#//a very poor excuse for a character intro

[xclowniex]

Okay I need peoples opinions in this.

There is a tik tok creator and author who has a series on tik tok they're trying to turn into a book called Cafae Latte.

It is this very queer and diverse series. All characters are played by one woman, the creator who is white.

She has 2 jewish characters, both are dragons who shape shifted into humans. One wears a magen david and the other is orthodox and wears a tichel. The creator wears them when portraying the respective characters

Now I have an issue with this for a few reasons which all fall under the big glaring thing of, they didn't consult any jews or do any research past the surface!

First issue of business is the tichel. I do find it incredibly disrespectful for a non jew to wear a tichel when you're portraying a Jewish character and you can't even get tzniut correctly. It wasn't until they finally got a tichel, that they learnt thay they needed to cover their collar bone and elbows. Especially when you also don't call it a tichel and just call it a "jewish head covering". If you're trying to make a Jewish character who keeps tzniut, these are basic things you should know if you did any research!

Second order of business, the magen david. I do find this disrespectful as it's not really for non jews to wear???? Like it's not like you commit this great atrocity by wearing it. But considering their poor rep with the character above, I doubt they know anything meaning behind it and why its important to jews. Plus it's pretty much literally just used to signify that the character is Jewish and that's it.

Thirdly order of business, idk how else to start this besides, they unjewished hebrew??????

Like they were creating a family crest for one of their jewish characters and had this design with the tree of life and some hebrew and wanted help on getting the hebrew correct and said "hebrew speakers and that probably include jews, I think. I need your help with this hebrew".

Like excuse me what. Not all jews speak hebrew and not all hebrew speakers are jewish, but the majority of hebrew speakers are jewish. Adding jews as this after thought which may technically be included is awful.

Last order of business. This time, not about the jewish characters but the arab and muslim one.

Therre is this character they play who is a Muslim arab amercian and they said in their intro post for this character "I'm not sure which arab country specifically she is from as I'm not educated enough". Like excuse me what. There are cultural differences between different arab countries, not in a way which they're completely different from each other but it is a thing.

And to make matters worse, she has a YouTube video giving tips on writing diversity well.

And idk it just really irks me as they are a published writer, who is all about good diversity representation yet can't even do it properly. Consulting jews, not even jews actually, hebrew speakers to use their words, is not enough to give good rep. You need to talk to rabbis, jewish community leaders in general.

[demonslayedher]

Checking fic details means I was spending more time back in the Infinity Fortress and ahaha unnnnngggghh it hurrrrrttttssss but these movies are gonna be soooo goooood

So anyway a thought

You know how we have a "Song of Kamado Tanjiro" and "Song of Kamado Nezuko"? What if we get a "Song of Agatsuma Zenitsu" and a "Song of Hashibira Inosuke"?

Pacing-wise it might be hard to fit them in if they are as long and slow as Tanjiro's and Nezuko's, but a little bit of lyrics would be nice. I wonder how they'll incorporate a pinky promise song, or up the drama of Zenitsu's Thunder Breath BGM?

I'm really not ready to hear what new arrangements we'll get of older theme music. Waaaaaaaah. Anyway, playing with more thoughts about the movie adaptations:

Here's how I would break up the movies:

First off, Sunrise Countdown is getting its own that doesn't get announced until after these three air. There's just too much content to picture all of it squeezing into three movies.

First movie:

Takes a little time on set-up and exposition--they will have to assume some people are watching and don't know the backstory, or only watched Mugen Ressha. Not a full backstory, but enough to remind us of the Kagaya and Muzan encounter and everybody dropping in. The manga has us checking in Hashira upset over Kagaya's death, after all.

Gives us Douma's back story

Shinobu's last stand, probably with a very sad spin on her theme music

Builds up Zenitsu vs Kaigaku as the climax (and if it's treated as the climax, that's an excuse for a special intro song)

Ends with Tanjiro battling Akaza, Akaza affirming that Tanjiro has gotten stronger and Tanjiro reaffirming Rengoku's worldview

Movie 2

Exposition to remind us all where everybody is (poor Kanao has been battling Douma in the background of a volume's worth of manga and is already bloody by the time we check in on how she's doing after the Akaza, after all--Douma crying about Akaza finally GAVE HER A BREAK)

Full on Akaza battle, starting with Giyuu attaining a mark (and this also gives us some set-uo for Inosuke's role in this film since Tanjiro has him in flashbacks)

Akaza flashback

Kanao and Inosuke finish Douma off, with Shinobu coming back in for the climax of this film.

Although Inosuke's glory is shared with Kanao and Shinobu, giving him a special insert would balance his role with that of Zenitsu's in the first film.

Leave off with a reminder of what everybody else is up to, especially Tamayo running out of time with Muzan

Movie 3

Tanjiro is more of a framing device in this one rather than actively involved, it starts with him getting Senjuro's letter, so we already have Sun Breath on the brain

Bam, it's Koku vs everybody

Bam, the Nakime battle for some brevity

Baaaaam, it's Koku's backstory (I got this idea years ago, and I still would love to see his backstory staged as Shin-Kabuki)

Baaaaazzzzammm, more characters are dying and we are in paaaaainn, but Koku's defeat is well-earned climax shared among Genya + Hashira

OHHHH HELLLL NAAAAH IT'S MUZAN AND THE CORP MEMBERS ARE GETTING SLAUGHTERED

Maybe or maybe not ends with Yushiro crashing the fortress, maybe or maybe not ends with Tanjirou looking like he's died of Muzan-blood

It'll at least include Tanjiro getting pissed off at Muzan and then Ufotable announcing they are still gonna get more movie moneybout of us the following year because the hype train in infinite.

Also, through--maybe they'll slip in more of the excessive Taisho Secret details that Gotouge had no room for, like details about Hakuji's rival who poisoned the well, or Kaigaku rejecting Jiichan's haori,or Tamayo's efforts to avoid consuming human blood? How long will the run time on these things be, anyway??? My butt is ready for marathon movies, Ufotable.

Anyway. Man, I've had a day. This arc is wild and it's going to make for phenomenal animated scenes. Not only pain!! There will be coolness beyond the pain! But dang it, there will be SO MUCH PAIN

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 15 “en ami” thoughts

it’s a wonderful day. sunny, raining on and off. my window is open. to be honest, i am in such a pleasant mood.

i don’t really feel like dealing with CSM’s shenanigans on such a peaceful evening. but i do crave scully time. and this is where i have left off, and so it is where i must resume the journey.

i never know what to think with CSM episodes. i kinda just assume he’s always lying about everything. it saves time. and lately, he has been annoying me even more than he was before, after the whole biogenesis thing.

but that doesn’t mean the episode will be bad. it just means that i have been noticing patterns.

i wonder what he wants with scully….?

post-episode thoughts: absolutely gagged that CSM can write a BANGER episode. did he have a previous life as a screenwriter? or just such a deep connection to the character that he played that it poured out of him and into the script? and also into the other characters he has come to know so well? because mulder had some HEART-WRENCHING moments here!

they should have let these actors write more, omg... think about what we could have had.....!

a "scully gets tempted by the devil" episode is most pleasing to me! dwell on her character! contemplate evil and the capacity for redemption that lies in all of us- or the utter lack thereof! no one is immune to temptation! but to what end?! why would he do this? just to get into her head?! a new angle of mulder torture? did mulder torture get boring after 7 years?

ah, all big and excellent questions. but we must go back to yesterday, when i knew nothing about what i was getting into. take it away, past me:

let’s find out.

we open with a thunderstorm in virginia- at a place called goochland. this jason child is being held in the back of a car by someone i assume to be his mother.

they’re pulling in somewhere, and as he repeats that words will never hurt him, they are met by a mob of people. someone holds an “i love you jason” sign. do they expect someone to bully him?

people are pounding on the car windows windows, and a reporter asks him how he feels. someone else has a sign that says “your faith is not an excuse to” but i can’t read the rest. what is this little boy getting into?

the cops tell them they can come out, and lead them into their house. he is getting tucked into bed.

there’s a glass of water, a bell, and what looks like a gun next to his pillow. i hope i'm wrong, because he looks about 9 years old, and having a gun when you're 9 is a very bad idea.

the poor kid is sweating. he must be sick. his mom says goodnight and then his dad talks to him. “maybe you think those people outside are right- that we should take you to the hospital and let the doctors treat you” <- ohhhh what, is this a child abuse situation? he says that if they do that, his body may feel better, but his soul won’t, because god gave him this illness, and he must deliver the boy.

holy fuuuuuuck. well. no wonder there were people protesting. they’re trying to save him!!

i've never understood that line of rationalization from religious extremists....... but perhaps no one is supposed to.

at 2 am, there is a storm banging on their windows. it wakes jason up as lights flash outside. he walks into the light. mysterious music plays. people walk up to him. 

and before we can see who they are, it’s intro time. damn. 

as always, more questions are raised than answered, just as designed.

get dancing!!! oooo, very short intro. the truth is out there!!!!

scully is in her apartment, wearing a turtleneck. i saw someone point out how vulnerable she looks without her big suits and i now pay more attention to these things, because it is true. she is grabbing a jacket and opening the door. there’s a newspaper outside, which probably isn’t too unusual, right? but it also could be a message.

the front page says that a “miracle ends controversy”, so that must have been what the lights were about at the kid's house. she looks around. closes the door and heads to the office.

mulder is reading a paper, his feet up on the desk. he softly says good morning (everybody say "aww!"), and then tells her the story he has in his hands will warm “the cockles of your heart”, which is a crazy thing to say. she’s like yeah…. i've heard about this jason kid.

his parents refused treatment on religious grounds, and then he was healed. scully explains that sometimes spontaneous remission happens- she is walking proof, after all- but he clarifies he’s more concerned about the messenger than the healing. who emailed him this story? someone from the government?

and how did she hear about it? from a newspaper she doesn’t subscribe to… left at her door, and no one else's in her apartment... hmm!

WAIT, HOLD ON, I SEE THE CREDITS... CSM WROTE THIS EPISODE??? oh, i’m sat….

mulder says someone wants them on this case- “it’s not a case, mulder” “not yet”- and he scurries off to DARPA to investigate. what is DARPA again? allow me to rewind.

“defense advanced research projects agency” <- ohhhh, right right. yeah, tbh, i have never heard of that before. if they made this up for the show i wouldn’t know the difference. he tells her to investigate. 

“i’ve just gotta know if it was roma downey or della reese” <- i do not know who these people are. my guess is victoria’s secret angels? that seems like the sort of saucy thing mulder would reference on the job. let’s look up one of them. 

OH! they were actresses on a long-running show where they played angels. very interesting. 90’s culture… i have so much to learn about you. well! now i know. and i have further confirmation that mulder is a big nerd.

back in goochland, scully is on the case. she knocks at the door of the family. who are named the mcpecks, btw. and the child ruuuuuns up to her, LMAO, she looks a bit taken aback by his sudden appearance. BAHAHA, her face. he explains that he feels good, just a little out of breath. LMAOOOOOOO, kids are so funny. but i still feel bad for this poor boy. what's gonna happen when he gets measles or something?

“you’re looking at god’s work” declares his father. then they all talk about exalting his name and repeat “praise the lord”. it's very creepy.

scully asks what the angels looked like- i notice she doesn't have her necklace on like usual. jason says they looked like men, and they came from the sky in a ball of light. this little kid is so cuuuute. this better not be some CSM plot to kill him!!!

then one of them pinched him kind of hard and he was better. OHHHHHH, he gestures to the base of his neck…. she’s gagged. she looks and finds a fresh scar. YIKES.

a scar on the base of the neck, much like a half-smoked cigarette, can only mean ONE THING on this show.

she walks back to her car, where CSM is smoking inside!!! a dramatic musical flourish!!! how did he get there?!

“what the hell are you doing?” “god’s work, what else?” <- OHHH, this man had been CHOMPING at the bit to write an episode, i can tell from that line alone. he was saying please please please please? and finally someone said okay, fine. and he ran with that opportunity.

“get out of my car” “i’d hoped for more accommodation for the man who saved that young boy’s life… and yours” <- OH, are we going to be addressing how that happened? i liked that it was kind of just a mystery chip that could also be interpreted as a miracle thing, tbh, especially since that point in the cancer arc was when we dove into scully's faith the most- but i’m open to a new perspective 

scully tells him to gtfo. he weaponizes her curiosity. a terrible thing to do to someone as naturally curious as agent scully. and he confesses to leaving the newspaper at her door, sending the email to mulder, and the elaborate demonstration of healing this boy.

OHHH, he says he’s dying!!!!

brief break because i hear a bird out my window. it’s a hawk!!! cool.

okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming. he’s dying. she swallows. he claims he wants to make right, and share this secret, give the cure to millions of others. i buy that he’s dying- but nothing else.

“i’ve tired of mulder’s mule-headedness- his foolish ideas of overthrowing the system” <- OHHHHHH, SHIT!!! this is JUICY!!!

she asks if he really thinks he’s fooling her. and he says mulder can never know about this. he’ll take it to his grave if he does learn. she starts the car, and finds a business card left on the seat next to hers.

OOOOOO!!! this is so exciting. i’m actually really glad we get to see scully wrestle with the devil this time. so often mulder gets this chance. but scully hasn’t been given it!!! what a temptation for a doctor!!!! and someone who came within minutes of death from such a horrible disease!!!

she sits at their basement desk, holding the card in her hands. picks up the phone and dials a number. then she hangs up. picks up again. orders a trace on the number.

she goes to a building where some security guards are watching- must be she plans to investigate herself. and then when she is met by security, she pulls the “i walked through the wrong door” card, which fools no one, but is really really really endearing to me. queen cannot tell a lie!!!

(EXCEPT for that time she convinced people mulder was dead. a notable exception- a result of doylist writing errors that can be fun to analyze in a watsonian manner)

these burly security men ask for ID. somehow, i feel she doesn’t have a fake on her like mulder probably does...

they take the ID. and tell her to go to the third floor. OHHHH, so they knew she was coming. there are so many security people. and there’s an office for CSM!!! she walked right into his trap. 

WHO is this man watching her outside….?

she goes in his office. it seems empty, but he calls out to her from nearby. he invites her in. asks her to sit. she stands still. 

he says that most of what he worked to build in his life is in ruins, and he has no legacy. scully sighs loudly. LMAO, she does not give a fuuuuck about what this man claims.

yeah, so the colonization plan has flopped, right? so what's the deal with that anyway? they just threw in the towel? they're gonna hope these alien rebel guys take care of the problem for them so they don't end up enslaved? i would think they'd be busy formulating a new plan. but i guess CSM doesn't care anyway, because he got the alien surgery.

he says he is dying of cerebral inflammation from a surgery he had in the fall. damn. not even the cigarettes. WAIT, the alien DNA he stole from mulder and had put in his body is killing him?? so he did all that for NOTHING? maybe he's lying, but i don't buy it. scully tells him his attempt to become respectable won’t work

“how many people in the world are dying of cancer? and here we are, wasting time with the past” <- OOOOOOOOO, OH MY GOD. what a manipulative little bastard.

this is soooooo juicy. i’m so invested.

she wants to see this miracle cure- he says it will take them a few days. they’ll need to take a trip. she says she’ll get back to him and walks away, LMAO.

he stands up, saying he has access to these chips, but the research is closely guarded. well. don’t the chips also make you want to go certain places that end up getting bombed? is that really a cure? is little jason gonna have a voice in his head telling him to go to pennsylvania like scully did? speaking of that, has that voice in her head stopped since the whole thing with cassandra spender? we didn't get concrete answers. we never do.

he claims that the men in this building will kill him- and her- if they knew what he was offering her.

he has destroyed all who are most precious to him- “all i want is a chance to do something in service to man before i go”

ohhh, is he going to play on scully’s hope that people can be good?? does she even still have that hope??

mulder arrives at his apartment. he has a message on his phone from scully- she’ll be out of town, it’s a family emergency. hmm. that would ring alarm bells for me. what KIND of family emergency??? they've seen each other dead and dying about a million times; you'd at least think she'd say "bill got hit by a bus and might not make it" rather than something so vague. then again, though, scully does love to keep things close to her chest. and he could call her mother and ask if bill really WAS hit by a bus. so vague is both the best move and a bad one.

mulder tries to call her right away. she's getting packed up for her journey and is listening to the messages as he leaves them. he asks her to pick up, he hopes everything is okay, and he’ll try on her cell right now. god. he loves her so bad. it's so sweet. CSM is in her apartment with her.

i’m scared. the girls (me) are scared. is he going to try something with her?

OH SHIT, SHES GOT A MIC IN HER BRA. see, i was really worried the zoom in on her chest was going in a different direction. she has a plan!! but will it work??? this is the devil we are dealing with!!! 

this car ride is going to be so uncomfortable, i’m cryinggggg. she can’t even look at him as they walk out.

break for commercials. a good time to ponder where we're at and take stock of my emotional investment.

ooooh, certain episodes just give me that excited feeling, when the writing hits juuust right, and the pacing... and i can’t articulate it, no i cannot, but i sure can FEEL it with my whole body. i’m wiggling over here. so excited to see what happens next.

what a plot we find ourselves in!!!

so, scully is driving while he sits in the passenger seat. i assumed he would drive, but you can never guess with him. her face is stony. but she’s going to fiddle with her shirt too much and draw attention to the mic!! she’s nervous!! she’s a doctor, not a spy!!

he starts to light up, and she tells him off a little, so he at least rolls down the window. and the subtitles make note that this is an ELECTRIC window. which i take it was a big deal at the time.

oh! he throws it out! and says it’s time he quit. “no sacrifice is purely altruistic. we give expecting to receive” “what exactly is it you expect to receive?” “your trust” <- OHHHH! well. that is a TALL order.

he says he has a special affection for her- an affection for mulder, too, but what he feels for her is special. she looks at him. saying nothing.

“i held your life in my hands. your cancer was terminal- i had the cure. can you imagine what that’s like? to have the power to extinguish a life or to save it and let it flourish?” she says nothing. but her eyes are glassy.

very creepy thing to say. veeeery creepy. sick and twisted man.

mulder is coming to her apartment- trust that he's investigating. she gave the key to a neighbor who she asked to water the plants- which has to be a GIANT red flag in mulder’s head!!!!

oh, is this guy the landlord? “tenants like having an FBI agent in the building. gives them a sense of security” “do you know how many people have died in there?” “oh, uh, we don’t really talk about that” <- LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO, I’M CRYINGGGG. that is so funny because. damn! a lot of people really have met their end in there.

OHHHHHHH, the landlord said “her driver” had her suitcase when they left- a tall, older man who smokes like a chimney. i would assume that mulder’s face is one of complete shock right now, but the lighting is so BAD, i cannot see anything. 

but he runs away. doesn’t even wait. just runs. oh. baby…..

scully is still driving. CSM says she’s been at the wheel too long- would she like him to drive? 

“how long did it take mulder to win your trust?” “i’ve always trusted mulder” he laughs. “you’re not being honest with yourself”

“i told you, i’ve studied you for years. and if you would permit me, i’d like to make an observation.” <- WHERE IS THIS GOING…..?

CSM MSR shipper confirmed?? this finally gets her eyes off the road.

“you’re drawn to powerful men, but you fear their power. you keep your guard up, a wall around your heart. how else do you explain that fearless devotion to a man obsessed, and yet a life alone?” OHHH, GET HER ASS I GUESS????

CSM has always had an innate ability to clock that tea.

“you’d die for mulder, but you won’t allow yourself to love him” <- OHHHHHH MY GOD. JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND PACING. 

put this guy behind the pen more often. LET HIM COOK!!!! 

she makes some remark about him being more than just a cold blooded killer, but also a pop psychologist. GIRL, ARE YOU GONNA SIT THERE AND LIE?? well. what else can you do in such a situation? i’d probably do the same. 

the concept of not letting yourself love someone... as if you have any say in the matter. you can build walls, but that really only buys time until they fall down, no? augh. it's fascinating.

i'm also very fascinated by how blatantly they love each other- but won't talk about it. how they're each other's most important person- but draw the line at conveying that sentiment. maybe it's about the idea of romance being so much scarier than a platonic love, but that doesn't feel quite right, to be honest. maybe it's not that, and it's just that the lines have blurred so thoroughly between attachment and devotion and friendship and romance and love, that if they stop for a second to think about it, they're scared the whole thing will crumble down. how mulder thinks he's an intruder and force of destruction in her life and she thinks he's too ahab to ever really have any sort of meaningful relationship in any capacity. hmm. so much to consider. and you can analyze how it moves through time, too... wow. i'm barking and chasing my tail like a dog.

i don't like the idea of scully being afraid of mulder's power like he is some sort of superior to her- but we do know that his relentlessness is something she admires and also is terrifying to her, because it drives him to do things like get holes drilled in his head. so i guess there is that "fear" there, but more of what he can do when he sets his mind to it, or what he might get himself into when he has his heart set on it, than what he holds over her. i resent the implication of a boss and assistant dynamic. (glares at never again)

anyway, CSM wants to prove he is capable of something more than destruction. and he tells her to make a turn. 

there’s a car… and in it is the guy we saw standing behind her in his office before!!!

holy shit, i’m jazzed. mystery guy pulls in after them. i think. it’s hard to tell. 

she puts the car in park at what looks like a normal home. CSM explains that the woman in the yard is marjorie butters. she’s got a green thumb and plays a mean game of scrabble. and that she is 118 years old, which i do not believe. he gets out of the car and she hugs him. introduces her to scully, saying she is a very good friend of his- he sounds so friendly as he does so. looks so innocent. and scully notices the scar on her neck. 

“to have this power…. to visit this woman and see her joy… must be why you became a doctor” <- HEY, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DOCTORING, BUDDY? you are a manipulative evil man. he looks away and follows marjorie inside.

back at the FBI headquarters, mulder bursts into skinner’s office. skinner!! my beloved friend!!! he is on the case. 

mulder is in his leather jacket, which is how you know shit is going down, and reports that mrs. scully knows nothing about any sort of family emergency.

OHHHH… “i know she can take care of herself. it’s just not like her to lie to me” <- OHHHHHH. my heart. did you hear it melting? like a popsicle? all sticky and syrupy???? GODDAMN THIS FICTIONAL MAN.

skinner gets a call back on his private line. it is scully. mulder gestures for the phone- but he holds tight to it. 

she says she’s on the road, and everything is okay. and please tell mulder that she’s alright. “well, he’s standing right here. why don’t you do that yourself?” (mulder gestures for the phone again, smiling with relief) but she hangs up!!!! saying she’ll call him later. 

“she says she’s fine” (mulder nods) “she’s in trouble” and he departs after her!!!

ahhhh!!! this is so tense!!!

scully pulls in to a gas station, telling CSM she is stopping at the restroom. he watches her as she heads inside, holding the gas pump.

and she’s narrating into the mic!!! she’s going to leave this tape for mulder!!! she promises she will get it to him as fast as she can!!! her words are too fast and furious for me to jot them down, but she promises him that she weighed the risks before making the choice to go with CSM. then fiddles with the tape recorder, getting out the tape. it takes her a while. that is my queen.

she scribbles his name on an envelope with two stamps… then heads outside. nearly runs into a guy. where is CSM?! she puts the letter in the mail. 

he’s sitting in the driver’s seat. offers her a lifesaver, which she declines- must be his alternative to smoking. he tells her to get comfortable- they have a good drive ahead. 

ah! the guy she nearly ran into- was that the man from before?!?! he has the letter she mailed mulder in her hands!!!! he plucked it out of the mailbox!!!

at 1 am, CSM pulls in… somewhere. scully is fast asleep in the seat next to him. he puts on a glove. then another. a villainous score is playing. he brushes her hair out of her face. i feel deeply uncomfortable and scared this will take a turn.

a knock at mulder’s door now. “it’s the masters of disguise” IT’S THE GUNMEN!!! they have hats on and say there’s heat on their tail! but they did what he asked. and nearly got caught!!!

they hacked into scully’s computer… found some emails that had been deleted, but not fully from her hard drive… yes, yes??? she was talking with someone named cobra. “well, looks like she’s gone to great lengths to keep this from you” “i don’t believe that. she knows that i’d find her, no matter what” <- OHHHH MY GOD……..

is frohike dressed as harry potter? mulder just said this utterly heartbreaking line and frohike is standing there in gryffindor robes. THIS SHOW…

he’s gonna get in her laptop. TRUST!!

scully is asleep in a bed. wearing a robe. checking for the mic. it’s still there. did she change into the robe herself...?

oh, she's furious. takes the coffee he offers her and throws it out the window. she says he drugged her. he claims he just carried her into the bedroom. and that they’re in pennsylvania. she's free to go- the keys are in the ignition. but the choice is still hers. she takes a deep breath. and goes back inside.

but the guy who was following them before is in the bushes!!!!

mulder bursts inside skinner’s office. LMAO at the jab at him always doing that: “is my assistant-?”, BAHAHA. and in barge the gunmen behind him!!! “what the hell is going on here?” “that’s my question exactly. i believe you’ve all met” WAIT!!! WHEN DID THEY MEET…? OHHHHH, FIGHT THE FUTURE!!!! in the hospital room when byers had to strip. i recall.

FROHIKE CALLS SKINNER “G-MAN” AND LANGLY ASKS IF THIS PLACE IS SECURE, LMAOOOOOO. skinner looks mad as fuuuuck.

so “cobra”- who is a federal fugitive- has been emailing scully from the DOD for the last 6 months. he’s working on a shadow project.

he pulls up what he claims to be scully’s correspondence with cobra, in which she is stressing the importance of what they have, and that she can arrange a safe place- but i’m not buying it. seems like a CSM arranged story.

LMAO, yeah, mulder thinks someone has hacked into her email and is pretending to be her. mulder says it’s CSM, and skinner has to get to him- now. “you of all people should know that you just don’t get to him” 

ohhh my god, i’m so invested, i feel electric. i had to sit up a little and lean in. 

“WELL, IF YOU DON’T GET TO HIM, IT MAY BE THE LAST TIME WE SEE SCULLY ALIVE” <- GAAAAG.

back in “pennsylvania”, CSM knocks on scully's door, saying they will have dinner with their contact tonight. AND HE BROUGHT HER A DRESS?? he must know about her mic and is trying to get her to wear something that can't hide it…. she says it’s beautiful. looks it over. sighs when he leaves the room.

yoooooooooooooo….. so much is happening….

oh my god, it’s very strange to see her in a dress, but yeah. definitely no mics going on there. 

okay, so this guy they are meeting is “cobra”. and scully wants to know why she’s here. cobra wants assurance the science won’t fall into the wrong hands. and they drink to the future. 

and he says he must tell her something else. it’s not the cure for cancer. “it’s the holiest of grails, dana. it’s the cure for all human disease” HEY, don’t call her dana….. and how would that even be possible?

she asks how. and he says it’s largely extraterrestrial. “then you would be cured”, she points out.

“that which makes miracles also makes great evil”- he claims that others would use this to choose who would live and who would die

she’s thinking. he says he’s a lonely man. girl……… if you could see my face right now……. is this gonna get weird as fuck….?

he gets up. and someone else is watching her from behind. she seems to be freaking tf out, but sits right there. is she going to make a run for it?

outside, CSM smokes a cigarette. someone meets him- the guy from the bushes. “cobra hasn’t shown” “what do you want to do?” “wait. what else can we do?” LMAO at his sassy tone. but bush guy says that scully won’t wait forever. he tells bush guy to do his damn job.

she didn’t eat the cake brought out for her. but someone slipped her a note, saying to go to a cove. HMMMMM…. what is afoot????

so her and CSM are unmooring a boat. she must have told him about the note, because he knows where the cove is. and he tells her to wait when she gets there.

scully starting a boat is hot. i’ll say it. CSM tells her to head out. he looks so unthreatening in his old man hunting jacket. someone is watching her…. 

another boat approaches. boat diplomacy time. this guy says finally we meet. BUT SOMEONE HAS A SNIPER RIFLE TRAINED ON HER!!! is it CSM?!!! 

"cobra" hands her a CD. she asks where it comes from. he asks if she’s scully. yes, but we haven’t spoken before, she says! he seems very confused!

and blam!!! the cobra guy is shot!! it was the bush guy!! and he shoots for her next!!!!! but he misses!!! she ducked!! and again!!!! BUT CSM GOT HIS ASS FIRST??? kills him and then places a gun next to his head??????????

what is going ONNNNN. so he had this guy follow scully so he could kill cobra and her but then CSM got him before he could kill scully?!

another tally is added to the CSM kill count.

she starts up the boat and gets tf out of there while scary music plays. CSM comes out to see her. she’s mad as fuck. she is five feet two inches of sheer fury because he said no one else knew about this. she hands the CD to him. and he hands it back. saying she has to go. 

back in mulder's apartment, the gunmen are looking through it. mulder is avoiding her gaze. it’s loading. they report that the CD is empty. scully says it can’t be. mulder still won’t look at her. 

she goes back to CSM’s office with mulder in tow. bursts in. and it’s completely empty. she yells that he was here. mulder says it was the perfect con. scully truly believed him and how vulnerable he seemed.

back by the pennsylvania river, CSM holds the disk. tosses it into the river. and lights up another cigarette. 

you know what that means: he's back to his dark and twisted ways.

the end.

BRO…..

so he was using her the whole time. but she really believed him. i guess that is what happens when you wrestle with the devil- he makes you believe. part of me is saying “why would she believe him?”, but she hasn’t really had to deal with him 1 on 1 before- at least not in the "him dangling answers over her head" kind of way before- and hearing about his lies and falling for them are 2 different things….

so what did he want? did he really want to make right??? and that is why he threw that CD into the river?? so no one could ever use it for evil- even if that means he’ll die? i don’t buy it. i don’t buy anything about him. but what else would be on the CD that he would want destroyed and could gain by impersonating scully? i guess maybe i DO think that is what happened.

you just never know with this guy. there had to be something important on there. CSM kills sparingly, most of the time, except for the melissa incident that caused everyone to think he was getting sloppy. so to set that guy up to kill scully but then kill him first….

AUGH. i know this story will NEVER be explored again. so you have to take what you get and embrace it- i really enjoyed this episode. i love a scully-centric one. i love not knowing what is going to happen next and sitting at the edge of my seat. i love mulder knowing so fully and deeply that he would always find her- but he didn’t this time. she hid it from him. and he seemed so hurt. is it that she didn’t tell him, or that she fell for the same man who told him all of those lies? both? angst! angst for those with the eyes to see it!

CSM as an MSR shipper is sooooo funny. 

i really liked this one. so often the narrative focuses on mulder and how he falls for manipulation, but scully isn’t immune to the same thing- you just have to use different levers with her. a cure for cancer…. of course she would fall right in. she almost died from it. she watched so many others die agonizing deaths from it. something so fantastic… we like to think we could resist the devil offering us the fruit, but the devil knows just what fruit our heart most desires, doesn’t he? 

and then mulder dealing with the angst she is so used to feeling- watching someone you love being taken in by lies, falling for half-truths, the feeling of betrayal in not being told what is going on... oh yeah, that was SO good. as was his determination to find her that ultimately proved fruitless. i LOVE a worried mulder that will move heaven and hell to find scully. and i love the inverse of that, as well. GOD. he was so scared. he called her MOM and burst in on skinner. loverboy. loverboy... he got scared. and now he's angry.

there were some weirdly tense moments between scully and CSM, and i was worried it was going to get, for lack of a better word… unconsensual. particularly when he got her that dress and then said he was a lonely man… oh, i was scared. AND when she accused him of drugging her. we all know that this show is not behind doing some freaky shit. luckily, it did not steer in this direction. but the subtext was there. thankfully, that was all it remained. scully has undergone some weird shit at the hands of these writers, but not today.

everyone say thank you to mr. william for cooking up this banger ep. excellent character meditation on scully. excellent character meditation on CSM, even if we still don’t know what he really feels. i guess i do believe that he is dying and perhaps there is some small part of him that wants to atone for all the terrible things he did. but how he could go about doing that… WOULD he find the alien cure to all diseases and destroy it? it certainly wouldn’t clear his name in any meaningful way if he destroyed a secret document that no one would ever know about- but would it clear his soul to know that it couldn't be used for evil?

hmm. hmmmmm. hmm. so much to ponder. and it seems a wedge has been driven between our agents now, after scully ran off without telling him anything. and he never got the tapes, so he didn’t know her rationale. i’m sure their next few meetings were quite… tense. especially after the kerfuffle with the pine bluff variant where he did sort of the same thing and she was soooo mad at him. 

so much to think about!!!

[bumlets-appreciation-blog]

Six Years of Newsies Observations

(Post Deletion Repost)

I’ve been a Newsies fan for almost six years now and I have this gigantic list of slightly deranged observations and opinions about the movie that I’ve been curating for that time. Since the list is 16 pages/348 points long, I won’t be posting everything but I will be posting the highlights. Please keep in mind that I started the list when I was 17 and I had a massive crush on most of the characters at the time. Hope y'all enjoy!

1. I did not fucking realize that a lot of those random ass black and white behind the scene pictures of the boys were also in the compilation of pictures during the intro. I feel like such an idiot!

5. Bumlets sleeps in the bunk next to the window on the other side of Mush and just flips to the other side of the bed to go back to sleep when Kloppman comes in to wake them up. It’s very relatable.

10. Jack is just casually flicking shaving cream at Mush for no reason whatsoever.

11. Blink really was about to punch Crutchy. “Equal rights, equal fights” indeed.

13. If I remember correctly, the real Mush Meyers got his name either because of his skin color or because he was really sweet on his girl.

19. I genuinely don’t understand what Kloppman is hoping to accomplish by counting the boys as they come dancing down the stairs.

21. Love that little redhead kid by the way. He’s so aggressive.

33. “How ‘bout a crooked politician?” “Hey stupid, that ain’t news no more!” Some things never change ¯\_(ツ)_/¯!

36. I love the older boys playing with the younger ones. They really are brothers.

42. I first saw this movie when I was seventeen and I still don’t understand the “shrimp” insult. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense, it’s just worded in the most ridiculous way.

45. I love the close-up of Les’s blank face. I genuinely do.

47. Bumlets swings his stick around a lot. How many people got hit while filming?

49. Maybe I’m biased because Weasel’s a dickhead, but I feel like if you’re a dickhead who works primarily with teenage boys and you have a ridiculous name, you should be prepared to be made fun of. They probably wouldn’t even make fun of you as much if you weren’t such a dickhead!!!

52. That poor two-headed baby in Brooklyn.

57. “This is my brother Davey. He’s older,” “Oh, no kiddin’”

59. Bumlets has a higher voice than I expected. It’s not ridiculously high or anything, but I just look at Dominic and expect something deeper. I do love how it sounds, though.

63. Excuse me, that poor three-headed baby in Brooklyn.

64. I feel like if you wanted a good headline, maybe write about the nude corpse instead of the three-week-long trolley strike.

72. “All this for one sip of beer?” Best line hands down.

74. Jack screams like he actually fell off the roof; the little drama queen.

78. Les should be an actor. Medda agrees.

79. Also, can Medda marry me? She’s gorgeous and I love her.

80. The first few times I watched this scene, I thought Medda called the boys her “kids” instead of her “guests.” Sometimes, I like to pretend, though.

85. Les is smoking a piece of licorice! He’s so precious!!!

89. Sarah should’ve had more screen time. She doesn’t have much, but we can see she has such good bones that it breaks my heart that we didn’t see more of her.

96. Dave clearly has no idea what “carrying the banner” actually means.

97. I was a mess at seventeen, but I can’t imagine being that broken and lonely. I will defend movie!Jack with my life.

99. I unironically love the Santa Fe dance break.

101. “Nobody told the horse.”

106. I hate that they turned the “sleeping on the streets” line into a joke in the Broadway show. It’s horrifying that this is something kids have to worry about.

112. David tells Les to shut up after he says strike.

116. I love that one kid with the bowler hat who’s super excited about beating up other kids. His energy is unparalleled.

118. Itey trying to encourage Dave is sweet.

120. Having Les be the only one standing other than Dave during the “and the young stand tall” line is such a great shot.

123. The same number of boys go to Queens and the East Side. Clearly, Jack knew that Pie-Eater, Snoddy, and Snipeshooter were not going to be as effective as Bumlets, Specs, and Skittery in spreading the word about the strike.

131. Yes, Dave is a Walking Mouth and we love him for it.

132. I love that Spot is a tiny fifteen-year-old boy, but he’s clearly the scariest person in the city. He’s running a newsboy mafia, for God’s sake.

134. David should’ve sung more. Like solos and everything.

135. Bumlets has bouncy hair and I love it.

141. I’m lowkey obsessed with the “Solomona and Hart Used Bookstore” behind Denton.

142. When he’s running up the ramp, Bumlets tosses his head to get the hair out of his eyes and it’s so good.

144. Skittery was trying so hard to jump on that kid’s back and it’s just not working out.

147. So many of the younger boys have sticks. Are they trying to copy Bumlets, Skittery, or both?

150. I bet the boys feel awful about Crutchy. I guarantee that Kloppman gave them the worst lecture of their lives when they got home without him.

153. I saw someone say that Movie!Crutchy not wanting to be carried was a sign that he had internalized ableism and I kind of want to scream just thinking about it. Maybe Crutchy just has boundaries.

155. “Seize the Day” (choral version) is so pretty. I’m sure all of these men and teenage boys would be thrilled to hear that I think they sound “pretty.”

157. I’ve got a still of Bumlets in that scene and if I ever make a Newsies blog, that’s what the icon is gonna be. I’m gonna try and find either a GIF or a picture of the newspaper photo for the banner. (AND I DID!!!)

161. Jack looking at David right before yelling, “Let’s soak ‘em for Crutchy!” was an apology because it was literally the exact opposite of what David just told them to do.

162. I just love how all of these grown-ass men are so eager to beat up children. It’s so charming, isn’t it? Fuck all of them.

164. “Never fear, Brooklyn is here!”

168. I think if I had been younger when I’d seen this movie for the first time, I would’ve imprinted on Spot Conlon like a baby duck. Instead, I was seventeen and now Bumlets is stuck with me.

169. Bumlets smiles into the camera and then changes to a surprised look. I think Dominic Lucero forgot he wasn’t supposed to be smiling until the last second.

170. Jack “No Pictures” Kelly smiling like an angel in a group full of beautiful disasters is my aesthetic.

177. I can wax poetic for hours about Bumlets’s hair, but when Snoddy runs his hands through his hair, it’s just as beautiful.

179. Giving Race’s “Sheepshead” line to a different newsie in the Broadway musical was so stupid. His name is literally Racetrack!

182. The exchange Race had with Itey was adorable.

185. I love Racetrack’s voice.

186. Bumlets’s hair goes flip.

189. Nothing’s better than watching a grown-ass man crawl on the floor to get to his place for the next shot.

190. FAN SPIN!!!!!!

192. Bumlets is the last to get the paper and I guarantee that he gave it to Kloppman as soon as they got back to the Lodging House.

196. “Our man Denton!”

197. “That’s Jack!” “You know this boy?” “No, never heard of him!” Jesus Christ Crutchy.

199. “That’s an unusual name for these parts” is on par with Crutchy’s conversation with Snyder in terms of ridiculousness. Bless you, Specs.

204. Sarah is so pretty like wtf.

208. “It’s the same sun as here.” I need more of Sarah gently calling out the boys on their stupidity. I bet she’d do numbers on Skittery and his misanthropy.

212. Robert Duvall really threw his whole-ass heart and soul into this movie.

215. I saw the theater exterior in pictures from Universal’s back lot. I tried picking out other locations, but since they’re more dressed up in the movie, it was hard to know for sure which locations were which.

218. “High Times, Hard Times” is such a fun song.

222. Blink, Race, and Medda dancing together is cute.

223. Bumlets, Swifty, and Snoddy are dancing behind them.

230. “Gotta kiss Medda goodbye even though I’m about to be arrested!” — Jack Kelly

233. Seeing Medda try to defend Race is heartbreaking.

234. “For God’s sake, he’s just a child, can’t you see that?” Fucking ouch.

241. “On the grounds of Brooklyn, your honor.”

245. Les loves Jack so much.

249. It’s really sweet that Mr. Tibby tried to turn down payment from Denton and even sweeter that Denton paid anyway because Lord knows those boys eat a lot, and giving food away for free like Tibby was gonna (I’m assuming) would be a huge loss for him.

255. “Racetrack, watch him,” and no hesitation on Race’s part to grab Les.

257. Jack lowkey implying that Pulitzer fought for the Confederacy is hysterical.

260. Dave damn near killed a man with the horse trick he pulled.

262. The “Santa Fe” reprise is heartbreaking.

267. Spot was gonna rip Jack’s head off lol.

268. They had to drag him to the back of the group to keep the angry kitten from committing murder.

273. Les is too good for this world and all of the older boys trying to comfort him was heartwarming.

278. I think the little redhead boy is on strike, too! He’s not in the distribution center and it looks like Morris was doing his job.

281. Sweet face? Is that really the best he could come up with?

286. Jack running to David’s rescue in a shaft of sunlight is cinematic poetry.

291. Dave is a snarky little shit.

296. Mush looks so happy to see Jack.

299. Race asking the kids if they know how to read is very considerate and period accurate. Maybe he read the Banner to the kids who couldn’t read.

302. “Disgraceful Denty!”

306. Sweet little Les and his twenty older brothers.

310. I can find Bumlets in the little end shot of “The World Will Know” reprise with all of the other kids. I scared a friend doing that.

312. “It’s like the end of the world! Oh dear, I didn’t say that.”

315. Is Pulitzer aware that the kids probably can’t hear him? Is he aware that they hate him and wouldn’t listen even if they could?

318. Jack tells Les first!!

321. Skittery and Tumbler hugging and then doing the spit shake asdfghjkl!!!

324. “Make friends with the rats. Share what you’ve got in common.”

327. You can kind of see Race and Bumlets talking behind Denton. I think Bumlets is telling Race about Roosevelt.

331. Les is crying! That’s illegal!!

332. Blink’s Chin Tap™

336. Mush and Dave have an underrated friendship.

338. “I got family here.” My heart!

344. I don’t know if I’m jealous of Jack or Sarah. (I wrote this part when I was seventeen and still think it’s funny)

345. Bumlets, Blink, and Snoddy are hanging onto each other!!!

348. The final shot is Tumbler being an adorable bean <3!!

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: BONUS- Chapter 22

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

Yall I am sick as heck. I tested for the plague and it does not seem to be that, but I defo have a head cold/sinus thing going on.

I did something wild and a little unhinged and made my matcha latte with a protein shake like i'm some sort of athlete instead of a feeble old man. I also have enough vitamins running through me courtesy of ener-c to fuel a football team.

Still feel like ass, but this chapter was a solid up to my day.

Before we even get into it, based on the title of this chapter I can already tell I am not ready. The fact that there are TWO Binghe's is already telling me there is a metric shit-ton of threesome PWP on Ao3

Oh! okay! It's like an immediate continuation of the story. I totally thought we would be skipping a bunch of time or something, yay! this is a good surprise. p11

I forgot about the bamboo house replica LBH made for SQQ. It is so cute that he got the bamboo to actually grow in this realm. p11

LOL ofc LBH is sulking because SQQ will not sleep in the same bed as him. p12

I feel like based on the chapter title and the behaviour of the Binghe we have here that this is not the sweet Binghe we know and love. p15

How has LBH constantly pulling AWAY from SQQ not triggered some red flags for this man. Normally LBH makes every excuse to attach himself to SQQ. p16

okay LOL now SQQ finally questions it p18

Ming Fan you fucking narc! No one asked you to go get the other peaks involved. so rude! p19

Dang. Liu Qingge really is all or nothing. He is truly doing the lords work trying to constantly save SQQ from himself. The fact that he keeps picking up his literal shit every time this guy gets himself into A Situation is telling. Not enough respect for this guy, truly. p21

Oh god, well. RIP SQQ because this LBH is most definitely an imposter! p23

(I literally cannot read what I wrote for this note/I think my hand was working slower than my brain and many words are missing in the sentence. I think I was TRYING TO SAY): This Binghe is evil as shit and SQQ still has not confirmed. I am a little bit worried if this Binghe is here- where is the other one????? Is he okay??? p26

Yeah! You correct that asshole Ying Ningning. (If you can't tell this character really grew on me- she had the glow up for sure for sure). p27

I do love that this evil Binghe get's to have some internal dialogue that we read, "Like fuck you do!" p28

OMG. This evil Binghe totally did read the BingQiu porn and is taking his "shizun" for a test run. Oh no! Does good Binghe stop this??? p31

Thank fuck SQQ finds out who this Binghe is (though he sort of was not complaining about the man handling at all). Bless for good Binghe for showing up too! pp32-33

Bless his heart, "In the end, he and Luo Binghe were too unfamiliar with each other's bodies. That was why it had taken him so long to figure out what was wrong here" P35 Okay but I do love that his response to all of this is definitely- "me and Binghe need to be more intimate in case this situation happens again. I will definitely fix this for the future".

The way SQQ is just clutching his pearls this chapter is killing me LOL the romance novel energy is too much. "Shen Qingqiu was stunned silent. Playing around with who? Playing around with me? Bing-ge you...you'd accept all corners?! Welcoming both men and women! Is this something like 'both meat and fish are fine- I'm not picky, I'll eat whatever I'm given'?" P37

SQQ: "What the fuck am I supposed to tell anyone..." Also SQQ: p39

Oh no! Bing-ge is getting into Bing-mei's head. Leave the poor boy alone, he is very sensitive. All the while SQQ is trying to get the little guy to just focus on dealing with Bing-ge. p41

Since this is a different Binghe, I have decided to add another dime to the demon blood mite bank. I believe we are at $0.60 which is TOO damn much. p44

It is highly effective! p46

Oh no. Now Bing-ge is having feelings. Understandable though- he really did get the shit story where in everything is terrible and he has no real support. Bro just wanted some softness. p47

Oop. Well. I guess Bing-mei is going to attempt to level up some skills today. p49

Luo Binghe and his Dick Weapon (TM). p52

Blessed be, we have some sort of lube. I am literally so glad for this. The way my body viscerally reacted to their last scene- this is not much of an improvement, but they are getting there. p55

Oh no, and they're both crying now. p57

Thank fuck his disciples did NOT decide to fix the roof. p60 that would have been one heck of a surprise.

Okay, but this is so tender. Look at them both growing and learning. p61

LOL LBH is DETERMINED to learn. "Shen Qingqiu knew what he wanted to ask and mercilessly spoke first, "awful." However this time, even after receiving criticism, Luo Binghe wasn't depressed. Rather, he exuberantly declared, "Yes, it was awful. Unacceptably awful." "what are you saying...?" "Because it was simply awful, this disciple requests that his Shizun assist him with further exploration." Well." p62

It could have been worse!

These two are so damn weird. Good for them, but also, it's too much LOL. One is self sacrificing, the other is needy as HELL. It must have been so weird for BIng-ge to witness; drastically different version of himself!

[toyouhellohowareyou]

Here's your ⭐

Director's cut!

Okay, so I pestered Dark to pick a fic and we're going with

Mandatory Puppy Pile

So let's get to it.

So Depletion was the first fic of @somer-writes I can remember reading. Halfway through reading I started leaving dumbass comments and getting dumbass replies.

Depletion is about the Chain being so damn hurt and exhausted and filthy they're all ready to strangle each other. Twilight, in his sleep deprived state, drags everyone together while they're sleeping despite the fact some of them very much want to not be around anyone else right now, and waking up to find you've been moved is a bit not good.

The Gang Discuss ✨Consent✨

The non-consensual puppy pile joke was born somewhere in the comments there, and eventually I had enough material to do something with it, it was also a couple of weeks after Somer's birthday and Skip (hi Skip!) had gotten us on a server together by this point. The fic summary is almost word for word the first thing I said about it in the chat.

This thing went through a lot of names, the original was Non-Consensual Puppy Pile, but it was also 'enforced', and 'compulsory' in various versions. Title change to avoid misunderstanding lol.

This one's kinda hard to breakdown because it's comedy lol. This is the funniest thing I've got published for sure. It's my second most popular by most metrics after Moon Pearls.

Okay!

The reason I did most things is "because I thought it'd be funny"

Fake out intro? 'cause I thought it'd be funny.

Four's the main narrator as I needed someone who was going to observe without getting involved in things too much and I was comfortable writing him.

Wars is the main secondary because somer ships 'em lol.

I mostly plotted this cackling to myself in my car during my commute.

The boys are jetlaggedddddddd. I couldn't use the word 'jetlag' but that's what it was.

Sky is sleeping because it's in character and cuts down the number of characters. Similar to Time faking it, the man cannot be fucked with this. He is eepy, let him rest.

Wars thinks being boring when it’s perfectly acceptable to be losing your shit is what makes you an adult. He's not entirely wrong though.

Legend tries to escape by playing fetch. There's a 'Legend tries to make fetch happen' tag no one has ever commented on but I like it.

“LEGEND TURNED INTO A RABBIT!” wails Wind.

Legend looks at himself, looks at them, runs some calculation in his head, then joins in the wailing, “TWILIGHT CAN TURN PEOPLE INTO RABBITS!” Legend immediately throwing Twi under a bus to protect his secret. The gang now believe Twilight can turn people into rabbits. This is never questioned.

Twi refusing to stop staring at Wars as he tries to take a leak and everyone giggling about it. I have no excuse.

TWILIGHT POV This was fun and is most people's fav bit. He's a good boy mmmk? He's a good provider. He loves them so much. This was the original premise. He's such a dumbass, I love you wolfbrain Twi.

He leaps on it, sinking his teeth into the back of its neck. His teeth are so bad at this today! He picks up a rock and hits it many times. So noisy! But it works! I love this line okay? The mental image, he tried to chew through the back of it's neck then bludgeoned the poor thing to death when that didn't work. The boar is screaming, the children are screaming, the tone is so casual and simplistic. lol

The puppies scream in delight.

“TWILIGHT, WHAT THE FUCK?!”

They are not eating? Ah. They are too little. He needs to break it up for them. He grabs a leg and wrenches it.

“GODDESS’ MERCY AT LEAST LET ME USE A KNIFE, TWILIGHT!”

More delighted screaming.

This is most people's favourite bit including mine. Twi brain says one thing, dialogue says another lol.

Smallest puppy takes it delicately, “Thanks, Twi. Good boy.” Four just runs with it

Four is secret MVP in a lot of my stuff including this because he has The Braincell and a bit of chill. In love the boys being friends and bouncing off each other and knowing each other. Them plotting revenge against each other constantly is part of this.

Again it's Wars with Twi for the shippin'.

Wind's “This group is a nightmare, I haaaaaaate you!” Is another Depletion joke, but it was about Legend in that.

How to end it? We go full circle, Twi wakes up and is told not to let any of them leave by Sky who missed all the drama and the reason why.

He loves them so much ❤️

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Random Star Trek thoughts now that my parents and I are a decent ways in to the first season of the original series. (none of us has ever seen the full show from start to finish, despite them being born in the 60's)

How many godlike alien races who want to watch the human race struggle for funsies like a twisted TV program are there in this universe

How do people dislike Enterprise when season one of the original series exists? Like how do you justify that? Kirk makes more ridiculous mistakes than Archer ever did and Kirk is around when humans have been in space for 100+ years! Enterprise was the FIRST, of course they were naive and made stupid mistakes and offended random aliens. What's Kirk's excuse? (I know out of story it's because the ~lore~ and ~worldbuilding~ were still in the process of being created, but seriously. what is people's beef with Enterprise and how DO they justify it when ssn one of the original exists?)

I love that the godlike alien races who keep kidnapping the crew have been absolutely ridiculous. Like we had the guys who wanted humans to be an attraction in their zoo and were gonna breed them as slaves to fix up their planet for them, only to finally check out Earth's history and go "wholy crap you guys are VIOLENT when in captivity you know what never mind we are afraid of you now plz leave". And then the guys who owned the planet that made whatever you were thinking of real (including, but not limited to, Alice in Wonderland characters, a tiger, a medieval knight, Kirk's Irish nemesis from college, and a WW2 plane that started a strafing run on the poor souls who accidentally summoned it) but neglected to tell the humans what was going on until after Bones DIED. Allegedly. But they brought him back to life, so it's good, right? And then there was the dude who kidnapped Kirk to hunt him for sport based off ancient Earth customs he thought he knew and turned out to be a celestial kindergartner whose parents intervened and grounded him for not playing nice with the people he brought to his planet. And THEN there are the people with the AUDACITY to call humans primitive and violent when they arrested Kirk and the captain of the ship he was pursuing (this is the Gorn episode btw) and plonked them down on the planet to fight to the death and watched it like a tv show because Enterprise and the Gorns dared to enter the part of space NEAR their SOLAR SYSTEM. Not near their planet, their SOLAR SYSTEM. And that's only like, half of them, maybe, I can't keep up with this.

The objectively and unironically best part of every episode is the intro with the silly music and Enterprise flying at high speeds directly at the screen in the most 60's cheesy special effect way possible. I laugh every time.

So very very glad I have watched the movies because the character development is taking a LONG time to get anywhere (I know this is partially due to the fact that the episodes were filmed and aired at different times but wowie).

We found the story about how Martin Luther King Jr. convinced Nicole Nichols to stay on the show and it melted all our hearts and I love her character so much more now.

It took so long for actual ALIENS to be in this space show, seriously, the first like 10 episodes are just How Many Ways Can Humans Sabotage Themselves ~in SPACE~?

Love that humans are so unhinged in this. We cannot be stopped, we WILL improvise adapt and overcome. 10/10 space orc energy.

Actual conversation: My mom: I didn't know if maybe you needed a break from Star Trek. me: mom I used to binge watch classic Doctor Who. I'm fine.

Okay, I'll stop, I am really enjoying it for the most part, especially as the characters personalities start to come out more. As far as I can tell it only gets more enjoyable from season 1 so I'm looking forward to the other seasons!

[noodle-anime]

just! finished saiyuki og series!!! discovered the first resurrected edition volume recently and it has been. well. it's been a journey lol

oooooooooh boy there sure was some Anatomy and Proportions happening in the first volume but it was super fun to see the art style progress actually. it encouraged me to notice more complex poses and things in the later volumes, and when there was an occasional repeat panel like Sanzo and Goku's first look it was very cool to see the difference in quality.

i have a coupla favorite panels/spreads and generally tried to pay a little more attention to how things are precisely laid out and it was a fun aspect of reading. i want to do some actual breakdowns now, maybe compare early and later layouts.

also! i discovered and watched zeroin! my first intro to saiyuki was discovering reload blast forever ago. the art style in zeroin and the fact that there's a whole set of characters i'd never heard of before made it feel like an au or semi-canonical anime movie, sorta, but i enjoyed it So much and there are some specific notes on sanzo characterization that i want to dig into

sanzo is my fave and the kami-sama arc was So Very Good in that respect but it also grew my love for gojyo three sizes.

the way that they all react when gojyo leaves cracks me up so much. they're So Offended. something so funny and also so tasty that they will not under any circumstances admit out loud that they care about gojyo and miss him so instead they're like we are going to Hurt Him (because he hurt us) for Disrupting Our Daily Routine (he's a fundamental part of our lives) and FORCING us to turn this car around (he left with the full knowledge and expectation that they would follow through with actually continuing to pursue this Very Important job like they always said they would)

mmmmm gojyo's savior complex mmmm it's good.

got blasted by the idea of gojyo and hakkai starting an orphanage when they're done with the mission. hakkai was a teacher and still models himself as a "childcare professional"/co-parent to goku and gojyo wants to save somebody So Badly. also good luck resocializing goku to not be killing people/fighting for his life every other day for Two Entire Formative Teenage Years, helping kids and not having it backfire spectacularly in his face would be good for him

i just read the fourth volume so that's most of what i've got on my mind, i know i have More thoughts from the other volumes

besides the fact that sanzo's joints are gonna/have gotta be So Fucked Up. he really is a grandpa. poor guy.

feels good to nail some characterization aspects like genjyo "i'm a coldhearted bastard and you'd better stay out of my way" (developed coping mechanisms to deal with the traumatic loss of a parent and people repeatedly Attacking Him at an early age) sanzo, cho "yes i'm the wife/mother, please excuse these skeletons, the cleaver is only for special occasions" hakkai, sha "i'm the only one here who understands how to be a normal person" (he does not but he does have the highest emotional intelligence) gojyo, and son "i'm a teenager" (he's a teenager, also growing up with the aforementioned trio as parental/familial figures and starting to come into his own!!) goku

not a single one of these men has had a normal relationship or even prolonged interaction with a woman

i had no idea there was a whole brainwashing segment with kougaiji?? and i really want to see more of lirin, there are fun parallels there to explore that i really wanna dig into

i had no idea to what level sanzo was a bastard gremlin with a gun who just Happens to also be the highest of high priests before and now that i do it delights me. the very hypocrisy of his acceptance in his position disgusts him because He Is Not Priest Material but also it's what his dad wanted for him so fuck everybody who tries to take that from him. in any other situation he'd be the shady penniless vagabond gun for hire but koumyou happened. and now we all get to enjoy it.

[sunr1zecoll3ctive]

I need to do an Intro on here so err

Hi! I'm Sunny, I decided to move from Twitter (X) to here due to many reasons but to the main parts!

DNI!!!

Any friends or supporters of Smg4Fan42 (Smg) - reason why is they're an ex-friend i had severe drama with back in around March 2024 to about August 2024. They are (as I'm aware) An art thief (tried to steal designs i wanted back), Doxxer (evidence of), Manipulator, Mental Illness faker, and overall a liar. There is an entire Rentry callout on them for anyone who wants to be more aware about them. They have as the following - Discord, Somewhat rarely active youtube acc, X account and thats all ik of, one of my reasons i came here is to escape them.

Art thiefs

AI art users

Transphobic, Homophobic, gen anyone who hates LGBT

Trump supporters (u know why)

Anybody who thinks abuse, s3xu4l assault etc is "fun"

Gen anything thats bad I can think of

BYI!!

I am not aware of any past drama within the TPC comm. Do not talk to me about it

I'm partially deaf, to those who may vc with me anywhere, I will say "huh" or "what" a lot, be patient, my deafness was caused by a in-ear deformity

I can be (possibly) extremely reactive to anything negative, that means with great anger, I apologize, I've developed this due to my ex-friend

Along with extremely reactive, I can get very emotional, a lot of this stuff is from past drama that has left me scarred

I curse a lot and also use tone tags a lot, lmk if ur not comfortable with any of that

I play games a lot along with draw (also school and family things), so I may not respond sometimes, I apologize for that

ONTO THE MAIN PART!

I'm into the fandoms of the following:

TPC (The Pink Corruption)

Just Shapes and Beats (JSaB)

Phighting! (P!) [Slowly slipping away from fandom for reasons]

Dandys World (DW) [Only playing the game for fun]

Madness Combat (MadCom)

Pressure

Doors

And many more that I am NOT listing

I do some of the following:

Draw Art (90% digitally, 10% Traditionally)

Play games (Roblox is the main)

Listen to Spotify

Talk to friends (obv)

I am Transgender (FtM), Gay (proudly), and love my family (not my dad fuck him). I also have DID/OSDD, but preferably just call me Sunny on all socials I'm active on.

NOTE!!!!

I moved to TPC as a way to escape the drama my ex-friend caused, meaning I see this fandom as not my most favorite, but as a comfort place as well. I came here to finally find new people to talk to and leave everything behind.

I tend to give characters a lot of hcs, so if anything weirds you out, all I'm gonna say is ignore it, cuz few hcs may be real stuff I've dealt/deal with.

I do have my own characters to make art of, but I rarely do, even if I do it might be doodles or reference sheets for them.

EXTRA

I tend to get confused alot, pls excuse that

I am a MINOR! (15), but that doesn't mean I won't do most things older people will do. I apologize for that. Still keep the minor thing in mind

I have a lovely older brother [FtM] (and younger brother but he ain't relevant) I may reference to sometimes as either Zolo or Austyn, they do not have Tumblr but I've been trying to get them to get it

I have a lovely Manx cat named Spade, I've had her for about a year now since August 2023. I also have 2 dogs, one a Blue Pitbull named Bluex (pronounced Blue) and an unknown breed dog named Pinky (she's a rescue off the streets)

I draw on Ibis with just my finger! I'm way too poor to afford a fancy drawing tablet

Commission Status:

Currently on! Only accepting payments via CashApp. Message me for information, though I will not do

Anything 18+

Anything related to abuse, s3xu4l assault etc

Anything political and/or relating to any real life wars/conflicts (EX: Ukraine Russian War)

What I may do:

Anything with smoking etc. Only to a certain extent

Bl00d, g0re, body horror etc. Only to a certain extent

I will do:

Anything I didn't list above (about)

MORE INFO!

I do not own any AUs, and I do not have any other socials to post on except here and Twitter (currently inactive). I do not post/share on YouTube

I have Discord, ask for username first

PLS @ IF ANY FANART ETC!!

I do not post on any tags I own, most tags are fandom tags or random tags I add in

FUN FACTS!

Longest time it took me to do an Artwork was 6 hours, nothing has went over as far as I'm aware)

I'm sound and touch sensitive, it has not been proven if I'm autistic or not.

I've lived in only two areas in my entire life. Not sharing

Only devices you'll catch me playing anything on is my phone and my 7 year old Xbox one which surprisingly works.

That is all, may update soon!!

[dandyshucks]

okay okay here we go - very messy off-the-cuff oc intro under the cut with some design sketches + doodles (IT'S KIND OF LONG):

random other doodle (another system member's self portrait i think? idk djfkdl) for the last pic there sorry fhdksl it was just a handy photo i had on hand that had almost the same dimensions for tumblrs cropping shenanigans (also that one emoji is there in the first pic bc i couldn't get that eye to cooperate fjkdkl)

anyhowdy uhhmm heres Theodor and Philby... Theodor uses he/she and Philby uses they/it and I'm literally just now realizing that they cover the main four bases wtf ... that was not intentional but it is funky and fun !! Theodor has a few nicknames like Teddy, Dory, Theo, etc, while Philby is is just Philby (their full name is Philbert but only their parents call them that LOL)

Theodor has a port wine stain birthmark on his left cheek ! and Philby potentially has rosacea but I'm still looking into that to make sure I'm not pulling any shitty moves if I'm going to have that be a part of their character. they (Philby) use mobility aids occasionally, generally just a cane, sometimes crutches, but they also have a wheelchair on hand for more difficult days.

Teddy is an interesting mix of very patient and loving while also sometimes cocky and impulsive, so he sometimes say things that are unintentionally hurtful or offensive (but is learning to apologize swiftly to help mend his mistakes). to people who don't know him well, he might come across as arrogant occasionally. he enjoys designing clothing items that Philby will often sew up for him, as well as experimenting with different coloured art mediums (pastels, paint, chalk, etc) and makeup (he is absolutely a skincare girlie fjfkdl). he comes from a family that's well-off (definitely upper class but not necessarily wealthy) so he's used to having money to throw around and doesn't quite fully grasp what it's like to be poor or working (or even middle) class, so there's some butting of heads there.

Philby comes from a working class family, not poor but definitely lower class lol. they have a fair amount of pride and can be kind of prickly, but they're extremely thoughtful and can be very kind and patient when they want to be. they're very practical and well-organized, and is integral to keeping things running smoothly in the household. they're very skilled with sewing and they also happen to be a good cartoonist! it takes a bit for them to warm up to new people, but they're usually just neutral and maybe a bit blunt with people they don't know well. if they dislike a person, they tend to have an attitude of "i don't want to waste any of my time on this person" and avoids the person rather than taking the time and energy to decide if they want to be pointedly rude or remain polite.

both of them are really good with kids in their own way! Philby likes being fun and clownish while Teddy prefers to be more of a comforting ... well... teddy bear sort of presence LOL. both of them are super patient w kids though, and they love to spend time helping out with kids when someone needs a babysitter! (why yes this is almost entirely just an excuse for me to think abt how they'd be so good with the kiddos in our system LMAO) if they ever ran a daycare or preschool together they'd be absolutely phenomenal at it, especially since they make up for what the other lacks in their approaches to interacting with children.

Theo prefers kitschy grandma-type aesthetics in both clothing and decor, while Philby enjoys a lot of bright colours and fun patterns that would fit more into "c.lowncore" and "k.idcore" aesthetics (with some occasional punk influences). Theo enjoys a lot of clothing that is maybe considered more feminine, while Philby just wears whatever is comfortable and brightly coloured, occasionally with some blacks to make the colours pop more!

they have a really interesting contrasting dynamic, Theo being a "gentle giant" while also being somewhat impulsive and more prone to hurting people accidentally with his words, and Philby being smaller in stature and more prickly but also much more thoughtful and careful with their words and actions.

also bonus funny thing: Theodor had a trad g.oth phase as a teen in highschool that lasted a couple years hehe

[bearmemesreviews]

FotW: SDMI - The Song of Mystery

Well, it looks like we have a special case on our hands, as we have not one but TWO creatures for our fifth MI review. For this occasion, we'll do things a little differently than usual. Can our new ghouls beat the Crab Man as our current contender for best monster so far? No.

However, we still have to review them so let's talk about Que Horrifico and the use of Mayans in Horror Media. Yeah, we gotta address this at some point. Cultural influence is unavoidable in all genres, but there is a tendency to use a very quickly researched creature or even deity from other cultures to give a name to what might as well be an original demon or spirit in a kids cartoon or other horror media. This can range from passible, and sometimes informative, deep cuts in mythology getting representation in the mainstream for future creators to further research and enjoy - or it can result in what happened to many Indigenous Spirits I cannot name.

Not gonna' go deep into the Cannibal Deer furries white people call a name you aren't even supposed to state if you don't want to bring misfortune upon yourself but understand that I think the "let artists do what they want" mantra is a cowardly and reductive way to excuse poor research and abysmal treatment of Non-White folklore. Though sometimes, like today's episode, we're just talking about a fully original entity who's meant to "evoke" a culture rather than represent it.

Lets talk about the Made-up Mayan Monster from the talking dog show.

Backstory: During a random stint of babysitting for Daphne (genuinely the weirdest member of the gang to use for this role, and she never does this again), she hears a pan flute being played outside of her kid's house. Before she can check it out, a commotion draws her to the boy she was sitting to find him transformed into a monster. Now "Spookified", as the show puts it, the child proceeds to attack Daph and chase her out of the house.

The kid doesn't follow her as she runs outside, but Daphne soon discovers that the entire neighborhood has had its children turned into monsters. Before the intro, we see the mummified pan flute player disappear into some mist.

Daphne draws the rest of the gang into the mystery, and they soon discover that the entire town of Crystal Cove has slowly been overrun by the monster kids. The adults in town - including those without children possibly? - are then literally driven away, unable to return to their homes as the kids remain Spookified even during daytime hours. Effectively abandoning their kids to their own bestial devices.

This will not be the worst parenting you'll see in this show.

The first suspect, and not just for the Mystery Gang, is Luis de Potrillo, an exchange teacher for Honor's Social Studies. It is through his class that the cast find out about the fictional "legend" of Que Horrifico, who has no real origin but acts as a Pied Piper-esque boogeyman for South America.

Mr. Potrillo also suspects himself, believing that he's turning into the monster like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Sometimes these weird one-off characters show up in future episodes, but it feels odd when some just drop off the face of the earth like this guy. Especially since he's one of the few adults in town who don't treat the gang like garbage.

Reveal: The culprit is fairly obvious since she's the only other newly introduced side character of the episode, child genius and Fred's current Civics tutor Mary Anne Gleardan. The children turn out to not be actual monsters, as a turned-on television eventually makes them break character just to sit down and watch a cartoon. The kids were merely dressing up as miniature ghouls at the behest of Mary Anne who promised them "Utopia" - before finally getting their full cooperation with the promise of free candy instead.

Jamie Neutron here wanted to be part of the Town's council, since she's obviously smart enough to actually run it, but was rejected for her age. And like most child geniuses, she had the technical skill and smarts to create a convulated scheme to scare every adult out of Crystal Cove to turn it into some kind of Kinderstate. However, she still retains the child-like logic of not realizing what that actually entails since she'd have to eventually create her own police state filled with nothing but toddlers in Halloween makeup.

They canonically throw this child into jail for how much money the town wasted on trying to merchandise Que Horrifico.

Design: Que Horrifico, which you can tell with a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish means "How Horrific", is a "Mayan inspired" monster that is otherwise a fully original creature. It wears a semi-golden mask and ragged poncho based on the South American culture. Its mask is evocative of a monkey, with those Rangda teeth that jut outwards and "earring"-like shapes built beneath its molded ears. There's a metal piece attached to the "hat" that's also part of the mask, resembling those antennae-shaped features you'd see on a samurai helmet.

The show surprisingly never makes an Egyptian mummy, which is a staple of Scooby-media, and instead makes Que Horrifico a mummified ghoul with dull blue skin, black nails, and tattered bandages wrapped around most of its body with a few gaps for easier movement. Its hair is also long and white, connecting its design to the Spookified kids in a cool way.

As for The Spookified, they all resemble the child extras under the makeup, but with longer white hair and eyebrows, clawed extremities, fangs, and glowing yellow eyes. They mostly act like Gremlins and use their youthful energy to leap and flip around like a swarm of fast zombies. They're clothing is also torn up a bit, and they resort to hissing and growling while in-character.

I'm at odds with Que Horrifico, though I think the creature kids are a decent design for what amounts to a non-zombie "Horde". It feels odd how they avoided actually drawing any inspiration from real mythology and mostly did a South American "take" on the Pied Piper. It's not even bad, just weird, but as a Horror enthusiast who's experienced the way media and their fandoms butcher cannibal spirits and Hoodoo it does make me more forgiving when a show plays it safe.

In a way, I feel like Que Horrifico WOULD exist as a folktale, but specifically one made up by locals to scare tourists into behaving better. ESPECIALLY, if they're dragging their kids along for the trip. It's design is also just really cool, I can't comment on the mask because it could just be utter nonsense from a Geographical or Historical standpoint - I'm not the crazy teacher, I don't know what those masks specifically mean.

From a quick glance though, the semblance to a monkey might be intentional because Howler Monkeys in Maya culture are considered wise and are often connected with artistry - fitting both the culprit and her gimmick.

Final Ratings

Que Horrifico: 4/5

The Spookified: 3/5

Hmmm, maybe I should review the creature design of Maya and the Three...

[malicemuffin]

Maybe it'll help to write my problems out with the beginning? And what I'm struggling with.

So the OG plan was that we start off with a basic intro chapter of Nicoe and end that chapter with her getting notice that due to poor performance, she's going under review and will go through some trials. There was going to be a bit of a mystery of "why does nicoe suck so bad at this job in comparison to other celestials" in addition to other stuff: introducing the moon cult, lunacy, monsters, and hinting at the upcoming celestial civil war.

I feel like I'm being stupid though. Why make the "why" a mystery? That should be the draw. Nicoe isn't good at being a celestial because her lil celestial soul gem is broken and she's got access to like... 25% of the power she really should. I feel like that's "why" a person would read it. It doesn't need to be some reveal (well it can be in the first chapter, but no after 10 of them).

And there can still be mystery elements because: why is her gem broken, how the fuck is she still alive when this kills every other celestial, and is she trying to get herself killed (yes).

Another thing for me is that I don't want to start "at the beginning," where Nicoe becomes a celestial and then meets remi and all that jazz. I'd like to start as close to the middle of the story as possible. Mostly because I think that some elements are more fun if it's backstory that gets filled in later and not stuff that just occurs.

The only problem with that though is that you lose that kind of introductory element. If you start off at the very beginning where Nicoe becomes a Celestial, you can more easily introduce world building stuff because she's so new to it all still. But she would have two years of experience here, so she already knows a bunch of concepts and stuff and things don't need to be explained to her (and therefor to the audience). Remi ideally should be the character who needs stuff explained to her, but Remi has also been there for two years. Granted, Remi's memory is as bad as mine so maybe she needs stuff re-explained? But like. As an example: the soul gem being broken. Obviously that's a big deal. But how do you introduce that as a big deal?

Hmm... actually thinking about it... interrupting the previous chain of thought. In the original script, Nicoe is keeping her broken soul gem a secret-- for plot reasons but also for the reveal. But if it's not a "reveal" anymore, does she still need to keep it a secret?

In-story, broken soul gems (i need to stop calling them soul gems) are an issue because they make the celestial much weaker-- which is a problem because not all celestials are good. Some of them will even cannibalize (not flesh, just the soul gem) other celestials for a power boost. So a broken celestial just walking around would be an easy snack.

There's that, but also we have the celestial civil war that's starting to brew. Ursa Minor is trying to keep out of it, and they can do this based on the perception of their power. Polaris is a big factor in this (obviously she's not the only star who matters here, but she's a big one). ...But if Polaris is weak, then Ursa Minor is seen as weak too. The constellation is more likely to get bullied and forced to choose a side because it can't stand on its own.

So in the OG script, Nicoe has to keep the broken soul gem a secret to help keep up the illusion of Ursa Minor still having power. But again, it was really just an excuse for it to be a reveal. If I stop making it a secret, would it do anything interesting for the story...?

Another issue for me is that the moon cult plot and the civil war plot are interfering with each other a bit lol. The civil war is ultimately background dressing that informs what Nicoe is doing, but the moon cult is the actual plot. I don't want the story to be about Nicoe and co actually participating in the civil war because the point of the story for me is to "save the world by focusing on your backyard" so to speak. If the protags participate at all, it's as side characters.

The importance of the moon cult to Nicoe personally is that she can relate to the members and can see herself making similar choices in a different life. Thematically, it's about trying to help people who don't want to be helped (a problem Nicoe has for herself).

I dunno... Am I making a mistake here? I guess part of the reason I want to focus on the moon cult as much as I do is because it's one of the most fun elements to me to work with. But is that a wise decision? Maybe it'd be better to focus on the civil war after all? I feel like that takes focus off of Alaska though and makes the world feel... I dunno. Bigger. When I want it to feel more isolated and small.

Going back to the beginning though-- I feel like the celestial civil war stuff is easier to work with for the first chapters while it feels harder to bring in the moon cult. Additionally the moon cult requires a lot of set up too... like lunacy.

It's frustrating. I feel like if I was smarter, I could put these puzzle pieces together more easily.

Hmm, thinking about it, in the OG script, Sheliak (third protag) is brought in to conduct a test for Nicoe but maybe this time she can be brought as in a bribe by the Lyra side of the war to help improve Polaris as a warrior?

Another thing I'm thinking is that the first chapter could be Nicoe's secret getting out to the rest of the celestial world and the beginning arc dealing with the ramifications of that. Maybe Ursa Minor is forced to choose a side? And that reveal would put Nicoe into a very dark place, leading to her later suicide attempt (the first arc is all about her mental health descent, with the second arc being her building herself back up).

But again, I feel like I run into the problem of the importance of the civil war taking precedence over the moon cult...

I can figure it out, I'm pretty sure I can. I just need to think about it some more. Maybe I should read some books and study them a bit.

Anyways if anyone actually read this, sorry for the ramble lmao.

[mneiai]

Reading/re-reading a bunch of Dragon Age books and thought I'd give my quick thoughts for the ones I've gone through the last few days:

Asunder - 6/10. Always shocked Gaider wrote it, it does not feel like someone who knows the lore or games well, except insofar that a lot of the fight scenes are "this is how I envision it would play out in the game" as opposed to ones meant to be read. I can't remember if the printed version was this bad, but either there some horrific typos in the digital version or, again, it does not feel like someone that knows the lore wrote it ("Rite of Annulment" what the fuck). Creates some weird conflicts with established lore for no good reason. Last half better than the first half and Cole, Rhys, and Evangeline are genuinely likable once it gets going, at least.

Tevinter Nights - 3/10 to 10/10. Weirdly find the Talons story incredibly engaging and the characters very interesting (though that could be my OCD-based sympathy lol) and wish it were a book of its own and not just a short story that had to rush over a lot. In fact, I'd say most of the Crows-related stories are good, as well as the ones actually set in Tevinter. The Grey Wardens ones vary in quality and the Nevarra ones read like someone took passages from the World of Thedas and told a writer they had to come up with an excuse to infodump with poor mysteries shoved in. Most of the rest were just blah.

Magekiller - 2/10. This is so bad. The intro feels like some 12 year old writing about their OC and the addition of the relationship between Marius and that one DAI NPC that never goes anywhere again makes the protags honestly look way more at fault for some of the shit that goes down in DAI than Cole ever could. And this is true about all the comics, but the art is Not Great and relies very heavily on lazy shortcuts normally found in lower quality comics. Also a lot of lowkey ableism considering how Marius comes across. Never had strong feelings about Charter before, but now I dislike her.

Alistair comics - 5/10. The collection doesn't seem to have a good name to call all these lol Anyway, some interesting parts, getting to see one of my fav Tevinter characters and the way she's handled is always nice, but the whole thing is very C-quality-DLC-plot-thrown-out-during-development. Just all over the place. Hated the Isabella stuff, what even was that? We're not even going to get into the multiple international innocents that should have happened, but the whole thing was honestly ridiculous. Mae carries this shit.

Knight Errant - 8/10. Vaea and Ser Aaron are a trope, but it's a good one for comics and well-done in this, they're very cute. Varric feels way more natural here than in the Alistair ones, not sure what's going on with Sebastian but I think that has more to do with how wishywashy he has to be for Bioware canon than anything else. Literally nothing will make me care about the Magekiller romance, though, and it's honestly weird that's the conceit for the job.

Wraiths of Tevinter - 6/10. I think this was slightly better because it had to establish some of the characters, but it wasn't great (and what the hell did they do to my poor Fenris?!). The original stuff was better than when it started mixing into the overarching comics plotline, and the fact that 50% of these DA works fall back on "Qunari Ex Machina" got very old by this point. I cared absolutely zero amount about any of the villains and the Magekiller characters felt incredibly out of place in an already large cast. If it weren't for the endearing Knight Errant team and the mabari, I'd probably mark it down lower. Also lol why am I supposed to care about a slave owner Venatori apologist just because she had a bad childhood? Literally every one of the characters had a bad childhood. Fenris and Marius were literally slaves!

Also actually sitting down and reading the World of Thedas volumes instead of just looking stuff up in them and they're...fine. I still wish they were more encyclopedia like and I'm still confused at some of the assumptions people make based on things clearly not actually said in them, but that's fandom for you.

[averyabernathy]

Character Intro - Avery Abernathy

is that TOM HOLLAND wearing that HUFFLEPUFF scarf? no, it appears to be AVERY ABERNATHY who happens to be a SIXTH year and a HALF-BLOOD !! HE is CISMALE, and i heard they’re OUTGOING and LAIDBACK, but might also seem LOOSE-LIPPED and IDEALISTIC. they appear to be leaning towards the side of the NEUTRAL, but this is a conversation we should be having somewhere else. 

Playlist - Avery (Fifth Year) 

Pinterest - here

Wand: Laurelwood with a unicorn hair core, 10 ½" and slightly yielding flexibility

Boggart: Death 

Patronus: Non-Corporeal 

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Best Subjects: Charms, History of Magic

Worst Subject: DADA, Transfiguration

Plans for the Future: To Co-Run the Leaky Cauldron/ Take Over For His Uncle

Headcannons: 

Avery’s parents were both staff at St. Mungo’s, they had him rather early in life and, unfortunately, didn’t live to see his fifth birthday. Their cause of death was never clearly given to Avery but he’s pieced together enough to assume they were murdered. What for? He hasn’t the foggiest. 

He was raised by his uncle, Tom - the owner and perpetrator of the Leaky Cauldron, and began helping out around the place after his second year at Hogwarts. However, even as a young kid, he spent a lot of time hanging around and speaking with all the interesting witches and wizards who came through.

Avery’s a very outgoing person, someone who’s used to people stepping into and out of his life. He has no problem starting up conversation with strangers and building friendships with regulars. At this point, there are about two dozen people he knows by name and he can list off their usual drink orders with ease. Unfortunately, he can’t actually serve alcohol (his uncle says he’s much too young) but he does take orders and clean tables. 

He wants nothing to do with the growing divide amongst the wizarding world. The war is something he likes to ignore, pretend it doesn’t exist and hope it goes away as soon as possible. Avery’s not picking sides (but if he were to, he’d side more with the Order.)

Avery’s got a tattoo of both his parents names on his chest (over his heart), he found a spell to do it himself and just went for it. He’s yet to tell his uncle about it because the man would 100% not approve. Tom’s a cool uncle, but he’s not that cool. 

Avery’s outgoing and friendly. He makes stupid dad jokes all the time and has trouble keeping his mouth shut. If you want a secret kept, you probably shouldn’t tell him as he’s also been known to be a bit of a gossip. Sue him - he grew up in a bar. Nothing but gossip gets passed around in there. 

He’s very smiley. It takes a lot to upset him but there are a few key topics that’ll do it in an instant - his parents, death in general, the war, and transfiguration. 

[mannerofwhump]

Whump intro!

You can call me Mia. My pronouns are she/they. I have been a lurker in the whump community for the longest time, and I’d love to finally share my ideas :D (totally not an excuse to try writing more ahahahaha-)

Also, I have a whumper-turned-whumpee series planned. So look out for that >:)

(whumptober here i come. hopefully.)

List of my favourite tropes:

Whumper turned whumpee

Royalty/prince whumpee

Villain whumpee

Defiant whumpee breaking

Begging

Spy/interrogation whump

I’m not totally against, but I might pass out if I try writing them:

Eye whump

Nail whump

A lot. of gore.

I also don’t read or write non-con/dub-con sexual content (or any nsfw stuff at all, really)

And now! My very favourite blogs in whumblr who all of you should check out >:)

@oddsconvert - heeheehee it’s whumper turned whumpee of COURSE it’ll be here. izaak is just such a defiant asshole i love seeing him hurt,,,,can’t wait to see him break- (and whumpee!ronan is a GEM)

@spookyboywhump - waaaaaaa i love all your characters so much (and yes, cain is my favourite. and no, don’t come at me-) (ALSO ANDREW. MY BESTIE. HE MAKES ME GO INSANE)

@whumpsday - kane. my guy. his personality did such a 180 we love seeing him be so pathetic. baring my teeth at him as we speak. and JIIIIIIIM. poor jim :(

@befuddled-calico-whump - melchior makes me go BRRRRRR (also the most recent riot kings page???? it’s killing me a bit)

@diyalogues - i literally just found your surviving alaska winters series a few days ago but the dynamic is GOLDEN. alaska is just feral, dominic should be afraid.

[vryfmi]

with show being confirmed to have 80s vibe i finally have an excuse to say that as a l&co enjoyer and a certified Depeche Mode enthusiast for a number of years i have concrete reasoning behind stating that DM should be part of l&co series’ soundtrack

reasoning:

i said so

bri’ish

songs fit so nicely

accurate to time

Fly On The Windscreen

picture this: l&co are all in night cab after a rough mission and fly on the windscreen plays (could even be gappy's case)

Death is everywhere There are flies on the windscreen For a start Reminding us We could be torn apart Tonight Death is everywhere The more I look The more I see The more I feel A sense of urgency Tonight Come here, kiss me, now Come here, kiss me, now

locklyle tension - guaranteed thoughts that characters are clearly thinking but aren't saying - are said

Get The Balance Right

NO OTHER SONG CAN DEPICT ANTHONY LOCKWOOD BETTER THAN THIS ONE

Be responsible, respectable Stable but gullible Concerned and caring Help the helpless But always remain Ultimately selfish Get the balance right Get the balance right

Blue Dress

no additional comments needed

Monument

picture this: intro starts at the very end of episode, when whole Penelope-Marissa intrigue starts to unfold. then black screen, credits, and this song plays throughout, hinting how everything we knew about established world, its historical heroes and goals shatter with that reveal

So we picked up our tools And we worked in the morning light With the last stone placed Wasn't it a wonderful site But it fell back down And scattered all around Anything passes When you need glasses My monument It fell down

Told You So

basically skull in tws in so many ways: from lyrics sang in judgemental tone about stupidity and poor choices that people make, how they blindly follow others, to ambient whispers of many voices saying "told you so". that's skull right there

Standing in line, the blind lead the blind Waiting and waiting for an overdue sign Brothers and sisters playing Chinese whispers If things aren't suited then they'll get diluted There's one more dead with a hole in his head He shouldn't have said all the things he said Many tears were shed for the blood he bled Something went wrong along the way Everybody's waiting for judgment day So they can go, "Told you so" (Told you so, told you so)