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ponett · 10 months

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Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video • Movies • Comics • Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance.

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year

#bobby writes #i don't have a writing tag so i'm making one now to save this and other things

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television-overload · 5 months

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of our own making

(an X-Files fanfic)

Chapter 34/34 - epilogue

[Read on AO3]

Greenwich, CT

May 2001

-.-.-

“Smile at the camera, sweetheart!” Mulder calls, holding the camcorder up in front of him and peering through the viewfinder. “You too, beautiful.”

Scully pauses her search for seashells with Madeline, tapping the little girl on the shoulder and showing her where to look. As soon as she spots him, a chubby little finger points in his direction, her face lighting up in a smile, and with his free hand, he waves back.

“Hi Miss Madeline!” he says, zooming in on the two of them as they go back to their search for seashells in the sand. “Are you having fun?” He pans down to the gentle waves as they lap at the shoreline, coming closer and closer and finally tickling at the toes of Maddie and Scully, eliciting a shriek of joy from the now toddling one-year-old.

“Is it cold?” he asks.

“A little cold, still,” Scully answers, leading their daughter by the hand a little further from the ocean. He zooms back out, capturing the full picture of this lovely New England beach as it nears sundown, the warmth starting to fade along with the light.

“How about this one?” a soft, older voice cuts in, walking carefully over the sand toward little Maddie, who holds out her hand in acceptance. Teena Mulder leans down and places a large white seashell in her hand, which little Maddie thoroughly inspects.

“Did Grandma find a big one, baby?” Mulder asks, walking closer to his family to get a better look at the spoils of their seashell hunting trip.

Maddie holds it up for the camera. “Ah!” she answers, tugging at Scully’s hand to bring her closer to her dad.

“Oh, look at that!” he says enthusiastically, widening his eyes comically. She grunts and stretches her arm out as far as it will go—her way of telling him she wants to give him something. He chuckles and holds out his hand, accepting her gift with a wide brimming smile. “Thank you, sweet pea. Should Daddy hold onto that for you?”

Scully’s lips pull back in a smile as she looks up at him. “I think that’s probably a good idea,” she answers for Maddie.

Mulder tucks the shell into his pocket, pressing the record button on the camcorder and checking that there’s still battery left before looping the strap over his shoulder.

“Alright, Daddy’s turn, little stinker,” he says, grabbing Maddie by the hands and lifting her into the air. She squeals in delight, swinging in an arc until he plops her back down in the shallowest bit of water where the sea meets the shore.

“Mulder, you’re gonna get the camera wet!” Scully calls out, her brow slanted in either worry or disapproval.

Maddie stomps around in the water, giggling at the way it splashes up when she does.

“Did you hear that, Maddie?” Mulder asks in mock alarm, addressing his question directly to his daughter, though speaking loud enough for Scully to hear. “Mommy thinks I’m going to drop this expensive camcorder into two inches of water, can you believe it?!”

Madeline gapes up at him, clearly having no clue what he’s talking about, but just happy to be included.

“I did not say you’d drop it,” Scully corrects, pursing her lips and crossing her arms in that way that he’s always thought looked so adorable, especially with how tiny she is.

Mulder walks Maddie back over to the others, silently handing her and the camera off to his mother with a playful glint in his eye.

“You’re worried about getting the camera wet, Scully?” he asks, his voice dangerously low as he approaches her, taking one long, drawn out step at a time.

“Mulder, don’t,” Scully warns, suddenly catching on to this game he’s playing, but she’s too late. She tries to escape, but he grabs her around the middle and lifts her into the air, taking off toward the ocean with laughter on his breath.

He bridal carries her as he wades out into the water, the salty seawater soaking up to his knees. The cold temperature invigorates him—makes him feel alive. Or maybe it’s the pleading screeches of his wife as she yells at him to take her back in between irrepressible fits of giggles.

She clings onto him for dear life, lifting her feet so they don’t dangle into the brisk ocean as he comes to a sudden stop.

“I think this is far enough,” he says thoughtfully, looking around them with a contemplative gaze.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she says, her jaw dropping open. She can pretend to be aghast by his actions all she wants—she can’t hide that underlying amusement that pulls at the corners of her lips.

“Sorry, honey,” he says, meeting her eyes with a shrug. And with that, he drops her into the water.

She comes up gasping, her mouth open wide in disbelief that he’d really gone through with it.

“Mulder!” she yells, wiping water from her eyes and smoothing her hair back out of her face. He doubles over laughing, unable to restrain himself. “Help me up,” she demands, reaching her hand out for him to grab on to.

He acquiesces, gripping her slippery fingers with both hands, and pulling, but instead of pulling her up, he finds himself being yanked downward, and it’s not long before he, too, has pants full of sand.

“You happy now?” he asks, resigned to his fate.

“No!” she shrieks, her brows raised to her forehead. Water drips down and gets caught in her eyelash, and she wipes it away, fighting back a smile. “I’m all wet, Mulder!” she complains. “We have to drive back to your mom’s house like this!”

“So what?” he says, pulling her toward him by the waist. He presses a firm kiss to her cold lips, warming them with his own for a moment before pulling back. His fingertips tease at her sides, causing her to squirm away.

He remembers the day he found out Scully was ticklish. One of the greatest days of his life, for sure.

“Mulder…” she complains, though this time with a little less fervor. The waves crash against them incessantly, occasionally splattering one of them with a splash of seawater to the eye.

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, this time actually helping her to her feet. “I’ll wrap you in a big fuzzy blanket as soon as we get home, I promise.” He gives her one final peck on the lips once they’re upright again, and leads her by hand back to the shore, where his mother watches on in amusement.

“Was that really the best decision, Fox?” she asks, her scrutinizing eyes traveling over their soaked clothing and back up to their reddened faces.

Best decision? No. That honor goes to the day he’d decided to pursue adoption with Scully. This family—one of their own making—that was the best decision he’d ever made. Nothing else would ever come close.

But having a little fun, dumping her in the water and getting absolutely soaked…? Well, he’d never regret anything that made Scully laugh. From the first moment he heard it in the graveyard in Bellefleur, it’s been his life’s mission to hear it again. In the past year, he’s succeeded more times than he can count.

“No regrets,” he declares proudly, pressing a kiss to the back of Scully’s hand, still intertwined with his own.

Teena shakes her head in fond disdain, setting Madeline down on the sand so that she can focus on walking over the uneven terrain back to the car. Maddie reaches up with both of her hands, and Mulder grabs one while Scully grabs the other.

“Wet!” she says, her little forehead pinching in concern, the word apparently one of the few that she knows.

Mulder shakes his head over top of her, sprinkling her with water droplets from his hair and causing her to shriek. “No!” she squeals. “No, Da-da!”

Scully laughs, her feet slipping a bit in the sand as she walks.

“Come on, now, you two can’t team up on me!” Mulder protests.

“You’re outnumbered, Mulder,” Scully points out, and he heaves an exaggerated sigh.

By the time they get back to Teena Mulder’s house—only a short drive away—the seats of their car are damp with seawater and Scully has informed him that he’ll be the one cleaning it when they get back to their house in Virginia. He responds with, “Yes, dear,” a phrase that never fails to make her roll her eyes.

Madeline falls asleep on the ride home, clutching the seashell that Grandma Mulder had found in her hand like a stuffed animal. As much as they hate to put her in bed still covered in salt and sand from the ocean, they really don’t want to wake her, so they do the best they can to clean her off before setting her down in the travel crib they brought. It’s their last day anyway. The sheets can be cleaned.

Scully gives him first dibs on the shower, biding her time by packing up the little room they’ve shared at his mother’s house for the past week. He re-emerges feeling like a new man, free from that grimy feeling of being covered in salt.

Her shower takes longer than usual. He starts to miss her, not wanting to go to bed without her, but feeling the undeniable call of the down mattress and pillows.

He knocks on the door, asking her if she’s almost finished.

She opens it slowly, holding a piece of plastic in her hands and looking astonished.

He glances down at it, two blue lines the same color as the paint in his mother’s coastal-themed guest bathroom beaming up at him.

He’s not sure whether he should laugh or cry at first. She looks up at him, uncertainty darkening her face, and he settles for scooping his wife into his arms, rocking her back and forth in complete disbelief.

After he’s taken a moment to absorb this new information, he pulls back, holding her in place and grinning uncontrollably down at her.

“Scully, do you ever get the feeling that the universe is laughing at us?” he asks, chuckling a little as he takes in the glow that he’s just now noticing around her.

“I don’t know if the universe is capable of laughing, Mulder,” she responds in her shaky voice, ever the skeptic. “But someone definitely is.”

“Well, Dana,” he says, pressing a kiss to her forehead and splaying his hand over her abdomen. “I was just thinking about how much I missed the newborn stage.”

~~~

end.

~~~

I have so much to say, and I don't know where to start. Apologies in advance for the long author's note.

To all of you who have read and commented here and on AO3 (I'm still a bit in shock over just how many of you there are), thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your response has meant the world to me, and to know you've looked forward to updates just as I have for stories by authors I look up to… Well, it's humbling.

Since I started writing fanfiction a decade ago, I've always wanted to find the patience and inspiration to write a proper slow burn and have people follow along. Now, this turned out even longer than I expected it to--and at times during the three months it took to write, I felt like I had overestimated my patience to keep writing--but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Checking this one off my bucket list!

To @numinousmysteries: Your help with beta reading and offering suggestions is so appreciated. I've never written anything of this magnitude before, and your encouragement was a much-needed reassurance prior to posting this. I think the story is better off having taken into account your advice, so for that, I am so grateful.

To all X-Philes: I am continuously amazed by how alive this fandom is over 30 years later. You have been so welcoming. I only watched the show for the first time in February 2023, so while I'm still fairly new around here, it doesn't really feel like it.

Now, to answer the question some of you have been asking… Will there be more?

At this time, I don't have anything planned and am not sure when I'll be writing again, but I certainly have some ideas. The way the final two chapters came together obviously skips over what could be some important or at least interesting character moments (Charlie comes to mind, as well as the whole Scully clan). If inspiration strikes, of course I'd love to expand this story into it's own series, probably consisting of mostly one-shots.

I also think it would be fun to take prompts on here for scenes you'd like to see in this universe. No promises on how quickly I'll get to them, but why not--if you have something in mind, feel free to send me an ask and I'll try to get to them as the muse hits. If I do, they'll be posted here and on AO3.

This is turning into a "midwest goodbye" of an author's note, so… Okay, that's it. Yeah. Thanks again for reading. Till next time!

~~~

Lovely tag list ♡: [thank you all for following along and/or letting me clog your notifications for a month!]

@today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr @agent-troi @angegova @baronessblixen @calimanc @captainsolocide @clo-thespin @cutemothman @danasculls @deathsbestgirl @edierone @enigmaticxbee @figureofdismay @frogsmulder @gillian-anderson-in-the-tardis @hippocampouts @invidiosa @monaiargancoconutsoy @msrafterdark @numinousmysteries @primrose19 @randomfoggytiger @skelavender @skylarksong @stephy-gold @teenie-xf @the-redhead-in-a-dress @vincentsleftear

#msr #txf #x files #xf fanfic #mulder and scully #my fanfiction #fox mulder #dana scully #of our own making #ooom #msr adoption fic #adoption

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oxittocin · 3 months

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sunray (nico robin x reader)

nico robin masterlist

because i recently met someone who felt like busking in sunlight

cw: gn!reader, pre-water 7 arc

also, thank you @turtletaubwrites ; i wouldn't have found the motivation to put thoughts to words without your kind comment

Busking in sunlight.

She was busking in sunlight, lounging in her favourite spot on the outdoor deck, engrossed in a book she probably picked up on the last island. She is a picture of graceful stillness; her eyebrows raising ever so slightly in delight whenever she comes across a sentence that tickles her fancy. You peep a slight smile and a quiet, cheerful hum - small quirks that would have been too easy to miss. She meticulously thumbs through another page.

You wonder what snippet of knowledge she has since added in her library of wisdom; you wonder if she would ever invite you for a chat, and metaphorically let you take a walk through the museum that is her mind.

———————————————

You wonder so often what goes on in Nico Robin’s pretty mind. You’ve thought about it for a good few weeks now, yet the answer seems to continuously elude you.

At first, her history of being associated with Baroque Works rendered you wary of her, eyeing her suspiciously whenever she approached you. A cunning mastermind was what you thought she was. Someone who would go to great lengths to protect her vested interests, regardless of the costs.

Over time, you warmed up to her. How could you not? There was no doubting the sincerity that radiated from her being whenever she looks at Chopper. Slowly, you noticed it too when she speaks to the other Strawhats.

The fondness in her voice when she addresses Luffy, her firm protectiveness over Nami, the mutual respect she has with Zoro, her teasing banter towards Usopp, her never-ending tolerance for Sanji’s flirtatious antics.

This can’t be faked, you thought.

And when she looks at you, soft gaze and smile - you wished so badly that it was real.

That can’t be faked, right?

———————————————

The enigma that she is has occupied the vast majority of your time. It keeps you distracted. It keeps you up all night. Most of all, it keeps you single-mindedly obsessed with figuring her out.

You don’t know how it began, but like vines that grow towards the sun, you started to orbit around her - as though she was the gravitational force that kept you grounded.

It started with minor tweaks in your schedule. Where you used to spend most of the time carrying weights with Zoro in the afternoons, you’d silently shifted some of the dumbbells to the deck where Robin lounges, stealing sly glances at her while you go about your routine.

———————————————

“You’ve been training here a lot more.” She had commented once, a few weeks ago.

“Oh yeah. Zoro’s stinky.” You hurriedly searched for an excuse, throwing poor Zoro under the bus.

“I think you’re safe for today. He had his weekly shower yesterday.” She responded with a chuckle.

You could feel your cheeks burning up, embarrassed that she might have figured out your true intentions. You prayed that she would logically assume that the blush was from the workout instead.

———————————————

Soon, you had gotten used to spending afternoons on the deck with her. Her, lounging with her book and you, going about your workout routine.

The comfortable silence that you had both grown accustomed to was peppered with witty exchanges throughout the day.

Yet, there remains a line that cannot be crossed. Her fondness and affection often hiding behind a polite demeanour that you simply cannot override.

You wonder what else resides in the depths of her thoughts; what secrets, ambitions and aspirations might she hold in her heart, not quite yet ready to let out.

———————————————

You were sitting a mere few metres away but the distance between you and her felt like oceans apart.

It didn’t matter though.

You would cross that bridge when you get there. For now, you were content for whatever this is to remain as is; to enjoy her presence without the complexities of the heart, feelings, whatever this was.

And whatever was this?

What was the language one would use to describe this arrangement?

A friendship, but not quite. A crush would sound juvenile. An attraction doesn’t sound right either.

By then, as you were pondering the semantics of the situation, the afternoon heat that had earlier prickled your skin has since given way to the gentle breeze of the cool sea air. A sign that the sun is steadily setting, as the ocean of orange paints over the clear blue skies.

It was then that it occurred to you.

It was like busking in her sunlight.

———————————————

Perhaps your gaze had lingered on her for a second too long, prompting her to look up from her book, curious eyes meeting yours.

“Your dumbbells haven’t moved in quite a bit.” She teased you, coy smile gracing her features before she shifted her attention back to her book.

Perhaps it is true that sun must set, and the night must eventually fall. Still, for however long it may be, you hope that you could stay in her periphery. For just a little while longer, if only to busk in her sunlight.

#nico robin x reader #nico robin #one piece #one piece x reader #nico robin x y/n #nico robin x you #one piece robin #x reader #talking shit

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greycaelum · 2 years

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Hello,how are u?

I've been a fan of your writing for a while now,and im really in need of some comfort

If you can,could u pls write a oneshot gojo x fem!reader where reader is also a sorcerer and one year younger than gojo and they've been friends for so long,and one day reader's mother talks about her marrying someone she doesnt like (her mother tells it from kindness) and it messes reader up to the point of panic attack and crying?and she calls satoru so he could help her calm down?

(you decide whether reader and gojo are in a secret relationship or not.)

Im in need of comfort rn and i would love to see ur writing on this matter

Kaleidoscope Series—Love Me Now, Love Me Never Chapters: {Pacify Her}

—Gojo Satoru X Sorcerer Reader

𑁍 Synopsis:

"Dear..." Your mother's voice called you, and her eyes held you in softness.

"Why didn't you ask me, first Mother?" Your heart felt as if it was made of sand collapsing as you realise the betrayal.

"Because we know this will be your reaction. You work tirelessly, barely coming home. I simply wish for someone to care for you. Someone who will look out and care for you."

"I could take care of myself." Your eyes watered. Why? Why are you deciding on my life without my opinion?

𑁍 Genre: angst to comfort, traditional arrange marriage

𑁍 WC/CW/TW: (2k)— spoilers for anime only! mentions of teen years & Hidden Inventory Arc, arrange marriage, secret relationship— use of endearments (baby and sweetheart), crying, locking self in the closet, implied panic

𑁍 A/N: Hi sweetheart, work has been keeping me, I'm sorry that this one took a while even though I tried to do it as soon as possible, I hope everything will get better soon and this one helps to comfort you. Sending you a very tight hug! —Grey,

He's obnoxious.

Gojo Satoru in his teens is a menace. One that crawls up on you every time he spots your shadow to pull your hair and poke fun at you.

You've known the man since your first year in college. Nanami often looks at you in worry and helplessness whenever Gojo Satoru comes over to tease you. Haibara looks up to him and would often join in the fun, unbeknownst of your irritation.

Good old day, you've come to treasure deep in your heart. When everything was easier. When life seems to be lighter.

You came from a fairly influential sorcerer clan. Prized for your reversed curse technique that paved your way in the jujutsu society in the less physical struggle over brutal means. But that didn't spare you from stomaching the horrendous scenes curses can inflict. Haibara was the catalyst of your life's turning point.

Everyone started falling out. You see your raven-haired senior left without a goodbye, leaving nothing but the biggest tragedy in your generation. Nanami left as well, unable to take the bullshit of the people behind the power sacrificing the lesser ones as pawns to maintain their status and influence. And Satoru...

"Are you leaving?"

On a cold night, he found you staring at the stars under the tree nearby the training grounds. A bag strapped on your back, and normal clothes you'd wear for your day off. You could see exhaustion brimming around him even though he was in the shadows.

"Everything is in shambles." You sighed, tucking your chin on your knees. "Are youleaving?" You watch him slip his hands into the pockets of his pants and look up at the sky.

You watch your senior's face, he looks so young as you trace his jaws to the softness of his cheeks, the faint glimmer in his ocean eyes from the slit of his sunglasses holds the weariness he has to suppress for so long, slipping through the night.

You have to think again that this man is just a year older than you, still, a teenager in adolescence that is forced to play soldier. Gojo Satoru has become so distant you can barely recognize the youth despite the pretty face he has.

"I can't." He answered after a long time.

And you just know the indifference of that answer. The feeling of being unable to walk away despite wanting to.

"Thought so. Guess we have a long time annoying each other, senpai." You chuckled and stood up, dusting yourself and turning in the direction of the dorm you started walking.

A force collided against your back and your ears are being rubbed until you squirm and glare at the perpetrator.

"Uh-huh? Looking forward to that brat." He just grinned and ruffled your hair.

You can't pinpoint it anymore. Was it when you covered him with your overcoat so he could just hide and swallow his exhaustion as you sit beside him, holding his hands inside his Infinity? Or was it when he started finding you every day, dragging you with him and Shoko? Or was it when he took your hand and your heart felt at peace amid the chaos?

"I'm tireddddddd~" Satoru let out a long sigh and rub his face against your back while his long arms wrapped around your waist, keeping you perched on his thighs.

"Satoru, there are people outside!" You tried squirming away, even pinching the man off of you but to no avail. He's latched unto you like a leech. It's so embarrassing to be caught like this, the only ones who knew are Ijichi, Shoko, and Principal Yaga. Other than that, you're viewed as Satoru's favorite kouhai. Unbeknownst to them, you and this menace have been going out since you were 19.

"Who cares?" He pulled down his blindfold and batted those pretty lashes. Satoru blew you a kiss and giggled at your sour expression. "How could you be so cute? Just like me." He coos at you.

You turned away huffing with your arms crossed over your chest and let yourself be cradled into your beau's arms.

"I have to go to the ancestral house later, my Mom asked me to come. Just reheat the food I left in the fridge and don't stay up late."

Satoru nodded and shifted you to the side, tucking your head underneath his chin.

"Should I pick you up?" Satoru quietly asked, even though he already knows the answer.

"No, they'll get suspicious." You bit your lip. "I'm sorry..."

It's been years and yet your relationship is kept behind the curtains. Satoru has never thought he'd be one to be kept a secret, but after your persuasions even though he badly wants to drive off the men lurking around you whenever they think you're single. Risking your safety to prove your relationship is not enough, he agreed this is for the best.

"Nothin' for you to be sorry for sweetheart." Satoru kissed the top of your head. "Just call me when you're done then I won't worry much."

Being brought up in a more dynamic and liberated childhood, growing up, you know you had it easier than other sorcerers. Your clan may not be part of the elites, but it is an established and recognized clan that is important to the jujutsu society for the special ability of reversed curse technique.

"Mother," you called the regal woman talking with your distant relative.

"Dear, we've been waiting for you. How about you changed into comfortable clothes first then look for us in the study?" She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

You did as you were told, changing into a furisode prepared for you and led down to the study. When you opened the door you found your grandmother, and mother waiting inside. Seeing the stern look on your grandmother's face you suddenly felt the pressing matter this talk is about to make. Your heart pounded and anxiousness started filling you up as you took a seat across from your mother.

"It's the time for you to get married Y/n. Do you like any man right now?"

"G-Grandmother?" You stuttered and look at the straight-faced woman in disbelief. Her eyes held nothing but seriousness. It's as if he could slice through anything with her gaze.

"You've never brought a man home, I'm afraid you'll be a spinster if I do not intervene. The son of the Chiba Clan is a proper and respectable man. He can provide for you and keep you safe." There's finality in her voice that has no room for your reason. When you look at those eyes, you see your Grandmother has already finished everything before you could speak anything about this matter. "Life is short, in this world we're moving. Don't waste that time being all alone." Your Grandmother stood up and pat your shoulder, she quietly left the study leaving you and your mother.

"Dear..." Your mother's voice called you, and her eyes held you in softness.

"Why didn't you ask me, first Mother?" Your heart felt as if it was made of sand collapsing as you realise the betrayal. You never want to be angry at her. You know she loves you and looks out for the best of your interest. But this one simply breaks your heart.

"Because we know this will be your reaction. You work tirelessly, barely coming home. I simply wish for someone to care for you. Someone who will look out and care for you."

"I could take care of myself." Your eyes watered. Why? Why are you deciding on my life without my opinion?

Your mother looks at you, and sadness clouds in her eyes. "I'm very sorry, but please try. You give yourself away too much in your work, is it so bad to wish that you have someone stay by your side?"

"No mother. But I—" Satoru's face flashed in your mind. Really, you were just scared to be used out of political means so you hid your relationship. You knew it was unfair to Satoru who loved you regardless of anything but he never asked you to go against your principles just to give in his wishes. He has always valued you more than anyone's opinion. "—I will never any man besides the one I chose."

Your tears threatening to spill. But you kept it in. And walk out of the door despite your mother's call. You ran to your room, having a hard time keeping yourself focused from the trembling of your hand.

You shut your door and ran to the closet, squeezing yourself inside the large and dark wooden wardrobe. With shaking hands, you held your phone and ran through your call logs. Every ring you feel your heart hammer against the cages of your chest, your feet getting cold despite the socks. Static ringing through your ears.

"Baby? You coming home?" Satoru's groggy voice, answered.

A sense of relief flooded you as you listen to the faint shuffling in the background. You wanted to cry, but you bit your lips so you could hear his breathing.

"Sweetheart? Somethin' wrong?"

"'T-Toru," you hiccuped, angry at yourself for sobbing hard.

"Why are you crying? Where are you?" Worry filled in his voice. "I'm coming to get you." You heard hurried footsteps and the slight panic in his voice.

"Baby? Are you there? Don't hang up alright?"

"Toru, 'T-Toru, Toru," you chanted in desperate sobs, grounding yourself in his name despite the darkness you're in.

"Yes Baby, I'm here. On my way to fetch you. Calm down alright. I'm here."

You shut your eyes close. Wishing the next second you open it Satoru is in front of you. But every second that ticks, the colder your palm gets, the harder your heart pounds, dreading the mere idea of marrying a stranger you barely know. Your throat is constricted, and your chest heaves out the intangible pain seeping into your heart.

To give up Satoru? Not a chance.

"Open up baby," the call turned off and a knock bumped your wardrobe. "We're going home, sweetheart." You could hear the panting that the person is trying hard to mellow down and calm his voice.

The door opened and Satoru squatted down. His clothes are disheveled from the hurry. Your bleary eyes locked on him and you saw his shoulders slacken, but they immediately squared up as he beckon you out of the closet.

"C'mere."

You didn't have to be told twice, crawling out and into his arms, your clutch his shirt as his arms wound around you.

"What happened? Tell me so I can understand what upset you, sweetheart." He coos to you, settling you between his propped knees while pressing a kiss on your temple.

His cool spicy scent invaded your panicking senses. The more you listen to his heart the slower your breathing gets and eventually, you're pushing yourself closer to him, throwing your arm around Satoru's neck.

"They thought I'm not in a relationship and arranged a marriage partner for me."

You felt Satoru's grip over you tighten. He didn't speak but you could feel his sour mood.

"Are you scared?" He moves you to look him in the eye. A flicker pass through his eyes, but before you could recognize it, that pained glint was gone.

"I'm upset." You replied honestly.

You know your mother never meant to hurt you. But your family is meddling in your life too much that it's not even needed. How could they decide on it before asking you when you'll be the one living that marriage?

"Who am I, baby?" Satoru cup your cheeks and pressed your foreheads together.

"You're Gojo... you're my Satoru." You whispered, warmth spreading in your chest.

"Mnn, that's right. Who would dare take you away when you have me, sweetheart?" Satoru opened his eyes and could see the steeled resolve in those ocean eyes.

—GreyCaelum

PLAGIARISM IS A CRIME

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All rights and credits of the Jujutsu Kaisen character(s) mentioned images(s) and songs(s) used, belongs to their respective owner(s)

General/Kaleidoscope Series Taglist: @ice-icebaby @aeanya @gummy-dummy @tender-rosiey

#kaleidoscope series #gojo satoru x reader #angst to comfort #gojo satoru angst #gojo satoru fluff #greycaelum #gojo satoru x y/n fluff #gojo satoru x y/n angst #gojo angst #gojo fluff #gojo satoru x you #gojo satoru x y/n #gojo x reader

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toxicroyjamie · 6 months

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Headspace is so crazy if my gf was telling all my coworkers and her ex about how clingy and annoying I was I would walk into the ocean. And he apologizes?? Like he’s in the wrong for not reading her mind??? Healthiest couple on the show 💕🫶🥰 this is the future liberals want

Unpopular opinion

I pinpoint Headspace as the exact episode that they took a left turn with Keeley's character and never recovered. I've noticed that some TV shows nowadays try so hard to avoid vilifying female characters that they just end up making their female characters one-dimensional girlbosses while their male counterparts are actually afforded the depth and complexity of real human beings. I think TL makes this mistake in a big way with Headspace and then just digs that hole deeper and deeper until the finale

Simply put, Keeley becomes uninteresting to me post-Headspace because she loses all autonomy. All the bad things that happen to her happen because another character did something bad to her (through no fault of her own, of course) and all the good things that happen to her happen because another character decided to be nice to her.

Prior to the latter half of season 2, Keeley's arc is driven by decisions she makes, for better or for worse. She chooses to leave Jamie. She gets herself a job offer from Rebecca by actively showcasing her talents in a way that the audience can clearly see, and then she takes time to consider whether she can/should accept the offer. She pursues Roy actively. She invites Jamie up for sex. She considers whether she wants to be with Roy and demands a certain level of respect from him before agreeing to date him. She sets boundaries with Jamie. We see her actively doing her job frequently - she finds the pundit job for Roy, she gets various brand deals for the boys, she has to deal with the fallout of the thing with Dubai Air, etc.

Are all of her decisions good decisions? Is she always in the right? No!!!! Which is a good thing, because real people don't always do/say the right thing!!!! But more importantly than whether she's making the right decisions, she is MAKING DECISIONS. She's advancing her own arc!!!!

After Headspace, things start happening TO Keeley rather than because of her, and that's where they lose me. She becomes a fundamentally passive character. What are Keeley's major plot points in s2e8-s3? Jamie tells her he loves her (+ Nate kisses her lol). Jack decides to pick up KJPR, not for any particular reason the audience can see. Roy leaves her. She does choose to hire Shandy, but Shandy pretty quickly becomes the advancing character in that storyline, going off the rails for reasons that have nothing to do with anything Keeley does. Jack starts courting her. Someone else leaks her nudes. Jack leaves her and stops funding KJPR. Rebecca steps in to save KJPR. Then she rejects Roy and Jamie, to show the audience that it's feminism and she ultimately has the ability and good sense to reject both of them, which I appreciate, but feels hollow given the complete lack of autonomy inherent in her s3 storyline

It's just like. Idk. I wish we could've seen even just a little of what Keeley's family and childhood were like and how they influence her behavior, or where her unhealthy coping mechanisms come from, or how she felt about the breakup beyond "sad," etc etc etc. Compare the narrative complexity of Roy, Jamie, Ted, Nate etc. to Keeley. She was completely shafted. She's like a really interesting outline of a character with nothing filled in

#ask #critical #I genuinely feel terrible saying this because I want to love Keeley so bad but they make her into such a sitcom wife #she's beautiful and kind and patient and she's never done anything wrong and she heals broken men with her loving touch #LET HER GO APESHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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canonicallyobserving911 · 7 months

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Buck & Eddie

Unpopular Opinion

It's season 7 but it appears the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and they're based on my observations and interpretations of the BTS pics, interviews and promos that have been released in advance of the upcoming episodes.

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

Eddie

It appears my favorite character Eddie Diaz is about to be sidelined yet again and he won't have a beneficial or substantive storyline 🤔🧐 all his own, possibly for the remainder of season 7. As usual, he'll be there to support Buck but is there anything else for Eddie? Can he please have a storyline that's solely about him and Chris and it not be one that's tied to giggly, creepy and smiling Marisol? He hasn't had one since season 3 and it's been four years therefore, it's time (I'm not including the shooting because the audience didn't see his recovery nor am I including his PTSD arc because it wasn't given the time it deserved and after 5x14 he wasn't shown going to therapy anymore so there's that. Furthermore, he wasn't even shown preparing to go back to the 118, he just slid down the fireman's pole in 5x18 and it wasn't revisited). Can Eddie and Chris FINALLY have an open and honest conversation about Shannon? Eddie views her through a pair of rose colored glasses because he thinks it's his fault but there were two people in their relationship so he shouldn't shoulder all the blame especially when she left and was gone for almost 2 years without a call to her son. A conversation between just the two of them is needed because Chris is older now and he read the letter she wrote in 7x1. The audience didn't see him ask Eddie any questions about it and we didn't see how he's feeling now that he knows she may not have ever returned if she hadn't died.

Eddie and Chris have the largest biological family of all the mains (not including Bobby because other than his deceased wife and two children, the audience hasn't been introduced to them... like ever) but for some reason they moved Eddie’s abuela back to El Paso even though his aunt has that big house that she lives in by herself. Also, the audience never gets to see Eddie’s sisters and with all the attention that's going to be given to Tommy in the upcoming episodes, it's likely the audience might not get to see them this time either. Eddie has a deep and interesting background but the show barely touches the surface of it. Can Eddie please be given a worthy storyline all on his own? He deserves it!

Buck

So... is the audience supposed to just forget everything that happened to Buck in season 6? Apparently, so because based on OS's multiple interviews, Buck’s not dwelling on the broken relationship with his parents (they're still $hitty, their rushed and trifiling redemption arc sucked and it was undeserved. I don't trust them but Buck does so, whatever), there hasn't been any more mentions of Connor's and Kameron's baby (Full Disclosure: I still don't believe their baby is biologically his but it's probably been forgotten or retconned like everything else including Buck’s age), does he or does he not still want to be captain? He's not in therapy and he may or may not go back but he's moved on from his death, so I guess there's no trauma resulting from it. How does he feel about his job now because... HE DIED while he was doing it in 6x10 but the audience didn't see him process it even though every other character processed their own individual traumas.

Eddie used a baseball bat to destroy his bedroom in 5x13, Maddie walked into the ocean in 5x12, Hen went to therapy after 3x8, Bobby broke his sobriety in 1x4, Athena broke down in season 5 after she killed Jeffrey and Chimney took Jee-Yun with him to find Maddie in 5x4 and they were gone for 6 months. They all went to therapy at some point but it appears Buck’s immune to the trauma he's experienced so there's that.

7x4 airs tomorrow and I'm still not excited about it. After the way 6x18 ended, I hoped things would be different but maybe my expectations were too high. I don't think so because IMO, the upcoming episodes seem to be repetitive and basically a wash, rinse, repeat of the past. Maybe it will be different... but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Will the rest of season 7 be different for Buck and Eddie or is the focus still going to be solely on Buck? Who knows except the showrunner, writers, producers, actors and actresses since they are the only ones who know the answer to that question.

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fairytale-poll · 7 months

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ROUND 1B, MATCH 1 OUT OF 8!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Lucia Nanami:

She's THE mermaid magical girl! Even though she doesn't lose her voice technically, she can't sing well in her human form out of nervousness in front of her crush. There's even an arc involving another girl who her love interest thinks saved him instead.

She has an entire show, not just a movie, and she is adorable!! Singing is a literal superpower for her - the show involves sing-off battles between the good team and the bad team, where the singing is a weapon that physically affects the other side. The manga in particular has beautiful illustrations, and there are many cute outfits! (Mostly I would just love for her to be in the poll at all, as Mermaid Melody is so fun and cute and has such a small fandom!)

Okay, so Lucia is a magical girl and one of the seven mermaid princesses, specifically the princess of the North Pacific Ocean. By transforming using her pearl, something that each mermaid princess has, she can hurt her enemies through the power of Song.

As a young girl she saved a human boy named Kaito from drowning after the shop he was on capsised due to a storm, and gave her pearl to him in order to heal him. Years later she took on legs and went on land in order to reunite with him and get her pearl back, falling in love with him soon after. However she is unable to tell him about how she's the mermaid that saved him when they were little because when a mermaid tells a human about what she is then she'll turn into bubbles

While I haven't found anything confirming that Mermaid Melody was inspired by the Little Mermaid, it would be highly surprising if it were not the case considering how she saved a human boy who ended up becoming her love interest, took on legs and went on land to find him. Not to mention the singing and the mermaids turning into bubbles thing

Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer:

best precure character since star twinkle ended. carried the tropical rouge season. her arc of trying to decide whether she belongs on land or sea is so good.

Laura's journey from disdaining humans/seeing them as a means to an end is really great! She never loses her selfish/petulant streak, but she does mature around it and start using her qualities for good. While at first only seeing her human friends as a way to make herself heir to the mermaid throne, Laura slowly comes to trust and love them... and ultimately begins yearning to be able to walk with them and join in their land-based activities (especially after briefly switching bodies with them and getting to experience humanity). In an interesting twist, Laura refuses the Witch's offer to make her a human as it would mean betraying her friends - and for this she is rewarded with her own human form from a different source. It's a really great, charming arc for the character!

The little mermaid is a constant in the season, with Laura starting completely appalled that a mermaid would sacrifice herself for a human, not to mention wanting to be one, when she first learned about the story. However, after spending more and more time with her new human friends, she herself starts wishing in secret she could be human so she could join them in more activities although she doesn't want to admit it.

When confronted about it by the Witch of Delays (the villain of the season, who is stealing motivation from people to get an eternity of delays), Laura is offered to be turned into a human in exchange of standing by and letting the witch win. Laura then accepts that she does want to be human, but she will not rely on the witch's powers and will make her dream come true herself instead.

She manages to be able to transform into a human by her own means without losing the ability to go back to her original mermaid form.

So Laura has an Entire Journey over her Little Mermaid Connotations. She starts the show not at all caring for humans or the story of The Little Mermaid. Hearing the story makes her think the story is awful and the mermaid was stupid to give up huge pieces of herself only to turn into seafoam at the end. It takes nearly half the show for Laura to connect to the story; she can only be with her friends in secret and anytime they're having fun trying new things, she's confined to her little marketable pocket dimension or following them through secluded rivers and waterways. She *gets* the mermaid now, but she knows she loves herself and doesn't want to give something of herself up for the risk of what becoming human like the other girls could mean for her. She wants this, but she doesn't want to exchange the other pieces of herself to get it. One of the other girls sees her contemplating and says she always interpreted that aspect of the story to be about how if you want something in life, you have to make some form of exchange. If you want good grades, you have less time and energy to do other things. It's about evaluating well how to get what you want and how far you really want to push yourself to get that. This does not comfort Laura much.

The villain (who is indeed a sea witch) preys on this anxiety when she captures Laura. The themes of the show revolve around being the kind of person who Simply Goes For Things. Who simply says 'Right now, this is what is important to me. And I have to go for what is important to me!' Very Phineas and Ferb levels of Summer Belongs To You energy. When she offers to give Laura everything she wants in exchange for betraying her friends, Laura does not accept this, because the reason she wants to be human is BECAUSE of her friends. She isn't sure how she'll accomplish what she wants, but she's not bartering anything of hers with anyone else to get it. BOTH the pieces of her that are a mermaid and the pieces of her that feel belonging and happiness with her friends are important, and they're important all of the time. Even if she doesn't have a solution to her satisfaction directly in front of her, she refuses to have only half of what she wants just out of a desire for instant gratification. This resolve enrages the Witch of Delays.

Laura does nearly die for her wish to be fully and completely with her friends, to be human, and it is only by the power of her love for them and her resolution to become the biggest bravest version of herself that she gains a magical girl transformation and the ability to switch between her tail and her new legs.

I adore this bright comfy spin on the story, because it essentially takes the base characterization of the mermaid as a character who is singlemindedly after a soul she does not have and the love of another which she cannot make hers, and says 'What if we put an incredibly different character into that same position of desperate yearning? What if it wasn't that she has none of what she truly wants, but that she has conflicting wants? What if it is not the complete lack of companionship that leaves her reaching for ways to be human, but the want to fully and unabashedly participate in the love and companionship she does have?' Then rewards that character for sticking to her guns and being true to herself and her friends.

Also she is so funnie and cute and prebby and I adore her and she is for sure in love with Cure Summer. Thank you hav day♡

Kagayaki Homare:

[No Propaganda Submitted]

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psychicpinenut · 6 months

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netflix atla review

i decided that i wanted to see it through anyway so i finished the netflix atla. here are the things that made me want to hurl rocks at my tv (i might not remember a lot of things because i stopped watching after ep 4 and only continued this week so this might get rambly as i try to recall things)

let me start on the cast. no offense to these kids but my god. one of the things i hate the most is when you can tell an actor is acting. the whole time you could see that they walk up to their mark, stop there and recite the lines like they're in a high school play. and i get that they're young and probably don't have too much experience but i just keep thinking about the original voice cast who were children as well at the time of recording and they're some of the most talented actors i've ever heard. but then again i know they had to not only find people who resemble the characters but can do martial arts and act. so whatever, i hope they'll grow more during this. the only actor i liked was dallas liu who is the oldest of the main cast (i believe he was around 20 when they filmed this) which is probably why he doesn't have a chronic case of child acting.

constantly making up and/or changing lore:

why can aang only speak to past avatars in their shrines?

roku is sidelined in favor of kyoshi (who for some reason is extremely aggressive towards him) who can see into the future apparently because she gave aang a vision of the northern water tribe being destroyed instead of sozin's comet coming.

aang somehow being "lost" to the ocean spirit at the end which is ???

sokka and katara can enter the spirit world with aang

koh keeping his victims like some fucking spider and only gives them back after aang gave some stupid totem back. they also brought him so forward that he doesn't tell aang about tui and la which was the entire fucking point of looking him up in the first place

yue is a fox? in the spirit world?

wan shi tong is there also in the spirit world

i'm guessing they're already abandoning the ancient library storyline because they already intoduced wan shi tong and zhao was shown that he found out about tui and la from the fire sages in roku's temple. which is going to be interesting because that's where sokka finds out about the solar eclipse but i guess they'll come up with some other solution like toph can sense the moon moving through her feet or some shit

tui and la becoming mortals for only one night?

zuko having extensive research on the avatars should mean he knows that roku is his great grandfather but we're either leaving that one out or he's just not good at research

they took out sokka's sexism, thus eliminating any chance of character development, in favor of putting in actual sexism perpetrated by the show itself. suki is made into this small town girl, rapunzel type of character who needs sokka, the man, to bring the world to her and expand her mind. and then instead of sokka being grateful to suki for teaching him, she's the one that's thankful for ... going there? and bringing the world to her? because strong women mean they can punch right?

constant references to book 2 in the first season

they made so that aang didn't actually run away from his responsibility as the avatar - which is a pretty important part of his arc as that guilt follows him through the entire series - but that he only took a little trip to clear his head. which makes everyone accusing him of disappearing seem dumb and unfair

which leads me to bumi. why the fuck would bumi be so pissed at him? the whole episode he's antagonizing him and yelling at him to go do his job as the avatar meanwhile he's holding him hostage and making him do his challenges. like let him go so he can do his job maybe?? stupid

the entire ep 3-4. they really just shoved like 5 episodes together into one which i get because they don't have time to do everything but they did it so badly and the messages from each episode disappeared in favor of the CGI fight scenes.

like what do you mean sokka barely even got to interact with jet? that's the episode where sokka is proven to have good instincts and leadership because he saw jet for what he was.

why are teo and his dad here? what about aang's massive grief over the industrialization of his wiped out culture?

why would jet try to kill bumi? they completely obliterated the moral dilemma of jet wiping out a fire nation village because he sees that as justified even though he's killing civilians who happen to be fire nation.

for some reason they had sokka and katara go through the secret tunnel which is kind of fucking weird. i don't mind if they cut the kaang romance line but it is going to be interesting once it comes to the earthly attachments and some plotlines that revolve around aang having a major crush on katara. also what do you mean the badger moles sense "emotions"? toph is about to sense people's emotions in her feet and learn bending that way

they mary sue'd katara. she's bad at waterbending until she isn't and suddenly she's a master just from self taught basic waterbending she learned from the scroll gran gran gave her?? which is another thing they robbed us of because katara going to great lengths to steal the scroll shows how determined she is and desperate to learn waterbending but here she just gets handed the scroll. she's timid and lukewarm the entire season, the only time i can recall her even raising her voice is when she's arguing with sokka over jet. she gets mad at pakku for not letting her fight which is stupid because girl who is gonna stop you? go and fight?? you should be getting mad at pakku for not even trying to teach you waterbending. then she brings the entire untrained female population to the fight because girl power™. despite all of this, she's proclaimed a master without any actual training and beats zuko's ass purely because she's So Good. like at this point she shouldn't be able to hold her own against zuko without the full moon's help because as soon as the sun comes up zuko easily overpowers her ("you rise with the moon i rise with the sun"). which didn't happen here because she's a self proclaimed master now apparently

aang didn't bend a single waterdrop the entire season. it's book 1: water. it's called water. where's the bending aang? too busy doing another stupid walk and talk

stripped of iroh telling zuko he thinks of him as his son

stripped of one of the rawest lines i've ever heard on television: "my father says she was born lucky, he says i was lucky to be born"

which leads me into azula's character. they brought her in earlier just so her role in the whole season can be her groveling at ozai's feet, seeking his approval, trying to outdo zuko. which is insane cause she already outdoes zuko by a mile. she's a prodigy. they make it look like ozai favors zuko over azula which is so fucking insaaaane it made me so mad. she already knows she's better than zuko, she doesn't need her father's approval. also why isn't her fire blue.

iroh being the one who kills zhao. this one pissed me off so badly because in the original, as the ocean spirit takes hold of him zuko reaches out to zhao to try to save him.... that man tried to have him KILLED. and zuko still tried to save him. but zhao's arrogance didn't let him take his hand and that was his demise. that single act tells us so much about zuko and they just??? took that out??? so iroh can just murder him?? instead of it being the ocean spirit's revenge for killing its partner? instead of giving us that glimpse into who zuko is as a person? i'm going insane

don't even mention the fact that zuko fought back against ozai during the agni kai. he was literally banished because he refused to fight him. he got the scar because he refused to fight him. that's who zuko is!!!! and then they show us that he, a 13 year old boy who is still fairly inexperienced at bending, could have defeated ozai but he chose not to?? i'm sorry???

during the meeting where he spoke out against their plan, they made it look like he only spoke up because the general taunted him and not because he thought what they wanted to do was morally wrong.

now tell me which line hits harder: "compassion is a sign of weakness" or "you will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher". yeah...

yue bringing sokka to the spirit oasis to heal momo?? it was so fucking stupid and unserious that they were cradling a cgi lemur that i was in tears of pain. i almost gave up there

sokka constantly talking about wanting to be a better warrior and bossing katara around but doing absolutely fuck all to prove himself was insane. sokka was just standing around the whole season making bad jokes (cause wow they made sokka unfunny somehow) and flirting with women.

there was no goofiness or lightheartedness to aang. he took everything so fucking seriously it actually hurt to watch because they blew things out of proportion that didn't need to be. why was he so afraid of his normal bending power? not even his avatar state power but just his airbending. constantly angsting over his responsibility and how he's failing as the avatar. jesus fucking christ.

since zuko never stole katara's necklace, june had to use some fuckin random fabric she found on one of the trees that could've belonged to anybody??

zuko was able to capture aang after june found him instead of getting his ass whooped and paralysed so when zhao basically forces him to hand aang over to him, it's easier to guess who the blue spirit is as zuko makes a whole scene about it earlier

truly the one thing i really liked was the addition that the 41st division was the crew he protected at the war meeting

circling back to the first episode where we start out in the past and we get to see the whole genocide of the air nomads instead of finding out along with aang. we also get to see how he ends up in the iceberg so we don't get his story paralleled with zuko's backstory like in the storm. i mean whatever but the aang and zuko parallels were always dear to me.

hated zhao's actor. instead of him being intimidating and scary, he was acting like a frat boy and talked like tom cruise's character in magnolia. just simply annoying

jet telling katara to just stop being sad about her mom and she stops being sad and suddenly she can bend again. and later when he tells her she can bend because he helped her, she straight up denies it because it was "all her" like i gotta disagree there cause no, it was definitely him who helped you.

icing on the cake was when zuko walks into a bar and the patrons there reference like 4 storylines that they skipped over

so anyway... that's all i could think of at the top of my head and i hope they fuck up less in the upcoming seasons god willing

#long post #pine rambles #natla critical

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genma-support-group · 4 months

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Fathers of the GAR!

Rated: G For General Audience

Summary: Just clones with their kids!

Clones involved: Captain Keeli, Trooper Dogma, Captain Howzer, Trooper Hardcase, Commando Niner, and Medic Kix

Clone Captain Keeli Father of Two!

The first child was difficult for Keeli, he was fresh out of training with the ARCs and months before hand, he met and fallen in love with a woman whom he married on their second date. Following the news of her pregnancy. But by the time the second came along he had good idea on balancing being a soldier, husband, and now father to two daughters.

Unlike the others on this list, he is quite comfortable with himself and often carries his toddler(s) by back of their onesies. As they kick and giggle in the air as he carries them either to the shared bed or to the couch.

But when it came his deployment (the one he never came back from), he often told of his children to his General. Who only smiled at the clone's happiness, and often asked the Twi'Lek for advice as the leader also had a daughter much older than his own.

Clone Trooper Dogma The Unsure Father of One!

Unlike the rest on this list, Dogma wasn't the one that wanted it. Went as far as avoiding the woman all together until he saw the hologram pictures of their growing child. Maybe it was the part of him that believed he couldn't be a good parent or maybe it was the part of him that knew the rules, and he broke them in that lust fueled night of passion, who really knows...

It took him some time to adjust to his son, who looked just like him, or any clone for that matter. The only other person that knew outside of him was Tup and he was lost for words.

He was a distant parent, uncomfortable with his son, and often gave his son back to his partner. Who only shook their head in disapproval. But she knew better than to give up on him, and in the coming months Dogma and his son bonded over the book of regulations.

Clone Captain Howzer The Lucky Father of Twins!

Howzer took the news with a bright smile, it wasn't often that he got amazing news. Not after what happened to his fellow Captain on his same planet. But over the months, the clones and Twi'Leks alike begun to ask questions of who the father was, and when the twins were born it didn't take long for the rumors to come true.

He named his son after his fellow Captain, a nod to the man he had trained with and admired for starting a family. While his partner named their daughter.

The small family unit would be separated following the end of the Clone Wars, and into the birth of the Empire. Of course, he stayed in contacted with his toddlers and love.

Clone Trooper Hardcase The Father of One!

When Hardcase found out that his partner was pregnant, he was over the moon, through the stars, and landed in the ocean of happiness. When he wasn't busy with soldier duties or short burst deployments, he was by their side through it all. Sadly though, he missed his son's birth, but he made it up with gifts for their child.

His partner often wonders how a toddler and a grown man could get into so much mischief when alone together.

It was their son's first birthday when he was preparing to leave for a deployment (his last). And though his time was limited with them, he gave each one a kiss and their son giggled though when Fives came around. It didn't didn't take along for Hardcase's partner to figure it out...

Clone Commando Niner The Father of One!

Niner was indifferent at first, much like Dogma he avoided the situation until he couldn't. His feelings were mixed, as 'how can I be a father when I never had one,' often came to mind for him. But when his son was born, he did everything he could to be there.

He was nervous at first, caring for something so small and so weak made him a little uncomfortable but with the help of his brothers and those apart of the Skirata clan. The first six months were a "cake walk"

Following order 66, Niner's family was safely brought to the land in which the Skirata's had, and the child was raised as a Mandalorian

Clone Medic Kix The Nervous Father of One!

Kix, being in the medical field. Was always up to date on anything about his unborn child. Even when he was away on deployment, he had made sure--if he wasn't on the battlefield--to be there for the ultrasounds and be there for the hologram birth of his son.

It didn't take long for him to become nervous for the baby. The slightest cough or a slight change of color to his son's face, it was off to the doctors. His only child wasn't going to get sick on his watch!

But after about a year, he asked for another and of course he aimed for a daughter.

I want to say thank you for reading and sticking around towards the end! Much love!

#captain keeli #Clone commando niner #clone medic kix #clone trooper hardcase #clone captain howzer #clone trooper dogma #babies #headcanon #star wars #the clone wars #fluff

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softcarebears · 1 month

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pookie the pinkie saga has now become the bbsf saga w/ so many twists and turns that it will take me a year to tell u what’s gone down in like a month

me and pinkie had a massive fight that lasted 3 hours, i regret nothing that i said

me and bbsf get sat next to each other in AVID, claims he doesn’t fully know abt the fight and that pinkie only sent him a small screen shot + teacher and students r convinced we’re dating

first 2 days of school go by, i’m hanging out w/ only older kids

cow girl was gone for the first 2 days and orientation, we have 2 classes together and she’s the only one currently unaware of the fight so me, pinkie and the one w/o a name show her around

cowgirl wants me to hangout w/ them at lunch, i do, we’re all friends again, pinkie admits she was wrong

bbsf asks if i wanna hang out w/ him at lunch, w/o everyone else, i agree

a little school mixer happens, only bbsf goes, meets this girl that imma call flor

flor switches into mine and bbsf’s avid, makes seating switch, separating me from bbsf and all of my other friends

bbsf tells me that flor has a crush on him, but he doesn’t like her

bbsf tells pinkie that he DOES like her

next morning, walking into class bbsf says that i just completely ignored the “really bad fight she had w/ us and she’s now following me around at lunch. i even have ss to prove it” to flor, everyone in the group confirms that he was lying, he also lies abt how close we r to flor

i find out that an older boy (cross) likes me, tells group

football game happens, i was w/ mine and cross’ friends, bbsf and no name r in band so when me and pinkie finally meet up, we can’t talk to them

3 hours after the football game ends (and after i told bbsf abt cross) bbsf says that flor set him up on a date (deja) for monday, at lunch, when me and bbsf r meant to hang out

2 weeks pass and bbsf keeps blowing us off for deja, me and cross start seriously talking

pinkie finally tells bbsf that she had/has a crush on him, bbsf freaks out and tells me, i tell him that smiley told me months ago

on the bus ride to school, a half asleep bbsf also tells cowgirl, who, once again, is the only one outta loop

pinkie finds out, freaks, pushes bbsf to the ground, won’t let him talk to her

my birthday, me and bbsf both skip school cuz he has doctors and y’know it’s my bday

bbsf doesn’t make a bday announcement for me on snap like he used to, despite making one for s (if u remember him) knowing that we share a bday, cross does make an announcement tho

yesterday, pinkie and bbsf still rnt talking and r using me as a through line, will only talk when i’m present

me and bbsf talk abt my bday (going shopping on mnst), i push it back bc bbsf hasn’t been able to make it to my last 5 bday events and wants to finally go

me and cross find out that neither of us really like each other and that it was our friends that set us up, we stay friends

i find out that at least 5 diff guys r planning on asking me to hoco, most being older

i talk to bbsf abt what time he wants to go to mnst w/ me and my friend, he tells me he can’t anymore

bbsf tells pinkie that the reason he can’t go anymore is cuz he’s taking deja to mnst at the same exact time

THAT ASK BE LOOKING LIKE MY GENERAL PAPER HOMEWORK

😭💀

YOU AND PINKIE FOUGHT??DAMN SPEAK YO SHIT QUEEN

EVEN THE TEACHERS THINK LIKE DATING DAWG...DAMN...😭see i told you y'all got that chemistry and that brosker likes you😜BUT U DON'T FUCKING LISTEN.

PINKIE REDEMPTION ARC...i know damn well its not gonna last long😔

i love cowgirl😜unbothered queen

who tf is flor...why did she randomly spawn out of the blue...WE'RE ON THE THIRD SEASON OF THIS SHOW AND SHE DECIDES TO COME AND STIR UP SHIT AND WHY DID SHE RANDOMLY CHANGE YOUR FUCKASS SEATS...WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS...

boy bestfriend...i will swim both the indian and pacific ocean right now...gee pee ess your house...i know your name (i actually forgot his name but shhh)sneak into yo house...put rat poison in your food...let you foam at the mouth unconscious...when you unconscious...ill tie you up and put u in the trunk of a stolen car...ride until we arrive at the niagara falls...ill kick his ass a little for the shits and giggles...then kick him into the water...hehe byebye...bro reminded me of wagyu...SO CONTRADICTORY.

why is bro's codename cross...😭 and why does no name not have a name...AND WHO OR WHAT IS DEJA??!

hmm...why did he bring up flor...AFTER U BROUGHT UP CROSS...kinda ew of him to just cancel your already made plan like that...AND BLOW YALL OFF...ITS GIVING WAGYU!!

OHH UPDATE: BTW WAGYU AND CHINGCHING BESTIE'S EX "RAT"ARE NO LONGER FRIENDS ANYMORE...IDK WHAT HAPPENED...they got beef ...and they were in a friend group with 2 other girls..one lets call "leo"and the other "aura"...yea he never said to my bestie "e"what happened but apparently he says that "leo" is a bitch and that he will only stay friends with aura because she's the only nice one...

AND GUESS WHAT FEW DAYS AFTER WAGYU LIKES EVERY POST ON CHINGCHING BESTIE'S INSTA ACC...chingchingbestie was shook...chingchingbestie boyfriend "ggg" tells her to not reconcile if he tries to apologise and told her if she does forgive him after the shit he has done its over for them😭..."ggg"then blocked wagyu on chingchingbestie's behalf. Also LAST TERM WAGYU AND CCBESTIE KINDA HAD AN " I TOLERATE YOU ERA" and wag was kinda talking to her lots and was coming to me to talk to (vv small talk btw that was in mid term season)...now he does not talk to me at all though kinda sad he no longer kinda acknowledges me...BUT I BARELY ACKNOWLEDGE HIM EITHER ONLY "E" KINDA DOES 😭kinda idk...i reached the point of not caring too much about him though... idk if im supposed to acknowledge him or not...my point is i think after he got blocked he realised ccbestie aint gon forgive him and realised that he chose someone he barely knew and was hypocritical about over true friends he has known for years and actually lost them because he betrayed one of them just because they said a truth that he cannot accept and take into account to change his attitude...

TODAY HE DID LOOK AT ME LOTS IN RELIGION CLASS i was sideeyeing to see yknow (only class we share tgt) boi was right behind us and he was the one assigned for prayers today but he was alone (the girl he was paired with was absent) but we needed someone to read the bible so my bestie "vale" went to read it😜also he was standing bro looked in my direction for a while😭also brosker still stares at me,ccbestie and e in the assembly still not slick.also tmrw ITS THE LAST DAY FOR THE SENIORS😔my childhood bestie is a senior...so next year i will be alone and have no company during the afternoon bus rides and on the bus stations... i will miss my other og senior friend group which is mostly seniors which consist of "cora",childhood bestie "lexie" of legit 15 yrs and "kelly"😔"nor" is in my grade and class now since she was a repeater last year but yea...it will only be me and nor next year (ofc if everyone pass their HSC exams and don't repeat..)😔

OH DEJA IS ANOTHER PERSON SO FLOR IS A MATCHMAKER..OHH

pinkie is a mess damn...why throw him on the ground like that..foul

NO BDAY ANNOUNCEMENT WHY...OMG.😔thats so rude...who tf is s😭(short term memory)😭

5 GUYS...OMG FIVE GUYS...

(i had to im sorry.)

WHATTTTT HE' S TAKING THE DEJA GIRL AT THE SAME TIME. WHAT THE FUCK WHEN HE WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE YOU.EWW ALSO WHY THE SAME DAY, TIME AND PLACE HUH. ITS GIVING "DO YOU GET DEJA VU WHEN SHE'S WITH YOUUU!"...why couldn't he just clear another day for the deja girl and the fact that he literally invalidated how you felt and also all the planning yall did and shit and he already did not spend time with you on your bday so that makes it worse.

girl...that deja girl is replacing u i fear...pookie are u okay...😔.

I HOPE THEIR DATE GETS RUINED.

#ask box #peachie asks🍑#asks #personal folder⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡

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magic-is-something-we-create · 5 months

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Writing Share Tag!

Thanks for the tag, @illarian-rambling!!!

In return, I'll tag @vacantgodling, @sleepyowlwrites, @mk-writes-stuff, @indecentpause, and @kaylinalexanderbooks. As always, absolutely 0 pressure to play, and if you'd like to join in, this doubles as an open tag!

Rules: Just share some writing!

here's one of my favorite bits from Goddess-Touched so far <3 Dusk POV <3

There’s a moment of quiet, as I feel the Priestess’ scrutiny rove over me. Within that quiet, with my hood down and my mind exposed to the surface thoughts of everyone in the room, I feel the moment where she recognizes me, and finally fits Ember’s comatose, scarred, changed form on the bed to her memories of their devotions from years past.

And I feel her relax.

“Very well.” She rises from her seat on the edge of Ember’s bed, donning her gloves once again before offering me her hand. “There is no shame in pulling back if it becomes too much.”

I give her a weak smile of acknowledgment, hoping it doesn’t come to that. If I fail another sibling in their moment of need, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to feel like a person again.

I ease myself to the edge of the cot. Take off a glove, flex my fingers. Prepare myself for the sensation of skin on skin, despite the shudder that runs through me at the thought.

And then I press my first two fingers to Ember’s temple and concentrate.

The world blinks away. I find myself not in the Umbra, not in the cot, but somewhere I would not be able to recognize if its meaning did not immediately project itself into my mind as sharply as it does Ember’s.

Pressure encases me. Relentless, unyielding. My feet drag in silt, the darkness around impenetrable but for the distant, faint lights winking in and out in pulses of red. Even here, in this realm of dream and thought, the instinct to breathe overwhelms me just long enough for a mouthful of water to rush into my lungs, salt scoring my throat when I swallow involuntarily.

The depths of the ocean seem utterly empty, for a moment. But when I focus, forcing myself to remember how I see through darkness in the material world, I find a set of dragging footprints leading into the distance.

Their path is lined with bones. Great, arcing ribs that grow so thin at the tips that they become nearly translucent, like those of a fish. They reach upward, scarred, snapped, and eaten-through in places, all manner of creatures I’ve never laid eyes upon feasting on the remains.

I force myself to stop staring, despite the curiosity they spark. I can learn about the deep sea later, when Ember’s lucid and Aree has recovered enough to stand on its own again.

I start to follow the footprints. More of the little red lights in the distance disappear with each step I take, until at some point, I realize that they haven’t burnt out or scattered.

They’ve been blocked.

Blocked, by something massive.

It’s a few more minutes of walking later, when the ribs have finally started to shorten, if only by an inch at a time, that I finally reach the enormous something that blocks my path. It’s a dull wall of some matte substance or another, on first inspection, undulating just subtly enough and at a long enough interval that it takes me a while to realize it’s moved at all.

When I reach out and touch it, the pressure of the water disappears. It’s as much a shock to my system as the memory of cobblestones bashing against my head, of steel-toed boots slamming into my chest, of Star’s hands shoving me out of the way when the baton fell--but this time, instead of paralyzing fear, I feel myself swell with rage.

The sea floor is gone, replaced with a vast expanse of nothingness. At the very fringes of my magical periphery, concern begins worming its way in through the cracks of my own focus, glimpses of myself doused in shadow from other people’s eyes invading my concentration.

I grimace, baring my teeth, shunting the thoughts and images from my mind. Ember. I need to find Ember.

Out of the expansive nothingness comes a hiss that jolts almost like a laugh, and I’m suddenly swept upwards in the palm of something huge beyond comprehension. Something to which I am but an ant, something that brings me up and up and up, until I am brought before one mountainous, beady eye.

“You,” it whispers, the reverberations of its voice almost knocking me to my knees, “have no power here.”

The anger in me flares, bolstered by the condescension in its voice. Bolstered by Xavi’s skepticism before we left, by Tieling’s dismissal of my skill, by the townspeople’s distrust and disgust.

Bolstered by my own failure to save Star, too. How much stronger the Flex made me, too late to do anything to stop the inevitable.

And how much everyone underestimates me, just because I am young.

“Let them go.”

The thing holding me, keeping me away from Ember, chuckles that awful, slithering laugh again.

That laugh grates away the last shreds of my restraint.

“I said,” I growl, as flickers of the scene from the eyes of those around me peek in again. Bared teeth, snarling, the black pools of my eyes glaring not at Ember, but away along the chain in the Umbra.

“Let.”

Something snaps.

“Them.”

The eye before me widens.

“Go.”

And the darkness of the void surrounding us welcomes me as I plunge my mind into it, instead of this mocking thing’s conception of me. I feel myself expand, warping as the thing shrinks in my view, hissing and spitting as I grab at it’s other hand, clenched around a flickering flame.

The thing that was once so huge, so vast, so insurmountable, shrieks in fear as I grip its wrist and squeeze, black claws digging into its skin and staining the veins beneath. With its shrieks, the fire in its fist burns brighter, hotter, and finally, finally, I feel Ember somewhere within.

Bug? What are you doing?

Protecting you, for once.

My body--my real, corporeal body, sitting on the edge of their cot--shudders as a shockwave of shadow bursts outward from my core. An infinitely more vast pulse rocks through the mindscape we stand in, and the thing that was clutching onto Ember, locking them away, evaporates into a plume of dust with a shriek that I hear even in the material world.

And then fire overtakes me, and I’m shunted out of Ember’s mind.

I come to with a jolt, yanking my hand away from their forehead as they gasp awake. Almost as soon as the breath enters their lungs, they start coughing, hard and long, curling upright like their very breath is yanking them up with a fist around their neck.

I manage to get up, to stand, to back away, just before their coughing coalesces into vomit that smells like brine.

Autumn rushes to take my place, rubbing at Ember’s back as Gab takes up a perch on the other end of the bed, cooing wordless comforts as he takes their hand in his. While they continue to expel saltwater in great hacks and heaves, Tieling catches my eye from across the room, gratitude and trepidation tangled in his gaze.

Finally, as their coughing subsides, Ember looks up at me with reddened eyes from behind the locs that have escaped their tie.

“What--” Their scratchy, hoarse voice catches on a final cough. “What did you do?”

Somewhere in the distance, there is a screech of rage in the night.

#snip #goddess-touched #the millennium saga #millennium saga spoilers #tag game

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ilikereadingactually · 3 months

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Rakesfall

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera

i'm honestly not sure where to begin with this book, except that i really liked it, and also i had a glitch in the NetGalley app halfway through and thought it had disappeared, so i read two other books in between. the many layers of this story would have fallen together a little easier for me if i had read the whole thing consecutively, so i'm looking forward to an enlightening reread at some point! but i also think, as Molly Templeton pointed out in this great column, that i can't possibly understand everything happening in this book, and i'm not meant to. i don't have the necessary cultural context about Sri Lanka, but i can ride along and thoroughly enjoy myself, and i can learn!

i really dig a lot of what i do understand that's going on in this book though; the layered, looping structure is really exciting, and the way Chandrasekera weaves speculative elements into so many different settings—iterations of the past and the future and the even farther future—is unique each time, with some connecting elements that carry you through from one story to the next. and there's so much incredibly striking imagery, visuals that are going to stay with me for a long time. my reading experience of this book was weirdly drawn out through my own ineptitude with the app, but i would keep reading about Annelid and Leveret through so many more of their strange lifetimes.

the deets

how i read it: as i said, i had a weird experience of this one in the NetGalley app, but as always i'm delighted to have the access.

try this if you: love to float on a book like floating on the ocean and maybe go down rabbit holes afterward, dig reincarnation stories, or are into things that span huge swaths of time and wander all over the speculative genres!

some bits i really liked: i have so many more screenshots than i could possibly include here but this is a selection of things that made me gasp

We know another year has passed when the new year birds hoot in the background. Leveret and Annelid will grow older, too. This is that kind of show. There are only two kinds of show: the kind where people grow older and the kind where they don't. We, the fandom, love the first kind best. We love this show so much.

___

I am reborn, but not in a womb; I pass into this life midstride, walking on the street. I stumble, trip over myself, nearly faceplant. I am in media res, trying to swallow what for a moment seemed to choke in my throat. Is that true, or had I forgotten myself until this moment?

___

I voted for him myself, in the parliamentary election earlier this month where sixty people died. I voted for peace, even though peace seems like the kind of science fiction that posits a future utopia, sleek and bald and rational, without satisfactory explanation of how we get to there from here, this convoluted, bloody, tainted here, except by appealing to our better natures at critical moments, a long arc bending toward justice. It seems like science fiction, wrapped in a pulp cover.

___

Be anything other than a man, I tell my younger self now through the akashic record; be a mother of witches. My parents didn't want the devil in me out. She was already almost out; that was the problem. No, they wanted her sealed, stitched in tight. My unhealing wound.

___

I love, the Rake whispers like thunder, rattling her bones. I forgive. Embi stares at them. "You...forgive. I've left you trapped in a foreign poetic regime for ten thousand years. It should have been otherwise." There is no other wisdom, the Rake says. "You don't have to protect me," Embi says. "If protecting the world means that I need to be sacrificed, I'm ready. It took me a while to get ready, but I'm ready." You are the world, the Rake says. There is no difference.

___

The difference is that stories have endings, and histories understand that nothing ever ends. The difference is that stories are made and histories are told.

___

You and I are a we right here and now, whether we like it or not.

pub date: June 18, 2024! Go read it!

#books and reading #booklr #bookblr #book recs #book reviews #south asian sff #rakesfall #vajra chandrasekera

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dislyteshack · 6 months

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Rambling

Originally I did not know what to do with my Odysseus esper but after listening to some epic the musical songs I have some really cool ideas

Basically like he hasn't technically seen his family in 10 years but that's only because he was in the union all this time but then

Starting from 2027 he's like unironically missing

And also for context I have his son as an esper of Patroclus

Tldr

Achilles esper event: Adrian helping his boyfriend track down his dad

Also I like to think that they end up metaphorically encountering some events that are inspired by obstacles in The Odyssey

It's going to be very very very very loosely based

I am including certain espers with patrons like Scylla calypso and what not and they are going to be a few new OCS

Some of them non esper but representing Odyssey characters

Some of them existing espers who might not be in the same mythology but they do serve a purpose

Oh epic the musical we're really in for it now

I know technically it means the event technically focuses more on relationships other than Adrian himself but like he's kind of like the glue starting it and moving stuff forward

And there is in fact a personal character arc for him in there

I'm going to be putting a bunch of four stars in this event

I imagine some of the events happened to Peter and it would be Adrian and Orion walking in on the aftermath

While some of the loose events would happen to the boys directly

It's probably going to be like an odyssey Saga where the characters kind of move back and forth between the worlds but it's held together by the story

So there's going to be an event for

Adrian (Achilles)

Orion (Patroclus)

And Peter (Odysseus) to tie it all together

Although I am a little torn as to whether I should put Orion first or Adrian

Because technically you can count them as both protagonists because they're the ones following the trail that was left behind by peter

Peter can also be counted as a protagonist but I'm having parts of his perspective obscured until his event

Supporting characters include dahlia, Meredith, a little cameo from leora or David maybe

I was almost thinking about Arcana making an appearance but no one will probably need to give me propaganda for that dude to make me consider

Biodina has a partial role that shares loose similarities to Poseidon's actions but it's more impersonal

If anything she would be acting on behalf of a client or someone who had accompanied Peter on his personal project that caused him to disappear but then they disappeared too

I think you can tell I have kind of been listening to epic the musical because this is why I have so many thoughts on this

I Def am planning on Peter having certain espers as temporary traveling companions

For the prophet who ends up giving the prophecy on one hand I could take a certain canon character who is already predisposed to seeing the future but on the other hand it would not be wrong for me to make an entire OC

But also dont I want to go through the effort?

Because they effectively share the same purpose of saying a prophecy

And also I think the problem I have the most is that like I already have arcs planned out for Orion + peter

It's mostly me figuring out stuff for Adrian

All right I did figure out a reason for the disappearance

Basically I kind of engineered my own ocean monument where I imagine there's like a bunch of Raya shit in there and then initially Peter owed a favor to someone and they decided to cash in on that favor so that he investigates the archeology site for him but then after that stuff starts going wrong when he decides to turn around and go home after they got everything

#dislyte #dislyte original character #dislyte writing #dislyte oc #writing #pls give thoughts i would love some help

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randomfoggytiger · 11 months

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X-Files Collector’s Edition: Curated melforbes

Ahhh, the beautifully atmospheric works of @melforbes. When I think of this writer's work, scent comes to my mind, first-- the clear, cold salt of a spring beach, the buzzed and antiseptic smell of the hospital, the bubbling richness of home-cooked meals, the fear-sweat of anticipation and domestic secrets-- followed swiftly by the innumerable fics about Mulder and Scully living something approaching a normal life. What's not to love?

Loose chronological order below~

@melforbes/@claup/everydaymsr (Ao3, WBM)

Christmas: A Symphony of Four Years

S1: ""I got you something,” he said as she donned her coat in the basement-office, as she wondered just how much snow was falling outside.""

Snow, Late February

Cancer Arc: ""Though he’d originally offered to sit with her during her chemotherapy, she’d deflected and asked him to drive her home instead; while she sat in that dreadful ward with all the other dreadful people undergoing the same dreadful treatment as she, she didn’t want him to see her lurch with nausea, didn’t want him to watch as she kept her eyes downcast and away from the women who were far deeper into treatment than she was. Then again, were any of these people worse off than she was?""

seaglass blue

Cancer Arc, AU: ""As they leave the church, their hands clasped in a bashful and half-hidden way, aimlessly thanking the overheard congratulations as they walk down the front steps, he asks her, So where to now? And she’s quiet as she slows her pace, and she brings their clasped hands behind themselves, as if hiding from herself, as if almost embarrassed, but when he looks into her eyes, he understands the embarrassment, the strange vulnerability of really caring about something, about someone. She looks at him wide-eyed and grows tense because she knows that he will give her whatever she asks for....

She doesn’t know where he’ll sleep tonight. They’ve kissed exactly once, and in a church no less. She could ask him to take her to the moon, and unfortunately, he would say, Well, I know a guy who….

“The ocean,” she manages, the parish behind her echoing with sentiments that don’t make any sense. This is the most chaste wedding they’ve ever seen, she thinks, then feels as if the exact opposite of that statement is true. “I’d like to go to the ocean.""

anesis

Post Redux II: ""the room was dark as she pulled “new skin for the old ceremony” off of the shelf, and in the kitchen, there was a plate of warm cookies waiting for them, maggie’s little way of convincing mulder that he was welcome here even if bill was still in town, still celebrating his sister’s miraculous recovery, and still questioning how exactly she could have been saved. with the sky turning to an evening red, she took the record out of the sleeve, her hands as graceful and steady as a surgeon’s, and when she brought it onto the aging record player, she seemed practiced in her motions until she set the needle down midway through the first song, skipping the introduction altogether.""

Oponthoud

S5?""He couldn't read the little guidebook to the Van Gogh museum because it was all in Dutch, so he followed her aimlessly through the exhibits. A museum of the world, not just of the country, he knew this was, but unfortunately, the art was wasted on him. Though she fit in here, a well-dressed woman in black pants and a cowl-neck sweater that made her look, in his opinion, like a casual supermodel, he was an outcast, a guy with holes in his coat who was tugged around by the prettiest girl in the room.""

Anonymous said: cold, ocean, phonebook

Drive: ""As dusk settled over the Californian sea beyond her, she flipped through a phonebook, thought of keywords for what she wanted: milkshakes, family-owned, titled as Chuck’s Place or Beverly’s Diner or even The Greasy Spoon. Biting her lip in concentration, she counted the waves beyond her little payphone, measured time with them as she looked over all of the listed restaurants from here to San Francisco. Loleta was an odd combination of seaside and rustic, rich and unpopulated; if she wanted a diner, she would have to drive, and after that day, she didn’t want to be stuck behind a wheel any longer than was absolutely necessary.""

in the woods

S7: ""he sets a steaming mug on the coffee-table beside her, the scent of hot chocolate curling her lips up. last night, he made them rib-eyes with spinach and mashed potatoes, used that ridiculously expensive grass-fed butter and everything; she picks up the mug, takes a creamy sip, and decides that she can summarize this weekend with the word rich.""

DC Cherry Blossoms

S7: ""it was late april in 1999 when padgett - or, rather, whoever was involved with padgett - tried to steal her heart, and as he remembers finding her covered in blood on the floor of his apartment, his heart speeds up anxiously; that night, she asked him to take her home, asked him to walk her up to her apartment, asked if he wouldn’t mind spending the night, so of course, he spent the night.... by six in the morning, she finally spoke.

“mulder?” he could remember her saying, his surname breaking the heavy silence in her home.

he hummed a response, faced her in bed.

“when do the botanical gardens open?""

What happens when mulder tries to wake Scully up? Or vice versa

S7: ""the last time one of these mornings occurred, she left the house in a pajama top by accident and had to drive back to change. after living with her for years, he’s developed a way to cope with mornings like this, so he stands up, sets her tea down on their bureau, and comes back over to the bed.

“scully, you need to get up,” he says with just a hint of glee; this is his last warning.""

Hesitation

S9, AU: ""though he wants to call out in search of her, he stays quiet, leaves the paper on the kitchen table, heads upstairs to see if will’s asleep. along the upstairs hallway, she hung pictures of him and his sister together along with her family’s various christmas cards of yore; though he thought looking at photographs of the dead would bring a darkness he disliked into their home, he pauses at the pictures, smiles softly at how bright samantha’s eyes had been.""

Unnamed

S9, AU: ""Softly, he grips onto Will, stands up slowly in hope that their son will stay asleep in his arms. “When have we ever been cranky in the morning?”

At that, she gives him a look, but the smile he returns makes her soften.

“He read the first two pages all by himself,” Mulder beams, walking toward the stairs while Will sleeps against his chest; she follows him closely, trying to keep her footsteps quiet.""

taking a pregnancy test

Post S9: ""then, she leaves quickly, heads toward the gas station quick-mart in front of them. as she walks away, she tries and fails to keep her gait confident; though she wants him to think she's indifferent, the sheer possibility of this has tears stinging her eyes. the terrible beauty of a second chance makes her feel as though the world isn't so bad anymore, as though they could live in peace together for the rest of their lives. though she knows she should feel empty from all that has been taken from her, the idea alone makes her feel whole. despite how she wishes she didn't, she wants this so badly with him.""

19 please :)

Pre-IWTB: ""i like it,” he says through a mouthful; she stares up at the ceiling, her eyes softly transfixed on how white and unmoving such a thing can be. while they travelled, she stole and read a copy of american gods, could remember how shadow kept seeing little things that made him remember he was no longer in prison; the house keys, the car she bought in her own name using her own bank card, being able to order a pizza over the phone, the heady silence only known as home, they all came back to her with a frightening familiarity...""

where i live, it's snowing

Pre-IWTB: ""he could at least do the housework, keeping the sheets soft and clean, passing her a fresh towel as she stepped out of a steaming bath, washing the dishes even though he sorely despised the chore. however, no matter how educated he could grow in the ways of living far away from other people, there were some things that required more than just a manual saw and a geezer.

“don’t call yourself a geezer,” she’d said while they’d watched their neighbors, outfitted with a chainsaw and young men’s naive muscles, chop the fallen tree from an environmental disruption to easily-burned wood.""

in the heat

Pre-IWTB: ""she pretends to stare at her watch, as though she were actually counting the minutes before he came out of the water; taking up a spot by her hips, daggoo sits on her towel, anticipating everything in a mirror-image of mulder himself. finally, she looks away from her watch, sucks her lips in as she says, “time’s up.”

then, his smile grows wider as he reaches down, takes off her sunglasses and leaves them on the towel; in swift motions, he picks her up, then throws her over his shoulder, walks straight for the water. as he starts to wade in, she can’t stop laughing.""

at night

Pre-IWTB: ""around eleven-thirty, something stirs him from sleep; groggily, he looks around for a cause, sees scully sitting up in bed. if it's passed eleven and scully isn't asleep, then there's a definitive reason, so he slowly sits up and joins her.""

having lunch

Pre-IWTB: ""the first thing she finds is a little sticky note, i love you! written on it in mulder’s handwriting.""

sunday, 3am

Pre-IWTB: ""It’s okay,” he whispered, the bag of ice in his hand hovering before her, his brain buzzing in the overtired way he used to feel accustomed to. If his circadian rhythms were reliable, then he and his body estimated that three in the morning, maybe half past, had come and gone. A long time ago, she’d told him that keeping lights on from the nighttime hours of ten-to-ten harmed the brain’s ability to produce melatonin, but he figured that light would be the least of their worries tonight.""

downpour, early october

Pre-IWTB: ""his phone on speaker and left on the kitchen counter, he'd chopped vegetables for dinner while talking to her, his knife-cuts careful and slow. age had made his hands clumsy, as she so loved to point out when he got a little too cocky with his chopping. after last week's stitches incident, his thumb still intact but just barely, he wouldn't take any chances.""

saying "I love you" without saying anything at all

Pre-IWTB: ""...she’s stuck in stopped bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway, her eyes closing in annoyance that an accident just had to occur after her bad day at work. thankfully, the guy ahead of her lets his brake-lights off; they’re finally moving. she sighs in thankfulness, but nonetheless, she knows it’s going to be a long drive home.

her purse is on the passenger’s seat, so she figures that reaching into it and taking her phone out so that she can call mulder is a good idea; she could dial his number in her sleep, so she barely has to look at the screen as she starts to make the call.""

at starbucks

Pre-IWTB: ""her drink always comes up first, and as she picks up the cup, she immediately takes off its lid, sighs at the sight of whipped cream on top. though she always makes it clear that she doesn’t want whipped cream, she’s rarely gotten a coffee without the dollop on top.""

Bubbles!

Post IWTB: ""she presses against the water with her hands, moves away from you while you look in between sea-fans and fire corals. though you’re thankful for the change, for the difference, you know these colors could never exist in the states, at least not in the part of the states where you both live, no matter how greatly you wish they would. out there, everything is grassy and earthy, the colors being those of mountains, canyons, freshwater lakes, but here, cold and warm fluorescents light up the strangely-blue water, and though you’re wearing goggles, the world comes through in perfectly clear technicolor. the fish are like pizza shop open signs, the reefs textured and endless, the sand flitted with pink flecks that shine out most when they’re stuck to her hands. after the bout of winter you’ve had in virginia, the warmth and vibrance of the maldives feel life-affirming, the combination acting as a brash awakening to the varying beauties of the world. you’re glad that your first true vacation together was to somewhere that feels like another planet.""

at the beach

Post IWTB: ""he'll call their order in eventually, but for now, he just wants to sit by the ocean and hold her warm hand. with the scent of the sea, the sound of her breathing, and the taste of sweet lemonade on his tongue, he feels relaxation deep in his bones. though he's always searched for life on other planets - and though this planet has recently given him reasons to look elsewhere based on the news - there are some parts of his life on this planet that leave him in joyful wonder, in awe of how beautiful and pure these pleasures feel.""

anabiosis

Post IWTB: ""...he stumbled over his shed pants and leaned too hard against her bedside table. at the time, she huffed a laugh, then ignored the piece of furniture altogether.

they only noticed that i was broken the next morning when she didn’t hear her alarm go off. though scully had remembered to clean out the fridge and take out the trash, she’d forgotten to empty the glass of water she kept on her bedside table, so when she stared down at the table, now a pile splintering and aged wood, she saw unrepairable cracks, a wet spot, and an unsalvageable clock.""

How about if they try running together? Are they adorably frustrated with the height difference?

Post IWTB: ""though she invests in nice running clothes - most of them are incredibly expensive and from that one brand, something about lemons - he’s all about the cotton tee shirt and basketball shorts. however, this specific pair of basketball shorts has seen better days, probably ones sometime around 1995 or 1996. these shorts don’t stretch much anymore and have quite a bit of trouble staying up; she giggles under her breath whenever he has to pull them up.""

at a motel

Post IWTB: ""when he wakes, her side of the bed is empty, cold, and still a little damp; getting up, he looks through the sliding glass doors of their room, can just make out her red hair in the fog. her back to him, she stands just at the edge of the rocky beach beyond their motel, her gaze focused on the ocean. as pisces as can be, he smiles to himself as he puts on his shirt and shoes, then goes out to meet her.

they’re in new brunswick, but the weather and the surroundings still feel like maine, where they passed through in order to get here.""

beneath the stars

Post IWTB: ""we should install a skylight."

"we can't install a skylight."

"why not?"

"because above us is the attic, not the roof. all we would get is a view of what we have stored up there.""

coming home

Post IWTB: ""when she arrives home, her raincoat’s hood up to shield her from the unyielding downpour, he’s standing in the kitchen, a little cooking stain on his shirt; he stirs a large pot of soup, what he figures she’ll want after a long, cold day. as she steps out of her shoes - little duck-boots, too short to be worn in snow but the perfect height to wear when she needed to wear dress-slacks in the rain - and sheds her coat, he asks, “how was work?""

at chipotle

Post IWTB: ""he hovers behind her, both a step too far away and a step too close. as she’s complained before, these franchises are so loud, but they’re the healthiest fast-food she’s managed to find.""

at whole foods

Post IWTB: ""but scientists could’ve had their livelihood hinging on it, scully!” he says as she sighs but smiles, for she can’t take him into this store without having him notice something and go on and on about it until they’ve checked out. last time, he scrutinized over the bulk food section and how so many different varieties of the same-colored rice they had.""

malneirophrenia

Post IWTB: ""she looks to him, then leaps down the porch-steps and races out into the grass.

she’s barefoot. she never goes barefoot.

as he always will, he follows her, his bare feet and aging heart protesting as he tries to catch up with her. though she’s tiny, she’s fast, faster than he can remember her being.""

having coffee

Post IWTB: ""she ducks into the shop, mulder at her heels as she closes the front door behind them; he retracts their umbrella, one that hardly kept them dry given the blustering winds outside. they came out here to damascus with the plan of hiking over the three-day weekend; however, the weather has had other ideas for them, has kept them holed up at an inn and reading in bed while the peak fall foliage rustles about outside.""

at the ballet

Post IWTB: ""he's not one for fine arts, particularly the modern or performance-based ones, but a month beforehand, she mentioned that she would love to take in a ballet, so here they are, him wearing a sport-coat and a tie she'd given him years beforehand, her wearing a little black dress and nude pumps.""

true minds (Ao3)

Post IWTB: ""There's..."

She paused, took a breath.

"I'd like to see something," she gave. "In the city."

"Are you asking me to go with you?"

She paused again.

"Yes," she gave, emphasis on the fricative, "but I'm not sure it's something you'd like to see."

"Is the ballet in town?" he half-joked.

"Meet me at the hospital as soon as you can?""

cioppino

Post IWTB: ""the flourless chocolate cake is settling in the fridge; the homemade gelato from that place she loves in town is milling about in the freezer; he baked fresh bread this morning, iced a bottle of sparkling cider just in case. now, he simply needs the cioppino to cooperate, and then, the night will be set, all of his variables taken care of; after that, all he needs to do is wait for her response.

he got the ring three days ago, claimed he was borrowing her car so that he could help an old lady from the library shovel her driveway.""

in sickness

Post IWTB: ""yesterday, scully came home with a cough, said that she must've picked something up from a kid in the emergency room; after calling in to say that she wouldn't be working the next day - she tended to play it safe when it came to sickness - she retired for the evening, her dinner being warm soup mulder made and served to her in bed; she was too thankful for the gesture than to complain that the vegetables weren't fully cooked. then, she mixed some honey and herbs - it was just a little cough, she swore, and all she needed was something to suppress it so that she could sleep - and went to bed with him alongside her. for hours, he knew she couldn't sleep, couldn't stop coughing long enough to let herself fall asleep. at one in the morning, he propped her up with some extra pillows, let her curl up next to him as she cringed against each cough.""

reazione

Post IWTB: ""for the nine hours they spent on a plane, he never once sought out entertainment.

“and that’s a redox reaction,” scully explained over a series of inked and torn-up cocktail napkins, each advertising coca cola, deliziosa e rinfrescante in red text on one corner. “it involves a transfer of electrons, thus changing the oxidation number of the molecule.”

“so you lose or gain one?” mulder asked, the lighting above their economy-class - her insistence - seats sparse and dim, making him squint from behind his reading glasses.""

on a bad day

Post Home Again: ""scully?” he asks, his voice softer than before, more aware. though he knows what day it is, he also knows that she’s best off when he doesn’t talk about it, when he lets her work and get through the day in whichever way she chooses. however, he cares deeply, sometimes to a fault, so now, he seems to see that there’s cause for concern. “are you alright?"

then, she fully gives in to the sobs, hunches over on her desk, pushes that stupid salad out of the way. he can hear her - she knows that much for sure - but he stays silent nonetheless, waits for her to speak first. in between sobs, she wipes away tears, manages, "i miss my sister.""

Love your stories! Please post one of your 'Scully is sick and Mulder takes care of her' fics...

Revival: ""doctors make the worst patients, scully told him once during their days working the x-files. there’s something about understanding what is wrong with you, he surmises, that makes enduring something like the flu all the more traumatic; though you may know exactly what is happening in your body, you still can’t stop it from happening.""

on his birthday

Revival: ""what’re you going to wish for?”

the reality is that there is nothing more he wants right now, nothing more he knows he can have. of course, he wishes for things like world peace and…he wishes things were never so dire or dark for either of them, summarizes all of those wishes with just that line. however, of the things he could wish for or want for his future, there is nothing, not when he has their life together. however, that’s all beside the point, so he asks, “don’t people usually sing before you blow out the candles?""

on sunday morning

Revival: ""when she wakes, he’s sitting up in bed, his book in hand, daggoo at his feet.

“good morning,” he says softly as soon as she stirs; while she looks up at him, he looks down, smiles a quiet, warm smile just for her.

though she has woken up this way for many mornings now, has grown accustomed to sleeping next to him, there nonetheless remains an exquisite sense of peace within her whenever she wakes up next to him.""

Hi! I don't know if you want to do this prompt but MSR In a power outage. It just happened to me and for some reason I thought of your blog lol

Revival: ""how is it that chinese restaurants always have power when we don’t?” he asks as she sets their monopoly box on the kitchen table, nearly knocking over the container of shrimp fried rice in the process.

“must be fate,” she deadpans as she pulls the board out of the box, sets up the cash one the kitchen table; she’s memorized their starting amounts, always acts as banker when they play.""

feeding the dog

Revival: ""all i’m saying is that we’ve seen forbidden planet many, many times, but it’s been a long time since we watched something...”

she trails off as she takes the bag of dog food out of the pantry, takes the chip-clip from off of its rolled-over top. inside, there’s a scoop, and next to her on the counter is daggoo’s little bowl, one mulder bought and painted himself. light blue ceramic, white polka-dots, daggoo written in black print. it matches nothing else in the house.""

paleomnesia

Revival: ""i’ve told you this a million times over,” mulder insists with a lighthearted laugh. “plus, you were there too. no matter how many times i recount those events to you, they aren’t going to change, and your memory of them isn’t going to change.”

“i don’t want them to change,” she says softly....""

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy!

#txf #fic #Curated #Collector's Edition #melforbes #everyday msr #everydaymsr #claup #xf fanfic #xf fic #xfiles #x-files #the x files

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multi-fan-dom-madness · 1 year

Text

Chapter 22: Naak (Second Chances - Hunter x reader)

Naak. n. peace

Chapter summary: You begin to adapt to life on Pabu.

Chapter warnings: fluffffffff with a sprinkle of angst (because I can't not); seriously this is mostly fluff

Word Count: 2,816

A/N: alright friendos, we're approaching the final arc here. I am going to be traveling next weekend, so Chapter 23 will be posted no later than Sept. 10, but hopefully before then to keep us on the regular posting schedule. I appreciate all of your patience and understanding

< Previous chapter | Next chapter >

Today marks the beginning of your second week on Pabu. Since that first night on the beach with Hunter, the pair of you have thrown yourselves into building a home here. During the day, Omega attends school, finally getting a chance to interact with children her own age. She spends most evenings with Lyana. Wrecker, Tech, Hunter, and you make yourselves useful in whatever way you can: cataloging artifacts in the Archium, constructing new buildings, hauling fishing nets, organizing supplies—any task that requires extra hands, you’re all there. You’re determined to earn your keep on this island. Everyone helps everyone here; none of you are quite used to it yet, but the more time you spend under the sweltering tropical sun, the more at ease you begin to feel.

So far, you’ve been sleeping in the Marauder and Redthorn until your new homes are completed. When they’re ready, you’ll have three thatch-roofed houses with individual bedrooms, communal living areas, kitchens, and rudimentary ’freshers. More of a home than you’ve ever had before.

Wiping the sweat from your brow, you groan softly as you straighten your back. Today’s task so far has been to move supply crates from Lower Pabu to Upper Pabu where they’ll be more secure. Shep had mentioned a few days back of the possibility of quakes and floods. By moving the supplies to the higher ground, behind the retaining wall, there will be less stress on the entire community in the event of a disaster.

Your shoulders ache. But you relish in the soreness, knowing that it’s for a good cause, satisfied in the knowledge that you’ve done something for the betterment of more than just yourself. At the very least, the sea breeze rarely abates on the island; your sweat dries, the wind wicking away the excess warmth you’ve worked yourself into.

“That’s the last of it,” says Mako, one of Shep’s advisors. Like Shep, he’s a large man, imposing in his stature, but kind and patient to a fault. His eyes crinkle into smile lines. “Take the rest of the day. Tomorrow we’ll survey the wall for weaknesses.”

With a two-finger salute, you sigh in relief. Thankfully, you’re already in Upper Pabu; the ships aren’t too far of a walk from here. You need a shower, some shade, and water.

You’re beginning to recognize faces, smiling and waving at passersby as they lope down the winding streets past you. Their names blend together, but you know with time, you’ll learn them all, come to value them as dearly as you do your squad.

You catch a glimpse of a bright red bandana turning a corner up the road. Well, you think, maybe not as dearly, you think, gazing after Hunter. A smile dances over your lips, threatening to burst forth.

Ever since that first night on the beach, the two of you have been nearly inseparable. Only when you’re assigned separate tasks, like today, do you spend any significant amounts of time apart. At night, after dinner and once Omega is asleep, the pair of you slip away to explore another corner of the island. You’ve walked the entire shoreline perimeter under the light of the moon, discovered caves that delved into darkness within the island bedrock, and meandered through neighborhoods to chat with other residents.

Lengthening your stride, you ignore the burn in your calves as you scale the gently sloping street. Some of the landmarks are familiar and catch your attention. Two large, potted plants bookend a bench that overlooks the ocean, providing a wonderful sunset vista. As the street narrows into a mere footpath, the cobblestones transition into stepping stones, nestled within a bed of verdant grass with tiny white blooms. And there’s the cluster of palm trees you’d noted on your second day, where you’d love to hang up a hammock and snooze.

You realize with a pleasant jolt where you are.

Breaking into a jog, you round the corner and grin. Ahead, at the end of the path, the three new homes under construction for the squad sit with gleaming plaster and lattice-work verandas. Their front doors face a shared courtyard.

And standing in the center, his back to you, arms crossed and hip cocked, is Hunter.

His head turns as you approach, breathless. “Off early?”

“Would have been done sooner,” you say, catching your breath, “if Wrecker had been assigned to help instead of fish.”

“He likes to fish,” Hunter says with a chuckle. The sound lightens your heart.

You hum. “Do you like to build?”

“I like working with my hands,” he says.

He uncrosses his arms and holds his hands up, fingers splayed, as if to show them off. You can’t help but appreciate the corded muscle beneath his tanned skin, the lines of his skeleton tattoo rippling as he turns his hands over. Not for the first time, you’re selfishly grateful that Pabu boasts a tropical climate. Your armor and the boys’ blacks are too suffocating for long-term wear here.

Instead, the locals had been more than happy to pass along some of their older clothing. Well worn, and well loved, it all fits nonetheless. Hunter’s shirt sleeves end before his elbows today, and the collar dips in a small V.

Standing in front of him, you gently run your fingertips over the lines of his palms. His gray eyes flutter shut at the sensation, and you take a moment to gaze, unabashed. Being here, even for just a week, has been kind to him. His face still carries evidence of stress, but the furrow between his brow has been nearly nonexistent since you arrived, and his shoulders aren’t held quite so high, the tension in them drained.

“I was thinking,” you begin. When his eyes blink open, you trail off, distracted.

He squeezes your hands. “You were thinking?”

“Right.” You duck your head. “Maybe we could go exploring while it’s still light out. I want to check out those caves.”

The sun still has a few hours before it will begin its daily descent towards the western horizon. You chew the inside of your cheek while he ponders the suggestion. His eyes survey the three homes around you for a moment, before flicking back to yours with a nod.

“Lunch first,” he says. “Then exploring.”

“Yes, sarge,” you tease, bumping him with your shoulder as you lead the way back down the footpath. He chuckles. He snags your hand and twines your fingers together, warm skin against warm skin, and you sigh in contentment.

You wander back down through Lower Pabu. While there are no restaurants of the type you’re used to seeing, a few of the residents do run small stores: a bakery, two caf shops, an apothecary, a smithy. You hadn’t realized how hungry you actually are until Hunter mentioned food, but now, you let your nose lead you. The sweet scents of freshly baked bread and ripe fruit waft to you on the breeze, setting your mouth watering.

The bakery is run by a kindly older woman with flour-dusted features and sun-wrinkled skin. She smiles at you both as you hesitate on the doorstep of her small home. After a moment of wracking your brain, you recall her name.

Gesturing, she says, “Please, come in, come in. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, Gerta,” you say, inclining your head. Your gaze sweeps over the loaves of bread, platter of cookies, and jars of jam. Stomach rumbling, you resist the impulse to get one of everything. Instead, you point at the neat pyramid of sweet rolls and a jar of meiloorun jelly. “Can we get a few rolls and the jam? And some water, please.”

Gerta shuffles behind the counter and rolls out a cloth, onto which she lays the requested items. From below the counter, she retrieves a jug of water, the ceramic already sweating. Peering through wrinkled skin, she appraises Hunter. “Anything for you, dear?”

“A cookie,” he says. “How much?”

With a chuckle, Gerta shakes her head. “You’ll learn soon enough.”

“Oh, right.” Hunter rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, his other squeezing around yours. You squeeze back in a show of support. None of you have adjusted fully to the absence of credits here; exchanges are made on a barter system, gifts made in kind or services promised at a future date. Hunter continues, “What can I help with then?”

She points behind you. The upper support of the wooden door jamb sags, its original moorings having come loose, likely from the wood swelling in the humidity.

“Fix that for me,” Gerta says, smiling again, “and we’ll call it even. My strength just isn’t what it used to be, and my son hasn’t had the time to fix it.”

“Got a hammer?” Hunter asks.

She hefts one up from behind the counter. While Hunter busies himself with the repair, you lean against the counter. “Your son work a lot, Gerta?”

“Ah, my boy has always been a busy bee,” she says. “He’s gone and made himself useful to the island, working on the water wall and ensuring we all have enough supplies.”

You blink. “You mean Mako.”

“That’s him.” Gerta sighs as she folds up your food. “I am proud of him, you know. But Pabu has always been too small for him.”

Eyes trailing down Hunter’s lean form where he reaches up with the hammer, pounding the door jamb back into place, you can only hum in acknowledgement. Gerta doesn’t seem to mind. She gently pushes the neatly tied bundle across the counter to you, sliding the jug as well. A moment later, Hunter reappears at your elbow. He passes Gerta the hammer.

“Thank you, dearie,” she says, patting his face. You have to stifle a chuckle at the powdery white handprint left overtop of his tattoo. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise at her gesture. “See you ’round now.”

“Thanks, Gerta,” you say with a bow. Collecting your food, you nudge Hunter to follow. He murmurs a belated ‘thank you’ as he follows.

As soon as you’re out of her earshot, he shakes his head with a grimace. He wipes his face, only about half of the flour coming off. “Things are...so different here.”

Nodding, you sigh. “A good kind of different, but still different.”

You walk in relative silence the rest of the way to the beach, speaking only to greet folks as they call out to you. Hunter’s hand rests in the small of your back, a gentle but persistent presence. It occurs to you all over again how changed your relationship with Hunter is now. The transparency between you laid the foundation, sure, but between your run-ins with the Empire and the soft, lulling melody of Pabu’s beaches, you’ve begun building a life together. Before Iridonia, there were times where you couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, the feelings he hid behind the stoic mask he donned. Now, though, all you have to do is glance and you can tell where his mind is.

Like right now. His thoughts are elsewhere, despite the reassuring circles he rubs with his thumb on your back.

“Hunter?” you ask, quiet, as you step beyond the boundaries of Lower Pabu to the beach proper.

He blinks as if coming up for air. “The houses should be done by tomorrow.”

“W— Really?”

Nodding, he smiles down at you. “You can have the first pick of which one you want.”

“Wherever you are.” The words slip out before you can stop them, before you can even process what you’re insinuating.

Hunter’s hand slips from your back around your waist and tugs you against his side. He presses a chaste kiss to the side of your head. “I thought you might say that.”

Flushing with embarrassment and excitement, you shrug against him. “And are you okay with that?”

“I...” He sighs, gently guiding you down the beach towards the caves. “Omega’s not the only clone who didn’t have her own room. None of us did. I think I’d like to have my own room, at least for a little while, see what it’s like.”

Gentle smile curling over your lips, you nod. “I understand. I’m excited for you. For all of you.”

“Thank you, cyare,” he says, and the depth of emotions in his voice plucks at your heartstrings.

Within another few minutes, you reach the caves that you’d spotted just a few nights ago. Tall and jagged, the arching entranceways loom far overhead and plunge deep into the sand ahead of you. But to your rising dismay, they are shallow, barely worthy of being called caves. ‘Alcoves’ might be a more apt term. You halt in your tracks, grimacing at the rocky formations before you.

“These looked cooler at night,” you say flatly.

Hunter laughs, throwing his head back, his teeth bared in a wide smile. You can’t help but chuckle, gazing fondly at his open expression of mirth.

“Picnic?” he suggests.

You nod. “Picnic.”

The day isn’t a total loss, at least. You do lose track of time. On the beach, your heartbeat matches the pulse of the ocean, the salty air clinging to your skin as you lounge with Hunter, meal of rolls and jelly long since devoured. At some point, he shifts to lay his head in your lap, and your fingers instinctively bury into his curls, twirling silken strands idly as you bask in each other’s company.

Shivering in the cool night air, the sun having set about an hour ago, you turn your face up, tracing patterns between the stars that litter the sky. Somewhere out there is Coruscant, and Iridonia, and Ord Mantell, and thousands of other planets you’ve never seen and probably never will. You exhale a shaky breath. Suddenly you feel very, very small, an ant in a giant’s terrarium.

“Cyare?” Hunter says.

“I’m here,” you murmur. “Just...” You gesture helplessly up to the stars, words failing you.

“I know,” he says. “During the war... I mentioned to you the other night our success rate, yeah?”

You nod. “One hundred percent.”

“Failure was not in our vocabulary,” he says, voice soft, thoughtful. “The mere thought of failure was unthinkable. More than that. It was unknowable.”

Methodically stroking his hair, you keep your gaze on the heavens, eyes drinking in the light of billions of stars.

“You could only see the stars on Kamino every few months,” he continues. “When the storms stopped. I remember the first time I caught a glimpse of the galaxy that I’d be fighting for. I was young. A few months out of the growth tube, at most, but I already understood my place in the galaxy and what was expected of me. Of us.

“I remember feeling...tiny. Inconsequential. ‘How are we supposed to protect all of that,’ I remember thinking. I must have hidden in the barracks for hours afterwards.” He chuckles. “It was too much for my brain to comprehend at the time.”

“And what about now?” you ask, softly, no louder than the waves breaking just a few dozen feet away.

You feel him shrug. “I dunno. I— I’m proud of my service for the Republic, but I’ve also seen enough death and carnage to last any normal person three lifetimes.”

Understanding dawns on you like the sun: hot and uncomfortable and it makes you want to hide. “Without the war, you wouldn’t exist.”

“But should there have been a war in the first place?”

You lapse into silence once more. Piecing together what little you know, what little he’s confided in you this past week, your chest feels tight. Republic, Empire; Chancellor, Emperor: the entire galaxy just feeds the great machine of politics and power, and the clones, every single one of them, are the cogs that make the machine run.

“Do you think Echo is okay?” you murmur.

Hunter reaches up and, gently clasping your chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilts your face down to meet his gaze. In the dark, his eyes are pinpricks of light. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“We should make sure he has a room,” you say, “in one of the houses. For when he comes back.”

“He will, cyare.” Hunter sits up and tugs you into his chest. You hug him tight; his hands tremble where they rest against your body. You’re not sure if his words mean that Echo will have a room, or if he’ll come back, or both, but they ease some of the existential dread welling in your heart. Kriff, no wonder Echo left. His brothers are out there, pawns in a game they had no say in joining. Your thoughts flit to Crosshair. Where is he right now? Has he tried to get out?

You and Hunter remain on the beach, locked in one another’s embrace, until the sun rises again.

Taglist: @the-hexfiles @fjordg @idoubleswearimawriter @skellymom @sinfulsalutations @523rdrebel @sunshinesdaydream @freesia-writes @moonlightwarriorqueen @wings-and-beskar @wolffegirlsunite @blueink-bluesoul @jedi-hawkins @thorsterstrudle @starrylothcat @deejadabbles @dystopicjumpsuit @littlemissmanga @starqueensthings @mandos-mind-trick @idontgetanysleep (if I missed you i'm sorry)

#hunter x reader #tbb hunter x reader #hunter x gn!reader #second chances #rhiwrites #the bad batch x reader #tbb x reader

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