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prettieinpink · 5 months

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HAVING AN INTENTIONAL ROOM

Your room is the most important place in your life. You sleep, wake up, heal and experience many emotions just in your room. You have to take care of your room, so it is spiritually the ideal place to grow into the best version of yourself.

KEEPING YOUR ROOM CLEAN

Keeping your room free of mess is an act of mindfulness and self-discipline that supports your overall journey and connects you with your higher self. It helps with promoting clarity, and cultivating inner balance and is an everyday self-care ritual.

Make your bed every day. You have to respect the place in which you sleep and heal.

Hang up clean clothes after the day or put any dirty clothes in your laundry hamper, avoid tossing them on the floor.

Find a place for everything, and know where everything is. If you do not know where each thing in your room is located, you either have too much clutter or you’re disorganised.

Tidy up your room daily, neatly putting everything away in its place. If needed, buy a few organisers.

Don’t leave rubbish for extended periods. Treat your room like a temple, don’t disrespect it, and pick up after yourself.

Try to avoid eating meals in your bedroom. We forget the dirty dishes over time, and it stinks and attracts unwanted bugs.

Change bed sheets regularly. Once a week at the most, for more hygienic reasons though.

Remove unwanted items on your bedside table. Keep it minimal and intentional with anything you want to place on it.

Regularly clean up the dust in your room, using a duster or a damp microfiber cloth on all of the surfaces.

ENCOURAGING GROWTH IN YOUR LIFE

A room designed to encourage inner growth serves as a physical reminder of your commitment to self-improvement, personal development, and overall well-being. It creates an environment helpful to improvement, self-reflection, and positive change.

Keep specific areas of your room designated to one task in your life. For me, my desk is for productivity, my bed is for resting or relaxing and my bedroom floor is for mindful activities.

Throw away any items that do not serve a purpose to you anymore. Avoid keeping items that bring you painful or harmful memories.

Minimise the presence of technology in your room. I suggest having zones in your room which is device-free or having a time of day in which devices are not allowed in your room.

Create a vision board poster in your room that you can see every day, which helps to visualise and motivate you to create your dream life.

Place meaningful quotes, affirmations, mantras or prayers as reminders of the values, mindsets or intentions you wish to cultivate in your life.

Display personal achievements. If you won any awards or certificates, place them in a way in which you can view them every day. If you have done something in your life that you think is an achievement but have no award to display, just simply create your own. Buy some balsawood and glue it together to create your own medal.

Place items that align with the habits or routines you want to cultivate in your life so that they are easily accessible. Put a workout mat in the corner, always have your journal on your desk or have a cold water bottle ready to go when you wake up.

3. DECORATING YOUR ROOM TO REFLECT YOU

Decorating your room in a way that reflects your true self brings a sense of authenticity and comfort. It creates a nurturing environment that allows for self-expression, reflection, and personal growth which ultimately contributes to your journey of inner development.

Make a mood board or vision board of how you would want your room to look, how it supports you and how it makes you feel. Choose a colour scheme in this process as well.

Add candles or incense that you think embodies who you are, or who you want to be. For example, if I want to be a cleaner person, I would choose a candle that smells like fresh linen.

Put up posters of things that you like, people who you look up to or anything that expresses who you are.

Add a canopy to your bed while you sleep. So cute, and I believe it helps protect you from any unwanted energy entering through you while you sleep.

Add a rug, even if you already have carpet, to enhance the cozy ambience of the room.

An ottoman at the end of the bed can elevate your room to look more expensive, if needed, it can also be an organiser for your extra things.

Put life in your room, adding low-maintenance plants or flowers can liven it up. A little extra, research some plants or flowers meaning’s and pick one that resonates with you.

Display any of your favourite jewellery, bags, clothing pieces, or make-up around your room. A nice way to appreciate what you have, without actually using them.

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bump1nthen1ght · 2 months

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Do the Crime, Pay the Time (M!Reader x M!Undead Knight)

Pairing: Male!Artist!Reader x Male!Undead Knight

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Misunderstandings

Warnings: Extremely Dubious Consent, No preparation

Word Count: 2254 words

Summary: All you had wanted was to paint, to decorate these abandoned ruins with your art. But it seems your presence is unwanted at these ‘abandoned’ ruins.

Request: i have an idea for a request,,

how bout an Undead Male Knight x Male Graffiti Artist

The Graffiti artist would wander into some ruins away from the city to paint a mural, unknowing of its origins and get caught by the Undead Knight…

Maybe some punishment for trespassing on the ruined kingdoms property,,? 🥹

You should have known this place was too good to be true.

You had stumbled upon it wandering one day, shocked that the crumbling ruins weren't kept behind a “KEEP OUT - PRIVATE PROPERTY” sign. That wouldn’t have stopped you, of course, but the fact the large complex was seemingly abandoned made it all the more interesting.

Most of the ceiling had caved in, remnants of flying buttress and great arches overgrown with moss and water damage. Some remains of stained glass lay shattered on the ground, brushed into the corners by the wind or wandering animals.

But what takes your attention is the surprisingly intact wall, clean of debris and dust. It’s perfect for a mural, and on first site the painting is already forming in your head.

You head home to pack up supplies and pray it stays unsigned by the next day. Your arms shake from all your equipment - a ladder, cans, some brushes and paints - and you mentally cheer once you see the clear wall left intact.

The high of uninhibited artistic creation must dull your senses, because you do not hear the crunching of rusted armor or the dragging of long-slept limbs. No, it’s not until you’re being choke slammed into your easel that you realize this place was very much inhabited.

“Speak your name, intruder.”

Your attacker’s voice is low, tense and full of authority. Your nails scramble at the armored hand holding you up, trying to pry them off your throat.

I need to breathe to speak, you psycho!

You try to scream with your eyes, feeling your vision go spotty.

All you can see of your assailant is a glowing green eye, trembling like an open flame out from their dark helm. The light from it hints at something underneath, bleach white like bone, but it must be from the lack of oxygen to your brain. Surely he isn’t-

The man loosens his hold on your jugular, blood rushing back in as you suck in a deep breath. You slowly regain your faculties, and your eyes begin to adjust in the low light of the morning.

“I didn’t realize-”

The arm pushes you further against the wall, raising you so your legs dangle like a ragdoll.

“I asked for your name, not an excuse.”

The voice says, no less angry than before. A filtered beam of sunlight comes through one of the stained glass windows, and you see another glimpse of his face.

Your brain hasn't deceived you. It was bone, a stripped clean skull right underneath a fiery green eye. But it was only one half, the other side being that of a shockingly handsome knight, sharp cheekbones and a smatter of freckles. His more human eyes are the same acid-green as the other, but doesn’t burn or glow the same way.

“___! My name is ____!” You gasp, hands still desperately trying to rip away his fingers.

The knight hums, eyes rolling down your form. It’s just some painter's overalls and a t-shirt, surely different from the thieves and nobles he is more familiar with.

“Why do you trespass on this place that is not your own?” He commands, holding you up with minimal effort. The bulk underneath his armor must not be just for show, especially with the large greatsword he wields on his back.

“I didn’t know someone was here! I just wanted-” You choke, feeling the palm of his armor digging into your jaw. You tap it furiously, and the knight must deem you harmless enough to set you down on the ground without a fight.

You drop to your butt, hands clutching what is surely your bruised throat.

“I just wanted to paint.” You urge, trying your best to seem innocent and non-threatening. This dude seems to have a hair-trigger temper.

The human eye appraises you again, the knight humming with burgeoning thoughts.

“I see.” The bared teeth of his skull clink together as his mouth grits, brow half-furrowing as he thinks on what to do with you. You eye that massive sword, brain going for the worst.

“Listen, I can go right now. I won’t tell anyone about this place, and once again I am so sorry-”

A palm is in your face, the other creasing the growing knot in the knight's brow. He seems less angry now, more frustrated. The bared teeth clink together.

He keeps his thoughts to himself as he stews, seemingly having a mini argument in his head.

“I see you are not a thief, nor do you seem to have…” Both eyes roll down your outfit again, taking stock in your lack of weapons or tools, “...nefarious intentions. But nonetheless you have disturbed this holy place, and for that my cursed commands I punish you.”

You grab your throat, instincts somehow believing your hand could stop that sword from separating your head from the rest of your body.

But the knight just sighs, arms not going for his great sheath, and instead kneels before you.

The gauntlet is cold against your flushed cheek, the knight's hand nearly the size of your face as he tilts your jaw to him. His face has fallen back to flat, contemplative and in control.

The human iris feels hot as it looks down the column of your neck, eyes your heaving chest, still full with nervous breaths. You think you see it sweeping lower, lower, before darting back.

“I suppose I can provide punishment in an alternative way to the convention.” The knight grips your jaw, yanking you forward.

His glowing eye is hard to look away from. You feel like a moth, drawn in by the flickering emerald spits in his eye. Your heart thuds in your ears, wondering if you’re about to get the beating of a lifetime

And then the bastard kisses you.

Well, half-kisses you. The lips he has are soft and plump, conveying a lot of experience with one smooth motion. The bone is a little more jarring, jagged teeth crashing against yours, yet making the same movements as the lips.

All in all though, not the worst kiss you’ve ever had.

The knight pulls away, no breath being lost on his end as a string of saliva connects your wet lips. Both eyes burn with something familiar,and he flicks a tongue across his half-lip.

“Yes, I think this will do perfectly.”

Before you can clarify, the knight meets you in another steaming kiss. It's quicker than the last, lips traveling down your neck and sucking hickies into the flesh. The knight seems particularly enraptured by your pulse, lingering and nipping at the pumping blood.

Ok, I guess this is happening.

You don’t really have a place to complain, as it seems your options are this or grave bodily harm. But even so, the flight-or-fight, survival monkey part of your brain tries to see the bright side. The bright side being that this guy isn’t too bad looking, and seems to be a very affectionate lover.

“U-uh mister knight-” You stutter out, brain beginning to bounce back from the shock of the last five minutes, “-what may I call you?”

“Sir Arthur.”

“Okay, Sir Arthur.” Your voice becomes breathily as Sir Arthur’s hands drift down your coveralls, deftly undoing your straps and yanking your pants loose around the waist. A metal hand caresses under your leg, groping the bottom of your thigh before reaching the fat of your ass, where it pushes and kneads like it was bread dough. Your body's instinctive reaction is to lurch forward, unintentionally grinding your crotch against his. There's muffled growls against your skin, and those gauntlets are back to yanking off your pants and underwear.

The castle floors send goosebumps down your bare legs, Arthur’s armor feeling ixy as he throws them over his thighs. The steel sends a jolt through you, your hips canting backwards as your cock feels the cold steel. But Sir Arthur’s grip is strong, his forearm keeping your power back in place. His hips swivel, groaning as he paws at your ass.

Does he even have a-

Your sarcastic question is answered with a couple pull of straps and the clank of armor falling to the ground. Something hot, heavy, and sticky thwaps against your stomach, brushing against your cock.

Sir Artur is still lost in kissing your shoulder, leaving several hickeys behind, and you feel comfortable letting your eyes drift downward. Unsurprisingly, his inhuman cock is as green as his eye, though luckily not on fire. No, in fact the ghost-cock seems to ooze a neon fluid, not dissimilar from cheap ectoplasm effects in movies.

Well, I guess we don’t need lube.

Your thoughts take a turn as you're suddenly thrown on your back, ankles still hooked around his back as Sir Arthur pins you to the ground. He’s pulled away from your neck, now focused on pushing your thighs back to your chest.

“Too long I have been without touch. This heat-” Sir Arthur’s chest rumbles with a purr, the flaming eye pulsing, “-it’s addictive.”

A warm head pushes against your entrance and you thank whoever’s up there for that spooky slime he has going on, because wow this man was packing.

Sir Arthur takes his time sinking inside of you, savoring every second of stretching you open. His armor clinks together as his body shutters, head thrown back in a moan.

“By the gods.” He swears in a dead language as he reaches his hilt, green drool seeping out of his skull jaw. A keening whine comes for your chest, your cock twitching as the tapered head grazes against your prostate.

The first thrust is tentative, but Sir Arthur seems encouraged by the yelp which explodes between your bitten lips. The nex thrust is slightly faster, sending a shock of pleasure all the way down your spine. Your toes curl behind his back, a drunken haze making your nerve ends tingle.

Sir Arthur’s armor trembles again, but it seems he’s found the rhythm he needs, and begins fuckign to you with a feevent desperation. Trails of slime connect your ass cheeks to his crotch as he thrusts down and into you, raspy breaths leaking from between his ribs.

Beads of precum bubble at your tip, cock aching for a single touch. Your balls twitch and tighten with each of his guided humps, all targeted perfectly at your sensitive spot. Bubbles of blood come from your worried bottom lip, and your needy moans echo across the destroyed ruins of the castle.

A part of you prays no one else stumbles upon this site and overhears your debauchery, sees you spread wide open for this hulking beast of a corpse. This knight who is far too good at fucking, whose cock deserves to have a dildo modeled after it. With a slime function, of course.

Heavy balls slap against your ass, cold trails of Sir Arthur’s ooze dripping down your ass crack and onto the floor. An armored thumb presses down on your lower lip, prodding you to open your mouth. With a brain too cock-drunk to fight your jaw opens easily, the taste of polished metal on your tongue.

“Suck, whore.” Sir Arthur commands, voice dripping with desire. Your tongue wraps around each groove and sucks, your cheeks hollowing as Sir Arthur groans at the sight. The tears bubbling at the corners of your eyes, the mating press, it all drives him wild. The position of knight suits him well if all it takes is a little power to make him horny.

He’s not a particularly loud lover, Sir Arthur. Most of the noises is slapping skin and clinking armor, only some low grunts and curses joining the cacophony as fucks you with more and more fervor. But it’s the way his fiery eye begins to ignite, the way he bites his half lip enough to draw sickly green blood, and the tightness of his balls which tell you he’s close.

“I’m going to fill you to the brim.” Sir Arthur punctuates his sentence with a hard thrust against your prostate, spots dotting your vision. “You will leak of me for days, trespasser. I will make sure of it.”

You feel your own orgasm brewing in your stomach, cock weeping as your balls grow tight. Your eyes roll to the back of your skull.

“F-fuck.” Sir Arthur draws out his vowel as he ends with several harried thrusts, hilted deep inside when he finally climaxes. What feels like a gallon of oozing, green-tinted cum fills you up, bursting from between the seams of your connection and spurting into the floor. He was right, you will be leaking him for days. Your own orgasms comes just as dramatically, mouth open inna breathless scream as you finish all over your stomach,

You don’t quite remember him leaving you, only the gaping emptiness left behind. It's taking a bit for your consciousness to reboot, to remember where you are. But there’s the sensation of cold against your skin, a wet rag rubbing down your sore entrance and across your stomach. A dull heat radiates through metal, massaging your thighs and neck as you’re laid on your back.

True warmth comes in the form of a heavy blanket, and your eyes flutter close under its softness.

“Rest your eyes, artist.” Sir Arthur whispers. “I will escort you back when you awake.”

Your last thoughts are vague, somewhat remembering the various paints you brought with you, and the pain they’ll be to carry home unemptied.

#my writing #reader insert #monster romance #male reader insert #monster x reader #requests

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jadeazora · 7 months

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A bit of review/overall thoughts for the Teal Mask.

Overall, a much better attempt compared to DLC1 of SwSh. The Isle of Armor was pretty cool, but the storyline was pretty bland overall. I found the story much more engaging here, especially when we get the true story of what happened between the "Loyal" Three and Ogerpon.

Speaking of the new Legendaries, the L3 are interesting with how much intelligence they show (from knowing how valuable the masks are and traveling across regions to get to Kitakami to clearly planning their revenge on Ogerpon right in front of you and Carmine) and how they might have been corrupted by the Toxic Chain. Ogerpon is also really cute with how much personality she shows. I feel SV really did a great job with bonding us with our Legendary partners overall.

Also with the Loyal Three, there's a number of interesting guesses about how they came back to life. My initial assumption was that it was something like them feeding on Kieran's anger and resentment to reawaken themselves, but there's also the theories that he was possessed by the Toxic Chain (we do see a purple glow travel up his arm during the scene if you pay very close attention, so it's possible this is where he would be possessed) and the rumors of the crystals from the Crystal Pool possibly bringing the dead back to life, since Carmine mentions a rumor where people have met those who have passed away there, and Kieran was hanging around with the Mask that had been imbued with those crystals.

(As an aside, SV has very much of a corrupted wishes vibe, from the Professor and their vision of a utopia would cause an ecological disaster to Paldea, to the Loyal Three wishing for beauty/power/intelligence when they made contact with the Toxic Chain at the possible cost of their morality, and how Kieran wishes to become stronger than the player but falls into his obsession at the end.)

Honestly, Kieran's launched himself into being one of my favorite rivals with the game seemingly building him up as a problem for the Indigo Disk storyline, but it's neat how the siblings undergo a complete reversal with how they view the protagonist. He's also a pretty decent challenge, with a fully-evolved team of six in the low-mid Lv70s all packing held items. (If you're doing this after you completed the main story of SV.) He puts up a much better fight than Geeta does, for sure, and I hope he gets to meet your base-game rivals in the next storyline.

Carmine is also really fun, especially when she starts warming up to us, but I do hope she gets called out for her earlier treatment of her brother, and how she started this whole mess by lying to him. Like, I don't think he would have felt left out by us just randomly running into Ogerpon. We thought it was a child until it dropped its mask, we could have just explained that to him. We're the new kid, how would we know any better or what the ogre looks like? I guess she might have been worried that two little kids would just climb up this dangerous mountain at night, but it still lead to more problems.

I loved Perrin's sidequest too, and hope we see her again in the Indigo Disk! Bloodmoon Ursaluna is so cool (already one of my fave Gen9 Pokemon and regional variants), and can actually give you a pretty fierce battle if you go in with a new team.

Kitakami still feels a little empty imo, just like the base game, but there's a good amount of small caves that sometimes have rare Pokemon inside, and places like the Chilling Waterhead that I wouldn't even know was there if not for Fezandipiti. Some other areas are also visually cool, like the Crystal Pool (interesting to see those crystals from Area Zero are showing up in other regions as well) and the Fellhorn Gorge.

I'm really excited for the Indigo Disk now, like full-on brainrot mode rn, and feel the Teal Mask really does a pretty good job of building up the second part of the DLC with all the little teasers we get. (In comparison, SwSh's DLC felt more separate between the two halves.) I feel they haven't shown much of the story aside (from the BB League/battling stuff), so things are probably going to get pretty crazy, especially with certain things the datamine has given us, in Pt2, and I really can't wait to see what happens next!

#pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #pokemon sv spoilers #pokemon sv dlc #pokemon kieran #rival kieran #rival carmine #pokemon carmine #loyal three #fezandipiti #munkidori #okidogi #the teal mask #the hidden treasure of area zero #ogerpon

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creatingnikki · 3 months

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at seventeen, I don't think I ever thought about the future in a way that then seemed so distant, a future that in my vision did not exist — ten years later, me at twenty seven.

had I thought about it then, I don't have much clue now as to what I would have pictured. but would it be this:

three days after turning twenty seven listening to the scientist by Coldplay, fetching out my hardbound gold and black edition of looking for alaska by john green on a Saturday evening. wearing a bottle green cropped hoodie, hair in a messy bun, clutching the book to my chest, crying as random snippets of being in high school having such an innocent and unsullied idea of the world and the people in it flash in my head.

grieving. isn't that what this is? life is a labyrinth of suffering — I had read it back at 17 and I didn't realize this in its true essence. so I guess this is me grieving my loss of innocence.

but it's not all so sad and tragic. the answer to how do we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering is not one I yet have but I'm finding moments that have begun to answer it nonetheless.

friday game nights with new friends, post dinner walks where we talk about the films we love and the books that found a place in our hearts and stayed. why else do I come back home on Saturday and go through my book collection to pick this particular book that I haven't touched in a decade?

I used to always get mad at people when they hated on the sitcom how I met your mother's ending because they missed the point — it was never quite about the mother but who Ted had to become in order to meet her. and just in that fashion have I not missed the point of all the books and TV shows and movies I've ever loved:

the point of love and friendship is not to protect you like some guardian angel though often it can have that effect. nor is the point to fulfil you though they are integral in contentment and satisfaction overall. the point of friends and lovers is not to preserve your sanity when it is racing to its death like a burning cigarette though it can many times help.

I do not know what the point is, if I'm being honest. but I know that the point of this life of mine is to be a friend and lover to myself. how? maybe I need to reread my favourite books again to come closer to that answer. maybe I need to face the truth more bravely. at twenty seven, I'm sure I've mustered that much courage, perspective, and compassion for myself.

as I light my favourite candles and end my birthday week, I know this — the seventeen year old me did well, the twenty seven year old me will do better, and the thirty seven year old me will do even more fantastically.

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under-lore · 7 months

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Do you agree with Nochocolate post "cooperation, not corruption"?

That post is one that i find to be both very correct and very wrong depending on which part of it you're asking about.

Whilst Nochocolate can be a pretty good blog in terms of purely gathering information about a topic, their actual analysis of that information often tends to suffer a lot from confirmation bias compared to other UT blogs.

That is especially true for Chara in particular, Nochocolate team has a particular vision of Chara (which you can see in their AU : Caretaker of the Ruins) and often ends up twisting the facts to make it line up with their version of the character. To the point where the screenshots they show and the conclusions they make based on those images sometimes contradict each other. I would suggest keeping an open eye when reading their Chara related posts in particular. (their other posts are much better, though)

At its worse, this can result in posts like this one, which is quite blatantly wrong in nearly everything it tries to argue in its last section and was quite obviously only posted because Nochocolate made their Chara masculine.

That particular post's most recurrent issue though is jumping to conclusions far too quickly and bias in the wording.

Its also really long, so going through it bit by bit to detail all of that would be quite boring (especially since a lot of it would be nitpicking every couple paragraphs.)

Making a detailed post covering that same topic with evidence is something that i may do in the future, but for now here are a few key talking points :

LOVE does have some amount of impact on one's behavior, however, Nochocolate is right in saying that LOVE couldn't have been the sole reason for Chara's aggressive behavior in genocide (as shown by the more aggressive variants of the neutral routes). Chara's decision to cooperate with the player and go along with the route is and remains their own choice. Whilst they were influenced, they were not "corrupted" either and remain responsible for their own actions. The overall idea that gave its name to the post is mostly right, but it was exagerated quite significantly.

However, neither LOVE nor kills scales with Chara's ability to control Frisk ! Rather, Chara is present and is capable of exerting control on Frisk in any route (and does ! This is actually one of the things where Nochoco contradicts themselves). But they however do not decide to exert it so assertively in other paths than in genocide. (This particular assumption causes many minor issues throughout the post. Tying multiple things to Chara's presence/influence/etc... that just aren't.)

The genocide route is mechanically driven by kills and by unique encounters indeed. Although, those are not takeover requirements as much as they serve both as help and as requests to the player. For instance, Chara themself decides to abort the genocide route if Snowdrake isn't killed, even if the kill count is fulfilled. The helping/guiding goes both ways. That is why we are "partners" after all.

Frisk isn't ever "replaced" either, they're still openly present, stated as having conscious feelings and opinions on what is happening up until the very end of the route, however Chara's increased assertiveness makes their influence feel relatively weaker within the PFC. (The entire post tends to try and ignore Frisk as a factor in general for the sake of their narrative. Multiple things which are from Frisk get pushed into Chara instead without solid evidence.)

#undertale #chara #undertale chara #chara undertale #frisk #frisk undertale #undertale frisk #undertale player

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tripleyeeet · 3 months

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40 SHADES OF CHOKE

SUMMARY: Astarion's grumpy, Bea's a brat... I'm sure you can figure out what happens next.

PAIRING: Astarion & Original Female Character (Bea belongs to @tatterings!)

WORD COUNT: 2,475

WARNINGS: 18+ sexual content, brat taming, face fucking, knife play, a little bit of degradation/dirty talk (but not a ton), overall just two rogues getting nasty in the woods.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What started out as a mere art trade has become one of my favourite smut pieces, so I'm posting with permission because y'all deserve to be exposed to the beautiful little gremlin that is Bea!

MASTERLIST

It doesn’t take much to get on Astarion’s nerves. With the patience of an already lit fuse, a lot of the camp has learned to tiptoe around him. Surveying certain behaviours through a cautious scope, by now it’s a well-known fact that it’s best to just leave him alone when he’s in one of his moods.

Having experienced their own individual moments of his wrath, even Lae’zel who’s often known to lack the care of offending others has found it’s just easier to avoid the conflict altogether. To distance oneself from the brooding vampire as he wanders around camp, muttering angrily under his breath. Sometimes tossing a knife or two at whatever tree enters his vision first.

Coincidentally, today is a knife-tossing day. As he strides past the back of Bea’s tent late into the night, she can hear the repeated thunk of his blade making contact. The aggressive sound repeating over and over until she can’t help but scrunch up her face in annoyance, wondering what the hell he’s doing.

Or more so, why he’s doing it. Especially this late at night when everyone’s trying to relax.

Poking her head out of her tent, she immediately notices that no one’s around. Most likely having already called it a night, all that’s left is her and him, prompting a sigh to slip through her lips as she crawls around to find her boots. Slipping them on with a soft groan before she inevitably steps through the canvas and makes her way over.

“I can’t believe you didn’t ask me to play,” she says, pouting at the back of his head as he flicks his wrist in front of him, the blade shooting out in a precise line that, unsurprisingly, sticks the landing.

“Are you offended?”

After he speaks, he turns to flash her a sly grin. The kind that makes her own lips twist in amusement as she steps into his space; her hands lingering for a moment at her sides before they creep towards his torso. “Terribly, actually,” she tells him. Allowing her fingers to slip across the fabric of his shirt, her dominant hand moving down while the other goes up.

Almost immediately, it piques the vampire’s interest. As her fingers trail soft, distractive patterns, he can’t help but watch. Staring at the ends of her nails threatening to dig further in as they eventually brush against the exposed part of his chest.

“And why’s that?”

“Because I thought we were friends.” This time, her pout is more pronounced. As she pushes her lower lip out, she begins to dramatically bat her eyes up at him, watching the way he turns away, shaking his head.

“Friends.”

The word sounds foreign on his tongue. Despite having heard her refer to him as such a multitude of times, he still finds himself questioning whether it’s true. Considering their relationship has been… well, mostly physical for a good portion of their time together, it’s rather hard to imagine them as friends. Lovers? Sure. Enjoyers of the world and all its endless debauchery? Absolutely. But friends?

Slowly, his palm moves to cup her cheek. The contrast of their skin tones melding together as he brushes his thumb across the markings that line her under eyes. “Is there a reason you’re feeling so sentimental tonight? Have I not given you enough attention, darling?”

His tone, despite probably sounding sweet and soft to the average ear, feels like a threat in Bea’s. A series of words phrased as a cautionary tale that she’ll inevitably ignore the warnings of, knowing deep down he enjoys it. These subtle moments of defiance. The ones where she pokes and prods for no other reason but to selfishly push him to the brink of madness.

A madness both of them can feel slowly building. Based on the way he bites through his words, revealing teeth so sharp it has Bea gulping with excitement, trying not to move too quickly lest she forget to savour it.

“It has been a while since we’ve had a little fun.”

In response, Astarion clicks his tongue and lowers his hand. Slowly slipping it down the edge of her face, it eventually rests against her neck —his thumb lingering at the base of her throat as she swallows hard. Pushing down ever so slightly with a low hum that has her thighs clenching together.

“You’re allowed to ask, you know.”

All she does is scrunch up her face in annoyance, using the lower of her two hands to grab his belt loop and pull him close, causing him to huff. “That’s no fun though.”

“Neither is being manhandled by some brat.”

Opening her mouth in false offence, she roughly pats his shoulder and scoffs. “How dare you! I’m a good girl.”

Once again, Astarion huffs —this time more humorously. As if subtly mocking her as he tightens the hold he has on her throat. Testing the waters ever so slightly before lowering his head to brush his nose against hers.

“Good girls ask.”

As soon as he says it, she’s a goner. Lost to the perpetual bliss of what’s to come, all she can do is laugh. An almost malicious giggle erupting from her lips as he violently maneuvers her to the ground. Forcing her down to her knees with enough force to already feel the bruises forming.

“You never learn, do you?”

Suddenly gripping the base of her hair, she feels her neck quickly rip backwards. The subtle outburst of pain in her scalp causing her previous grin to shift even wider as she groans. A sound she knows he hates —or rather, hates to love based on the way he chucks her aside, cursing under his breath. All while pulling out the blade attached to his hip before he dives back in, pressing her further into the grass.

“Ooh, what are you gonna do with that? Slice me open or something?”

While wiggling her brows, she can’t help but reach up to wrap her arms around his waist, attempting to press herself against him, already expecting him to be hard. Instead, though, he works just as hard to defy her attempts in the form of more aggression; his hands forcing her to fully lie against the grass.

At which point her breath is scarce. A mixture of fear and excitement wrapping around her lungs as she watches him undo his trousers, mumbling profusely about her lack of manners.

“Perhaps I should take a page out of your book,” he practically growls. His voice low and full of irritation. His eyes narrowed and staring —refusing to divert even for the briefest of moments as he haphazardly works to free himself. “I’m sure you’d enjoy that.”

“I would, yeah.”

“I bet you’d love to be stuffed full of me —to feel me burrowed in your holes.”

Already imagining it, she bites her bottom lip and nods. “I bet you’d fuck me so good.”

Ignoring her response, he immediately works his palm across his aching cock once it’s out. Using his fingers to pull the foreskin back, Bea can already feel her mouth-watering. The edges of her tongue slipping down to coat her lower lip in moisture. Happily repping herself for the delicious snack that lingers above.

“I bet you’d love to be stuffed full of me —to feel me burrowed in your holes.”

At first, his movements are slow and steady. Bordering on painful in the way he holds back, she can feel the inside of his thighs tighten around her own. Every muscle begging to be touched, prompting her to reach out only to be driven away by a simple tut. His tongue clicking as he shakes his head and lowers the knife to the side of her neck.

“Whores like you don’t get to touch,” he tells her then. Practically breathing into her mouth as he presses his forehead against hers before ultimately pulling away to readjust his position.

It makes her angry almost immediately. A new-found rage welling up inside her chest as she pushes back the temptation to defy further, knowing that there will be other opportunities. Ones where he’ll be too distracted to care about the caress of her hands or the desperation swelling inside her cunt, feeling him shift further up her torso. Eventually situating himself so that his cock is just slightly out of reach of her mouth.

That cheeky bastard.

Sensing her stress, Astarion then doubles on the relentlessness. Returning to his previous pace, he allows her to watch and nothing else. Regardless of how much she quietly whimpers beneath him, parting her lips like a hungry beggar.

“You look pathetic,” he barks. Suddenly twirling the knife so that the blade faces down as he moves the hilt to her face. Digging the end into the hollow of her cheek while he slowly fucks his hand, deliberately twitching forward so that her tongue makes contact.

In response, she lets out a moan, savouring what little taste she’s been offered before her hands move up to grab the backs of his thighs. Giving them a rough pinch that has him grinding his teeth and moving the handle of the blade into her mouth —roughly pressing the pommel against her tongue.

“Do you lack hearing or are you fucking stupid?”

She wants to respond with the latter. To smack his ass and laugh right into the head of his cock but thanks to the knife slowly slipping further into her mouth all she can do is mumble out a streamline of distorted sounds full of disobedience, hoping he understands.

“Gods, I swear you’re the most infuriating brat I’ve ever met.” ��

As he continues to chastise —speaking in that familiar bite, he continues to move his hand. In long, slow motions, his palm deliciously drags against his pale skin, lingering at the tip so that he can swipe the pre-come away with a swish of his thumb, making Bea narrow her eyes, annoyed that it isn’t her tongue that’s doing it. Frustrated that instead of feeling the taste of his arousal prodding the back of her throat she’s left to taste his blade.

Unfortunately though, despite the anger, all it does is further fuel her defiance. Prompting her hands to shift where they shouldn’t, one moves to wrap around the hand that’s on his cock while the other grips his opposite wrist, latching on for dear life as, all at once, she feels the shock of her actions tensing beneath the surface.

Against her sternum, the tightness of his thighs immediately make her breathless; against her hands both tendons and fingers flex with discomfort, forcing her eyes to move to his, noticing how enraged they are. His stark white scleras acting as the perfect backdrop for his blood-red eyes that dilate in arousal.

An arousal that’s full of temptation. The urge to give in so obviously heavy on his mind as the hand holding the knife falters long enough for her to toss it aside before grabbing his wrist again, panting at the presence of air despite longing for something else to fill her up.

“I can’t… I—I can’t believe you shoved your dirty knife down my fucking throat,” she snaps. “Do you have any idea how many—“

Before she can finish, he’s silencing her with the head of his cock. Forcibly shaking her hands away so that he can grab her chin for support, he fucks her tongue immediately. Moving his hips back and forth far quicker than the pace of his hand, she feels herself gag at the impact. Pools of saliva forming against his skin —drowning them both in pleasure.

“Be a good girl and just shut the fuck up, please,” Astarion says, and for the first time, she listens. Not because she’s full of him, but because he’s earned it by giving her what she truly wants —what she knows he wants.

Which is to be fucked into oblivion by her mouth. To prod her throat with his full length, brutalizing her esophagus in the process so long as he comes.

Gods, just the idea fills her with delight. Her head completely emptying, causing her body to move on its own accord as she bobs her head in time with his hips, splaying her palms across the plushest parts of his thighs.

Digging her nails into his skin, she suctions her lips to his base and sucks obscenely, hearing him groan above her. Feeling his other hand run through her messy hair with an uncharacteristic softness that has her going the extra mile.

“See? Not so hard, is it, love?”

Her eyes shift towards his, half closing in response to his honeyed words. Unable to form a response on account of her empty brain and her overflowing mouth working against her. Something she’s sure Astarion loves based on the genuine smile that creeps across his lips, showcasing his sharp fangs.

“That’s my girl, keep it up. You’re doing so well.”

Out of habit, she hums around him. The vibrations causing him to shudder ever so lightly, tightening the hold he has on her hair to push himself further in. Resulting in both of them working together, moving in tandem as Bea continues to suck whatever part of him isn’t jabbed down her throat. Which at this point, isn’t much. Having basically opened her gullet up for him to fuck, if it weren’t for her nose she’d be dead by now. Suffocating around his girth —past the point of no return thanks to the increasingly fast pace he presents.

For the average fuck, it’d be hard to deal with. Borderline impossible. But thanks to Bea’s determination and Astarion’s words of affirmation, he’s able to continue to fucking her. Jutting his hips back and forth, all while twitching against her tongue in a way that has her reaching down to the waistband of her trousers and—

“Don’t even think about it.”

Pausing almost immediately, her brows furrow in response, but ultimately she relents, knowing the reward of forgoing a few moments of her own pleasure will be worth it. It always is.

So, instead of being selfish like she wants to, she focuses her attention on him, relaxing her jaw as much as she can. Using her tongue to further aid in his eventual release while her hands move to stroke his stomach and his thighs. Alternating between the two as he begins to violently twitch, the movement of his hips staggering to a halt as he lets out another moan and empties himself into her mouth. The delicious taste of his arousal gathering on the back of her tongue as he slowly breaths and pulls out. Allowing her to once again breathe as he cups her cheek and cleans the spit off the edges of her lips.

“That’s my good girl.”

TAGLIST:

@poohxlove @gaiasmight @sassy-stupid @novarex @v-gremlin @sapphiccloud @lipstickghoulie @kuroitsukyo @jjfchk @idiotsatan @bluestuesday @bloopthebat @art-by-greenie @heneralmoon @sukunababe @dreamingaboutyousworld @ranfithegood @haniscrying @liadamerondjarin @the-lake-is-calling @marina-and-the-memes @rookieoftheyear @zraloci-cpr @kaetmo @snickerdoodle-daydream @wowowwild @d1anna @raswiet @conniesbbymama @venus-wrts @demonicthorns @kihten @sanscas @spammypasta @leighsartworks216 @rose-gold-blue @p1ssmagg0t @hellish-writes @ghostinvenus @otayz @sexysquatch @sleepyeclair @colorful-anxieties @alina-exe @lillifer @girlwiththepapatattoo @acelin-ginsberg @pinkuranium @catrad0rable @scarletrosesposts @qwnamidala @itsrosebabe @bunnyperi @queenofcarrotflowers-s @tatumadams20 @spkyxszn @chlort @f3v3rs @awkwardwookie @joy-the-reader @warm-milk-with-honey-blog @vertigocrime @iyis @wildpiper @pebblethestone @tillywasneverhere @bex-03 @revemiya @staticspouse @itzagothamcitysiren

(taglist continued in reblogs)

#40 shades of choke #astarion fan fic #astarion x original female character #astarion x fem oc #astarion x bea #tagging them together because... i might write more of them tbh #summer writes

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pigtailedgirl · 20 days

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Due South and a Canadian White Girl North-ish

I'm so nervous. Addition: Perhaps some trigger warning for abuse and illness talk?

So I read this great Due South fanfic.

BLESSED

I think it's going in my top ten. And I have a bunch I like that deal in the same theme. In Fraser's fit of himself in the city versus northern Canada and how he finds something in the contrasts.

Still this fanfic, though it does a neat re-examine overall, and others, have an image I guess that is put out by Fraser, by the narrative, of Canada that just does not work for me.

EXAMPLE

***

"Think about being somewhere else," Cleve told him as the strings began to vibrate again. "Anywhere but here."

And he did. Where did he want to be? Anywhere but here. Yes, Cleve had indeed answered the question for him.

The MacKenzie River, strong and swift, slicing through the spruce and pine, cutting a path between the snowcapped mountains.

The frozen, inhospitable Beaufort Sea, where a man could see his own breath turn to ice on the air and blow back to his face, clinging crystals of ice on his skin and lashes.

The mighty forests of tamarack and poplar that covered the western slope of the coastal mountain ranges. The warm, gentle breezes of heady lodgepole pine scent. The soft hiss and crackle of campfire, mellowed by a handful of cedar bark.

"There you go," Cleve decided at last in a quiet, satisfied voice.

Ben smiled until his face hurt, not quiet ready to open his eyes and let go his vision just yet. The strings felt good, like the strips of cedar bark he had imagined for the fire, the neck of the guitar a more than adequate rendering of the canoe paddle the MacKenzie demanded. The smooth, time worn wood of the box pressed into his belly, a body that complemented his, perfect in its unyieldingness, yet matching his every bend and twist.

Stella the True.

Ben would have given her another name.

His eyes opened then, noticing first how the world seemed to have blurred in more ways than one, and that the smile had faded away as the memories had faded in upon him. The world was only blurry for a few seconds more, until he realized that once he blinked the beginnings of tears from his eyes, the world became amazingly clear. So much became amazingly clear.

"Don't give up on yourself, son," Cleve Abernathy's voice came from somewhere very, very far away. Fraser gave his saturated eyes to the man who had spoken.

***

"Where I come from, people help one another. If one goes without, then all go without equally, so that everyone has a chance. You don't let your neighbor's coal run out in January. You don't let their stomachs go empty when your kill is plenty. When their children don't return from the trail, you go looking for them. That's just the way it is."

***

It's beautifully written, but feels wrong to me. Feels like lies to my lived experiences. Being from a small place like Fraser, this is a beautiful sentiment, and not at all true to it's realities.

When Fraser, Due South's narrative and comedy, and fandom view the otherness of the wilderness or northern Canada, make big deals to study it, never mind just mark Canada different in broad... It feels othering. Othering in a way I think is really important to how Fraser doesn't fit in if he's got this perspective too.

I've grown with stories about people and family who lived the same kind of lives as the Fraser family. In modern ways my home here still is like this. I even lived some like this and I'm baby in comparison.

Remote and isolated. Lots of nature to be in. Law, education and medicine as tiers in the community that are mostly outsiders to the community either brought in short-term or recurring.

Even those who live here permanently now, have founded themselves career wise, and have to, going away to do it or having been born and raised elsewhere. Christ, we have to basically leave after high-school more than 1000km away. HAVE TO.

And there is a definite disconnect between this group who are outsiders and the what I would call settled persons in the emotional connection to the place and town and the ability to fit in.

If it's a truism to me, this idea of grand north, natural beauty or isolation in a small town, with the people, to get in touch with an emotional growth is the biggest lie I have ever witnessed done by people to themselves. And this is an idealism of outsiders. You don't come out into isolation or live it to get NEW emotional needs met. You don't grow yourself thinking this is something special or the true way or will fix you.

Those that say living like this is a personal spiritual ride are:

1. High on their own supply as it were, aka, either tapping what they had dormant before or pretending.

2. Doing so off the backs of those who just don't think too much about it and are where and what they are.

If I had a dollar for every doctor or therapist I met who came here and were enamored by the place, the seas and freedoms and kind people and opportunities in solitude, expected it to change the people here and them, and then ran wild because they were always dumbasses, or took advantage, or after a year of seeing it day to day still wouldn't or didn't understand how to live with it and ran or got burnt out...RICH.

Because the truth is that small communities and remoteness don't make special or perfect people or places. We aren't magic, we aren't even that different, we just face a different or smaller reality.

I'm struck by the story One Good Man paints of Fraser's grandmother, who faced early trauma, and to me tells a reality you maybe don't want to embrace fully but should reflect on before concluding the nature of life here. A young woman who saw her town burn, who saved some of the children in it, but watched the others and adults die and was also horribly physically and probably emotionally scarred by it. Who only had an idea, and with it, bravery in the face of that moment, and after the strength to hang on as her backbone tip of surviving. Any wonder then, the tough it attitude and gift of wisdom was maybe her main survival and emotional mantra. That what tied her there to keep trying to give knowledge to people and how she pushed that above emotion on her grandson was this.

I think canon does a good job of highlighting an undercurrent of why Fraser and family still didn't fit in and why Fraser and Due South is a story of growth as a person and finding his home/community is going outside. His emotional needs weren't here. That's alright to find elsewhere when you need it.

@juniperpomegranate made a really great point of difference of Fraser's north, so often idealized in show or fic, and how it isn't actually like a town. It's not imagined or filled or understood in the reality of a community. Which is hella important. Because your community and relationships is how you really fit in a place like that or in my home.

And that's people. People to connect to. People who aren't wildly different. Experiences only seem wild to outsiders. Perfection or an image of better peeps is only lauded to cover in my opinion.

We face hardships and issues. We don't face them mythically. Nature is pretty and it requires work and understanding of it, learned only from experience and listening or knowing others who have, to survive and thrive in.

The reason we have outsider law or medicine or education come in is...

Well it can be real fun when the town is faced with say influenza and has no resources, or knowledge about it. Where you have to be cajoled to get immunized by your sister dressing up in the nurse's coat and leaving, to trick you into coming out of hiding. Where Dad tells stories of my great-grandma who plastered everyone with coal oil for cures as the rock of the town. Or where, when you have criminal stuff or domestic violence or mental illness and you can't treat or stop. A woman who hurt her family for decades because she was sadly untreated and unknown Schizophrenic. When another woman my dad's age wrote of her harrowing experience of childhood, of her mom dying from cancer and her father putting her to work as a teenage girl to care for the siblings and home, and then not providing any of his income or the support people gave him for them, until she and her siblings were literally found starving. Cause he fucked off to the neighbors. Cause the whole town knew it was happening, but there was no alternative, this was just their monetary and work survival versus that family and that family's lack of social capital paired with no place to go. Where solution was when law finally came in an forcefully moved the minor kids to different fosters in villages 100s of kilometers away, this was just a daily continuation of life though for most here.

See law, as external resource, can't even do much beyond come in twice a year and judge people. Punishment for crimes is more social than moral and depends on taking a person out of the community most times. Bob Fraser, Mounties and cops who ship around to different spots, if they are good get then respect sure, but they were and always have to stay detached to not bias too. It's a hard one. It's you can have impact and respect, for example the priest use to come a couple times a year and get the good dishes out for him, but you don't build the emotional connection of say staying for the weddings after-parties of music and dancing all night. Of people crossing islands to visit each other at the end of weeks' work.

In this vein I'm not surprised Bob had a great reputation and a lot of "friends" he didn't know.

And education. Where it's people come to knowledge at you, or knowledge from you. Where it's students come to study you like you are a tropical native of the 18th century. Write their papers and go back and take your history and skills to sell and forget the here left behind. Or come dodging the drafts of the States. All our stories or archives are in a "local" museum we can't even get to without a plane ticket yo. Or again those who come to give wisdom like they are the holders and we are heathen plebs. With maybe a one in ten being someone or something honest or decent. Though I'm a little bias here. My mom was a teacher who came here in the 70s and spent her whole life teaching grade school. Literal one room school house start. Who met and married and stayed with my Dad here. Some people do catch. Some, I think like maybe the example of Fraser's grandma, which I have soft feeling for probably because of this, just really want to impart shared knowledge and get happiness from seeing it grow and having that personal shot to help it. In a small community that seed growing outwards, to see it, is freaking awesome. But key is shared. You got to learn from too.

Finally, small isolated communities need and foster their connection through the people. Who you know. How you are all related. The meme of does everybody know everyone in Canada hits lol. But that's got the inverse too. There is no privacy. Loners be seen and judged. Again, social fit and capital being supreme.

That's why the nature loner or lover is myth too. Drop you off on a pretty snow covered lake. Pretty yes, magical and just for you, no. You still need the community knowledge to know where the fish, which direction is inland or sea, where is best shelter, where is Indians in the country to help you trap, when does the supplies boats and airdrops come. Nothing is done alone okay, trust me on this. You go out to snowshoe alone on a clear day, and weather strikes and you die.

I guess my point I keep trying to rope back into is maybe the experience or place or people sound different, or magic, but it's superficial. It's no different than how stories of history or cities sound to some. Emotionally I think we run the same. I think the true beauty is in seeing that reality. That you can't be the best stuck in an unreality or hiding from finding your fit. And again the true charm of Due South and Fraser, is his going south grows himself to see it. The show gets us to play and have fun seeing it.

And that the best of people or place, Canada or States, small town or city, outsider or no...is accepting and acknowledging that difference and sameness is the way to grow. Is the best beauty.

It's how my community did grow out of most of it's struggles imo, and hopes to go further I tell ya.

So here are my recs on the wonder of difference and sameness in Due South. Again like the fic above, can't rec enough.

Here are a small sampler of finding yourself near and away.

Stars, I Have Seen Them Fall (squidge.org)

Smaller Gods - arrow (esteefee) - due South [Archive of Our Own]

Our Dancing Days - sdwolfpup - due South [Archive of Our Own]

Also, does anyone have a link to an old ds flashfic of Fraser wandering Chicago in a power outage? I loved that one.

#due south #due south meta #personal life i dont know how much to put in honestly #fic recs #fraser is example of you can emotionally or physically survive a place and enjoy or be accustomed to it's nature #but does that mean you fit it?#i think there is a pretty good argument his longing for emotional contentment beyond his isolation inside himself means no to the north #his lack of friends or family up there #his dad's and grandparents as well #and their lack of ability to give him emotional happiness or get him tied to the towns #even if it doesn't mean yes always to chicago either #which would have lots of overwhelming differences to see and grapple with and explore #also this hits what i think meg thatcher could have touched on as a character #as a canadian city woman trying to entice or grapple with fraser #a fun idea of othered but from your country to play with #benton fraser

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wickymicky · 4 months

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top ten songs of 2023

1. Newjeans - Ditto

surprise, surprise. here we are lol. yes, this song came out in December 2022, but it was late in the month, and technically it was a pre-release track for a song that came out in January (which was OMG), so technically its official release was 2023 haha

but anyway... Ditto is perfect. it's not just the best song of the year, i think it's also my favorite kpop song of the 2020s so far. maybe my favorite kpop song ever, though i feel like i still need more time to make that decision haha.

nothing affects me the way Ditto does. it's like weapons-grade nostalgia. you could use this as a nostalgia weapon if you wanted to kill someone with just pure raw nostalgia. it hits me like a truck, man... all i can think about is how life could have been different...

the music videos are amazing too. people had all these theories that they were about parasocial relationships but i dont think that's true, i think they're about nostalgia. the main character, Heesoo, is shy and copes with that by listening to music, specifically Newjeans. but she starts to grow up. little by little, she starts running away from the members, who represent her childhood. she asks out the boy she has a crush on, she breaks her camera with all her memories, etc, and their presence fades from her life, she grows up. and at the end of Side B, adult Heesoo, now much older, finds her old videotapes and watches them. she's overwhelmed with nostalgia. she sees the tape where the members come in through a door and immediately the same scene plays out in real life, they enter her door physically. that's not real obviously, but its a metaphor for the memories rushing back to her. she's immediately transported to where she was at that time in her life. she realizes that even though she grew up, she never lost that part of her. at the drop of a hat, she's back. and it's nice

would i like the song this much without the music video? yes. but does it still help overall? yes of course. it'd be my SOTY either way, but i think this context and artistic vision for it is what helps it be SOTD, song of the decade.

Ditto isn't just good by kpop standards, like some songs on this list. it's just good by any standards. Ditto is important to me.

youtube

(and Side B)

youtube

#2023 list #newjeans #ditto

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originalleftist · 4 months

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Aquaman II second viewing (major spoilers).

Saw it again, honestly enjoyed it more, or at least found more positives and less to criticize. I got surprisingly choked up during the scene between Aquaman, Orm, and their mother, and when Mera saves Aquaman*, despite having seen it before.

While the performances were probably better in the first film, I think I was too hard on the cast overall, and too easy on Momoa. Momoa brings energy but little else unless you like his DudeBro persona (I emphatically do not). He overacts at times, and his comedic delivery is not great. Wilson and Abdul-Mateen II were standouts. Randall Park's character is likeable. Amber Heard has very little opportunity to really act but uses what she has well (I compared her reaction's to the baby's abduction to Momoa's, and found her's far more believably genuine).

I was irked the first time around by the Aquaman vs the Council plot, as I felt it was a pro-monarchy, anti-democracy narrative. And I suppose that's there somewhat, as it probably would be to some extent in any film with a vigilante king as the protagonist. But while the film doesn't delve deeply into it, on second viewing the council seems more likely to be a council of Nobel houses than a true legislature (IIRC its called the Council of Houses).

I also paid more attention to the incorporation of Maori culture and language into the film, as part of the characterizations of Aquaman and his father. This may be somewhat controversial as Momoa is not himself Maori (though he is Polynesian), but Temeura Morrison is.

I also feel better about the pacing and editing, though it's still uneven and abrupt at times. The abruptness of the final fight against Korda is somewhat mitigated, and rendered less anti-climactic, both by the fact that he is largely a plot device/dark mirror for Orm in the film anyway, and the fact that he possesses both Manta and Orm in the climax- by the time he appears "in the flesh", he's already fought the heroes. Granted this raises an interesting question of how much of Manta's actions in the climax, and throughout the film, were really Manta.

Something that occurred to me before but which I'll highlight now re the infamous cockroach joke- it may have been intended as simply a dumb joke at Orm's expense, but its rendered somewhat ambiguous, and interesting, by the fact that many cultures on Earth actually do eat various insects (including, from some quick Googling, the Maori)- it is Western prejudice, similar to Orm's which Arthur is rebuking, that makes this seem disgusting or embarrassing to the audience.

Lastly Mera really does seem like an equal to Aquaman or Orm in the fight scenes, not a "damsel in distress" or even a sidekick. She saves Aquaman repeatedly, is just as effective taking out henchmen, nearly takes down Manta at the start of the film, and does take him down at the end. She has less screen time, of course, and Aquaman gets the climactic confrontation with possessed Orm/Kordax, but when she's in a fight she is as competent and powerful as any other character.

One final note, at least for now: having accidentally seen it in 3D, I can say its probably not worth it. If this film is any indication, 3D remains a gimmick which comes at the expense of the film's visual quality in other ways, in particular darker lighting. Granted, this impression may be due partly due to my personal preference, quality of vision, and the fact that I was wearing a mask and my breath kept fogging the glasses.

#Aquaman #Aquaman II #Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom #Jason Momoa #Patrick Wilson #Randall Park #Yahya Abdul-Mateen II #Temeura Morrison #Maori #Polynesia #Bias

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legolasvegas · 1 year

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Ok so I’ve only seen the pilot so bear with me but I have a lot of thoughts about Wednesday.

Overall rating: 3/5 due to entirely mixed feelings

TONE: Nailed it

Visuals: Wonderfully enjoyable

Jenna Ortega: literal perfection

Writing: a horrible clusterfuck

I have the same complaints about this show that I do about most modern tv/streaming shows. And that is that there is something worse when you try to make tv bingeable instead of writing standalone episodes.

The pilot should have been three separate episodes. Not only would it fit better with the nature of comedy tv, but it would fit the actual storyline and make it more powerful.

Episode one should have been a true pilot, where they set up Wednesday’s academic past, her history with her family and mom, and introduce the murders and Nevermore a bit. It should have ended with the goodbye between Wednesday and Morticia, and Thing falling out if the car. The perfect ending to a pilot for this show would have been Wednesday walking into Nevermore alone.

THEN in episode two you can actually dig into the school, meet the roommate and social scene, etc. The climax of this single episode would have been Wednesday fighting townies, to parallel her fighting her classmate (which would have been an awesome comparison but it gets lost in the thousand other things that happen). And we would learn a little more about the murders through her meet-cute coffeeshop live interest. We can get some clues as to why Rowan is so weird and interested in Wednesday and build up that suspense. Her escape attempt of the episode will have failed and we will end the episode with a beautifully haunting cello performance on the roof. THAT was a great ending of an episode if I’ve ever seen one.

Episode three is about her second failed escape attempt, her developing relationships with Tyler and Enid, her visions, and finally Rowan’s wild confession. It could have been so much more exciting of a revelation if it hadn’t come out if nowhere. Like the whole “my mom was a powerful seer who had a crazy vision about you that she warned me about before coming here” could have been a sweet bombshell of a twist but instead it was sudden and confusing and then suddenly over. With three episodes those seeds could have been planted to make that a dramatic reveal instead of a blindsided plot device.

The writing has so much potential to be interesting and intriguing—it IS interesting! But the narrative is a breakneck rollercoaster with too many stories being told at once.

Also as a side note, unrelated to my plot criticisms, is the fact that we never see Wednesday actually in school? She’s there for a week?? I don’t even need details of classes but maybe a mention. And I would have loved to see a parallel from the intro if the normie school crowds parting for Wednesday in the halls to how the Nevermore students react to her in their halls. Maybe they will get there in later episodes but its been a week so we lost a chance for those initial reactions. The only “schooling” we saw was the fencing scene which was dope but jarringly out of place since we so no other classes or school structure at all.

Another side note, why was the Harvest Festival mandatory? What is its significance?

Tl:dr I miss long-form television where each episode told its own part of the story.

#wednesday #wednesday 2022 #wednesday netflix #the addams family #wednesday addams #television criticism #episode 1 #s1e1

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grandhotelabyss · 2 months

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Knowing that it's one of your favourite films, have you ever written or have any wish to write anything about Ken Russell's Altered States? I watched it last night and was appropriately dazzled by his images and high conceits, but I can't help feeling that, like Dostoevsky, the final embrace of love as a panacea feels forced and inadequate in comparison to the earlier spiritual darkness of the self that begets the high visions.

I haven't written extensively about it, but I did discuss the film, and particularly this aspect of it, with the poet Emmalea Russo at the end of our conversation from last summer.

Obviously Russell's spectacular aesthetic accommodates a tragic conclusion, as when he's working with the more "severe" literary source material provided by Lawrence and Huxley for Women in Love and The Devils, respectively. Chayefsky's script for Altered States could be described ungenerously as promoting the quotidian, even the bourgeois, against the pursuit of metaphysical extremity these earlier films indulge. We could even historicize this development, if we really wanted to be wet blankets, by seeing the 1980 film as a document of the transition between the residua of the radical '60s and the vanguard of the conservative '80s.

(Here I would distinguish Chayefsky from Dostoevsky, whose vision of Christian "active love" seems more extreme than what Chayefsky portrays: for example, if you contrast Sonya's extremes of self-sacrifice in Crime and Punishment, the novel's ethical model, with the more mundane portrait of an apparently resilient marriage in Altered States—and not even a resilient marriage as the spiritual communion of gnostic self-sufficient souls, as with Lawrence's Rupert and Ursula—or perhaps Rupert and Gerald—in the aforementioned Women in Love, but rather an apotheosis of loyalty and affection over this kind of soul-vision.)

And yet for all that I am willing to take Altered States on its own terms: there is nothing really there for us in that inner space or journey back down the brain stem the film's visionary sequences depict. It's not truer than anything else we experience for all that it may be more spectacular, hence the idea Pauline Kael alludes to that there is some conflict in the film between Russell's Catholic baroque and Chayefsky's Jewish iconoclasm. In any case, the film's thesis is that primordial holds no priority, that evil is not more interesting for being only the absence of love. I think the film is a coherent elaboration of this idea, but it's certainly true that Russell's visionary and occult imagery overwhelms the philosophy and is mostly what we remember—unless we join Emmalea Russo in our conversation linked above and romanticize the party sequence where Edward and Emily meet in the first place and allow the (erotic) charisma of the actors to challenge the memorable perversities displayed elsewhere in the film.

As for the overall question of whether or not a happy ending cheats an otherwise dark narrative or dramatic vision of its integrity, I tend to think not. Hegel gives us a test we can apply in his Aesthetics (I quote the Osmaston translation from Hegel on Tragedy):

Much as poets present to us the bare downfall of particular people they are also able to treat the similar contingency of the development of events in such a way, that, though the circumstances in all other respects would appear to give them little enough support, a happy issue of such conditions, and characters is secured, in which they elicit our interest. No doubt the favour of such a destiny of events has at least an equal claim upon us as the disfavour. And so far as the question merely concerns the nature of this difference, I must admit that I prefer a happy conclusion. How could it be otherwise? I can myself discover no better ground for the preference of misfortune, simply on its own account as such, to a happy resolution than that of a certain condition of fine sensibility, which is devoted to pain and suffering, and experiences more interest in their presence than in painless situations such as it meets with every day. If therefore the interests are of such a nature, that it is not really worth the trouble to sacrifice the men or women concerned on their altar, it being possible for them, either to surrender their objects, without making such surrender as is equivalent to a surrender of their individuality, or to mutually come to an agreement in respect thereof, there is no reason why the conclusion should be tragic. The tragic aspect of the conflicts and their resolution ought in principle merely to be enforced in the cases where it is actually necessary in order to satisfy the claim of a superior point of view.

In other words, a tragic resolution is only required if the narrative logic demands the sacrifice of the characters to a worthwhile principle higher than themselves. (Hegel's model is the ideological conflict between legitimate transcendent principles—the family vs. the social order—in Antigone.) Lawrence's extraordinarily ideal vision of marriage, to which neither Gerald nor Gudrun can measure up, might also qualify in Women in Love, and likewise Grandier's fidelity to a kind of robust human wholeness threatened with extinction both by the hysterical nuns and the pious witchfinders in The Devils. But if a character is immolated for a worthless principle, then we are, Hegel suggests, in the presence of a merely morbid authorial sensibility. On this account, Dostoevsky's Christian ideal and Chayefsky's humanist one deserve their triumph over the evils that confront them, however (merely) spectacular. Whether in aesthetics there is any such thing as a "mere" spectacle is another question, of course, and we continue to dream of a work of art that is whole and unriven, its theme and its form one and indivisible—at least as a picture of human happiness.

(You might please keep all of this mind as you read the forthcoming epilogue of my novel Major Arcana...)

#ken russell #paddy chayefsky #film #cinema #film criticism #hegel #tragedy

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silvery-bluish · 8 months

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9, 15, 15, and 7 (because im on the dnd brain rn) for Arsinoe (and BB as well if you want!!)

YEAH this one's really on me for reblogging two ask games with numbers in a row huh. Thank you for the ask though!! i'm going to assume one of those 15s was meant to be a 14? Let me know if I'm headed in the wrong direction.

Ask game in question is here!

Ars

9. how honest are they?

Arsinoe does lie. They lie, and they omit the truth, but they. Kind of always want to be telling the truth instead? Building relationships on lies and misdirection means those relationships are always going to be-- unsteady, foundations made out of sand, even if the other people involved don't know that they can't be REAL until everything's on the table.

They want everything on the table. They want to be understood. They're just. Caught in the inertia of not telling people things, it feels like, and telling the truth is going to knock all of those foundations down.

14. are they more daring or more cautious?

Local Idiot Bounces Wildly Between the two, more news at 10. I tend to think of Arsinoe as a very cautious individual overall, with a tenancy towards terrified-out-of-my-mind-holding-my-breath leaps of faith. In-game, this reflects as 'daring enough to take the Anathema name and then dipping down to basically be 50/50 all Retri' which seems to read as 'balanced' but. in my mind. it is actually them jumping wildly between the two.

15. what is their greatest flaw?

They'd say their inability to control their own emotions (Its Complicated with Ricardo for like a decade at this point, getting emotionally mugged by Danny, somehow friends with Chen now??? all of this is very inconvenient and they can't manage to knock it off) but I don't think they're right. I think it's their tunnel vision tenancy, their disregard for the fact that First Impressions Aren't Always Right. currently they're in the 'danny is an outlier and should not be counted' thought train but uh. Buddy.

7. what is their dnd alignment?

True Neutral baybee!! They're altruistic for people they care about, screw the rest of 'em. Some rules matter, some don't. They've got that Justice motivation 'cause the people they care about were hurt, not because of some overall concern for humanity or even Los Diablos.

9. how honest are they?

BB doesn't have a honest bone in his body. He's keeping aaall of it close to the chest. Yeah he's fine stop asking. There's nothing more to what Outlaw's doing than your standard villain beat-'em-up. Don't worry about it, just look at the elaborate monologues he's been rehearsing and stop trying to look past the gilt.

...it might be more correct to say the only honest things are his bones, tbh. Fronting aside, there's honesty in what he chooses to DO-- Prep Them hero hunter, saving civilians just because he'd Feel Bad if they died. Actions speak louder than words, or something, so to make up for it he brought a megaphone.

14. are they more daring or more cautious?

Tilting sliiiightly onto the daring end of things-- BB Bites Back, he's got confidence in his Persona as Outlaw, and he's not afraid to make a mistake. Except when he takes the mistake Personally and seethes about it for like 6 months straight. A little bit of a leap before you look because. Well. If you project the confidence people will just let you walk right in, you know.

15. what is their greatest flaw?

answered here!

7. what is their dnd alignment?

Gonna say Neutral Good for BB. He's-- playing a part, sure, playing a part that he was always going to play, but. He may not know much about himself past the Acting of it all, but he knows hurting people makes him feel bad, killing people would make him feel worse :| And he'll restructure what he can of his plans to avoid doing it more than necessary.

#fhr #arsinoe #bb #bookish.txt #Arsinoe is just. very wrong abt what their own strengths and flaws are.#and bb can also stand for bites back!! multipurpose acronym

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gale-gentlepenguin · 1 year

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Gale Reviews: Wednesday (2022)

So I finally finished watching the first season of this show. And I will be giving my opinion on how I think it is. So to give proper set up and some organization, here are the categories I will be tackling

The Setting

The Flow

The Supernatural additions

The Addams Essence (do the actors capture that Addams family feel)

The New Characters

The Mystery

With that established, be aware spoilers below

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The Setting

For the simple premise, Wednesday Addams is expelled from her old school after dumping live piranhas (something that is very much in character for Wednesday and reminiscent of another old scene) into the school's pool in retaliation for the boys' water polo team bullying her brother Pugsley. Consequently, her parents Gomez and Morticia Addams enroll her at their high school alma mater Nevermore Academy, a private school for monstrous outcasts, in the town of Jericho, Vermont.

The show takes place mainly in Jericho, and in the academy. In terms of aesthetic, Nevermore doesn’t really capture the creepy nature of the Addams family save for some instances, coming off more as a gothic Hogwarts. The small town of Jericho does capture that small town vibe and is crucial in giving a contrast to nevermore, allowing for us to see how outlandish the academy actually is.

I think they could have done more to make Nevermore stand out as more unsettling in its own right. But interestingly enough I think the best set pieces are in the woods and in pilgrim world. The places where Wednesday looks more out of place the better.

Overall it’s a 7/10 for the set pieces and I hope they do more in season two. Maybe show how creepy the Addams family home is.

___________________________________________

The Flow

The pacing or natural movement of the show. I think it has a bit of a slow start until the mystery is revealed. But afterwards I think the show finds it’s footing, speeding up when there are leads and slowing down when those leads get cold. Wednesday is the driving force of the show, and it’s clear that she has a focus on solving this mystery but everyone else seems to force her to slowdown. Thematically it rarely feels like a forced slowdown.

The show makes it seem like Wednesday is dragged into almost every situation outside of the Mystery while the reverse is true when it does involve the mystery. It never feels like Wednesday catches a break and in that regard it’s amusing.

Though I do feel the ending also was sped up too much for the reveal, but it wasn’t jarring.

Flow I give 8/10.

___________________________________________

The Supernatural Additions

So Im split on most of it. Giving Wednesday visions felt like a contrived plot device and giving everyone some sort of magical power in Nevermore felt like it made it pretty run of the mill magic school… BUT the way the powers for others was used cleverly and some of the magic was used in amusing very Addams humor. I think when it does do it in the way we expect in Addams ways… it works. But I felt like some of it was not needed and felt like kind of a crutch needed to differentiate normal people from the Nevermore students. This doesn’t impact how I feel about the characters though.

5/10

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The Addams Essence

So this is apparently controversial, but I Greatly enjoyed Jenna’s take on Wednesday. She’s tired of everyone’s BS and just wants to do what interests her. She has a tough time expressing emotion but cares for her family and friends. She feels guilt and is just as creepy as Wednesday from the show. You can see the young Wednesday grow up to be her. I think everyone that’s calling her a cliche mean jerk is misunderstanding of what type of person Wednesday is. Now I know it’s a thin line to walk but I think Wednesday walks it well.

Thing is also a delight and he Carries every scene he is in. Very expressive for only being a hand. I think it was perfectly executed.

So while I respect the actor and actress that played Gomez and Morticia, I didn’t really feel the chemistry from the adult iterations. They were passable and they aren’t the main characters in this, but I just didn’t really get the vibe I was accustomed to with them. It felt more Told then shown. Young Morticia and Gomez were great and Gomez’s silent action was the Morticia and Gomez I knew.

Pugsly and Lurch were fine, very little screen time but it was acceptable.

Uncle fester was perfect casting. I even enjoyed the electric powers they gave him. The justification was that he acquired it from so much electrotherapy. Fred Armisen killed it.

Overall I would say that the Addams family was captured in spirit for the most part.

8.5/10

____________________________________________

New Characters

Enid is an amazing character and perfectly balanced out Wednesday. She is in a way her polar opposite, but they work great. I don’t say I ship it but I get why people do. Also she’s one of the few supernatural bits I like. The fact she is an incomplete werewolf is a very Addams choice

The principal being a shapeshifter was a fun bit but I think they could have done more with her and I’m sad that they basically killed her off. I wanted to know more of her past with Morticia.

I did not care for the therapist, she wasn’t a bad character, but she was kind of annoying

The town Sheriff added the element of man fighting against the weirdness for his own personal reasons. I enjoyed his character and how he was willing to work with Wednesday.

Tyler being the normal coffee barista that kind of gets Wednesday was fine. Felt like he was pursuing a manic pixie dream girl, until you find out the secret which makes him WAY more interesting.

Xavier Thorpe (the artist guy) was a total tool and it’s hard to tell if he was written that way or how he comes off, dude is a total “pick me” I wish he was actually the monster but he wasn’t, and it’s just a prick

Bianca Barclay is one of the best character, she starts out as the mean popular girl until you dig deeper and see why she has such a chip on her shoulder, joy Sunday does great work with her.

Marilyn Thornhill the dorm mother is an unassuming character that has some great bits and I especially loved the last episodes with her.

The rest of the characters were fine and did help give to the story in some way.

Overall 9/10

____________________________________________

The Mystery

To summarize, there is a monster attacking people and when it does it takes a body part from them.

Wednesday found herself pulled into the mystery along with a picture showing a vision involving her. It sounds completely unrelated but it is.

And the entire season revolves around Wednesday trying to figure out who or what the monster is and how that picture vision relates to her.

I will assume you’ve all watched the show so it’s pure spoilers going down here.

The reveal that the sheriff’s son was the Hyde was an interesting twist as it explained the sheriff’s distrust of the school after his wife’s death. Her being a Hyde and his son inheriting it.

The dorm mother was actually the long believed dead daughter of the family whose brother tried to kill Gomez after going crazy AND being related to the founder of the town who hunted witches.

Marilyn or actually Laurel Gates, awakened the Hyde using her knowledge of plants. Made the ritual to wake the dead resulting in Joseph Crackstone one of the founders of the town to be revived with evil magic.

The twists and red herrings were fine. It was not an obvious guess on some of the who and why but there were hints leading to Marilyn, and Tyler if one was especially eagle eyed.

Though I will say that Crackstone did feel a bit under developed but he was mainly there just to be the evil fight scene, which is fine.

mystery is 7.5/10

____________________________________________

Final thoughts

I think the show does things very well and while I don’t agree with all the choices, I do think it does capture the spirit of the Addams family while telling a new story.

I give it an 8.2/10

I’d like to see where it goes from here.

#wednesday adams #netflix wednesday #Gale reviews #Gale review

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curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn · 9 months

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Season 2 in review....

Surprisingly, there was a lot that was improved from s1 when this season started, but unfortunately those improvements weren't consistent through the whole season. The character work for the leads was much better than the first season, and I do think how the story was being told (i.e. literary devices, visual and musical cues, etc.) was stepped up (shoutout to Ilana Wolpert for 2x06, which I think is the best written episode this season). I also really liked how the music from BATB was incorporated into this season, which I think was used more effectively to tell the stories of the wildcats than the music from HSM in s1. I also thought the season was better paced in the first half than s1 (up until 2x07 or so), but then it started spinning wheels in the 2nd half a bit before coming to a screeching halt in the finale. The finale doesn't even really have a narrative, technically. For that alone, this is the weakest season as a whole.

The season's tone is noticeably darker than either s1 or s3 (and presumably s4), which I think really makes it stick out. I don't necessarily think the darker tone is a bad thing, since many of the characters are experiencing some really painful things this season, and it matches the gravity of the pain and trials they face. However, it's not tonally consistent with the rest of the show, and I think the inclusion of the North High crew makes this even worse. For the most part, the North High students were the ones who provided comedic relief this season, and the rivalry plotline simply did not work. The plot did nothing to further the arcs of the main characters, so as a framework for the overall season, it just felt superfluous. At least Nini's YAC arc had relevance and moved along her and Ricky's storylines, but the rivalry helped no character move from point A to point B in their growth. I think it could've been used to challenge Ashlyn's insecurities about being a leading lady, with Lily being her foil in fitting the "ideal" (I think maybe this was the original idea?), but there was almost no conclusion to Ashlyn's storyline as Belle. In the end, I think the North High rivalry felt much more like the Vocal Adrenaline rivalry in Glee than fitting in the very meta world of HSM or HSMTMTS.

If Ashlyn's storyline was so unfinished, then how can I possibly say the character work was improved from s1? Well, the storylines of Ricky, Nini, and Gina were done very well this season. I think there was a lot more intention and vision of how these characters needed to grow this season than in s1, and the writers do honor each one of them in their storylines. Ricky is continuing to be challenged to confront changes, and the more this happens, the tighter he clings to his past with Nini. Nini is discovering her own voice for the first time in a long time, and YAC and her relationship with Ricky are showing her that she needs more freedom and space to be her true self than they both provide. Ultimately, Ricky and Nini's breakup arc is the best written storyline of the season (even if its dragged out an episode too long). Ricky's arc still can't move forward until he confronts his mom (who it all leads back to), and overall the writers hit the perfect balance with his story. He was held accountable for his mistakes, but we the audience know exactly why he's making them and can empathize with his painful struggle.

Gina is figuring out where she actually fits in at EHS, and her growing insecurity and doubting of her instincts all ties back to her uncertainty in her relationship with Ricky. This all makes sense, given he's the first friend she ever made in SLC, effectively being the tether to the rest of her relationships there. S2a focuses on her struggling to navigate these new relationships and emotionally separate herself from everyone. The performance of "Home" is her turning point, but even after choosing to stay, she still continues to question her worth to others. Her conversation with Nini in 2x12 reveals that she still has insecurities about her true self, calling herself "off-putting". The one character I can't figure out if his storyline is written with intention or ultimately fumbled is EJ's. It's clear this season is supposed to start him on his journey of finding his own story, but rather than continue down this path, his storyline shifts to focus on his relationship with Gina. It could be intentional that the writers wanted EJ to think that his relationship with Gina was his new story, allowing him to learn in s3 that his story can't be defined by his father or a girl, but maybe that's a generous interpretation. I have more thoughts on his s3 storyline later.

I really appreciated the attempt to expand the scope of storytelling to be more ensemble-focused than s1, but I don't think enough attention was given to the rest of the characters. I loved that Kourtney had a significantly larger role this season, and her stories meshed better with the rest of the cast this season than Nini's, tbh. I actually loved seeing her work with Big Red and them as scene partners. Save for Kourtney's storyline, I don't think there was enough payoff or conclusion for the rest of the characters' individual arcs this season (Ashlyn, Big Red, Carlos, Seb).

Last comment: I was incredibly impressed by Joshua Bassett's performance this season. He gave a good performance in s1, but he reached a whole new level in s2 as Ricky. I think the clarity of Ricky's character and arc this season really helps, but I was blown away at how he was able to portray all these complex emotions so sensitively and believably. Sofia's undoubtedly the best actor, but he also really held his own this season.

#this was MUCH longer than I was intending #I just have a lot of mixed feelings on s2 #I think it has more emotional depth than s1 but then falls flat on its face in the end #hsmtmts #hsmtmts season 2 #high school musical the musical the series #Ricky Bowen #Gina Porter #EJ Caswell #Nini Salazar-Roberts

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