#( if only to give the impression he doesn't recall it as clearly as he actually does. )

[erabundus]

milla's  ask  got  me  thinking,  but  ren  would  probably be  able  to  learn  LANGUAGES  uncannily  fast.  his  memory  (  barring  any  irminsul-related  tampering  )  is  effectively  perfect  —  he  would  only  need  to  hear  or  read  something  once  to  remember  it  for  all  eternity.  he's  probably  at  least  somewhat  conversationally  fluent  in  most  languages  across  teyvat  simply  by  virtue  of  absorbing  words  via  OSMOSIS;  leave  him  in  a  crowded  setting  for  an afternoon,  and  he's  clever  enough  to  use  context  to  slowly  piece  together  what  the  people  around  him  are  saying.

does  he  ever  MENTION  this?  no.  of  course  not.  he  hates  sharing  any  personal  information  about  himself,  and  frankly  it's  to  his  advantage  to  feign  IGNORANCE.  you  never  know  when  someone  might  let slip  something  interesting  within  earshot  —  simply  because  they  assume  he  can't  understand  them.

[cosmicjoke]

Levi's Gratitude as Proof of His Innate Goodness

I was talking about this on another post with someone, but it's something important that I wanted to bring up on my own blog, too, as a separate thing.

I think Levi’s memory of his mother is vague, at best. I brought this up in my analysis post of "Bad Boy" as well.

When recalling his memory of Kuchel, Levi talks about how he thought, against the filth and rotten air of the Underground, his mother's "elegant posture" stood out all the more.

He says, specifically, "I was born in the Underground, and have only ever seen things that are Underground. So I thought... It's hopelessly dirty here. Even the air here is rotten. The more I realize this, the more I feel that mother's posture is so elegant."

And we see a panel showing only a partial image of Kuchel's face. We never see a fully realized image of her.

Levi then says on the next page, “That’s all I remember clearly”, referring to her elegance.

This story is told entirely from Levi's perspective, so I think it's plain from us never getting a full picture of Kuchel's face, and from what Levi says about her elegance being the only thing he "remembers clearly", that he doesn't have a solid or vivid recollection of her.

I think he was probably too young when she died to have any clear or solid memory of her. He likely doesn't remember what she actually looked like at all, really. All he’s left with, then, is the impression of her elegance against the backdrop of filth and rottenness he was surrounded by growing up. And I think he probably only remembers that elegance because of how sharply it contrasted with everything else in his life. That’s also why we see him fixate on it so much.

And it serves to truly highlight just how deprived Levi was of anything good in his life, that something so vague and even intangible became so meaningful to him, almost to the point of obsession.

He literally had no other anchor point of positivity, no experience or memory of anything good, than this hazy and uncertain impression of his mother’s beauty. That truly is heartbreaking, and it only serves to highlight further how extraordinary it is that Levi turned out to be such a good man.

Because the fact that Levi is so grateful for even that single moment of fleeting good in his life, a moment he barely even remembers, shows his own, innate goodness and the extraordinary strength of his character.

Most people would be bitter and resentful at having so little, (take, for example, Zeke), and even want to lash out at the world by making others suffer in the same ways they did, or take from others to fill the void of their own deprivation, but Levi instead cherished this one, good thing he had, and tried so hard to hold onto it, and preserve it. He appreciated it endlessly, and never lost that appreciation, no matter how bad his life got, no matter how horrible everything else was, how bleak and worthless his existence must have seemed, or how profound his loneliness.

I think that's a testament to Levi's innate goodness, to his innate kindness, that he holds such gratitude for something so small, especially in the face of the deluge of misery that was the rest of his life, and how he tries in turn to give people more than he had, to actively prevent them from suffering in the same ways he did, even to the point of sacrificing his own comfort for others, as in the case of him giving Petra's badge to Dieter, or rescuing Ramzi from that crowd in Marley, letting the kid have his own spending money, or holding that dying soldier's hand, even as Levi couldn't stand the feel of blood on his skin, just to comfort him in his last moments. I think we see Levi's gratitude for even the smallest kindnesses reflected, also, in the way he always goes out of his way to express his gratitude to others, always thanking his comrades for their efforts, always making sure to let them know that their efforts matter and are important. Like when he thanks Nifa for riding all night to bring him Erwin's instructions, or when he thanks Eren for saving them all in the underground cavern beneath Rod Reiss' estate, and tells Eren that it's thanks to him they can retake Wall Maria. Or when he tells Erwin that it isn't him he should be thanking for helping to capture the Female Titan, but all the soldiers who died in the effort.

It takes an extraordinary strength of character not to let the emotional devastation of his upbringing and life overwhelm him, and to still have the strength and desire to want to help others, when I'm certain there were times when Levi just wanted to lay down and die. Or when he wanted to hide away and protect himself from any more hurt or loss. That's why I always talk about how selfless Levi is. Even when he knows it's going to bring him more pain, he still does all he can to try and help others. He's never able to stay detached from people, or remain unaffected by the pain or loss of others, even as he tries to keep his distance, because he just cares too much, he has too much compassion and empathy in his heart, and too much generosity, even for people he doesn't really know.

I just think it's extraordinary how grateful Levi is for something that, for so many, would seem so insignificant and insubstantial, especially if they had lived a life as hard as Levi's own, or had experienced even half as much deprivation and despair as he had. I think it's proof of the fact that Levi was born with a good and generous heart. That he's an innately good person.

[uniquecellest]

Some fun AU ideas for Adashi

- Adam is half Galra/human but remained unaware

-Adam is half Altean/human

-Adam half Altean/Galra

-Adam was sent to earth to be a spy however he was extremely young and does not recall his mission at all

-Adam was captured; Shiro gets recaptured and thrown into the Gladiator ring again, they have to fight. Adam doesn't remember Shiro

-Shiro and all Paladins get to Earth the day the Galra invade. Shiro ends up saving Adam before Adam can unalive and Shiro is p i s s e d they went after Earth, especially Adam

-Adam and Lance get captured at different times/places resulting in Keith and Shiro to go after them, only they have to make a choice who lives: Adam or Lance (bonus for Adashi/Klance parallels)

-Matt teasing his friends Adam and Shiro constantly being a little terror to them

-more Adam, Shiro, and Matt being the og Garrison trio

-Krolia meeting a young Adam while she's with Keith's dad and Keith's dad being a mentor/role model to Shiro

-Matt, Shiro, and Adam discover Voltron earlier and are the paladins

-Adam meets Zarkon, Lotor, and/or Sendak and goes ferral on them for hurting shiro, Keith, and the other paladins

-They never broke up when Shiro went to space making

-Adam went on Kerberos replacing Matt, Sam, or Shiro

-Adam gets captured but is released as if a hostage, he was brainwashed/had a chip put in him

-Shiro vs. Kuron and Kuron brings Adam up to emotionally hurt Shiro (lowkey pisses Keith off bc no disrespects his brothers like that)

-Shiro and Adam reunite but are stiff thinking the other has moved on. They're only around each other when necessary unaware that they're also spending longer times together again - /and of course I still want him, but I can't when he's clearly moved on/ (cue Matt and Keith pulling a parent trap)

-rebel leader Adam whether it be on earth or a different planet

-Adam helps make Shiro a new hand

-trouble makers Adam, Matt, and Shiro (i.e. Matt and Shiro causing chaos while Adam tries to get them to chill)

- teenage Adam wanting to impress Shiro so he does something stupid that could actually result in explosion from the Garrison

-Shiro and Adam having relationships with the other Paladins before Kerberos (Pidge especially)

-Adam making Shiro blush easily

(Shiro: you know what you're doing

Adam: what are you talking about. [Actually knows what he's doing])

-Shiro and Adam loving to observe each other from afar from when they're cadets all the way to when Shiro leaves for Kerberos

-Adam is secretly an heir to a great fortune, but he had cut ties with his family and didn't get it til his grandparents passed away (Adam is not the only living relative just a sole inheriter)

-Adam sees Kuron and Shiro fighting and is the meme of "hey what's x + x kuron: correct answer Adam: shoots him Paladins: that was the right answer Adam: yes, but Takashi always does this (cut to Shiro and Keith doing the same fucking movement)

- Adam giving Shiro a silent treatment for dying in space

-Adam thanks Haggar for curing Shiro before unaliving her

-nervous cadet crushes bc they're 50/50 if the other will say yes if asked on a date. Someone makes a remark on the other making Adam or Shiro punch someone. The fight is broken by the time the one who wasn't present gets there (or maybe they're pulling their crush off) and don't get the full story until the one who wasn't fighting is helping patch up the one who was

-they're roommates as cadets

-Adam or Shiro is roommates with Matt while the other has a single room (cue Matt doing his best in getting the two idiots together)

-young Keith unaware that Adam and Shiro are dating so he tries to get them together (he enlists Matt's help)

[yuseirra]

This reminds me, I recall that one time when my friend and I chatted and how they said: "You really like romance, don't you?" and I was shocked because I don't really read things that belong in the "romance" category. I actually read really little of it.

but I am always impressed by characters that makes me go "Wow... they really care about them" or "they really love each other..." I guess that is something that gets me every single time. Isn't it charming to see it happen? Eh, Fatal does have the spirit, I think. PPFt I see how that drew me in, actually. So now I see. I must like romance. Rather, I really like it when I see two characters genuinely care for each other

Remember how Aqua's mentioned in, I think in CH2, how people are drawn to Ai like how moths are drawn to flames and they can't help it, seeing how bright she is? Well, the speaker of that song seems to feel exactly that way towards her. They're simply entranced and hopelessly in love.

I'm not sure about "possessive",

because there's a line that goes:

誰のものでもない、最愛のファタール！ Beloved fatale that belongs to no one!

This means even the speaker doesn't think Ai(yeah, the Fatale is Ai) has to be theirs. She's her own person. They just want to get closer to her, and they're.. asking them to look at them, pleading, begging almost. It's up to Ai if she decides to give them a glance or talk to them or whatever, even when they feel like they can't live without her. So although it can seem aggressive, it actually isn't. (Adding this on: It can be... really pushy and overwhelming, now that I think about it...but well, if the guy singing this is Hikaru, then I think he can be justified of it to some degree because the feelings they had were mutual and he lost her so abruptly. There is no way someone could be okay with that and he let her go once, if Ai's contacted him again, then that probably means he didn't bother her so much in between.)

That is so like how Hikaru acts towards her. He couldn't grab onto her when she's left, the only thing he could ever do was to ask if they could get back together and that was probably it. When you see the way he talks about her in 154, he doesn't think she owes him anything, and that's the right approach when you love someone. That's when I began to see maybe he really was the right guy to be with her, all along.

With that kind of attitude, you wouldn't be able to harm someone just because they rejected you, that's why I think he's lied. The things he say are so dumb;;; you can't possibly think that's all there is to it because it's DUMB!

He believed in Ai's lie when it's clearly something that didn't line up with how she'd treated him, maybe he's making the readers & his son try to believe in his lie when that doesn't align with his actions as a character. He's a good liar. Not a very good one, actually, if that's something he's come up with to fool his son; but in a meta sense, he really is!!! He's fooling the fandom!! The way he reacts to things has been, I say this a lot, STEADY and CONSISTENT.

I'm at it again aren't I.. it's the way I feel though! I enjoy this song very much!! it's so interesting!!

[lemotmo]

I messaged and asked if I could share these before sending this to you just to be sure! But I thought I would share her first Tommy post. She's had a couple of messages about how she was clearly never really pro Tommy. She was, but it was always with a for now kind of narrative. But I thought some people would like to see it. It's favorable to Tommy so no one freak out because it's OLD. We are all aware of her feelings on the matter now. It's her first Tommy post following 7x4 but it's pretty clear what she's actually excited about though. I'm also attaching the post she made following the season finale because it's a mood and sums up most everyone's opinions of that episode nicely. Hopefully the way I had to copy them doesn't format weird. Enjoy!

That episode was heaven. An absolutely beautiful, perfectly Buck episode. I'm going to fawn for a few minutes and then I'm going to overthink some things,lol. First things first Tommy is just fun. What a great first relationship for Buck. No pressure, just lighthearted goodness. He deserves to have the best time and Tommy seems like a great way for him to explore this new reality. He can stay for a while. I won't lie, his face doesn't do much for me personally, but overall I get the appeal and I hope Buck has a blast. Seriously though they did such a good job bringing him into the mix. I'm genuinely stunned. He works and it didn't require a whole lot of effort to make him work. I am thoroughly impressed. And on a completely shallow note that was a spectacular first kiss. Well done all the way around. I'm so overwhelmed and impressed by the entire episode. Bravo to all! Our little Buckley is canonically bi!

Now to the overthinking part, and I'm sorry in advance. The episode text was entirely reliant on Eddie. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall the show ever establishing that Eddie was into Muay Thai prior to last night. Which means they invented an Eddie hobby specifically to give Tommy the same hobby. That's insane behavior. I mean that was absolutely unnecessary and not only did they intentionally add it they made sure to make the audience aware of it. They had Buck repeatedly point out his similarities to Eddie. I was watching live with a couple of friends and we all kind of had a wtf moment. Because are they actually going to do it??? Are they actually maybe baby stepping towards legitimately going there?? I'm going to have to rewatch but man it kind of genuinely feels like it might actually happen. And I'm speechless about it. It's pretty much what everyone is waiting for at this point. I just never thought they'd actually do it. But I don't know guys last night definitely felt like it was something.

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

Before I rage vomit my opinion of last night's episode I want to make a plea. A plea to Tim, ABC, Ryan Murphy, or anyone with power who will listen. Stop allowing Kristen Reidel to write anything for this show. She shouldn't be allowed near the writers room let alone be allowed to write what are supposed to be significant episodes. She has now written the last two season finales and they have both been atrocious. Worse than bad. Worse than boring. Completely and utterly atrocious. I am truly stunned by how bad this episode was. I mean it was clear the entire back half of the season was a last minute rewrite because they got renewed so fast, and as a result, Tim clearly decided to slow the originally planned stories down. The latter half of this season was abysmal. And because of that they needed a decent finale to salvage any part of it. And the second Kristen's name came up on the opening credits it was over. I dead ass started laughing the last 15 minutes because I could not comprehend how terrible it all was. It was maybe the worst episode in the history of the series. I'm serious. I can't think of a worse overall episode. It was embarrassing. You're the number one show on that network and you rolled that piece of garbage out as your season finale. Really?

I'm not even going to waste breath talking about the ridiculous Bobby/Athena/Cartel nonsense because it was too stupid for words. The only thing I will say is Kristen clearly likes Athena, it's obvious, so why does she always write her as some crazy RoboCop ripoff with a vigilante kink? It's mind boggling. The worst part though was the Eddie/Christopher/Buck arc. That actually broke my heart. In the hands of a more talented writer Oliver and Ryan, and precious Gavin could have salvaged that storyline. They did all the heavy lifting anyway, but the writing failed them miserably (big shock). Ryan did everything he could with that pile of garbage. Tim, you all killed her off. Let it go. I don't want to see her again. For the love of god free Eddie from the Shannon cycle. And then on top of everything else you did to Eddie this season you sent his son away. Look if they're actually going the Buddie route, which I am now convinced they are, Christopher needs to be away for a bit. I get that. But him asking to go stay with his grandparents was not the way to do it. Especially given how well your audience knows Eddie's very complicated relationship with his parents. It was gross. There were other ways to remove Chris from the equation for a bit. That brings me, finally, to that disgusting, completely out of place dinner scene between Buck and Tommy. What in the actual hell was that scene? It was so wildly out of place within the context of the episode it felt like watching whiplash. They clearly had a scene count in Lou's contract and needed one more scene, fine. They're also clearly establishing this relationship as purely surface level so they weren't going to give him a scene at the hospital or anything else that would demonstrate a level of tenderness. That all makes sense. But the audience had just spent 45 minutes watching the man that we all know Buck sees as his dad basically dying. He died. Buck being Buck wanted to talk about it. Tried to have a very serious conversation and Tommy turned that attempt into a daddy sex kink joke. Are you kidding me?!? I get it. For Tommy this is about Buck being hot and them having a good time, and nothing more so he doesn't want to bring anything serious into the mix. Fine. But there were so many less skin crawling ways to drive that point home. It was disgusting. And I continue to be stunned by the amount of Tommy apologists who keep pretending it's not obvious what the show is doing here. He isn't coming across as charming. He's not being written as charming. Look at the GA reactions. You're not meant to be viewing this as a love story. I know you all can see that. Rant done. I need a drink.

Thank you Nonny. I'm glad you asked her if it was okay to post it. You don't often see that kind of courtesy in fandom anymore.

The contrast between the first post and the last post is sending me. :) Once again the OP managed to explain everything in such a rational way. The way she breaks down these episodes and characters without letting herself get carried away by loud fandom voices and general bi Buck happiness, is truly admirable.

If I have to nitpick, I have to admit that I don't agree with that first kiss being a 'spectacular kiss'. I admit I never liked it. I think I must have watched it twice now and then never again. Something has always bothered me about that scene. I can't pinpoint it, but it has always felt a little wooden somehow.

But you know that I am kind of biased. ;) What can I say? I'm a one guy kind of girl and that guy in question is Eddie. :D

Don't turn away yet, because there is another OP post coming after this one. :)

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[dewdrip]

[MAKE-A-MELUSINE] - A hot new product has hit the market and it's selling out quick! Customizable Melusine plushies for yourself or for a friend, and you can even dress them up! (for an extra charge, of course.)

The melusines he's interacted with are undoubtedly cute, so seeing them turned into the mascots of the nation standing atop the tides was of little surprise when he was liable to do the same in the position of their Iudex. Still, running into the Dragon Lady of the Luofu had been even more of a surprise, not unwelcomed of course, not when she reminded him so much of Joey and Himself at the equivalent age. The morning crowds had barely begun to amass, which mercifully meant the stall he'd found her before was calm for his liking.

"Would you like one Bailu?" A fond, grandfatherly, tone that he can't help but allow to seep into his voice as his head tilts towards her. It's nice, the feeling swelling up that is, one that allows him to shed the all business demeanour he'd adopted for trailblazing and embrace the carefree attitude of the festivities in all their forms. If that meant, he spent time making a Melusine with the lively Vidyadhara, well there was no longer anyone in the vicinity that could quell the slacker inside of him.

A chuckle as he turns to face her properly, a warm smile on his features as he leans further on the weapon turned cane he was rarely seen without. "As the people of my home would say... when in Rome." Laughter at an inside joke, turning slightly to acknowledge the vendor prepping the myriad materials needed for their shared endeavour.

"My treat."

overture 2024

Had she been staring so intently so as to give off the impression of interest? Bailu doesn't think so—then again, she's not sure if this is so much a facsimile curiosity as it is the actual emotion. The large-eyed, tube-shaped Melusine hold her attention far longer than she might care to admit. Plushes simply aren't the sorts of toys she feels she should be interested in. Yet still, she stares—yet still, interest stirs.

Enough so that it comes to be noticed by an older gentleman—Welt, she vaguely recalls, one of the Nameless of the Astral Express. She blinks when he speaks to her, startled out of whatever haze had been brought about by the stuffed dolls.

"You're getting one for me…?" she says, a little surprised. Somehow, she feels as though Welt was more thrilled at the prospect of making a Melusine than she was. But a treat is a treat—and while she doesn't know what Rome is, she thinks they must have good traditions if this is what they do.

"Sure. I'd like a Melusine doll. Let's go make one together!" Bailu nods, returning his smile with a large grin of her own. She cranes her neck upward to view the stall's pickings more clearly, brows weaving together as she ponders her choice.

"Can you reach for that one over there?" she looks up at Welt, then points to the purple Melusine hooked up to one of the boards, "And can you ask if they have any doctor costumes? Ooh, or a train conductor costume! Or a soldier costume..."

A small prick of enthusiasm needles into her heart, only growing as she continues to visualize their Melusine. Maybe she's starting to turn around on these things...

[ducknotinarow]

[87 Yvonne and Raph]

"Look, Raphael, I know you and I don't exactly get along thanks to that whole, you know, altercation between Donatello using Casey as a human stand in and all of that."

She breezes over all that nonsense, still lowkey upset she was lied too, but that was something for her and Don to discuss later,

"But, well, due to the fact Casey actually listens to you, if you could please explain to him that I am in fact, not an addict, and I am actually a Diabetic, and the medication I take is for medical reasons so he can stop freaking out every time I use it, well, that would just be fantastic~"

And if he doesn't? She's setting one of Don's machines onto them.

| Muse interaction

"Ya nuts case" Raphael stated dryly with a roll of his eyes, some softness in his tone seeing who he was speaking towards at the time but well? The turtle couldn't quite help but pull a look that very much said very much 'Ya sure okay buddy' when Casey was trying to tell Raphael he saw Yvoone using needles.

Fair was fair they didn't know much about the girl, well Casey seemed to talk to her a bit more. Guess the whole thing Don had roped them into helped. Raphael..had near about almost killed her when he tried making her toad in the hole. Apparently the American version of it? He still didn't know what that meant. Raphael wasn't all to sure how to really talk to her if he was honest. Mikey seemed to get along just fine but Mikey can befriend anyone give him like two minutes and he would have a new best friend. Raphael wasn't all to sure what about Leo but still least he didn't near kill her. Raph's mind sure wondered a bit there his main thought was just that well he wasn't sure if Casey saw what he had saw.

Sure, he had to admit the way Casey explained it did make him recall a time they had trailed down someone shooting up in an alleyway. And, thanks to that they were able to locate the seller. But, this was someone his twin brother was dating and loved a lot. Enough to pull something beyond stupid over and drag in anyone he could well he was at it.

But at the same time, this was coming from Casey. And once again, this was coming from Casey. So he was skeptical to put it as nicely as possible.

"Ya stressing it, Case. I'm sure whatever ya saw isn't that. You're just too tired from only looking for crime, making your eyes see things." He smirks a bit as he teases his boyfriend a little over the remark.

"Ya just Jonesing for a bad guy to bust that you starting to look at one as being a oh hold on I've been working on my impression of you." Raphael clears his thoart, trying to mimick Casey deep and grave tone."Yvonne ya nothing but a law breaking scuzzbucket." He was quite proud of himself for it. Before he dropped it. Clearly, he was enjoying himself. "Alright, alright baby girl." Hoping the use of their pet name would sooth over any annoyance Casey felt towards Raphael now.

Goodbyes came to follow and quick plans on when they would next see each other before their call ended. Raphael rolled on his shell to move off his bed and set his feet to the floor. Wanting a tinge of privacy, well, he was on the phone. Little hard to get in thier home but eh doable. His brothers were all off doing their own thing. So the tunnel thier bed rooms occupied were empty. Hmm, more odd how long it had stayed that way, making his way out as he wondered out idly looking around to see what his brothers were all up to. When he came across the butterfly mutant, he and Casey were just speaking about it. Seeing her left around like so wasn't too odd. Donatello had a bad habit of telling her he's gonna grab something to show her only to spend an extra hour or six fixing it up to be perfect. Idiot. Course what more had his attention was the fact Von was, in fact, holding a needle? And stabbing herself with it. Pinching her skin as the needle was burned into her skin. Hmm, that's not how the guy in the Ally did it? Strolling over, Raphael rested his arms over the back of the couch as he leaned over for a better look.

"Uh, Von? Ya ain't actually doing drugs her are you?" His quest, though direct, seemed to at least come across as not his own thoughts, at least, and they weren't he was more just checking because of what Casey said. And he guessed the nutcase words were getting to him. Yvoone seemed a bit over it nome the less.

"Look, Raphael, I know you and I don't exactly get along thanks to that whole, you know, altercation between Donatello using Casey as a human stand in and all of that."

Raph went to open his beak to disagree with that. It was more he didn't know how to approach her. Considering he did help with that whole 'altercation' as she had called it herself. And ya know near killing her with some egg and toast didn't well help matters. Besides there was a bit more as well. But he closed his beak and let her contuine.

"But, well, due to the fact Casey actually listens to you, if you could please explain to him that I am in fact, not an addict, and I am actually a Diabetic, and the medication I take is for medical reasons so he can stop freaking out every time I use it, well, that would just be fantastic~"

"Oh diabetic okay I see." He nodded his head to show he was listening. Moving to rub the back of his neck "eh don't mind that lunatic too much. Von, guy just gets a tad too passionate about putting a stop to crime and all. Tends to make him extra nuts. I know how can that nut get more well Casey. I've seen him chase down Jay walkers before though." He relays smiling the whole time he speaks about Casey. "He means well though promise, the fact he only accuses you of doing drugs and not like taking the stuff from you should at least speak for itself." Raphael adds in wanting to come to Casey's defense since the guy wasn't here todo so.

"But yeah no worries I'll have a word with him...just uh Von?" He moves to sit next to her now "what's a diabetic?" A slight tilt of his head to express he was serious in the moment. "Gonna be hard ta help keep Casey off ya back if I got no idea what that means. I mean I can maybe wing it but I rather not lie to the guy myself see?"

[vera-deville]

what it would be like if Azul and Leona's S/O were excellent in Fencing and very polite and elegant, but when he's fighting or training he gets a more competitive personality and sometimes rigid. (I just love Fencing and no I don't have that personality when I'm training and when I win…. I swear….)

Thank you for the request! I mentioned this with the last request I wrote just a few days ago, but I've been a bit caught in the middle of the maze that is life (if you get that reference, I love you~).

09/05/2022 - 09/10/2022

Pairings: Azul Ashengrotto, Leona Kingscholar x Reader (separately)

Word Count: 691 (for Azul); 548 (for Leona)

Gender: Gender Neutral as it was not specified in the request.

Notes: So, I really love this request because one, I love fencing, but there's just one slight issue. I've never fenced before-

Like, I enjoy watching fencing matches, but I barely know the basics of the sport.

There are most definitely going to be inaccuracies with some of the things mentioned, so I'm going to try to be as vague as I can about the sparring bits as possible.

@kuromiziz, perhaps you could give me some tips on writing about fencing?

Now, another reason why I love this request particularly so is because the reader has a similar personality to me. Normally, I'm very polite, and well-mannered, HOWEVER...

If things become competitive?

Hoo boy you should grab hold of your hats-

Also, random side note that doesn't really matter, but I was listening to Brooklyn Baby by Lana Del Rey the entire time I was writing this.

In which Azul Ashengrotto and Leona Kingscholar with significant others who fence.

Azul Ashengrotto:

It seemed only natural that Azul would end up dating Y/N. They were both elegant, albeit in slightly different ways.

Azul was elegant in a very suave, charming, and debonair sort of manner.

Y/N on the other hand was elegant in a very polite, well-mannered, and respectful sort of manner.

Through some events in life, the two ended up falling for one another and the rest is history.

Sort of.

Azul always had this impression that Y/N was quite literally incapable of any sort of rude behavior, as he was convinced that they must have descended from some royalty, what with the way they carried themselves.

Floyd often found humor in telling Azul that Y/N had a certain...competitiveness to them that he hasn't seen yet.

Azul didn't really believe it though.

Sure, Y/N could be a bit competitive, but it was no more than a normal amount. In fact, Y/N was less competitive than others if he really had to describe it.

Now, Azul was well aware that Y/N was an avid fencer, and that they were the reason there was a fencing club established at NRC.

But he'd never actually seen them fence before.

That was about to change very soon.

It was a day where Azul had somehow finished his day's work (and the next few days on that note) and had decided to take a break.

Of course, the Tweels convinced him to go see Y/N at their fencing practice.

He agreed.

He could hear the clashing of the sabres. He recalled Y/N once telling him that beginners usually started out with a type of sword known as "foil."

With the Tweels backing him as they always did, he walked into the fencing ground.

Only to be met with curses of every kind.

Curses which, after the initial shock wore off, Azul realized came from his significant other.

*Cue more shock and Azul being a dramatic octopus*

Y/N was currently cursing the absolute soul out of their fencing partner, who happened to be Leona Kingscholar.

The lion didn't seem that perturbed though.

In fact, anyone watching could clearly tell that he was enjoying the whole situation.

The more Azul watched Y/N fight with Leona, the more he felt that they were rather...what's the word?

Ah yes, competitive.

Pretty soon after his appearance, Y/N noticed him there and almost jumped at the sight of the feared Octavinelle trio.

However, Y/N still had a match to win, and they'd be damned if they lost to Leona of all opponents.

Th match ended with Y/N winning. Obviously.

Expecting Azul to, at the very least, be somewhat upset about them deliberately keeping this aspect of themselves a secret, Y/N began their slow trudge up to Azul, very clearly embarrassed by the inelegant competitive spirit they boasted during their spar.

But Azul on the other hand was far too busy thinking of the possibilities that have suddenly risen because of Y/N's show of competitiveness.

Perhaps a contract where he can take some (not too much~) of their competitive spirit?

It would certainly help with a lot of things-

The Tweels greeted Y/N and complimented them on their (as usual) excellent match and mysteriously vanished after making some small talk.

Azul and Y/N sat on one of the benches present, neither one saying a word.

At least until Azul complimented Y/N on their match against Leona.

Chuckling, Y/N admitted that they enjoyed sparring against him, since he was such a good fencer.

Small talk ensued with the two, and pretty quickly, a very blushing Azul admitted that he thought that Y/N's competitive nature was rather...charming.

Now kiddos, we have not one, but two blushing children on our hands.

From then on, Azul purposefully made more time to spend watching Y/N at their fencing practices (and tournaments).

The matches almost always ended with Azul being the first to personally compliment Y/N on their sparring, blushing face and all, and of course with Y/N thanking him with heated cheeks of their own.

Leona Kingscholar:

Unlike with the case of Azul and his significant other, Leona had known that Y/N was a fencer from the beginning.

Even before they started dating.

Even before they became friends actually-

After Y/N's questioning incessant nagging of the headmaster because of the lack of a fencing club, such a club was opened. And those who wished to join were allowed to do so, even if they were already in another club.

This was why, despite being in the Magical Shift club, Leona had joined the fencing club.

Now, Y/N was a very elegant individual. They carried themselves with such grace and poise that in the beginning, Leona actually disliked them.

Y/N reminded him of who he was expected to be, but wasn't.

Eventually, he got his issues sorted out and slowly started to simply accept the fact that Y/N was the way they were, and the same logic could be applied to him.

While he knew for a while that Y/N was a fencer, and based off the subtle bragging that had been going on, they were at the very least, decent at the sport, Leona never really knew exactly how far Y/N would go to win.

But that all changed very soon.

When the fencing club finally opened, Leona did not join Y/N for any opening celebration or anything of that sort. He simply spent his day sleeping away, and later on, awoke to a rather angry little magic-less student.

It wasn't after a couple months of Y/N talking about the fencing club and how it had surprisingly been doing well that Leona finally showed up at the ground.

He watched Y/N as they seemingly almost effortlessly won match after match.

Leona knew Y/N was an elegant individual, but he didn't think that this aspect of them was also seen in fencing. He expected some...fire.

After the latest newbie got practically pummeled by Y/N, Leona picked up a sabre and sauntered over to where Y/N stood, proud smile on their face and all.

Surprised to see Leona up and about, and even more surprised to see him wielding a sabre, Y/N questioned if Leona knew how to fence.

They received their answer in the form of a beast-man lunging at them at such speed that almost knocked them on their knees.

Almost.

And it was as though a switch had been flipped in Y/N.

Their thrusts became more...refined in a way. There were no more of the usual soft but precise movements there usually were.

Instead, the movements became raw in a way.

Y/N practically radiated competitive energy.

The match between Leona and Y/N was fairly long, and the when the match ended, it ended with Leona winning.

This obviously hurt Y/N's pride, but at the same time, it had been a long ass time since they last sparred with someone who could keep them on their toes as much as Leona did.

You can certainly bet your money that Y/N constantly pestered Leona for fencing matches (so much so that he ended up eventually joining the club).

In fact, Y/N annoyed Leona so much that he almost regretted showing Y/N his fencing skills.

Almost~

[jess-the-vampire]

Jess. help me out. do you recall anything the svtfoe crew might've said about trans girl Marco ever being an actual thing in the show?

*Cracking Knuckles*

Good to put my svtfoe crew knowledge to use again

Alright, so obviously when St O's Aired back in s1 that whole headcanon started gaining traction and was getting pretty popular, and the crew did take notice of it.

Apparently it's popularity had a lot to do with the Princess Marco episode tackled later on (Princess Turdina i believe), y'know, the one that ended up making the fans more angry then anything?

Apparently it was written with that heacanon in mind and the crew was open about this, it seemed they wanted to confirm it kinda but obviously it got muddied and considering the plot of that episode was that marco was "Lying" about being a princess because "He was actually a boy" it didn't really hit with the princess marco peeps, giving off the impression they were leaning into the false and rathewr offensive narrative that trans ppl are just lying.

Some ppl did like it as a trans metaphor tho, like how the princesses didn't care and told marco he could be whatever he wanted.

But also like, the ep ends with him complaining about the dress and being happy to remove it (For now)

I don't have the tweet on hand obviously, but the initial backlash did get some apologies from the team who clearly realized they may of not tackled the subject the best of ways.

truth be told if the ep hadn't been written with the trans marco theory in mind it might of come off better but it clearly was, so if it doesn't work for you i can see how it came off how it did.

as far as other occurances, i think the most came from Crew Member Sabrina Cognitio (I am probably spelling that wrong, super sorry), who not only was outwardly supportive of it, but constantly was responsible for trying to sneak in pride flags into the show for characters.

Obviously marco was one of them, he was supposed to have a turdina doll with a trans flag dress, but disney ("We totally support the lgbts but we're also gonna cancel and cut all lgbt stuff we make" Disney), naturally, caught on and made her change it, even when she apparently had reduced it to just the purse that was still too much for them.

As far as i've seen the crew was pretty supportive of this headcanon and it seems they really tried to lean into making it a thing, even if through metaphors and subtley to get passed censors, but it never got as far as you see here.

marco's va i have never seen comment on it personally tho.

i don't know if daron personally considered it canon, tbh the lgbt headcanons the crew threw out into the show (Like giving tom the pan flag for example, or star the bi flag in some shots) seemed to be their personal ones for the characters, but granted for all we know daron could have agreed to them and was not allowed to be outspoken on them (I do remember her approving of bi star).

As far as trans marco goes, marco being a trans girl to sum it up feels like something maybe originally unintended, but when the fans picked up on it and saw themselves in marco, they wanted to lean into it and try and semi make it canon, but it never went far enough to really be considered canon to most of the fans.

Personally i've written marco to be genderfluid in my sky au because i like to lean into him being somewhere under the trans umbrella, but marco being trans never got to be as universal as bi star or pan tom, and maybe if they actually got that flag through it'd be a bit different.

it is a shame tho, they had good intentions, but it didn't work out.

There are still trans marco fans out there tho who still enjoy that headcanon and on occasion i still see art for it, so hey, good for them. They're great stuff

[dear-mrs-otome]

Silvio Ricci - Main Story - Chp 04 Avatar Challenge (Premium)

Standard Disclaimer: I do this for fun. I don’t, and never would, claim to be proficient at JP. There will be mistakes herein. There will be dialogue I choose to smooth out or change, because it feels choppy just straight translating. There will be the occasional snarky aside and irreverence and just plain summarizing. If you’re looking for 100% pure accuracy, without commentary or localizing, this is not for you. If you don’t mind that…then proceed, and I hope you enjoy! And please, support your local localizer (they make this stuff look easy) and Cybird by playing the games and routes when they come to English.

~~~~~~~~

Having enjoyed an evening of drinks and sweets on Silvio, and coming to the decision that he might not be such a terrible person, Emma's lost the will to follow through with her diabolical scheme to make him hate her.

Still though, she doesn't have any choice.

In his office earlier when Sariel had first proposed the idea of becoming a villainess, Rio had blushed, titillated by the idea.

Sariel had brushed it off, and gone on to explain what she should do. He'd told her that she didn't have to worry about being a well-mannered lady around Silvio - there are limits to how bad her behavior can be, obviously, given his state as a foreign prince. But she can still make herself unpleasant enough on a personal level without wrecking diplomatic relations.

He promises that he and Rio can smooth over any major issues, so feel free to act as wicked as she wants. He'll even give her tips how to do so.

~~~~~~

When she and Silvio leave the tavern, it's late enough for him to comment on how long they've been out.

The sun has set and the moon risen, and the cool night air is comfortable given how warm the alcohol has made her.

But she mentally slaps herself out of complacency, and reminds herself she has to be the Bad Girl! The fate of her country is resting on getting herself out of this hostess role.

She stops walking and Silvio notices, turning to look back at her. "What is it?"

"I'm too drunk to walk," she fibs, to his surprise. "I-I can't make it back to the castle unless you carry me."

She's apologizing to Silvio in her head, as she recalls Sariel's first lesson in Bad Girl 101: always be unreasonably self-centered. Sariel had noted how much Emma always loathed making any sort of selfish request, but he advised her to throw all those reservations out the window where Silvio was concerned. Make herself as much of a hassle as possible.

Still silently making excuses, she staggers over like a drunk person might and clings to Silvio's arm, leaning against him and mimicking the wicked lady in a book she'd read.

What she'd expected was that she'd be flung off him immediately, for the vitriol to fly as he chewed her out. But what she gets instead is a baffling, heavy silence.

"Prince Silvio?" she says, wonder if perhaps he's so enraged he can't even speak. Hesitantly, she lifts her head to look up at him…only to find he's facing away, looking in the other direction entirely.

She's puzzled, and it's too dark to see his face clearly, but she doesn't get the impression he's angry.

"....Let go," he finally says.

"I-I don't want to. I'm drunk," she protests.

He scowls and points out that she didn't get nearly this drunk last time, before he lets out a curse. "Ahhh, damn it…what a pain in the ass."

She lets out a little cry as, despite his swearing, Silvio easily hefts her up into his arms. Not a chivalric bridal carry or anything though, this is more the rough way you'd carry a piece of luggage…and she's thinking how if she actually was drunk this would be making it a thousand times worse.

That's not the point though - she really hadn't thought he'd actually pick her up. It's her that's confused and thrown off kilter now.

She protests that she doesn't want to be carried in such a crude way, but Silvio only tells her not to complain - AND not to wiggle about. "You do anything even remotely strange and I'm dumping you on the ground," he warns.

She doesn't want that, obviously, and her role demands the same - so she clings to him, and can feel a violent tremor ripple through him to her confusion.

"I told you not to move."

His voice is so feeble, it's almost impossible to imagine it came from The Tyrant.

Frankly, none of his reactions these past few minutes had been what she'd expected of him at all…and if she looks closely, she can spy that his ears seem bright red.

It can't seriously be that he's embarrassed…can it???

Silvio heaves her into a carriage parked nearby, and when she finally gets herself upright on the bench she finds he's seated himself as far as humanly possible from her, silent.

"I'd like some water," she says to him.

"I'm royalty of another country, aren't I?" Silvio reminds her…but despite his objections, he reluctantly climbs out of the carriage and a short time later he really does return with a cup of water.

It hurts her even more in moments when he's strangely kind like this…but she's got to keep up her act. And when she thanks him and reaches out to take it, she purposefully brushes Silvio's fingers with her hand.

He startles, his big hand trembling and sloshing water out the cup.

Sure she's figured it out now, she confronts him. "Prince Silvio…are you shy?"

He denies it, but she points out how red his face is.

"I'm drunk," he explains, trying to wave it away.

"I see...then you won't mind if I lean on you, right?" she asks slyly.

He splutters at her to stop that, threatening to throw her from the carriage. He takes a seat and pushes the cup of water at her, his red face stubbornly turned away to stare out the window. "...I just don't feel comfortable with women touching me."

"Not comfortable?" she echoed.

He says, especially her - she freaks him out more than other women.

She mulls that over a bit, taken aback slightly by how he makes it sound less like he gets embarrassed around women and more as if he genuinely dislikes them. Not to mention how unreasonable it is for him to forbid anyone touching him when he seems to think it's fine for HIM to do the touching.

"Even though you say it makes you uncomfortable, weren't you still the one who asked me to sleep with you??" she points out.

"It's fine if I'm the one doing the touching."

"That's absurd," she scoffs.

He says that she can't be all that drunk, if she's talking to him all sassy like that, and she hastily assures him she's definitely absolutely sloshed. Reminding herself she's gotta act the part.

She drinks the water and then sits down next to Silvio, feeling emboldened.

"You…" he begins in warning.

"I'm drunk and I need a pillow," she tells him, to his immediate shock. She's fully prepared to use his dislike of women and being touched to make him hate her, and she casts aside any sense of shame and leans on his shoulder.

He immediately freezes up again, seemingly at so much of a loss that he can't even manage to hurl his usual vitriol at her. Just speechless. And she's struck again by how much of a surprise it is that he's got a weakness like this.

Her conscience finally gets the better of her, and feeling guilty she tries to sit up - only to have Silvio's arms circle her waist and keep her from moving.

"You had a lot of nerve earlier, woman," he states. Startling her when he hugs her to him fiercely, the exotic scent of his cologne enveloping her. Her attempt to jump back foiled when his hand comes up behind her head and presses it to his chest.

Why is this okay, but her touching him isn't?? she flails to herself.

"I thought I'd gone too far the other day, but if you're making the first move then I guess I don't have to hold back, do I?" he asks.

"Sorry, I'm sorry…let go of me!" she begs him.

He grins and says he's just getting started with this, and she's realizing that his face isn't red at all…and that he might have just turned the tables on her.

"Or is it that you're pretending like you're not used to men deliberately?" he presses.

She flails that she's not a hussy or something, she really isn't used to this, and he smirks and says he was under the impression she was sleeping with the Rhodolite princes.

Aghast, she denies that vehemently.

His grip on her loosens, and he doesn't try to stop her when she puts distance between them.

"Then don't do something you're not used to doing, idiot," Silvio chides her, reaching over and mussing up her hair as if to irritate her.

She reaches out herself, to take her revenge on him, and he grabs her hand. Leading to a back and forth tussle for supremacy in the carriage the ride back.

It's strange, she thinks. She just wanted to be hated by him - she must be crazy to be thinking that she's actually having a lot of fun right now.

~~~~~~~~

<< Chapter 04 | Chapter 05 >>

[armorabs]

hello! do you have any peardina headcanons or prompts? they are a super cute ship

ok my headcanons are basically

pearl and squidina's falling out somewhere between being 9 and being 16 was parallel to plankton and krabs falling out - an argument that tore the two apart over something inconsequential that they both took personally. i don't know what SPECIFICALLY though - could be anything from pearl's desire to be seen as Popular And Chic (/desire not to be seen as a nerd) to having differing opinions on how to accomplish a goal (see: pearl's desire to be popular, squidina's managerial experience) but its important to me as The Plabs Lesbian that the circumstances are parallel <3

i think krabs probably would like squidina more than pearl's other friends. not just because they have similar interests and backgrounds (liking comics, managerial experience and working the food industry; patshow/krusty krab, camp coral/goofy goobers) - and squidina's the only person pearl's age we've seen be unconditionally supportive and non-judgemental towards her, so... like... it's easy for krabs to like the only person his daughter hung out with who didn't make her feel constantly insecure about herself or what she does or doesn't have.

since krabs is clearly approving and supportive of their friendship in patshow, i feel like if pearl and squidina ever became a couple after becoming friends again, he'd be extra supportive of their romance. he'd be happy his baby girl has someone who is good to her, and good for her. and if she's happy, he's happy!!

i've said it before but squidina is the one who introduced pearl to mecha baleen, the comic she's shown to be obsessed with (to the point of cosplay!) in the spongebob comics! after they become friends again at the end of goons on the moon pearl makes more of an effort to ... not look down on squidina's geekier interests as much, and tries reading comics she recommends

i made a post before about pearl having crab behaviors and i cant find it rn but basically ghost crabs (like mr krabs) make noises to attract/impress mates and given her canonical love for music i think itd be cute if pearl did things like try to write songs for squidina or hype her up with clapping and snapping

specific prompts for scenarios involving them i think about a lot but haven't done much with yet:

senior prom! we've seen pearl's junior prom - the chaperone - but eventually she's going to have her senior prom, and i think it'd be cute if pearl took squidina as her date - her actual, real date! not just her brother figure being forced to attend as her date to save her ego! - and they had a fun little wacky time. it's sbsp so clearly something would go wrong and shenanigans would ensue but i'm not exactly sure what kind of shenanigans or what would go wrong either <3

THE KRABS FAMILY CURSE! i've talked about the concept of the krabs family curse with @/the-chumbucket quite a few times and i can't recall if either of us have agreed to do Anything With It (tm) but im obsessed with the idea of some pre-goons on the moon/post-goons on the moon (potentially canon divergent) rivals-to-romance between pearl and squidina where pearl realizes she has a crush on squidina, but is conflicted about it due to their rivalry, and krabs has to give her THE TALK - the casual explanation that falling in love with your rival is actually very normal and expected... because the krabs lineage is cursed to always fall in love with their rivals! it happened to his grandparents, it happened to his parents, it happened to his little sister, it's happened to himself about three or four times, and now it's finally pearl's turn to find love in an adversary! pearl's not exactly thrilled to hear that.

standard sitcom brother poking fun sister over crush/partner and/or trying to wingman in ridiculous ways shenanigans - either with Krabs Clone Raised As Normal Child au. or regular canon minus the poking fun with spongebob for pearl or patrick for squidina... although i think patrick would be too oblivious to acknowledge if squidina had a crush on someone...? lmao

THE INEVITABLE COLLEGE DISCUSSIONS!!! every hs couple's gonna have to talk about their plans for the future and which colleges theyre going to and whether or not their plans are compatible enough for the relationship to work beyond high school... i actually have no experience with this but as you know, i love to think of complex emotional narratives involving the mundane day-to-day of life that is not always tonally consistent with the source material so <3

also college roomies shenanigans

[dragon-kazansky]

Yes, sir! | Niki Lauda

Professor Lauda AU! 👨‍🏫

Gender neutral reader

Dedicated to @lieutenantn and @scuttle-buttle 💕

[Previous chapter] - [Next chapter]

Part 7

Sitting in his car felt strange, but you also felt... at home. Niki obviously gets paid handsomely going by his car, but you didn't comment on it.

With one hand on the wheel, he holds yours with his free hand. Now that you've crossed the line together, he wants to whatever he can just to hold you.

No matter how wrong it was for him to have feelings for his student, he had no intention of letting you go.

He parks outside of a very nice house. You can only stare in amazement, but it makes sense his house would be as nice as his car.

He opens the door for you. You were distracted by the exterior of the house to even bother climbing out. He chuckles as he offers his hand. You smile as you take it and step out.

"You live here?"

"Yes."

He takes a key from his pocket and opens the door, holding it open for you. You go inside. The only thing that comes to mind is how little it looks lived in. Everything was pristine.

"Do you actually live here?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" He comes to stand beside you.

"This house is so... tidy."

He chuckles softly.

"I'm very rarely here. I only come here to eat and sleep. I spend most of my time at the university."

"Oh..."

"Please, make yourself comfortable."

You follow him into the kitchen. You sit at the table as you look around. Despite how neat and tidy it was, it was definitely him. He got right into his home.

Niki sheds his jacket and drapes it over the chair near you. He walks over to the fridge and grabs some ingredients.

"You're going to cook?"

"Yes," he sounds amused, "you sound surprised."

"I suppose I never really imagined you cooking."

"Oh? And how have you imagined me?" He asks, grin tugging at his lips as he looks at you with a sly gaze.

You choke on air as you look at him with wide eyes.

He laughs.

Niki turns back around to focus on cooking you something. You sit and you watch him.

You had to be dreaming. There was no way you were sitting in your professor's house while he cooked for you.

There was no way he kissed you earlier.

But he did.

You had kissed him.

You were utterly in love with your teacher and you couldn't believe it. Yet, here you were.

Niki pushes his sleeves up to his elbows as he works. You're completely captured by him. He's clearly made what he's cooking several times before. He moves seamlessly.

You're in awe with everything about him.

So much so, you haven't realised just how long you had been watching him. He sets a plate down in front of you and sits in the chair next to you.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I won't be able to control myself," he says, voice dropping several octaves.

You're once again left speechless by his comments.

He reaches out and brushes your cheek softly with his finger.

"Eat."

You tear your gaze away, though regretfully, from his and focus on your meal.

Though you both eat in silence, it's not awkward. It's comfortable and welcoming. You try so hard not to look up at him because you know you'll only stare at him again.

Niki Lauda was a handsome man and you could just... look at him for hours.

No one else saw him the way you did.

He knew that too.

He had seen the way you look at him in class. He knew how much effort you put into assignments because you wanted to impress him. Niki knew it all, and he lived every second of it.

He took your plate when you were finished and placed them in the sink.

"Come with me."

He once again offers you his hand. You take it and let him guide you upstairs. He opens the door to a lavish bedroom, with a bed that doesn't look like it's been slept in at all, and he sits on the bed. You sit next to him, leg practically over his.

"How is this going to work?" You ask, eyes trailing to his lips. He was so close. So very close.

"I can whisk you away on dates, but I will not interfere with your studying. We shall plan accordingly. My office is always open. If you visit after hours, no one will interrupt. You know where I live now, I'll leave a key under the mat. I'll give you my number, you can contact me at any time. If you want this as much as I do, then we will make this work."

"I do. I do want it."

He smiles.

"Then don't worry about anything. This will work, you'll see."

Finally he closes the space between you by kissing you. You cling to his shirt. His hands snake around you to pull you as physically close as he can hold you.

He doesn't recall the last time he had been this happy.

It was going to be tough, but he was going to make this work. He was enamoured with you.

Niki drives you home later in the evening. You sit in his car outside of your home. His hand is in yours again.

"I shall see you in class then," you say, gazing at him softly.

"Yes. You better study for that test. You get no special privileges just because we are together."

You chuckle, "damn, thought I'd get some special treatment."

He chuckles too.

Niki leans over and steals a kiss before you leave. You try to make it last, but even you know you have to leave at some point.

"See you."

"See you," he smiles.

You climb out and stand by the door as you watch him go. Never before have you felt so over the moon as you close the door behind you.

You're in love and he loves you back.

University was going to so much better than you anticipated.

@lieutenantn @scuttle-buttle @rumblelibrary @zemosimp05 @hb8301 @celtic-witch-bitch @somethingthatsaysbubbles @lorna-d-m @anteroom-of-death @belle82devart @vverliebt @alltimebandsexual666 @charistory @mischief-siriusly-managed @thatoneartgalsstuff @mssennimatilda @hannahbal-the-fannibal @apparrio @templeofthejam

[larrythefloridaman]

Y'all like your deities with or without the shell?

Under the readmore is aaaaaaaaall color god observations and musings based on them, because I am studying to become the world's Premiere Chromatheologian and RGB Understander so under the cut is pretty much Oops! All Spoilers! up to the most recent episode of season 3.

Apparently Universal Color God Attributes:

Damage to their domain hurts them, but fixing the issue, or lashing out by using their powers destructively, can help them to repair the damage.

If they sustain enough damage, it can temporarily paralyze them and send them into a strengthened but 'exposed' state (chartreuse's spirit activation in the last fight of 19) and further damage after that will activate a failsafe, which is unique by domain but seemingly designed to give them the chance to balance things, but can get… very out of hand or backfire depending on circumstances. (see: cobalt’s failsafe sending mark's universe into a never-ending apocalyptic war because word of the cure for death became too widespread for the killing urge failsafe to affectively balance anything because every side could simply revive their fallen.)

Chartreuse's failsafe is something of a stopped time bubble quarantine where processes that require the passing of time cannot complete, allowing her the time to wear down the offending party to beat them to death or plan around finishing them.

Cobalt's is inciting war, the casualties serving to balance the scale. I'm not sure we know Crimson's yet- he's never taken enough direct damage without doing damage to compensate in order to trigger it, although i dont remember season one well enough to recall if any of the universe stuff in it tracks with the pattern bc season one is a bit fucky

Connected in a fashion that allows them to simply Sense the overall status of the others to some extent, although they don't know Why theyre in the state theyre in without asking (chartreuse [and by extension, folk, presumably on her information] confronting crimson via crimsonaut for pretending to be dead, Cobalt confronting both his siblings about how they are handling their duties improperly but not knowing about Folk. He knew about the constants deaths because hes a death god, duh, but he didnt use their names like crimson did, possibly implying they're erased upon death so thoroughly that only crimson and the constants can really recall a shattered constants' existence, not even the other guardians.)

Abilities of the guardians can be replicated by mortals through three apparent methods- through machines (dimensional bus, the time machine, presumably J0hn's part in Sephiroth's resurrection,) simply through advanced enough individual skill (Home MD curing death, potentially Dantoinette's universe portal travel, maybe Genwun's sped up time bubble that evolved them into Genfour? although that could very well have just been an illusion and theyre just like, a fuckin theater kid that was doing pretend character development for the Bit or something given GenFive turned out to be a zoroark) or through stealing some of the power of the relevant god (Dr. Order stealing Chartreuse's power, Dani maybe having stolen some of Crimson's when she beat his ass. Dani's one woman universal travel is like, wicked ambiguous)

Cobalt:

Can seemingly perceive or act through any living material. (The Tree. Cobalt instructed Larry to slap his hand on that tree, that shit glowed and he had a new deal tattoo without Cobalt ever having been physically present)

Can influence the resurrected by giving them a killing urge. Represented by an aberrant brainwave and a ringing in the undead's heads. This doesnt appear to be direct control- as the Grunk could clearly restrain himself from killing people that genuinely didn't deserve it (like nightly and cha cha, who WERE grunk event targets but not fatally so. Nagito was a crimson thing so it really doesn't count here. God poor grunk his life really is just a constant plaything in the hands of the gods huh) and Sephiroth very much had personal motivation to want to kill Folk. failsafe activates this ability on the scale of war.

Deals. The extent of what Cobalt can do with these is unclear but Iggy's god powers were taken from him as his part in the deal so what he can take isn't limited to physical things or things obviously related to his domain.

Weaknesses:

Deals. While this ability is impressive his preference for making deals for those that offend against his domain is potentially very exploitable- Larry's knowledge of the cure for death is, if word of it were to ever get out beyond Larry, wildly dangerous for this dimension, so technically the safest thing for the iron-fisted cobalt to do would be to nip the problem in the bud and get rid of him. But, fascinatingly, that wasn't even put on the table, the first thing Cobalt does is threaten J0hn, prompting Larry to make a deal. While Cobalt enforces death, he also doesn't like unnecessary death, and Larry demonstrably knows how to keep a secret for the good of the world even at great cost to himself and Cobalt is aware of this- easily clarifying to Larry the aberrant thing endangering the universe wasn't his timeloop business. So while he's clearly not letting his resurrection fuckery go unpunished, he's being pretty merciful when he doesn't have to be and from a strictly, brutally pragmatic perspective probably shouldn't be.

His control over the undead manifests as a ringing and an aberrant brainwave trackable by J0hn's equipment, and could probably therefore be accounted for and circumvented? J0hn has, wisely, largely sworn off fucking with people's brains after the sephiroth fiasco went So Wrong, So Very Wrong, Oh God Oh Fuck Someone Cool Almost Died, but if he hadn't, and if J0hn let his dislike for authority and keeping Larry safe outweigh reason like he let safety, spite and comedic value outweigh good ethical sense when reprogramming sephiroth, in theory Mr. 'hacked a time machine for breakfast?' could. y'know. probably do it. what is a god's authority to an anarchist, what better to challenge life and death than the cold and eternal machine, you get the point its a fun scenario

Olive Garden Breadsticks and Small Cute Dogs, apparently

Chartreuse's:

Time Clones: taps into parallel timelines to retrieve alternate versions of herself to utilize.

Time Travel: what it says on the tin. Travel to the past creates painful splits in the prime timeline, but through careful action and traveling back into the past, these can be weaved into a time loop. A split from the timeline is a wound, and a successful timeloop is the surgical scar it can become with attentive care, to use a medical metaphor. Carefully closed and healing. Keeping Folk here is essentially akin to chartreuse pulling out her stitches on the initial incision.

Time Stopping: creates a space wherein things that take time to complete cannot complete, where things can move, but everything within is in a perfect unchanging stasis until the bubble drops. This is the form her failsafe takes.

Timeline Creation: can create timelines from scratch.

Can fuse alternate timeline versions of the same individual to allow them to coexist. (Ryan's confirmed in the discord that Dantoinette experienced both failures in 20, because Chartreuse fused the two instances of her to save the post-raid instance from fading. Could... theoretically do this to Folk and save herself the pain, but while Folk and Therapuppy are the same person, there's seven years and untold amounts of difference deriving from the time and circumstance between them and the inherent cognitive dissonances that would result from attempting that would be wicked fucked up to inflict, and that's assuming there isn't some reason that it wouldn't be possible anyway. while the two Danis had like. A day or so's difference between them, so she could be safely fused with the only dissonant thing being that she remembers both being too slow to prevent order's time escape and beginning to dissipate post-raid, AND losing that fight to her pre-raid. RIP Dani, that perfectionism must be kicking her ass)

Weaknesses:

Unwilling to use her powers destructively in her pursuit of domain repair and thereby much easier to damage to the point of paralyzing her, making her particularly vulnerable to Power Theft

Morally Optimistic. At one point in 19, she briefly justifies Crimson's shitty evil actions to herself after experiencing for herself how Wack the kerfuffleverse is firsthand, ("and all he did was kill a couple people!" Chartreuse. Honey.) and when she fights Crimsonaut she seems to actually believe for a second that he's actually worried about her when Crimson asks if she's okay after he beats her. Additionally, as D+, she concerns herself with trying to understand doctor order's motive, and after Larry defeats Order, he makes a point of confirming she feels no remorse before making his request for what Chartreuse does with her, and appeals to the idea of letting Order fulfill her desire to be a god in a way which isn't a problem for anyone and Chartreuse is more than happy to oblige under these conditions after what Larry's done for everybody. Then immediately threatens to evaporate him for playfully teasing her about having a crush on folk. Fucked up a little bit

Crimson's:

Universe Shifting: Travel between universes.

Universe Correction: appears to replace an aberrant individual with the 'correct' version of themselves for that universe, presumably sending them back to their own. (Mario from super mario was universe corrected, but still seemingly exists in wario form as evidenced by smashup kerfuffle, and was simply temporarily replaced with his corrected universe counterpart. But like. The dimensional bus system is still active crimbo doing the Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me routine aint gonna work if they can come back with a shrug and bus fare. you're fighting the symptoms without treating the problem)

Universal Constants:

Three individuals per universe that serve as the pillars which stabilize said universe, created by absorbing red orbs Crimson creates. Becoming a constant grants power, but also makes the constant fragile, and death wipes them from the face of the multiverse, only crimson, those he's possessed and the other constants seemingly able to recall they ever existed, although some physical evidence is still left behind (Larry's record of Nagito's death, which is just as redacted as everything else relating to him but still is very much something Larry has. Kind of a Voidfish adventurezone type beat ironically enough? Taako really has seen all this shit before no wonder he peaced tf out)

To counterbalance the weaknesses the constants have, they have a sort of spidey-sense to alert them to danger, and an intrinsic bonded connection to their fellow constants, and additionally, Crimson apparently doesn't suffer any pain from the death of constants or the structural instability of a universe.

Possession: what it says on the tin! Seemingly can only be done with permission to living things- none of crimson's direct hosts seem to have entered that agreement unwillingly, Valentine lost a bet, Hamburger and Crimsonaut have been by all evidence intentional allies to Crimson- but electronics are fair game, as seen with The Guy's suit. Kinda curious how that rule applies to bitches that are half and half, like J0hn or the clonebot gang, as its unclear whether The Guy's suit was yoinkable without permission because it was mechanical or because its not sentient. could go either way but if it's the former that's potentially very frightening

Fusion: Two individuals from alternate universes can be fused into one shared body which can take on aspects of either depending on which is currently in control. (possibly allows someone who traveled into a given universe to become a fixed resident there without it being an issue for Crimson, whose job is to prevent interdimensional travel?) Monday Mark and possibly T.O.M. are our main examples.

Corruption:

Unpleasant As Hell and can even kill you instead of changing you if you cant handle it.

turns the corrupted individual into a twisted exaggeration of themself, allows them supernatural control over their shape, and makes them very difficult- if not impossible by traditional means- to kill, based on Garfield.

Subjects them to control by Crimson, but can be exorcised of this influence just like crimson's direct hosts can, although the supernatural changes to their physiology are seemingly permanent, judging from Shantae.

Notable Weaknesses:

Exorcism can be performed to free a possessed or corrupted individual of Crimson's influence. Its unclear how exorcism works/is learned in CPUK, but confirmed exorcists: dantoinette and yung papaya's snake dad, confirmed non-exorcists: folk

The universal constant orbs are physical objects so they are Very Stealable and they grant a power boost so theres literally an Incentive to beat his ass for anybody who wants to be strong and either doesnt know or doesn't care about the whole 'getting erased when you die' part

Crimson has lots of tools to create pawns, but all of them have drawbacks. Corruption could kill a potential pawn, possession generally seems to require permission, and he has no control over the constants' choices and actions

Manipulative bitch's highest stat is charisma and it shows. This motherfucker is selling snake oil. If he was mortal rather than a Whole Entire God he'd make an excellent ineffectual saturday morning cartoon supervillain and i think everyone, including him, would be happier for it, ngl

Something interesting ive realized that likely wasnt fully intentional, is that a lot of Dr. Order's creations, considering her motive, can kind of be sorted by a color god it appears to be a crude attempt at mimicking the abilities of. My Grunk is a poorly executed resurrection, the clonebot gang vs chartreuse's timeclones (this one deserves special mention because Chartreuse used this shitty attempted mimicry to her advantage with D+, very smart and ironic play, excellent job Treusy,) spirits are somewhat similar to universal constant orbs (orbs which can be absorbed to grant power, but which have physical repercussions- key differences being that spirits require activation and grow stronger while attuning to a user without being used, and having far less severe drawbacks, taking a heavy toll on the body, but only once they've worn off and without the risk of wiping yourself from the face of existence,) and she also augmented Perfect Spriteman and Larry, which kind of track as crude imitations of Crimson's corruption!

Garfield was an acerbic cat who loved food and hated mondays, now its an actively malicious ever-hungry amorphous entity whose only weakness is monday and whose only consistency in form is 'cat-like.'

Shantae was (to my extremely limited understanding of shantae,) a friendly heroic type who had to introduce herself often, and she became something akin to a biblically accurate angel that can *only* introduce herself.

The Grunks a tough but sweet and supportive single dad with stage presence and a tendency to fly off the handle when he or his family are slighted, and now he gets so hype in the audience when his son does well that he bursts into flames and ascends and we get random grunk events along with the associated murder charges when he gets mad and the target sucks enough that he doesn't hold himself back from killing them.

Perfect Spriteman and Larry fit the trend of exaggeration of already present traits- Spriteman fucking loves sprite and became something that only thinks about sprite, and Larry the Florida Man, characterized from minute one by unpredictability and who spent his first matches in the series pre-shapeshifter transformation staying alive keeping stocks for Shockingly Long even despite getting seventh, became literally physically random as well as developing the ability to regenerate, albeit with the ability to feel pain normally very much intact, unlike Garfield just... Soaking up damage like its nothing in his pursuit of Jon. The fact that Arbuckle legit defeated Garfield, even temporarily, is terrifyingly impressive honestly that dude is fucking built different for being so chronically bland

i dont think they're actually corrupted in any meaningful way we have to worry about, to be fully clear, Spriteman was cured with fucking antacids, i simply think they could be a fucked up attempt at making something that kind of seems like it from a functional standpoint, from the wannabe god doctor that brought us green clones whose only fundamental association with time was accelerated aging and who thought an actively rotting corpse thats just reanimated enough that it can throw hands was as good as curing death

[bbnibini]

you might remember this since i believe you've been around obm tumblr since the first season was released, but i recall that only a handful of individuals (including myself) had done in-depth analyses on solomon even though season two had barely ended. ever since then i've always become ecstatic to see other players who have similar views on solomon as i do, but i also understand that i will never be satisfied with how the majority view this silly sorcerer </3 the bouts of lore i have stashed away in my head for him is phenomenal

because although there are many instances of him being so soft & vulnerable with us, there are also those who view him similarly as the newer players despite them being caught up in the main story; i believe that their love for everyone else in the cast (mostly concerning the demons) will override how they view him.

this isn't something that i'm terribly upset by of course, but i can't help but think back to when i had to point out numerous key points about solomon to older players in order for them to see more things clearly, which is fine! but it only makes me wonder just how influenced people can become depending on what their favorite characters think of someone else.

no need to apologize either <3 i enjoy seeing people ramble on about their favs, especially if they share them with myself. this is the first time i've seen you around here...! i'm surprised, considering my time here (not on this new personal account i'm sending this ask from, lol). i'm glad to have caught your eye ^^

Hello, new mutual! And what more, A SOLOMON LOVING MUTUAL?! You are a rare gem and I'm happy to see you in my timeline! <3 <3

You're right. I've been an OM player since a few days after launch, but due to...uhh reasons (which my readers in AO3 and fellow writer friends love to meme on. It's easy to figure out "the reason" if you've seen my works in AO3 haha.), I was not able to show my love and appreciation for Solomon until now.

Isn't it so cool? Most of the Solomon lovers I know know so many nuggets of information about him which is so amazing, so cool and so so very sexy of us ;) /s. Truth be told, Solomon wasn't always my favourite character (though he is one of the characters I liked). I had been a Satan stan around I think 2-3 months of playing until I got to know more about Solomon.

(my ramblings about Solomon under the cut. It's uhh...very long haha;;)

I would have to be honest. I was not prepared to see how much hate this man had gotten from the fandom starting out. I get it. He was really rude in 2-2 which might have soured his first impressions with most beginners. This, along with the vagueness and inconsistencies of his character in the first lessons + Lucifer's own commentaries in Main Story Normal Mode 2-2 didn't help. He also had very strange ways of showing he's looking out for us in the earlier lessons.

Do you remember when he showed the password to enter Leviathan's room to us "accidentally" on the earlier lessons? Also when he lent us a super valuable collector's item (the necklace) from the TSL series that EVEN LEVI doesn't own? No one was talking about it (most people might have chosen to speak with Simeon instead), and the few people who did were being overpowered by the "shady sorcerer", "haha main villain", "who are the real demons" jokes in the fandom before.

I actually had a brief moment in time when I kinda didn't like Diavolo because he was so woobified in the fandom despite doing so much "shadier" things (with the Angel event being the worst thing he did imo around that time I had that phase) along with Barbatos (And Simeon iirc) compared to when Solomon just breathes and everyone is like "Wow he's so shady!" And I'm like wow??? The man didn't even do anything?? Give him a break!!

And you are right. I think that's likely the reason why--even with context, even if all evidences and devilgrams have expounded on Solomon's character and disproved all these "shady sorcerer" memes and whatnot, some endgame players still think differently. And honestly, I can't fault them. Even as a Solomon stan, I'm guilty of overlooking some things about other characters because I'm too busy enjoying all the little things about my favourite and that's okay. It's valid but it's sad, ig?

I think one other factor that might have influenced the hate he got is how late he got introduced as a romanceable. He's a human! He has pacts! Some MCs may have seen him as a "rival" for their favourite demon(or Simeon)'s affections. By the time he became romanceable and more of these tiny little things we already noticed about him in the first and second season became more obvious, it's too late. Opinions were already formed. The fanfic and fanart community already have a "set character" for him/their own HCs--a collective conscious of sorts where a character's portrayal may not be accurate to canon, but that's what the fandom already thought of them so people who enter the fandom would inevitably have preconceived notions about him that are around the same wavelength. Just look at poor Diluc at Genshin Impact. He's also getting the same treatment. :(

Haha! Yeah, I tend to keep to my close set of mutuals. I initially made this account around last last year(?) to crosspost my CYOA and nothing else but got attached.

And it's also a pleasure to get to know you! ^^ Hopefully this isn't too long haha

[incorrect-quotes-from-she-ra]

Morning! I hope you don't mind if i give you yet another She-Ra thought I'm too damn lazy to post on my own. Also, it's long again. I WILL find that character limit some day.

So, we know the way Shadow Weaver raised Adora resulted, among other issues, in her being selfless to the point of self-sacrifice, which came to a climax in the Heart's failsafe business.

And it's been suggested that this was basically intentional on Shadow Weaver's part. Basically, selflessness is a very beneficial quality for others to have. My theory is that <b>her plan for Adora had always been specifically for her to someday use the failsafe and release all magic</b>.

(i will admit i am also curious how formatting works in this app. thank you for your help with these experiments)

So, evidence. Let's start with her name. I know this is a remake and they were stuck with the existing names, but there's a scene where Scorpia complains about it ("yeah i GET it, everyone LOVES you"), which constitutes the writers acknowledging its meaning, which makes me think it's fair game to analyze.

First, I'm obviously assuming Shadow Weaver choose it, as part of her ongoing parenting plan. It's also possible it was her original First One-given name, we don't know. Neither quite works because either she or Light Hope should have had some issues knowing what the name was and they clearly knew automatically. Really the entire series is weird in that everyone communicates with everyone else way too easily, and i will definitely rant about that someday.

For now let it stand that Shadow Weaver is the parent figure, it makes the most sense for her to pick the name, both in-universe and narratively, so i shall assume so by default. I have two things to say about that choice.

First, as we all have noticed, most of the princesses have names ending in -a. All of them, if you count "Glimma". It's never said to be intentional, but it would make sense. And then IF such a tradition exists among Etheria's royalty, it's not unreasonable for Shadow Weaver, a notable and moderately respected member of the land of knowledge, to know about it.

And then if she knew, of course she would take it into consideration when looking for names. Admittedly it's a little weird with the anti-Princess propaganda that the Horde has, but she doesn't really need to explain or justify this. Hordak has a very [i]laissez-faire[/i] attitude, and everyone else she clearly doesn't care about.

And if she knew or suspected that the princesses' powers were related to the Heart of Etheria, which i will argue for later, then giving her a princessy name is also adequately ironic.

The second name bit is that Scorpia clearly knows some Latin, but not enough. True, <em>adorare</em> means to worship and/or to love, but Latin verbs are more complex than that. _Adora_ specifically is 3rd person singular present indicative active. The translation would be "she loves".

Names aside, i want to talk about how they (we) learned about the Heart of Etheria. Castaspella doesn't know what to do, Shadow Weaver suggests they take a road trip to research, which she's reticent about but concedes is probably the best use of her time, and they find success. We don't know how long it took them, but i had the distinct impression that it wasn't very long.

Naturally, I'm suggesting Shadow Weaver knew all along, and led Castaspella on the trip to have an excuse for the inevitable "how do you know?". Also tricked her into thinking it was /her/ discovery, and maybe even that she was succeeding where Shadow Weaver had failed before, if necessary.

That's why she's so excited to share their results with everybody, and Shadow Weaver cuts her off, apparently just to antagonize her for fun, but I'm suggesting it was also because for her this is the culmination of a decades-long plan, and she wants to Get On With It.

It's also interesting that there was a mural depicting the Spell of Obtainment in the hallway leading to the failsafe. It was a reminder of Shadow Weaver's past, and an opportunity for her to show she regrets her results but doesn't repent from her choices, which i quite like actually. But I'm also saying that, meta-textually, it was a signal that she'd been there before, literally.

And then there is the potential in-universe connection, since we don't know what exactly the spell was meant to be obtaining. Power, for sure, and from what happened we're probably meant to assume it's tapping into some sort of demonic entity or dimension.

Fair enough, except that it never comes up again. And it's kind of a big plot point that Etheria is isolated from the rest of the cosmos, which may or may not conflict with it having a contactable "hell". Meanwhile there's the Heart of Etheria Project collecting all that magic, which Mara's allies (and their descendants) would know something about, have access to at least one backdoor to, and may well have tried to tap into its power at some point.

And then what went wrong may well be one of the defense mechanisms of the Project, though I'm admittedly veering into unfounded speculation.

So, a rough timeline. Light Spinner was always motivated to excel and craved power. She was probably always envied the princesses, who command greater magic than most sorcerers with apparently none of the study and practice.

She took to researching everything she could that might lead to power, eventually discovering the chamber with the failsafe, and presumably other information left by Mara's Friends, either in other chambers or in documents she's since removed. She would have learned a lot of things from this.

As i suggested, i believe she knew there's some connection between the princesses at large and the Heart of Etheria. Incidentally, i don't know exactly what that connection is, and in particular whether princesses were created by the Project or an existing phenomenon that the First Ones co-opted. But it doesn't matter, exactly.

What's important is that there's clearly a connection, more specifically a control system for the princesses and their magic, which is presumably related to how Shadow Weaver was able to tap into the Black Garnet's power. With Hordak's help, obviously, since she clearly believed it when he claimed he could cut her off at will, but he's later shown to have basically no understanding of First Ones' tech, so the knowledge must have come from her.

For the record, i would guess she thinks princesses are artificial, empowered both magically and politically to keep the planet in check, and that they would be depowered once the failsafe was fired. I also think that may be true, actually, since it almost happened when Entrapta was messing with the system, and if i recall none of them were shown to use any magic after Adora did fire it, while she clearly used Perfuma's power. But anyways!

Back to what Shadow Weaver learned, she would know some of what the failsafe does, namely disrupt the system that's hoarding most of the planet's magic, thereby spreading magic to all (most notably her), and some of how to use it, and the fact that she couldn't do so and hope to live, and some of the criteria for who can. That part is important.

But first, she also learned the Spell of Obtainment, deemed it more likely but didn't think she could do it herself, despaired of getting help until she thought Hordak's rise to fame would give her #casus belli#, lost her patience when the Mystacor leadership disagreed, etc etc etc. Pretty uncontroversial in this part, i think.

After she'd joined the Horde, when Hordak showed up with baby Adora and wanted to lump her with the rest of the orphans they have, Shadow Weaver pleaded to have her get special treatment. She even said that she's special, and it couldn't have been her leadership skills or good heart, since she didn't have either yet. It's heavily implied she could recognize her as a First One, but it's not clear why she would care, since they were known for leaving behind advanced technology, which a baby also doesn't have. Unless, of course, she knew there are devices only a First One could use, and maybe has plans related to that.

So I'm pretty sure she learned the criteria that the failsafe requires, devised some spell or technique to check people for them that she pretty much used all the time, just in case, and was very surprised when a newborn tested positive. She was also surprised when Hordak made her personally responsible for the raising of the kid, but her reaction is pretty much "ok, that could work, i guess".

Also also, i suspect she can read First One script. Not perfectly like Adora, but better than Bow's parents probably. Mostly because when she puts Adora's hand on the crystal and says "i think you know the password", that seems like a very transparent attempt to pretend she knows it too when she doesn't. But that seems irresponsible at such a crucial moment, she and Castaspella should really have researched it earlier. Or at least her line there should have been "you can read this, right?" or somesuch.

So I'm thinking it's a double bluff, hoping everybody assumes she doesn't know so she doesn't have to reveal how and why she knows, again.

And that's all i have, i think? This is not nearly as well laid out as i would like. But then, nothing ever is, right?

Also it's not even close to morning anymore. Thank you if you even got this far, and have a good evening!

hi!!! this took me a while to answer, i'm so sorry about that <3

i'm very low on energy today so i cannot summon up the brain energy to respond properly to this, as much as i want to, i'm really sorry for that as well

i love this theory!! it actually fits in really well with canon and makes, like, a LOT of sense now that i think about it. i definitely wouldn't have thought of this on my own, so thank you for sharing this with me!! :D

[askmerriauthor]

Star Wars: Visions thoughts and discussion

Been on a bit of a Star Wars binge lately. Getting ready for the Book of Fett and the return of The Mandalorian soon, just finished playing the Jedi: Fallen Order game, and recently "Star Wars: Visions" dropped on Disney+ (not to be confused with the, like, half-dozen other Star Wars properties that use "Visions" as their title). If you've got the streaming service and haven't watched the series yet, I can honestly suggest you should do so. The whole thing is a series of very short episodes and is entirely non-canon to the setting, so you don't even need a hard understanding of Star Wars to enjoy it.

In fact, it's actually better if you don't know anything about Star Wars going in. Spoilers and brief episode discussion after the jump.

Episode 1: The Duel As soon as I saw a lightsaber umbrella and a R2 droid in a hat, I knew this one was going to be a must-watch.

I REPEAT. LIGHTSABER. UMBRELLA.

Solid kick-off for the short series. Dig the aesthetic, dig the classic samurai vibe (even if it's more of an homage than a direct application of the style), dig the simple story. The particular animation style they chose here was a little wonky but I quickly got used to the visuals and loved a bunch of the design choices too much to care. This one was very action/style-focused and clearly chosen as the leading episode for that reason, which I don't fault them at all for.

Episode 2: Tatooine Rhapsody I'm sorry, I don't recall giving Star Wars permission to be this fucking adorable, how dare you.

The tale of a Padawan survivor of Order 66 who makes a new life for himself not with the power of the Force, but with the power of Rock and Roll and Friendship. Bitchin'. Super adorable, semi-chibi art style that's honestly ringing, like, a dozen different bells in my head for trying to figure out all the different styles it's drawing from. Good fun, if a bit bland in the end. The biggest problem is the music. The story relies on "using music to save the day", which is fine. But when you use that trope you need an absolutely face-melting banger of a performance, which this just doesn't have. An enjoyable entry all the same though. Not bad, not great, cute designs; the quirky story of how Jabba the Hutt got a new slave band to play at his den.

Episode 3: The Twins This entire episode is animated by the team who brought us Kill la Kill and that should really tell you everything you need to know.

You know how if you get a bunch of little kids together, they'll start playing make-believe games where they just invent stories and plot twists and super powers like "I have whatever you can do, but infinity plus 1 better!" shit like that? That's what this short is. It has only the vaguest allusions to the setting proper and immediately hurls every semblance of consistency, logic, and sense out the window with both hands. It is 1,000,000% style over substance.

Okay, y'know what, no, that's not enough to describe the utter insanity this episode is. All I can find online is pictures of the main villain character pulling a General Grievous impression or the protag snaring lightsaber whips on his lightsaber, but that is fucking tiddlywinks compared to where this episode goes.

There is a scene in this short where the protag, who is ghost-riding the hood of his X-Wing upside down in space without a space suit, super-charges his lightsaber into a giant rainbow of FUCK YOU GEORGE LUCAS with the power of familial love and fabulousness, using said rainbow super saber to CUT AN ENTIRE STAR DESTROYER IN HALF WHILE ACCELERATING TO HYPERSPEED, all to save his twin sister's life by making her explode in a somehow non-harmful manner.

This short is utterly nonsensical drivel and yes I would like more right the fuck now, please and thank you.

Episode 4: The Village Bride Wait, we're actually trying to tell a reasonable story in this series? Sorry, I was still on a sugar high from the previous episode. Lemme sit down.

The Village Bride is great. Excellent short that's just dripping with atmosphere and a slow, purposeful pace to its writing. It's short and sweet with little focus on the Force-using characters themselves, which actually serves to its credit. Even in the Star Wars universe, the Ainu people can't catch a fucking break. Easily one of my favorites in the whole run.

Episode 5: The Ninth Jedi The fact that two characters in this short have Sasuke's haircut was extremely distracting. But I actually really enjoyed this entry overall.

Despite playing extremely loose with the established lore around how lightsabers work, this episode over all others really embraces the original setting and tells a slow-burn story about the potential revival of the Jedi Order. A little meandering at times, but it's a solid piece and well worth exploring. Of all the shorts in the series, this one has the greatest potential to actually continue on as a standalone series or be folded into the canon franchise. Main protag is an adorable bean and I love her.

Episode 6: T0-B1 This episode is simultaneously a love letter to Astro Boy and a giant middle finger to Star Wars lore purists.

The tale of an imaginative Droid named T0-B1 who dreams of becoming a hero like the Jedi he's heard so many stories of. This short gets extra credit for being so unyieldingly stylish and charming. On the surface of its presentation and story choices it seems like it doesn't know anything about Star Wars lore, but it's actually packed full of some pretty deep cuts that show the folk behind it do know what they're talking about and just don't fucking care what purists have to say. The entire thing is just "Yeah, I'm ignoring your lore, but I'm doing it in a fun way that makes the setting more interesting, and I'm so genuine about it that you can't be mad at me". I can respect that. Plus the old dude in that screenshot is an armless Jedi who's retired to be a botanist and that's just fucking cool.

Episode 7: The Elder I'm Episode 1, but better.

This one. This shit right here. This is the good shit.

I'm sure y'all have heard before that Star Wars is directly inspired by Kurosawa and samurai films in general, but The Elder really digs into that hard. Where Episode 1 styles itself after a samurai tale, Episode 7 is a samurai tale. Subdued, methodical storytelling, slow-burn pace, charming dialogue amid believable characters, and a truly intimidating villain who provokes a brief but striking duel. This is my vibe. I crave more of this. Far and away the best short of the entire series.

Episode 8: Lop and Ocho Oh for fuck's sake, there's going to be so much porn of this bunny girl character, isn't there?

This entry is another that kind of meanders with the story it's trying to tell and plays very loose with the lore. It reimagines a lot of what we know of the Jedi/The Rebels and Sith/The Empire into a feudal faction-based conflict akin to what you'd see in a period samurai drama. Modernization and callous industry crushing the spirit of the people and breaking apart families. A decent work overall, but nothing really all that impressive in the end. It takes too long to get going and then peters out halfway through its pay-off for some reason.

Episode 9: Akakiri The fact that I had to look up this episode's name and scenes online and still could not remember anything about it should tell you a lot.

The series ends on a downer with the dramatic tale of a fallen Jedi who sacrifices himself and succumbs to the Dark Side. Turning evil for... the greater good? Wha? Had some pretty neat visuals, but I genuinely cannot remember a damn thing about this episode or its characters. Big swing and a miss in terms of impact.