Yeah like what’s the point of even having anon features if they can’t use your website?????? Like on certain blogs I can’t even view them without being blocked????? I don’t understand????

And I can’t talk to people if they don’t have a submission box which is awkward because not many people have a submission box that I can see! -🌟

══════════════════ 

well the blog thing is most likely that some people have set it to not be visible outside the tumblr dashboard; some people just don’t want their blog viewable to anyone outside of tumblr and there’s a number of reasons why that could be, it’s their own personal decision

the submission/ask box thing can sometimes be a case i know of new users forgetting to turn it on, but sometimes too its deliberately turned off (or limited, like anons being turned off and only other users can ask qs) for, again, a number of different reasons (︶︿︶)

having a hard time with Kazui, but I decided to go through his MV step-by-step and see where my thoughts lead me !! let’s gooooo

I think the green apple is an interesting choice. Normally, if you’re going for a “temptation” or “forbidden fruit” type of thing it’s going to be a red apple… because red represents passion, after all. But the green makes me think there’s some other reason for this.

Okay, so the apple is placed on a stage on a small table and there’s a spotlight over top of it. I feel like the apple is maybe meant to represent “temptation” but not in a “forbidden romance/adultery” type of way.

It could be symbolic of temptation in other aspects of life. Maybe he was wanting to leave his “ordinary, common” life and pursue things that are deemed unrealistic - especially for someone of his age, even though he’s really not that old.

Which, again, he brings up his age a lot. I guess you might feel self-conscious when surrounded by people younger than you but even so… he seems really hung up on his age and being an “old man”. He probably feels like it’s too late for someone like him to make a “big” change in his life and it’s easiest to just keep going as normal, pro status quo.

The color green can also mean something like “greed, envy, and life”. Wouldn’t even be surprised if all three of those potentials were meaningful in relation to Kazui.

I mention this in like every single one of my theories but again not everything here is literal. So what we’re seeing here, Kazui at the bar drinking with a woman other than his wife… it could mean something else entirely and not the obvious assumption of an affair.

A thought I just formed, but could that other image of Kazui at the bar with a different woman just be his imagination at work? He’s still sitting with his wife at home but he’s imagining that he’s out at some classy bar with a woman other than his wife. Maybe he wants something more glamorous, something other than this “plain” situation at home? Or maybe that woman is meant to represent something else entirely. A “dream”, a different life entirely.

Not sure if this is indicative of anything or even means anything, but there’s a pillow sort of wedged between them…

Maybe he never really wanted to be married but he felt like he had to because he really DOES love his wife and it’s just the natural course of things to get married. He had other things he wanted to do, but they ultimately never came to fruition because of the normal societal expectations. He’s hiding aspects of himself just to have that illusion of normality.

Just now noticed what looks like another figure in the distance sitting with him? Is that meant to be his wife? Is that also why he looks kind of surprised? The apple is between them, it’s sort of a divider.

His eye color…. Is so pretty….

He’s “playing a part” and so he’s seen in various costumes throughout the MV. Depending on the situation, he swaps his mask in order to appropriately fit in. It could be seen as living a lie, or it could be seen as a simple survival instinct. He sees no other way to live, because he doesn’t want to sadden/disappoint the people around him.

I’m not sure what his dreams could be or what he REALLY wants out of life, but either way, it clearly creates a rift.

Hmmm this line gives me pause. It makes it sound like part of the problem is his wife, as if she were maybe cheating or wanting to leave him? Or it could be that she disapproves of his “dreams”. Could also be that she’s suffering emotionally in this marriage and he doesn’t appear to take notice and this causes them to drift further from each other.

I wonder if the chair is meant to represent his wife in some way. I don’t really have any evidence for this, it’s just more of a feeling. What kind of uniform is that he’s wearing, anyhow? I feel like it’s possibly important...

A lot of Kazui’s theme has to do with “lies” and “hiding”. Does he feel like he’s living a lie in his common life? Is this because he wants to be something so much more, but he can’t because - to him - it’s almost as if his wife is the one holding him back? Again, I feel he truly does love her. But I feel as though their love has fizzled from something romantic (if there ever was romance) into something milder.

I wonder if he was starting to view her as more of a burden than a partner. He loves her, so he isn’t sure what to do. Leaving isn’t an option. So lying is all that’s left. He’s struggling with which he should listen to - his brain, or his heart.

He wears his wedding ring throughout the entirety of the MV which makes me think it probably isn’t an affair… I mean, if you’re going out to bars in the hopes of meeting someone new, you probably wouldn’t want to leave your wedding ring on.

A lot of distance here, clearly depicting how their marriage is just… silently falling apart.

I don’t think he’s referring to loving a person here. I feel like it’s more of a concept that he’s talking about, a dream. The dream here is being personified as a human woman, his mind is creating a scenario where his dream is essentially like “cheating” on his wife. This really feels like I’m pulling stuff out of my ass like I’m trying to make him seem less “bad” than he is, but I just. Really feel like we wouldn’t be getting this so straight-forwardly if it were an actual affair.

Also he’s still wearing his wedding ring here which again would make no sense to me if you were going to a bar trying to find other people.

There still seems to be some level of distance here. He doesn’t directly touch the woman’s shoulders and he doesn’t especially move in closer toward her. Again, his “dream” feels untouchable and like something he HAS to keep inside because if he does “touch” his dream then his life with his wife - no matter if he’s happy or not - will be shattered.

I feel like he’s talking about memories with his wife here. He might be recalling happier times and he wishes he could just banish those from his mind because it would make dealing with everything so much easier.

Here the both of them are, but the spotlight remains on the apple on the stage. His mind is elsewhere. He’s with his wife, a woman he loves, but he isn’t fully committing to her and her own wants and needs. He’s instead thinking of a dream, something he isn’t being honest about.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I feel like he really does regret whatever he did. The grass is always greener on the other side, I guess…

But it makes me wonder if he ended up telling her whatever his deal is or if someone ELSE did? He’s saying that “not one word will reach you” but it must have somehow.

I like how he grabs her hand, the one that has the ring on it… nothing to add to it, I just… it makes me feel things

Spotlight is back on him, he looks to be in their apartment. He isn’t in a costume, he isn’t wearing a mask. I like the focus on the balcony in the background, it’s ominous.

No mask. And his voice seems more pained, his expressions look more hurt. Taking off the mask is stopping his lies, and it seems as though that may not have been the best decision on his part.

Again, I feel like the chair is meant to represent his wife. She was a comfort to him, regardless of the feelings they had for each other. He might not have felt the same way in their marriage, not any longer, but he did love her and the comfort she brought him. Does he want that to disappear? Definitely not. But can he abandon all other thoughts and what he wants in life? Unfortunately not.

I HAVE THINGS I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THIS IMAGE IN PARTICULAR BUT MY BRAIN CANNOT ARTICULATE IT

I think I saw that green can also be representative of cowardice. And I feel like that’s also a big theme here, that he felt too cowardly to be honest with his wife and ultimately it led to the greatest loss of all. This also seems to be a big “miscommunication kills” type of scenario. Communication could have also been the killer here - there’s just not enough info here to make a firm judgment.

Either she jumped from the balcony or he accidentally pushed her. I feel like it’s either one of these. I’m sorta leaning more toward the “he accidentally shoved her in a fit of passion or some sort of argument”... because it just feels like he might’ve had a literal hand in it

Curse this image being so blurry. He’s holding out his hand and his hand is outlined in red, so it’s very important… could he be trying to lunge forward and catch her or is he about to like... push her. HMMM this image does make it look more like he’s trying to grab onto her in hopes of saving her.

Broken shards of glass that I think are representative of their marriage and her fall from the balcony. What’s shattered can’t so easily be put back together - and in some cases, it can’t be put back at all. Something he’s learned in a very hard way and something he might have known all along.

He took a bite from the apple, it’s gone. He made his choice. But what’s left is broken in pieces.

And he goes back to putting on a mask… because I think it’s too hard to face otherwise. Now then! Onto some other things that might shed a little more light because I’m honestly not sure about this. Kazui’s is so… subtle and vague. It seems so obvious on the surface that it makes me think it really ISN’T that tangible from first glance.

Let’s take a look at some of his other things.

He really does seem pretty hung-up on his age lol… I guess I can’t blame him because I do the same thing and I’m only in my twenties.

This is a really interesting tid-bit from him. Why would they find him embarrassing? Because of what happened in his life, because he opened up about something and let down his mask for a bit? I really want to know more about this because it seems so telling.

Another theory I’ve seen go around that I support quite a bit could also be that instead of a “dream” he was hiding he was instead trying to deny his own sexual orientation. If Kazui were gay, that could explain a lot of things in this. Putting on a mask to hide who he really is, staying in a marriage with a person he loves but not in a romantic nor sexual way… his family “being embarrassed” by him… I could honestly see this being the case. He’s playing a part in life and it’s really not HIM because he doesn’t feel he can be himself.

What’s clear is just how much Kazui doesn’t even seem to know what it is that he REALLY wants. He doesn’t seem satisfied no matter the option, it’s just a lose-lose situation all around for him. If he chooses to go with being himself/his dream then he loses his wife. If he stays with his wife, it doesn’t stop his thoughts from wandering elsewhere. He won’t be satisfied.

On another note, Kazui continues to hide behind a mask even with MILGRAM. He tries to pass himself off as someone who is mild-mannered and relaxed but at the same time he’s a bit contradictory because he also calls himself anxious. He says things to others that don’t really reflect his actual thoughts - such as when Yuno asked him about his type of woman and he says something that’s just… not really well thought-out because it seems like he’s pretty private. He wants to be private because opening up with his true feelings hasn’t worked out well for him.

Unrelated but I got this screencap and I’m like… i need a kiss from this man ASAP. i need it like i need air to breathe 

Okay that’s it for now!! So interested to see what direction his story takes in the next MV for him. I really want to learn so much more about Kazui, his entire MV is just so subtle. Let me know your thoughts!! Would really love to hear what you think of Kazui and his cryptic demeanor. Thank you for reading! please tumblr don’t delete like half my post thank u <3

like. on one hand i could very well see cheating being the entire case here. it would make sense what-with choosing to “forgive” or “not forgive”. but i also like to have a bit of fun and see what other possibilities might be. who knows! we shall find out in time

Types that desire control over public persona?

I saw an interesting post on social media the other day in which an artist was talking about unsolicited critiques. In a nutshell, the artist seemed to feel that unless a comment was 100% positive it should not be posted because unsolicited suggestions (such as comments on work-in-progress images) were (even if stated with kindness) violations of the artist’s boundaries and could trigger insecurity, anxiety, etc. The artist said if they wanted suggestions they would ask for them, and further said that unsolicited comments do not lead to artistic improvements (implying that artists either ignore them or are unable to implement them).

On the one hand, being a VERY sensitive person myself, easily made anxious about the flaws in my own work (I remember comments made by well-meaning relatives that hurt for a long time), I definitely understand this point of view. 

But on the other hand, such a determined policing of what other people are allowed to say seems “wrong” to me. Why not at least be open to their thoughts, as long as they are polite and don’t insist that you “fix” your art to make them happy? I understand preferring to get criticism from a trusted source (I always turn to close friends whenever I need a fresh eye) but still, it doesn’t seem healthy to be unable to take any kind of criticism without becoming significantly depressed.

In a similar vein, sometimes I see people posting things like “If you like/support X then I insist that you unfollow me!” As a Fi-dom my “things I believe are morally wrong” list is quite long so I get that feeling, but I can’t imagine asking anyone to prove they have a right to merely LOOK at anything on a public forum. Again, it feels like a desire to control other people and how they relate to your public persona, which seems pointless to me - I’d rather just try to be as authentic as possible and let them think what they like.

That said, I never offer unsolicited advice to anyone - I’m too afraid of conflict and of hurting them. Heck, even if they ask I’m very, very gentle!

Do you think this might be an P vs J thing? P wanting to keep discussion open and J wanting to focus on what is socially “right”? (The original post felt like an “I need to educate you about good behavior” kind of moment.).

Thank you for your thoughts (and my apologies for being long - I tried to cut it down!)! I hope you had a good weekend and have a great start to your week!

When you share what you create on a public forum of any kind, you open yourself up to criticism. That is unavoidable. By making yourself into a “public figure” and seeking “fame” through what you do, you gain unsolicited critiques. This is part of “fame,” and if you cannot handle it, you shouldn’t seek fame.

I’m not a fan of unsolicited critiques, because it’s rude and most of the time comes down to a personal opinion (not a ‘constructive’ critique) or does not need said. A good artist who works hard to get better is going to figure out how to fix a problem in their art without your help.

However… criticism is how you learn. You can never get better without being willing to consider criticism. I deal with writers a LOT, so I’ll focus on that: the writers who listen to an editor or beta readers improve and become even better. The writers who get defensive and refuse to accept criticism stagnate and never progress pass “basic levels” of talent. So if you are serious about your art, whatever it is, learn to accept criticism as a tool to “help me get better.”

A good artist improves by listening to criticism and deciding if it is valid or a mere opinion. Let’s say an artist is really good, but can’t draw hands well. Someone points it out. The artist can either get defensive, insist they cannot draw hands, and ignore it, thus ensuring that 10 years from now, their hands will still look bad, or they can spend a month drawing nothing but hands until they improve through deliberate practice. Then, their overall art is improved, because they accepted the fact that, “Yeah, hands are hard for me. But I can work on that.”

To some extent, this attitude of “don’t criticize me” comes from the “we are all winners” movement. If you show up, you get a trophy so you don’t feel bad about not winning the soccer match. This, unfortunately, sets up unrealistic expectations about everyone’s “talent” and how the world is going to treat you. The real world does not pull punches. If you cannot take casual criticism as an amateur, you will either never become a “professional” (because your art never improves and you get to known for your “attitude” about criticism) or your first REAL harsh critique will destroy you.

Feeling dominants struggle the most with being unable to handle criticism. Thinkers see criticism for what it is – a tool to help me improve. They are way less sensitive. As a feeler, the only way to grow a thicker skin is to practice taking criticism, remind yourself it’s not about your self-worth, and learn to judge whether this criticism is a point of view or something simple you can learn to improve your art quality (by using your thinking function instead of just going off your emotional reaction to it). Just as an example, I once had a “critique” that said: “Good idea, poorly executed.” That was it. That was not constructive criticism, even though it hurt, because it told me nothing. It could not point out a way to improve it. It was a case of “I didn’t like it.” Criticism like that isn’t worth paying attention to, because there’s nothing “wrong” they can point out. But “Your manuscript is full of annoying partial sentences; read it out loud and you’ll see what I mean” was a life-changing use of constructive criticism.

Now, on to your actual question.

The first instance (don’t offer unsolicited criticism) sounds like Fe, because you are right, it’s educating total strangers on proper online behavior and how to treat artists in general rather than being, “I don’t want your critiques, stop doing it to me” (and then the Fi artist turns off the comments, since my art only matters to me anyway; but the Fe just wants everyone to have a positive online experience and to hear praise).

But the second – “If you like/support X, unfollow me!” is pure (unhealthy) Fi-dom thinking. Why? I do not like it, therefore it is evil, therefore you are evil to like it, and I insist you f**k off. You are so awful, you aren’t even allowed to see what I create! It’s making a harsh judgment about people (without Ti wondering “why you feel this way or like this; what merit does it hold for you?”) based on one’s subjective feelings about a topic (my own hatred for it - Fi), and trying to “control” who has access to your public material by demanding people who don’t align with your politics/fandom opinions/etc do not engage with your art.

This isn’t how the world works. Again, if you put it out there, anyone can access it, read it, see it, save it, use it, talk about it, or critique it. That’s just the way the real world works. If you don’t want people you disapprove of on a “moral” level looking at it, then you can’t share it publicly.

EPISODE 5: The Band of Seven, Resurrected

WELCOME TO EPISODE 5! So far, episode 6 is up on my Patreon already, and episode 7 is in progress. Support me on Patreon to see stuff first!

IMPORTANT: I am starting to integrate the art into the story a little differently! Instead of just visualizing a moment in the scene, the image will replace the lines it's depicting. It'll work more like a hybrid graphic novel, that way it'll flow better. (So don't skip over the art, read it like you would a western comic!)

Reminder: [Dialogue like this is English!]

EPISODE 5, LESSGO! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

It was a bit of a long flight between the bone-eater’s well and the spot where Luna last left her sister and her friends.

They were still headed northeast, still trying to find Naraku. But Luna’s supply of ammunition only lasted so long, and she decided she probably needed more medical supplies if they were all gonna make it past this war with Naraku. So she’d gone back to the modern era for a few days, and called Alice to get her connections with other Hunters in Japan—so Luna could make more Sacred Salt rounds without having to explain to international customs why she was getting a bunch of empty shotgun shells, non-native herbs, and a few other assorted (weird) things she needed.

So she’d gone home for a few days. Thankfully, she didn’t have to walk; Airisu (who still objected to Luna calling her ‘Alice’, but agreed to the simple nickname ‘Ai’) in full demon form could fly pretty fast, but she ran out of steam after about an hour. It took them a full day (including rest time) to get back to the village, and the same on the way back.

But before they joined back up with their friends, Luna had a stop to make.

It ain’t hard to miss, she thought snarkily, he’s like a damn homing beacon.

Finally, among all the green of the forests, she spotted a speck of white. Easy. “There they are!”

Ai set them down just behind the little group of travelers—Rin, the little imp Jaken, the big horse-dragon (Ah-Un, Luna believed?), and heading the line was, of course, Lord Fussy Britches himself. Rin spotted them before they touched down, and greeted delightfully:

“Miss Luna!”

The Hunter’s arrival brought the others to a halt, and for some reason, Luna found a very smug satisfaction in the incredibly irritated, over-the-shoulder side eye she got from Sesshomaru. But she paid him no mind; she was here for Rin.

Luna held out her hand, unfolding her fingers to reveal three beautiful pearls, strung on a little leather cord. Each of them glinted with an odd pink sheen and were warm to the touch; anyone with any sort of spiritual senses might’ve picked up on the soft energy radiating from them.

Luna tied the cord tightly at the ends and moved to slip it over the little girl’s head.

“As if she would ever need such a ridiculous thing!”

Luna swore one of these days, she was gonna drop kick that little frog. “Look, dude—”

“It’s Jaken, insolent human!”

“—I’m just looking out for her. No need to burst a blood vessel.”

“What is she to you?”

Luna was actually shocked to be addressed by Sesshomaru himself. He was still giving her the side eye, but there was less irritation and more of… something Luna couldn’t place. Maybe she was flirting with death, but she couldn’t resist.

She stood tall, chin high, and responded: “What is she to you?”

There was the anger: contained, but frigid and harsh as the Arctic behind those amber eyes. Sesshomaru did not answer her, but Jaken sure did.

“How dare you, human! Your nerve is surpassed only by your stupidity to speak to Lord Sesshomaru that way! Surely you wish for death!”

Only sometimes. “Can it, Kermit!” She snapped at him, “I ask because he’s always leaving her alone, with nothing but you to protect her! You, who are half her size and don’t have much in the way of defense!” She moved her challenging gaze to Sesshomaru again, steadfast. “So I ask again, what is she to you, if you leave her with barely any protection so often? Because to me, she’s a friend and I care about her, so I brought her these as a last resort option, in case you’re not around and she needs help.”

There it was, that unreadable expression again. Sesshomaru was definitely incomparable at hiding his true emotions—something Luna could absolutely not stand. Tense silence hung in the air for a moment, before Luna shrugged, holding her hands up.

“Hey, think of it this way,” She said, trying a sly little smile, “You’re a busy guy. It’s one less thing you have to worry about. And if she never needs them, at least it’s a pretty necklace.”

Man, this guy was good at keeping quiet. But now, the icy glare was gone. Luna swore she could see just the tiniest arc of a silver eyebrow before the demon turned back around on the path they’d all been heading.

“Jaken, let’s go.”

Flabbergasted, Jaken tripped over himself trying to follow. “Y-yes milord!”

Grinning, Luna got back down to Rin’s level. “You take care, okay kid?”

“I will! And thank you so much for these— I don’t think I’ll need them because Lord Sesshomaru always comes to save me, but I’ll wear them anyway!”

“That’s all I ask,” This little angel was definitely gonna need it at some point. “But if you do need me, I’ll always be there for you, okay? I promise.”

The smile on Rin’s face could’ve melted the ice caps. “Thank you.”

Luna stopped her as she started to leave. “Hold on, one more thing. Each one only works once before it shatters, so you gotta save them for when you’re really in trouble, okay?”

“Okay, I will! Bye, Miss Luna!” Rin grinned, waving at her friend before hurrying after the demons.

Luna chuckled, turning back to Ai for a second before something occurred to her. “Hey, Sesshomaru!”

He didn’t turn to look at her this time, but he did pause in his walking.

Good enough. “I heard there was something going down in the Northeast—direction of the Ox and Tiger. Something to do with Naraku. Thought you might like to know.” She didn’t wait to see if he heard or registered what she said; she just hopped back on Ai’s back, and the two of them took off.

“I hope you know conflating bravery with stupid pride is more than likely to get you killed one of these days.” Ai said as she lifted into the sky.

“Oh most definitely,” Luna laughed. “But as much of a pompous man-child as he is, you can tell he cares for that girl more than he’s willing to admit.”

“That may be, but he’ll definitely kill you if you keep disrespecting him.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take, for Rin’s sake.” Luna’s voice was soft, carried off by the wind. “That little angel’s been through enough, she deserves someone in her corner.”

~    ~    ~

Finally catching sight of their friends again was a bit of a relief for both Luna and Ai. It had been a long couple of days, going all the way home and coming back. Part of Luna hoped they’d get just a little bit of rest before whatever shit hit the fan next, but another part knew the odds on that were pretty low. Still, it was nice to be back.

Kagome was the first to spot them as they flew in. “It’s Luna!”

“Luna’s back!” Shippo proclaimed joyfully.

“Hey, y’all,” Luna greeted as Ai touched down. She hopped off the demon’s back as her friends offered their greetings. “What’d I miss?” She asked.

Miroku was the one to answer. “Quite a lot. It seems that we may encounter a new enemy: the local villagers recently informed us of a group of mercenaries called the Band of Seven. The villagers believe these ruthless killers may have been brought back from the dead.”

With a grin on her face, Luna shrugged at the idea. “Undead mercs, huh? Nothin’ we can’t handle.” She held up her fist for her sister to bump it, and as Ai changed back to her human form, Luna noticed their little group was smaller than it should’ve been. “Where’s Sango?”

Kagome bumped fists with her sister, smiling at Luna’s nonchalant comment. “She went off with Kilala. I sensed a Jewel Shard nearby earlier… so I think she may have gone to look for Kohaku.”

Luna didn’t have time to respond. Off in the distance, she heard the distinctive echo of a sound she was all too familiar with.

Inuyasha hopped up onto a tree limb, hoping to get a look at what was happening. He couldn’t see it, but he sure as hell could smell it. “And it ain’t from just a handful of people, either.”

So much for a second to rest, Luna chuckled to herself as she tightened the straps on her backpack and immediately kicked into gear. “What’re we waiting for, then?”

And off they were, charging headlong into danger as always. Luna could sense something was up; more so than usual. The stench of blood was never a good sign in the first place, but there was something else setting off warning bells. Something she couldn’t put a finger on.

The smell got stronger and stronger, until… they reached its source. Despite the amount of nasty shit she’d seen in her ten years of hunting supernatural monsters, there were some things that still turned her stomach, and seeing a single human being standing in a veritable ring of blood and gore was definitely one of them. His black hair was pulled into a twist; his lips were painted red, he had blue tattoos like tear tracks under each eye, and one side of his kimono was tucked up under his belt. The dude was just squatting in the middle of the carnage, eyeballing the barrel of a matchlock gun like it was his first time seeing one (which, hell, it might be, she thought to herself; in this time, they would’ve only recently been invented). He seemed completely unbothered by the dozen and a half bodies of freshly murdered warriors and their horses surrounding him.

Inuyasha was the one to get to the scene just ahead of the others, calling back over his shoulder: “Stay back! Don’t come over here!”

Instinctively, Luna remained in front of her sister, her arm out to try and block her view. Her stomach was churning, and her hand was poised to pull her gun if needed. No way this guy could be human… right?

“Did… that one person do all this?” Kagome’s voice was a shocked whisper.

It was then that the guy in the middle noticed them. He stood, his sword over his shoulder and his head cocked slightly to the side.

“Are you the one I’ve been looking for?” He asked, a grin on his face as he shielded his eyes from the sun. “Are you Inuyasha?!”

“Got a bad feeling about this.” Luna mumbled, “That guy isn't a demon, is he?”

“I don’t think so,” Kagome uttered back to her, “I don’t sense a demonic aura….”

“How’d you know my name?!” Inuyasha demanded.

He got no answer out of the guy with the sword. Instead, the guy squealed: “You’re adorable!”

A dumbfounded silence fell over the group. Luna glanced around at the others to make sure she didn’t just lose her mind—but no, the general consensus among her friends was along the lines of ‘what the actual fuck?’

“I especially love those fuzzy ears of yours!” The guy continued, licking his lips. “I want them~”

Alright, so this guy was nuts. Luna had had enough of ignoring the bad vibe she was picking up from him. She dropped her bag next to Kagome’s bike and readied herself for a fight: detached the ammo bag and shotgun holster from her pack and slung them over her shoulder, slipped her short sword through one of the belt loops on her jeans, and pulled her shotgun to make sure it was in hand and loaded. She kept her eyes moving back and forth between Inuyasha and the dude with the sword during the next exchange:

“Who are you?” Inuyasha demanded, “What are you after? You don’t smell like a living person, you reek like corpses and graveyard soil!”

No answer.

“Inuyasha,” Miroku said in realization: “Could he be—?”

“Yep,” Inuyasha confirmed, before calling out to the guy with the sword again: “Some villagers were talking! They said some disgusting specter rose up from the grave. That’d be you, I presume!”

Right, zombies, Luna thought to herself; if he really is undead, the Sacred Salt won’t do as much as it would a demon… It’d sting, but what I really need is-… She smirked and holstered her gun again, grabbing a different weapon from the bottom of her bag.

“Are you one of the Band of Seven?!” Miroku asked of the specter as Luna was tuning back in. “Answer me!”

After a long pause as the specter seemed to size the monk up, his response was even worse than before. “Inuyasha really is good looking, but you’re pretty sexy yourself~”

Luna snorted so hard she thought she was gonna eject her brain through her nose. Ai whacked her in the arm as a warning.

“No one minds if I suck him up, do they?” Miroku grumbled.

“No.” Inuyasha said, flatly.

“Hold on!” Kagome said, “He’s got a Sacred Jewel Shard! He must’ve been revived with the power of the Shard!”

“So that was what I was sensing,” Luna mumbled, “but why does it feel off...?”

“Where’d you get the Jewel Shard?!” Inuyasha once again attempted to pose a question to their opponent, only to once again receive a weird, adoring response:

“You know, you’re cute when you’re angry~!”

“Shut up!” Inuyasha shouted, jumping forward and drawing his sword. “Alright, dead man, you’d better start talking to me, and I want real answers!”

The expression on the specter’s face shifted from one of reverence to one more sadistic as he regarded Tetsusaiga. “That’s an interesting sword you have there… let’s see whose is stronger.” He lifted his own sword, making an odd motion around his head and shoulders with it as if he were gearing up for something. “Yours or mine?!”

When he brought his arm down, something that looked almost like a bolt of silver lightning shot from his blade. Inuyasha barely had the chance to block it as it cut an arc through the air toward him.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome called out in surprise.

“Stay back!” Miroku threw his arm out in an attempt to shield the others. “It’s some kind of trick sword!”

“That’s my cue!” Ai shifted into full demon form, jerking her head at the sisters and the little fox. “All aboard!”

Kagome climbed on no issue, but Luna glanced at Miroku, who made no move to follow them. “You coming?”

“I’ll be alright, you keep them safe.” Miroku said, resolute. Not about to argue, Luna climbed on the demon’s back and Ai leapt into the air above the fight.

“You gonna be okay holding all of us after that long flight?” Luna asked her friend.

“I’m fine, it’s the same weight as you with your pack on.” Ai sassed back.

“Yeah well, fuck me for being prepared,” Luna laughed, starting to prep the other weapon she’d brought.

Kagome managed to tear her eyes from the confrontation below to try and see what her sister was doing. “What did you bring, Luna?”

Luna grinned as she clicked the last accessory into place, then turned back to show her sister. “This? This is my baby.” She held up her favorite weapon: it was a fully-customized folding compound crossbow as long as Luna’s arm. She pressed a release on the side, and the arms shot into place, making both Shippo and Kagome jump.

“Whoa!” The fox demon exclaimed, “What kind of a weapon is that?!”

“It’s a crossbow, Shippo,” Kagome explained, “It’s kind of like my bow, but the arrows are smaller and it’s easier to fire.”

“Self-loading, too,” Luna smirked as she strung it up, “The ‘arrows’ are called bolts or darts. This thing can shoot way faster than a longbow, and since we’re dealing with Zombie Harley Quinn down there—” She grabbed a bolt from her ammo bag to show it to them, “—we’re gonna need these. They’re tipped with pure silver. Great for dealing with Vampires, Werewolves, The Undead, and The Unholy.”

Shippo reached out to touch it, but Kagome stopped him, shaking her head rapidly. “It’s safe to assume you shouldn’t touch anything Luna has in her bag, Shippo.”

The kid swallowed nervously. “G-got it...”

Below them, the fight continued. Inuyasha could barely avoid each strike of the snakelike sword, and his opponent only seemed to be having more and more fun.

“What do you think of Jakotsu of the Band of Seven, huh?!” He shouted as he swung the sword once more.

“Not too much!” Inuyasha came back at him with Tetsusaiga, but to no avail.

Kagome gasped. “He needs help!”

“That’s what this baby’s for,” Luna grinned, patting her crossbow. “Ai, can you stay out of reach of the sword but get me close enough to shoot?!”

“It’ll take a miracle!”

“Better start praying, then,” Luna lined up the shot, finger still as stone on the trigger. There was a familiar voice in the back of her head; she could hear her father saying: “Aim for where they’re gonna be, not where they are.”

I know, dad. She tried not to sigh audibly as she managed to get Jakotsu’s head in her crosshairs and pulled the trigger, quick as a viper.

And… almost missed him.

The consecrated silver bolt seemed to burn through the air as it shot just centimeters shy of the specter’s nose and grazed his arm, burning a hole in his kimono. He whipped his attention to the woman who shot it.

“How dare you interfere?!” He snarled, rearing his arm back and whipping his blade toward them.

Luna felt her stomach drop.

“You idiot!” Ai snapped at her, trying to fly out of range of the sword as Kagome and Shippo both clung, screaming, to Luna’s back. Just as the sword arched toward them, there was a familiar cry of:

“HIRAIKOTSU!”

And Jakotsu’s blade was then tangled around the aforementioned boomerang. All three riding on Ai’s back sighed in relief when they saw Sango swoop in on Kilala. Ai touched down just as Kilala did, transforming into her human form and unceremoniously dumping the sisters on their asses.

“Are you all okay?” Sango called over to them.

“We’re fine!” Shippo answered.

“Perfect timing, Sango!” Kagome said.

“Some weapon, Luna!” Ai huffed in the Hunter’s direction. Luna just stuck her tongue at her.

Jakotsu was practically red in the face, shrieking in frustration: “What is with all you vile women?! Can’t you see I’m trying to battle Inuyasha?!” In the same breath, he whipped his sword again, toward Sango this time. The movement freed Hiraikotsu, and ended up leaving a small slice on Sango’s arm as Jakotsu pulled it back.

“Stay out of this!” He continued, “None of you will interfere!”

But their “interference” had served Inuyasha well enough: it gave him just the opportunity he needed to rear back and punch the specter in the face.

“Shut up! I’m tired of listening to your pointless babble!” Inuyasha growled.

Jakotsu grunted as he tumbled back, then rubbed his cheek and pouted like a kicked puppy. “That was cruel…”

“Oh, get over it!” Inuyasha snapped, “Now tell me who gave you the Sacred Jewel Shard before I have to seriously hurt you!”

Kagome and Miroku rushed to see if Sango was okay, but she assured them that it was just a graze; she was fine. Her attention was more on the subject at hand.

“I have a feeling that the shard came from Naraku,” She said, somberly. She looked at Kagome. “When you sensed a Jewel Shard earlier… it was Kohaku. I saw the Saimiyosho around him as well.”

“That means that your brother is still under Naraku’s control…” Miroku said. Sango nodded.

Luna had set her weapon down next to her backpack, and came back with a bandage for Sango’s arm. Her mind was going at a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how the hell they were gonna handle this—first an undead band of Ronin, now they have something to do with Naraku. What was Naraku playing at...?

“Gotta wonder what the hell is next…” Luna mumbled sarcastically.

Seconds later, she would regret asking. A cloud of black smoke poured over the cliffside, drifting right toward them.

Like he knew what was happening, Jakotsu got up and collected his sword. “Inuyasha! You should get out of here while you can! Bye!” And with that, he was just… gone.

“What the hell—” Inuyasha broke off with a startled yell when the cloud reached him. “Its poison!”

“But where’s it coming from?!” Miroku wondered.

“We need to move.” Luna reassembled her bag in less than thirty seconds—side effect of doing it so often. “We can figure out what the hell is going on when we’re safely away from here!”

Why do I feel like we stepped into something huge here? Luna thought to herself as the group of friends moved away from the cloud of gas.

Missing (7/?)

Summary: Your next door neighbor, Luke Patterson (a.k.a. your longtime crush) has gone missing, and you think you could help finding him.

Word count: 2.7k (I think, I don’t really know lol)

Warnings: none!

•

“...And it was actually fun. I think we were all there. All the boys from the block, I mean. Josh, Victor, Lucas- what-? Stop stealing my fries!”

You and Max were at a diner, having dinner on a Friday night.

“Sorry.” You laughed. “I’m glad you had fun. You’re welcome.”

He scoffed. “Why?”

“Uh, if I didn’t tell Josh you were going, you would’ve said you weren’t. And you went and had fun. Again, you’re welcome.”

“You’re insufferable.” Max shook his head, smiling. “But, yeah. Thank you, I guess.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Speaking of Josh.” He said, grabbing some fries. “Tomorrow’s your big day.”

You rolled you eyes. “You say it like it’s gonna be our wedding. It’s just a date. I wouldn’t even call it a date yet.”

“You, maybe. Josh seems excited for your ‘simple’ date.”

You decided to take a sip of your drink instead of responding.

“You don’t seem too excited though.” He analyzed you for a moment. “Still thinking about Luke?”

“First of all, don’t look at me like that. You’re looking at me like I’m a child.” You rolled your eyes. “And second of all... well, yes, of course. I thought it would be easy to forget about a crush. It’s got to a point that’s just ridiculous.”

“By the way you say it, it doesn’t sound like a simple crush.”

“Well, it can’t be more. I don’t know him.”

“Have you ever heard about love at first sight?”

“That question shows me how little you know about love at first sight.”

“Oh, yeah?” He said, challenging. “How much do you know?”

“Enough to know that my case with Luke it’s not what you’re suggesting.”

“Come on.” He groaned. “Just accept it.”

“Accept what?”

“That you like him.”

“I do like him, that’s the thing. I like Luke without knowing who he is, exactly. That doesn’t make any sense! Just- stop it. Leave it like that.” You said before Max could say anything else. “You really just love to argue or disagree with everything I say, right?”

“If you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“It is bad, Max.”

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. And you shook your head in disapproval at your friend, which he decided to ignore. “How’s Mrs. Patterson?”

You visited her that day after school, like you’ve been doing the past week.

You included visiting her as a daily activity on your schedule. You went to her house for at least an hour, go back home to study for another two, and then, you went to your dance class.

“She’s good. Better, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“She does look better.” He nodded. “I’m really glad... have you told her, though?”

You looked down to your glass of juice. “No. She haven’t asked and I never really see the need of doing so.”

You had lots of opportunities to tell her, but you never did it. After overthinking about it a lot, you ended up with the conclusion that, she wasn’t asking because maybe she already knows (courtesy of your mom), or she just really didn’t believe you could find his son.

You did promise her that you would back up if you had to. So maybe, if she knew, that’s why she wasn’t mad or upset.

But you still promised to give her that second chance...

With that thought, you looked for the guitar pick, that was still hanging around your neck, and just held it with your fingers for a second. Something that you’ve been doing a lot lately. You couldn’t take it off. You tried, but you didn’t want to, for some reason you didn’t exactly know.

Even though you weren’t doing anything to find Luke anymore, it still seemed to be something that you were calling out to do. Everything reminded you to him. Not only since you’ve been going to his house a lot, but also for other reasons. Like the fact that the posters you saw at Mrs. Patterson’s last week, were all over the neighborhood now. Maybe even further.

“I mean, if she’s not asking, I guess...” Max shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“I guess...”

And still, you felt the guilt in your chest.

“Anyways, where are you going tomorrow? With Josh.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think we said any place in specific.”

“We’ll see about that then... if you wanted fries, why didn’t you buy some?! Stop eating mine!”

•

The next day, the hot whether made you wear a nice and simple sundress to go out with Josh.

Your sister was finishing combing your hair when you heard the doorbell ring, and you two went downstairs.

Your dad opened the door. You weren’t worried about that since he did know Josh and his parents, but if this worked out, you weren’t too far from getting a similar lecture like the one Tamra got just last week.

When your dad was done with him, you said goodbye to your family and went outside next to Josh, whoopened the driver’s door of his car for you.

“So where are we going?” You asked, looking at him while he was driving.

He looked good. Like he always did. And you were waiting impatiently for those butterflies in your stomach to come at the sight of him. Like it would happen with Luke.

But they never did.

We still have time, you internally said.

“I was thinking... does the movies sound right to you?” He asked.

“Sounds great.” You smiled.

“Great, great.” He smiled back.

You never found it hard to make conversation with him, and this time wasn’t the exception.

Once in the cinema, you two lined up to buy tickets for the movie and you still didn’t decide which one you would watch, but you made the decision for the two of you once you saw how excited Josh looked at a big poster of a zombie movie. He bought the tickets and you bought the popcorn and the drinks. It wasn’t easy but you ended up convincing him to do so.

During the movie, he tried to grab your hand, but every time you pretended not to notice. He didn’t try many times though, he was too invested on the movie to worry about that.

That spark you were so convinced was there and was just taking its time, wasn’t making its appearance. What was wrong with you? You wanted this. You accepted his invitation because you didn’t want to miss this “open door.”

But you didn’t want to be with Josh. As hard as it was for you to realize it, you didn’t like him.

You were still after your neighbor next door, who couldn’t care less about you.

I just need time. This was too soon.

When the movie was over, you went to a diner close the place just like you agreed before.

Still, no spark. Or butterflies. Or flushed cheeks.

Just nothing.

Until you were on your way home, and you saw some kids in front of a club, with some instruments and a man practically yelling at them.

“Josh- wait. Josh! We need to stop. Stop!”

Josh did so, a couple of stores away.

“What, what?! You okay?” He asked looking at you with a frown.

“Yes, yes it’s- There. It’s Luke’s band.”

You two looked behind you, and you could see them. Not clearly, but you were sure those were them.

And Josh seemed to think so too.

“No way...” He said, his eyes wide open. And then, rapidly pointed. “Luke, it’s Luke!”

“Where?!” You desperately looked but for you, the image was blurry.

“There!”

Since you still couldn’t see him, you got out of the car to get a better view.

It was definitely them.

Reggie and, who you assume was Alex, were talking with the man you saw befoe and it did not seem like a nice conversation. Reggie was hiding behind Alex and he seemed to be the one trying to control the situation.

And you only could see his back, but it was definitely Luke the one saving the instruments in the back of their truck, next to Bobby.

“It’s them.” You confirmed, but you couldn’t move. You couldn’t bring yourself up to do anything in that moment.

“What should we do?”

And then you realized. Reggie and Bobby knew you. They knew who you were. If they saw you, they would take Luke away again.

You couldn’t allow that to happen.

“Come on.” You motioned Josh to get in the car again.

“Should we call the police? Or the Pattersons? Maybe-.”

“No, no. None of that. We’re gonna follow them.”

“What?!”

“We need to know where they’re hiding Luke.”

“How are you so sure where they’re going?”

“I am not. But we have nothing to lose.”

You waited until the guys saved one last piece of a drum set, got in the car and started driving away, to follow them.

“Be subtle. And careful.” You said.

Your heart was racing. Sadly (or not), the reason wasn’t Josh.

You tried to follow them not exactly behind, but trying to stay at least a car away from them all the time.

Five minutes later, they stopped at a fast food place, in where they got in, but you decided to stay in the car.

Josh parked the car across the street.

“Max did say everyday with you is a new adventure.” He said. “But I didn’t know he meant literally.”

You removed your sight from the restaurant and looked at him.

You smiled slightly. “Sorry for dragging you with me.”

“Oh, no worries.” He waved it off. “Max warned me.”

“He warned you?” You raised an eyebrow. You didn’t know if you should be offended.

He then noticed the way he said it and you saw the panic on his face. “I didn’t mean it like that! I promise it sounded better in my head.”

You laughed. “It’s okay. I get it.”

“Yeah, um... what should we do now though? With Luke I mean.”

“I was thinking, um...” You searched through your purse. You had enough money. “Maybe we could... follow them? If it’s okay with you. I can give you money for gas, and all. It is my fault you’re here with me now, after all.”

“Forget that.” He shook his head. “This is big. We could maybe get Luke back to his family. You don’t have to give me anything. It’s all for the Pattersons.”

You smiled and nodded. But mentally decided that you would hide the money in the pocket of his jacket later.

“And also... Max told me about what you two have been doing the past week. So I know this is important to you, too. And if there’s anything I can do to help, then I’ll do it.”

You rested your hand on his for a moment. “Thank you. Really. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The two of you killed time by playing with some Uno cards Josh had saved in his car, and an hour or so later, Josh saw the guys getting out of the restaurant.

“They’re leaving.” He warned you, and started the car as they drove away.

Again, you followed them cautiously for about twenty minutes. They stopped twice at two different houses (where Reggie and Alex, respectively, stayed) before finally getting into another neighborhood where the two guys left parked in front of a beautiful house. Bobby’s house, you assumed.

“So that’s where he stayed the whole time.” You whispered to yourself.

You two kept driving up until two or three houses away and parked in front of a house that seemed empty.

“I can’t believe it.” You said, giggling excited. But you erased your big smile once you looked around you. You had no clue where you were. You got out of the car with Josh.

“Do you... um... happen to know where we are?”

“Honestly? No.”

You started biting your thumbnail. You checked the time. It was nine thirty. You were supposed to be back home at ten.

“Shoot.” You said. “Okay, we know where they are. Do you have a pen or something?”

“Sure.”

He took a pen from some place in his car and gave it to you. Josh walked beside you as you headed from corner to corner and then stopped in front of Bobby’s house. You wrote the street names down in your wrist, not forgetting about the house number.

“Cool, cool.” You nodded. “We have something. And he seems to be safe. I guess I just can come back tomorrow.”

“I was hoping you say that.” He chuckled relieved. “I really didn’t think it would be a good idea to knock now.”

“Yeah...”

You stood in front of the house in silence for a minute.

“Josh?”

“Yeah?”

“We found Luke.”

You two turned your heads to see at each other and then cheered and jumped.

“Shh! Wait! They could hear us.”

“Right, right.” He stopped himself too.

And then, you two silently celebrated.

When you finished, you noticed you were grabbing each other’s hands.

You saw him blushing, and before this could go any further, you smiled at him gently and let go of his hands.

“Let’s go.” You said.

“How do you think they’re managing though? You know, Luke hiding there. And I don’t know his friends’ parents... or his friend himself, but I don’t think they would allow to hide someone in their house who’s been practically reported as missing. There are literally posters of him everywhere.” Josh said once you were (this time for real) on your way home.

“I know. At least I hope they don’t know. It would be cruel of them. Mrs. Patterson is better now, but she hasn’t been having a great time.”

He nodded.

“It’s really sweet of you. What you’ve been doing for her. And for Mr. Patterson.”

“I just... I think I just can’t see her like that. And she regrets everything she did wrong with Luke. She just wants another chance to fix things.”

“You have a great heart.” He said, and you smiled for the hundredth time that night.

“Thank you.” You tilted your head. “You too. You came all the way here with me to save Luke. I think that’s something that qualifies you as a good person, too.”

“Thank you.” He doffed an imaginary hat at you, and you chuckled.

He parked in front of your house.

“This night was... full of unexpected events.” Josh said and you agreed with a smile.

“I’m sorry, again. For dragging you with me.”

“And, again. It’s okay. It was fun. Way more fun than what I had in mind for this date.”

You held up a gasp. He said it. It was a date.

You decided to ignored it. “I had fun too.”

“I just... I had something in mind. And I realized that maybe we... don’t share the same feelings? I sound so stupid, I’m sorry. I just...” He sighed. “I like you, Y/N. I really do. But I notice you don’t feel the same.”

“I am... truly sorry about that, Josh.” You looked down for a second. “I really tried though, you know? You’re a really good guy.”

You grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

“I’m just... still fighting with this old... thing I had for a boy. But please don’t get mad at me. I love hanging out with you. You just make me laugh a lot and...it’s just so fun to be with you. You’re a great friend and I really don’t want to lose you.”

He shook his head with a little smile. “You shouldn’t worry about that. You could never lose me.”

You smiled.

“Friends?” You asked and showed him your fist.

“Friends.” He bumped it and you hugged him.

“Thank you for one of the greatest nights ever.” You whispered.

As soon as you stepped on your living room, your family assault you with a bunch of questions. You impatiently responded to all of them, to then explain that you and Josh were just friends. You just wanted to go to Tamra’s room and call Max, but your sister didn’t let you do so until you promised you were gonna give her details later.

Max also celebrated the new information you got when you called him and the both of you agreed on going the next day and...

Well, you didn’t know what to do exactly. But you would have that planned later.

You couldn’t believe it. You were so happy you couldn’t even remember why did you quit the investigation. You just needed a little break. It was too much for you and it wasn’t easy.

But you were back.

•

Taglist: @ifilwtmfc @sovereignparker @catbcyluke @marvelgirl300 @valeriasannchez

While I’m here... I’ve finally updated My Past Became Our Future! :D

Taglist: @psychedelicships @jwillowwolf @lost-in-thought-20 @stardustlv (I can’t remember if anyone else was on the taglist for this one... Let me know!)

Read it here! 

Chapter 10: How Did It Come To This?

‘The world’s got a funny way of turnin’ around on you.’

As the video call cut out, Thomas couldn’t even raise his head. The way Virgil’s voice trembled as he called out their names, the pain in his voice stabbed him right in the heart. He glanced over and saw tears welling Nico’s eyes. They never thought it would come to this. As Patton smiled at them with a new level of malevolence, it was clear that he had lied to them all along, he made it seem like he only wanted to keep Virgil safe. In all the years they’ve been part of The Family. This was the first time both of them have become consumed by emotion when it comes to a job.

Thomas remembered the first time they met at that restaurant. The first night in months where they could just be themselves and they weren’t assassins. Virgil and Logan walked in so apprehensive, so nervous about how people would view them. Thomas should have guessed that Virgil was one of them from the way he looked around the room for threats, the brief glimmer of a dagger just poking out of his pocket, but he just didn’t think of it at the time. That’s why Thomas felt so happy when they were sat next to them, a normal couple. A small slice of a normal life that Thomas and Nico couldn’t have. It was clear that tonight was their first real date, which was why Thomas decided to call out to them, to get rid of some of those nerves. Nico glared at him, but when they all got talking, it was the best decision he could have made. They were wonderful and despite their job, they were determined to make these two lovebirds their best friends. The four of them talked and talked through the evening until it was closing time. Nico ran across the restaurant to get their poor server to take a picture for them. His phone pinged with a message from Patton, but he shut it down ready to take the photo. It was one of their most treasure photos, it’s even the wallpaper on their phones. As they parted ways, they both took out of their phones looking at the text from the boss.

‘Hey kiddos! I’ve got a new mark for you to keep an eye on. We go waaaay back. He used to be a part of The Family believe it or not! I received word that there’s a threat on his life, I don’t want anything to happen to him… So can you keep an eye on him and report back to me whenever you see him? The photo of him is attached. Bye kiddos!’

“You know, I really wish he would stop calling us that… I mean, I think we’re older than him and we’re married.” Nico sighed as he opened the photo as Thomas chuckled and did the same on his phone. They both fell silent and stared at the image.

“Virgil?” The shock was palpable between the two, they looked at each other and both had the exact same thought. They would protect him with every fiber of their being.

Their game plan was simple. Meet with Virgil and Logan on a regular basis but keep it in one place to watch out for any unusual characters. Their weapons would be tucked away in their bags just in case they were needed. There was no way they were letting anything happen to their new best friends, if Virgil was in danger- then Logan could be too. Every time, they would give Patton a detailed amount of information which he was grateful for… almost too grateful for in hindsight.  As time went on however, they started to become more and more slack on information. They even began to lie about seeing them. Virgil was no longer a mark, someone to monitor. He was their friend and each time they reported to Patton, there was a guilt that they couldn’t shake.

Thomas’ biggest regret is that it was him that told Patton about the engagement and consequent wedding. In his defence, he thought he was it would be handy to have them all there as a protection team. After all, him and Nico still thought Virgil was in danger. They put all of their effort into planning the dream wedding, one they couldn’t have. They wanted their best friends to have a perfect day together, damn the consequences. It happened when they were out one day buying wedding supplies.

“Have we lost track of the mission?” Nico asked while they were looking at flowers for the wedding one day. “I mean, we were supposed to be monitoring and reporting back every time. I know I’ve been slacking, I haven’t wanted to report anything, but… are we… getting too close? I think we’re letting our emotions cloud our judgement.” He wasn’t talking in a harsh way. It was almost as if he wanted reassurance that what they were doing was okay.

“You know what? If we have… who cares? I care about Virgil, and Logan. We might not be reporting back as frequently as normal, but we’re doing our best to look out for threats and we’re protecting the two other people that we care about.” He took Nico’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. They continued to pick flowers, Nico went to buy the ones that they had picked and to order more. Thomas checked to see if he was out of sight before taking out his phone and texting Patton. He told him everything, the engagement, the wedding preparations as well as the date and location of the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and the gratitude from Virgil and Logan was staggering. They’ve never been loved by other people before, but having these two in their lives made their roles as assassins more worthwhile. Both of them saw The Family walk in and sit at the back, but they made sure to ignore them. There was no reason to raise suspicions. Nico looked confused as to why they were here, and Thomas shrugged back in response. However, when he saw the colour drain from Virgil’s face at the sight of them, he knew that he had probably made a costly mistake. He pushed that thought aside and linked hands with Nico as they watched the two exchange vows. Nico leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“You know, maybe one day we could renew our vows. Have a proper wedding.” He smiled and softly kissed Nico in response. They were the first ones to stand up, clap and cheer when they were officially declared as married. When they both briefly turned around, they saw a gleam in Patton’s eye. He was definitely going to try and get Virgil on his own.

Nico ran up to the two newly-weds and hugged them tightly, then Thomas followed suit. Logan told everyone how to get to the party in the garden, then Nico and Thomas guided everyone through. They knew The Family would have already gone to find somewhere to wait for Virgil, and it was no surprise when Virgil had disappeared, but they couldn’t help but panic when Logan was nowhere to be seen. They searched the whole party and then every room in the building. As they heard voices, it was clear where The Family were… but they weren’t expecting Logan to be standing outside watching everything. Thomas went to walk over but Nico grabbed his wrist and shook his head. When they saw Janus’ crook wrap around Logan, they knew that they would eventually give him the memory repressor and there was nothing they could do about it. Time seemed to slow and when The Family finally came out of the room, the look of anger on all of their faces showed that the meeting didn’t go according to plan. Patton stormed up to them and even they had to admit they were pretty scared.

“Get that mess cleared up.” His voice was filled with pure rage as he pointed to the room behind them. “And trust me, kiddos. We’ll be having words soon.” He then smiled and waved them off as the others followed behind. Thomas took Nico’s hand and they both walked down the corridor playing dumb. They pretended to believe Virgil’s lie about Logan falling over and they all carried on with the evening like nothing had ever happened. Everyone in the party had been drinking too much to realise that the two guests of honour were not there that whole time.

Ever since the wedding, they both agreed that they wouldn’t report back to Patton with any form of frequency. They also stopped giving information like their location, that would stay just between them. They still had their fortnightly meet ups with the boys and the bond they built was the strongest thing ever. The boys came to them for everything; good news, help with arguments, dealing with bad days, just to meet up to get away from the everything. They appreciated the time to be normal. That all changed when Patton called them in not too long ago. They went to the house and entered the dark, desolate room in the house hand in hand, both of them unsure what was going to happen. Remus entered first and growled at them to sit down. Then Patton strolled in with a neutral expression on his face.

“You’ve got too close boys… but don’t worry. I have the perfect way to fix that.”

Thomas never forgot the smile that Patton gave them as he left and put the call with Virgil on loudspeaker. Him and Nico stared at each other in shock when they heard Patton’s ultimatum. Then when Remus pushed them into the room, they both realised they were going to be used to enforce Patton’s threats against Virgil if he refused to make a choice.

Nico looked over at Thomas, and Thomas nodded as a response.

“Don’t let me down, kiddos.” He walked over and handed them the files with all the details, even though they knew everything already. Patton grabbed both of their wrists menancingly.

“Or I’ll make sure you live to regret ever joining me in the first place.” He smiled and left them too it.

Thomas wrapped Nico in a firm embrace after he saw his husband shaking from that last remark. Nico gave him a tight squeeze and removed himself from the hug. They looked at each other, then nodded.

They were going to go and save their friends.

Whatever the consequences may be.

i don't know what to be without you around

Fandom: Supergirl Rating: K Pairings: None A/N: I fully intended for this to just be a goofy headcanon and then WHOOPS it turned into Danvers Sisters feelings. (Not k*lex. If I see it tagged as such, ya get BLOCKED.) Short. 99% fluff. Probably contains spelling errors. You’ve been warned. 

...

Then

Occasionally, Alex would regret all the time and effort she'd wasted focusing on the downsides of having been thrust into elder sibling-dom. Because while, yes, a lot of the changes that occurred in the Danvers household upon Kara's arrival were...not great...there were definitely some perks to having a sister.

Like the simple satisfaction of a perfectly timed, “Shotgun!” victory.

“What?” Kara protested, her yawn undercutting her indignation. “You can't call shotgun yet, we don't leave for another hour.”

“You snooze you lose,” Alex told her, giving her a pointed look as she yawned again. “Literally.”

Kara rolled her eyes and returned to stuffing pairs of t-shirts and shorts into her duffle bag. Alex did the same, surveying her own bag to see if she'd missed anything. Bug spray, maybe?

She turned to head out into the hall, but Kara stood in her path, wearing a sly smile.

Alex didn't like the look of it. Not one bit.

“What's with the face?” she asked, attempting to sidestep around her younger sister. Kara easily blocked her, and crossed her arms.

“Okay, you get shotgun,” she said. Alex blinked.

“Uh, yeah. I know. I called it.”

“Which means,” Kara continued, complete with dramatic pause for full effect, but Alex already knew what was coming. The second half of the rule...how could she have forgotten. How could she have been so foolish. “I get to pick the music.”

Alex groaned in dismay.

“Kara, no.”

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

It would take them four hours to get to the Tuolumne Meadows campground. Alex sighed, and rested her head against the passenger-side window. That meant four rounds of Fearless, though it was more likely that Kara would just play the same five or six songs she'd been listening to on repeat ever since she bought the album.

“Can't we listen to something else? Please?” Alex begged.

Kara smirked, and turned the volume up.

But of course, her mom immediately turned it back down, giving Kara a stern look in the rearview mirror.

“Kara,” she said in a tone that suggested, knock it off.

Kara quickly cowed, retreating further into the safety of the backseat. “Sorry, Eliza.”

“Great,�� Alex said, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Now get her to play something else.”

“Alex, just listen to your iPod, if you don't like Kara's music,” her mom suggested. Alex sank back into the seat.

“...It's not charged.” There was a snort from the backseat. Alex glared into the rearview mirror. “Because someone lost their chord and was hogging mine this morning.”

Kara shrugged, and smirked that same insufferable smirk.

“You snooze you lose.”

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

Four hours and what felt like a billion playthroughs of “Forever and Always” later, they arrived at the campsite, the interminable car ride almost instantly forgotten as the rocky banks of the river came into view. Alex had been here before, years ago on a father-daughter camping trip, but it was Kara's first time. As they filed out of the car and began to pull duffle bags and ice chests from the trunk, she turned to gaze out at the trees, taking a deep, calming breath.

Alex joined her, and gave her shoulder a good natured nudge. “It's nice, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kara agreed. “It's...a softer kind of noisy, than Midvale,” she explained with a happy sigh. And then, after a moment, she said, “...Sorry for being a jerk, in the car.”

“It's fine,” Alex shrugged. “Here, grab the tent.” Kara lifted the gear with ease, and followed Alex over to a level patch of dirt. “I just don't get how you can listen to the same, like, five songs.” She gestured for Kara to dump out the contents of the tent.

“No super speed, Kara!” Eliza called from the car. “You'll kick up too much dust!”

“Okay!” Kara called back as Alex began sorting the pieces. Kara stooped to help her. “They're good songs. You listen to your favorites a lot.” And Alex had to pause and silently admit, that was true. 

“Yeah, but not over and over,” Alex finally said. “I'd get tired of them.” Which was also true. She remembered liking that Fray song, once upon a time, but now, it just annoyed her, any time it played on the radio.

Kara shook her head at Alex’s remark. “I don’t. There's something new, every time.”

Alex glanced over at her, ready with a retort—how could there be anything new in Taylor Swift songs? Weren't they all just...basically the same thing? First dates at fifteen, feeling fearless in the rain at 2AM?

But Kara's eyes were bright behind her glasses as she enthusiastically went on. “Like, sometimes, I'll just listen to the rhythm, or the vocals, or I'll pick out my favorite sounds, and it makes the whole song brand new again.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “So...it's an alien ears thing, or...?”

Kara considered the question as they continued to put the tent together—they'd located all the poles and stakes, and were maneuvering the tarps into place. “...Maybe?” She said.

Alex kept working on the tent, waiting for Kara to continue, perhaps offer some sort of additional explanation. When she didn’t, Alex looked up to see that Kara’s eyes were on the tree canopy overhead. Her expression was neutral, but Alex had come to recognize that particular look.

She was listening.

To what, Alex didn't know.

“Yeah,” she said after a time. “Yeah, I think it is an alien ears thing.” She smiled. “I like the way guitars sound.”

Alex might've teased her about that, if Kara hadn't sounded so achingly sincere. Did they have guitars, on Krypton? Alex couldn’t remember Kara saying anything about music from her home world. Alex knew it probably wasn’t the case, but she imagined it being a lot of...synth-y sci-fi stuff.

She considered asking Kara about it, but decided against it--sometimes, Kara would get...weird, about such topics, and they were having a nice time. Alex didn’t want to ruin it. 

So instead, she feigned offense. “Well, if you like guitars, I don't see why you don't like my music.”

Kara emphatically shook her head.

“Your music is loud.”

Alex started feeding one of the poles through the tent material. “Um, yes? That's the best part?”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Kara chuckled as she hammered a stake in place. The repeated the process at each corner, and soon enough, the tent was upright, and ready for them to store their gear inside. “It's loud and it's so emo.” 

Alex snorted, heading for their pile of backpacks and duffle bags.

“Okay, Miss 'Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone'.”

FWUMP.

A sleeping bag collided with Alex's right arm.

“That song is great!” Kara insisted, already reaching for more ammo with a wide smile.

“That's not even how the play goes!” Alex teased her. “Right? Aren't you like, the Romeo and Juliet expert?”

FWUMP. The second sleeping bag hit home, but Alex didn't care. She was having fun.

“That's not the point, and you know it!”

“See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns, see you make your way through the crowd--” Alex thought she was safe, as there were no more sleeping bags.

But Kara had found their pillows.

FWUMP. FWUMP.

She laughed again, careful not to let the pillows fall in the dirt. And she was just about ready to give Kara a taste of her own medicine, when she saw that sly smile once more.

Oh, no.

“Hey, Alex, if you hate the song so much,” Kara said with a knowing look, “how come you know all the words?”

Well, shoot.

“...Cause...you play it all the time. Obviously.”

“And you’ve listened close enough each time to learn all the lyrics?”

Alex scowled. “...I mean. It’s...it’s kind of catchy, I guess.”

Kara beamed.

“Ha! I knew—”

Alex hurled both pillows at her.

FWUMP!

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

Now

Alex lets out a relieved sigh.

Kara is back.

Kara is safe.

Kara appears to be whole and...mostly healthy. Her sodium levels are low enough to give Alex some pause, and her right leg shows signs of muscle strain, but otherwise...

“Can I go home now?” Kara's voice is raspy from fatigue. Alex shakes her head.

“Not yet,” she says. “Sodium has to be administered slowly. It's gonna take a while.”

Alex expects some sort of pushback, or protest, but Kara just offers a small hum of understanding. She really is tired, Alex realizes.

“But hey, good news,” Alex adds with forced brightness, “you do get to eat in about,” she consults her watch, “fifteen minutes, or so. Anything you want. Me and Kelly are buying.”

This earns a groggy grin from Kara, and Alex stores the image in her mind, filed under 'reassurances that Kara is still Kara, even after...everything.'

“A dangerous offer,” Kara jokes. 

“Well. It...would not be the first time we bought a mountain of food, to welcome you home,” she admits. Kara shoots her a sad, questioning look, but Alex pointedly ignores it. “So. What'll it be? Pick your poison.”

Her sister's brow furrows in thought. “Um. I guess...whatever will get here fastest?” she suggests. “I'm starving.”

“Ah. We all had a feeling you might be, so,” Alex scoots her stool across the room and extracts a plastic bag from under one of the lab tables. “Snack run,” she says, revealing the spoils with a flourish. Kara laughs outright. It's soft, but it's the strongest she's sounded since returning from the Phantom Zone.

“Thank you,” she says. But Alex taps her watch.

“Still have eight minutes to go,” she reminds her. Kara nods obediently, though she's already sifting through the bag.

“I assume the apples and olives are from Brainy,” she says.

“He swears by that combo,” Alex tells her. “Don't worry, I'm pretty sure J'onn put some actual sustenance in there. You know. Red Vines. Pretzels. The good stuff.”

“...What's this?” Kara asks, and Alex wonders if Brainy perhaps added other questionable food combinations, but the item Kara pulls from the bag isn't one of the snacks.

“Oh.” Alex rubs her arm, a little self consciously. She forgot she left that in there. “That's just...” She pauses. “...I saw that. While you were...” Alex tries to think of a good word for it, but there isn’t one. “...away. I guess I thought...that if I got it. It...was like a promise. That we'd find you. And I'd give it to you.”

The logic doesn't seem quite as sound, as she says it out loud. Regardless, it dredges up memories of awful days marked only by failure, frustration, and fear that they'd never find Kara.

She shakes her head, clearing the thoughts away, and continues in a lighter tone. “Because obviously, pot stickers would go bad, so. This seemed...less wasteful.”

Kara nods, still staring at the shrink-wrapped copy of Fearless (Taylor's Version). A wistful sort of look tugs at her features.

“I haven't listened to these songs in years,” she says.

And Alex can't pass up the opportunity to tease her. “Yes. It's been nice.”

Kara rolls her eyes, but she's still smiling. “It's a good album and you know it,” she says. She sets it aside and yawns. Alex notices that she's looking a little worn out, and she doesn't appear interested in the food anymore.

“You want to rest, while I order the food?”

“...Yeah,” Kara decides. Alex stands to collect the snacks and put them back on the lab table. Kara inclines her heard towards the CD. “Did J'onn put a stereo down here?” Alex gives her a look. “Wait. Of course he did.”

Alex takes the hint and grabs the CD, pulling off the wrapper before heading out onto the main floor. The mismatched selection of furniture is currently off to the side, having been cleared away for one of Nia's training sessions. Alex finds the stereo next to one of the lamps.

When Alex returns to the med bay, Kara's already nearly asleep, her breathing slow and steady.

Alex checks on one of the computers—everything is holding steady, and Kara's responding well to the sodium. She should be able to go home tonight.

It makes Alex sigh in relief once more.

Kara's safe.

Kara's healthy.

Kara's home.

Alex places the CD into the open tray. Checks the track list, turns it to one of the softer songs, and lets it play.

Kara smiles as the opening chords drift through the speakers.

“I like the guitar,” she says quietly.

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

NOTES: - Brought to you by the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and the realization that the original album would’ve dropped at the perfect time for young, impressionable Kara to become a huge fan. - Title pulled from “Breathe” because WATCH ME repurpose select lyrics from love songs for platonic/familial relationships. - I want to say that Kara and Alex went to a MCR concert together...or maybe mentioned MCR? In the tie-in comic? I forget. This isn’t really crucial to the story, I just think it’s a fun aside.  - Apparently it’s National Siblings Day so...yay for good timing? XD 

Brothers anon back again. I had a sort of writers block for the last like 2 days which made it really hard to do some questions, but I got em done finally. Sorry about the wait. This one is split between the numbered questions, and next ask is the other questions you asked!

I think I accidentally skipped a question in the last one. I honestly don't completely remember but in case I did skip it by mistake, the groups first travel out of the city's limits and even further beyond in a carriage. When they reach the end of how far the driver is willing to go they then get out and start walking. With Jackie screaming about how their finally going on a adventure. 

1: It thankfully doesn't get to to bad before the others notice. And he immediately told them about Dream, wanting to be very clear with what happened and what they where getting themselves into. But they accepted him anyway and helped him. 

2: Isaac is the leader cause Cletus is too much of a wildcard and too impulsive to lead safely, Charles is too shy to lead, and while Benjamin is perfect for leading he doesnt really like leading and is more of a follower than a leader. But Isaac can joke around and gets along with everyone but also be able to take things seriously and know when something needs to be handled.

5: They do not, they last for a few minutes and unless its a healing or regeneration potion (in which it can take a few days for it to fully go away) they have no long lasting affects. They do know of eachothers past to an extent, they know enough to avoid triggers and enough to know what not to do when around eachother. They know through telling eachother, and they feel awful Grievous and Jackie had to deal with that, but leave it in the past and focus on making their current life better. 

6: Yes and no, while Jackie did mean to throw it at Ran, he ment for it to just hit nearby him, not directly hit him. It was ment to be more of a scare/intimidation tactic than anything else honestly. Grievous's luck is for basically everything, he has won the lottery twice before actually but only those 2 times, he's correctly guessed how many items are in a container more than a few times as well. 

7: I use the height charts and they help mostly for comparison, problem is I have trouble applying it to real world stuff and because of that I still have trouble knowing if something or someone is to tall or short. Jackie can get very mean, like he can make fun of someone who just lost a loved one or experienced a traumatic event at the worst. But he usually doesn't get nearly that mean, most he does normally is making fun of how someone looks or how they do certain things. The others comfort him the best they can when he gets sad, and when he gets mean they either encourage it (Grievous), or discourage it and stop him (Watson. Ran is between either encouraging or discouraging it).

8: He was! He spent most of his life adventuring actually! He misses it somedays now since he lives in Subbin, but he believes giving up his adventuring life for a family and friends who needed him is a more than far trade and would happily pick his family over adventuring again. For around 4 years after Ran left Mizu (including the day he left), Ran traveled everywhere, and learned how to survive himself and taught himself different things, like sewing. Ran has made new socks, fixed clothes, and made blankets for everyone at least once. Watson also designs bows and arrows for show, for top functionality, and for just simple (training) gifts to the others. Ran (and Watson) has visited the nether, though Ran tended to stay in it longer than Watson cause he could withstand the temperatures better. And while digging a new tunnel across the nether he ran into ancient debris, which he then messed with until he figured out to mix it with gold and coat his sword in it. He tried to find more ancient debris but sadly hasn't found any, leaving his sword permanently damaged and at risk of breaking. Jackie isn't good at all at painting, its more of a hobby he's trying out. They try to camp out there at least once a week, where Grievous will sometimes build a pillowfort and either force everyone inside or play a game of capture the fort with them. Sometimes Ran will also read during the pillowfort nights, but not to often. Jackie wants to vist a Snow, Savanna, Jungle,  Tagia, and if possible, a Ice Spike biome. He also wants to vist the nether but he'll have to fight Ran on that. Ran and Jackie's secondary titles are in Javanese!

9: Ran just kinda went "Hey Jackie, stand still for a second." "Ok?" And then he just picked him up and threw up. 

10: When he's first given dinner after already eaten lunch, he just kinda stares at the food. Then asks if they meant to give him food, and when the others say yes, he asks why because he thought people only ate once every few days. His answer shocked the others and they ask him to explain, and he explains futher that he was only allowed to eat and drink once every 3 days. Their horrified by this answer but explain to him how theres 3 meals a day and he can drink whenever, he doesn't believe them at first but eventually accepts it. 

11: When the fishermen first come to Ranbob about their worry, he expresses the same worry as them. But says that it's unlikely Ran will hurt the fishermen specifically, because Rans haunting are already friends with them, and Ran wouldnt risk breaking the friendship unless he deemed it necessary for their safety. 

12: Ranbob is sad that Ran goes to such lengths to avoid him and keep people away from him, but he has resigned himself to it. As he knew that if Ran was alive it was greatly unlikely that he would trust him and knew he would be avoided. Which is actually particularly why he believes Ran will never trust him again and why he views Ran as a kind of lost family member. One he'll never get back no matter what he does.

13: Their first stop is a nearby flower biome, and after that Watson has planned to lead them to a waterfall he found with a shattered Savanna somewhat close to it. They plan to travel for a minimum of 6 months, they can actually travel for as long as they want to, but Prokius made them agree that they must be back before the next General Pit Battles (which happens once every 5 years). 

14: He would 100% run himself into the ground until he's barely alive while searching for them. Benjamin compares Ranbob wanting to go back to Dream, to an abused person wanting to go back to their abusive lover. They believe they've changed and that they truly do love them and want the best for them, but in reality that's not it at all and others have to help them see thats not true and help them save themselves. So it doesn't surprise Benjamin or Isaac that much (it surprises Charles and Cletus though), and after its explained to them, their all more than willing to help Ranbob get over Dream and help him be himself again.

15: Oh definitely. Once they hear the Green-Eyed Enderman is back from hiding they all set out again, and after the group gets attacked and once word spreads that its in a group and there's another enderman with them, they all get targeted. With the Gladiators and Fishermen being targeted as bait or hostages to try to trick the enderman into following a trap. Ran wasnt affected like his brother was. Im talking about trauma and maybe even a bit of PTSD that came from Mizu, caused by Dream. Though both of the brothers have gained different amounts of trauma and PTSD from Dream. I may give the raven to either Watson or Ran, I think its fits both of them really well. I want to have them come across ruins of other Tales but im not sure which ones. Maybe they could find the remains of the Wild West Tale and the Haunted Mansion?

Glad to see you, Brothers Anon, and excited to read!

1: The perfect start to an Adventure. And a funny mental image. Imagining these two groups cramped into carriages is pretty amusing. How ready was everyone to get out by the time they could?

2: The fishermen are really great, and Ranbob is very lucky. I love them.

3: Isaac sounds like he’s a pretty good fit for it then. But nobody’s perfect! What are some flaws of his, leadership-wise?

5: Interesting. What makes Regeneration and Healing last longer? I suppose it’s not relative to the AU, but I am a bit curious. What’s the world’s potions mechanisms, if you don’t mind me asking? And that’s good! They may not know everything, but they know what to avoid, and that’s important. Everyone’s moved forward and are making the best of life, and honestly, that’s pretty cool of them.

6: Welp, Jackie, it seems intimidation tactic failed. However, you have managed to anger Ran, so..there’s that. He won the lottery? Dang. Well, if they ever need money, they can just send him to the nearest casino, I suppose.

7: Aight, so I may have a solution for you there. Whatever height you’re going for, find something in real life that’s just about the same height. Like a tree, or something. Or not, we can always just leave it at short enough to be tossed and tall enough to be the tosser. Jackie sounds like he knows where to hit to make it hurt, honestly. It’s good that they comfort him, though I am curious why they all react as they do to him being mean. Why does Grievous encourage it? And is it more of a depends on the day thing for Ran, or a depends on what was said to Jackie, and what Jackie’s saying thing?

8: Nice! What kind of places did he go? Does he have any particularly interesting knickknacks from that time period? And Ran personally sounds like he knows what he’s doing. Watson’s weapons sound really cool, where did he learn to make them? Is visiting the Nether not a common occurrence these days? Or is it simply that the others never got around to it before? Well, hobbies are always fun to try. Does Jackie keep at it and get better or get bored and try something else? How does Capture the Fort go with these guys, considering they’re gladiators? Why does Jackie want to visit those particular biomes? Is there a reason, or do they just sound cool to him? And why would Ran not want them going to the Nether? Because of the danger?

9: FDXGHJ- He just- tossed him?? No warning?? Oh my gods, I’m dying. How did Jackie react to that? Heck, how did Porkius react to that? I doubt anyone was expecting that display.

10: Oh, no. Now I really want to punch Dream in the face. What the heck, Dream?! He legit asks if they meant to give him food...If one of the fishermen or gladiators doesn’t eventually find a way to punch Dream, I will be forced to travel realities and do it myself. 

11: Kind of sad that Ranbob was equally concerned about it. But hey! He won’t have to be, one day!

12: Poor Ranbob. I hope he’s proven wrong, eventually. Do the fishermen know that he thinks this? If so, how do they feel about it? Or does he kind of just keep those thoughts to himself?

13: Flower biomes are really pretty. What did everyone think about it? Did they bring any flowers with them? So this roadtrip could possibly go on for a few years. Did they leave just after a General Pit Battle, or do they have like, less than five years? Speaking of General, is Jackie still the General in this AU? Does he have extra duties because of it? Or is that not something that happened in this AU?

14: Yikes. Reactions to this? Why does Ranbob believe Dream’s changed, as you put it? Is Dream still able to talk to him, or is it because he just misses being there? So Benjamin and Isaac aren’t all that surprised about it. Do they take the reins in helping out? And how do they all do so? It��s good that they’re helping him though.

15: Well, this sounds like it can’t end well. They try to use the hauntings as bait? Is anyone actually captured? Rescue missions? And alright, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how they’d both be effected differently, and honestly, they’d probably both have very different perspectives of the event, all things considered. Ravens for the win! And it’d be really cool for them to come across the ruins of old Tales buildings. Can you imagine the kind of things they’d find? Diaries, faded photographs, moth-eaten clothes, blood stained floors...Like a walk in the past, but they’ll never know what came to be for the people of that time.

Sam Winchester: Smarts

*Not My GIF* 

Pairing: Sam Winchester x reader 

Point of view: Sams pov 

Warnings: lite cussing, cuteness, dash of cockiness 

Summary: Sam shows off just how smart he really is in a game of 20 Questions

Rating: R

Word Count: 2,033

Y/n and I sat down in bed after a hard day's work searching and looking for any news of any new cases for them to work on. Y/n had been wanting to spend more time together, make sure we still knew each other like the back of our hands.

So she went looking on Pinterest, all I could hear was the clicking of her nails against her phone screen. She looked for seemed like hours, but in all reality was only 10 minutes. I hadn't asked her not yet at least what she was looking upon her phone until she shoved the screen in my face.

The top of the image read  'Love Map Question' I moved her phone out of my face giving me the ability to again look at her. I tilted my head, not bothering with reading the questions that were down below. "Why are you showing me this Y/n?" I asked in hopes of finding the path in her madness of ideas running through her brain.

"I told you I wanna spend more time with you, so why not play a little game of 20 questions!" Her tone excited, her face was bright the brights I had seen it since way back. "Okay, but if you must know I will most likely win this "game" I know you like the back of my hand Y/n," I said with a cocky attitude.

She had me pull out a piece of paper wanting me to write all the questions down. I looked at her and shook my head taking the phone from her hands. I read the first question aloud.

"Name your partner's two closest friends"

"Castiel and your brother Dean." She said I laughed not only because she was right but because she always had the need to say "your brother Dean" like I didn't know Dean was my brother. "So mister who are my 2 closest friends huh punk," she said rolling her eyes.

"Your 2 closest friends are..... Jody and my mother Mary" I laughed she puffed crossing her arms across her chest making her shirt come down giving me a better view of her chest. I went on to ask the second question

"What is your partner's favorite musical group, composer, or instrument?"

"Ummmm.... definitely not what your brother listens to." She said looking down into her lap. It took me a minute but I don't think she really knows what I listen to. Which wasn't really her fault, just my brothers since you know no else is allowed to play any other type of music.

"First off, it's fine that you don't know who or what type of music is listen. It's my brother's fault anyway. And your favorite composer is Mozart if I do recall." She looked up at me grabbing my arm and lopping it around her waist.

"What was your partner wearing when you first met?"

"Oh my gosh, Sam I totally remember what you were wearing. Of course, you were wearing a green flannel which by the way looked amazing on you, and you had some jeans on" she said with a wide smile written all over his face. "And you y/n you had on some tight fucking jeans, and a red and black flannel unbuttoned like you wanted me to see down your shirt and see those amazing tits of yours.

"What are your partner's hobbies?"

"Your favorite hobbies are Reading about literally anything, and going for morning runs." She said with loving eyes looking back up at me. "Your favorite hobbies are sleeping, an..." she cut me off slapping me in the arm her phone fell to the floor. "Oh come on now I have to get up and get your phone, but no your favorite hobbies are cooking and the gun range." I had to get up and get her phone from the floor, my spot losing the warmth of me sitting there for such a long time.

"Where was your partner born? Well that's an easy question" I said

"Sam, you were born in the good old heart of America. Kansas, Lawrence." The good old heart of America god she was the pretties but not the smartest person in the bunch. "Honey, you do know that Kansas is not the heart of America. But you were born in California, San Diego. The warmest place like ever." I said with a pop in the word place.

"What stresses are facing your partner in the immediate future?"

"If it isn't the end of the world, lucifer, your brother taking on the mark of Cain, or Chuck ending the world. I really don't know Sam." She said while counting on her fingers about how many times the future of our lives had been almost destroyed. I really had to think of an answer to the question.

"I guess, A big stress would maybe be losing me, or something along those lines," I said a sadden tone heard in my voice.

"Describe in detail your partner's day, either today or yesterday."

"That's easy." She said with sass and snap of her fingers in front of my face. "You mister wake up go for a run, come back home shower and then eat some vegan food, read, and maybe research for a case. Then you repeat all over again sir." She said

I smiled pulling her closer to my body. Even though we were already so close to each other.

"And you, you wake up after sleeping way later than anyone else, you shower maybe put on some make-up then you cook or at least try not to burn the kitchen. You then come and find me and mess around with me, and maybe you go find Dean and help him." Jeez, I had never thought about how much she really did mess around with me.

"When is your partner's birthdate?"

"Sammys your birthdate is on May 2nd of 1983" A smile crossing her entire face, and a giggle. "Well, Sam when is my birthday, huh?"

"Your birthday is on June 21st, 1981. You know you're older than me, but I am way more mature than you are baby." I had to add "baby" in there since she would probably be a little pissed because of my comment. "Next question!" She said loudly.

"What is the date of your anniversary?"

At the same time, we said "August 29th of 2017."  A huge smile on our faces, we weren't married yet but that was the day that I had asked her out on our first date. I continued reading off the questions.

"Who is your partner's most favorite relative?"

"Well, y/n your most favorite relative is still your grandmother. You know we should visit her sometime." I said trying to lighten the mood. She never really did like to talk about her, she had passed around the same year we had gotten together.

"Umm, Yeah we probably should bring some flowers to her grave to. But Sam your most favorite relative was your mom before and after she passed, and 2nd, of course, is Mr.Singer" She said her head landing on my shoulder.

"What is your partner's fondest dream, as yet unachieved?"

"Fondest dream yet unachieved? To be truthful with you Sam I don't know, maybe living a normal hunting free life." She said while looking over at the tv that was paused on whatever we were watching.

"Your unachieved dream would have to have kids, and knowing you it wouldn't just be 2 kids it would like 5," I said with a laugh.

"What is your partner's favorite flower?"

"I think your favorite flower is... Carnation." She said with her fingers in an L shaped under chin think she was thinking really hard.

"I know your favorite flower, your favorite flowers are hydrangea and roses. You like romantic flowers." I said

"What is one of your partners the greatest disaster scenarios?"

"Zombies, Sam. That's all I am going to say."

"Jeez, I don't talk that much about zombies do I?" She gave me a look like "Are you being serious?". "Anyways, your greatest disaster scenarios are an apocalypse, which is like the same thing as Zombies," I said rolling my eyes.

"What is your partner's favorite time for making love?"

"Ohh some exciting questions now! You have runners high so I would say right after a run even if you have to wake me up. Oh, and you love it when Dean is here you like sho.." She said I clamp my hand over her mouth not wanting to hear anything more about me and my showing off, even though I know I am good at it.

"Fine, wanna be like that, you always, and when I say always I mean every time we win a case. Regardless of where we are. Nasty little girl you are." I said y/n had blushing running over her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Her nose scrunched up while looking up at me. It wasn't the reaction I thought I was going to get but still, it was enough to make her blush, so I would say mission accomplished.

"What makes your partners feel most competent?"

"Definitely after saving the world for what seems like the 5th time."  Damn, that just rolled right off her tongue.

"First off, you said that like that is always at the forefront of your mind. Second I would say after we save a bunch of kids during a case." She hummed in response telling me I was right about at least one of those things.

"What turns your partner on sexually?"

"You like my beard when I do have it, definitely when I'm using my smart during a case, and of course my eyes." The cocky attitude rolling off my tongue and into her mind.

"Really, I like your smarts... Jesus. Well, you Sir love my hips, any of my tight jeans, my lips, my eyes, and you love my heart and brain." She knew she had gotten me when she said her heart. I think she knows me a little too well.  

"What is your partner's favorite meal?"

"Salad isn't a meal. But that's all I got." She said rolling her eyes while smiling.

"Pancakes and fruit isn't a meal either!" I said laughing, causing Y/n to laugh causing her smile to come out. Which only made me happier then I was before.

"What is your partner's favorite way to spend an evening?"

"You like to sit down and watch the old movies, no matter who is in them," I said

"You like sitting in the library, and snuggling while we read some books, and for you, it doesn't seem to matter what kind of books we are reading as long as we are together, besides each other." Y/n said pulling me further into the sheets and covers.

"What is your partner's favorite color?"

"Oh, Sam your favorite color is green! Just like your eyes sometimes." Y/n said with a giggle and a yawn in her voice. Her voice becoming a little too timid.

"Well missy, you sound and look tired there's only one more question anyways. Your favorite color is red and sometimes purple, and black, and green, and blue. At this damn point, it might as well be all the color of the rainbow."  I said but not before Y/n could punch me in the stomach lightly of course.

"What personal improvements does your partner want to make?"  

"Personal improvements? Huh, I'd have to say not sacrificing yourself every chance you get Sam, honey." Y/n said with another yawn

"Personal improvements. Probably that you tend to take care of everyone else first and end up forgetting yourself at the end of the day."

I looked over at her, grabbing her chin and pulling her into a soft and calming kiss. She closed her eyes kissing me back and pulled away leaving her head resting on my shoulder. I ended up putting her phone on my bedside table and turned the light off, letting the sleep that wanted to win, finally win over my body.

Robots don’t need to be sentient to destroy us.

Navy mock neck long sleeves big orange and little white stripe on tube cage sides

A veritcal line stretch waistband

Cross cross and straps back

Square high neck

Scarlet polka dots around can light blue text and beach image as front

Blue stroke red inside square, blue triangle rainbow with eye and funky font

Y either know a particular topic or not , but it’s hard to pin down intelligence on one category

Cream background , ice cream pink script name kinda bev hills hotel script looking ish

Move your mouth in a differ way

Supersonic vibrating butt cleaner

Half magenta half red violet a blue teacup in the center with white floral frills thick serif font

Pink background am orange flower in a vase white present ribbon n red as a table

An app that familiarizes people with science - through experimental learning ― hands on experiences that make it seem less top down and authoritarian , and more like a set of steps that we take, things that anyone can do to get closer with nature and the world

A social media philosophy app - teaches what others said and gives people a chance to express their views , postulate, argue, etc gadfly? How would be avoid a shit show, how can we make social media more humanitarian. how can we care about people while also expressing deeply held ideas , how can we encourage users to examine their deeply held ideas without alienating them. How can we discourage hatred and abuse and groupthink with design? How do we slow people down and encourage them to recognize the human behind the screen. Street epistemology? Socratic dialogue?

Socrates - asking questions. Breaking it down to bits. Deeply understanding their argument. Asking about different possibilities and circumstances. Take vast assumptions and show scenarios that make go against them.

Build fact checking into apps

Narrative self vs experiential

Walks you through steps of the sciefitifc method and encourages you to explain how you feel each step actually helped you- then walks you through a scientist doing the same for their reasarch

Republicans only want to be free in the specific ways that benefit corporations

Are Christians more willing to support the death pen early because they already believe in the cruel and overstepping punishment of hell?

Where did the idea come from that you need to remain impartial when trying to persuade

The idea that there is someone in a similar but different dwelling, hearing similar but different sounds and feeling similar but different feelings is wild

We synthesize sets of traits, and particular actions in a super biased culturally constructed way

With the way we see things as humans- we categorize things into groups that aren’t really reaaal ― paratheletic groups

I just want the people and jobs that benefit society

Connection to nietzsches Dionysian art and eckheart tolle/Taoism

No matter your personality, there is probably a part of the world that you would fit in with naturally.

An ordinary girl is selected as one of the representatives of earth in the first meeting of various alien species after one advanced planet discovered and United 10. Confused as to why she was chosen, she goes on her journey meeting

Wha ba Bada da da da da dada he’s a wha ba ba dadada as a matter of fact it’s not my fault if you came up here thinking that you would win

Wanting to break boundaries and rules for the sake those who are hurt by the rules

You are imagining the best case scenario of the life you want to have and experience Ming the reality of the life you so have.

Yes her drips cosmetics line to students i. Class

Chez it people can goldfish people

Your personality flows where a system needs it to go to maintain balance

Ah you fucking saw a tik Tok about that didn’t you

Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false.””

Clay busts with abstract art and philosophical musings (throws up)

Do a sketch a day

What if someone ran for president as an impression of a famous person

Full stemmed flowers, wiggly text creeping behind

Balloons of various sizes and cooors holding people and things

Kelly green cream hot pink black

Green outline one pink air brush cream background black marks

Emdr applebees , bat mitzvah toasts Amitals bat mitzvah , Fiona - i like her better just kidding ,

We tend to learn words by synonyms and not definitions

A bully who takes a kids lunch money everyday all through out high school and secretly puts it in a Roth IRA and presents it to them at graduation

Set up drum set

When it comes to something we have no knowledge of or evidence or proof being certain is the most illogical thing you can be

Getting a degree in philosophy is the not going to college of going to college

It ain’t what they call you it’s what you answer to

You don’t just get to jump from bright moment to bright moment - part of the job is the frustrating ones and the climb to get to be actually good. It’s gonna be bad in the beginning but it’s a measure of how dedicated you are to your craft. Frustration is the process.

You have to decide whit shit sandwjicj you prefer - everything is gonna suck some of the time but if you pick your dream you’ll have those bright moments and at least that shit sammie will be worth it - the bad parts of job you have no interest in don’t add up to anything. If you love what you do you will accept the downsides.

People are like tape. Going through the world collecting bits and pieces of things but none of those things are really them . We can identi ft with them and create with them but we can also escape from them.

I wonder what all these people think about being alive

Curiosity makes everything play. It invites exploration. It makes me see opportunities everywhere makes everything new

Bias to action. Try things. Get your hands dirty, fail Fortean and find what works. Remaining nimble and constantly rethinking

Reframe the problem. Step back, re-examine the problem, examine biases and be open to new solutions

Clay matches clay fire

The differences and similarities between us

Looking back, historical events seem bound to happen, but a few small events could’ve stopped them. Thinking diffently.

“They became revolutionaries despite themselves”

Artists way workbook design

I’m at Eton having to walk around to quell the feeling of being so exited about the future and my possibilities and so sure of success and beauty and magic and love and adventure. I’m going to make beautiful pictures I’m going. To tear down the status quo I’m going g to make people feel like they have on antigravity. I’m so a part of it i made it. I’m a muse I’m it omg I’m so exited - listening to John Denver

Joy is just a thing that he was raised on love is just a way to live and die.

The only thing that made Abe Lincoln Abe Lincoln (tm) was doing what Abe Lincoln (tm) did. The actions that he took made him a hero in history. There was nothing i ate in him that made his great, his actions did. Whatever help inate qualities may have gave him in terms of doing the actions that made him what he was could be negated by pma and doing the damn work to get yourself to where you need to be. Believing it so makes you inclined to take the actions that improve your skills and get to to the point where you can do the things it takes to be who you want to be.

Little vases

I feel like we’ve become addicted to finding things wrong with what people say. Silence the critic. It’s fine. Most people have the best intentions. It’s not that serious. The group you are offended for likely aren’t mad anyway. There is way more you can do - they don’t care about picking the right term

I wanted a very simple menu that could maximize customization options in The shortest amount of time possible for a very fast paced food truck. The system allows the customers to design their own grilled cheese sandwich but ideally would save time by not requiring each guest to decide which cheese and which bread from a long line of choices.

I feel I’m so afraid of being dunning Krueger that i tell myself i am terrible at everything no matter what i actually think about my abilities. You can just say your a beginner you don’t have to say you suck. Plus thinking you suck doesn’t make you any better, honestly worse. You don’t have to rate your abilities just focus on the future, make sure your doing baby steps and make sure they are the right baby steps

Chives ward off insects

Loving thebsunlightttttyt!!

I don’t think music is really something that needs to be critiqued for me ― it’s more about feeling it’s about magic and truth and light or darkness. Getting whatever needs to be out out. it all serves a purpose and is for an audience , if your not in that audience then there’s no need to comment

I have to is weird backwards idea that it’s Nobel to be like you know what I’m not good at this imma bow out. But that is so wrong you have to struggle through it. Pike how i feel like my thoughts are more concise then my writing. There’s no glory in not trying to improve that. You have to awkawardly write until you can beautifully write.

i want your midnights

i listened to new year’s day 26 times very early yesterday morning and then had an idea and then my 2021 started w some jalex. a strong start i would say.

this one is for miss bella (aka @clumsyclifford​). she was one of the brightest parts of a somewhat dark year and i’m so crazy wild thankful to have her sweet soul in my world. she shares so much love and warmth in this space and she inspires me endlessly. she also made me a four hour long atl playlist in sept for my quarter life crisis drive back to my hometown and here we are now. 

she also reminded me that i needed to post this here and not just on ao3 lol. bella, my love, sending you so so so much love and peace x

here this is btw on ao3 if that’s more your jam

“Any idea how we’re supposed to get down from here though?”

“Look, even if someone moved the stool below the door, we can just get Zack to catch us. Trust me, Alex. I thought this all through.”

Alex laughs gently while rolling his eyes at Jack’s confidence in his plan. Though he can’t say that the effort Jack has put into this little adventure doesn’t warm his cheeks despite how cold the Chicago night time breeze is. Especially from where they sit on top of the bus.

It had been about ten minutes until midnight when Jack pulled Alex away from the party happening on one of the other buses. 

“Surprise adventure time.” Jack had whispered against his ear before tilting his head to press a kiss against Alex’s tattoo. Alex quickly excused himself from the conversation he had been somewhere in the middle of before allowing himself to get dragged toward the front steps.

“Jack, neither of us are in a state to be going anywhere right now.” Alex had said while half jogging to keep up with him. Jack only laughed and tightened the grip he had on Alex’s hand as he led them to the door of their bus.

“Good thing we’re only headed to the bus then, huh?”

Once he had seen Jack grab for a bottle of champagne and a blanket before using a step stool to reach up for the door that opened up onto the roof of the bus, Alex only laughed. “Aren’t we getting a little bit too old for this?”

Jack pulled himself up before sticking his head back inside to throw a look at Alex’s questioning gaze. “Alex, we took shots of Fireball tonight. We legally cannot be too old for anything if we can still stomach that.”

“Fine, fine. I’m coming.”

It’s just after midnight now. Their foreheads are still pressed together after parting from a very wind-chilled midnight kiss. Alex is almost worried the smile spread across his chapped lips might get frozen in place, he’s so damn happy right now. He can just barely make out Jack’s features as he opens his eyes. The glitter someone had painted across Jack’s eyelids sparkles under the parking lot lights and it’s cold enough that he can see the breath puffing from Jack’s parted lips.

Alex shifts some in Jack’s hold so he can more comfortably press his palms against his cheeks, a soft laugh leaving his mouth when Jack hums at the feeling before moving to hold his hands over Alex’s. “Thank you for being so warm. Very helpful.”

“Gotta keep you around for something, right?” Alex jokes as he sits up. He presses another quick kiss against Jack’s forehead before moving his hands to lift the hood of Jack’s hoodie up to cover his head. 

“Oh yeah that’s definitely it.” Jack scoffs as he turns to throw his legs over Alex’s lap and adjust the blanket pulled over their laps. He drops his head to rest against Alex’s shoulder and reaches for his hand to tangle their fingers together. “God, we used to come up here all the time. Why did we stop doing this?”

“Pretty sure it had something to do with the several times one of us nearly fell off and then we got that talk about proper bus safety.” Alex says.

“Proper bus safety sounds like it eliminates a great deal of proper bus fun, honestly.” Jack replies.

“Agreed, we should be doing this more often. It’s a good view.”

Alex’s mind is in a battle between what’s in front of his eyes right now and the memories flashing through his head as he lifts his free hand to tap out a pattern against Jack’s knee. Right now, as he looks out over the city, he can see fireworks shooting up into the sky in all directions. He’s always loved fireworks. Alex has spent so many years on the road in big cities for New Year’s Eve and watching fireworks burst over his head almost makes him forget that he can’t see the stars not visible in the light polluted skies. The explosion of colors and lights and the joy in Jack’s eyes has always been a special kind of beautiful. It’s a view he’s getting a new edition of right now and one he knows he’ll never grow tired of seeing.

But in the back of his mind he sees two boys in all seasons of the year, their lanky legs dangling from the edge of the roof of the bus, their hands still clasped together, their laughter loud and bright. He remembers everything feeling so big then, how they used to climb up here just to see what it felt like to see the world they were creating with these lyrics and music from up above. He thinks back fondly on the nights they would park somewhere in the middle of nowhere so the driver could rest and how Alex would poke at Jack’s cheek until he woke up to drag him up to the roof. They would cuddle up under blankets like they have now so he could tell Jack all about whatever was going on up in the night sky over New Mexico or wherever it was they were that night. 

Jack squeezes his hand and then he’s back to the present, to a brand new year and the cold Chicago wind and the boy he’s loved for so so many years still pressed up against him after all this time. Alex sighs and lifts their intertwined hands to press his lips against Jack’s knuckles.

“Happy New Year, my love,” he says while letting his lips brush against Jack’s skin as he speaks. “Glad I get to start another year with you. Looking forward to all the rest of them too.”

“Love you too, Al,” Jack says back, knowing that Alex is always mixing the sentiment into every word that leaves his mouth. “I think this is gonna be a good one for us.”

And regardless of how the predictability in their lives seems to always be dwindling, Alex can’t help but agree. Like fireworks on New Year’s and stars somewhere beyond the light from the skyline, Jack is a forever constant in Alex’s world.

He’s not sure how long they stay up there, watching the fireworks light up the sky and holding each other. All Alex remembers is getting lost in the lights and the love clouding up his mind and eventually being helped down onto the tour bus floor (by Zack he’s sure given that neither of them fell) and shuffling his way into his bunk with a gentle hand against his back guiding the way.

(Alex is seconds away from sleep when he feels his phone buzz inside the pocket of his sweats. He pulls it out and squints at the light from the screen, angling it some so as to not wake Jack who managed to pass out the second his head hit the pillow and his arm wrapped around Alex’s waist. It’s a text from Rian. It’s a picture of them he must have snapped from the ground right as midnight struck. Alex smiles as he saves the image, glad it was captured physically in case his memory starts failing him one day. The accompanying message only reads you crazy kids, don’t ever change. 

And as Alex smiles at the feeling of Jack wrapping his arm more securely around his waist, he can’t help but hope that they never do.)

*

Hi Chibi! I’m kind of obsessed with your blog. I’ve loved Kuro for a long time so it’s nice to see someone make very thoughtful posts about it. I was reading some of your posts about the kuro anime and was wondering. What is your opinion of the season 2 OVA The story of Will the reaper? I love the reapers so getting to know about their world is great, but will kicking grell’s ass was not great 😖.

【Response to: “are there any S1 or S2 OVAs you enjoyed?”】

Dear Dagonl,

Thank you very much for your interest! I’m happy you like my content, and it’s always nice to hear that somebody is interested in long-winded posts deep-analyses! ^^

Short answer:

As for my opinion on ‘The story of Will the Reaper’: as I said in the original post, in my opinion “[a]ll OVAs for the second season were (almost) as awful as the season itself, save for ‘The Making of [Kuroshitsuji]’.” Though, ‘the story of Will the reaper’ is actually the one that made me add the ‘almost’ in the previous sentence, meaning that it’s marginally better than the rest.

Click for Full Answer: The good things and the... awful things.

1. The good things

The reason I found this OVA marginally better is because I do respect the ambition and (attempt at) creativity the makers have shown. At the time of release the manga had not revealed anything yet about reaper origins. So I guess they could be forgiven for their artistic liberties (unlike the spoiler-revelation of Undertaker’s nature that ruined his big revelation in the manga.)

1.1. Fair world-building

The world-building works well with the idea of Yana’s satire on the Japanese Salaryman through William. As William is something of a self-proclaimed ‘model’ and so unforgivingly rigid, it gives us reason to believe the Reaper Dispatch Society is built on this type of ideal; aka the Japanese office environment. We have also seen that the technology of the Death Scythes is a century more advanced than Kuroshitsuji’s contemporaries, so the 1980s setting was well done in my opinion.

1.2. Fair reflection on reaper/Salaryman doctrine

The biggest critique on Salaryman culture is the robotic attitude employers demand. The Japanese Salaryman™ is expected to be no more than silent executors of the will from above. As explained by William, reapers don’t actually do all that much; all they do is meaningless double-checking JUST IN CASE something might be off.

As a satire this OVA is not ‘complete’ because you do need the information from the manga that came out many years later to understand why the reaper world is a satire in the first place for the actual punch. But in the very least the OVA pays adequate lip-service and does not disrespect the satirical origins of Yana’s design.

One thing this OVA does arguably better than even Yana is showing that most reapers are robotic work zombies like Will, rather than that the Dispatch Office is filled with eccentric youngsters as the named reapers of the series might suggest. (Though there is a downside that I will discuss in section 2.2.)

2. The awful things

So, to me this OVA has two good things, but they are insignificant in the face of the awful things that’s the rest of this OVA.

2.1. Raging homo and transphobia, etc.

This OVA handles Grell extremely poorly. First of all, this OVA makes it explicit that Grell is a homosexual man, blatantly defying both canon and Yana’s explicit statement of her female gender. Why? Because the most obnoxious shippers want their Yaoi, and this sells. This one literally needed to sell because it’s an OVA.

As explained in more detail in this post, Grell was called a man and she eagerly responded “oh, yes”, and later she herself confirms this statement by making it explicit that she dreams of herself in a m/m relationship. (Yes, these subs are accurately translated. Click the link for a Japanese to English breakdown).

Some fans have explained this as Grell’s words before she realised her own identity, and I understand why. We all want something to not be this gross and try to make sense of the nonsensical, and some actual identity discovering journey would have been nice. For Grell as a character however, it only serves to give Man!Grellers more ammo (even though they have the destructive power of cotton wads).

As I said in the post linked above, “[if this statement] used to be [Grell’s] thoughts that are no longer relevant in present time, the script should have addressed that in present-timeline of the story. As it is now, it is clear as day that the writer Nemoto Toshizou did not take that into inconsideration.”

Secondly, this OVA is desperately trying to cater to Grelliam shippers. Fans have always come up with different reasons to ship this, but this OVA had to choose the most toxic one to capitalise on. Why make Grell so shitty to Will for no reason? Being degrading to him is one thing, but Grell was outright deadly violent to William for trying to do his job. And then Grell only stopped being so hostile because she got beaten back and therefore fell in love?

Yes, people justify this by saying that it’s charming to Grell because she’s a masochist, “whatever”. This however, paints a very askew image of real people who enjoy masochism as a kink. Any responsible adult in the SM community would tell you how painfully shallow Grell’s masochism is portrayed as, and how this portrayal takes away all accountability from someone who harms a kink-masochist if something went wrong.

This OVA would ironically have been more effective as an anti-Grelliam story, except that it sells itself as the opposite. With just the manga, people could just say: “oh, Grell doesn’t respect William’s personal boundaries, and William is very aggressive to Grell, but they can sort that out...eventually.” Add this OVA however, suddenly William is an indisputable abuse victim, and Grell is just an “in your face gay” (as the gay stereotype dictates...)

2.2. Contradicting Canon

I am actually not all that harsh about this OVA contradicting canon history because at the time of release nothing about the reapers had been revealed yet. Like I said above, I even respect the creativity to some extent. The only real problem is because this fandom tends to conflate canon with anime information by using cross-media information to understand Kuroshitsuji.

As discussed in section 1.2., the glimpses of the Reaper office are interesting, but the downside to this is that it suggests reapers are a race one is born into because all newbies are approximately the same age. Without the manga, this information in a vacuum is fine. Later however, Yana reveals that all reapers are suicides and are being punished for this sin. If a fan accepts both pieces of information and tries to piece them together, then suddenly this bit of creativity becomes a totalitarian nightmare.

People of all ages commit suicide. If a fan were to try shoehorn the OVA info into canon material (for lack of more stories), then we get: 1. reapers are suicides who get punished, and 2. all reaper newbies are approximately the same age and able bodied. The only conclusion we can draw then is that only able-bodied suicides who fit the ‘newbie age’ are punished. What happens to people who fall outside this norm? Is becoming a reaper and ‘paying off’ your sin the only way to “serve your term”? If so, then do suicides who fall outside this norm never get a chance to redeem themselves?😱 Or...... do only able-bodied youngsters get punished for committing suicide because they still had “societal value” but wasted it? Either way would be f*cked up!

But again, none of this is a real problem as long as a fan can distinguish canon from non-canon information ^^ So, moving on

2.3. Are reapers God Almighty?

Unlike the second, the third issue I have with the OVA is actually something I am quite harsh on. In this OVA we see that even trainees like William and Grell have apparent power to judge over somebody’s life and death based on their intellectual value. However, this begs for an urgent question!

Under section 3 of this post I discussed whether the law of “a human dies because a reaper says so” according to Grell would be feasible. It’s a relatively long discussion, so please click the link if you’re interested in the details. If you just want it to be quick then just ask the following question: “why give trainees/reapers with human subjectivity an almighty God’s** power to decide over life and death of others?” If we then add the manga’s canon information that reapers are being punished for having committed suicide, then why give people whose sin was ‘deciding over life and death wrongly FOR THEMSELVES’ the power to do so for OTHERS????

Still, even if we disregard the manga and view this OVA in a vacuum, it is still VERY alarming that trainees are given this power. Perhaps if a trainee misjudges there will be due consequences from above, but why give a trainee this power in the first place? Are human lives just test objects to this “reaper race”?

This third issue is so awful to me because it shows how little the OVA creators thought through matters and just wanted a quick money grab by selling the most toxic version of the Grelliam ship.

**TLN: A ‘shinigami’ is Japanese for ‘Death (shini) God (gami/kami)’, but please note that in Japanese definitions, a ‘kami’ is not ‘god’ in the same way it is in the Abrahamic sense. A ‘kami’ is more similar to a ‘spirit’, and is therefore not a supreme being. Entirely accurately, a ‘shinigami’ would be more similar to ‘death angel’ or ‘death spirit’.

Related posts:

Why would Sascha have committed suicide? Rutger, Will and the JP Salaryman

How does a scythe kill a reaper? A discussion of MBD musical’s horrible writing of universe laws, and canon reaper laws

Can reapers teleport?

A reaper’s dormitory

Quick first thoughts on the first ep of the Hypmic Anime. Spoilers beware (and im writing this as I watch so :p)

Otome’s speech is.... questionable from a persuasive point of view. Manga did a great job of introducing her (which you can read here) but they really cut out the more terrifying parts of her speech and how she uses force to show people that she's not to be messed with

Its cool seeing everyone in their respective environments though. thats cool. Though they could have added Sasara and Kuuko (shhh i know why they didn’t let me dream)

I love how poppy the typography is. Its amazing how the visuals just leap out at you. The OP does a great job of this. The first few seconds before the title really gives me Persona 4 OG OP vibes with the influx of information given. The rest is a clear concise and streamlined way that still gives character. Animation is sparse but still carries across a general idea of each character and shows off each character object. Rendering is really nice and pays a bit of homage to the posing artwork thats done for the MVs. They also do their division hand signals and thats cute

Love how the OP has blatant HifuDoppo and DRB matchup foreshadowing

so far I really like what theyre going for. BB is about brotherly familial bonds and they show the goods and the bads. Jiro and Saburo bickering right out the gate really cements the fact that they get along like cats and dogs but you can still see that they love each other, working together when the situation calls for it

Now the 3d models. Theyre... not great but usable if you don’t look too hard. They serve their purpose and don’t actively detract from the viewing experience.

Visual typography in the rap itself are fun and poppy but they dont.... speak to me? like theyre there yes and I appreciate them but the only ones that got me excited were from Ichiro’s rap

I take my words back the group portion was kickass and I apologize

I love how they interpret the Hypnosis Speakers though. Esp. Saburo’s organs. That was super creative and I love it! If there was one thing that I felt was missing from the franchise was a deeper exploration of the speakers but the anime puts a new and fresh spin on it! Love it, especially with their attack patterns!

If the production team ever feels inclined to, Id love to see those info sheets on Otome’s desk released. There seems to be very interesting info and stats written out about each member (like capabilities, personal status etc.) They all seem unique too so I really really really hope they release images of those sheets

OOOOOOOOKAY MTC. I have such a big biased for them so Im very torn to see what unfolds

Rio striking out on his own is interesting. Out of everyone in MTC hes the biggest team player yet here he trusts his teammates to go ahead. This either displays Rio’s willingness to trust his teammates or it becomes very OOC if the anime wants to set him up as a lone wolf like character

I love how they specify its a drug deal. It means that Jyuto surely will show up and it also shows that Samatoki knows Jyuto’s motives and willingly gives black market info that he knows aligns with Jyuto’s goal. Thats A+ detail writing there and a great establishing characteristic for both of them

OOohhhhhhhhhhhhh man Asunama-san’s voice acting is god tier his work as Samatoki is phenomenal. He pulls of Samatoki’s threatening voice so well with those almost calm words before his voice becomes loud and confrontational. Those rolling syllables in contrast to Komada-san’s almost lyrical and airy speech and Kamio-san’s strict and enunciated words is such a delight to hear. It just speaks to how amazing and great these Seiyuu’s are in order to pull of such amazing work

Im so biased but MTC has such a better rap than BB im so sorry. Just by watching Samatoki’s part, the imagery is amazing. Even the arrival of his Hypnosis Speaker was awesome and sent a shiver down my spine. using the lyrics to form blades and blood was such a great thing to do. Theres so much more variety that just him standing there and shots of his hypnosis speaker. The old fashioned vignette shots, the four panel spread, the nods to old Kurosawa era films are great and I love these small details. Even the typography looks better.

Again, the interpretations with the speakers is fresh and new. Its great and I love the different imagery and attack patterns. Each one is so unique but carries across each different style of rap.

The 3d modles aren’t any better tho lol

(Hi this is Astro who is reading over their assessment again and making a note. Yeah I’m a bit harsh on BB’s rap. I’m not going to change it since I still stand by it and this post is supposed to be a documentation of my first impressions. I think one of the reasons why I’m so harsh on BB is because of their dynamic as a trio of brothers. They Have to have a more uniform approach than the other divisions. Which in of itself isn’t a terrible thing, it just doesn’t catch my eye as much as MTC did. Thats all! I definitely don’t hate BB, they’re maybe my 3rd favorite division out of the current lineup [not including TDD era teams like Kujaku Posse, MCD, and Naughty Busters] its just that their rap was pretty meh)

Samatoki crouching like a real gangstar and the cigarette kiss killed me

sadjkhfjkasdghsadjkcsdjhsdfsjhf im dying i love these trio of dumbasses so uch oh y fod someone save me aaaaaaaa (Astro note here! yeah i died when the jyuto and samatoki’s stomach growled im weak please. Samatoki’s face is just so precious and funny I might set it as a profile pic somewhere)

But also my initial assessment of Rio possibly being characterized as a lone wolf is very much jossed and im very thankful for that. It seems that Rio was simply trusting his teammates to carry out their part of the plan while he carried out his own. I like that, it really shows how much of a team these three are and that they genuinely trust each other. He’s also comfortable enough around them to invite them to dinners after work casually and not just for special occasions.

I really love MTC guys

Oooh! we get Ramuda on his design process which is really cute. the inside of his studio is super cute and retro and i love it. the poppy old music you would hear in a cafe or 90′s resturaunt is also really cute (astro note: yeah i know that in ARB you see the interior of Ramuda’s office but its kinda different seeing it animated)

the translation i have has gentaro speaking in early modern english (Shakespearian english for those who aren’t english nerds like me) but from what I can hear, he doesn’t speak in a particularly old fashioned way? Its more formal than old? and hes speaking without any of his character persona lying thing that he likes to do (as he refers to himself as “Shousei” throughout the segment where hes in Ramuda’s office which is kind of his default pronoun of choice). so its kinda odd for the translation to go in that direction but im not complaining

Gendice banter is gold but it feels... flat? a little? it doesn’t have the same impact as in the drama cds or in the manga? i feel? Also Ramuda using gratuitous english is??? idk how to feel about that

kjshf thats against the rules Ramuda omgggg,,,,,,,, (astro note again: while watching i was under the assumption that using your hypmic for monetary gain such a as buskering [which is what FP is doing] is against the rules. May not be the case but whatever)

FP’s rap might be my favorite in terms of tune and lyrics though. It’s a nice laid back bop and really gives of chill vibes. the integration of 3d and 2d is really nice and i love how they play off each other in the rap. The wordplay is so fun with little nods here and there and the beat is poppy too so it really energizes me.

Ramuda’s rap concerns me slightly since he makes very subtle and small nods towards his past (being created in a laboratory, warfare, and his overall very unpleasant life experiences) but spins it into something cutesy. It could be a coping mechanism, it could be me overthinking it. But it does make me worry a bit. Gentaro and Dice’s rap really play off each other with Gentaro sticking to stories and Dice taking up the baton by carrying on that same imagery but putting his own spin on it.

the self awareness of how scattered they are as a team is interesting though. It doesn’t seem like something you’d speak about in a rap? but i guess since its not really a do or die situation they can afford to be looser on things like this.

Right off the bat, i don’t like how they handled Hifumi and Doppo in relation to Hifumi’s fear of women. Slug made a post once talking about this and I echo many of his sentiments. Hypmic has never been very tactful about tackling this particular issue and while I didn’t have high hopes that the anime would be any better it hurts to see Doppo take away the one thing that allows Hifumi to function within society.

Doppo’s breakdown mirrors a lot of my own mental state when I spiral though its shown a lot quicker than what happens to me oof. that hits close to home. though Jakurai’s advice is. Questionable. Its not the best advice to give to someone but we have no idea what kind of doctor Jakurai is so ill let it slide

Jakurai’s pose looks like hes going to do a mahou shoujou transformation lmao

I don’t have many thoughts about the rap though again. How they visualize the rap is interesting. the different imagery is quite interesting for each of them and the typography is nice a distinct but im still on the fence about the visuals here

The sound is in the same boat. The sound effects either drown out the rap or are too quet but some parts are nice at least. When they talk about Tokyo’s beating heart, the heartbeat sound is a but distracting especially since its only played once. But the imagery is at least nice

I wonder if for the eds they’re going to take a similar approach to what Enstars did and have a four different endings, one for each division. I love the blend of styles here and it really accentuates that although they’re different they mesh well together.

Ramuda’s silhouette though is hilarious. Love it.

:p and thats it. Uh not bad for a first episode. Established all 12 characters really nicely and their dynamics. I had some problems with it but then again nothing is perfect. I look forward to what they show us next week

I wanna hear your thoughts on the scene where Cloud, Tifa and Barret just finished fighting that big machine when the were scaling the wall to go save Aerith. (Sorry I totally forgot the name of the boss) Where the platform they’re on totally gives way and they all start falling.

Just finished the fight, or pre and post fight? Imma do the latter anyway cause I love being validated when I saw something and had people tell me I was seeing things.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Cloti body language chapter 3 

Cloti healthy disagreement 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time! So our trio have made it almost to the top of the collapsed plate in Sector 7 and they stop to take in the view. After that there's some banter and a boss fight and more action touching. I just wanna say before I start that a lot of this is at a distance, so it's not gonna be much of an analysis since there's so few close ups and all the body language is geared towards protective/rescue type movements, which is pretty obvious.

Gonna start with the pre battle image here of Cloud smiling after making a joke because certain people like to get it in their heads that he's being serious here because it’s a callback to the whole “merc/money” thing. The fact both Tifa and Barret chuckle and Cloud literally smiles – DO YOU SEE HIM SMILING HERE?! – has a pretty simple meaning that he's grown close to them. He's no longer that cold af mercenary who only goes on about money in a serious way. This is his version of camaraderie which suits his dry af sense of humour.

Ok, so our heroes are triumphant and pretty pleased about it. Just throwing this one in for context since what comes next is pretty fast paced.

While Barrett's crowing, Cloud's already noticed something's wrong. That's just how quick his reflexes are. Frowning, looking at the mech. He can tell something's about to go sideways.

KABOOM! Platform starts collapsing, taking Tifa with it. Cloud's speed off the mark here is almost too quick to capture. He goes after her before she even realises she's falling. He wasn't even facing her when she slipped. She made a noise and he turned. That's how attentive he is towards her. Like, fucking hell, man, I'm blown away more and more with every in-depth look at their interactions.

We know Cloud's graceful af from watching him fight (not to mention that dance scene), but honestly, this looks next level even for him! I think this is the only time he goes this far with his body language. He's got his arms wide for balance, legs bent, I mean, he is literally using the tilting platform to increase his speed. This takes so much skill I'm super impressed! And he did this without even stopping to consider what he needed to do. He just did it.

Tifa's reaching for the ground, not Cloud, btw. I don't think she's noticed him yet – he's not quite in her field of vision – so she's attempting to save herself because she's not some damsel.

And if you think this screen was easy to get, you're wrong. I've literally never seen this bit of this scene before, it happens that quick! Cloud leaps without even being able to see if he's lined up with Tifa. This looks like an instinctive action from him. This isn't something he's been taught, this is all him wanting to protect Tifa and going above and beyond to do it.

To further reiterate the last screen, he's just leapt at her and hoped for the best. I mean, he could've knocked into her and sent her flying, but he got his arm around her, swung them both around and then shot a grappling hook all in one smooth action. This is definitely SOLDIER!Cloud in the driver's seat if anyone was wondering. There's no way our poor flawed real!Cloud could do this without second guessing himself. That's why he's got the false persona, so it'll give him confidence in situations like this to protect the woman he loves.

Cloud's totally focused in the moment and relying on Tifa to hang onto him now he's got her. For her part, I think she's a bit “wtaf where am I?” because everything happened so quickly. She's got her eyes squeezed shut, so she was clearly scared she was about to die.

Well, I was trying to grab a different shot that proved my point Tifa had her eyes closed and opened them when she heard the grappling gun fire, but this one's better. Yet another part of this fast paced scene that I didn't quite catch because it all goes by so quickly.

Cloud's got his arm around her waist, while she's clinging to his shoulder. To be fair, this isn't a very secure hold by either of them, but highlights the urgency of the moment. He's not been able to get her in a secure hold so he needs to get her to safety quickly.

Tifa's not even gripping him, which validates how quickly everything happened and how she's not caught up to what's going on. Not surprising, really. This all went by in milliseconds.

I honestly wasn't going to screen this either. It's the part where Barrett's line breaks, but I caught sight of Cloud and Tifa in the corner and thought why not? You'll see the hold still isn't that secure and Tifa's legs are all over the place. I will say it looks like she's got a tighter grip on his shoulder from this angle, so that's something. And...is Cloud’s hand splayed on her butt? I don’t wanna say yes, but the angle of his arm is suspicious.

And this is why Cloud's so damn good at what he does! Barrett's line snapped and he saw him falling from his peripheral vision! How on the ball is this guy?!?! Damn, with everything he does throughout Midgar and – we can assume -- beyond I honestly don't know how he can think he's not a hero. He is definitely a hero. Not a perfect one, but damn, he absolutely brings 110% to everything he does!

Omg Tifa's hold is worse than I thought! She's got her hand flat against his chest. I mean, at least grab hold of his shirt or something! She's barely holding onto him, so this is all him with his arm around her waist making sure she doesn't slip. I've gotta forgive her, I mean, it was quick action and I sure af wouldn't move anything in case I fell whatever the distance is between them and the ground lol

Even though Tifa's position is precarious af, Cloud's still relying on her to be his partner in this situation. He can't save Barrett, so she has to.

This is just a nice shot of how graceful they both are. Reminds me of when they're in the drum separately and Tifa and Aerith fall off the pipe – Tifa lands on her feet, Aerith lands on her face – and then Barrett and Cloud fall off a platform and Cloud lands on his feet and Barrett lands on his ass lol

It's telling that these two have similar balance and grace in a fight – probably why they combo so well.

And if I said the above screens were hard to get it's nothing on this one! This happened between one second and the next! I replayed it a million times to get that shot of Cloud going to put his hand on Tifa's back because I knew that's where he had one of them, but damn, if that wasn't boss level rewinding to get!

Okay, obviously the focus is saving Barrett here, and with that in mind the second Cloud's feet hit the ground he tosses the grappling gun to one side and goes to help Tifa haul him up. He puts one hand on her back and grabs her forearm with the other, lending her his strength and support.

And there's the proof in case anyone doubted my eye. That is Cloud's hand on Tifa's lower back. His other hand is gripping her forearm out of frame. I mean, does he need to have his hand there? Is that supportive in the context of the situation? Wouldn't it make more sense that he has his arm fully round her to stop her slipping? I know some of yall would be like “yes, that's better” from a ship pov, but from an action pov it does make more sense that he's got her in a firmer grip. It's almost like part of him doesn't want to make that closer contact because it's too intimate and he's trying to be professional. It's SOLDIER!Cloud basically. Mr “I keep my distance”. The guy who got them through that whole mess. Which does go to show that Cloud relies on that SOLDIER persona to save everyone's asses, but it also makes him more detatched. However, when there's no danger, he's more himself again.

I'd like to point out that if he'd actually had a better hold on Tifa, like I pointed out, she wouldn't have fallen over because Cloud would've been bracing her more. As it is she's on her ass and after checking Barrett's in one piece – quick look – Cloud's offering his hand to Tifa. We can't see his face in this moment, but we could guess there's an element of oops about him since it was kinda his fault she fell over.

Some quick banter and it's onto the Shinra building.

Conclusion:

Ofc this is an amazing action sequence! Everything happens so quickly that you definitely have to back and watch it again, pause it and examine everyone's faces and body language to really break down the sequence of events and motivations – besides rescue.

Cloud is definitely living up to the SOLDIER hype, even though he's never been one. I wonder how he got so skilled. Is this CC stuff? Or is he just going for broke and getting lucky? It says a lot that he'll just dive into whatever danger is around when Tifa's life is on the line. But, he also trusts her to come through in a pinch too. He just had to say her name and she got his meaning. That's some beautiful synchronisation from them. They're showing how much of a unit they are. Battle couples are one of my favourite tropes and that whole mind reader part of it is just perfection to me.

Even though this is a scene of SOLDIER!Cloud at his best, that side of him also knows he can trust Tifa to support him, and even while he's being all business there's part of him that still yearns to be close to Tifa and has to resist.

10/18/2020: STREET TRASH

I just caught myself trying to avoid writing about this movie. I was looking right at my Blogtober setlist, and I still managed to convince myself that I was all caught up, and I had earned my right to move on to the comparative luxury and ease of CATHY'S CURSE. I was well into that project before I realized that I was just subconsciously trying to shirk my 10/18 responsibilities. So, now I'm on punishment, but luckily, just trying to deal with this film is enough punishment in and of itself, if you are not one of this movie’s many passionate fans. I always feel like I'm making a big confession, even to myself, when I admit that I just don't like STREET TRASH.

For some reason, my failure to get down with this movie always makes me feel like a prude and a poseur. It's such a Thing for so many people, and such a grandiose act of rebellion against decency that I feel like I should like it. And I mean, I'm no prude; I'm a fan of a lot of movies that are fairly described as a bunch of sleazy, nihilistic, rage-fueled nonsense. When I try to say what I don't like about STREET TRASH, I find myself delivering a list of problems that is almost identical to the list of reasons I do like a lot of other movies: it's ugly, mean, tacky, offensive, depressingly cheap, grim, anti-social bordering on evil, and on top of everything else, it doesn't really make any sense. It's a little hard for me to explain where and why I draw the line between STREET TRASH and beloved favorites like LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET, ISLAND OF DEATH, BEYOND THE DARKNESS, or EBOLA SYNDROME (ok so EBOLA SYNDROME isn't actually one of my favorite movies, but I definitely admire its...er, guts). My aversion to Troma movies--another thing that makes me feel like a stranger in a strange land--might help inform some of what I don't like about STREET TRASH. There's a way in which a willfully offensive movie can seem to cross over from being contemptuous of society, to contemptuous of its own audience, and that's what bothers me: Troma's insistence on its own laziness and prurience, accusing the viewer of getting off on failure and inferiority, and garnishing its pridefully crappy production with shitty jokes about smearing queers and killing whores. But, while STREET TRASH has a similar brand of extremely shallow nihilism, much of it is meticulously put-together, which is usually a movie's saving grace--not that it's expensive and beautiful, but that it is made with evident passion. Which is exactly why this movie is such a confusing experience for me.

Maybe I can find some further clarity by attempting to describe what the plot consists of. A Brooklyn liquor store owner finds a case of ancient malt liquor called Tenafly Viper in his basement that, for some reason, causes anyone who drinks it to melt down into human sewage and/or explode. Just when it seems like the mysterious action and origin of Viper will be at the center of the plot--after all, it is STREET TRASH's main claim to fame--we drift into the dour drama between a pair of young homeless brothers, Freddie and Kevin, living in a shack in the back of a junkyard. These guys are relatively wholesome compared to the surrounding encampment, where the absolute dregs of humanity exist in a HILLS HAVE EYES-like fiefdom under a deranged Vietnam vet. Their collective troubles begin when Freddy brings home a blind-drunk mafia moll, who is subsequently raped to death by the other hobos. This brings the heat down on the whole camp, as a violent cop tries to find the connection between the derelicts, the mob, and the melting corpses sloshing around in the streets. The results are, needless to say, a mess.

STREET TRASH is relentlessly hostile to all forms of life, salting its own festering wounds with a dash of brutally unfunny comedy. Writer and producer Roy Frumkes has said of his script, "I wrote it to democratically offend every group on the planet, and as a result the youth market embraced it as a renegade work, and it played midnight shows."  It’s hard for me to imagine what form of pleasure people derive from this film, but as Frumkes correctly notes, it does exist. The utterly debased narrative and its many scatological set pieces go so far above and beyond the call of flipping the bird to society, seething with bitterness and loathing in every frame, that one could wonder if the filmmakers weren't clinically depressed. The noxious brew of rape jokes, casual racism, miserable 'Nam flashbacks, and full-body incontinence foments such entirely bad vibes that you might feel like flushing yourself down the toilet by the end, just like the first victim does in the movie's admittedly spectacular opening salvo. 

But th brings me to my point: STREET TRASH is not just a bad movie made poorly. The execution of its signature scene, an elaborate splatterpunk version of the once-popular Goodbye Cruel World novelty knickknacks, is a genuine labor of love, monstrously creative, and one of the most indelible images in horror. If that's my favorite thing in the movie (besides an all too short appearance of the wonderful James Lorinz), my least favorite thing might be its second-most notorious scene, in which the junkyard’s demented denizens play football with a guy's severed cock--but as I just read, even this sequence is rendered with some amount of thoughtfulness. Apparently three separate dildos were used to pull off the gag, including an extra large version that was required for the shots of the dick hurtling through the air in slow motion, warping and wobbling as it soars towards its next receiver. I am strangely beguiled by the idea of director Jim Muro experimenting with how to shoot this scrimmage for maximum effect, choosing dongs that were the right size and weight for the type of motion that he wanted to capture on camera. This shows a decided lack of the kind of laziness that I have come to expect from movies that are this grimy and dejected-feeling. A too-long genital mutilation joke is the last thing I want to give anyone credit for, but here, I feel kind of forced to.

A hot bondage scene with Doctor Jersey Boy!

Why did I put myself through this, you might ask, clearly knowing what I was in for? STREET TRASH is in a small group of movies that make me feel like I'm missing something. They're so well-loved, and they do so little for me--without my being able to completely denounce them as worthless--that I feel this nagging obligation to check in on them now and again. Maybe this is the year that my horizons have expanded to the right degree; maybe I've finally seen a vast enough number and variety of movies that my whole context for something like this will have changed. For the most part, it seems like the days of that kind of radical change are behind me, as a grownass woman with many thousands of hours of viewing under my belt. I still don't feel whatever specialized joy people seem to get from STREET TRASH, and I expect I never will. I really don’t know what else to say at this point, except that in my brief research for this piece, I discovered that the director went on to a substantial career as a cinematographer whose work includes CRASH. No, not the Cronenberg one. The incredibly sappy, pretentious, and witlessly tasteless social justice one from 2004. And there is something I find perversely satisfying about that fact. I guess Muro is really fucking things up from the inside now.

Gratis Pornofilms: Toegankelijk, gratis en biedt een verscheidenheid aan opties

The free adult porn market is virtually successful today and more and more websites pop-up in that industry every day. The vids that they number are essentially mind-blowing and persons like them. On each free porn page are available a certain number of categories that will allow you to try to find the vids you want the most. The bunch that in some manner appears to show me on is the Amateur. Amateur 100% free porn vids are merely astounding - you will find number phrases and terms in any way to describe a property produced movie with you and your girlfriend making love in the craziest way possible. I definitely am in to these videos and i admit that I check out them once in a while. From their store fresh methods may be mastered for desirable your fan better. Most of these 20min videos can be looked at to be instructional vids from where you stand in a position to learn how to take action definitely better, how to guard your self and what points you mustn't do during intercourse. Nearly all free porn amateur vids get a little something distinctive that makes them one of the very wished-for. Looking at how unprofessional individuals start getting, pressing, undressing, considering them how they're creating real enjoy - that stuff can not be within perhaps not an added free porn type and i also consider that amateur vids are worth the first invest any cost-free adult porn type countdown. What I like the absolute most about free porn inexperienced vids would be the strategy they are done: through the help of a cellphone or even a digicam or even utilizing the webcam of the Personal computer or laptop computer. What I enjoy far more is the truth that those individuals who have intercourse on the camera post their video on the net, on specialized free porn websites which variety this type of films and may generate some money from it... really cool! Try out such a vid all on your own and hit me up - inform me what you think of it and from a range from 1 to 10, precisely how good the amateur type is. Queer but correct, you will find a lot more persons than you are able to ever envision who're addicted with seeing porn. Truth to be told, it has been noted lately that almost 50% of all men are in reality having this addiction and they might not really understand about it. Anyhow, if you are one of them, be assured that you're certainly not unique. In order to support offer with this specific addiction, listed here are 3 killer truths that you definitely should know. To start with, you'll need to realize that the complete pornography business is full of lies. In order for it to be attractive to the visitors, porn makers do not only operate, but additionally abuse in addition to deceive models to get them to pose. You will likely then be victimized as a viewer since you obtain dependent with moments which can be really unreal and fictitious. Besides, the demand for pornography has directly led to an business that will be packed with crazy sex slave and sins. Secondly, when you receive dependent with pornography, chances have you been will become increasingly entrenched inside around time. Obviously, you'd often be in the search for the new works which offer greater excitement in your search for the illusory pleasure. In significant instances, such a trend could lead to the scenario wherever one would have absolutely no regards for ethical obligations as well as claims with their loved ones. Besides, according to medical specialists, dependency in pornography may be explained as an ailment that greatly influences the brain. The pleasure this one gets through it is similar to that during actual sexual intercourse, but the outcomes of both processes are completely different. The reason being the former has anything related to images and videos while the specific sexual intercourse is an affiliation with a human that you love. In regards to free porn preventing application, sometimes you do get everything you spend for. But if you pay nothing for it, sometimes that's precisely what you should get. NOTHING! Several of those businesses may bait you with the notion of "free", only to have onto your computer. Afterward you find yourself buying the "defense" that you required in the first place! You can find 3 issues that free porn blockers will NOT do for you personally, and I am planning to name all of them! Why? Since the porn industry is a BILLION buck company! They've found all kinds of ingenious methods to cover their sites behind clever and sometimes relatively "simple" domain names that the free blockers cannot even begin to filter. Oh, they can filter out "Playboy.com", but can they filter "Whitehouse.com"?(Not to be puzzled with Whitehouse.gov. The actual white house's genuine website.) Why might a blocker want to filter out a record sharing website? What's a file sharing site? Well, file discussing websites are the key places to visit get illegally saved audio from the internet. As well as music, these sites also have software and movies that you could download. That's right, PORN! You key in the title of a song. In these benefits you will see small porn movies which can be downloaded. When the internet was however getting a foothold, whenever you might mention that title, first thing to come in to many people's minds was porn. However, as time as gone by, this concept has changed as people have discovered useful ways of online and how they are able to construct their organization applying it. Nonetheless, porn is still really significant on the internet. Actually, with the large speeds of connection to the web, getting porn videos, videos and shows happens in a subject of minutes and somebody can easily get a regular amount of the same. So as the topic of this short article suggests: can it be practical to rid the net of porn? The answer is just a large NO! Using such a cause would be a large waste of time. One of the issues that will make this trigger difficult is the total amount of income that is created in the porn industry. This is why you may find hundreds upon tens and thousands of porn websites, whose clients are mainly males, who invest plenty of their income trying to find intercourse on the internet. Some sites present free movies to attract their clients. The others allow'do-it-yourself'films to be uploaded. Whatever the case, you'll still discover people spending their income for intercourse on the internet. The living of pornography on the internet is not merely established by money but in addition by the flexibility of expression and freedom of speech. In the early stages of the net, the online earth seemed to be'fairly natural'with people applying phrases with constraint and being cautious not to offend others. But as time has gone by and the letting of people to talk what they think, pornography has wound up rising and enlarging its on line territory. Nonetheless, porn has been, is still and can be there in spite of the forms it could come in. What the net has been doing is to make the entry of porn rapidly and easy; it has decrease the embarrassment that certain may have if they've to purchase a porn film from an adult store. The drawback of that is that really young kids can obtain access to this pornographic material. But thank heavens for the web and their power to place safeguards in position and ensure parents can get a handle on the kind of sites their children can access. Which means parents have the best obligation of ensuring that their young ones do not have usage of adult material on websites. The net isn't accountable for this. To find new details on gratis seksvideo's please visit source. Among the major problems of pornography is addiction. You will see so many individuals dependent on porn which they will always be trying to find any possibility to go online and download either pornographic video clips or photographs in a bid satisfy a craving that is hard to satisfy. Alcohol has always been there and so have alcoholics. The answer has never been to eradicate the alcohol but for the alcoholics to admit their problems. In the same way, eliminating pornography is not the solution; the porn addicts seeking help is preferred solution. One issue that will have to be addressed is that of child pornography. This matter has had the oppertunity to slip into the internet even though you can find law agencies that enforce regulations against such practices. The web cannot be regulated or legislated by laws of a specific nation. This is because each country has their own group of laws that they run with. Like, in China, the us government has been able to close some websites they have deemed unsuitable. What really makes something pornographic? What are the acceptable and non acceptable kinds of pornography? These are some questions which are very difficult to answer as regarding what might be pornographic material and what's normal. Where in actuality the line is drawn is as yet not known because people have their own various notions on pornography.'Violent and extreme pornography'is known as a crime in line with the British government. The issue is that what might seem extreme to someone might not be extreme to another. Freedom of speech and expression should be allowed as long as it doesn't incite violence or conflict between parties. The internet seems to be the only real place where this freedom may be maximized on. The web shouldn't certainly be a threat in a bead to rid it of pornography. Trying to do this will be a service in futility. What needs to be done is to place controls and measures. All of us know that pornography is all online; it's difficult to trust there are those who actually don't view or watch porn online. But there are always circumstances where porn must be used out of the computer, either to help keep the kids from snooping around private directories or to help keep it far from people who want to access your files through file sharing. If you've got a porn collection growing in your computer but are now actually worried that other people will have the ability to see your files without your knowledge, then this is actually the article for you. That is especially useful for people who wish to help keep their porn collection a secret from prying eyes, snoopy hackers, and needless to say those who share computers and laptops for different reasons. You will find basically two surefire ways on how to Remove Porn From Computer quickly. The foremost is removing your files and folders from your computer and moving it to another location that's far more secured and protected from other people. This is a good option if you do not desire to erase all of your porn files and if you've spent days and nights just downloading bulks of porn from the internet. But obviously, you've to consider that people are coping with big bulks of porn here and the full time it requires to maneuver each video and every album is going to be dragging and long. Here are some of the most useful options to use: You can begin by searching for each file and folder, including ZIP and RAR files, and putting them all under one directory. You need to use certain programs that will even retrieve and recover a few of the files which were long forgotten and left in other folders. Then you're able to organize your collection by segregating them in accordance with file type. Since JPGs and GIFs are smaller in dimensions, you are able to move these first prior to starting moving the videos. You are able to either move it to a new partition in your computer or an additional hard drive for safekeeping. Another way to save your collection is to burn them in a CD or DVD, but this is still accessible to anyone who lives with you and who are able to rummage through your stuff without you knowing it. Now if you're girlfriend or sibling has problems with pornography like, you may want to consider learning how to Remove Porn From Computer completely, leaving no trace whatsoever in your hard disk for them to see. You can use the exact same programs to retrieve and recover your files and eventually delete everything including the ones that are automatically encrypted. You can find articles in websites all over the World Wide Web that provide detailed instructions on how to Remove Porn From Computer to help you take some time to consider those in case something goes wrong or you are still unsure if your personal computer is free from porn or not.