#;; this event is honestly silly even if the premise is a little ???

[navxry]

" just where could they have gone? " " they? who? " " the detective bearing the heart of glass "

Sona Event: The Disappearance of Marise

Ever since the message that they will simply be going on a 'vacation', there had been reports that they have left final gifts for their companions. And it had been reported that those that knew them seem to have forgotten who they are.

What replaces them is a man whose alias is '🃏💧', stating that he will be the one running things. No one knows who he is, but perhaps you can?

EVENT MECHANICS:

Please keep in mind that this event does not have an extensive storyline, and that it will end under 15 days. This is so to limit any asks I may receive.

This event also introduces someone I've been meaning to, so I hope you give him a warm, warm welcome :)

The storyline is linear, but the ending is ambiguous. And yes, anyone can make their storyline and ending on this event.

Finally, I'm doing this event for fun. Any and all fandoms are open, as I'm not exactly picky.

Are you ready, investigator? He is waiting inside the domain. It's time for us to speak to him.

[bg-brainrot]

MISTLETOE PROMPT -- aka the one I was most excited for, honestly

Prompt: Mistletoe

Featuring: Astarion x Rogue!Tav

Series: Fits into Love at First Knife, AO3 link here

Premise: What originally starts out as a cute idea, putting mistletoe up around the house, turns into a ridiculous rogue-on-rogue challenge. Whoever gets caught under the mistletoe first loses.

Tags: POV Second Person, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Fluff, Holidays, post-canon, kisses, rogues doing rogue stuff

Word count: ~1.4k

Mistletoe is such a silly little holiday tradition, that when you put up your first sprig of the plant, you don’t even think about how Astarion might react. In fact, you just hang it up and continue to go about your business, sprucing up the rest of your house. 

It’s only later that day when Astarion spots it that you realize the chain of events you’ve brought upon your winter peace.

“Darling, was that mistletoe I spotted near the entryway?” 

You turn to see Astarion looking at you, a bit of mischief curling the corner of his lip into a smirk. “Yes, it should be. Did I accidentally hang a weed?”

He shakes his head at you with a chuckle, “Nothing like that. I just noticed it was placed rather inconveniently. How am I supposed to surprise you with kisses when it’s only at the entryway?” 

“You were planning on surprising me with kisses?” Now it’s your turn to laugh. “I’d like to see you try.” 

That was all Astarion needed to hear before you were both adding a few more kissing zones to the house: the kitchen, the entryway to your bedroom, and the hallway.

Now that a challenge had been issued, it was only fair that you had a right to catch Astarion as well. So began a day of subterfuge and paranoia, also known as your battle of the mistletoe.

The rules are simple: whoever catches the other under the mistletoe first wins. In order to be caught, it must be a genuine kiss, both lips must make contact and the other person must be under the mistletoe– no ‘close enoughs’. The one who gets caught promises to do one thing the other asks of them, no complaining. Not even eye rolling, as you firmly reminded Astarion. He rolled his eyes at the reminder.

It started off innocently enough. Astarion walking through the entry to your bedroom, only for you to drop from the top of your wardrobe in a sneak kiss attack. The vampire dodged and you ended up splayed on the floor.

It escalated a bit when you found the door to leave your kitchen locked– did it even have a lock before? You spun around just in time for Astarion's kiss to land on the back of your head. He gave an annoyed 'tsk' and unlocked the door for you.

It reached dangerous levels when you laid out a trap for your love in the hallway, catching him in a well-hidden rope trap. He’d glared at your gloating approach, your lips puckered in what you thought was certain victory before he nimbly slipped out of the rope and landed on your other side.

Now it’s reached ludicrous levels. Or so you think as you stand at the bottom of the stairs, watching as Astarion hangs another branch of mistletoe at the top.

“Hey, you can’t put up extra mistletoe!” you shout, spotting Astarion’s long, dexterous fingers tying up a festive-looking sprig above the stairs.

He raises his chin at you defiantly. “You never said that was part of the rules.”

"It was implied," you hiss, dodging out from yet another new piece of mistletoe that hadn’t been there this morning. “How am I supposed to walk anywhere in this house now?”

“You could simply lose, darling,” Astarion taunts from the top of the stairs. 

“Not a chance,” you say, glaring at him from below.

He tuts. “I know where you sleep, dear. You’d best watch out.”

You pause at that. Wait, how long is this going to go on for? “Sleeping doesn’t count, the person has to be awake to know it’s happening.”

“Again, you never established that rule,” he says, folding his arms across the staircases’ banister. “Seems awfully convenient that you keep adding rules, love.”

Something about his calm composure irks you– like he’s already certain he’s won. But you refuse to lose to him in a mindgame. “Fine, I’ll just have to catch you before bed. Get down here and fight me!”

Astarion only shakes his head at you gently. “I know who would win in that scenario and I don’t intend to forfeit so easily. Why don’t you come up here?” He points to the top of the stairs innocently.

Ready for the showdown and tired of living in a state of fear within your own house, you say, “Fine.” 

Then, with all of the dexterity of the master assassin you are, you run up the stairs and tuck into a roll as soon as you reach Astarion. Bounding back onto your feet, you open your arms out like he’s a wild animal you’re keeping at bay. You circle him, waiting for an opening, the mistletoe dangling like an untriggered trap between you. 

The vampire is standing in a crouched stance, hands balled into fists, almost feral the way his teeth are bared in a gleeful smile. The look in his eyes is downright frightening in its intensity– though it really only makes your heart pound in your chest. Would it really be that bad to lose? It’s that mentality that gives Astarion the upper hand.

As if spotting your weakness, he drops the tension in his arms and body and walks toward you. The sudden calm in his posture is far more intimidating than the intensity he had before, and you find yourself taking a step backward, down the hallway. 

I’m further from the mistletoe at least, you think, spotting the branch behind Astarion’s head as you both shuffle down the hall. He continues to walk toward you and you wonder what his game is. Even if he kisses you now, he won’t win. Maybe he just wants a kiss?

“Darling,” he says, voice dripping with honey. It should be a red flag, but, like most in your life, you choose to ignore it. “I haven’t been able to kiss you all day. Just one please? We’re not even under the mistletoe anymore.”

You want to give in. Oh gods do you want to give in. It’s like he’s putting effort into making his lips look all the more kissable as he pleads with you. But you’re not naive. “Show me your hands,” you say, pointing at his currently closed fists. “And empty your pockets.”

He sighs at you, as if you’re only inconveniencing a poor lovestruck man. But when he opens each palm, a piece of mistletoe falls out. A few more drop out of his pockets, and he says, “Satisfied? Can’t I just have one lovely little kiss before you rightfully accuse me of something?”

Again, you hesitate– what if he has another hiding spot? Nothing else comes to mind, and he’s looking at you so very softly that you find yourself answering, “Oh, very well. Come here.”

Astarion smiles at you, his eyes soft, his lips lush and, even as he closes the distance between you, you don’t sense anything amiss. His cool lips meet yours in a sweet, yearning symphony, and you feel silly for having worried about the kiss at all. Clearly, he really did just miss kissing you all day.

However, as he moves to deepen the kiss, one hand cupping your face, the other wrapping around you, you sense something is off. It’s difficult to think with the feel of his lips moving against yours, but something about the way his hand trails along your back feels different than usual, almost as if he’s searching for something. 

You notice too late. His hand grabs something, and you already know what it is before he brings it up.

Pulling your lips from his, you look up at the offending green plant over your head, shocked.

“Before you can complain,” he says, not releasing your face. “You never said the kiss had to be started under mistletoe.”

“How did you–” you start, mind still trying to catch up to reality.

He smiles at you mischievously. “Oh I pickpocketed that piece onto you hours ago, love. Remember the failed kiss in the kitchen?”

You want to complain, to grumble and thwack him in frustration. But, you’re honestly mostly impressed. “Well played, dear,” you say, giving him a reluctant smile. “You win. So, what would you like me to do?”

“I don’t think it ought to be too difficult,” he says, tossing the used mistletoe to the ground and bringing his face close to yours once more.

“Is that so?” you say, challenging him with your eyes.

“Mhm,” he murmurs, wrapping his arm back around you. You feel the breath from his next words on your lips. “Simply allow me to surprise you with kisses under the mistletoe.”

You pretend to sigh, but it comes out as more of a shaky, faltering breath. “I suppose, since I promised. No complaining.”

“No complaining,” he repeats before pressing his lips to yours once more.

You suspect that the rest of the season will be filled with many, many more kisses.

[llondonfog]

Hi!! Feel free to ignore, but I was just thinking about kid silver being adorable AND Halloween because of the upcoming event...and this thought was born—

(This is so long I'm sorry 😭😭)

So, Silver gets de-aged (bear with me here lol)—maybe due to a potions mishap or a spell gone wrong, it doesn't matter which. It's during Halloween week, so everyone's kinda frazzled due to everything being set up, etc. Lilia gets called to deal with it while Crewel tries to figure out a counter-potion/spell wears off because nobody can get in touch with Malleus, and therefore goes to Diasomnia's vice to help take care of Silver (not knowing that they're father & son).

Silver spots Lilia and yells "Papa!" while running to hug Lilia—while Lilia tries to cover up what Silver said. Regardless, he still picks Silver up and cuddles him—he's a silly old man who loves his kid, who can blame him?

Anyway, kid Silver hijinks ensue: running off with the animals on campus, taking naps surrounded by deer, birds, squirrels, etc., calling Malleus "big brother" and Lilia "papa" while around other Diasomnia students (they wouldn't say anything, because Malleus looks so endeared by the little human and Lilia glares and hisses *unknowingly* at any of them who DARE to interrupt their family).

Silver sees Sebek and looks back at Lilia. He's like, "Why did you make him so tall?? Papa, change him back, please!" *cue puppy eyes* he genuinely thinks Lilia pranked him. As much as Sebek says that he dislikes Silver's behavior, he's actually the one to take him everywhere. "You shouldn't miss so much school, Silver! I won't let you besmirch Waka-sama's good name!"

OK, but back to Halloween—Silver dresses up as a knight, or a prince. Maybe a unicorn??? DRAGON?? Any of them are cute tbh. Anyway, they end up going to each dorm to trick or treat (on Halloween night ofc) and Silver charms everyone, because he's Silver. Then, you have Lilia behind him just being the creepiest little demon fae you've ever had the misfortune to see...

As they're going to one of the dorms to get more candy, Silver sees another kid pouting at the lack of candy said dorm has, and their meager amount. Silver, despite having only a few more pieces himself, gives the kid most of his, and gives the other kid a hug. "There, there, you can have some of mine."

Honestly, you can do whatever you want with this, but I'd love to see this written out more coherently, if you want lol

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I NEED more kid Silver being cute and adorable and pure!! He deserves to be cuddled by his family and to eat candy :D

oh my goodness, this whole entire prompt was adorable and thank you for practically writing the premise into my inbox!! i'm not sure this is coherent.....or cuddly....but my mood with lilia has been in a pretty introspective place for sometime so i do hope you find something to enjoy :')

(and i did end up keeping that paragraph after so many of you seemed to like it akaldjll what do i know about anything)

for a fae as long-lived as he, the concept of time is an ephemeral thing. one does not count the years in a decade nor the decades in a century; a fae knows time by the erosion of a mountainside, by the loneliness of an abandoned settlement, or even by the chance meeting of a human wearing the face of another long since passed. 

silver fills his arms, helmet askew and heavy with satisfied slumber, and lilia feels the ache of every day that has gone by since he was last able to cradle his son so tenderly in his embrace. 

he may be the only fae that now minds his days by the sharpening of his son’s features, a change emerging far too quick and now, strangely, unwelcome.

beside him, serene, the heir apparent to the valley of thorns— looking most pleased himself in their resplendent costumes so artfully reminiscent of the admirable long, yet any dignified mysticism is rendered charmed by the plastic pumpkin bucket clutched in his crimson-tipped claws, brimming with brightly wrapped candy. the overflow is nearly double the amount given to the visiting children, even with silver eagerly dispensing his sugary treasures to any who asked, for no dorm had been able to resist his solemn request coupled with those adorably drowsy eyes and plastic sword when he had so politely asked for one piece more so that their prince might experience trick or treating for the first time. not wanting to be the dorm known for stiffing the fae heir on the most magic-blessed night of them all, both toddling knight and noble dragon walked away, tiny hand in careful claw, with a bounty piled high between them and matching smiles on their twin eager faces. 

lilia had been so torn over which to get a photo of first, cheeks aching from stifling his laughter; the vulnerable delight on malleus’ face as silver so kindly presented him with his share of candy, or sebek’s ill-disguised fussing as silver’s sword had slipped from its sheath to drag across the ground. 

what kindness to be able to share such precious memories with them once again.

what cruelty to remind him of what would disappear tomorrow morning, crewel’s antidote ready and waiting for them in the dorm. 

“...i can see why silver enjoyed such a night of festivity and why he spoke on those memories with you so fondly,” malleus’ reflective tone scatters his wandering thoughts, leaving him to pull his focus back to the present with no small amount of difficulty. “I wish i could have participated in the revelry, but i understand now why you might not have invited me, lilia. the presence of their prince would have dampened any carefree spirits, and i would not have wanted to spoil the fun.”

a wry smile tugs at his lips at malleus’ inaccurate assessment, crooked and out of place, and he can feel the prince’s gaze weighty upon him with surprise, brows furrowing and lips parting with the question on his tongue— 

there had been no such festivities, no happily shrieking village children for silver to scamper among, sharing in the night’s delights and trickery with all the innocence of youth. 

there had only been an old fool of a general, taking it upon himself to fumble through the recreation of a human spectacle, for no other reason than he could not bear the sight of the boy’s features even mildly unhappy. 

he might have wondered how far he could have fallen to find himself repeatedly affecting surprise as he opens the door time and time again to a giggling child, but he knows better now; he had always been steeped in a miserable, lonesome darkness, and to nurture the vulnerable child curled into his chest was to bask in an undeserving light. 

without consent, his arms tighten around the slumbering boy in his arms, and malleus is wise enough not to comment. 

“I do wonder if silver will be able to remember tonight’s events,” lilia comments lightly as they continue their walk to the dorm, seemingly apropos of nothing and unbothered by the watchful gaze of his young companion. 

and he wonders which is more selfish; to wish it so, to have his son’s head filled with such saccharine-sweet dreams of a proper halloween as only a sweet and darling boy like none other deserves— or to cling to the lonely truth of the past, in which a bruised and battered soldier finds a purpose too kind for his bloodied hands in protecting that high and clear laughter of his child, delighting over and over again in the simple fact of his father opening the door.

[mikailys]

MCL NewGen Ep 9 Commentary

I poured blood, sweat, tears, and money to finish this episode. I fought my inner demons to convince myself that they didn't deserved my money but here we are: with a concluded episode and me with 30 euros less in my bank account 🥲 As always, this post will obviously contain spoilers under the cut so beware~

Ngl after the disaster of episode 8 I had zero (0) hopes for this new one, I wasn’t even excited after everything that happened last month (e-girl pack, episode 8, Halloween event and so on) but I have to admit, this one surprisingly exceeded my low expectations by a landslide by finally giving some insight on the LIs about time i might say.

But first thing first, the cost. This episode was hella expensive, I spent 2604 aps, of which 1832 were free. I'm following Jason's route so I know it's more expensive than the others but I didn't imagine this much. I genuinely hope the others will be shorter and that this was just an exception given the backstories cause I can't handle every ep being like this 😩

As a Jason's girlie, I was ecstatic about this episode. For once, his presence was well-contextualized, he didn’t come off like a stalker and we weren’t the damsel in distress. I didn’t expect him to start trauma-dumping on Candy so soon, considering they don’t see each other as often compared to the other LIs, but I’m glad we got to know him better. I really hope Candy’s attitude toward him will start to soften 'cause she’s always on guard around him and it’d be nice to see her relax and trust him a little more, especially after the intimate moment they experienced in this ep.

I must admit tho the premise didn't really appeal to me and I was skeptical this would be another silly ep with all the Devenementiel crew doing stuff but luckily it wasn't. It all starts with Devon telling us that, starting the next day, a group of interns will be joining the team and it turns out these are Devon’s younger brothers, Gebril and Joen.

Overall I liked the time spent with them. I agree that there were a lot of unnecessary moments and some parts I could’ve gladly skipped but it was a cute scenario, and finally we get to meet some new characters for a change also idk but Joen's attitude kinda reminds me of Armin oh I miss himm

Since we're here let’s already get to the sore spot of this whole ep: the whole Tasha situation. I don’t care if it’s wrong to have beef with my fictional sister, but I’m honestly speechless at how she and their mom acted during the internship situation. You knew for months that you needed to pick a company for your internship and yet, the night before, you have no plans because you delayed the application?? And now you’re asking me to call up my boss at 8 pm to beg him to include you in the internship that’s supposed to start tomorrow? Are you out of your mind?!?

Also isn’t the whole traineeship supposed to be organized by the school? I’m not sure how it works in France, but I was quite confused—here in Italy the school usually guides you through the process and handles all the paperwork. It’s unusual for students to be left on their own in a situation like this...

And the mom is even worse cause she just says "I don’t want to judge you for how you’re acting with her because if I were in your shoes I wouldn’t know what to do either" like uhmm you’re the mother, not me?? If you knew about this the whole time –and she knew for months– why didn’t she help Tasha earlier? Or better yet, why didn’t Tasha ask us weeks ago instead of the evening before? And yet they’re just chilling while playing cards omg you have no idea how much this stressed me out it's so stupid but yet so infuriating like the fact that they only have a bathroom in a mega villa but whatever i guess.

After we refuse to help her, Tasha mysteriously ends up joining Goldreamz for her internship. I’m honestly confused, once again, about how this happened because the night before no company had accepted her and now suddenly she's got the job?? Did Jason see her candidacy last minute right before clocking out the office? If I missed something pls let me know cause I genuinely can't wrap my head around it lol.

What a way to twist things...

But anyway, I honestly liked this option. I admit I would have never imagined this plot for his route but I’m glad they went this way. I loved seeing Candy’s reaction when Tasha told her about working with "the devil" and I also enjoyed her reactions to the ambiguous conversation between Candy and Jason in his office watch Tasha being the first to get the hints about their situationship lol

Maybe it's for the better, we don't want to let our lil sis know we blew up big time our first solo project.

Once Tasha leaves, Candy asks Jason wtf he’s doing and he assures her that he doesn’t have any ulterior motives. He just thought it would be an amusing situation for both him and Candy. After a quick recap, we get a better understanding of Candy and Tasha's relationship. It seems like there’s a bit of a rivalry/competition between the sisters—something I would have never guessed, considering we've only seen Tasha about three times since the beginning but okay. I only wish to see more of their sisterhood but I guess we won't any sooner since she's going to her father for a while, that sucks.

After some usual bantering, we find out that Jason envies our relationship with Tasha since he’s an only child, which leads him to open up a bit about his past. We learn that he found comfort in solitude, often isolating himself by going out on his father's boat in the middle of the ocean. I admit this was unexpected, I never would’ve guessed he’d be so into the marine world - as we'll see soon in the rowboat scene. It adds a surprisingly nice contrast to his otherwise business-like persona.

Touched by Jason’s childhood story, Candy spontaneously suggests they take a boat ride right then and there, to experience the peace and solitude he felt throughout his childhood. This was a cute gesture from Candy ngl, I thought she would simply nod and listen to his story but no. This is the first time she takes such an important first step with him in their relationship and I'm proud of her.

But, once arrived tho she has to ruin everything destroying the cute little moment...

Oh my God. You strangely enough managed to get him to open up about his difficult childhood and you still can’t help but joke about him being the big bad guy? Ugh I take back whatever I said about you Candy, you're dumb.

Thankfully, Jason doesn’t seem that much bothered by her comment and they get on the rowboat. I was lowkey hoping for a cute moment where he offers her his hand to help her aboard but nope, doesn’t happen. Honestly I’m convinced this is his subtle payback for that insensitive joke, if so props to you J.

Anyway, he starts rowing and soon we find ourselves in the middle of the lake. This is where the heart of the episode unfolds imo. We finally get a glimpse into his family history. Jason opens up about his father, a scientist deeply passionate about the ocean, that tragically passed away shortly before he turned 19.

This is the moment where I truly lost it. I swear, I was a sobbing mess.

Jason’s vulnerability hit me harder than I expected. We already knew about his father, but hearing him tell the whole story was tough. I can barely imagine what he went through at such a pivotal age. The emotional distance between him and his mother after she got remarried definitely played a big role and when you add his strained relationship with his stepfather into the mix, it’s impossible not to feel for him. It's such a tragic backstory, I hope they don’t mess it up from here on out. My pookie deserves better :(

As for the special scene, it wasn't that much but I liked it. Unfortunately, I can't post the screenshots since I’ve hit the limit per post sigh but it was such a sweet and heartwarming moment. It offered a smooth transition from the heaviness of the conversation to their usual playful banter and I really appreciated how it slowly lightened up the mood without taking away from the emotional depth of his story. I have to admit, I wasn’t really a fan of the illustration. The setting and moment were adorable - it totally gave me Rapunzel vibes with all the whimsy and charm - but Jason’s expression feels off, it’s almost like he’s a villain plotting revenge rather than being swept up in the moment lol. Plus his proportions seem a little strange mmh. Candy, on the other hand, looks gorgeous so gg.

And that’s it. Afterwards, Jason accompanies Candy back to her house, reminding her that despite the little walk down memory lane, things haven’t changed between them in his eyes, and he expects the same from her. Oh, and let’s not forget she owes him an intimate story too as if the whole Ioan drama wasn’t enough.

With that, he leaves and the episode ends with Candy having her same old crisis whenever she spends a little time with Jason.

Now, I’m really curious to see if Jason opening up will actually shift things between them or if it’ll stay the same old. At this point, Candy doesn’t have much of an excuse to keep trash-talking him - he hasn’t done anything to harm her or Devenementiel, yet, and he’s actually been there to help her on multiple occasions. I’m hoping she drops the whole “he’s the devil” mindset because he’s honestly shown more support than hostility in the latest eps.

But honestly I can't hide that rn I'm more worried about the next episode. Thomas having an incident was on everyone’s bingo card -even though I didn’t expect it to happen this early- but here we are. I’ve got so much repressed trauma from everything with Lysander that I genuinely have no idea what to expect next 🫠

[lethesomething]

Yakuza and coping mechanisms

Yakuza has been my on and off hyperfocus for years now but also in particular the past month, so let's talk about it. And particularly, how many friggin coping mechanisms are in this game.

Disclaimer: I do literary analysis, not psycho analysis, don't come for me.

For all its silliness about fighting roomba's and disco minigames, the world that the Yakuza games is set in, is fucking brutal. They are, at their very core, crime drama's. People get murdered a lot, lives are ruined in various ways, a good third of protags spend large amounts of time in jail, usually for a crime they didn't commit. Most politicians and police are corrupt, racism is blatant and if you don't have a place in the very strict hierarchy of society, it's hard to get back on your feet (hence all the crime). I tend to read a lot of indictments of Japanese society in these games, partly because they are so clearly based on old school yakuza crime drama's.

This means that the characters go through some shit. And what's fascinating, is how they deal with this.

Spoiler warning for, uhh, almost all yakuza games except Song Of Life (since i never played that)

Pretending it's not real

Kasuga Ichiban

The direct reason I'm even making this blog post because he's the most blatant about it. Kasuga is Peak Himbo in that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he manages to take being beaten down Repeatedly and overcomes that with a sense of genuine good nature and optimism that is… honestly kind of hard to believe. The way he deals with any of this, is that he's a nerd who pretends to be in a video game. It's the whole premise of Yakuza Like a Dragon.

And to be fair, Kasuga suffers from an amount of mistreatment that makes me Very Angry in his stead. He has every right to be upset! He is literally homeless in the beginning of the game. If he requires the escapism of going around pretending to be in a jrpg to survive, more power to him. Especially since it works. Dude goes around helping people and making friends. Which is a good thing, because there's no way he'd make it out of Yokohama alive if he didn't have some back-up.

Side note: something similar happens to at the very least Majima, i think, in the admittedly non-canonical events of Yakuza Dead Souls. (yes i played it solely for Majima, no i do not recommend it, the game is garbage and you get more Majima in Zero anyway). In Dead Souls, Kamurocho is overrun by zombies. As a lover of all things Horror, Majima decides he may as well have a good time mowing them down like he's in an FPS while he trudges through the wreckage of society.

Self sacrifice

Mostly Kazuma Kiryu and  Saejima Taiga

If you hate yourself, at least try to be of use to someone. Let's be honest, a lot of the plot of Yakuza games is driven by self sacrifice or at least following some code of honor to its ludicrous ends.

Kiryu is the main example here. The game kinda glosses over this a lot, but he is, at least in Zero, a criminal. He goes around extorting money from businesses. He consistently solves problems through violence. It's kinda the point of the games. But he's also borderline a saint and 80% of the shit he gets into is because of his need to throw himself to the wolves for any person he cares about. He voluntarily does hard time for Nishikiyama, for one. He picks up a stray kid that he will now protect with his life. And it just goes on from there. See, Kiryu may be the famous Dragon of Dojima and the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and all that, but he would very much prefer not to be? Dude wants to live a quiet life and raise some kids, it's just that he's the protag of a game series about how hard it is to say goodbye to the yakuza life. So the plot keeps finding ways to bring him back, usually as a reluctant warrior to save the Tojo clan or Haruka  or whatever. If he was a little less honorable, he could still be chilling as a taxi driver with an unreasonably hot girlfriend, I'm just saying.

Saejima is very similar, but somehow even worse? Much as I love the guy, he's an idiot. He suffers from the same loyalty and selflessness as Kiryu, but he doesn't even get a cute daughter out of it. He spends Twenty Five years in prison for a crime he (we later find out) didn't commit. He escapes months before his parole to solve the convoluted plot of Y4. Then Goes Back to Jail to atone for (again) a crime he only thought he'd committed, only to escape (again) when he thinks Majima, his sworn brother, got murdered in Y5. As far as i can tell he goes back to jail one last time to finish his actual sentence, and to like, protect the name of the Tojo clan or some shit. My dude. My friend. Come on.

As a side note, acts of selflessness are kind of a big deal in the Yakuza games and one of the main ways to tell if someone is a good criminal or a villain. Kasuga and his crew are pretty big on the whole 'acts of selfless kindness' thing. It also seems to be one of the traits of Daigo Dojima, whose whole being screams 'I don't want to be here but who else is gonna fucking do it'. But in the case of Kiryu and Saejima it's very much verging on reckless self-endangerment.

Fabricated identities

Majima Goro, baby!

The Yakuza games really love this one, but I'll start with the big guy, everyone's favourite character: Majima. This dude has seen some shit. We see him throughout several flashbacks and the span of the games, but most tellingly we see him in Zero, at his rock bottom hero stage. And he's intriguingly unlike the other times he shows up. This is a Majima that's recovering from torture and backstabbing, and forced to do some dude's bidding for scraps. He's a chained dog (pun very much intended) and he's about to lose it.

What's fun about Majima is that he has So Many of the traits in this list. He has a lot of the reckless endangerment and self sacrifice that his buddies Kiryu and Saejima have. He gave himself up a few times for Haruka, he keeps trundling back to save Tojo and Dojima, but there's also a whole other layer of … Flamboyance to him.

And while Majima probably started out as comic relief, the games make clear that it's not all he is, and we get several glimpses of 'old Majima' throughout the series. He'll be in the middle of a self inflicted fight and drop some wisdom, for instance. He acts erratically, he is blunt, violent, exuberant in his dressing up. When given a task his first thought seems to be 'how can i make this Extra', but that doesn't mean the guy is unstable. You don't become a successful businessman with a building company, or a patriarch of your own family, without being smart and strategic. A lot of classic Majima behaviour, i feel, is a case of a mask he constructed to hide the severe depression, that became more of a second nature to him. Majima is one of the clearest examples of 'do what you need to do'. He's a survivor, through and through. Somewhere in there is a decent human being, but Majima will kill people to survive in a harsh world. It just seems like he constructed an extra layer to shield himself from all that.

Joon-gi Han (Like a Dragon): This is more a case of stolen (inherited??) identity, but again, if you don't want to be you, just be someone else. In this case someone he admires. Again: super tragic backstory, questionable life choices. As an aside, Joon-gi is fun because he is both a deadly assassin with someone else's name and face, but also  a Knight stereotype who would do everything for his queen and I think that's neat.

Zhao Tianyou (Like a Dragon): Somewhat more subtle, but Zhao is also a dude that was at one point confronted with a Situation, namely 'oh shit my dad died and now I'm in charge of a violent gang'. And to deal with that he decided to construct a persona that gives exactly zero fucks. He is very joking and very avoidant but we do learn that a fair amount of his laid back attitude is just veneer. Dude in fact gives several fucks. You don't decide to give up the throne and become a homeless sidekick to Himbo Supreme because you don't care. You do it to stop him from getting ultra-murdered by the parade of heavily armored gangsters he keeps storming into.

Akiyama Shun (Yakuza 4-5): I debated putting him here, because part of me believes Akiyama is just kind of a dick. A dick I love as a character, but still, ya know. At least some of the dickish persona is a front, though. Akiyama is another one that just saw his life's work destroyed at some point, and decided that emotional detachment was the way to go. Akiyama is different because he was never actually a proper criminal. He was homeless for a bit, and then came into some money (through Extremely Convoluted Plot Means) and now he's a moneylender. And like Zhao, he mostly pretends to be completely devoid of feelings, while having a fair amount of feelings. Enough to get into like… fist fights. With actual gangsters. Who have guns.

Vice

Sex, drugs and everything in between

The preferred way for noir drama's to show someone is Going Through It, is by giving them a classic addiction and Yakuza isn't any different. It's why several characters are shown mournfully smoking, in particular Kiryu and Majima. Yes I know it's because it looks cool and harks back to old crime movie atmosphere. That doesn't make it a healthy coping mechanism.

Another obvious one, considering the setting of the games in several red lights districts, is erotica. Both Adachi, the ex-cop from Like a Dragon and Shinada, the ex-baseball player from Y5 and also my least fave protag ever, are both in various stages of obsession about porn, sex work and the likes.

Tanimura, the cop from Y4 has a pretty severe gambling problem in the actual canon, though gambling games and casino's are a general mainstay of the Yakuza series. It's just that when Kiryu interrupts his busy day of solving the convoluted intrigue du jour to gamble in an illegal underground casino, it's not a character flaw.

Also: almost everyone drinks ludicrous amounts of heavy alcohol in these games. Both in canon and as part of the gameplay. 100% ing the games usually involves drinking tons of whiskey, but the whole Ichiban crew, sans I think Eri, is shown drowning their troubles at various times.

Violence: I mean, that's kind of the game, but an unhealthy amount of characters consider fist fights to be a good way to resolve conflict, bond with people and generally reinvigorate themselves. Particularly Majima is shown to get a real kick out of doing damage and being beaten up. There's just a lot of reckless behaviour, which is what makes the games good.

Karaoke: fake it till you make it, man.

Extra note:

You'll notice there's no women on this list, and that's because honestly the game is kinda sexist. So while there's already Very Few women in the game, the ones that are present don't exactly have super complex characters.

Mukoda Saeko, the hostess from Like a Dragon, drinks like a fish but that's about her main flaw.

Other notable female characters are Kiryu's kid Haruka, Kiryu's love interest Sawamura Yumi (Kiwami) and Kamataki Eri, the business lady from Like a Dragon. They're all stereotypical Good Girls who have no flaws apart from indecisiveness and an unhealthy tendency for selflessness.

Saejima Yasuko is ever so slightly more complex: her main trait is self sacrifice. The story promptly fridges her for it.

[heyclickadee]

Yeah, okay, here goes:

I think some fandom infighting would be less toxic if we a really understood that all of us are here for different reasons.

And I don’t just mean that different kinds of stories are going to be helpful for some and hurtful for others and vis-a-versa, or that different people are going to tell different stories, you know, differently, and that should do our best to let people enjoy things. I mean that, at the end of the day, there’s a spectrum of the parts of fandom people enjoy.

For example, I have a sibling who’s in some fandoms strictly for the transformative aspect of fandom. Canon is more like a jumping off point and, to some extent, an afterthought. Their primary interaction with whatever a fandom is centered on might be fanfiction and other fan works. The characters and world they interact with in those fandoms are often completely unrecognizable from canon. The goal is often to create characters—self-inserts or otherwise—to exist in completely new stories that are (vaguely) informed by canon, but not beholden to it in any way. Most everyone in that fandom has a self-insert OC or a Y/N. The whole point is taking something you like, or wanted to like, and shaping it to fit you better. That’s fandom for them. And that’s great!

And then there’s me, who’s almost the exact opposite. Canon is more of a focal point. I love seeing fanfiction and fanworks that completely veer away from canon events and characterization, I appreciate them, but I don’t like making them myself. I love to write, but I have a hard time writing fanfiction, I couldn’t write a fic-it-fix to save my life (no, not even in the highly unlikely hypothetical scenario where it turns out a lot of us are wrong and Tech is dead for real). The closest I get to fanfiction are either short little half analysis/half story blurb posts, or doodley fanart that’s either a theory for something I think could happen in the future in disguise, or silly drawings about scarves. I compartmentalize fanon, my headcanons, and actual canon a lot. And I love seeing people’s OC’s, including the self-insert ones, but I dont want to make one myself. I don’t want to be in the story, because it isn’t about me; one of the things I love most about interacting with fiction I didn’t write is that it helps me get outside my own head and see things from a different point of view. I write a lot of metas and theories, but my favorite thing is being able to look a story that’s completely told and done, and getting to tease it apart. And that’s also okay.

Now, the two points I’m using as examples aren’t really opposites; there’s a ton (A TON) of very good character analysis and interpretation in fanfiction, and there’s often (maybe even usually) transformative aspect to analysis/intepretation. And I’m betting that most people in fandom fall somewhere in the middle of the range between transformative and interpretive when it comes to what they like about fandom. A lot of people write great fanfiction and equally great meta posts, and honestly, I think being good at the one makes you better than the other. But they are different approaches to enjoying and interacting with fiction, and I think at least a little of the friction in fandom can come from not recognizing that we all often have different approaches to this fandom thing.

Edit: I need to also mention that when it comes to interpretation and analysis, there’s a lot of wiggle room for contradictory conclusions that are all equally valid. Do I think that interpretive conclusions not supported at all by the text exist? Oh boy howdy, yes. But I also think there’s a lot of space before you get there, and a lot of ways for even one person to interpret the same thing, let alone an entire fandom.

Edit 02; I should probably also acknowledge that, as a lifelong Darkwing Duck fan, I also really enjoy shows or even books where ‘canon’ is more like a loose set of guidelines or a basis premise and the whole idea of the show is to do wacky things with that premise. I’m way more likely to get involved in the transformative side of things when this is the case.

[princess-of-purple-prose]

Welcome to Night Vale episode recs

Welcome to Night Vale episode recs—for new listeners and for fans that fell off! I’m thrilled to see interest spiking in my favorite podcast after certain site-wide events, so this is a list made to make Night Vale's large catalogue less intimidating. WTNV is a master of both impressively plotted arcs and phenomenal one-offs, and there's something for everyone, whether you've never heard it before or haven't listened in eight years <3

Requisite warnings: Welcome to Night Vale is an absurdist horror-comedy, and it goes heavy on themes of unreality, especially in regards to perception, derealization, time and memory, existential dread, and body horror. The premise is that the listener is a citizen of the town, and Cecil often addresses the audience directly, not to mention frequently implies they’re in danger. The series is also (United States-centric) political satire about government surveillance, gun laws, and general conspiracy. Year One specifically is heavy on themes of anti-indigenous racism, which I believe were resolved insensitively. Please be cautious, and honestly, if anyone has questions about specific warnings/episodes I'd probably be down to answer!

On to the episodes! I’ve sorted them here into recs for new listeners and for returning ones. The list is quite long (26 recs in all—longer than a season!), so I’ve put it under a cut, but TL;DR: Year One is the best for people looking to get into the feel of the series, and returning listeners should consider relistening to some old arcs and poking into the new ones to see what’s changed in Night Vale, both town and show! The official transcripts page lets you sort by arc and by year, and I personally love the now-archived cecilspeaks on Tumblr for transcripts up to 176!

For new listeners

Recs to pique your interest! These are mostly one-shots which represent the ethos and storytelling of Night Vale :)

1, “Pilot”: An absolute classic, and one of my favorites even after so long! The first episode is literally amazing at setting up the general tone of the show and the town, not to mention dropping about a dozen future plot threads at once!

2, “Glow Cloud”: ALL HAIL—ahem. There’s a glow cloud and a wonderful end monologue :)

3, “Station Management”: Sneaking this in because this is the ep that really dragged me into the show! I could go in depth, but I know my audience; simply go forth knowing it features Cecil being a poor little meow meow <3

13 and 45, “A Story About You” and “A Story About Them”: The first parts of one of the most intriguing arcs of the series, told in second-person with an engrossing break from usual format and eeriness aplenty!

71, “The Registry of Middle School Crushes”: A family heist!!!

94, “All Right”: One of Night Vale’s most technically impressive episodes—listen to this one with headphones!

101, “Guidelines for Disposal”: Another personal fave. Something about this one really, really strikes at my heart, and I think it perfectly showcases Night Vale’s ability to balance its silly surrealism with haunting, lovely narrative

131, “Brought to You by Kellog’s”: I can’t possibly explain this one. Just listen to it

132, “Bedtime Story”: Oh man. Ohhh my god. Do you want to feel feelings about a boy who wanted to know everything

133, “Are You Sure?”: Another technically stunning episode; you have to relisten to this one for it to achieve full impact. Consider reloading once you’re done with your first listen, and again after your second :)

142, “UFO Sightings Report”: A lovely episode that offers glimpses into the lives of various Night Vale citizens. It ends heavily, but comfortingly all the same

159, “Cat Show”: You know how Cecil has a floating nightmare cat?

168, “Secret Blotter”: Extremely fun episode which goes off the usual format by a tad to great effect

All in all: I think Year One is the absolute best for exploring the ambience of the town and familiarizing yourself with recurring names and arcs, and even in a town where time doesn’t work, it’s best to start at the beginning! But there are so many Night Vale episodes famed for their prose and panache, and for good reason—shop around for what interests you!

For returning listeners

Meant to be a list of refreshers plus things that make you go “hey WHAT happened while I was gone???”

16, “The Phone Call”: Don’t we all wish we could recapture the experience of hearing Cecil squeak “Neat!” for the first time... (To new listeners: Have you heard Carlos the Scientist’s (season one) voice before? Have you heard Cecil being smitten and mortified? Would you like to?)

27, “First Date”: Listen, I’m trying to get y’all in the cecilos mood again, is it working

49A and B, “Old Oak Doors”: Possibly the best climax to any arc ever. This live recording goes so, so hard

67, “Best Of?”: Okay, I have a huge multidimensional timeline charted for Cecil, and this episode does heavy lifting for about 60% of it

110, “Matryoshka”: This episode will undo you. Talk about reckonings. Genuinely impactful writing, and a gorgeous resolution to one of my favorite arcs

111, “Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA”: THE episode for returning listeners. I’ll let the episode summary speak for itself: Everything is the same. Everything is different.

135, “The Mudstone Abyss Part 1”: Hey, remember that Kevin guy? Wonder what he's up to these days!

144, “The Dreamer” and the rest of the Blood Space War arc (144-149): This arc will fuck you up irrevocably and you will not regret it

171, “Go to the Mirror?”: Very possibly one of the scariest episodes in the podcast, thanks in no small part to Cecil Baldwin’s stellar voice acting and the sound design

182 and 192, “It Sticks with You” and “It Doesn’t Hold Up”: In line with 171, these episodes will make you fucked up about Cecil Palmer

195 and 196, “Silas the Thief”: Just trust me

212, “The Campus”: Wanna dive right into the current arc? Here you go!

My bias is especially clear in this set, and for that I apologize, but I really think it’s worth refamiliarizing yourself with some of the long-running plot threads to get the max enjoyment out of the current arcs, which so far have been high-octane and recalled a lot of early elements of the show, not to mention Cecil and Carlos backstory!

Closing notes

I know this is a long list! It was a struggle paring it down as much as I did—half my favorites aren’t even here :’) I hope my enthusiasm for so many episodes makes it clear how dearly I hold this show to my heart; Night Vale has been a second home to me for years now, and I hope you give it a chance to be yours too <3

[conchelle]

Aight let's discuss Yorumorukimiri. Unlike the other Towelket games where each game has its own confined story with very little real continuity between them, Yorumorukimiri is very much it's own series with very specific portrayals of characters and it's own lore and world rules that stay consistent throughout the games.

I was going to make a separate post for each of these games as I played them but I just couldn't be bothered...it felt kind of like trying to judge a show based on every individual episode without having the full picture. So now that I've played through (most of) the final game, I'll start writing my thoughts on the first game of the series now.

There are three games in this series. Yorumorukimiri, Bonds of Tails and Girl of the Beginning. They're all pretty long for RPG makers games to be honest. I spent about 46 hours in total playing through this series.

So, let's start with Yorumorikimiri, the first game in the series.

The premise is pretty simple. You play as Moochasu who's transferring to this new school. But turns out this school is weird as hell where nobody, not even the students talk. The only exception being two of your classmates. A friendly catboy named Keita and another girl who transferred during the same time as you.

So you and Keita do some investigating on what's really going on with this school and next thing you know, you're in this strange world called Yorumoru Kimiri. There's monsters called "Lizards". There's a creepy giant girl sitting off in the distance. There's four evil women who will kill you if you're unlucky enough to come across them.

Basically everything sucks and there's only one saving grace. A dog named Wanko fishes an angel out of your heart and it's the only thing that will keep you safe in this horrible world.

So you and Keita escape and meet up with some other survivors and the story goes on from there.

To start things off, I'll talk about the writing in this game since it was clearly the main focus.

This game definitely takes itself a lot more serious compared to previous Towelket entries. Not to say the other games were all just fun silliness but there was always a thin layer of self awareness and gags littered throughout that make for a pretty unique tone for these games. Like yeah, a premise where the main characters are cursed to walk in 4 directions like RPGmaker characters is silly but you better believe it'll play this plot completely straight until the very end.

Now that's not to say that this game is completely humorless and dry. There's tons of funnies sprinkled throughout. In fact these moments actually made me caring a lot more for some of the characters in the long run.

However when the story wants to be serious it absolutely will be. And I've gotta say, I was consistently engaged throughout it. Now there is something to be said about the pacing in which these events are told but I'll get to that in a bit.

What I want to discuss is honestly probably one of the first things that stuck out to me. The way the game looks and generally presents itself. To put it bluntly it's not really great. Towelket has always reused tilesets and I've never really been put off by it. Typically it's apart of the Towelket charm but geez, this game really does just feel like a mess of reused scenery we've already seen thousands of times. Nothing really feels like it fits. It feels like this game really just lacks its own visual identity.

Warau has it's own visual identity by recoloring the usual tilesets to be less saturated and using heavily edited photos as backgrounds which give it this almost gothic look throughout the game.

Other games do the opposite and opt for a more shiny and pastel looking color palette, all using the same tilesets. Basically what I'm saying is. These games don't need to have brand new shiny pixel art every time. What matters is how it's presented and how it makes itself relevant to the story we're experiencing.

However Yorumoru unfortunately just doesn't seem to have much of it's own visual identity. It feels more like a cluttered mess of things that worked much better visually in previous games.

Basically it just feels overly distracting to look at. The latest update of this game does do a little to make the game look nicer by replacing the overworld sprites with much more detailed and larger versions of themselves but to be honest, while the sprites themselves look nice, they to phase through a lot of objects...even during cutscenes and it gets really distracting at times.

Like this could have easily been fixed had the character just been set to stand literally anywhere else during this cutscene. But whatever, it's not that big of a deal. Just a little distracting at most.

This game is about 18 hours long. There are plenty of segments where you can easily go hours without experiencing combat of any form. I vividly recall this particular chapter which was probably 80% dialogue with very few spaces to actually stop and save. Basically, the game began to resemble a visual novel more than an RPGmaker game during the midpoint. Did I have a problem with that? No. Absolutely not. If the game has a story to tell me without the need for random monster encounters and pointless drawn out explanation, I'm 100% fine with that. I'd rather them just do that than try to pad out the time with meaningless busywork in attempt to remind me that this is an RPGmaker game.

And I will say, what was being told was actually pretty engaging and interesting. I was very interested in what would happen next however there was just one issue. How this section was presented was just...boring? The story wasn't boring. Absolutely not. However there were certain scenes that had a lot of text and information being put on screen without anything remotely interesting happening visually.

Characters would often just stand around and talk. I get it, it's difficult to do much in terms of interesting cutscenes with RPGmaker, however when the game already lacks an interesting visual identity, that particular segment really did feel like it was dragging on a lot more than it should have. And it's really a shame because it's definitely a section I would like to revisit in hopes of picking up on things I might have missed.

Thankfully I can say that this is the only game out of the three that have this kind of issue.

I won't get too much into spoilers since, really it's a lot and it's difficult to talk about without trying to explain the context for this game and the next ones.

So, the characters. How are they? Are they good, are they bad?

Well, they're a little inconsistent. It's not their portrayal that's off, not at all. Rather the cast just feels extremely unbalanced. The characters that are allowed to actually develop and get lots of screen time are fairly interesting and engaging.

Chihedomusubi was great. Uikechuke was great (though some of her scenes suffered from pacing issues). I was very interested in these two characters throughout the entire story.

(Honestly I could write a whole separate post on just how interesting Uikechuke is as a character. Someday. Maybe)

Keita was alright. He starts off as the comic relief character and the bits he shares with the main cast are entertaining. It never felt like he overstayed his welcome when it came to these bits. He always reacted appropriately to situations when the story took a more serious tone.

He gets his fair share of development as well however once a certain character joins the cast...a lot of the scene involving him really just end of revolving around that particular character and nothing else. It honestly felt a little frustrating and I lost significant interest in anything Keita had to say once it became apparent he would only be having back and fourths with this character whenever he was on screen.

Then you have the characters that suffer from "Air syndrome". For anyone who's new to Towelket, sometimes certain characters will be labeled as "Air" or like "Like air" some kind of variant of that. This basically means that they're going to be written out or just outright forgotten by the story. It's a bit of a running joke however in this game it really just bums me out.

While there aren't any characters that are actually explicitly labeled like this in this game, all the symptoms are still there, unfortunately. Characters like Minpo and Warawau are present but they're both forgotten by the story before the first chapter even ends. Minpo moreso as she's barely even mentioned until hours later when the game remembers that she is in fact still apart of the story.

Warawau on the other hand felt like she only existed to fulfil a specific purpose before being written out entirely. Which was a huge, huge disappointment. I really did feel that her character had potential. There are a handful of moments where characters talk about her and what's said is very interesting stuff that I would have loved to actually see in action. Unfortunately she just doesn't get the screen time I felt she needed to feel like an actual character rather than a tool to get the story moving forward.

The you have to protagonist, Moochasu. As always he's a silent protagonist however in this game it really, really, really does not work at all. You see, only for the first quarter of this game are you actually playing as Moochasu. Does he have relevance to the story? Yes, he does. However for the majority of the game, the focus is constantly flopping between different characters. Characters that are much more interesting than our protagonist. And their individual stories and character arcs just outright don't involve him.

Like I would even go as far to say that characters like Chihedomusubi and Uikechuke are much better suited protagonists that Moochasu since their actions actually influence the story and it's progression a lot more than Moochasu. The fact that he's a silent protagonist that barely acts as the protagonist half the time just leaves us with this weird character who feels more like a prop than anything.

Of course, towards the end it all leads back to him but by the time the ending happens you're left more confused about his character than anything. It affects what I believe would have been a pretty solid and touching ending had this character just been allowed to be relevant.

I've complained a lot in this post lmao. But that doesn't mean the game is bad! Trust me, I only complain this much when I believe something really good could have happened here. Not to mention I was trying to avoid spoilers because...let's be real here it's just a lot.

Overall, I did enjoy this game. Despite everything, I think it was a pretty solid introduction to the world of Yorumorukimiri. I'll probably revisit it again someday, just at a much more reasonable pace lmao.

Uhhh once again I'm not gonna add it to the Towel rating. I'll probably just treat the entirety of Yorumoru as it's own big game sooo we'll get the rating once I do a write-up on final game.

[toestalucia]

after a billion days im getting to a couple of the anni event lines ive been wanting to post<33

Raziel: How can you trust me after my assassination attempt? Vyrn: Boy, if we had a rupie for every crew member who's ever tried to kill us. Raziel: That just raises more questions!

anytime something like this happens i go hihi how funny. welcome raziel would u like to meet a third of the crew(exaggeration). honestly i think this matter-of-fact-ness along with when they're like "yeah...this happens sometimes..." in collabs are two of my favorite thingsLOL sometimes stuff happens raziel

but also

Raziel: Who is more important to you, Lord Sandalphon? Lord Lucifer or the singularity! Sandalphon: If Lucifer's return can only be achieved through Captain's sacrifice... Then I do not wish for it.

T_^?! i expected the no with the reasoning he says after (killing a skydweller when lucifer was overseeing evolution is a bit...........in general the entire premise is a bit.......) but i didnt think they'd end up wording it like this. from the guy who throw us off a cliff when we first met him

but this + that event page line about pouring coffee while captain hands in tokens or whatever got me thinking about it again, because as with most other ppl who has threatened the crew's lives (most cuz some times has been....a bit complicated...), gran does not necessarily fully trust ppl day1. ive been over this before so im not gonna be lengthy on it, but especially in the case of sandalphon he 1) was out to hurt vyrn 2) kidnapped lyria. and those things are like. the no1 things gran cant forgive. they will be sad about his situation and while they themself are quick to reach out they're easily swayed by lyria who reaches out even quicker. cue the complicated era of 'ofc we'll take sandal in but also i cant forgive u for those things and i dont trust u alone with either of them for a long while' and further complicated feelings of being upset they cant forgive (which that alone is something they struggle with (thank u grand olivia fate eps)) even when they Do start to trust sandalphon wholeheartedly

then theres things like ppls "please take care of sandalphon for us" and the mixed bitter feelings towards Those words about someone who tried to hurt their besties

->this whole thing translates to their relation with & feelings towards crewmembers with similar stories as well, its just sandal-focused cuz the entire captain teasing 'ur fingers are delicate' and a lot of his lines during the event. theres a looooooot of rollercoasters of emotions gran goes through upon their & the crews relation growing, even if they always will be ready to help & defend ppl no matter what their trust % is toward someone.

im gonna be honest i havent read sandals stuff outside of events but the gran & sandal relation story thats developing in my silly little thoughts was thriving throughout this event

[spoiledleaff]

💚✨ POLL RESULTS!! ✨💚

hehe, a tremendous thank you to everyone who participated in my fic plot poll, haha!! i know i kept the actual specifics of it incredibly vague, but!! now that it’s all done, i think you all deserve to know what you’re signing up for! ♡

first, the winner!! lingerie group sex with some era iv ghoulies!! ✨🎉 haha!! it was a pretty close one, that’s for sure!! without further ado. what’s the plan?

well! i’m so glad you asked!! the pairing for this fic is going to be swiss + the ghoulettes! this fic is planned to feature plenty of femdom, dom/sub dynamics and procedures, strapons and toys, sexual photography, polyamory, ghoul anatomy, and it’ll all be wrapped up in a pretty little bow like lingerie, haha!! ohh, but i know you’re not convinced! where’s the classic leaf gender fuckery? well, for this work, i present to you she/her transfem sunny manifesting her monster of a cock, and!! the main event!! i also present to you she/her gender-fluid swiss manifesting a pussy!! :D hehe, the dynamic is gonna be our lovely ghoulettes domming the swissussy and making sure it’s thoroughly wrecked. oh, all wrapped up in lace and silk, of course!! ♡♡

i’m gonna also be rambling about what the other options were below the cut!! if you’re not interested, that’s a-okay, my friend!! but, i’ve grown rather attached to these little plot points, so they may become ficlets or even fully fledged projects one day if anyone’s interested, haha!! this was just a fun break from whatever silly little storyline i may have from the hatefuck fic! ♡

haha, alright!! let’s do this in order of popularity, yeah? so! runner up was ovipositor with a twist featuring everybody’s favorite lads from era iii !!! :D this work would’ve featured terzo + omega, and it was honestly just a fun idea i had as an excuse to dive into more ghoul anatomy, haha! i feel like this work would’ve been a bit shorter, but the main idea was essentially terzo physically fucking both omega’s cock sheath, as well as another more desperate scene of terzo fucking omega’s dick hole. i’m realizing now i probably didn’t hint at this one perfectly?? but! that was the idea, haha! lots of big dick jokes as well as sappy, flirty teasing, and these lads bickering like an old married couple, haha! basically! ovipositor anatomy, but instead of something being… er, ejected from omega’s cock? some(one)thing is being inserted! ♡

third place was my personal favorite, haha! this one was confessional gang bang featuring just about the entire cast of era iii !!! :D the pairing for this would’ve featured zephyr + uh… well, everybody else, haha!! i am such a sucker for my usual everybody loves everybody bullshit, haha! anyways, the premise of this fic was actually inspired by those anonymous gloryhole tropes?? for both sucking and dick and sucking and fucking pussy and/or ass, haha!! although, for this, it would neither be anonymous or limited to just one side ♡ this fic would’ve featured confessional sex, plenty of dom/sub dynamics and bondage, probably mention free use between ghouls and their respective relationships and social structures. oh! also plenty of leaf gender fuckery starting with they/he intersex zephyr, as well as an excuse for me to dive into my personal characterizations for a lot of the era iii ghouls!! i still like the idea of this fic a lot!! so the chances of this actually becoming something are quite high, haha!! ♡

and, last but not least! this one, i think was probably a bit of a throw away idea? but i’d been thinking about it so much already that i said, ‘eh. why not, haha!’ anyways! the prompt was rough punishment sex featuring two silly lads from era iv !!! :D this fic wouldn’t paired up mountain + swiss together, and it would’ve focused on their specific dynamic! that one video with swiss trying to give mountain the rose?? it forever haunts me, my friend. haha! i also just like the idea of their dynamic a lot, and i wanted to try writing something… er, a bit more intense than what i typically default to :) so! this fic would’ve featured a lot of discussed and consensual dom/sub dynamics with dom mountain and sub swiss! as well as things like spitting and ignoring, impact play, bandage, humiliation and degradation, as well as some well deserved aftercare!! i was also playing around with the idea of including some more… extreme?? kinks?? i was debating on things like boot kinks, cock and ball torture, maybe piss play?? that sort of thing!! :) haha! i had a feeling, even though it was a bit of a throw away idea, that it wouldn’t get too many votes? especially considering i’m still atoning for my crimes with my hatefuck fic, haha!! regardless, it’s always nice to know how many of you are depraved animals, haha!! (/affectionately said, my friends! because, well, same!!) ♡♡♡

(well, uh, that was it really!! :) this was just a silly little game i wanted to try with the poll feature, but it’s lovely to know that so many of you are at least a little invested in my writing, haha!! i may try this again in the future, haha!! it was quite fun to do! i hope to see everyone with the next filthy, debauched, smutty project, hehe! ♡♡)

[adultswim2021]

Robot Chicken #53: “Ban on the Fun” | October 28, 2007, 2007 - 11:30PM | S03E11

Hello Kitty gets a hairball? Now I’ve seen everything! Folks, that was my favorite bit in the whole episode. Look at me, dismissing it out of hand.

What else does this episode have? A senseless runner where the main dude form 300 says “This. Is. ____! (something other than Sparta)”, a grotesque but just-plain silly parody of the final scene from Rocky, and a sorta-clever sketch that takes place immediately after the fade-out in Thelma and Louise. I didn’t mind any of them too much, but I did not laugh. There’s also a thing where two meth cookers conjure Crystar. I don’t know who that is and I don’t care to find out. Seems like nerd shit to me.

Also notable is the “Scientist Mad With Power” sketch, about the scientist who declared Pluto was no longer planet (then roughly topical) going crazy and also declaring that other things weren’t what they were supposed to be. I sorta liked this one, and feel like it’s maybe the most cohesive idea in the whole show. The punchline is satisfying enough. I didn’t hate this one!

There’s also the memorable “Home Life of the Maytag Repairman”, a take-off of the Maytag Repairman ad campaign. The joke in the ads is that he’s never busy because Maytags don’t break very often. The boredom has driven him to become so mad that he strikes his wife, who leaves him. He blows his brains out, which splatter all over a Maytag dishwasher. This one’s fairly well done as far as Robot Chicken goes, I guess. 

The final sketch is Laff-a-Munich, which is a parody of both Steven Spielberg’s Munich (which I’ve never seen; I’m honestly only faintly aware of the real-life events that it portrays) and Hanna Barbera’s Laff-A-Lympics. I grew up on the Hanna Barbera stuff to some degree (mostly by way of VHS best-of compilations), and I actually remember a brief period of time when I tuned in to Laff-A-Lympics repeats on USA Network in the afternoons. You’d think I’d be fonder of this sketch. 

I guess I’m either noting a mild improvement in the show, or that I’m a little more used to it. It rarely excites me or makes me laugh, but it doesn’t seem to make me angry like it used to. Even knowing what I know now, I still wouldn’t bother to watch it outside of this blog. There are often sketches on the show where the writing is all-over the place, with jokes that don’t really build on the premise but are just a collection of “funny” things happening. I think the excuse was that the show was meant to feel like a little kid with a short attention span smacking their different toys around in nonsensical scenarios. The show does seem to be a little more focused overall and have more solid sketches. I still mostly don’t like it, though.

MAIL BAG

Please forgive my scattered absences. I actually wrote this post and accidentally saved it as a draft and forgot to queue it. Also, I think daylight savings eve got skipped? No idea why, that one was tumblr’s fault, but if I thought of it I might have gone in and forced it to publish.

I played the new Ninja Turtles brawler game Shredder's Revenge and you can't play as Venus De Milo. You can play as April O'Neil though (the porn star, not the reporter)

April O’Neil does some terrific work. Anyway: I read that the one guy sold his share of the Ninja Turtles to the other guy, and the guy who holds the rights now HATED Venus, and deleted all mentions of her on the official website. There was even like, some blog thing that was meant to keep her in the canon and he DELETED it harshly. HBOMax much?? SEXIST MUCH???

[peepsibo]

Heya this might be silly but would you ever consider writing a Drabble about a love triangle where robin and Vance are kinda fighting over Finns affection and attention, and Finn has no idea lol

i am changing the premise of this a little bit cause i am pretty sure vance is 17 and finn is like 13, but i still hope you like this!

‘What did that douchebag have that he didn’t?’ Robin asked himself as he glared over at resident bad boy, Vance Hopper who was walking right outside his classroom. Earlier in the morning, he and Finney happened to see Vance kick the ever loving shit out of some kid, neither knowing the reason why, but that was just how Vance rolled. This wouldn’t be the first time Finney has seen Vance do that, but something sparked in his mind after this particular beatdown. All day, Finney cannot shut up about Vance Fucking Hopper. It was now almost 1 pm and he was still going on and on and on about the older boy they saw that morning.

“Honestly, I don’t think there’s anyone more manly than Vance, that’s even including the adults in this town!” Snap! Finally turning his attention from the boy he couldn’t stop talking about to the boy that was with him, Finney just looked at Robin with a stupidly cute confused look on his face. The pencil that Robin was holding now in two, Robin seemed to break out of his jealous stupor to lock eyes with Finney. 

Looking expectedly at him, Finney asked the other, “Why did you break your pencil?”

“When are you gonna stop talking about Vance?” The words seemed to just slip out of his lips in anger, letting the negative thoughts cloud his judgements. Finney blinked back at the older, before slowly allowing his lips to turn upwards into a teasing smirk. 

“Aw, are you jealous you aren’t the only person I find manly?” Blushing fiercely, Robin tried to turn his head away from Finney and looked over at a random spot on the wall. Suddenly, he felt a pull on his cheek. Finney pulled at his cheek like what his aunties did when they see him at any family event, cooing at him. 

“Don’t worry, Wobin, I wuv you most of all!” Exaggerating the baby talk and sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. Robin felt eyes on this moment that weren’t there, the two being way back into the classroom. 

“Ew, stop it!” Robin tried to push away but Finney just followed him and continued babying him. At this point, the two were almost falling out of their chairs, but Robin was just glad he didn’t have to hear more about Vance ‘Stupid Mother Fucker’ Hopper for the rest of the day. 

[a-tale-of-legends]

I'm thinking about how some of the main story lines of the main series pokemon games have, specifically the ones that fall flat to me.

For example, in FireRed/LeafGreen the story is very simple and while I don't personally find joy in playing through the games, it does it job right as an introduction of this world.

Hgss( or just the Johto games in general) the story is a continuation of what happened in FRLG. And that's fine! Great actually! But my problem is how some things could have been done better. Story wise, gameplay is a different story. In hgss , team rocket is having a revival and their end goal is to call Giovanni through the radio tower and regain power. And in my personal opinion, that just make team rocket look like a joke, cause there entire operation depends on one man. Maybe that was the point, but for the player character to try and stop something that the police should have been actively trying to stop already is very silly to me( though can you really trust the police of this world after all the shit that happens every year or so? Probably not). Not to mention the whole side plot with Suicune and the box legendary and how it's so disconnected to the main plot, when I feel it could have been connected somehow. Silvers arc is very good, but I feel like the revelation that he's Giovanni's son should come in main game ( like the mid-end), and not in a fucking event that doesn't exist anymore. Makes his hatred to Team Rocket more personal that that they're just weak. I have a few ideas on how the hgss plot could go with changes but that's a different post. Oh!

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Emerald as much as I did, but I did and it was so fun. I liked how at the end of the day, it was Rayquaza that saved the day, not the player. The characters that were important to the plot really filled their purpose. Though I will say, the evil teams reasoning could have been better, and Steven/Wallace honestly didn't do much other than a few battles( though that's still better than Cynthia). In my own timeline for my oc's, I want Oras and Emerald to be mixed a bit, which is gonna take a lot of planning and drafts from me, but that's for future me to worry about.

Dppt. Platinum specifically. The story is very straightforward, just like the past 3 games before it, and the characters are fun in their own right. I should just say it now that a good story doesn't have to be thought provoking, or a grand masterpiece. Simple stories are fun, and that's why I like Emerald and Platinum so much. The "problem" with platinum is just a few characters fall flat/ could have been expanded upon. Cyrus is a really interesting character and it would have been nice to understand him more other then the emotion thing. Cynthia *sighs* is such a disappointment as a character. I love her, I do, but she does LITERALLY NOTHING. Yes she gives some exposition, but she's, like, the champion! One of the strongest at that! Steven falls into the game category of letting the player do literally everything, but he is shown to be fighting the main evil team at. least once. Cynthia does nothing. And that's sad. She's so cool. And it's even sadder when you realize that's a trend among female characters in this franchise but that's a different topic for a different day. But other than that, the simplicity of Platinum is fine, in my personal opinion.

BW and B2W2 kinda caused a shift in the story telling of pokemon. The story was darker, the villain was more evil, the characters were just *chef kiss*. I will admit that I am biased towards these games, if that wasn't obvious enough from my ocs, so I have very little criticism. Not saying that criticism can't be made, and it should, but I can't think of anything other than the female character thing. Iris, I love you, but you too did nothing in B2W2 as Champion. I'm only excusing you cause your a literal child. Bianca is fine and deserves more love but I wish people would stop demeaning her( though I guess that was part of her growth)

XY! I used to hate it before doing a nuzlocke and now I'm just disappointed. In terms of story premise, it was good. Like really good. But in terms of execution, Arcues this was terrible. In my experience with the game, the way the game presented itself was so lack- luster, I felt like I was doing a chore than playing a game( the game was much more entertaining as a nuzlocke, but it still felt like a drag at times). The characters, I believe, where the greatest offender to this. There is very little for me, the player, to care about the rivals, let alone call them rivals, and some things feel so left-field and shoehorned in. Calem/Serena calling the player their friend near the end of the game when their was no proper build up to it? Shauna saying she's friends with Clemont and thus knows how to unlock a security door. The other two noy contributing to anything and just feeling like a waste of space. And is it just me, or was their supposed to be some sort of conflict between our "friend" group and just lead to nowhere, only to resolve itself??? Is it just me??? Diantha only appears twice before her battle, has a member of the evil team member as her elite four( who gets away just fine?????), and just does nothing. This, I feel, is the worst offender of badly written female characters in this franchise. Dear Arcues. I guess Lysander was interesting? Not really. This whole game is a mess.

SM/USUM, despite my grips with a few directional choices, are very good games. This post is getting long, so I won't go into it.

Same goes to SwSh. It's like XY, in that the plot idea was really good, but it feel flat. It's saving grace, at least to me, where the characters. And, well, the fandom just throwing out headcanons left and right, but that's a fanon thing, not a canon thing.

Okay that's all, and thank you for listening to my Ted Talk. Also female pokemon characters deserve better. And simple plot does not equal bad writing, unless the execution suck. Okay bye

[botslayer]

Heroes Reborn: Opinion piece.

So Marvel recently announced an interesting event, time, as it tends to in comics, has broken down on the side of the road and been rebooted. There are no Avengers in this new timeline. Instead, the world is generally protected by the “Squadron Supreme.” 

For those who don’t know, the SS is a team of “Superheroes” (rant incoming) from... Honestly, it depends. Sometimes they’re from another reality, at least in part, other times they’re just regular humans (Save for Hyperion, the man with the atom on his chest) who all get powers later or what have you. Their primary five members are Hyperion, Nighthawk, Zarda the Power Princess, Whizzer(Or “Speed demon”), and Dr. Spectrum. These are, of course, parody characters based on the Justice League from DC. Problem though: These are supposedly “Heroes” but they just about always turn stupid evil or at best into the Justice Lords, and while the latter was the plot of the original book they came from, I want them to actually BE heroes.  Even when they are heroes they still discuss taking over the world for whatever insane reason and it makes it hard to believe they ever wanted to be heroes sometimes, let alone were... And sadly this event seems to at least partly continue this trend. What am I referring to?  “Heroes Reborn,” The event I explained above Is still showing Hyperion And from my research: The rest of the squadron, being monsters to an extent considering they killed at least some of what the prime continuity calls the X-Men and most likely many more in “The Mutant Massacre.”

Already a point off. But this combination of characters working under Magneto is at least interesting enough that I want to read this. The established lore of this universe has my attention, what else is there? How about... exactly what I asked for? 

Hyperion and the Imperial guard Is about our buddy Hyperion and the Shi’ar deciding to go on a quest through the Negative zone... Aight. I’m down. Maybe this will deepen his character. and justify him being an authoritarian idiot.  If the Avengers never assembled though, what about some other Marvel heroes? Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man is basically Jimmy Olsen. 

He exists in a state of Hyperion Hyper fanboying and actually pals around with him a bit. There wasn’t much else to what I read of it but I’m curious how that premise might go south. Up next: A Villain book that looks neat if nothing else. 

Various heroes and villains in the prime universe are now a cabal of villainous anti-heroes and the like opposing Nighthawk’s branch of the Squadron in Europe. Saber Tooth, Hawk eye, Scott Lang, and others all working together like this is a fascinating sight to behold, I must say and I’m curious about their team dynamic. Finally we have the one I’m the most interested in, “Young Squadron.”

This comic examines newer faces of prominence in the Marvel comic universe, namely Miles Morales, Kamala Kahn, and Samuel Alexander in this universe as the sidekicks of three particular SS members... And I wanna talk about their personas.

Samuel Alexander: As a member of the Nova corps, of course becomes Dr. Spectrum’s apprentice. Who else? But I will say... And I know you’re all thinking it: Google Chrome. Despite the weird color scheme I like the patterns and I’m curious how, if he doesn’t have the prism, he actually has these powers even though I don’t know much about Alexander as a character. Up next: Kamala. 

Cringy name aside (I know it’s a silver age-grade silly name and that’s the point but it’s still goofy in kinda the wrong way) I also have to wonder what her powers are in this universe. I doubt Zarda would just pick up some random kid and not at least give her a power-up via gear or a spell or something. And this outfit... Hm... Okay, look: I understand there might be touch of a cultural thing to the overall look that I’m not seeing but to me it just looks kinda lop-sided and... Under-armored? Like Kid Spectrum has a helmet and knee pads at least and you can make up a material for his suit but Kamala’s looks like the torso should be armor even though it’s more obviously made of cloth except for the metal sash thing? If they can trim the skirt a little and give her some gold/black shoulder pads, I would say that would look good because it might also help balance the colors. As it stands the black gold and blue, while they can be striking, all look more like they’re trying to fight for what the main color is. But what do I know? Finally, Miles Morales:

I’m just gonna come out and say it: The fact that he’s Falcon in this time line feels like slightly racially inclined type-casting. But it also makes sense given Falcon’s original color scheme and the fact that Night Hawk is supposed to be Batman. But I feel like making his own thing like the other two might have better move... Off the top of my head: “Hawk wasp” Which would still lend itself very well to crazy colored costume and the Squadron Supreme’s penchant for being intimidating and evil. But again, what do I know. Still very interested in this series and I hpe to read it when it comes out in friggin’ May.

[palimpsessed]

So @captain-aralias​ did one of these and invited other writers to do the same. And I wasn't really going to because it feels a bit late now and also I've done quite a few other year in review posts for 2020. But then I got to thinking that it would be really nice to have one of these for each year to look back on and compare, which convinced me. So, here we go!

If you’re a writer, I’d also encourage you to steal this. Tag me on your post so I can see your thoughts! 🥰

List of Complete Fics for 2020 1. At the Top of a Tower, With You- General, 900 words 2. Use Your Words- Teen, 16k 3. A Man of Letters, or Five Times Baz Retreats and the One Time He Doesn’t- Teen, 54k 4. To the Manor Borne- Teen, 43k

Total: 4 fics, 113k words

Every one of these fics was written for an event, which, realistically, is the only reason they got finished. I have so many ideas I'm working on all at once, and I came into fandom with a focus on making art, so to actually find the motivation to sit down and write/finish/post a fic was entirely deadline based. And it's a technique I'm sure I will also employ in 2021.

Best/Worst Title?

Well, I've mentioned a few times before that I usually have a title before I have much in the way of a fic concept. I don't really dislike any of the my titles, because they all did exactly what I needed them to do, which was help me focus on what I wanted to accomplish in the fic. Comparatively speaking, though, I can answer this.

Best: Use Your Words - succinct, idiomatic, a book quote/motif that also has the potential to be a spell, does what it says on the tin, is probably what all of us are constantly yelling at Baz and Simon to do throughout the books and the fic itself

(Honorable mention to A Man of Letters because that title forms a perfect heart shape when viewed on mobile on AO3. ❤️)

Worst: At the Top of a Tower, With You - this is also a quote and it fits the fic perfectly, but it is a bit of a mouthful and it has a comma in the middle of it, which, while I love commas, feels a bit off-putting in terms of a title - also, it's always kind of bothered me that it's a Baz WS quote used for a CO-era Lucy POV

Best/worst summary?

Again, I don't really dislike any of my summaries.

Best:

To the Manor Borne: The gang decides to spend Christmas together at Pitch Manor. Romance, hijinks, and holiday cheer ensue.

Anything that lets me use the word hijinks is always good! - it's short and sweet - it does a fair job of setting up the premise for the fic and giving highlights, without giving anything away

Worst: A Man of Letters

I'm not going to include this one because it's so long, I had to cut down the version I posted on tumblr to fit in the AO3 field, which is really why I rank it below my others - it effectively sets up the world of Simon and Baz in Regency England prior to where the story starts, but it is prohibitively long - and it's set up, not summary, so it also loses points for not doing what it purports to do - I could have said exactly what this fic was in one sentence: "Simon and Baz meet at several Regency-appropriate venues over the course of a London season and reflect on their acquaintance in letters", but instead I did the full book jacket version because it was more interesting to me.

Best/Worst First Line?

Oh, this is interesting. I can honestly say that I have no idea where this will go. Going to pull up my docs and find out! Okay, since I only have four fics to consider, and I'm feeling split, I'm going to do two for each. I feel good about my words, but I will say that half of my first lines actually provide information, and the other half are incomplete thoughts. Those were stylistic decisions I made, but when taken alone, it does somewhat limit the effectivness of a sentence when it can't stand without the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps that decision will lure readers in for more?

Best:

In the end, we wind up at Pitch Manor. (To the Manor Borne)

I know that you won't be surprised when I tell you that I do not like writing letters. (A Man of Letters)

Kind of interesting that these both contain key words from the titles 🤔

Worst:

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. (Use Your Words)

I love how the title seems to be answering Baz's question when the two are put together like this 😂

Strange that it should end here, where it all started. (At the Top of a Tower, With You)

The title also seems to complete the first line in this one, too. I'm learning about my writing as this goes on, so that's cool!

Best/Worst Last Line?

Hmm. Okay, again, no idea. Also, a little leery of including last lines for anyone who hasn't read the fics they're from yet. (Tho I guess it's unlikely those people would be reading this😆) But let's see what we've got.

Use Your Words and A Man of Letters have very similar final lines, and both are somewhat spoilery.

Best: The ending of A Man of Letters felt risky to me, in the way that it is formatted and changes tone from the rest of the story. It was something that happened as I wrote it and I loved it. I had no idea if readers would like it, if they would feel like it worked as an ending, but I felt strongly enough about it to let the entire fic hinge on that and I think it really paid off. So, without giving you the actual last line, which is only one word, I'm going to say that one is my best ending.

Worst:

To the Manor Borne: "Carry on, Simon."

It's not bad, it's just not mine.

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I did not set out to write any fics in 2020. I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. I've been an aspiring novelist for half my life now, and have been going through major ups and downs with my writing. I decided I needed to re-evaluate and figure out if writing was something that was even going to be able to make me happy anymore. The answer is: YES! Just…not original fiction. At the moment. I'm happiest when I can write for the sake of writing and not have to DO something with that writing. Which is why discovering fan fiction was AMAZING!!!! 🥰🥰🥰

To actually answer the question, yes, I wrote more than I thought I would. I also wrote exactly as much as I thought I would, simply because these were all things I signed up for (with the exception of my Countdown fic, but I committed to it as if it were something that required a sign up).

I have a lot more ideas for 2021, but I don't know how many of them will come to fruition. I'm not putting pressure on myself to have to do anything beyond what I sign up for again, because it did work out so well for me starting off.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, the pairing and the fandom were in no way a surprise. 😆 They're my only ones, so those were both a given. The genre is also not surprising.

What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest?

A Man of Letters, without any hesitation. I adore it so much. It's the kind of fic I know I will unabashedly sit down to read over and over, even if I'm the one who wrote it. I had one reader to please and it was ME. By far, my most self-indulgent fic.

Okay, NOW your most popular story?

That depends on the metric.

To the Manor Borne leads in Comments (107), Kudos (153), and Hits (1992), and Use Your Words leads in Bookmarks (26).

But since To the Manor Borne is top in 3 out of 4 metrics, I'll say that one.

Story most upderappreciated by the universe?

I mean, the least popular by a wide margin is At the Top of a Tower, With You, but I don't know if I'd call it underappreciated. It's short, it's angsty, it's got a very unusual style, it's Lucy POV, it's the first fic I wrote and posted. I didn't really go into it with high performance expectations. I'm proud of it, I just didn't expect it to be popular. It would be nice if more people read it, but I'm not broken up over it.

Story that could have been better?

I'm not even going to touch this one. Everything can always be improved upon, but if I go down that route, nothing will ever be done. This is one of the things I have come to appreciate about traditional art versus digital. With traditional, there is only so much you can do before something is permanent and you have to live with it. It's an exercise in letting go and acceptance. Digital is flashier and more flexible, but I could (and have) spend months on a single piece and never feel satisfied, never stop tweaking. I think that's also the reason I started to hate my novels.

Sexiest story?

Based purely on overall vibes, I find the understated tension of the Regency the most appealing, so I'm going to say A Man of Letters. I didn't actually stray into sex territory in any of my fics (though Simon and Baz have had sex by the time To the Manor Borne starts, and refer to it, and probably do it "offscreen"), but A Man of Letters is the one that feels sexiest to me. Lots of thirsting!Baz and feral!Simon and sensual hand touching (how risqué!) - and YEARNING. That, to me, is the sexiest vibe of all. So. Much. Yearning.

Saddest story?

At the Top of a Tower, With You - for this one, I tagged "angst without plot" and I stand by that. It's Lucy losing her connection to Simon at the end of CO and trying to find a way to reconcile herself to leaving him alone again. I gave it as much of a hopeful bent as I could, with the refrain of Baz's spoken "love" to cling to, but it's very sad.

Most fun?

To the Manor Borne - All of my fics have their fair share of angst, but this one also has some good, silly, holiday fluff thrown in. Since I wrote it for the Countdown, each chapter was based on a different prompt, which led to this one going in all sorts of directions no single fic probably ever should. Plus, it has the most Shepard, and Shepard always makes things more fun.

Story with the single sweetest moment?

Oh my god. I don't know. No, never mind. I do. It's To the Manor Borne, but it's split between the two gift giving scenes, the Constellations and Secret Santa/Gift Giving prompts. These were private moments between Simon and Baz, sharing themselves with each other, being vulnerable, and communicating. It's the gifts they give each other, yes, but it's more so the reasons they chose those gifts, and how they show part of themselves and share their love for each other, through those gifts, that had me in tears writing those two scenes. I'm super proud of them.

Hardest story to write?

Use Your Words - it was written for an exchange and that made it really hard to write it knowing there was this pressure of making my gift-ee happy with the fic. I'm proud of it, and they really liked it, but the anxiety was too much for me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

A Man of Letters - if there is a fic better suited to me as a writer, I haven't met it. I started writing after reading Pride and Prejudice in high school, so I started out writing Regency and I spent years and years and years of my life obsessed. When I transferred into college, an administrator I had never met before heard my name during orientation and said, "Oh, you're the Austen scholar." (It is a small, private college, and I was a transfer, so the pool of students was even smaller. But still. Many years later, I'm clearly not over it.) I also did my senior thesis on an epistolary novel (Frances Burney’s Evelina), and my English Lit emphasis was for that time period. So, I felt like I had been preparing for this fic my entire adult life. 😂

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I don't think so. I tend to let my writing be dictated by the characters, so I'm always following their lead. Sometimes they'll do or say something that surprises me and takes me down a route I didn't necessarily foresee, but I don't think there was ever a point where one of them did something that made me rethink who they are as a character.

Most overdue story?

I will say A Man of Letters, since that one felt like a culmination of my seventeen-year-old self's wildest writing dreams. But I should probably say the Scooby Doo AU I still haven't managed to finish, because that one has been a WIP since I joined the fandom. Oops. (I'm hoping when I look over this in a year, I can feel smug that it's finally done.)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Writing at all was a risk for me! And writing fan fic for the very first time! Writing an entire fic told only through letters. And then ending it in a completely different style from the rest of the fic. Doing a multi-chaptered fic for the Countdown, using a different prompt for each chapter, and publishing a chapter every single day for thirty days (with the exception of two days that had art). Signing up for fandom events in the first place!

What I learned from taking risks in my writing is the same thing I learned when I took risks in my art this year. I have a much better appreciation for what I've done when I push myself, I feel better about the end product, and I like it longer. I think it's really good for me to challenge myself creatively.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most?

Oh boy. Um. Therapy! Both Use Your Words and To the Manor Borne had their big HEA moments built around sending Simon and Baz to therapy. I don't think that's likely to change for future fics, either. I feel like therapy as the theme for 2020 seems very fitting. (Also, I think I keep sending the boys to therapy because I'm trying to get myself there…)

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Just to write what I want to write, have fun, not put any pressure on myself, and to take risks in my writing and my art because it will help me to grow.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep17

Haha yeah at this point I give up on thinking this is newcomer-friendly, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut [plus Umineko spoilers]

Well this sure was an episode, lol.

At this point I think that regardless of how the rest of the show goes, it kinda just definitively doesn’t work properly as something for new fans to enjoy. It’s not like it wouldn’t make any sense, but it’s just a straight up inferior experience to watching this as a sequel after the VN. Even with the fast-paced montage of Matsuribayashi plot points, new fans still don’t even know stuff like what Takano’s whole backstory is, what her motives where, and what her actual plan even WAS in the first place beyond just ‘she’s gonna kill everyone somehow for some reason’. And I doubt that we’re going to get much time spent at all on Rena and her backstory to explain what she was doing in Onidamashi.

I think Gou works fine as a sequel to the VN, but as a starting point for new fans it just throws enough spoilers at you to ruin the experience of reading the VN afterward, without enough time spent on those plot points and characters to make it worth it. Though I also have to wonder now if it was even worth spending 13 episodes going over mostly the same events as the original question arcs if immediately afterward they were going to drop all pretenses of this being a remake.

I’m pretty negative about this whole aspect of the show, but I still think that the sequel aspect of it is good and interesting. Even if a lot of that is just me being desperate for any amount of indirect Umineko content, lol.

This episode might have spelled out that Satoko is the second looper on the gameboard, but it seems pretty obvious that there’s a higher power influencing her and giving her the power to loop in the first place. I’m still suspicious of Hanyuu/Featherine, but this episode made me think it’s much more likely that it might actually be Lambda.

I wasn’t really sure about it earlier since it felt like wishful thinking, but the whole beginning scene where Takano apologizes to Rika and says that she wouldn’t believe her even if she explained why she suddenly changed her mind about her mission seems to indicate that Lambda has basically abandoned Takano and revoked her blessing of certainty, and she seems to remember the events of Matsuribayashi anyway, so she’s basically just accepted her defeat. I don’t think it’s as simple as that, though, because of what Takano said about Rika not believing why she changed her mind, so I think it also involves her connection to Lambda.

It might actually be a lot like how Lambda acted in Umineko, where she took over the game master position for a while after Beatrice abandoned the game. This might be Lambda taking over the Higurashi game board because Hanyuu abandoned it, and she’s decided to make Satoko her new piece.

We’ve already seen Satoko talk about how Oyashiro contacted her and made her into his new priestess because of Rika’s sins, so I think Lambda probably just posed as Oyashiro to convince Satoko to become her piece.

It’d also help explain how weird a lot of Gou’s game board feels, and how silly the whole concept of Satoko being a criminal mastermind is, if this is the Higurashi version of Umineko Ep5, where Lambda created a ‘game without love’ where she didn’t technically contradict anything about the story or the characters, but pushed the limits of how out of character she could make them act.

I’ve already felt for a while that Nekodamashi in particular feels more like a case of the culprit just trying to unfairly torture Rika instead of trying to present her with a fairy mystery to solve, and that’d definitely fit with the idea of Lambda just wanting to mess with Rika and manipulating the pieces and the game board to do so.

It kinda risks entering the catch-22 territory of something being ‘intentionally badly written’, in a sense, if the whole point is that the real mastermind is just being sadistic and not trying to establish a fair mystery, but it’s at least something that’s been established before in the overall franchise. I dunno how well it works to have that be the premise of an entire season, though, compared to how only one episode of Umineko worked this way, and it was already established there that Lambda was the new game master at the very start of the episode, so there weren’t any surprises or secrets there.

Either way this could basically just be the hand wave-y explanation for any questions of how Satoko apparently managed to obtain the syringe in each arc and inject all these random people successfully in each arc. And also why it doesn’t even seem to make sense from Satoko’s POV for her to act in such a roundabout and risky way.

Honestly, it kinda reminds me of the whole mentality some people have where they wonder why Rika doesn’t just use her supernatural knowledge of everything going on to perfectly game the system and manipulate everyone. The whole point there is that she’s just a little girl who’s only physically capable of doing so much without outside help, but Lambda might be straight up giving Satoko the unnatural ability to actually do all of this stuff even as a random little girl. Which, again, feels kinda iffy as a writing choice, but it’d also fit with a lot of the commentary Ryukishi likes to do about this type of stuff.

One thing I’m curious about is if the next arc will start off with a new loop, or if this one will keep going. Usually we don’t have loops carry over between arcs, and with how this episode ended we might just find out that Satoko immediately shot Rika, but considering how Rika obviously planned this whole scene to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s able to stop Satoko from shooting her.

I didn’t think this up, but I’ve seen other people theorize that part of the ‘birthday party preparation’ involved Rika explaining everything to her friends off-screen and getting them to help her deal with the whole Satoko confrontation, which I think would make a lot of sense, and it’d make it a lot more likely that the next arc will start with Satoko getting stopped before she can kill Rika. Although if the next arc starts that way, and everyone’s already aware of what’s going on with Rika and Satoko, and we’ve already gone through all the stuff with Takano giving up her plans and leaving the village, I have to wonder what they’d even spend seven whole episodes doing, lol. All the stuff with Takano and the clinic in this episode also makes it feel like this will be the ‘final loop’, since it’d feel a bit weird to have to go over it all again later on, but we’ll see.

I’ve also seen people point out that Satoko’s gun at the end seems to be the same type as Mion’s toy gun, so instead of her getting physically overpowered, we might find out that Rika got Mion to swap her gun with Satoko’s. I dunno exactly how Rika would have known about Satoko having a gun, or how she’d be able to make the swap happen without Satoko realizing it, but I could see it playing out that way.

Anyway, this really feels like it’s shaping up to be a Bern vs Lambda game, where Lambda’s whole goal is just to keep Rika stuck in this loop as long as possible no matter what. And I still feel like if they’re gonna go this hard into the Umineko connections, they should really just go the whole nine yards and have this lead into a proper Umineko anime remake. Otherwise it’d feel like a wasted opportunity where Higurashi fans get disappointed that their series got ‘tainted’ by Umineko-related story baggage, while Umineko fans are disappointed because it’s not the sort of content we’ve been hoping for, and it’s not as substantial as a full remake would be.

It doesn’t help that Okonogi and Amakusa both show up in this episode, lol. I know they both show up in Higurashi, but still. At this point it’d just feel cruel if all this teasing doesn’t actually lead to anything noteworthy.

Also, even in spite of how much this episode explained about the whole mystery, I feel even more confused about what the whole final arc could possibly be about at this point, especially if I’m right about this loop continuing for maybe the entire rest of the next arc. It kinda feels like we’re already at the endgame where both sides have revealed their intentions to each other, and we more or less know exactly what the mechanics of everything going on behind the scenes are. It feels like there isn’t really any mystery left to unravel, aside from maybe the specifics of what happened to Satoko after Matsuribayashi that clearly lead to her getting influenced into doing all this. But we still have seven whole episodes left to go, so clearly there’s a lot left to happen.

Ideally they’re going to find time to actually go over stuff like Rena and Shion’s backstories, and the exact details of what happened in the previous years of the curse killings, and Takano’s whole backstory and what her big evil plan actually was in the first place, so those things don’t just end up left in the VN for new fans to not find out about, but I dunno. Ironically, I don’t think there’s *enough* episodes left to properly go into all that, unless it’s as fast-paced as how this episode went through a bullet point list of details from Matsuribayashi.

There’s still the question of if we might get a second season, but I doubt it. Maybe it could be a one-cour second season, but it already feels like we’re at the end of the story. We’re basically at the equivalent of the end of Minagoroshi, and there was only one more arc after that in the VN. But if we’re making comparisons to the VN, then we’ve still basically skipped over Tsumihoroboshi and Meakashi, lol.

Also, before I forget, it still genuinely bugs me that even though Rika apparently remembered Takano being evil this whole time, and clearly still thought she was evil this whole time, she’s apparently done absolutely nothing to try and investigate or stop her in any of these timelines, and she spent all of Nekodamashi being like ‘wow, I can’t believe people are going unnaturally L5 and killing me while taking about parasites . . . . who could possibly be behind this . . . . . .. .  oh well guess I’ll just die lol’. I don’t want to call it a plot hole, but it just feels like genuinely bad writing caused by the unnecessary conflict of Gou trying to appeal to new fans while also being a sequel. But in the end they ended up giving a sparknotes version of Matsuribayashi that spoils Takano being evil anyway, so it feels kinda pointless that they sidestepped the issue so hard up to this point, at the cost of having Rika basically act like an idiot who doesn’t bother acting upon any of the knowledge she has.

Anyway, if we don’t get a full Umineko remake out of this in the end, they should at least just have the next arc turn into full on Umineko shenanigans with logic battles and witches with laser swords and shit.

I might sound like I’m just really negative toward Higurashi in general compared to Umineko, but even though I prefer Umineko, I really like Higurashi, and that’s a big part of why it bugs me so much that they didn’t just commit to this being a proper remake. An actual remake of the VN that has more concise pacing and works better as an anime would be genuinely great in it’s own way, but that’s not what we’ve ended up getting, lol.