mingi has to be up early as well so you both ended up waking up at the same time, as soon as you both get ready you kiss Mingi goodbye after dropping him off to the company’s and driving to my university, I made new friends in uni since my friends are also kpop idols so they don’t go here.

“Y/n that dress that you made in class is so beautiful” I smile and thanked her, we went into class and I got a text from Mingi, I smile and texted him back.

“You’re having a wedding?” “Yeah me and Min- my boyfriend have been together for 7 years” “and you didn’t invite us?” I never told them that I was dating a kpop idol since I felt like there was no need, my graduation is soon anyway and my wedding is a month after, but since I’ve known my friends for 4 years I guess it’s best to just let them come “of course you guys are invited, we haven’t really sorted out the guest arrangements yet anyway” “ok so like when is it” I told them where and when it is, and said how they wouldn’t bring anyone I don’t know but they can bring a date, since I didn’t want people to know that I’m married to an idol yet since the groups dating ban hasn’t ended yet even though almost all the members are in a relationship.

“So why doesn’t he go here” I looked at them trying to find something to say “he works” “ohh ok” “oh yeah Y/n did you see ATEEZ’s new comeback.” “No I don’t really listen to them” she showed ma a picture of the 8 boys and I kept my eyes on Mingi “so whose your bias?” “Wait she looks like a Yunho bias” “yeah they look the same too” I looked at them shocked and disgusted, I did not want them to say that even if they don’t know about me and Yunho being siblings, “my bias is Mingi actually”

“Really?, my bias is Hongjoong” I looked at them and nodded as they were fangirling over each member “I really wish I could marry Mingi, he’s literally husband material” I nodded agreeing with them since it’s true, Mingi is husband material.

After school I decided to go grocery shopping, while I was searching for stuff someone back hugged me and I turn around seeing the man with a mask and a hat covering his eyes, I knew it was Mingi and I hugged him putting my head on his chest smelling his scent. “What are you going here, what if someone sees you” he smiled giving me a hat and mask so it seems less suspicious “I always come prepared princess” I smile as he helped me hold the basket.

When we were about to pay and Mingi could see that the woman could recognize him, he put his head down so she couldn’t see his eyes. We walked out and went into the car, “I think the lady saw me” I looked at him shocked “wait really” “Yh but I don’t think she realized who I am I nodded hoping he doesn’t get a scandal.

Once we walked into our apartment and ATEEZ and (G)-idle were here I was shocked to see them since I thought they were busy, I hugged them, they had another member called soojin and she was so nice she hugged me and smiled at me wanting to know about the wedding, “so how when’s the wedding?” I looked and Mingi and smiled then back at soojin, “it’s in 3 months”

A couple months later it was the wedding ceremony, i was taking pictures and as my friends from my uni saw me with Mingi walking up to me and kissing me, getting ready to take pictures with him. “Wait … Mingi IS YOUR HUSBAND!” I looked at them in shock as my brother answered them still lowkey not wanting us to be together “yup” “I don’t even know why my sister chose my best friend, but it is what it is” the girls were just flabbergasted, they didn’t know how to react. “Ok so let me get this straight, you’re getting married to a kpop idol, your brother is a kpop idol, and your friend are kpop idols too” “yes” I answered as they stood there in utter shock “THATS SO COOL” I laughed a little as we took pictures to and they go to the main venue.

While I was walking down the isle so me and Mingi could finally get married my friends looked at me excited as they were quietly rooting me on, I turned to look at Mingi and he kept looking at me the whole time, as soon as we finally got to kiss people cheered us on as Mingi pulled me closer and wrapping his arms around my waist while I cupped his cheeks as we pulled into a soft passionate kiss.

💖

Previous Chapter

Masterlist

Taglist: @scarfac3 @huachengsbestie01 @tunaasan

Side note: I apologize if this seemed rushed I’ve been pretty busy with my exams which is the reason why the time is so messy and also because of the writers block but i will try and have better timing with the next ff and try and make it longer

Thank you for reading this ff💖

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howlingday · 7 months

Note

swashbuckler au: weiss and jaune end up having a duel, and while weiss can't say he's the best swordsman she's ever faced she can say that he's the most adaptable fighting she's ever seen tldr: jaune pulls some jackie chan improvisation using the environment in unorthodox ways to win fights. slapstick action comedy ensues

Part 1

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You know those awkward family dinners? The ones where the room is tense and feels like it's filled with gunpowder, and all it takes is just one word to set it all off? Yeah, those ones.

Well, Jaune usually felt that every dinner since taking up his father's mantle as the Hero of Aquadia. Tonight, however, was especially tense since the four people hired to hunt him down were also here, eating his mother's special occasion chicken and spice. Now there was heat to help the spark.

"Hah... Hah..." The girl in red huffed as she reached for her glass of milk.

"Is it too hot?" Mom asked. "I usually cut back when we entertain guests."

"My sister never really liked spicy food." Joked the older girl. "Dad used to joke they're the reason she drinks so much milk."

"You sure he wasn't just milking you for a laugh?" Jaune's dad pointed at her with his fork, receiving a fork-point back.

"Please, don't give her any material." The girl in white said with a sigh. Jaune couldn't explain what it was, but there was something about her that seemed... familiar. "Anyway, what exactly is our task in Aquafia? Beyond the scope of capturing this "folk hero" running around in the city?"

"He's not a folk hero."

...

The room was quiet at that. Everyone was staring at me. Why was everyone staring at me? Don't tell me I-

"Care to elaborate on that, Mr..?"

"A-Arc." Jaune gulped chicken. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it."

"Do they, though?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, do they, Jaune?" His father sneered with a sinister grin. Sometimes, Jaune hated his father.

"Please excuse my son's outburst." His mom stated, dabbing her lips with her napkin. "He's a fan of La Lama Lunga de la Aquadia."

"The who the what?" Ruby asked.

"The Longblade of Aquadia." Blake answered. "The hero we met in the street earlier."

"And failed to capture." Mother said over folded fingers. She wasn't happy. Trust me, I'm an expert at making Mom not happy.

"He's crafty." Yang replied. "Really gave us the slip in the harbor after that Grimm attack."

"Haha! Oh, I wish I could have seen that!" Jaune's heart swelled at his father's words, even if these girls were giving him too much credit.

"And the city thanks you for protecting her citizens from the Grimm." His mother tried to get the discussion back to the mission. "But in regard to your real task, you can discuss the details in full with my son and my husband. I try not to involve myself in these childish escapades of heroism."

Jaune sank a little at that. "Sit up straight!" Okay, he sank a lot at it, but could you blame him? His mom just called him, as fancy as possible, out as a child playing hero! Still, his dad was stillin his usual high spirits. Kinda made him wonder how she never caught Dad when he was La Lama Lunga.

"It seems weird, though," The young girl said, "that the mayor of Aquadia would want to capture the hero of her city."

"He's a relic of the past, Ms. Rose." Mother dabbed her lips as she stopd up. "And though we are grateful for his protection in ages past, we must look to the future. If we wish to establish good relations beyond Aquadia, we must prove that we do not rely on fairy tales for our protection, and certainly not on vigilantes, either."

"So to make Aquadia a viable trading partner and member of the kingdom, you want us to hunt down the city's only protector?" Blake asked with a raised brow.

"We have guardsmen and a militia of retired soldiers acting as our reserve defense." Circling the table like a shark, the mayor made her case. "If Aquadia can prove we are just as capable as the northern cities in Vale, then we can prove that we are not merely a tourist trap of a bygone age."

"Oof, politics." Dad said. "Think it's time I called it a night. This talk of fairy tales and whatnot is giving me indigestion."

"We should also head back." Ruby said. "Thank you for the meal, but now it's time for Team RWBY to get to work! Starting tonight!"

Jaune swallowed his chicken a little hard, and started coughing up spices. Everyone stared at him again.

"S-Sorry." He said. "Uh, wrong hole."

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

You know what the best part about being a hero in your city? The nighttime patrols. Just you, the chirping creatures of the night, and the pale moon shining into the caldera city at midnight. It's almost therapeutic.

Jaune understood what his mom was getting at, bringing the other cities closer to them by getting rid of the one aspect that separates Aquadia from everywhere else on Remnant. Kinda like how Mistral has that famous sport lady. Pyra, or something.

Still, he doubted she would be getting hunted down just so her city can build economic ties to the rest of the kingdom.

Coming from the docks where an old woman was saying her prayers in a window beneath him, Jaune kept being reminded of why he loves this city. The teenage kids sneaking around after curfew, the young lovers holding hands in gondola rides, the white glyph shining right in front of hi-

Wait a minute.

"Hold it right there, llama loonga!" The girl in white from before swiped her blade at him. Jaune barely had time to catch it as he brought his own blade to his defense.

"It's actually La Lama Lunga, princess." Jaune shoved her away.

"It's heiress, actually." The girl held a fencing position, and judging by her stance, she meant it.

This was bad for so many reasons.

First, this would be completely different from Grimm or rowdy thieving hooligans. He was fighting a genuine huntress, an actual fighter. What little he learned about them ws in one ear and out the other. What? Huntsmen just aren't as fascinating as La Lama Lunga.

Second, his opponent was not only a trained warrior, but she was actually trained in the same weapon as he was! And making this particular dilemma even worse was Jaune didn't know how to actually fence. Sure, he's got the basics from what his dad taught him, but this was a huntress with a semblance.

And that semblance was-

"Are you going to just stand there and stare at me while I arrest you?" She asked, getting closer. "If so, then by all means, continue."

Taking his own stance, he gulped. Come on... Remember what Dad taught you. 'If you ever find yourself outmatched, there's no shame in running.' Jaune took a step back. 'Unless your opponent is smaller than you, then you definitely should feel ashamed.' Jaune kept his feet planted.

She got closer. Oh crap, this really happening to him, isn't it? Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap-

"CRAP!" Jaune leapt out of the way of her thrust. He stepped on his back feet over and over until he caught himself on the edge of the rooftop.

Suddenly, nothing came to his mind. All of his father's lessons fell away as he realized this would be how he died. How the legend ended. He wanted to cry. He wanted to curl into a ball. But neither option was available. So instead...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" La Lama Lunga ran forward, swinging his blade wildly at the foreign girl. Fear filled her eyes as she backed away, unsure of how to respond! His movements were too sporadic, too unorthodox! She'd never seen a fighting style like this before!

Suddenly, he tripped and fell over, dropping his weapon. He rolled forward, almost falling over the edge. Reaching down, he grabbed a potted flower and tossed it at her. She ducked, narrowly missing a bruise, only to be forced on the backfoot by the vigilante once more when he grabbed his blade again. Then...

"AGH!" She fell off! Jaune ran over to the side and looked down, finding the girl landed safe and sound... into a compost heap.

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

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yang couldn't stop laughing at breakfast, smashing her fist on the table.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Weiss screeched from inside the shower, on her third attempt to clean herself of the stench. "WHY WOULD THIS CITY EVEN NEED COMPOST?!"

"Apparently, the compost helps improve the soil development for the farms outside the caldera." Blake answered, reading the info pamphlet on compost provided. "The humid air compounded by the naturally occurring chemicals produced in the water make for an improved-"

"IT WAS RHETORICAL, BLAKE!"

"Jeez, this guy really is no joke." Ruby sighed. "Not only to escape all of us, but he managed to beat Weiss, too!"

"N... Not really that hard, Rubes." Yang breathed.

"SHUT UP, XIAO LONG!"

"But don't you worry." Yang pumped a thumb to herself. "With me and Blakey on the case, ain't no way sword boy is gonna last another night."

#rwby #la lama lunga au #rwby au #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #papa arc #mama arc

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freyyzu · 1 year

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A LITTLE PICK-ME-UP

a/n; it's final exams season and i'm suffering! which probably means a few of you are too, so hopefully this gives you a little push to make it through the rest of the month! i wrote this instead of finishing my essay :')

► Studying in the Devildom was difficult. Whether or not you were a good student back in the human realm didn't matter much here, especially when all of the material was completely new. Thankfully, you had a group full of supportive friends to help you make it through the ordeal.

Lucifer makes it a point that no one in the House of Lamentation is to bother you during your study time—especially Mammon—and that there would be severe punishment for anyone who decided to break those rules. Despite being a stickler for your grades, Lucifer is always the one who comes to check up on you the most to remind you not to overwork yourself, that dinner is ready and you should come down to eat. He brings you snacks periodically to make sure you're feeling energized and not burning yourself out from excessive studying, and is also the person to give you the most praise when all of it is over.

The first person to barge into your room the next day after you've finished a long study session is Mammon. He doesn't take 'no' for an answer and threatens to drag you out of the house himself if need be (you both know he wouldn't). He's not very good at studying, and Lucifer has forbidden him specifically from visiting your room for most of the day anyways, so the best he could do was make sure you weren't stressing even the day after. Are you ready for a date night? Too bad, get dressed, he's taking you to all your favorite places to make sure you forget about your (his) impending doom.

Exams are right around the corner and you know what that means? It's the perfect time to slack off and play video games! Levi is terrible for encouragement if you need someone to convince you to study. What you need is to stop worrying, and he's much, much better at helping you with that. Come to his room after you've finished your study session for the day, he's got your favorite games booted up and ready to play. If you don't have any energy after working for so long that's okay too, you can just watch your favorite anime series together! He'll make sure to pick out a comedy so you can laugh the stress away.

Satan is the only one who actively helps you study for your finals. He's a bit strict, but the way he teaches you all the spell incantations and potion ingredients is so easy to memorize that you feel like time has gone by in a flash. An amazing teacher, praises you every time you get something right, encourages you to try again when you get something wrong, and has a bunch of cheat-tips to make the harder to remember formulas feel as easy as 1+1. If you point out how incredible he is at tutoring you he gets extremely happy. He's happy to not only help you with your studies, but most of all just get to spend more time with you.

Your biggest hypeman throughout all of this is Asmo who visits you at the end of every night to give you a thorough relaxation time. He's another person who had "accidentally" skipped out on all of the study time and doesn't care too much about his grades as the others do, so he's making sure that he looks his best by the time finals roll around. That goes double for you! As soon as the clock hits time for your study time to be over, he's already knocking on your door to drag you to his room. A hot bath, a long face care routine along with some comfy PJ's and you're feeling like that creak in your neck never existed in the first place.

Beel is just as kind as Lucifer when it comes to making sure you're not overworking yourself. He knows how you can lose track of time whenever you're really focused on something, and makes sure to sned you texts every once in a while asking if you're holding up okay. Even if you don't reply back with how much work you have to get done, as long as he sees that his message has been 'read' that's enough for him to know he took your mind off studying for a while. Does his best to make your favorite foods, and asks Lucifer to bring it to you during his check-ups along with a little note telling you how you're doing great and to not stay up too late. You can't take the finals if you get sick!

Belphie claims that he'll help you with studying whenever Satan is occupied, but he's just looking for an excuse to spend time with you. He doesn't help much throughout the studying process, he hasn't even brought his books or pencils or well, anything. For the most part, he's resting his head on your table and looking over your work, pointing out points where you've made a mistake or giving you tips on an easier way to solve a problem. If there's anyone who can successfully make you take breaks during your moments of intense focus, it's Belphie. As in he literally shuts your textbook closed and drags you to lay down in bed with him. There have beena few moments where its caused you to doze off, but... at least you're feeling refreshed and raring to go again afterwards!

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princess-of-the-corner · 4 months

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About Scarlet Lady. It's really not that uncommon for some stories to questionably go both "This kid has been failed by the adults in her life" and "But screw that, let's laugh at her anyway." The bratty kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (especially Veruca) count as such. But the bratty kids in Willy Wonka are not the main characters.

SO HERE'S THE THING

You absolutely can do this sort of thing, but it needs to be balanced in a way!

Like the Veruca example! Yes, there's the discussion on how Veruca is like this because her father made her like this and that sucks, while also having us comedically roll our eyes when she acts like a spoiled brat.

The difference between that and something like ML is that Veruca hasn't been shown having moments where she's crying for non-entitled reasons, where she cares about her friends, where she wants to do good things and tries her best to be a good person...... only for us to swing back to 'haha isn't it funny that she acts like this??'

I think if SL was its own thing and not a fanfic it may have pulled this off a touch better as they never go into the depth that Chloé had in Seasons 1-3, just her being comically evil and then a last second 'oh btw her mom kinda sucks but whatever she chose to be an asshole let's laugh'. But having a source material that, for the first 3 seasons, did take this more seriously and give her depth, it doesn't work as well.

One is a comedy with a touch of tragedy so we can go 'hey that sucks' but still laugh. The other is a tragedy we're supposed to laugh at.

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good-beanswrites · 4 months

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Haruka clenched his fists. “Y-you would be surprised if you woke up and -- and -- and your cell was full of ice cream!

I was just thinking of this line from your last Mikoto drabble and wondered… Can you make this happen?

I certainly can >:3 I tried for a while to frame this as straight-up comedy, but it actually worked so much better as something sweet, with silly lines here and there :) Thank you so much for the request, it was so fun!! (Also, I wrote John using Mikoto's name for ease, but in my mind he's switching between first person pronouns.)

There was someone unexpected in cell 009.

No, no, it’s not like that. Everyone was very aware that there were two distinct residents of that cell. John himself was very aware of his position in that cell.

The thing was, someone else ended up in there, too.

John kept his eyes shut, feigning sleep. The other person was here on a mission. They’d slipped in without creaking the metal door. Their footsteps were nearly inaudible against the floor. He would have thought it was Kotoko, with skills like that, but she would have leapt to an attack. This person was busy doing… something.

He strained his ears. It was impossible to tell their goal. They were going in and out, moving things around. Was it a trap? There weren’t enough materials in the prison to set a trap. Were they stealing things from around the room? He had nothing of value. Plus, he was sure Mikoto would have given anything to anyone who asked. What, then?

Unable to come to any conclusion, he readied himself. He’d protect himself. He always did.

In one fluid motion, he rolled out of the bed and pinned the other to the ground. The perpetrator let out a high-pitched squeak. Impossibly wide and frightened eyes looked up at him.

“Haruka…?” That was the last person he was expecting. John squinted around the room. “What the --”

Ice cream. He didn’t know what it meant, but that’s what Haruka had been arranging. Dishes and dishes of ice cream. Everywhere. Plates stacked on the desk. Bowls strewn across the floor. All vanilla. There was a scattering of toppings; some with colorful sprinkles and others dripping with chocolate sauce. When he’d tackled the poor boy, he sent another dish of it clattering across the ground.

“I’m sorry! Ah, I-I, ah, I’m sorry!” Haruka squeezed his eyes shut. “It-it’s a, it was a surprise, for you! For M-m-mikoto…!”

“A surprise?”

“The other d-day he said, we were, we were talking ab-bout --”

“He asked for this?”

“Uh, no, but --”

“He didn’t know about it?” John’s eyes narrowed. “It’s some kinda prank?”

“NO! No, n-no I’m not being m-mean. It was f-fun. A fun surprise.” Haruka held his palms up, unable to make his smile anything but panicked. “...Surprise!”

John stared.

Despite how nonsensical the whole situation was, there didn’t seem to be any danger. He rose. Haruka scrambled to his feet.

John gestured to the extensive supply of sweets around them. “How did you get all this together, anyway?”

“O-oh!” Haruka wrung his hands. “I was, uh, planning it for a while. I requested ice cream three times in a row. And I n-never ate mine for dessert. I’ve been saving it. Es asked why, b-but they still let me keep it.”

“And why did you? Why do all this for Mikoto?”

“I t-told you, it was sup-supposed to be fun...”

John braced himself against the desk. He was just wondering how long it would take to take care of this mess. He mused, “it’s all going to melt.”

He might as well have thrown a punch, the way Haruka’s expression shifted. “I’m sorry! I’m -- I… I didn’t think of that…”

“Eh? You don’t need to apologize or anything. It’s fine.”

They fell into silence. Haruka shifted on his feet.

“Y-you… can have it, if you want. The ice cream. I didn’t let anyone else have it but-but, you can, I think. ”

“I don’t want the ice cream.” He wanted to be left alone. He wanted the cell clean so Mikoto didn't stress out about cleaning it. He wanted to avoid being bothered by bizarre ‘surprises’ first thing in the morning.

His stomach disagreed, apparently. It let out a loud grumble. Both prisoners looked over.

He muttered a curse. With a huff, he picked up one of the bowls.

“Alright. But even if I did eat this, or Mikoto did, there’s no way I could finish it all.” He shoved it into Haruka’s hands. “You made this mess, you’re gonna help me deal with it.”

The boy nodded frantically.

“Come on, you can sit here. Pass me that one, with the syrup. And hurry it up.”

#milgram #mikoto kayano #john milgram #haruka sakurai #(they hardly make a dent in it)#john makes sure haruka doesnt get a stomachache but now hes left with a cell full of dessert ;--;#maybe hed enlist the others to help...#john doesnt quite Get It - he still thinks somethings suspicious #hes never done anything just for the fun of it before #but haruka is so genuine he eases up after a bit #and ends up enjoying the ice cream at least :3 #i dont think i mentioned which trial it was for the first drabble but this is definitely after john has started appearing #mikoto himself may not be ready to accept john but in my mind every other prisoner is very familiar with him #though they dont necessarily Expect him a lot of the time #es is dealing with so much t2 shit they dont really care if haruka keeps an elaborate stash of ice cream in the milgram smart fridge...#thank you so much for the request haha! this was a ton of fun :D #theyd have interesting interactions... i kept this one simple and sweet but theres a lot going on there....#drabbles

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room-surprise · 3 months

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Dungeon Meshi Season 1, Ep 4 Review

Spoilers below the cut! I have a lot of thoughts on this one so it's a bit long.

This is a slower episode, but I expected it to be. I worry that people will find this episode boring because there's not as much action or comedy as some of the other episodes, and what is here tends to be a lot more subtle, but this is honestly one of THE most important episodes of early Dungeon Meshi.

The pacing of this episode was great, Trigger allowed themselves to slow down and take the material more seriously when it was needed, and I really appreciate that.

Senshi and his connection to the dungeon, as always, makes me want to cry. Kui's focus on respect for the people who do the thankless, denigrated jobs in society like picking vegetables, cooking, and cleaning toilets always gets to me.

Senshi expressing the importance of being part of the ecosystem of the dungeon, and the balance of the world, protecting people not by killing monsters but by keeping the environment in check is so important to the core of Dungeon Meshi.

That, plus the sequence where Senshi refuses using magic to light a fire, instead wanting to do it by hand is also important. Later we'll get to see how magic can excel at some things that can't be done any other way, but for now it's time to focus on Senshi.

The way the party interacts with Senshi in this episode always makes me think of elderly people in Japan who are carrying on doing things the way it's always been done, even if the young people don't appreciate it or even know that they're doing it. The generational gap is a big issue in Japan, since there's so few young people and so many seniors…

It especially makes me think of the senior citizens that volunteered to go clean up the Fukushima nuclear disaster because they didn't want young people with their whole lives ahead of them to have to do it. I remember there was also an old man that took it upon himself to take care of the animals that had been left behind in the exclusion zone, Senshi's story reminds me a lot of him.

THE ANIMATION

The animation wasn't particularly exciting, but for the most part did what it needed to do. The only quibbles I have are minor ones:

There's a black-haired elf in the background of the tavern scene that had darker skin in the manga, and they made her lighter here. She's a recurring background character so I'm not super happy that they changed her skintone, since Dungeon Meshi goes out of it's way to include people of varied skin tones in crowd scenes, but I get that it was probably just to make the composition work. It still sucks though.

Most of the orcs look fine, but there were a pair of lady orcs that had purple-ish and green-ish fur that I thought looked a bit unnatural, compared to the earth tones of all the other orcs. I know Kui leans away from the unnatural skin tones thing (no blue elves, no green orcs) so I wasn't a fan of this, but it was subtle enough that I can forgive it.

I could tell the animators didn't really understand how the nose/snout/jaw situation of the orcs works, and as a result they were animating the orcs like normal human anime faces with a weird blob in the middle for a nose, instead of upturned noses that are part of a snout/mandible that effects the way the face works.

Obviously the animators are more familiar with how to draw standard human faces, and they had to cut costs on this episode by keeping the animation simple, but I didn't like how flat it all looked. Kui's solid construction (from later in the manga) is really missed here.

DUB vs SUB

The subtitles were passable, though at one point they called the dungeon lord the "lunatic magician" which gave me Yen Press war flashbacks. Thankfully the dub didn't do the same thing. Honestly I wouldn't even mind if they switch up what people call the dungeon lord anyway, since it's not like "mad magician" or "mad sorcerer" is a name or title. One of the things I've always hated about "Lunatic Magician" is the way it was used constantly, even in situations where it felt unnaturally stilted, like they had a brand trademark to maintain. The Lunatic Magician™! Now with 50% more lunacy!

As for the dub… The performances were all fine, and there weren't any glaring out of place modernisms, however I'm on the fence about what they decided to do with the orc leader, Zon.

Race and the clash between different groups is a major part of Dungeon Meshi, and this is the chapter that introduces the idea that the orcs are people and not subhuman monsters. It also introduces the idea that the orcs are a displaced ethnic group that lives in the dungeon because other races have chased them from the surface.

Imari Williams does a great job with his performance as Zon, and I appreciate that BangZoom got a person of color to play a character that's meant to be a minority. I hope that they'll continue this trend and that his sister Leed will also be voiced by a person of color, and that she'll speak in a dialect that matches Zon's.

HOWEVER… while Williams' performance is great, I'm not sure how I feel about the script.

Zon and the other orcs' dialog in the dub sounds like it's either borrowing from African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or it is broken English "caveman-speak" that orcs often use in other media.

I'm not familiar enough with AAVE to know if they're using it correctly, only familiar enough to identify that they are using some of the grammatical structures of it. The fact that they hired a black voice actor to deliver those lines makes me think it was an intentional choice.

I'd love to hear opinions from people who are more familiar with the subject. Are the orcs speaking broken English or are they following the grammatical rules of AAVE? How consistent is BangZoom's script in following those grammar rules?

In the original Japanese and in the manga, as far as I can tell the orcs just speak Japanese the same way as all the other characters, so there is no verbal signal of their cultural difference. This is important because this part of the story is all about telling us that the orcs are equal to the other characters.

So choosing to alter the way they speak for the dub is a creative choice that is attempting to communicate something to the English audience, though I am not sure if BangZoom is doing it effectively, or if they are communicating what they intend to communicate.

I do think that it's an interesting choice that they made, I wasn't expecting them to do it, and so I hope they're doing it deliberately, carefully and with sensitivity.

I wonder what kind of accents, if any, the orcs may have been given in other language dubs? If you listened to a different dub let me know! (Also, next week we get to see regular-sized Kabru instead of just Giant Kabru, I'm so excited.)

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #my stuff #review #spoilers #orcs #senshi of izganda

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galaxythreads · 2 months

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The live action ATLA is amazing. 9.5/10. I didn't love everything about it, but there are so so so so many good parts and I'm so glad that Netflix decided to make this. I've seen a lot of weird criticism from long time fans and maybe I just haven't been in the fandom long enough, but. I absolutely think it's worth giving a watch if you go in with a semi blank slate. The Netlfix series is not trying to be an exact scene by scene remake of the show.

The thing about it that you have to remember when you go in is that they said they were going to change the tone of the show, and they did, and it works! It's not the same. It's not a comedy. It's funny, but it's not a comedy. Character motivations were changed to fit the darker theme. It's using Avatar as source material and intends to be an adaption, not a reconstruction of the series.

Katara is much more traumatized about her mom's death, which made sense! She was murdered in front of her. She's afraid to take on a maternal role because of that. She's quieter and softer because she's afraid and she's healing from her mother's murder. Katara in the series made sense, too, but I feel like someone looked at her and went! Wait. Smol child is maybe...not okay??? I have faith they will build her up as the seasons progress if they continue.

Hakoda is disappointed in Sokka barely passing his trial. Makes sense! They're at war! Sokka has to take care of the village, of course Hakoda has high expectations for him. And the thing is--Hakoda still trusted Sokka with the responsibility of the village anyway, so his disappointment in Sokka's trial didn't stop his faith in his son. And honestly, I think it's fine that Hakoda is not a perfect parent who never makes mistakes. Parents rant about their kids to their friends all the time. It's healthy because they're not doing it in front of, or to, their kid. Hakoda didn't know Sokka was listening. So. Idk. Sokka doesn't go through his misogyny is bad actually arc, and while I missed it, I thought he functioned really well in this story without it. And for the record!!!! Sokka STILL makes stupid jokes the entire season. He didn't lose his sense of humor.

Aang feeling so much guilt about leaving? Yep! I can vibe with that. I missed his innocence and playfulness, but I feel like this wasn't a bad take on the character either. He was still playful, but in the world they live in, it would make sense that he feels terrible for leaving. And everyone they encounter takes it upon them to rub it in his face so why wouldn't he feel bad or out of place?? Especially after Bumi. Everyone says he needs to face this alone, and Aang learning that he doesn't have to?? Powerful!! Is it the same arc as s1 of the show? No! It's not supposed to be!

Zuko's actor was perfectly cast. That boy IS Zuko. The scence at the end of e6 made me cry because it was so powerful with the 41st, and that felt so EARNED after episodes of watching Zuko's crew despise him to suddenly realizing the only reason they're alive is because of him and realizing it's an honor to shelter him. Zuko drawing Aang to pin him on his disaster wall was amazing. Him getting hit by some random woman for attacking Aang? Amazing. Him sitting next to Iroh during Lu Ten's funeral? So soft. The Agni Kai really rubbed people the wrong way, but I think it was interesting that they decided to have Zuko showing compassion be the root of Ozai's anger. He showed compassion to the 41st, he shows compassion to his father, and when Ozai has defeated him, he has him on the ground and could walk away, and he chooses to burn his face. It's not exactly the same as the show, but again, it's not intending to be.

Azula being here was interesting. I don't know if I loved Zhao being incapable of doing anything without her, but it works for what it is. Zhao is intended to be annoying and he was! So. 10/10. She cried when Zuko got his scar! Ozai playing the long hand of terrible abusive tactics made me want to bite him. Because Ozai doesn't care about Zuko. He uh. Made that pretty clear when he banished him and then at the end when he's explicitly told Zuko might have died at Agna Qel'a and he's like ????????? Am I supposed to care??? We've gotten rid of weakness. So??? Like he used Zuko to force Azula to become more ruthless. He used Zuko to shape her. I do hope we get more exploration of Ty Lee and Mai so they aren't Faceless Blorb Friends, but I just don't think there was really time in s1.

The parts they chose to remove and add into the story was interesting. You got to explore the story for the first time again. I definitely think both versions have merit and are deeply enjoyable, I just don't think you should go in expecting it to be exactly the same thing? I was happy to see a new take on the story, but that might be because I knew that it was going to be darker and the characters would adapt to that. I do hope we can get more of the vibe of the show's humor in season 2 if we get season 2, and Katara feels little more like her show-counter part because I missed her, but honestly, I do recommend to a friend.

Or at the very least, if you absolutely refuse to watch it, PLEASE go watch the last 1/2 of episode 6 with Zuko and the 41st because I CANNOT.

+THEY ACTUALLY PRONOUCED EVERYONE'S NAMES CORRECTLY #bareMinimumAward

#avatar the last airbender #avatar live action #Netflix Avatar #netflix avatar spoilers #atla #idk #my two cents #i binged the whole thing and I had fun #i haven't wanted to binge anything in forever #but I hope they get renewed because I'd love to see their take on s2 and 3

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dino-fart · 1 year

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Late Night Swim

Pairing: Vampire!Namor x Female!Reader

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Summary: You were at a friend’s party when the person you’d been crushing on hurts your feelings. You decide to get wasted and suddenly find yourself in the arms of a very handsome and romantic vampire.

You were dressed to impress your crush at your friend’s house party. You wore a blue long-sleeve crop top with a low neckline, black pants, and dark brown wedge shoes. Your hair was in a high ponytail, your bangs parted in a curtain bang style, and you wore silver hoop earrings and your favorite red lipstick. You caught the eye of everyone at the party except the person you wanted the most. You walked into the living room to look for your crush and what you saw broke your heart. You saw your crush dancing with another woman and holding her close. You took a sip of the champagne in your hand and stormed off into the kitchen.

“Hey, sexy thing! How’s it going?! Did they see you?” Your friend walked over to you.

“They’re busy with someone else...” You muttered and took the bottle of champagne.

“Well, that doesn’t mean it’s the end, wait here!”

Before you could protest, your friend disappeared. You sighed in frustration and embarrassment and waited. Your friend came back with your crush and you turned your back to them quickly. “What the hell?!” You scolded.

“Damn she’s thicc, right?” Your friend nudged your crush then ran off.

You rolled your eyes and turned around to see your crush. “H-Hi.” You said stiffly.

“Hey.”

“Are you...Having fun?”

“Yeah, it’s an awesome party...Nice top.”

“Thanks! I got it from Target, I waited for Black Friday to get it at a discount. I never buy anything at full price, plus Target has nice clothing materials...And you didn’t need to know all that huh?”

“Not really...But that’s cool to know.” Your crush reassured you.

“Hey...Um...Would you...Would you like to dance?”

“Oh...Um...Sorry, I’m with someone...”

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, I’m flattered. You’re gorgeous...I bet there is a better dancer in the party here for you.” Your crush said sweetly. They were so kind and sweet, it was only killing you more. You forced a smile and your crush stood there awkwardly.

“There you are!” Their partner said and walked over to them.

“Oh yeah, sorry, I was just talking to her.” Your crush smiled.

Their partner turned around to face you and the woman sneered at you. “If you even try to think you can be a match for them with your plain ass you got another thing coming.” She hissed.

“Whoa! Hey, relax!” They said to her.

You took a step back and looked away.

“Sorry, I’m just sick of everyone flirting with you, babe. I gotta start protecting what’s mine. You’d do the same I know.” The blonde woman ran her hands on their chest.

“Yeah but, she’s a friend, be nice.” They said sternly.

The woman turned back to you, “Sorry...I get a little defensive. I guess I shouldn’t be threatened by you, you’d be too boring for them anyway.” She sauntered off back to the living room.

“Please don’t listen to her, she’s...A little much at parties.” Your crush said.

You just nodded your head, still not making eye contact.

“I’ll...See you later.” With that, your crush left the kitchen.

You were shaking with anger and sorrow. You saw the bottle of vodka on the counter and grabbed it. “Fuck this party.” You grumbled and grabbed your purse and left the house.

It was dark out but your friend’s neighborhood was safe. You were buzzed so you had no plan to drive back home...To be honest you didn’t even want to go home. You made it over to a bridge and took a swig of the vodka bottle. You sat down on the edge of the bridge and took another swig.

The bridge wasn’t part of the main roads so it was quiet. A perfect spot for you to berate yourself about how stupid you are. You looked down at the body of water that lead to the main ocean. A swim would be nice...But you were too drunk.

Tears fell down your cheeks as you set down the bottle. “I’m such a fucking idiot...I knew I should’ve listened to my gut and stayed home. Who the fuck would like me anyway?” You sobbed and grabbed the bottle. You chugged the next sip but didn’t finish the bottle. “Oh shit!” You exclaimed as the bottle slipped from your fingers and fell into the water. You sighed angrily and threw your hands up in frustration. “Stupid!” You shook your head.

You moved to try and stand up but the alcohol in your system made you lose your balance. You screamed as you fell from the bridge and straight into the water.

The water looked so blue and beautiful under the moonlight. Your body floated under the water and you felt like time was slowing down. Your drunken state prevented you from swimming to the surface. Your brows raised when you saw a man swimming toward you under the water. You tilted your head when you got a better look at him.

He was handsome and fit. He wore beautiful jewelry around his neck and wrists. You noticed his jade earrings on his pointed ears and looked down to see his shorts. His brown skin glowed in the moonlight, he looked like an angel. You gave him a dreamy smile and your heart fluttered seeing him grin back.

“Little late for a swim, hm, surface dweller?” He chuckled.

You couldn’t respond or understand what he said. The water filling up your lungs and the fact that you hadn’t swum to the surface began to blur your vision. Your eyes finally closed and you accepted fate. Strong hands gripped your body and swam toward the shore quickly. You gasped and your eyes shot open.

“Fuck!” You shouted and hugged yourself, you were freezing from the ice-cold water. The alcohol in your system flushed out of your body. “Wh-Where?” You shivered.

“You’re out of the water, human. I would advise you not to swim if you don’t know how.” A male voice said and you looked up to see the man you saw in the water. His gaze was soft and playful, his chocolate-brown eyes stared at you.

“Are you an angel?” You gasped and he laughed softly.

“Far from it, my dear.” He smiled and gently set you down.

You hugged your arms and shivered to stand in front of the muscular man. You were soaking wet with your bangs on your face. Your red lipstick is smeared and your crop top stuck to your torso.

The man gently brushed your hair out of your face and smiled down at you. “Do you live far? Can you get home safe?” He said with that smooth voice.

“I-I-I think so...I’m mostly sober now.” You smiled nervously.

The man tsked, “Drinking and swimming is not a good idea.”

“I slipped from the bridge.”

“Then I would say avoid bridges.”

“Noted...M-Maybe...If you don’t mind...I could use an escort?” You said.

The man nodded and offered his hand to you. You held his hand and he helped you up the hill and onto the sidewalk.

You fumbled with your house keys and took a deep breath to steady your hands. You put the key in the lock and opened your door. “T-Thanks.” You shivered and smiled at him.

The man walked into your home and helped you to the couch. “Can I do anything to warm you up?” He asked softly.

You blushed at how close he was to you and realized that a half-naked muscular god of a man is sitting so close to you. “L-Let me get my heater going and a towel...I’ll get you one too.” You said and left the couch. After doing so, you sat back down next to him and dried your hair, and wrapped the towel around you as you waited for the heat to set in. You had wiped off your lipstick when you had gone to get the towels. You offered the man the other towel and he took it from you and dried his hair. “Thank you again, I’m not sure if I’m having a drunken dream of a hot and sweet guy rescuing me or if this is actually happening.” You joked.

The man grinned and gently cupped your chin, “Funny you say that, I was going to say that I think I’ve met an angel.”

“I’m far from that.” You quoted him and he laughed softly. You caught a glimpse of his sharp fangs and looked at him curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking...What’s your name? And...What are you?” You asked softly.

The man looked at you kindly, “My name is Namor. And well...It’s a bit complicated.”

“Are you a vampire? I saw your fangs.”

“Okay well, maybe not that complicated.” Namor chuckled.

“That’s really cool...You didn’t help me just so you can eat me right? I mean I don’t mind being eaten by you.” You shrugged.

Namor let out a chuckle and shook his head, “No, my angel, I didn’t save you so I could eat you. If I was going to do that, you wouldn’t have made it to your house.”

“Fair point.”

“I do...Want to ask a favor.”

“Of course!”

“I will need some strength to get back home, I don’t normally venture far from the waters but...I made an exception. May I drink your blood?” Namor gazed at you.

“Namor, you could do anything to me right now and I’d say thank you.” You blushed.

Namor grinned, “You are very funny.”

“It’s because we just met, try getting to know me.” You teased.

Namor gazed at you more and stroked your hair, “I would like to get to know you more...After tonight.” Your words died on your tongue and you were lost in his eyes. Namor cupped your chin and leaned in close to you to gently peck your lips. His hold on your chin was gentle as if you were made of glass. You leaned in when he pulled away and kissed him fully.

Namor let out a soft moan and cupped your face to kiss you more. Your wrapped your arms over his shoulders and pressed your body against his. Namor moved his hands from your face to your hips and squeezed them lightly. Namor pulled back eventually and brushed his nose against yours. “I can’t get carried away just yet, my angel.” He whispered against your lips.

“That’s okay, whatever you want.” You said softly.

“Careful, angel, I may just keep you and take you to my underwater kingdom.” Namor purred.

“Wait what?” You pulled back and furrowed your brows.

Namor smiled, “My kingdom, darling. I am a king.”

“You’ll have to show me sometime, otherwise I might just think you’re crazy. Cute but crazy.” You teased.

Namor gently took your left wrist to his lips and kissed it gently. “I will make sure it won’t hurt.”

You nodded and winced slightly when you felt his fangs penetrate your skin. You relaxed once he began to suck the blood. When he was done, he licked the spots he bit and it sealed up. He had a bit of your blood on his lips and licked it. “You still have a bit of alcohol in your system, darling. But your blood tastes so sweet.” Namor purred and you bit your lip.

Namor noticed that and laid back on the couch. He pulled you on top of him and kissed you softly and his hands roamed your curves. “Namor...” You moaned. Namor pulled back from the kiss and smiled.

The sunlight seeped through the windows of your bedroom and you slowly opened your eyes. You rubbed your eyes and slowly sat up. “Did...Did I dream all that?” You whispered to yourself. You got off of the bed and rushed over to the living room. The couch was empty but there was something on the coffee table.

“It’s time for you to sleep darling, tomorrow night, visit me at the shores and this time don’t fall off the bridge.”

You chuckled and nodded. Namor gently rested your head under his chin and wrapped his arms around you. He stroked your hair and you closed your eyes.

A small golden box...

You rubbed your head to try and soothe the hangover so you could keep your balance as you walked to the table. You sat down on the couch and opened the golden box and gasped at what was inside. It was a jade bracelet and you removed it gently from the box. You held it up and smiled softly.

“Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all...”

Author’s Note: Namor says ‘Don’t drink and swim kids!’

Tagging: @namorwife, @nannieyoungblood, @quackimilktea, @pinkthick, @ribcorest, @icytrickster17, @darkangelchronicles, @deliciousfestsalad

#namor x reader #namor x you

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sometimes-love-is-enough · 1 year

Text

Let’s talk about 16th century Italian theatre.

No wait come back I promise this is actually related to Sanders Sides

So, last night I was talking with some friends about an AU I’m currently working on. I’ve been away from the Sanders Sides fandom for a good while now, but recently my hyperfixation reactivated and now my brain is so ready to write a ridiculously long longfic with a convoluted premise and horrifying implications. (I’m like 25k in. Having the time of my life. No doubt I’ll talk about it more later. This isn’t about that.)

Since I’m not the sort of person who usually writes AUs - I prefer to stick to canonverse, and canonverse-adjacent fics - I eventually brought up how worried I always am about characterization of the Sides in AUs. Because although I do adore an AU; I devour Love and Other Fairytales like candy and think about Lavender For Luck all the time and don’t even get me started on WIBAR, when it comes to my own writing, I secondguess myself a lot. I don’t like to stray too far from canon concepts and characterization. I get worried when I don’t draw enough connections to things that happen in the series, because it feels like a betrayal of the source material - if I change a character dynamic from how it’s usually portrayed, I spend entirely too long thinking about how to make it work.

And someone else said, well, I don’t usually worry about that sort of thing very much anymore.

And I said, why not?

And they said, well, I haven’t watched the actual show for ages. I mainly treat the Sides as stock characters for the stories I write, and my brain fucking exploded.

...Exploded in a good way. I have to stress this so, so hard. My personal opinions on writing characterization and AUs apply just to my writing. I judge my own work entirely too harshly and work too hard at Getting Characterization right, and that doesn’t apply to other people’s work or AUs at all, I enjoy them all without a problem. This meta isn’t about OOC being a bad thing, or AUs that are completely removed from their source material being a bad thing, because they aren’t, not at all, they’re a form of creative expression just like any fanwork. And if someone starts getting on your case about that sort of thing, just... just block them.

Anyway, where was I. Exploding brain? Ah yes.

So a few other people chimed into the conversation at this point, agreeing that in a lot of cases, the Sides for them were stock characters with fun names, established personalities and tropes to play around with, and part of the fun for them at this point came less from interaction with canon and more about interactions with friends and fellow writers. Which is very different to how I do things. I was fascinated, and my brain had one big delighted thought, oh shit! You’re treating the Sides like Commedia Dell’arte characters! I get it now!

(Disclaimer: I haven’t done drama or theatre for a good while now. If I make a factual mistake, either patiently bear with me or gently correct me.)

Commedia Dell’arte was a form of Italian improv theatre that was first popular in the 16-18th centuries through Europe, and didn’t have any proper established plots or scripts. The actors were almost never the same from performance to performacne, the comedy was over-the-top and often satirical and absurd in its physicality, it focused on plots about romance and jealousy and love. Emphasis on an ensemble cast. Very stylized, very distinctive. Here’s one beng performed in Venice, for the Vibes.

[image description: a photo shot of two masked people in period costume conversing on a small wooden stage, taken over the heads of a crowd in Venice.]

The key, the thing that ties all Commedia Dell’arte together? The stock characters. There’s a list of all of these character archetypes, all with specific names and associated masks assigned to them, and when you’re performing this sort of theatre, all the actors pick one of the archetypes and put on a mask and work out what the situation is, and bam, you’re on the stage and off to the races. You’ve got the servant of two masters, the stuttering statesmen, the Sad Clown (relatable), the utterly obsessed lovers who won’t stop making doe eyes at each other on stage from behind those masks of theirs.

Pretty freaky-looking masks, admittedly. Look at that nose on Naso Turco, the sly servant!

[image description: eight blue-and-black stylized Commedia Dell’arte masks, all labelled with their roles]

And the thing is, audiences would recognize these archetypes upon seeing them - it wasn’t so much about having characters that were perfectly ported from one story to another, like you might have in adaptations of fairy tales, it’s more about the archetypes. The personalities. Their status, and the way they interact with one another. Apparently all of the original cast of stock characters (you can find a list of them on Wikipedia, or maybe elsewhere) were "originally intended as a kind of characteristic representative of some particular Italian district or town." They’re representations of archetypes. You might even say that they’re conceptual representations.

Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s not hard to see where I’m going with this.

In Commedia, stock characters are almost never played by the same actors because the cast is always different, and might be an entirely different theatre troupe - so the way of recognizing certain archetypes is by their clothing style, or other symbolic context clues.

And that’s exactly how you recognize the Sides in fanworks when the AU is too far divorced from canon to understand them otherwise. If you’ve changed their ethnicity, or genderbent them, or given then a different species, you look for the context clues because at this point you’ve learned to read them like a language.

If it’s just fanart, or the names haven’t been brought up yet, how do you tell it’s Roman? Well, Roman’s costume is pretty distinctive, even when modified - and failing that, even if he’s just in jeans and a t-shirt, or even if he’s an indistinct jello-y blob floating in the distant reaches of space - he’s going to be the red blob. They’re color-coded for our convinience. Virgil’s stormclouds and spiders, Janus has his snakes and almost always has something going on with one side of his face.

Do you find this delightful? I hope you do. Because I do. I find it really, really delightful, and I’d never put conscious thought into this before last night. The Sides aren’t quite as flat and archetypal as the colorful cast of Commedia Dell’arte - they’re more fleshed out, for one thing, and even if writers don’t always pull on it, there’s canon backstory and plotlines to draw from. But they’re still archetypes, deliberately so in the context of canon. Someone in the server I was discussing this in summed it up really nicely - [..] we have Roman the artist, we have Janus for all the drama and deception, we have clever Logan to represent the science spirit. We have Patton for the morale lessons. We have Virgil for the memento mori style, and we have Remus for all the gore and dark comedic relief.

Which is such a great updating of all of the classic theatrical archetypes. Because (although Italian improv theatre is still performed! People still use these old roles and costumes, but it’s definitely more historical than modern) the idea of servants and masters and cunning peasants and all the complicated dynamics between these roles, well... it isn’t super relevant to modern storytelling. When Commedia Dell’arte is performed nowadays, it’s almost never hashtag-relatable in the way it used to be. You know what’s more relatable? Archetypes of the nerd who doesn’t acknowledge his emotions, the grumpy loner with a heart of gold, the theatre kid who won’t stop singing. You can take those and all of the rest and shove them into all manner of situations, and you can make some really cool stories out of that.

(National Theatre has a really nice video breaking down this theatre form a lot better than I can, with details I didn’t include here. Check it out here if you’re interested. It also includes details about the various archetypes’ physicalities and movements, which I think is kind of interesting, because in canon Sanders Sides the character’s physicalities are terrifyingly recognizable. That’s not really relevant to the idea of AU Improv Theatre, though, so I won’t poke any further at that thought. ANYWAY.)

I’ll level with you: some of the things people write in this fandom, I just don’t vibe with and I don’t get, and I’m okay with that. It’s the maxim of Mind Your Own Business, I just don’t interact and I keep on moving in my own lane. But, like... maybe I don’t need to get it. I’m pretty sure there were people in 1600s Europe who showed up to a Commedia Dell’arte performance and went ‘no, this one isn’t for me, did you see how they absolutely butchered the characterization of the Innamorati? Disgraceful’. But for many other people, maybe that particular performance just hit the spot, because they’d always wanted to see an interpretation just like that, that diverged from the norm just a little bit. And even if nobody in the audience at all liked it, maybe the performers were having enough of a blast that it more than made up for it.

And if not any of that - well, there’s always the next show!

[image description: four masked Commedia Dell’arte performers crowded around a prop cafe table, exclaiming dramatically over a menu that they’re all bent over.]

I don’t know if my brain will ever be chill enough to let me write something completely separated from canon. (Although... now that I’m typing that, I recognize that the chessboxing AU is not so much separated from canon as a tragic widower of a dinosaur-related apocalyptic divorce. Okay. Nevermind. Still, you probably get where I’m coming from.) And I’m probably not going to stop treating characterization like I’m going to be sentenced by a vicious panel of judges to a cruel and untimely death if I get the slightest bit of it wrong, but... I don’t know. The realization that it’s all comes back to this makes me happy, somehow. Just generally joyful about the state of the fandom, and the things that people create, and the community that’s been built up around it.

Commedia is all about exploring stuff in improv like love and romance and dynamics, and isn't that exactly what we're doing as writers? Throwing character archetypes together and making them kiss and talk to see what will happen? It's not really improv, but it's not like we have any stage to act on except the AO3 posting page.

We didn't set out to make the characters from a web series into stock archetypes that so many people pick up and play with to Work Out Our Issues With. (Writing is free therapy. We all knew that already.) That was definitely not the original intention of Sanders Sides - or any similar fandom, actually. (I know TSS isn’t the only one this happens in, not even close.)

But, hey, we're humans, and it always comes back to us wanting to play. And there's nothing new under the sun, not really. Of course given an infinite internet sandbox and a goofy web series about some guy’s identity crisis, we would accidentally reinvent the original Italian comedy theatre. That’s kind of brilliant.

You know what, I think 16th century Italians would enjoy Sanders Sides AUs a lot. I bet they’d make some pretty banger masks for the boys to wear.

God, I wish I had a time machine.

#sanders sides #sanders sides meta #min goes off the rails #(a tag that has not seen use for a while! i don't write much meta these days)#this may be deeply pretentious but also it hit me like a ton of bricks. i get it now. i get it

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