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sofiiel · 7 months

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Tread on Me Lightly | Ch. 1

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Warnings: none that I am currently aware of.

Your minds turning three miles a minute as you've zoned out in the steam. Murmuring your to-do list quietly.

"Last two classes of the day, you need to give Rochelle her invite to the pool party for Tammy. Remember to turn in that assignment for extra credit. Pick up the make up assignment from Mrs. Sharpton's class."

Lost in thought, you didn't feel the loose clasp of your birthstone necklace give way.

"Ugh, then there are the auditions for drama, my first day down at Claire's." you thought as the soap slipped across your skin.

You'd taken no notice of the quiet figure whose teeth were clamped into her bottom lip, three showers down, as she watched the wall with extreme interest. She was moving like lightning to wash up.

"You released a labored sigh, and then you've got to avoid Andy all week, that'll be fun. At least Tina gave you that heads up." you thought.

Your necklace finally made its escape, with a delay, you scrambled after the runaway trinket. Your fingers frantically tried to catch the chain headed for the busted drain guard.

"No, no, no!" you called, knees hitting the tiles painfully.

A second pair of hands reached out and caught the chain, "I don't think I've ever moved that fast in my life." their owners sighed.

You looked up in surprise, you'd been sure you were alone. But you'd never been so glad not to have the showers to yourself.

"Um...here" She said, holding out your necklace.

You cupped your hands and gratefully accepted it, encasing it inside your palms.

"Thanks, I don't know when you got here, but. I'm glad you are here." you sighed. Struggling to offer a smile, "Buckley, right?" you asked.

Her eyes grew wide as the water continued to rain down on your heads, her hair plastered around her freckles.

Robin gave an absent nod, "yeah." she said, but her eyes said, "Did that just happen?"

It was the look you often got from students who deemed you one of the popular girls. As if talking with them should be a crime. It was hard to fight the urge to cringe. You hated that look.

Getting to your feet, carefully hold your necklace, "I own you one big time." you tell Robin.

She's still knelt on the floor, subtly covering her chest and struggling to keep eye contact.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It's pretty well known you love that necklace...you wear it every day and all." Robin uttered.

The bell rang loudly, and you could have sworn you'd heard Robin whistle in relief.

"Well, I did to be going. But thanks for the save, I still owe you one." You spoke quickly, heading for your towel and out of the showers.

Robin toppled onto the floor and backed up against the wall. Her heart beat violently in her chest as she exhaled every bit of air she could muster out of her lungs.

Her hands grabbed the top of her head and pulled at her soaked hair.

"Holy shit, what kind of fresh sweet hell did today just become?" She thought.

"I mean, how does spilling your milk carton on Carol Perkins and getting a spit wad shot into your trumpet turn into hitting the showers the same time as ____ _____ and - and totally saving her prized necklace?" Robin's mind ranted.

She gulped down a breath of air, "and you saw her as the world first met her." Robin chewed her tongue, the face suddenly feeling hot.

"And she's cute under her clothes too, this isn't fair." Robin glanced down at herself, "Oh god, she saw you too, you just saw each other in the most awkward boob-flopping scramble in the history of ever."

Though, it was enough to make her snort softly with laughter.

Was she mortified? Yes, but the humor of it all would not be lost on her. In fact, maybe it was a good thing. Nothing could be worse than what they each may or may not have seen of each other.

And more than anything, "She seems more human now." Robin murmured.

In the parking lot of the Star Court, you fixed your mascara in the review mirror. You liked working at Claire's it gave you more of a chance to break the weird barriers people at school seemed to force around you.

You loved helping people pick out jewelry and accessories. Sure, you weren't the be-all and end-all of fashion, but you'd learned a thing or two from the circle of friends you'd been shoved into.

It was nice helping others feel better about themselves, even if it was so little of a thing as helping them find those earrings that bring out their eyes.

Or a hair clip that went that shirt they have nothing to match with.

Then you weren't just that popular girl from school.

And if you were lucky, that person might just talk to you the next time they see you. Maybe even without approaching like a chicken into a fox den.

It was a better job than working at Radio Shack, and you were actually quite glad to exit your car and head off to your second week on the job.

Arriving early, you decide to stop into the gap to pick up the Blondie shirt you'd seen last week. Remembering how it was the perfect mix of cute but not too extremely girly. It seemed beachy casual.

And today, there was only one left on the rack.

It was clearly too big for you. But it was the only one left. "And who knows if they'll be getting more in." you thought. Luckily, as part of the drama club, you knew more than enough people who could take it in for you.

Grabbing the shirt from the wrack, you were met with resistance.

"Oh, sorry," Robin said, snapping her hand away from the shirt.

Your eyes wandered to the cute design, and you inwardly groaned.

"You do owe her." you thought.

Reluctantly, you held out the shirt, "no, here it's too big for me anyway." you offered quickly. Stealing a glance over, Robin in her blue and white sailor uniform.

Your eyes took in the details of softly toned legs, and you tried your best not to let them linger there. Tilting your head slightly, you couldn't help but notice, that the shirt wouldn't have fit her, either.

"But maybe she can sew or knows a good seamstress." you thought.

"It wasn't going to fit, I was going to cut the picture off as a patch for a quilt" Robin explained with a shrug.

"You make quilts?" You asked, She didn't look like she would. But a quilt out of band and pop culture bits and pieces...you could see her doing that.

This was in fact the girl that came to school every day in dark nail polish, fairly well-maintained makeup, and always seemed tumbled between punk and something fresh out of Europe. Or at least what you imaged of Europe.

You held the shirt out further, "that actually sounds pretty rad. If you show me what you make with it. You can have the shirt." You state with a smile.

Robin's cheeks flushed subtly, "You...want to see a quilt?" she asked, arching a brow.

You laughed, "It's scandalous, isn't it?" You teased.

"A little, yeah, It's just...surprising. But, yeah - sure, deal," said Robin.

"We're even now," Robin added.

You shook your head, "Hardly. I would be lost without this," you murmured, gingerly touching your fingertips to the dainty necklace.

Robin's gaze fell to your neckline.

"You don't even know." you whispered.

"Where'd you get that neckla-"

Robin's words slipped back into her vocal cords as two hands took your arms.

"There you are!" Tina chimed happily.

"We've been looking all over for you, that hunk who works in the jazzercise classes is stretching," Heather added.

You shuddered inwardly, looking into the distance with a dull gaze.

Robin covered her mouth to hold in a chuckle at your lack of enthusiasm.

At that moment, your eyes met hers, and she flashed you an apologetic smile.

She wished she could help you, however, her shift was about to start.

Your eyes still screamed for help as your two friends hauled you away. Robin getting further away as they did so, seeming at a loss in deep conflict about what to do.

Robin groaned as she slung a scoop of ice cream into a sugar cone and passed it off to the customer.

"I should have done something." she thought.

"But I did have to get to work," Robin answered herself once the customer walked away.

It was a slow day at work, and it was leaving her with plenty of time to regret what had happened.

"Though that guy they hauled her off to looks...unnatural, and now she's probably been traumatized for weeks," Robin muttered to herself.

"You know, they say talking to yourself is a bad sign." someone snarked.

Robin's eyes fell down to the little girl with her hand hovering over the service bell. Her dark brown eyes were impatient.

"Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?" Robin asked her.

"Don't you know it's against your job description to ignore a customer? I've been hitting this bell for three minutes." the little girl shot back.

Robins lifted her brows high and tossed an unimpressed glance.

"What can I do for you, small child?" she asked dryly.

"I'd like a sample of the new fudge cookie crumble, please."

Robin rolled her eyes, "sure." she muttered, taking up her ice cream scooper from her belt.

"You can make it up to ____ by letting her get an ice cream on you. That should work. You can't burn this new shiny bridge before it even gets built. She knows Tammy, this might be your biggest chance ever. Don't blow it, Robin." Robin's thoughts wandered away as she brought the child her ice cream.

"That took forever," she complained.

Robin's eyes narrowed, "I was spitting in your ice cream." she whispered.

"Ew!" The little girl scowled.

A boy who held a face similar to hers stopped next to her.

"Here, Lucas. Try this one," she said quickly, shoving the ice cream to him and leaving to a pack of girls her age.

The boy, Lucas, seemed confused but shrugged and started to eat it. "This flavor's excellent." he mused. "I'd like to order a double scoop of this."

Robin grinned at Lucas, "coming right up." she sang, proud at her small payback.

#robin buckley x reader #robin buckley fic #robin buckley fluff #ToML #slice of life #it gets better it just started extremely slow because i am a sucker for mundane interactions

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absolutebitchgetter · 4 months

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The problems of CS. Combined in one.

Since the CS ninjas are onto me, i shant give up. You will forever hear the tunes of the rumours of ABG'S unbanning.

Heres all the CS posts i can find:

All of this might share the same topic, and thats a feature of how Comic Studio doesnt - or probably will never - fix its problems. Insane. I know. However, why am i not giving up if we cant fix it?

To save people's sanity.

Im trying to get unbanned so i can prove i am trying to become a better person, and save people's mental health by pointing out thr flaws in:

-moderation

-people

-studios

-controversy

-kids

Its honestly pretty scary how kids are exposed to Jayst- i mean the toxicity of comic studio, and also how the experienced CS users are saying its worse than fucking Twitter.

Where can i begin with the fucking moderation? Where were they when i was getting banned? One is treated like an angel after the fucking outrageous calls he does. How long was i banned? 8 months? Yes. 8 Fucking Months. Above Half a year. One has literally made DOXXING JOKES TO ME and made me fear for my life. One in the cs discord takes someone elses side when i ask for a spoiler for Binding of Isaac (a pretty scary game). One is just fucking horrible at moderation. And one is probably biased after i did a few too many pings in a server. A server i owned btw, no one stopped me. You know who you are. :)

To name a few very shit studios,

-Probably fucking most of them

Probably 10% of the studios get used.

And a lot of them are just fucking shit.

We have a fucking NICK JR studio for like 2 YEAR OLDS.

When is there a fucking Despicable Me comic studio?

To name types of people:

Suspected pedophiles

probably pedophiles

pedophiles

nazis

racists

homophobes

transphobes

xenophobes

sexists

anti semetic

Jokes aside tho there are lot of people i named that are actually one of the things above. There are also lots of fucking toxic people.

To my next point

popular beats all apparently

If your popular, dont fear of being banned! You fucking wont be!

I can name, a shit ton of people that should be banned but wouldnt because they have a shit ton of followers and that would get a lot of people to quit the site.

-Puffyy (Should i say more?)

-Jaystar (☠️)

-Onion_Rabbit (Threw about users like hell, faked harassment, legit got people to witchhunt me (December 2022), was toxic to me before i got banned (unfairly) (July 2023)

-Deathzy (A fucking mpreg and sex comic untagged, did the same as Onion_Rabbit July 2023, has known cases of being cocky as fuck when they get their way)

-SarahKomik (Has threw about users under the bus pretending to victimise themselves over the slightest of out of context things. The current situation with Oka is one.)

-Zappy (The same as above.)

Theres a lot more! Holy fuck

This community has a complete fucking hivemind too.

When popular users say "this person has done something bad (slightly or horrible) target them guys" and when they say "dont harass this person pls" they're praying that the mods dont fucking mob them. Oh wait.

Its like a lot of people have pointed out popular beats all!

Also, this is how people say "fuck the rules" (e.g, Oka and me)

If you have any problems, comment it, You probably shouldnt have but if your a snowflake, combat me.

Oh yeah i also forgot Tammy got knocked about like the school thot at summer time with the football team. They need apologising yall. This is the reason why people quit, my point above. Tammy quitting is one of the worst things to happen to CS.

#comic studio #is fucking balls #and this one is for the champions #your mother #monke #cold monkey in the freezing cold weather someone save him

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f4y3w00d5 · 23 days

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Faye Fangirls About My Chemical Romance, Part 1 (Danger Days

Danger Days: True Lives Of the Fabulous Killjoys – Sorta pop punk ig, some more rocky songs

Excluding the ‘songs’ where its just talking

Okay so basically this is their most recent album, 2014, and it follows the Killjoys as they fight against BL.IND (Better Living Industries) who seek to ELIMINATE all individuality. (Spoiler: They die saving The Girl in the music video for SING)

Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

Upbeat!!! Dancing!!! Fast!!! You jump around screaming about doing crime and partying and sex!!! I love it!!! (you should listen to it after Look Alive Sunshine, which is the intro to the album and its just Dr D speaking, and at the start of Na Na Na, it goes ‘THE FUTURE IS BULLETPROOF! THE AFTERMATH IS SECONDARY!! TIME TO DO IT NOW AND DO IT LOUD! KILLJOYS, MAKE SOME NOISE!!!’)

Bulletproof Heart

Uh so this is sorta less fast and stuff but its SO cool and idk how to describe it but its sorta jaunty? First song I listened to by the band!!! (Fav part is ‘and tho, I know, how much you hate this. Are you gonna be the one to save us? From. The black. And hope-less feelin. Will you meet ‘em when the end comes reelin? Hold, your heart, into this darkness. Will it ever be the light to shine you out? Or fail. And leave you stranded? I aint gonna be the one left standin. You aint gonna be the one left standin, and we aint gonna be the ones left standin!!!’)

SING

Aaaaaaaaa this ones so cool, took a bit to grow on me, its mostly slow and repetitive but the BRIDGE ‘Cleaned up corporations PROGRESS! Dyin in the PROCESS! Children that can TALK ABOUT IT livin on the WEB-WAYS, people movin SIDEWAYS, sell it til your LAST DAYS, buy yourself the motivation GENERATION NOTHIN! Nothing but a DEAD SCENE! Product of a WHITE DREAM! I am not the SINGER THAT YOU WANTED BUT A DANCER! I REFUSE TO ANSWER! TALK ABOUT THE PAST SIR! WROTE IT FOR THE ONES WHO WANNA GET AWAY! ……. Keep runnin.’

Planetary (GO!)

Okay so like omg. I love this one. Everythings amazin. Starts off slightly slow, and then starts movin faster around the verses? AND THE VIBES!!! Ive got a few favs and ill save them here (I love the way theyre said too-) ‘Ladies and gentleman, truth is now acceptable! Fame! Is now injectable, PROCESS THE PROGRESS, This core is critical, faith is un-a-vail-a-ble, Lives, become incredible-‘ and also ‘Youre unbelievable, ah, so unbelievable, ah, you ruin everything, oh, you better GO HOME! Im unbelievable yeah, im undefeatable yeah, LETS RUIN EVERYTHIN, BLAST IT TO THE BACK ROW- they sell presentable, young! And so ingestible! Sterile and collectable! SAFE, and I cant STAND THAT! This is a letter, by word, is the beretta, the sound, of my vendetta against, the ones that PLANNED IT!’ So uhhhhhhhhh yeah lol

The Only Hope For Me Is You

Likeeeeeeeee holy SHIT this one just sorta- idkkkk- ‘Where? Where were you when, all of the embers fell? I still remember them… covered in ash. Covered in glass. Covered in all my friends, I still… think of the bombs they built- IF THERES A PLACEEE THAT I COULD BE, THEN ID BE ANOTHERR MEMORY, CAN I BE THE ONLY HOPE FOR YOU? BECAUSE YOURE THE ONLY HOPE FOR ME! AND IF WE CAN FIND WHERE WE BELONG, WE’ll Have To make It on our own!! Face all the painnn and takeee it on, because the only hope for me, is you alone…’ its one of the slower ones tho

Party Poison

This one starts in Japanese for some reason??? Its hard to explain… another fast and dancy type one ig, but sorta raw-er? Its sooooooo weird- not one of my favs but its semi popular

Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

Okay so idk how to describe this really- sorta gives Only Hope type thing but faster and sorta rockier? Idk. My fav parts tho!!! ‘Get offfff the ledge, and drop the knife… Not a victim of a victims life! Because… this aint a room fullla suicides- WE’RE BELIEVERSS I BELIEVE TONIGHT-‘ OH AND ONE OF THE MORE POPULAR LINES PEOPLE KNOW ‘Ill tell you well how the story ends, where the good guys die and the bad guys win… (WHO CARES?)- THIS AINT ABOUT ALL THE FRIENDS YOU MADE, BUT THE GRAFFITII THEY WRITE ON YOUR GRAVE-‘ then the last two ‘Im the only friend that makes you cry! Youre a heart attack in black hair dye! So just save yourself, and Ill hold them back tonight….’ And ‘We can live forever if you’ve got the time- YOU MOTHERFUCKER (OHHHWHOAAAA) Youre the broken glass in the mornin light! Be a burnin’ star if it takes all night!’

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

OHOHOH APPARENTLY THIS ONE IS TO SOOTHE THE KIDS WHEN THE NUCLEAR BOMBS HIT AND GET THEM INTO THE SHELTER!!! (yes there are nuclear bombs, its post apocalyptic lmao) I love the bridge- ‘Love, love, love wont stop this bomb, bomb, love wont stop this bomb, bomb, love wont stop this… bomb……. Run, run, bunny, run. Run, run, bunny ruuuuuuuuuuun’ One of the slowest in the album also

Summertime

Okay so this is prolly my fav? Idk how to describe it tbh….. I know what it describes for me buuuut you don’t wanna hear me be weird about people……. Ill just tell you my fav parts (that I relate to!!!) ‘Terrified of what I’d be, as a kid from what Ive seen… Every single day when people try and put the pieces back together, just to smash them down… turn my headphones up real loud…. I don’t think I need them now…. Cos you stop the noise!!!’

DESTROYA

………………fucked up robot song where you scream and moan. What else is there to say? (the porn bots In the story worship a ‘god’ called Destroya who will supposedly come save them)

The Kids From Yesterday

I love this one too. Sorta slow ig. Nostalgic maybe? ‘Well now, this could be the last of all the rides we take…. So hold on tight and don’t look back……… we don’t care about the message or the rules they make…. Ill find you when the sun goes black…..’

Vampire Money

Dance!!! Sex!! Upbeat!!! Fast!!! ‘Three two one, we came to FUCK-‘ and my other fav line ‘and get your finger on the trigger tap the barrel of the gun! Hair back, motherfucker, jet black, SO COOL-‘

@mayhem-moth

#my chemical romance #faye fangirls

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thunck · 1 year

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Another beautiful day in the dwarven fortress Bowloar, another goblin attack repelled. These guys tangle with a kobold thief and some weapon traps before limping away, less one hand between them.

Total fortress kill count is two giants, a kobold and one goblin(’s left hand). Yessir, things are looking up!

Holy fucking shit.

I mentioned this little lady in the tags of that first giant post, and here she is again. There’s a downside to popularity, to be sure. She’s doubled in age since her last visit.

The werelizard child Usu Ramulabba infiltrated the fortress and just transformed outside our shiny refurbished temple. Our full ten-unit squad of mixed dwarves and humans is training in the barracks downstairs, directly next to the indicated stairwell. One of our glassmakers is a lot closer.

The glassmaker gets attacked and seems to be holding his own. It probably helps that the horrible night-beast attacking him is two years old.

A nearby tanner briefly joins the fray.

A dog valiantly attacks the werelizard child, and gets mauled in return.

The militia have made contact.

The dog dies on top of the temple altar, as the militia dogpiles the werelizard child and start to do some real damage.

The werelizard child is struck down by our courageous militia, its body and severed leg added to the invader corpse stockpile. Most civilians are horrified at the corpse of a human child, but the effect is somewhat ruined by the buggy sprite. I think the leg turned back correctly, though.

Now, the real fun begins. Who got bitten?

After combing the combat report, I find that two out of the three injured dwarves received bites that broke the skin. Nobody was killed in the attack, but these citizens are now incurably cursed, and will turn into werelizards at the next full moon. Presumably non-child ones. As much as it pains me, they’ll have to be exiled as soon as their wounds are treated.

The third patient, a wrestler, was being viciously grappled by the werelizard child right as it died. That must’ve been very humiliating for her, bested at her own game like that. But it’s over now, and she can get some much-deserved rest.

Son of a fucking bitch, man.

So I missed a bite in the combat report. It could happen to anyone.

The chief medical dwarf is in the tavern for this friendly fracas, and has the closest possible call. Literally the only dwarf in the fort with any medical skills.

At least our poor cursed wrestler goes down easily. Transforming in the middle of a packed tavern will do that. I comb over this combat report fucking meticulously. There’s no way I’m gonna miss another one of these fuckers. Sorry, tragically accursed fuckers. Everyone who got bitten gets the boot before they even make it to a hospital bed.

The tomb is filling up pretty quickly, although we’re reticent to bury all those dead visitors for whatever reason. The dead dwarf, Îton, is buried across from the dog that the child lizard killed. Looking in the coffin confirms that reverted werelizards just look like that.

We went ahead and made a statue of Îton, as well. Unfortunately the most notable things they did in life were moving to Bowloar last year and becoming a werelizard, and we are not commemorating that. Now hopefully we can get back to converting that outdoor pasture into a giant pit/drowning trap.

Fucking of course. In my defense, there were about 15 human poets in that room, and the combat report made zero distinction between them. Werelizard #3 doesn’t do anything but unsuccessfully attempt to shove, and is quickly beaten to death by a bunch of civilians including the high priest and a child.

What the hell is up with all our infectees having beast forms so much weaker than that human two-year-old? I guess that’s not really something to complain about.

Just a single casualty this time, who I’ve made damn sure didn’t get cursed. We’ll know how sure “damn sure” is in a few weeks.

Oh, we’re big enough for nobles now. Suddenly the werebeast problem doesn’t seem so bad.

#dwarf fortress #dwarves #dwarf fortress stories #bowloar #this is the closest we've gotten to utter catastrophe #more than one of these things at a time would've been impossible to contain #something something pandemic

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magicalgirlagency · 2 years

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Honestly I don't know if it was Madoka that's made recent kids' shows darker (well, maybe it did for SU? idk). At first I thought it was more due to Gravity Falls and/or Adventure Time because I know those shows get really dark later on. Oddly enough even though there are shows I've seen that are much darker than Steven Universe for some reason it's only Steven that feels like Madoka again. Like sure with some other shows I'm like "oh holy crap thats fucked up" but with Steven?Straightup Madoka.

It's complicated, but I think I can give my 2 cents on the matter...

While MadoMagi did certainly contribuited to the popularization of Tragical Girls (Raising Project, Yuki Yuna, Magical Girl Site, Daybreak Illusion and SpecOps Asuka), it didn't got people thinking about how fucked up it is to rely on minors to do the dirty work and clean up the adults' messes.

I mean, nothing has changed; I still keep seeing children/teenagers getting into the most traumatic experiences ever. BNHA, JJK, and KnY, for example, are high-grossing shounen series with teenaged MCs witnessing the most horrendous shit ever, and actively have their joy and energy sucked right out of their bodies in the process.

As for Steven Universe, well, I wouldn't say it's "straight up Madoka", despite the similarities that they may share. At first, it was marketed as some spiritual successor to famous series such as Sailor Moon and DragonBall, having the strong potential of going down as one of the most memorable cartoons in TV history with its heroines with diverse body types and actual queer relationships...

...but the truth is way more complicated than that.

You see, Steven Universe is one of those series that didn't knew which demographic to be aimed at. It wanted to be child-friendly with SatAm-esque scenarios and a Monster-of-the-Day/Week routine, but it wanted to be serious and appeal to older audiences with the Gem War, the Diamond Authority, the Cluster, etc...

The staff was amateurish and black-and-white in their approach of nuanced themes, not to mention the irresponsibility and laziness with the amount of fillers and hiatuses. They have bitten more than they could chew, and all became one big neo-liberalistic mess in the end. Steven Universe was more worried about looking visually good than actually telling a good story.

Meanwhile Madoka just straight up lied to its audience. They have used the Magical Girl genre as bait to get a public to watch their anime. I mean, the title is written in a curvy and cutesy font...

And its main heroines are constantly marketed as a team and are always looking as if they were besties (emulating the likes of the Inner Senshi)...

...except that Homura was indifferent to anyone who wasn't Madoka, Mami was devoured right after her debut (and became the target of a 10 year joke that's no longer funny), Kyouko was territorial and aggressive to Sayaka on their first meeting (and both girls became shipping fodder despite having the worst first impression ever), Sayaka was treated like a guinea pig to show the audience how Witches were born, Madoka ascends to Nirvana and stops existing, and Homura becomes a test subject and attempts suicide and becomes a yandere when her plan fails.

Oh, and let's not forget the alternative timeline where Mami loses her composure and kills Kyouko after witnessing Sayaka become Oktavia, and is then killed by Madoka before she could do the same to Homura.

And when these girls are FINALLY seen working together, it's later revealed to be all a fabricated lie.

So much for friendship.

Anyways, so long story short: Steven Universe was highly ambitious in theory, but utterly incompetent in practice. Madoka Magica actively lied to the public with their façade of cuteness and frills. Even though they have their places in pop culture, we must also acknowledge that their executions were made in really bad taste.

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homemantis · 1 year

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i know engaging with a south park fan is pointless because you're undoubtedly going to be a right-wing reactionary but what issue do you have with radical feminism?

Oh Jesus Christ okay!!

First off, people are saying I’m a “South Park Stan” when clearly in my pinned message, I have explained I have a hyper fixation with the show, however my relationship with it is complicated. I dont like Matt and Trey. The show has weird shitty messages at times that I don’t support. I’m obsessed with the characters. I’m obsessed with the way the fandom creates a whole new world about these weird campy paper cutouts. The fandom on tumblr is hilariously queer, something that would probably have these ‘right wing reactionary’s you speak of trembling in their boots. And I love it.

I’m queer. Non-binary. I don’t know what the fuck my sexuality is, but I know I like girls. I’m very left wing, and I hate shitty right-wingers. I’m their enemy.

I find radfems to be terrifying honestly. While I think feminism and womens movement to be fantastic, and holy shit is it needed…

I hate most radical feminism for it’s exclusion of trans people. I love trans people. I’ll say it again, I LOVE TRANS PEOPLE!! Gender is a social construct, and to let go of the restraints of gender is so, so freeing. I think people should be allowed to identify as whatever they want and be supported for it. At the end of the day, gender was made up by society, what we are described as, what we like, what we wear, is all just made up by society. So fuck it, go crazy and fight back, identify as whatever your heart desires. It’s freeing, it’s queer, it’s campy and it’s fun. People should always be allowed to express themself however they want.

Terfs, trans-exclusionary radical feminists are becoming increasingly popular. People like JK Rowling hasn’t helped. I think its so important for women and by extension, everyone to express love for themselves and their bodies and be allies for one another. But again, not at the cost of now allowing trans people to do the same. Jk Rowling is a radical feminist, and most radfems I see are gender-critical.

Im just going to use Wikipedia here:

Feminists who describe themselves as "gender-critical" say that biological sex is "real, important, and immutable" and is "not to be conflated with gender identity", and that feminism should organize with emphasis on the basis of sex rather than gender.

This is what the majority of radfems believe in. Kronkk, who I criticised, after a quick scroll of the word trans on their blog, I have found that yes, they too are very gender critical. Radfems like this contribute to the oppression of trans people. Your sex characteristics don’t equal your gender. As said before, gender is made up by society, it’s a way to express, and society has often made it a way to oppress. Intersex people exist. Cis females who don’t want to fit into the box of ‘pretty pink dresses’ exist. Trans men exist, who don’t feel like they want to be female at all. Trans women exist!! Non-binary people who don’t want to be either exist. Fuck it, shout out to people who use neo pronouns, who have decided all this gender bullshit is stupid and just want to be referred to as stuff like ‘cat/it’ fucking slay.

Again, I love the lgbtq+ community. But we can’t be a community without the T, just as we wouldnt be our community without the L’s and G’s. We need to support one another, not tear one another down. Our community will always be oppressed by the same people. Fucking hell, a member of my queer club at my school was stabbed in the street last year for ‘looking too queer’. We have enough shit coming from people who aren’t in our community. It’s awful to have allies and members of our own community have these shitty bigoted views as well. Out community wouldn’t be where it is without trans people. Trans people have been around from the beginning of time, look it up. I’m begging our allies, and queer siblings to stand up for us.

Anyway. This became a bit of a love letter to trans people by me. But I hope you understand where I’m coming from. I love our community, and we don’t need anymore hate for it. Have a nice day <3

#transgender #my asks #discourse #gender #fuck terfs

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bisexualhobi · 2 years

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Yeah the way they went out with a half assed comeback? like why couldnt they have announced the break after the LV shows (or way before but ya know)... I think it would have been way better received whereas the lead up to what was simply a boring ass anthology money grab with not even a Muster concert in Korea was so underwhelming and disapointing. I do think as you have kinda hinted at before there was some serious almost power struggle going on with the company and I think their refusal to do even choreo for those music shows gave me the vibes of just fulfilling contractual obligations. I know I'm being a broken record but its just so frustrating how much better the whole thing could have been handled and particularly RM and Yoongi in how they worded things in that dinner live... their feelings of losing direction /being pushed a certain way were definitely valid and I did feel for RM but also the complete lack of accountability and humility just gave it such a hollow tone.

in my opinion it does show a lack of..... ugh i don't wanna say humility bc i think that word doesn't quite nail what i'm going for but it just comes across as tone deaf and highly unlikeable.

as i've said before - people get tired of someone that keeps winning and yet at every chance keeps reminding everyone of when they were losing. like holy shit dude we get it. you had it hard. that's life. what the fuck else do you want us to say? you are literally at the top of the fucking world now - let it fucking go already.

bts built their entire platform and appeal on the story of being the underdogs. bc everybody loves rooting for the underdog. but the problem w that narrative (and that i am 99% sure they never accounted for bc well - WHO in their right mind imagines they will become the single most popular artist of the 2010s) is that once they blew the fuck up that narrative was automatically rendered obsolete. bts can no longer claim anyone and anything is against them - (because even if they are who the fuck cares) - and that they've had it tough (because even if they have what the fuck does that have to do with the present). their success and popularity is so massive that everybody that follows them nowadays is aware that they are untouchable and have a multimillion business and a fandom that blinds them from anything.

all of that coupled with some very shitty management in the past two years has made bts' success a double edged sword.

on the one hand they grew exponentially thanks to the pandemic - on the other they kept crying about how they couldn't have concerts while people were dying by the millions.

on the one hand they managed to break into the US with two grammy nominated english songs - on the other they lost so much credibility bc of it some of their own fans stopped supporting them and the new fans that came in no longer cared about the music, just about the money and the achievements and the merchandise.

on the one hand they made millions off the english releases and sponsorships that came with it - on the other they put themselves in a position where the company saw the money coming in and kept pushing them for more while they burnt out creatively and have locked themselves in an insular echo chamber that no longer lets them grow as artists.

but then again, when you have the poor billionaires lamenting over how hard it is for them no one really gives a fuck except the people that made them billionaires in the first place. the rest of the public is just gonna see conceited celebrities who were fine with reaping the benefits of their own selling-out until it came back to bite them in the ass.

#asks #bts #long post

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phykios · 2 years

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Hi, I hope you’re having a wonderful day/morning/evening! I just started reading If I Were A Blackbird and wanted to drop in and commend you on your work! I read the entirety of The Marble King last night and holy shit it’s probably the one of the most well-executed fanfictions I’ve come across. Everything from the plot to the characterizations to your narrative voice just seems on the level of a professional author. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read some great fanfics over the years, but The Marble King is on a whole new level. The dialogue in all of your works is dynamic and reflects actual non-cringeworthy chemistry between the characters, which, while impressive and indicative of a talented author, isn’t necessarily unique to you. What I feel is a lot more unique is that, in The Marble King, you are able to produce this comfortable banter using period-accurate vocabulary and social norms. It speaks to your mastery both of the characters you write and of the language itself that you are able to so seamlessly weave historical and fictional worlds together to accomplish this, adapting the characters in just the right way so that they fit into your universe but still feel authentic. It really unifies the story, makes it seem like it’s its own cohesive work and not just like these popular fandom characters got plopped into some alternate universe and given whatever backstory necessary to drive the plot. To the reader, it’s believable and whole and real. Anyway, I’m curious what you majored in in college/uni (or if you didn’t attend), because I feel like only a history major or a perfectionist would have the same attention to historical accuracy that you do, but as I was reading I kept wondering what kind of background you must have had to become so comfortable with this old-fashioned style of dialogue. You certainly do a better job of sticking to the time period than Netflix’s Persuasion, that’s for sure. (If you couldn’t tell already, I was absolutely blown away by the dialogue writing in The Marble King.) Lots of love, hope you have a great rest of your day

hi omg ❤️ this is one of the nicest asks i have ever gotten in my life i want to print this out and put it in my diary and read it when i get sad

i'm so happy you liked the marble king :"3 in my non fandom life i'm actually a professional musician, and i'm currently getting my doctorate in musicology! i'm mostly an opera singer, but i've also done a lot of work/performance/study with renaissance and early music, so i've spent a not-insignificant amount of time reading old poetry and dialogue and stuff... i was aiming for petrarch vibes mostly, idk if i succeeded but that's what i was aiming for lmao!

i'm sure an actual medieval/renaissance historian would have a Lot to say about my writing style 😂 but i'm glad it feels suitably old enough 🥰 thank u so so much for ur ask

#asks #Anonymous #SASHA PRO TIP: want to better emulate old timey dialogue? read old timey dialogue!

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quartersety-of-a-holsety · 2 years

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Hey, y'all remember this shit I did years ago? Well, I had the most random thought to pick it back up again so here I am, back on my bullshit! As a reminder, since it's been a while, keep in mind that these are fandoms I'm personally into and don't necessarily [or accurately] reflect their popularity

The fandom districts are as follows and in order:

Def Leppard

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yandere Simulator

Fire Emblem

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Mortal Kombat

Forever Knight

Touhou Project

Megaman X

Dark Parables

Pokemon

Wild card [each character is from their own fandom]

I'll reblog the icon sets sometime later. Fun facts and change log from hell under the cut!

~CHANGE LOG~

DISTRICTS

District 2: Fullmetal Alchemist to Yu-Gi-Oh!

District 7: Ouran High School Host Club to Forever Knight

District 11: Yu-Gi-Oh!/Pokemon to Pokemon

CHARACTER SWAPS

District 3: Osana to Akane Nemesis to Hanako [name change only]

District 4: Narcian to Marianne Tsubaki to Constance

District 5: Acxa to Allura

District 9: X to Alia Zero to Marino

District 11: Bakura to Jessie Kaiba to James

District 12: Carmen to Tobias Hitch to Edward

ICON UPDATES

District 1: Sav, Joe

District 2: Bakura, Kaiba

District 3: Hanako [recropped]

District 4: Eltshan

District 8: Remilia

District 9: Axl, Iris

District 11: Serena

District 12: Tobias***

Fun facts 1, 2, 3, and 4 here! New fun facts below!

Fun Fact #1: This is the most edited roster change since the first one. Way more has changed here than any other roster update

Fun Fact #2: The original season code had not been used in so long that when I tried to load it up, it failed because it was auto deleted a good two years ago. I had to completely remake this roster, plus the custom events, from scratch

Fun Fact #3: Allura's icon is from an edit done by a Tumblr user named r-i-v-e-r. Unfortunately, it seems the artist is no longer on the site

Fun Fact #4: Okay, let me make this clear: I HATE the post-XY art style for Pokemon. Fucking hate it. That said, I saw images of Serena's new design and she's??? Actually??? Decent??? Like holy shit a design I don't hate. It wasn't that hard of a decision at that point to replace her icon with a more recent appearance

Fun Fact #5: YGO and Pokemon were lumped together for the longest time and now I was finally able to separate them and let them go full throttle. Bakura and Kaiba, with new icons and as promised in a previous fun fact, took Joey with them, but they have Marik instead of Yugi since he's been growing on me a lot more. They took the place of the FMA district. Meanwhile, Serena and Clemont now have, again as promised, Team Rocket joining them

Fun Fact #6: While debating on characters and fandoms to include, Nick, Nat, and Divia seemed to just be easy inclusions to replace the Ouran district. It was deciding on their fourth districtmate that was difficult. It ultimately came down to either LaCroix or Janette [sorry, but Schanke is Babey and I refuse to corrupt him like this]. LaCroix was picked due to the potential for some interesting scenarios

Fun Fact #7: In previous updates, I mentioned Sav's icon somehow becoming more saturated even though the image had not changed. I discovered while updating the icon sets earlier today that this was indeed a Tumblr issue like I had initially thought. Apparently something happens when posting it live, causing the image to saturate. I was able to fix this, but this required, well, not using Tumblr. The image is still saturated in the actual post its in, but the exact link used in the simulator settings is now being hosted on Discord

Fun Fact #8: Back in the very first run of the Multifandom Hunger Games, District 6 was the Animorphs and Tobias was a part of that district. For this brand new run, I decided to bring Tobias back. ***He's listed in the change log for icon updates as I decided not to reuse the original icon he had. His new icon is from a comic version of the series

Fun Fact #9: The character hasn't changed, but this short comic dropped some time ago, revealing Nemesis' true identity as Hanako Yamada. Her information for the season was updated accordingly

Fun Fact #10: I initially didn't plan on updating Joe, Hanako, or Remilia's icons, but ultimately did. Hanako's uses the exact same image, just recropped to look less awkward

Fun Fact #11: The Fire Emblem district was supposed to be a one-character-per-game situation, but let's be real, Three Houses has way too many interesting characters to ignore entirely, so I added two instead while also updating Eltshan's icon. Ferdinand was briefly considered before deciding on Constance. Marianne's has a Black Eagles background instead of Golden Deer because I just like the Black Eagles more

Fun Fact #12: Amnesia was considered for a return, but I decided not to go with this. Sailor Moon was also briefly considered for inclusion

Fun Fact #13: Before deciding on Tobias, I was originally going to have Florence [Alchemists of Loom] take Carmen's place. Other wild card characters considered for inclusion were Nanashi [1bitheart] and Fletcher Raleigh [The Summoner series]

Fun Fact #14: Since Mulberry has been revamping a lot of older character art she's done, including the student council, I decided this would be a good opportunity to update Shiromi's icon. At the same time, I decided to replace Osana with another student council member. Imagine the scary implications. Also yes, I am aware how divisive YanSim is, but I ain't here for bullshit. I'm here to vibe. This district stays put

Fun Fact #15: X and Zero were replaced because they needed a break. End of, just let them enjoy some peace

Fun Fact #16: As I am no longer into SNK, dropping Hitch was an easy decision, and even though I dropped FMA as a full district, I did want to keep Edward, so he got to stick around and take Hitch's place

#hunger games simuator #multifandom hunger games #still not tagging the fandoms #sfw #just in case the stupid filter tries to hit it

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turtlemagnum · 6 months

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figured i should make a revised version of my pin (holy shit was it long(to be fair it still is(shut up!)))

facts about me for REAL GAMEWAD's:

the name's turtle. it's not my legal name, it's better!

my interests include writing, music, video games, animals, history, obscure political philosophy (and philosophy in general), making fun of virtually everyone who's ever been considered a philosopher, weeb shit, guns and occasionally other varieties of weaponry (usually the kind that individual people can effectively use), linguistics, and misanthropy. and also probably some other things i'm forgetting.

in terms of specifics, my biggest writing project/interest at the moment is this fantasy setting i've been developing for years now and marginally more recently, a game to go along with it and hopefully become successful enough to turn it into a series.

my musical tastes generally require some degree of complexity often not found in things like pop music. my fallback genre tends to be progressive rock, with some of my favorite artists in that group being yes, king crimson, jethro tull, jimi hendrix (best guitarist of all time i will FIGHT YOU), emerson lake and palmer, and while i'm not quite as experienced in terms of foreign prog i've really liked what i've heard from midas and (i think?) masayoshi takanaka. i think the most mainstream artist i like is bowie, which to be fair he's pretty weird for a really popular artist. i also like two (2!) whole metal groups, those being dio and symphony x. i think the main thing that really sets them apart from most other metal is that the singer actually sings rather than the generic metal screaming (which, to be fair, i think screaming can be done well, but we'll get to that later). nothing quite helps me think about writing as listening to really good metal, a lot of my setting has actually been heavily inspired by listening to dio (which, to be fair, his subject matter tends to have heavy fantasy elements, so it makes sense). i also like tally hall and most of its splitoffs (e.g. miracle musical and some of bora's stuff), and also lemon demon/neil cicierega, though to be fair i'm not hard into them like i used to be. very occasionally, i'll listen to old school funk/soul and the things it inspired like a good chunk of classic rap (like nwa). not sure if i'd consider death grips to be "rap", but that's probably the closest descriptor i'm aware of and either way, i do quite like death grippin'. a few other artists i like include oingo boingo/danny elfman's stuff, marty robbins (honest to jod the only country i actively enjoy), a bit of aphex twin and his infinite niche side projects, pilotredsun/pilotredsky, molchat doma, and queen.

i like a lot of different game series, but some of my favorites include UT/DR, zelda, mario, pre gen 5 pokemon (i know i'm a boomer but i was literally like 10 when gen 5 first came out and even back then i didn't like the look of it, and i've just sorta lost interest in pokemon games post that point), i'm a self loathing elder scrolls and fallout fan (the best idea bethesda ever had was letting obsidian develop new vegas), and i hate myself even more for becoming an unironic star wars fan after being recommended the KOTOR games as being some of the best RPGs of all time (KOTOR 2 is, and KOTOR 1 is enjoyable enough), being a sane PC gamer i love pretty much everything valve has ever touched e.g. half life and portal (with the exception of the CS games, they strive enough for realism that they're not fun mechanically but they're not realistic enough to be fun in terms of being a simulator)(also TF2 devoured my life during middle school and most of high school, but i've fallen out of love with it at this point), i fucking love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, GTA is mostly a driving simulator for me where you can also just shoot anybody who cuts you off (which, to be honest should be a feature in literally every open world driving game, but i digress (isn't this whole thing an exercise in digression? (fuck you! shut up!!! bitch.))), and also i fucking love emulation and piracy sooooo so so soso much. sometimes i actively pirate things i already own just because i can. also i cheat in gtav online purely to get free money to buy all of the exorbitantly expensive shit and also not get griefed by the other cheaters. i like fast cars in video game!!! im not giving rockstar real money so i can buy the back to the future car!!!!!

i'm definitely a dog person, though i also very much love cats, and also i love pretty much all varieties of animal (though to be fair, i don't really like animals bred to be "cute" since they just kinda look like monstrosities to me. which to be clear, isn't their fault, and if i met one in person i'd be nice to it because it's still a little animal, but i just kinda feel bad for em y'know. not a fan of the dog eugenics to be perfectly honest. also, fuck invasive species, i'm not really into hunting but given the impact they tend to have on the native environment of the US, i definitely plan on hunting hogs, and also i like bacon/ribs/pork chops)

huge history nerd. most of my knowledge is from ww2 and onwards, but i do know a fair bit about general history. i'm definitely an amateur and by no means anything resembling an expert, but in my experience i tend to know a fair bit more about history than most normal people (i don't think there are many people under 30 these days who know what the hell a rhodesia was, for example)

in terms of philosophy, i don't really like to ascribe labels to myself and prefer to simply state my beliefs and opinions, mostly because in my experience people will generally mostly agree with what i have to say so long as i don't call myself the label that arguably most accurately describes them. if you think i'm a communist, i'm not gonna refute you, but i'm not gonna actively choose to call myself a communist. same goes with terms like "liberal", "libertarian", "anarchist", or "socialist", since literally all of these terms are deeply politically loaded and tend to mean different things to different people, i could very well describe the same positions i hold to two very different people, and they'd each very likely come away with a different label that probably says more about them than it would about me. i, of course, have my own opinions on what these words mean, but they're generally unpopular ones that will undoubtedly make someone angry. thus, i consider the only winning move to be simply not playing. to be frank, if you're at all curious about my beliefs, just read through enough of my posts as i tend to be pretty open about what i'm thinking. also, if you know who my pfp is, you probably have a pretty good starting point to make sense of my views from.

in terms of making fun of philosophers, i'd like to propose a hypothetical. let's assume that the afterlife is real. personally, i don't think marx would be in a hell at the behest of a higher being. i do, however, think that he'd be forever condemned to be surrounded by the countless generations of insufferable marxists incessantly arguing in typical leftist infighting fashion, which i'd argue may as well be hell

in terms of weeb shit, i mostly mean anime, which is to say the few anime i've historically had the attention span to watch and the rare manga i've had the attention span to read. during the wait for part 5 of jjba to be animated, i read through part 5-7 and i still haven't caught up with the part 6 anime. i fucking love what i've seen from cowboy bebop and honestly i need to pick it back up, i've more recently watched a decent chunk of fist of the north star, and the most recent manga i've read was a compilation of the yugioh manga (which i honestly didn't expect to be as good as it was). i forget if it was this year or last year, but i watched fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood all the way through and fucking loved it (not sure if i'd call it the best anime of all time, but moreso out of a lack of broad experience and a hate for sweeping generalizations rather than thinking it's overhyped). and also i grew up on youtube abridged bullshit like dbza and ygotas (and also like 2 VHS's of the gen 1 pokemon anime)

oh boy!! guns!!! so yeah i'm like, extremely autistic, and modern(ish) small arms are one of my biggest special interests. if you want me to explain basically anything about how guns work, ask me! please. i need to gun rant....! babey..!! (if you don't wanna hear about guns, probably don't follow me)

i like linguistics in much the same way that i like history, insofar as how i really like it and think it's so fucking cool and try to learn as much as i can about it but i'm also really stupid and have a hard time understanding the extremely complex bits (moreso with linguistics on that last part, i wish i knew how to read that thing where there's a specific character for literally every sound ever to make pronunciation guides completely unambiguous). also i really like the intersection of culture, linguistics and history and the like, i love how interconnected the fields are (though to be fair, basically everything is interconnected if you learn hard enough)

he/they/it pronouns because i don't really care how people refer to me as long as it's not femininely or neopronouns (nothing against either of those, just don't personally vibe with them). also, i like "it" because my grandparents would jokingly call me "it" a lot, and eventually it felt very much like a term of endearment (so weirdly enough, it doesn't feel dehumanizing to me despite that being The Point for most it/its users i've seen). my gender is just some guy, maan. or in other words, i'm an amab person who's more or less "gender confirming" with my biological sex, but also i reject a lot of the bullshit with "normal" masculinity so in essence: i'm a man when it's convenient, and genderless when it's not. sexuality is a bit weird, i can absolutely develop romantic feelings for people regardless of gender but in terms of sexual attraction, it's pretty much just women and people of other genders who present femininely/androgynously (though with women specifically, i also really like masc women, which Sucks for me because in my experience most of them are exclusively into other women)

fuckin uhh tags. vent tag is #turtlevent, gun tag is #turtlegunrant, will add as necessary

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fzzr · 9 months

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Spring 2023 Anime Wrapup

Original Post:

This sure was a season. I finished 14 full-length series, plus some OVAs and carryovers. Undisputed show of the season Oshi no Ko and underrated hit Dead Mount Death Play lead the pack, but there's a range of other content between hate-watchable and actually good as well.

New Stuff:

Oshi no Ko (My Star) - Holy shit. I don't want to say much to avoid spoilers, but it was a 10/10 candidate from episode one and still might end up there on rewatch. For now 9/10, you MUST watch this. There will be a post forthcoming when I process it for a while.

Isekai de Cheat Skill wo Te ni Shita Ore wa, Genjitsu Sekai wo mo Musou Suru: Level Up wa Jinsei wo Kaeta (I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too) - They put the entire power fantasy in the title for your convenience. It's not a great message that all you need to do to become popular is inherit a bunch of money and literally magically change your entire body, but here we are. The power fantasy is truly stratospheric - for example, he accidentally seduces a model and is proposed to by a princess in the space of one episode. The "animation" (or lack thereof) doesn't give the at best mediocre plot the support it needs, alas. A very generous 6/10.

Jigokuraku (Hell's Paradise) - Samurai Suicide Squad with a hearty helping of EDGE and a surprising amount of heart. The action was good, even though it sometimes felt like they ran out of time to make things truly excellent. 8/10.

Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu (The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke's Mansion) - Another villainess anime, this time with the twist being that she becomes a villainess on purpose in order to save her own life. Most of the time the plot foreknowledge twist was used to undermine typical shoujo tropes rather than heighten them. Between that and the nothing ending, I found it oddly muted. 7/10.

Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia (Insomniacs After School) - I didn't finish this yet, because I don't think I'm ready for the emotional punches it's setting up. Not dropped, just not done.

Skip to Loafer (Skip and Loafer) - A country-girl-in-the-big-city shoujo story, in which our protagonist good-natures her way through a whole stable of stock high school antagonists. I like that given only twelve episodes to work with they didn't speedrun to parts where relationships happen, and instead let the story take its time. This is the first time since Hyouka I've really liked something with this sort of sedate pace. Looking forward to more! 8/10.

Tengoku Daimakyou (Heavenly Delusion) - A trip through the post-apocalypse featuring spooky monsters, bioethics failures, and a mix of hope and despair at how people face life after the end. Worth a watch, but be aware there's some extreme content. 8/10

Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi wo Suru (Loving Yamada at Lv999) - Shoujo for gamers! Unlike Raeliana above this shoujo with a twist did it for me. For personal reasons I appreciated the respect paid to online relationships. Convincing characters and relationships plus distinct and consistent art make this a very honorable 8/10.

Otonari ni Ginga (A Galaxy Next Door) - A guy touches an alien princess funny and they're married now. Yes, another one. This time, she's his manga assistant. Very light and fluffy, despite the subtheme of family alienation. 7/10, though at the high end for myself.

Dead Mount Death Play - Reverse Isekai! With a name like that you'd expect some serious edge, and there is some. Surprisingly though the themes are very wholesome. This was the biggest surprise of the season. I didn't watch it in the first round of shows, but when I looked at it out of curiosity it blew me away. 9/10, you should really watch this.

Tonikaku Kawaii - This is a sequel, but I hadn't watched the previous season, so it's new to me. I added it later in the season mostly out of curiosity. It turned out to be another entry in the impossibly perfect significant other microgenre, like The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. As with Angel Next Door, the point is that you should be an actual good person. This time it's about the rewards of getting married as soon as possible, and here are step-by-step instructions. There's a subtle-but-not-subtle supernatural undercurrent that becomes increasingly obvious in season 2, as well. 7/10.

Sequels:

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story Season 2 - What can you say about a show that introduces multiple dangerous forbidden techniques in the middle of a tournament arc... of golf? Anyway here's lesbians doing more wacky special moves. If you're into weird sports anime you're sure to be into this. 8/10.

Dr. Stone: New World - There was a lot more yadda yadda this time, so it fell a bit flat. The less they show Senku's work coming up with things the more they feel like instant win buttons instead of things they worked for. I had hoped the cast size constraint in the second half of the season would have let them go back to spending time on inventions, but alas no. 7/10.

Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc) - Yep, it was more Demon Slayer. I'm pleased that Demon Slayer has mostly maintained its quality, in contrast with My Hero Academia which fell off a bit in the middle there. 8/10.

Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo Season 2 (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2) - The robots (and lesbians) are cool, but I don't see how it's possible to miss the "war (and unfettered capitalism) is bad" message. It's also a new take on Revolutionary Girl Utena, which I've been meaning to re-watch and write about for some time. No excuse now, I suppose. 8/10.

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Road to the Top - I forgot to put this on the first list because it's a four episode ONA that hadn't started airing yet. As one of the weird sports anime I actually enjoy, of course I was up for even just a small arc of it. 8/10.

Carryovers:

Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai (Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible) - Finally a bulli anime I can enjoy, thanks to it not actually being bulli for very long. In the end this was a sort of nothing-in-particular show, falling somewhere in the fuzzy area around impossibly perfect SO and teasing anime. As expected it's almost all frosting and no cake, but I did enjoy my time with it. 7/10.

Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. 2 (BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. Season 2) - This fell off a bit, and I think I know why. It suffered from the same thing as later Dog Days seasons, where it used its expansive cast by shuffling who hangs out with who. This provides less novelty than the original concept of "what will they get up to now" did, and it also necessarily slows things to a crawl as we need to see more perspectives on every event as a result. Still, the characters remain fun and the game is as busted as ever. 7/10.

Dropped:

Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou - Garbage. A fetish fest with godawful CGI. Rancid vibes. You'll never know where it's going. You may have trouble looking away. I did eventually, though. Dropped at episode 10. 6/10.

Isekai One Turn Kill Neesan: Ane Douhan no Isekai Seikatsu Hajimemashita (My One-Hit Kill Sister) - Lots of Rule D edging. The quality isn't the most consistent, the tropes are basic, and little of value is to be found here. When it's good, it's actually kinda good. Unfortunately it got boring. Dropped at episode 10. 6/10.

Edomae Elf (Otaku Elf) - Elf in real world! Wooo! A nice comfy show. Not much happens, but it's cute enough. Got boring in the end though. Dropped at episode 10. 7/10.

My Home Hero - It's hard to think of anything recently that used tension and suspense to this degree. That said, the every-episode cliffhangers eventually got exhausting and turned me off and I stopped keeping up. 7/10 not for me.

#anime #spring 2023 anime #seasonal anime #original post

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sinfulcries · 3 years

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reader filming him and kenma fucking without his consent and black mailing him the next day, telling kenma that he won't leak the video if kenma becomes his slave. despite reader being toxic, kenma catches feelings for him and when he confesses, reader says he feels the same way and fucks kenma only to crush kenma's hopes by saying he was just joking & that he would never like him hehe.

tokyo afternoons . kenma x male reader

authors notes. holy shit this was really long and it took me a few weeks to write. i was planning on writing 2 smuts for this but i lost inspiration at the end </3 anyways, virgin kenma hits differently

word count. 3.1k

tw. blackmail, non consensual filming, manipulation, toxic && douche-y reader, sadistic reader, virginity loss, corruption, size difference, unprotected sex, ignorant kuroo, obsession, spitting, noncon at the end.

The air was hot. Tokyo has always been so warm but it was never this hot. Kenma’s pale skin started to sweat, cheeks flushed as golden eyes peered at the man who was sitting beside him. You always left a warm feeling in his chest-- always left his heart drumming loudly whilst his cheeks were flushed a bright red. You were addictive, one of the people who managed to effortlessly bring a smile on to Kenma’s face.

“You’re staring at me.” You broke the comfortable silence with a chuckle, Kenma snapping out of his trance as he turned away to avoid your hot gaze. “Sorry,” Muttering a half hearted response in reply, the blonde averted his gaze to the sky-- watching the harsh sunlight spread over tokyo’s vast horizon. “You know, You look really pretty when you were staring at me earlier.” Another sentence that came out of your mouth broke the comfortable silence once again, and Kenma eyed you cautiously, not wanting to believe the compliment.

“Do you say that to every person you hook up with?” Furrowing your eyebrows at his response, you planted your arms on top of your thighs, resting your head in the comfort of your palms as you looked at the shorter blonde seated beside you. “Believe it or not, I’ve only said that to you.”

A sweet-talker. That’s what you were. Trying to lure Kenma in with your velvety voice and your captivating stare. Again, you were addicting. And Kenma was bewildered that he managed to hook up with you, the most popular and well loved guy in his university. “You seem like the type of person to call your partner a slut in public.”

“I do call my partner’s ‘slut’ in public. Not with you though.” You snorted, grinning as you faced the sky, taking occasional glances at the male. “And why is that?” Confusion laced in his voice, and eyes narrowed at your taller figure, you only smiled softly in response, lashes fluttering against soft skin as you whispered faintly, “You’re just different.”

Kenma could barely form a response with how his skin turned hot quickly-- The heat of the sun accompanied by your words only making him more of a mess than he already was. Hearing the speakerphone play the familiar tone signalling that their break was over, you grabbed the back of the smaller boy’s neck before pulling his head in to connect your lips with his. You took the opportunity to tug on his bottom lip between your teeth before pulling away.

“I’ll see you at my place, Kozume.” You sing-songed whilst simultaneously standing up to catch your next class. Kenma was left to stare at your retreating form, cheeks dusted with red as he felt the warmth in his chest spread every time he thought of your lips on his own once more.

Time seemed to tick slowly-- and Kenma had to begrudgingly go through the whole day without thinking of you or the intimate little moment that you had with him a few hours ago. It was pure torture-- not having you by his side or seeing your smile or hearing your shameless attempts at flirting. It was embarrassing, but he knew that he was getting used to you and your presence. Running a hand through his coarse hair, he spotted you leaning against the wall outside of his classroom, a greasy smile plastered on your face as you diverted your attention from the ladies beside you to the small blonde.

Kenma’s heart dropped. He knew you were popular and that he didn’t have the right to get jealous because you were never his to begin with, but did that intimate moment mean nothing to you? Did that kiss mean nothing to you? He was snapped out of his thoughts when you tapped his shoulder once again-- your deep voice ringing in his ears as you cupped his cheek tenderly. “-ma, Kenma hey?”

“Sorry I zoned out again.” He apologised, forgetting about what upset him for a moment before removing your calloused hand that rested on his cheek. You frowned at the action but soon relaxed, taking his small hand in your own. “Don’t worry about it. Should we get going?” You asked, and Kenma tensed, heaving a sigh as he mustered the courage to remove his hand from your hold.

“I don’t think i can go to your place today. Just choose one of those girls to go instead.” he murmured, bowing dejectedly. Tilting your head in confusion, you slowly grabbed his chin, tilting his head softly so that his golden orbs could meet yours. “Are you jealous, Ken?” you cooed, pressing another kiss onto his lips as he could only hear the whispers of his classmates in the background.

Kenma started shaking, instinctively moving closer towards you, turning his head so that he could bury his face into your chest. Noticing Kenma’s change of behaviour, you glared at the group of girls gossiping, instantly shutting them up. “Mind your own business.” Your loud voice was heard throughout the semi-crowded hallway and the people who had witnessed the sight of you kissing kenma nodded frantically, scrambling away to leave you and kenma to your own devices.

“They’re gone now baby. You can stop hiding.” Grabbing his hips gently, the blonde slowly scanned his surroundings before hugging you again, a soft whimper leaving his lips as you stroked his hair soothingly, “T-Thank you.”

Smiling fondly you replied, “No problem. Let’s go, baby.”

As the two of you made your way towards your apartment, Kenma couldn’t help but stare at your taller figure, huddling closer to your side once he felt the chilly afternoon air hitting his skin. “We’re almost there, kitten. Sorry I didn’t bring my jacket.” You apologised, instead removing your blazer and placing it on top of his shoulders. “You’ll get cold, y/n.” Kenma murmured worriedly, “I’ll be fine baby, don’t worry.”

His chest rose and fell quietly. The faint sounds of footsteps and your occasional humming were the only sounds that he could hear in the empty street. You both arrived at your place quite quickly. You politely opened the door for the setter, leaving your backpacks at the doorstep and discarding your shoes before making your way towards the kitchen. “Do you want something to eat, Ken?” You called out, opening your fridge to scan over the snacks you had.

“No thank you.” Kenma declined from the couch, unbuttoning the first top buttons of his dress shirt and tossing his tie to the side. “Suit yourself.”

Making your way towards Kenma’s hunched form-- a grin wormed its way onto your lips, ruffling his hair once you crept up behind him. “Wanna go to my room instead? You can lay down more comfortably over there.”

Kenma gratefully accepted your offer, taking small and reluctant steps towards the mattress. “A-Are you sure I can lay down here?” The blonde shyly inquired, unable to focus once your scent hit his nose. You smelt so good-- fresh and clean, just the way Kenma liked it. You laughed at his flustered expression once more, jumping onto your mattress before pulling him in so that he was on top of you. “You’re light.”

“A-And you’re really warm....” His voice was so faint that you could barely hear it. Kenma looked to face you, cheeks dusted with red as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip thoughtfully. “What’s on your mind?”

“I was wondering i-if you c-could…” Kenma tried his best not to stutter.

“If I could, what, kitten?”

Closing his eyes, Kenma took a deep breath before murmuring, “If you could kiss me again....”

Not giving the setter a chance to repeat himself, you leaned in to kiss him-- snaking an arm around his slim waist possessively as you started to jerk your hips against his clothed cock. Kenma whimpered into the kiss, eyes shut tightly as he failed to notice your free hand propping your phone on the nightstand-- giving the camera a perfect view of what you were doing to the poor boy.

“Ruin me, y/n-kun~” Kenma didn't have to tell you twice before a dark smirk made its way onto your lips-- hitting the ‘record’ button before trailing your kisses downwards, kissing and sucking on the skin of his jawline and neck.

“Mm,” Kenma whimpered, grounding his ass against your growing erection, earning him a deep growl of his name. “Yeah baby keep grinding against my cock like that,” you praised, only making the smaller male comply.

A whine left the blonde’s lips as he started humping his ass against your thick cock-- his head fuzzy and vision clouded with lust. He loved this so much-- feeling your bulge against his ass. If the tent in your slacks was already big enough to prod at his clothed entrance, he couldn’t imagine how big you would feel deep inside of him, rearranging his guts and fucking him like the useless cock sleeve he was.

Feeling your big hands caressing the soft skin that hid beneath his dress shirt, he yelped as your thumbs pressed against the flesh of his hip before moving upwards to roll his nipples between your thumb and index finger. “You’re so sensitive, kitty. Such a cute little boy…” you cooed, tugging on the hardened bud.

Kenma keened at your touch, leaning against your chest as you moved to unzip both his and your trousers, making both of your hard cocks spring free from its confinements. Kenma’s intense and love-struck gaze was trained on your hard cock, the sight making him subconsciously lick his lips. “Don’t just stare at it, Kitty. Put it in your mouth.”

He gulped. His pupils shaking and his hands sweating as he struggled to even touch your length. “I-I don’t think i-it would fi--!” You were getting impatient and soon you grabbed him by his hair, forcing him to take your fat cock in all at once. “Stop making excuses and take it like a good boy.”

You started fucking his warm throat-- a low groan leaving your lips once you felt the tip hitting the back of his throat. Kenma was inexperienced and you could tell by the way he was sobbing, frantically tapping your thighs signalling that he couldn’t breathe. You rolled your eyes, lifting his head up so that he could gasp for air only to fuck him a second after. “Breathe through your nose baby.”

Kenma’s tear filled eyes met yours and eventually, he started getting used to the feeling of your cock wrecking his pretty little mouth. His face was ridden with drool, the sound of gurgling, your deep groans and his frantic whimpers around your cock the only noise filling the room.

“I’m about to cum, doll--!” You rasped, thrusting into his mouth a few more times before holding his head in place, spilling your hot cum down his throat. Your free hand came to cup his cheek, spreading the cum that dripped down his chin onto his cheeks, mixing it with his drool and his tears. “So fucking pretty.” you grinned, making him smile weakly in response.

You effectively flipped Kenma so that you were on top of him, Your fingers teasing the rim of his puckered hole as he squirmed beneath your bigger figure. “You’re a virgin aren’t you?” You mused, grabbing the bottle of lube from your night stand before coating your fingers generously with the cold gel.

Kenma blushed, turning his head to avoid your gaze as he felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest. “Y-Yeah..” He murmured.

Your gaze on the blonde softened, wanting to at least prep him properly before fucking him senseless. “Okay. I’m going to stretch you out first, Is that fine with you darling?” A curt nod was Kenma’s only response and You wasted no time in stretching his hole out. You started with one finger, thrusting it in and out of him until he got used to the feeling before moving onto two fingers. You took your time with him, making sure that he felt good before he told you that he was ready to take you in.

Glancing at the camera once more you grinned darkly before snapping your hips forward, burying every inch of your cock inside of Kenma’s ass. The smaller male mewled helplessly, arching his back as he felt full from your cock.

“Mmm, Your cunt’s so nice and tight f’me” You moaned against his taut skin, snapping your hips forward to meet Kenma’s. The smaller male jolted forward, attempting to meet up with your pace only to rake his nails helplessly against your back.

Kenma felt your lips clasping around his hardened nipple, Your warm and wet tongue swirling around the swollen bud. The blonde cried out in bliss, toes curling as he came without warning, an amused chuckle leaving your lips. “You’re so sensitive, Kenma. You came so easily.”

“S’Cause you’re too big…” Kenma laughed breathlessly, feeling the bulge in his stomach as you moved inside of him. A fond smile replaced your hot expression and soon enough, you were peppering kisses all over his sensitive body, a string of whimpers leaving Kenma’s mouth as he begged for more.

As much as Kenma enjoyed the hot afternoon in your embrace with your cock buried inside of him. He failed to notice the beeping sound of your camera once the two of you were done with your little session.

The next day seemed like a blur to the man. After you approached him, Showing the video you took with a shit-eating grin on your face, He instantly begged you not to show anyone-- Even getting on his knees to suck you off in the senior’s empty classroom. Your smile was different-- it wasn't genuine and soft just like the one you had flashed him yesterday-- your smile was wicked, condescending. And it only made his heart break much more, seeing how mean and ruthless you actually were. Your actions were undeniably fucked up however Kenma still couldn't bring himself to despise you, And he hated how much you still made his flutter even if you were hurting his feelings without a care in the world.

“Kuroo can I tell you something?” Kenma asked timidly, asking the chemistry major, making him nod attentively. “Yeah go ahead man.”

“You know Y/n L/n right..?” The blonde’s voice was slowly becoming softer and Kuroo only hummed, “Yeah the attractive senior what about him?” Kenma gulped before continuing, “I-I… we had sex and he b-black mailed me..”

Kuroo scoffed, laughing loudly at the words that left Kenma’s mouth. “Y/n? Fucking someone like you? I'm sorry Ken but fantasies are waaay different than reality. Have the video games been getting to your head? He’s way too out of your league.” Kuroo shook his head, trying to stop himself from laughing more and Kenma sighed exasperatedly, trying not to cry.

“You’re really not helping, Kuroo.” He murmured as the rooster head only raised his hands up in defense, “I'm just saying! He would more likely go for me you know,” The older male cooed teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows. “Well I have a class to catch, Ken! Let’s hang when you’re less busy and also, get lots of rest.”

Kenma sighed at the man’s words as he was left alone to ponder. If his best friend didn’t believe him then, no one would. However as much as the thought consumed him, He soon craved to have you touch him lewdly once more. He craved you, Confusing infatuation with love. Kenma wasn’t in love with you, No, He was obsessed with you. And to think that he would have such feelings for, you, out of all people, made his situation much more pitiful.

Before the blonde could think of anything to make his situation less worse, He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, a text message that had been sent from you illuminating brightly on the screen.

Y/n-Senpai: Come over after class.

Although the text was simple and straightforward, Kenma couldn’t help but think about it for the rest of the day. Why did you want him to come over? Were you gonna delete the video? Several thoughts spiralled in his head but none of them seemed to answer any of his questions.

“Relax, Kenma, I’m not going to do anything.” You laughed heartily, making the blonde seated in front of you shuffle nervously. Your words were not exactly the most convincing, especially paired with the mischievous glint in your eyes. But he decided to keep shut, letting you speak first.

“Do you like me?” You spoke bluntly, And Kenma tensed at the question, hanging his head down low to avoid your gaze. You soon frowned at the action, grabbing the smaller male’s chin, forcing him to look you in the eye. “C’mon, Ken. Answer me.”

It was now or never. You were giving Kenma the chance to confess! He wouldn’t just throw this opportunity away, No! He was going to tell you how he felt right here, right now. “Y-Yes.” He mumbled embarrassedly, only to blush once he saw you smiling at him softly.

He was too innocent! You almost felt bad for playing with his precious little feelings, however, as much as you loved making the naive boy smile, You would much rather see him crying and wailing for you to reciprocate his feelings.

“Are you gonna say anything else…?” Kenma piqued anxiously, and you hummed in response, inching your face closer to his, “Do you want me to say anything?”. God-- How could he form a proper reply when your lips were merely inches away? The younger only nodded before you leaned in to kiss him.

“I wanna fuck you.” Were the words that came out of your mouth. “I- Don’t think I want to-”

Giving him no time to protest, you pinned him onto your couch, pressing your body closely against his as he let out a silent mewl. “Don’t be such a killjoy. I thought you liked me?”

Your change of personality only caused Kenma to sniffle, tears forming in his eyes as he clutched onto the couch’s fabric tightly.-- “I do but, I don’t want to--!”

He looked so pathetic! And it almost made you cum, seeing him look so pitiful and helpless. Your touch on his skin was hot-- Blazing and painful; It almost reminded Kenma of the hot tokyo afternoon he spent with you a few days ago, except this time, you were torturing him and taking advantage of how weak he was, especially when it came to you.

You effectively shut the male up by spitting into his mouth, forcing him to swallow your saliva as your predatory gaze landed on his shivering body. “You don’t want to? Well then you’ll leave me no other choice but to force my cock inside of you, Kenma.”

#sinfulcries works #top male reader #dark content #haikyuu x male reader #dark blog #dark haikyuu #hq smut #seme male reader #x male reader #kenma kozume #kenma x male reader #kenma kozume x male reader #kenma smut #dom male reader

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the-insomniac-emporium · 3 years

Text

Bound Blood (Cassandra Dimitrescu/Reader, Soulmate AU) Pt. 5.5 Bonus

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T+ for language Warnings: None Summary: Local feral human spends some time with their new family. Four short bits featuring Daphne (Maiden OC), Bela, Lady D, Daniela, and a surprise guest. Enjoy. Previous Chapters: 1: Sharing Is (Not) Caring; 2: Bloodbath, Baby!, 3: Haunt Me Dearly, 4: Portraits For Ghosts, 5: Heart Of The Matter

5.5: Family

“Wait, you’re telling me that you came here willingly?” You asked, mouth agape, eyes wide. It felt like every time you talked to Daphne she had something incredible to say. Which was, of course, why she was your favorite maiden to talk to. That, and the fact that she had adapted so quickly to your ‘charming personality’. So far she was the only servant you had been willing to be honest with. Mainly about your feelings regarding your blood bond, but also just about your relationship with Cassandra in general. Something about Daphne simply made her incredibly approachable. From what you had heard, you weren’t the only one to think as such, with her being fairly popular among the castle workers.

“More of us do than you might expect. Some consider it an honor to serve one of the four Lords, and Castle Dimitrescu is certainly… nicer than either the factory or the reservoir. Personally, I came here for a friend of mine. She, well, had less of a choice. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being here without knowing anyone, so it felt like I only had one option. Can’t say I regret my decision, if you can believe it,” Daphne explained, folding laundry all the while. At the same time, you carefully sort through the not yet washed clothing, separating them into two baskets. After all, you wouldn’t want Lady Dimitrescu to end up with a pink dress! Technically this wasn’t your job, nor did you have a job at all, but you hated having idle hands- especially when talking to someone who was working. At first Daphne had protested, but she had given in upon realizing just how stubborn you could be.

“That’s… impressive. I mean, holy shit, that's a real ride or die friendship right there. Is she, uh, is your friend still, you know, around?” You stuttered, cursing your tongue for asking such a thing. If the answer was no, you were going to feel like a real asshole. Which, admittedly, you had a tendency to be. But this wasn’t one of the times where it was intentional. Thankfully, Daphne is all smiles, and even seems amused by your spluttering.

“Yes, we’re even roommates. Well, us and five others. Possibly with a sixth one on the way, if we ever get someone to fill the empty space,” she replies, pausing to think. Then she’s back to work, refusing to waste any time. “Speaking of roommates… I know I said I’m not one for gossip, and I meant it, but a little songbird told me that Cassandra seems to be in a much better mood these days. Are the two of you, well, getting along? It would be nice to know that soulmates can overcome even the roughest of introductions.” There’s a hint of something odd in her tone, and you take a moment to wonder what she’s (unintentionally) hinting at. Had she met her soulmate, only for things to go poorly?... Before answering her, you make a mental note, deciding to see if any of the other maidens had a scar across their nose.

“It’s not like she and I are dating or anything. We’re just, you know, not hating each other. Currently,” you said, shrugging. But Daphne raises an eyebrow at you, and you find yourself instinctively feeling guilty, somehow feeling small next to the shortest person you knew. “Alright, alright, we might have… Okay we kissed. And promised each other not to die, because having your soulmate die hurts like hell. Also maybe she showed me her mom’s art collection and I made a joke about the titty sculptures because holy shit, this house has a lot of titties.” At this, Daphne bursts into laughter, grinning from ear to ear.

“Amen to that, for sure.”

ii.

“So… fan of science, I see,” you say, awkwardly, bouncing a little on your heels. Next to you is the eldest Dimitrescu daughter, who had unexpectedly joined your table in the library. There were several other places she could have sat, with both more comfortable seating and more workspace, but for some reason she had chosen here. So far she hadn’t said a word. Hell, you hadn’t spoken to her since your first meeting, where she had suggested killing you. Naturally, you weren’t quite sure what to make of her. Something told you that she felt much the same about yourself.

“Fan of oversimplification, I see,” Bela counters, after a few tense seconds. Then she sets down her book- a heavy text about Romanian avian fauna- to give you her full attention. “It would be more accurate to say that I enjoy studying biology, particularly the branch of zoology.” Well, this conversation was certainly… happening. Honestly, you couldn’t tell whether she was legitimately judging you, or merely chaffing you for her own amusement.

“You’ll have to, er, forgive me for being overly broad. Consider it a side effect of my nerves, those themselves being due to our unsavory introduction. In case you don’t recall, you put that sickle of yours into my shoulder,” you reminded, with a sarcastic smile. To your surprise, Bela chuckles at this, almost as if fondly remembering the incident. Seriously, you think, why did my soulmate have to be from this family?

“Staying silent was an option. Perhaps that would have suited you better?” Bela says, now clearly teasing, smile much more genuine than your own. Knowing she had a point, you’re quick to blush, mildly embarrassed.

“Touche. I am curious, however, why you decided to sit next to me in the first place. I certainly wouldn’t have tried starting a conversation if you hadn’t,” you explained.

“Like I said… I enjoy studying zoology,” Bela replies, with a sly grin. It takes you a few moments to understand the intended implications. Once you do, however, you’re giving her a hard stare. Then you scoot your chair a few inches away from her, in exaggerated movements. “Don’t worry, I was only joking. Though you certainly are an interesting human. Much more, hmm, cheeky? Compared to the servants, at least.”

“Somehow I get the feeling that they simply prefer being alive, as opposed to not being as snippy. Except maybe Daphne, now that I think about it. Very sweet, that one,” you muse. “Regardless, I think I’ll return to my book now, for it lacks a tongue, and is therefore less likely to taunt me.” Doing just as you had said, you open the book, holding it a bit higher than what would be comfortable, so that it becomes a ‘shield’ of sorts. Nothing was quite as satisfying as subtle body language.

Accepting your words with a shrug, Bela also resumes reading, turning to a bookmarked page. Roughly an hour of relative quiet passes. Neither of you so much as glance at each other, not even when she drops the pen she had been taking notes with. In the end, you are the one who leaves first, and finally the silence is broken. You give your goodbyes, and Bela returns them politely. Though you do not know it, she sets her book down as soon as you leave, pausing to think about you. Now that things had ‘calmed down’, it was reassuring for her to know that you weren’t always full of spite. Still, you held onto your cleverness (for the most part), leaving her with no doubt about the universe’s decision. You were her sister’s soulmate.

iii.

“It’s official: I’m lost in a creepy castle. The universe hates me. Probably should have realized that sooner, considering how it decided to introduce me to my soulmate,” you mutter, scowling deeply, as you wander unfamiliar halls. How had you even gotten lost? Sure, you had taken a wrong turn, but it hadn’t taken long for you to realize your mistake! Evidently you somehow managed to make another one while backtracking. Now you were standing in the center of the corridor, hands on your hips, desperate for some maiden to come rescue you. What you really didn’t want was Cassandra to find you, because she’d make fun of you for the rest of your life. It’s not like she had specifically joked about you getting lost before. Except that was exactly what had happened.

A few minutes pass uneventfully. There aren’t even any distant sounds of life; no footsteps, nor echoing voices, nor the squeaking of floorboards. All you can hear is your own breathing. As well as the occasional sigh, admittedly. By this point, there’s a part of you that’s starting to panic. After all, there was a chance that the castle was big enough for certain sections to be abandoned. Hopefully that’s not the case, you think, I mean, they’d cut the power to those parts, right? Here’s hoping… With that in mind, you get back to wandering, figuring that you’d have to eventually run into a familiar landmark. Or better yet, someone who actually knew the castle’s layout.

When salvation at last reveals its holy visage, it is not in the form of a lowly servant, rather the muffled voice of none other than Lady Dimitrescu herself. Neither her exact words nor who she’s speaking to is clear. At first, you can’t even tell where her voice is coming from, but you quickly approach one closed door, then another, searching for the source. Several doors later you’re certain you’ve found her. By then you can tell that she’s not alone. Not wanting to seem rude by interrupting, you take a few steps back, leaning against the wall to wait. For the most part you still cannot make out what’s being said, but a few words do reach your ears.

“-expected more from you. How am I-” the voice gets cut off, not by Alcina, rather a sudden gust of air, akin to massive wings flapping. When the speaker continues, they are both louder and angrier. “Someone is listening. Have you not taken steps to ensure our privacy?” Then the door is swinging open, revealing your soulmate’s mother. At first she’s practically shaking with rage, but her expression turns to shock when she sees you.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Cassandra?” Lady Dimitrescu asks, clearly stressed, as she steps into the corridor. There’s movement behind her, although you cannot make out any details. Besides, you’re quick to answer her, wishing to avoid her wrath (and that of whoever she was speaking to).

“I’m so sorry, Lady Dimitrescu, I was walking from the dining hall to Cassandra’s studio, and I took a wrong turn. I’ve been wandering for half an hour now. When I heard your voice, I thought perhaps I could, well, enlist your assistance. But you were busy, so I figured I’d wait outside. If I had-...” you pause, gulping, as the other figure steps into view. It’s a face you’re all too familiar with. One that popped up countless times through the village, and again throughout the castle, the owner’s name always spoken with acclaim, with worship. Mother Miranda, in the flesh, wings spreading out behind her, somehow cutting a more impressive silhouette than even Lady Dimitrescu. Instantly you’re falling to your knees, knowing that your sharp tongue was no match for this practical goddess.

“Who is this, Dimitrescu? Why isn’t their blood staining your claws?” Miranda questions, gaze never leaving your trembling form.

“This… this is one of my daughters’ soulmates. They were brought in with the last group of sacrifices,” Lady Dimitrescu explains, uncharacteristically hesitant. ‘Twas a true testament to Miranda’s power, as well as her influence, that she could make someone so powerful seem so weak. Which was exactly why you were shaking with anxiety. But to your surprise, the goddess does not immediately order your execution for your trespass.

“And already they know their place, hmm? Kneeling before me?” Miranda says, a strange smile dancing on her lips. Whatever anger she had been feeling a minute prior had faded, though you couldn’t even begin to guess as to why. Regardless, both Alcina and yourself are quite relieved, though neither of you are quick to show it. “Either they have a good head on their shoulders, or you still take care of some of your duties. Very well, they may live. For now. But I expect next week’s report to be far more favorable. I don’t need to remind you of the price for failing me.” With that said, Mother Miranda turned to leave, a swirling mass of dark feathers flying past you.

A minute passes, maybe two, before either of you feel capable of speaking up.

“Let’s get you back where you belong, yes?” Lady Dimitrescu says, quietly, before placing her hand on your shoulder to guide you. Tension hangs clear and heavy over both of you. Even as you walk down corridor after corridor, the feeling does not ease. At least not until you’re back in familiar territory, near where you had originally made your mistake, finally able to breathe a little. It’s here that Lady Dimitrescu pauses to speak once more. “Tomorrow I will assign one of the servants to give you a tour, in the hopes that this does not happen again. Furthermore, I ask that you forget everything you heard earlier, for it is neither your business… or my daughter’s.” You’re quick to nod, and with that she bids you farewell, leaving you alone. Now, you think, was it left from here, or right?

iv.

“I’m just going for a walk. Why do you care so much? It’s not like it’s any of your business,” Daniela assures you, despite the fact that all you had done was say ‘hello’. If this was her attempt at casting aside suspicion, she had done a terrible job of it. What made her so nervous? Was it even worth investigating? Only one way to find out.

“You’re rather bundled up, planning on being out for long?” You ask, trying to sound casual, leaning against the wall as you did. In response, Daniela pretty much stomps her foot. There’s something odd in her expression, however, that implies your question hit a soft spot. Certainly wasn’t what you had expected. “Don’t mind me, just trying to make conversation with my soulmate’s sister. Speaking of her… have you seen Cassandra? Is she, perhaps, going with you?” A little misdirection never hurt anyone. Probably.

“No!” Daniela replies, fast as a gunshot, too much emphasis to be unintentional. But she realizes her mistake as soon as she’s made it, and makes a clear effort to relax herself. “She’s probably in her studio, doing whatever it is she calls art, on the other end of the house. Besides, I don’t want any company for this walk.” For a moment you merely squint at her, unsure of how to proceed. In the end, you decide that it really is none of your business, being more than satisfied by what teasing you’ve already done.

“Alright, alright. Well then, I’ll leave you be. Just… be careful, yeah? If you get hurt, and your mother finds out that I didn’t stop you from going… not sure Cassandra could save me,” you say, with a shrug. At first Daniela can’t decide whether to be upset or relieved, but she seemingly settles for the latter, giving you a brief nod before heading outside. As the door shut behind her, you couldn’t help but wonder if you had done the right thing.

#cassandra x reader #cassandra dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu x reader #lady dimitrescu #resident evil: village #re8 village #yeah I'm back #don't be weird about it

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d-criss-news · 3 years

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Nine Songs: Darren Criss

When Disney, Phantom Planet and Mr Hudson collide: Glee star, Emmy and Golden Globe winner and musician Darren Criss talks Andrew Wright through the pivotal songs in his life and the unexpected ways they found him.

“When we are younger, our gateway drugs to a lot of popular things don’t come from the sexiest of places. It’s up to you how proactive you want to be with your curiosity from there, and how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, if you go down at all.”

Choosing the songs that define you is a tricky business to say the least, especially when the power of song has provided an ongoing soundtrack to your life. “When you’re as avid a music consumer as musical artists are, trying to pin down Nine Songs is difficult,” Darren Criss laughs. So much so, his final choices only really crystallise as our conversation draws to its close. “It’s hard for me not to see the value and joy in literally everything,” he explains. “The curse of the creative person is that your ideas and your interests always move way faster than your body can execute.”

Criss is a creative par excellence. As well as his Emmy and Golden Globe winning performance in The Assassination of Gianni Versace, where he played serial killer Andrew Cunanan, to his upcoming role in Muppets Haunted Mansion Halloween special as The Caretaker, he’s also a prolific musician. Criss enjoyed a decadent musical consumption since childhood, so “this was a bit of an archaeological dig,” he admits. As such, everything from jazz standards, to 808s, punk rock, ‘90s teen pop, and musical numbers are excavated in the course of our extemporaneous journey through the music he loves.

Equally on his mind is how to go about approaching the task of creating his Nine Songs, full stop. “The interesting social experiment is: Are my answers going to be songs that actually shaped my life and were formative to me as an artist? Are they songs that were formative to me as a human being? Or am I picking songs that I think represent who I am to people that do not know me? All three of those things aren’t necessarily the same thing.”

He reaches a conclusion of sorts. “For the purposes of making some kind of decision, I’m gonna lean less into trying to look cool to your very cool readership, and more into the literal, ‘What made me think about music in a different way? And hit me in a very emotional way?’ I think that’s probably the healthiest route.”

Embracing the accessibility that characterises Criss’ picks - or at times the initial touchpoints that led him to them - are something he vacillates over during our chat. “I’ve seen a lot of other people’s Nine Songs and they’re super cool. It’s like Leonard Cohen B-sides and old opera records and stuff. I’m gonna be pretty honest with the pop culture zeitgeist of how I grew up but explain why there is so much value in those moments.” His contemplation continues into the next day, Criss’s publicist passes on his regrets at being tentative to admit how he encountered one of his song choices via the Shrek soundtrack.

A yearning to reinterpret accessibility and the value attached to it drives Criss, however. He tells me that a festival performance that applied the anarchic verve of punk rock to a more refined Great American Songbook number remoulded his perception of music entirely. His love of the fusion of these two genres in particular symbolises the salient musical backdrops of his childhood - the guitar bands he played in with friends, and his musical theatre endeavours that led him to Broadway and multiple Ryan Murphy juggernauts, including his breakthrough playing Blaine Anderson in Glee.

Criss employs these contrasting musical lexicons, and other areas in between, on Masquerade, his new EP. Comprising five stand-alone “character-driven” singles, it sees Criss donning different musical personas. “I’m leaning into people that might know me as an actor,” he explains. “Because if actors can do Shakespeare, romantic comedy, and then do a horror movie and wear a prosthetic nose and a wig, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just do that with music.” The song “walk of shame” draws on jazz-standard chords interlaced with hip-hop production, “i can’t dance” looks to new-wave, and “for a night like this” is the product of Criss’ goal to create the ultimate end-of-the-night crowd-pleaser for a new-year bash, wedding or bar mitzvah. “This is all of the parts of me as a lifelong fan of these genres, trying my hand at servicing the pieces of them that I love.”

“I really love all styles of music and understanding what makes them unique and special and what makes them really pop. There are so many things that really make things sing - for lack of a better verb - and I like acknowledging those things and celebrating those things.”

“So, let’s begin. I have runners up and shit, and I have artists, I don’t just have the songs, so we might have to pick them as we go.”

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“Part of Your World” by Jodi Benson

“When people read this, they’ll go ‘That’s cute, he likes Disney songs’, but it’s more profound than that. Some of the most formative pieces of music to hit me at a very early age would have been any of the songs that were coming from ‘The Disney renaissance.’ The early-mid ‘90s explosion of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and The Beast.

"One of the through lines between the three of those musicals was Howard Ashman, who is one of my all-time heroes. Dramaturg, songwriter - he really was the voice behind what made those songs great. I have always loved Howard’s lyrical sensibility and also Alan Menken, his partner who wrote these songs with him. There was a musical structure to a lot of the songs which I would unconsciously pick up in my own songwriting, not just musically, but the idea that not only did somebody make these songs, but they wrote them for a story.

“There’s a clip of Howard Ashman vocal directing Jodi Benson, who was the original voice of Ariel. It’s a wonderful example of his genius, where not only was he songwriting but he was storytelling in the way he would tell her how to perform it, and you can really see the song coming to life in that clip. That’s when you cross the street from ‘It’s a song’ to ‘This is an experience.’

"There are certain ingredients that are required to elevate music that goes beyond just a nice melody, a beautiful orchestration and a good voice. There are things that are required to really give a performance a characterisation, context and a vulnerability, that he architects in real-time with Jodi Benson. You see that what he’s doing is what makes the record so special, and that’s something that’s always been inspiring to me.”

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“MMMBop” by Hanson

“I think my love of Hanson was because some people didn’t like it, so I was like ‘Fuck you, I like this, how do you feel about it?’ But this is difficult for me, because you know, I’m speaking to The Line of Best Fit and we’re trying to be cool! Although, do you know what’s cool? Being accessible! Writing a pop hit when you are 10 years old. Being in a band with your brothers and you’re all below the age of 15, you have a record contract where you are writing, producing and performing songs that are doing well.

“I was 10 years old when their first album Middle of Nowhere came out, and I remember reading somewhere that there were these kids that had a record. At the time, I was playing guitar and I was writing songs, but in my mind I was a kid, and that was it. I couldn’t be on the radio; you had to be a grown up to do this.

"This was the first time where I realised ‘Holy shit, kids can do stuff!’ It’s the value of seeing yourself in the media - that’s a whole other conversation to talk about - but there’s an immense value in feeling like there’s a piece of you out in the zeitgeist and doing well because it’s encouraging. You go, ‘Holy shit, maybe I can do this as well.'

“When you see children doing things, you’re ‘Wow, this is so cute and fabulous’, but then when you actually look at it you go, ‘This is miles above what most people in this age group are capable of,’ and that’s all I saw, because I was in the same age group and I was so inspired by that. This whole album was really a turning point for me, where I was like, ‘I can do this, I can do music too, because these guys can.'

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“Ooh La La” by Faces

“This song really blew my mind. It became my own theme. It’s that ‘Make your heart sing’, nostalgic moment when you’re a teenager, driving in the car listening to it, playing guitar with your friends and you’re singing “I wish that I knew what I know now / When I was younger.” You’re like, ‘because I’m an adult now, I’m 15-years-old. If I only knew what I know now.’

“I was doing theatre from a young age and I was part of a young conservatory called A.C.T. in San Francisco. By way of somebody who knew somebody, I had an audition for a movie. As a kid not being near New York or Los Angeles it was really exciting, and this audition was for a film called ‘Max Fischer’, which would become the movie Rushmore, which would become one of my favourite movies of all time by the now very distinguished Wes Anderson.

“Separate from my own objective love of Wes Anderson, when this movie came out I was just around the age of getting into my own sort of identity with music, but also movies - indie movies - and trying to assert who I was. So, I see this movie Rushmore and I love it. I love the soundtrack, I love it so much, it’s one of my favourite albums ever. This song is the end sequence, and the way it made me feel - the vocals on it, I could play it on guitar and it was part of a cool movie - it really represented a lot in my life.

“And because of the acting thing, and Rushmore being great - it’s about this kid in high-school who's misunderstood but has his own agenda - everything about it was just so fucking cool to me. To this day, I cite that song as one of my favourite records of all time.”

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“Recently Distressed” by Phantom Planet

“A guy that really formed the way I would sing and write songs is Alex Greenwald, the frontman of Phantom Planet. I went to see Phantom Planet because I loved Rushmore and I found out that Jason Schwartzman [who had been cast as Max Fischer] was also the drummer for a band called Phantom Planet.

"So, when I saw their name on the bill I went, but I didn't know their music. I was barely 14, but their set blew my mind. It was Rock and Roll, but I loved Alex Greenwald’s voice. I loved everything, and I would follow their career from there. I always tell people that my voice is a combination of me trying to be Alex Greenwald, Paul McCartney and Rufus Wainwright, but failing. Alex was incredibly formative for me.

“One of their biggest records was a little while after I first saw them, which was the song for The O.C., "California." That was more of an Elvis Costello thing, and they employed a lot of stuff that sounded to me like The Beatles and a lot of ‘60s mod/pop-rock. But later they would employ things from Fugazi, Radiohead and harder shit, and that eclecticism, again, only accelerated my love for Phantom Planet.

“Recently Distressed” is from their 1998 album Phantom Planet Is Missing. This was a cool rock song that employed these George [Harrison] and Paul [McCartney] background vocals and included all of the things that I loved. It was harder but melodic and employed minor 4th chords and more complicated chords than I was used to. I had grown up with power chords - which are very Gregorian - on a lot of alt. punk rock, like Green Day or Nirvana, and if Kurt Cobain was using power chords then that’s how I was playing guitar. Hearing this music was like ‘Oh, I’m using full chords, not sevenths, minor 4th chords, diminished chords’, shit that I would learn to use more and more.

“When you haven’t experienced much, anything that gives a hint towards possibility, even though it’s probably always been there, you’re like, ‘I like this, I’ve always kind of liked this, but it’s very encouraging to hear somebody else do it and it’s gonna make me reconsider my possibilities.’ That was literally the moment that my power chords turned into full barre chords.”

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“Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” by Rufus Wainwright

“I forgot the other day how I got into Rufus Wainwright, because all of this stuff I was getting into quite young. It’s like when I talk to 11-13 year olds, it’s funny to think that this was when I was really starting to build my musical identity. But then I remembered, and I didn’t want to say because I didn’t want to sound uncool, because he is such a revered artist who exists in a much cooler place than what I’m about to say.

“I loved soundtracks and I would always buy soundtracks for movies that had cool playlists. I had the Shrek soundtrack, and there’s a cover of Leonard Cohen’s seminal “Hallelujah” that Rufus does and he smashes it, and I’m like, ‘Who the fuck is Rufus Wainwright? What a beautiful voice.’ Then I saw that he was going to be at the Virgin Megastore in San Francisco one week, so I go and he’s there promoting his new album Poses. I remember I didn’t have enough money to buy the album that day, so I had him sign my sneaker and I saved that shoe.

“The first song on Poses was “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”, which is a very dark and reflective song about his own battles with addiction, but he’s singing it over this really beautiful, whimsical song that has a lot of really great wordplay. I always love when artists, especially lyricists, can encapsulate an idea with not exactly what they’re talking about. The song’s called “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk”, it’s not called “Addiction”. Its talking about things that he craved and how that’s representative of other things that he’s gone through. There was a sophistication and elegance to that that I really gravitated towards, that I didn’t possess but wanted to shoot for. So when I saw him, that was a big one for me and he would also continue to influence me later in my life.

“I’ve become friends with Rufus since. I’ve performed with him and we’ve made records together, which is crazy. His songwriting was very complex and punk-rock, but he had this classic cabaret voice, the kind of voice that I don’t have. I was fascinated that there was somebody that could write this really dark material but have such elegance on top of it. He was virtuosic on the piano, which I thought was very cool because musicianship is always the thing that gets me going the most about artists.

“You know what? People say, ‘Don’t meet your heroes.' I completely disagree. Chase the living fuck out of your heroes. I’ve spent a lifetime doing so, it’s made me a better artist, and I’ve sometimes got to meet them and work with them. I’ve worked on music with Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet. I’ve performed with Hanson. I’ve performed those Disney songs with Alan Menken at The Hollywood Bowl.

"This is all because there are people that I love who I have put on my vision board, and the things that they have done are the things that are bringing me to them. So it is nuts, but at the same time you’re like, ‘Well, what else did you think would happen?’ They did stuff that some part of me connected with, so obviously there’s a magnetic pull towards that person.

“Rufus Wainwright is one of my absolute favourite artists of all time and like I said, me trying to sing like him and failing is a big part of my own journey as an artist.”

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“3x5” by John Mayer

“John Mayer’s another guy that came around when I was 15. I heard a song of his on a middle-of-the-night, singer/songwriter college radio show. This is where I used to get music. You would listen to these carefully curated playlists that you wouldn’t be able to hear anywhere else, and the host played “No Such Thing”, a new song by this young kid who had just dropped out of Berklee College of Music - John Mayer.

“I’m listening to this song and I’m like, ‘Not only is this guitar playing really interesting, but the lyrical value and everything that is going on here ticks all the boxes.' It was jazz, but it was pop. And he did something that all these other guys and girls I’ve mentioned did. They made something very unique and very accessible.

“I immediately went out to buy this album, Room For Squares, and I listened to it over and over again. It was an album that was really formative for me. "3x5” is a really beautiful song that employs a lot of chord structures and melodies that blew my fucking mind at the time, and it made me wish that I could write songs like that.

“That album was a huge turning point in the way I played the guitar, because it was the first time in my life where I would look up tabs. Up until this point in my life, if I heard a song I could play it instantly. It was like a party trick, I would get how it worked if I heard it, because most of the songs I would hear on the radio - especially those that involved a guitar - were [centred around] power chords. And now I’m hearing all of these ninth chords and thirteenths, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ So I’d have to look up tabs.

“I think any young artist can attest to this - when you try and learn other people’s shit, it’s the best tool for educating yourself. Playing other people’s music really helps you lock in what your own style is. Trying to learn these songs - and sometimes pulling it off and sometimes not - really changed the way that my hands moved around the guitar and considered chords and voicings that I’d never really thought of.

“There’s another tie to musical theatre here, where I remember seeing Audra McDonald, who is a very venerated theatre actor, and she did a cabaret. If you’re familiar with cabaret culture, it’s more about performing the story of the songs – ‘Life is a cabaret’. She did a John Mayer song because she thought it was from a musical theatre show, and I was so tickled by this, because I was like ‘Yeah, if you really think about it, I don’t think he knows this and I don’t think his fan base even thinks about this, but there’s a number of his songs that feel very theatrical in the way that the lyrics play with each other and the way the chords move’.

"When I saw this I thought, ‘That is why I like John Mayer’, because yes, he’s an amazing guitar player, but he’s also a really strong songwriter.”

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“Cabaret” by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

“Also, around this time growing up in San Francisco, as a guitar player playing music with your buddies, the number one thing that you play is punk rock. There are different parts of the spectrum of punk rock, there's the NOFX, Swingin’ Utters, like real punk, punk. And then there’s the pop-punk thing that was happening at the same time, which was also equally influential - blink-182 and Green Day.

“Fat Mike was the frontman of NOFX. I loved NOFX, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were a supergroup of different members from different punk bands, of which Fat Mike was one of the main architects. They would cover songs and turn them into punk rock songs. They have an album of hits from the ‘60s, and they also have an album called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Are a Drag, and that record is just a tonne of musical theatre covers that are done through punk rock.

“That was completely in line with everything I loved at this time of my life but didn’t really know how to articulate. I loved punk rock but I also really loved musical theatre. Not only the performative element of it, but there was a real musicality to musical theatre that wasn’t as present in some of the other shit that was popular at the time, just harmonically, or where chords would go. There was a sophistication I loved that seemed to not exist in punk rock.

“Then hearing Fat Mike at The Warped Tour going ‘Alright, which one of you Motherfuckers loves Julie Andrews?’ and hearing a mixed bag of reactions, because people were ‘What? I was not expecting that from you, sir?’ And then they start playing “My Favourite Things”, a classic Rodgers and Hammerstein song which is very accessible, but sophisticated nonetheless. And I am just living. I’m like, ‘This has got the attitude and simplicity of punk rock, but the sophistication of a beautiful song.’

“That was the first time in my life where I went, ‘It’s just all music. All these categories and boxes are completely arbitrary.’ So I thought, ‘I can do that.' I was playing power chords in punk bands but I realised that you can take chords and make them into other rhythms and voicings and have the same song. I could take a punk song and make it jazz. I could take a jazz song and make it country. So, quite providentially, I would end up on Glee, where they took popular songs and would sometimes do their own versions.

“By that point, I had been doing this my whole life. The first time this ever became a possibility for me was seeing Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and that way of thinking about music and genre. I’ve put that into Masquerade, and it’s all born from that moment of ‘Oh my God, nothing has to be one thing. It’s just about how you look at it.'

“Cabaret” is from a pretty famous musical that I would’ve probably heard about later in life, but I first heard that song as a punk song and then I went back and heard the original. It doesn’t matter how these things happen, the inspiration happens and then you can go from there. But Me First and The Gimme Gimmes were a huge gateway drug and I play “Cabaret” now every year at my festival. That’s why the festival is called Elsie Fest, because it covers the song.”

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“Modern Nature” by Sondre Lerche

“One of the great joys of being a younger brother is that you get to inherit the music of your elders. My brother and I were both really proactive consumers of music, so we would share stuff with each other all the time. But then he would come home from college, which is like coming home from a music festival essentially, right? He was in a new time zone with new people, so he’d bring home these mix CDs that he’d made from people that he’d heard about, and he brings home this guy named Sondre Lerche.

“Hearing this guy blew my mind, because he also was using jazz chords and drawing on musical theatre. Musical theatre’s a massive category, so I can’t just say that musical theatre sounds like one thing, but when I say this, I’m referring to The American Songbook, the jazz standard songbook. “Modern Nature” was a duet that I would go on to play many times with one of my oldest musical collaborators, Charlene Kaye. When we got to college and we both found out that we loved this guy.

“There was a much more whimsical way to how he wrote these songs. And what’s crazy is that loving this guy meant that we also loved Rufus Wainwright, that we also loved these other artists. But Sondre was the first time I considered that I loved that type of music, but I didn’t know that you could be a singer/songwriter and put out music that sounded like it.

“I don’t know if ‘twee’ is the right word to use, but with “Modern Nature” there was a playfulness about it, and again, a musicality that I really gravitated towards. There is a through line - there was a sophistication that was accessible, and me trying to learn those songs did make me rethink the way that I was writing music. The structures were weird and different and I liked that.

“To this day, I find myself writing songs that I think might be difficult for people to ingest, because they’re a little too left of centre, and I realise that I’m trying to write like Sondre Lerche, or I’m unconsciously just copying him.”

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“Everything Happens to Me” by Mr Hudson & The Library

“I was in an H&M in Stockholm when I was 21, and I heard this really cool groove and the lyric was “Why must I always play the clown?” It was sung with a really thick British accent, had an 808 feel on it, and lyrically it had an attitude. Who would say something that sounds so like you’re in a Gilbert & Sullivan musical, but it feels hard? It was cool.

“I went home and looked this up and it was off the record A Tale of Two Cities by Mr Hudson and the Library, which would really, really fuck me up. I bought the album immediately because I loved this song. I had to order it on the internet because I couldn’t find it. It was doing well in England and he was on the festival circuit in the early-mid 2000s, but the first song on the album was a musical theatre cover with 808s.

“It was a pared-down, sort of a hip-hop version of “On The Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady, and I’m like ‘No fucking way, this guy gets where my head is.’ I’d thought about punk rock musical theatre, but I never thought about 808s and 909s scoring these beautiful songs. I go down the track list and he has “Everything Happens to Me”, which is another very famous standard, and he had this really cool, what we would now call chill-hop, ‘study beats’ version of this song. I was like, ‘This is it. This guy gets that good music is good music and you can reinterpret it to offer it as a new song.’

“I would later become great friends with Mr Hudson. I got to meet him years later when I was with Columbia Records, and they said to me ‘Who do you want to meet?’ He was at the top of my list. I went to London and we’ve been friends ever since and have created all kinds of music together.

“He told me a story where Tyler the Creator went up to him once at Coachella and said, ‘Oh man, “Everything Happens To Me”, that’s like my song.’ We both wondered if Tyler the Creator knew that it was a Chet Baker cover. And we were thinking how cool it is that you can offer these songs to a new audience through a different lens. Tyler’s a smart guy, he’s very cultured, and I’m sure he did know. But it’s more the idea that if someone experienced this song and didn’t know that it was a cover, and this is like the first time they ever get to experience it.

“Mr Hudson would go on to do his own thing with Kanye and was on 808s & Heartbreak and has had his own career. I think “Supernova” was a hit in the UK, it didn’t really cross over here to The States, but before that moment for him, that Mr Hudson and The Library album changed my life. People use that phrase willy-nilly, but this literally was a turning point in my life. It all had to do with the same thing that happened with these other songs, where I saw someone do what I always wanted to do but didn’t really know how to pull off. Where he had this fusing of old songs delivered through a contemporary lens, but also laced it with his own original material that also employed the things that made that old songwriting interesting.

“It’s like changing the font of a great essay but finding the font and figuring out that that font is its own art form. He really displayed that marvellously on this.”

The Masquerade EP is out now

#darren criss #the line of best fit #press #sept 2021

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