#ESPECIALLY POOR NOEL

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

... there are people who think Noel is a "yandere" for Claire? Noel?? Noel Levine???

he is in this mess because he cannot bring himself to hurt a single hair on anyone's head despite the fact that he knows they are going to murder the one he loves the most. he refuses to hurt anyone, even though it could be argued that at some points, he would be well within his right to.

yes, he is obsessed with saving Claire. yes, he has looped time thousands and thousands of times just with that aim. but... even though he is very likely romantically interested in her, he hasn't ever tried to pursue her. he isn't after her love, affection or attention. what he is desperate for, slowly killing himself for, is a way for her to escape with her life.

Noel just doesn't want to see Claire... you know, dead. and he has made it very clear that as long as she is alive, it doesn't matter to him whether it's with or without him.

does "yes, i'm not your prince, but your magician... make that dream come true with someone else one day." mean nothing?

Noel is one of the most respectful and selfless characters in the game, if not the most. he is the absolute furthest thing from that horrific trope. his love and pure devotion to Claire is very sweet and also very tragic.

[tillichan]

⭒˚‧ ︵‿⭒ཐིཋྀ Your life in Blue Lock for @xo-adeline ཐིཋྀ⭒‿︵ ‧˚⭒

Being the manager of the best football team in Europe, Bastard Munchen, is not an easy task. But somehow you immediately fit into this team, becoming an inalienable part of Bastard Munchen. Even though, players may seem like they don't care about you, but that's no true! Conversely, they've a soft spot for you and value your contribution to the team. Your intimidating look is actually a secret weapon of your team you don't know about it though which helped them to make their rivals give up without a fight more than once.

Rival A: Hey, bro, look at this manager. She's planning on murdering or something like this? Rival B: She looks like she's going to kill us if we score even one goal. Bastard Munchen: What are you saying about our manager? Rivals — crap their pants, your team — pleased with themselves, meanwhile you just have no clue about all this stuff.

Usually you do the ordinary manager stuff like paperwork, maintaining the team schedule, taking care of players. But your ability to see a little things and your knowledge of psychology help Bastard Munchen to analyze their matches or their rivals. Sometimes you speak your mind without always thinking about it first during meetings. Your seniors are dissatisfied with it, but your team love your sarcastic and witty personality. And when you subtly mock seniors or team's rivals? Your team adore you! But your routine was interrupted by invitation to Blue Lock, your team as players, you as their manager assistant, because Blue Lock project needs more workers. And if you think that being a manager of Bastard Munchen is chaos, no, being a manager of Blue Lock is real chaos! Where should I start?.. Well, let's start from this part. Now you've not a team of professional football players, you've a team of professional simps-guardians, who literally growl at poor Blue Lock boys, who want to ask you for help, for example. Bastard Munchen are very proud of their manager and brag about you every. single. minute.

Kaiser: Wanna ask manager for help, Yoichi? What a pity, she is my manager! Anri in the background: But she is not only your manager...

Even Noel Noa brags about you in his composed manner! Ego didn't understand his behavior at first. But when you started speaking your mind during meetings and teasing Anri with him... Well, you're really not bad, so Ego thinks now. I'm sorry, Ego-san, this manager is already taken. Bastard Munchen are very chaotic team, you still love them. Despite their attempts to protect you from Blue Lock boys, you've a lot of friends here and carry out the duties of a manager great.

Color of your ego — Dark Blue

Falling in love with a new manager of Bastard Munchen is the last thing Michael Kaiser expected out of his life. But here you are, beautiful, smart and full of love for him. You broke the walls Michael had built around his heart over the years and showered him with love. Even though Michael hate being loved because it makes him weak, he also wants to be loved by someone, strange as it may sound.

♥ You two look so cool together! Your couple aesthetic and aura is something else! Tattoos, blue roses, similar hair colors and intimidating smug look. I bet, you're the hottest topic of discussion in the community! ♥ Michael loves that you're a sarcastic person and tend to speak your mind without always thinking about it. Your personalities suits each other, you both are witty, independent and have your own time of self-doubt. It helps you to understand each other and work on your weaknesses together. ♥ Especially Kaiser loves teasing you whenever you're falling and tripping all over the place. After he caught you, of course. ♥ Since Michael is interested in psychology, as you do, you two have a lot of deep conversations and discussions about it. He'd probably be interested in true crime too because of you. ♥ Please, take care of him in the morning. Michael wakes up in a really bad mood, but mornings are actually not that bad if you're with him~ ♥ Michael hates receiving gifts, he doesn't know how he's supposed to react. Well, if it's not your gifts. Even though, he is still bad at showing good reactions, but he is happy that you think about him.

Alexis Ness acts towards you as your older brother. You and Kaiser are the most important people in his life. Honestly, Alexis loves and protects you even more than he admires Kaiser. He thinks about you as a little sister, because he never received love and understanding from his real siblings. And as your older brother he protects you a lot! If you and Alexis come in, while Kaiser's doing his morning routine consists of standing before the mirror naked, gazing at himself while having a conversation with himself, Alexis will cover your eyes with his hands. It doesn't matter that Michael is your boyfriend. Don't worry, dear, your brother protect your heart from all jerks around you!

Noel Noa is your proud father figure. He always acts cool, but he loves you from the bottom of his heart. Your smart tactics and ideas helped Bastard Munchen more than once, not to mention that he loves that you can keep in line the behavior of the team. Every time Noa has meeting with coaches in Blue Lock, your name keeps coming up. And if Ego or another coach ask him to give you his team? No. That's impossible.

Itsuki Wakatsuki has a fattest crush on you since you first appeared in Blue Lock. The way you tease your, and not only your, team, your sarcastic and witty behavior, your strange but cute habit to do something and then just totally stop and move on, he was smitten with you! Even though your team is kinda aggressive when someone tries to approach you, Itsuki talks to you whenever he has a chance. He enjoys talking to you about football, mocking others players or sleeping on your lap, because he's always tired. The last one happened only once, because your team raised a riot.

Karasu Tabito is your best friend in Blue Lock. You're cool and smart girl, who is also witty and loves analyzing people, consider you're Tabito's favorite person in the whole Blue Lock. Karasu doesn't like receiving a present because he hates to be forced to feel happy. But somehow you've the ability to make him always feel happy not only because of little gifts but also because of little gestures which always get to the point. You two spend your time together analyzing games or players or just talking about your life. Karasu built walls around his heart. And you're the only one person who are able to tear it down.

Nagi Seishiro is one more your Blue Lock friend. You two have a lot in common! Sleeping, playing video games, reading manga, for example. You and Nagi bond over similar hobbies and got along well. You two can be found together reading manga Nagi has a lot of manga apps, so you two always can find something interesting or playing video game. Nagi would like to rest on you lap after a rough training session, but unfortunately this place is already taken. As you do, Nagi loves teasing people around in his own way. So you two have a lot of fun together, imagining Barou Maid Cafe or football players as animals.

[northern-passage]

I really don't get how Lea could ever think they and the Hunter were a team, when apparently they knew about the collar thing while the hunter didn't even know??? They are the literal embodiment of the Hunter's alienation and dehumanization. Will Lea (and the narrative) ever acknowledge how fucking despicable the order actually is??? They're a bunch of child abusers who prey on poor families and practice human trafficking. On that note I actually deeply despise the Hunter's mentor. That fight scene with him forcing us to stand up again and again? I don't care that the same was done to him and he did it to make the Hunter stronger or whatever. That was the same logic my grandmother had when she hit my mother, and she would have done the same to us if my mother hadn't cut ties with her and broke the cycle of generational violence. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't play this game right now as it very clearly trigger some things within me that I should address elsewhere than in your ask box, but I guess I needed to express how helpless the Hunter made me feel. Especially with Lea. My character (and myself I guess) couldn't sit down and have a normal conversation with them given how blind they were to the Hunter's situation, and that was even before I understood what the collar thing truly meant after replaying the demo and reading the last snippet you published. Lea comes from a powerful family with ties everywhere, they are literally called our 'handler', and they know what the ladder does to someone (both short term and long term, mentally and physically)... And they truly think them and the Hunter are the same??? Equals??? The only explanation I can find is that they grew up their entire life within the order and never knew anything else, and so this is a case of great ignorance and deep denial. They need a good wake up call and a lot of character development, but when I see Noel's reaction and Lea's behavior during their rival route, I'm kinda worried.

well... i mean most of what you've mentioned here is The Point. Lea is a hypocrite, and the hunter can argue with them and refuse their partnership because of it. Jorah is an asshole and treated the hunter poorly at times, to the point that him and Rodrick argued about it frequently, and is why Rodrick attempts to intervene when they spar. the Order does cause harm and coerces people into their ranks, usually children or those that are more vulnerable and lack other options; and this is always true no matter how the hunter tries to justify it and convince themselves otherwise. all of the people and institutions in this game are complex, none of them are righteous, and they exist as they do because i have something i want to say-- all of these are choices i've intentionally made when writing this story.

and we're only on chapter 1 right now (and even before the rerelease, only on chapter 2), all of the characters need character development, none of their arcs have even started yet.

this story is supposed to make you Feel, big feelings and little feelings, my goal is for people to connect with the characters or at the very least just empathize with them and have a desire to see their stories through. i'm not out to trigger people but this game is intended to be a dark fantasy that explores heavier topics. i'm always open to discussing my thoughts behind certain characters/narrative choices and i will always welcome suggestions if you feel i need to add something to the content warning list, but i really don't like asks like this, and i'm not really sure how to respond as a stranger on the internet. you can either trust me and my intent as the author, or maybe it would be better to not continue with the story if that's what is best and safest for you. only you can know and make that choice, not me.

[clairyclue]

my thoughts on Majestic Rep’s RTC

it’s a lot sorry guys

tags: @jencattv @ray-winters @keatondj

(spoilers below the cut)

you can tell when ocean starts questioning her attitude and how conflicted she is, especially right after WTWN 

jane gets startled so easily poor baby

noel’s riffs are amazing!! (noel’s lament)

the choreo is awesome too!

mischa is a such a sweetie he genuinely cares so much about the other choir members 

mischa flipping ocean off before “i love you guys” haha

constance’s finger guns after “fornication” 

constance laughing at ocean out down jokes and then switching up is so funny 

i love oceans line delivery she’s like three seconds snapping i love it 

jane going from being able to move

fluidly during the songs to being stiff again she looks so confused every time 

ricky. just ricky ❤️

connie i thought the crystal meth joke was funny 

^^ i love all the dialogue in that scene i don’t remember it in original cast slime tuts 

fuck mischa’s adopted parents fr you can tell his anger is a defense mechanism because when he feels comfortable with the choir he’s so sweet!!

MISCHA FALTERING WHEN SAYING HES TALIAS FIANCÉ 

“THANK YOU FOR KILLING MY MOTHER AND INDIRECTLY KILLING ME” 💔💔💔

MY LIFE IS AWESOME 

(i’m gonna start categorizing by song now i don’t have much for WTWN and Noel’s Lament so)

jane dope 🔥🔥

mlia gives mad sibling karaoke vibes 

karna i see u bopping along 

the singing too is immaculate 

OK JANE i see u dropping it down 

TALIA

this mischa genuinely seems so into it he deserves so much credit in way of character work 

the way he gets all bashful during his Talia monologue 💓

background harmonies (constance is carrying and also i can hear her so well!!)

again riffs!! well done 

the choreo goes crazy!! this applies to all the songs tho 

the arms making a steeple 🥺😩

THE ENDING RIFFS 💔💔💔😩😩😩😭😭🥺🥺😞😞

the projection i’m gonna end it all 💔

MISCHA FUCKING CRYING INTO NOELS SHOULDER HELPHELPHELP and even once the dialogue moves on he’s still clinging to him and Noel rubs his back

“ocean why aren’t you talking right now it’s weird” (ricky in the bg: ☝️)

i love u connie awkwardness 

jane is so reactive to everything she hears like a little puppy 

“OKAY!! 😁😁😁😁” (autismo lore dump time)

oceans face when he’s explaining it 😀 to 🙁 to 😟

AND THEN SHE FUCKING MOANS U CATHOLIC FREAK (no offense to catholics reading this)

noel’s face me too bud 

ricky’s lore is kinda gross just because it wasn’t always this way. but sigh what can you do

SPACE AGE BACHELOR MAN:

ricky my little freak boy ❤️

spacedolls realness coming through 

“sure…😬”

rip ricky u would have loved therian tiktok 

little curtain face thing “it gets weird now :)” (•.•)

“THAT SON OF A BITCH !! 😡😡😡”

the emotion behind his lines the whole time tbh adds to the comedy (“i thought i told them !! 😕😕”)

the ending “b-b-b- bachelor man!” (“meow!!”)

we love u mischa hype man (again sweetest man alive)

constance’s “oh man!” was so agressive i loved it the one in the soundtrack seems so sad. this constance is less shy more awkward and i love it

THE BALLAD OF JANE DOE:

i know i know. but choreo. 

vocals!! ily jenna 

bg vocals as well!! 

the mixing 🥹

OK THE OPT UP????

the choreo at “a choir never complete” reminds me of the opening funeral scene from beetlejuice. definitely fits the vibe!

the borderline growl/anger in “and i’m asking why lord” yes!!!!

she sounds so desperate. crying. 

“does no one care?!” again the anger and emotion!

THE BG VOCALS AT THAT ONE PART SO GOOD THEYRE ANGRY FOR HER IT SEEMS 

the roller coaster. them being sucked back into it choreo wise. reverse looking. 

THE HIGH NOTES 💋💋💋

ocean being the one to put the birthday costume on means a lot to me. idk

ocean comforting her too 🥰🥰

janes birthday claps!

SNATCH !! 🧁🧁

ocean doing connie’s hair ❤️

savannah scene!! 

we don’t get to see it but i know the waltz is happening 

“ur ma best frand 💓“

^ and then ocean immediately snaps my heart again. 

“no you don’t ocean. 😕”

i understand oceans monologue she just. executed it badly. 

constance 😝 beat her ass girl 

“or they’ll call you a cow” baby. come here. 💔

constance. i get you. i get u connie baby. 

JAWBREAKER/SUGAR CLOUD:

oceans face ❤️ i don’t know how to describe it but she looks. proud. and her sitting almost re-evaluating everything in the back. (assuming)

ricky giving her the mic ❤️

HER GIGGLE

them scooting her around aghhhahahdhdbdheh

cloud props!

CONFETTI AND BALLOONS AND IM SMILING LIKE A FOOL

jane looks so happy with her ballon skipping around 🥹

the ending!! ILY CONSTANCE 

mischa helping her down awww

ocean and connie hug!!

can’t forget the nischa hug

ocean losing her voice inflection and sounding so genuine. so scared. so raw. 

janey when she gets chosen 🥹🥹

ocean and connie hug 2

JANE REACHING FOR RICKY SNDBDJWKDJDKF

ITS NOT A GAME/ITS JUST A RIDE

crying over the ending brb 

the slideshow will always get me 

something about the whole scene. houfhhhhhhh

“and you give and choose while you live and lose” and the lines preceding it get me 🥹

ARE THOSE REAL VIDEOS OF JENNA?!?!?!

KARNA SOUNDING LIKE THEYRE GONNA CRY

the first lines of it’s just a ride. no music. so raw sounding 🥹 the teary voices. the haphazard harmonies. 

ocean and mischa holding each other. big bro little sis 💓

“WOO!”

THEIR FREESTYLE DANCING! 

they’re having so much fun. they’re dead but they’re LIVING for the first time. 

all of the hand holding. my babes. 

[absoluteocellibehavior]

I’ve made a few posts about Arthur being an Eye Avatar which a few people have been confused about! So, here’s an explanation for all that jazz because I definitely think something is there.

Especially in Season Four, there’s a lot of odd, sort of seemingly compulsion moments that come from Arthur. It’s most clear in his interactions with Collins and Noel (highly recommend relistening to Part 34. Tasty avatar on avatar stuff there). Even in the Dreamlands, Arthur makes some sort of comment about how all humans are “scared of the unknown”. Some of the comments from Kellin in the car as well hint at a funky Beholding Arthur. Take this along with Arthur’s need for answers and eye related trauma (hell, a number of those deaths could have Eye Avatar’d his ass) and we’ve got an Eye!

Now! I know what you may be thinking, “Ocelli! Arthur is ✨blind✨. Wouldn’t that disqualify him?” Not exactly. So, unlike Melanie who completely gouged her eyes out reducing them unusable, Arthur’s eyes are still functional. Yes, while it is true that he doesn’t have control over his sight, his eyes are still working and that is key. He and John are like a funky package deal. They serve different Entities but rely on each other to feed. It’s quite neat. Additionally, I don’t think Arthur is a Dark *Avatar* as I don’t really see any feeding moments related to it (him inflicting it on another person) like I do The Eye. However, Arthur is definitely *marked* by all the fears. Poor babe…

Hopefully that clears some things up!

[zee-has-commitment-issues]

En Del Av Dig thoughts! (spoiler notes will be below the cut)

4/5 stars from me. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but some of the pacing could have been better.

- holy fucking shit Felicia is amazing. I’ve been a fan of her for a long time, I watched Heartbeats, I watched Avgrunden, I’ve obviously watched Royals, but this is next level. Her acting is incredible. It’s the kind of acting that makes you have a visceral reaction. The emotional moments made me take pause and her little micro expressions through the whole movie were so amazing. I don’t know how to describe how difficult it is to act like you’re acting, but she did it seamlessly.

- ZARA LARSSON CAN ACT. I’m gonna be honest, when I saw they cast her, especially for such a vital role, I didn’t know how it was gonna work out. It worked out amazing. She is a triple threat, my friends. Another performance that gave me a visceral reaction. THE LAYERS OF HER CHARACTER YALL

- Zara and Felicia together was otherworldly. They played so well off each other and the way they were able to act together and look alike in their mannerisms made me have to pause and second guess which one of them was about to be on screen more than once.

- the real main character was blue eyeshadow

- every song i've heard in the last 24 hours can be an En del av dig edit song if I try hard enough.

Spoilers:

- The fight between Agnes and Noel was insane. Incredible and visceral and I won't stop thinking about it for a long long time. "What, you can't sleep with me if I remind you of her?" and "Do you want me to say she's coming back? She's not. She's dead, Agnes. She's fucking dead." HOLY SHIT.

- Julia was surprisingly deep. Her struggles coming out in the last half hour was wild, but I wish they would have spent more time on it instead of just "oh she might have killed herself on purpose maybe"

- I simply could not take the green contacts seriously. I love Edvin but he looked like a cullen wannabe in that one scene.

- If there's one thing I'll fall for every single time, it's the gay pining best friend trope.

- Actually started screaming "BREATHE. YOU NEED TO COME UP FOR AIR, KIDS" and I choose not to elaborate. iykyk

- I'm really glad that they established that Agnes was into Noel before Julia died. It makes you root for them a little more, knowing there was something there before they lost Julia. They were already playful with each other, Anges was already down bad, and Noel already felt protective over her.

- That however does not excuse the next point which is: I need a full psychological study on Noel because what the hell? Sir? Not one of those decisions was correct. We cannot sister hop after one dies, we cannot leave after sex because of our own poor decisions coming back to haunt us, we cannot undo all the poor decisions by showing up with a single flower. SIR-

- Felicia's acting in the scenes between Agnes and her mother was incredible and, once again, something I will be thinking about for a long time.

- The play and Agnes' monologue tying in throughout the story was really beautiful and even though you could see it coming, it was a really impactful ending.

[riddlrz]

The jester sighed. He rolled from side to side, trying to close his eyes. It didn't matter that his mattress was rock hard and uncomfortable- the castle staff didn't get very good accomodations, but the man managed to get used to it. He couldn't sleep because of all the noise. The maids were working their backs off, cleaning the ballrooms before tomorrow's big party. The king was supposed host a ball to find someone worthy of marrying him and continuing the legacy.

Blah blah blah

Noel didn't care about all this stuff. His job was just to entertain, not to make sure his superior gets lai...

Suddenly, the man's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door of his bedroom. He growled.

- John, is that you? It's past midnight, for crying out loud!- Jester called out, standing up from his bed. John was a knight, who often took on night guard duties in the nearby hallways.

When the man reached the door, he opened them, sighing again. His jaw dropped when instead of the friendly soldier he saw no one other than the king himself. His head wasn't accompanied with the crystal crown, instead he wore a purplish night gown, which nicely brought out his features. His strong jaw, delicate brown irises, dark curls, small scars from training, oh he was just...

- Noel?

-...- The man was caught off guard by the kind calling out his name. He snapped out of his mind, blushing in embarrassment.- Your highness! What are you doing here, at this hour?

Khari slowly walked into the room, closing the door behind him. The jester furrowed his eyebrows. At this point panick settled in him. His Majesty NEVER came to him. Especially not in the middle of the night. Not so defenseless.

- You know about the ball tomorrow, don't you?- The king began, looking around the small bedroom. He seemed surprised by how poor it was, definitely nothing compared to his luxuries.

- Of course I know, sir. What about it?

- This is gonna sound weird...- The bigger man sighed, thinking for a moment.- You need to embarrass me in front of the guests.

The jester looked up at his king, confusion painted on his face.

- Say I'm bad in bed, whatever! Something that will make the damsels not want me!- The king explained.

- Excuse me? Your majesty you...- Noel thought for a moment.- You don't want to get married.

Khari sighed.

- Yes. I don't.- The king admitted.

- Why?- Jester asked, without a second thought. But after a moment, he bit his tongue.- Sorry, I shouldn't ask.

- You shouldn't, yes. Promise to do this for me?

- I can try.- Noel said, looking down.

- Thank you! This stays between us.- Khari blinked, and smiled. With that, the king turned around, opened the door and left the room.

The jester stood there, flabbergasted.

What was that? The king doesn't wanna get married? He trusts the jester to do his secret deeds for him?

Noel blinked a couple of times, his tiredness seemingly returning after that moment of adrenaline. With a yawn, he returned back to his bed, laying down. The noises upstairs continued, but the jester managed to fall asleep. That night, he dreamt about a man with soft, brown eyes.

[being-of-rain]

My blog tells me that I finished reading The Adventuress of Henrietta Street around 4 years ago. That was around the time that I finished uni (and the pandemic happened) and I just stopped reading novels. Before then, I was reading the EDAs on-and-off all throughout high school and university, and got around 70% of the way through them. It's a really important series to me for a whole number of personal reasons.

So I'm really very happy to say that I finally finished a new EDA! 🎉🎉🎉 My first, shortlived attempt at Mad Dogs and Englishmen was 4 years ago, but now I've finished it! Here's hoping many more EDAs follow it. And the rest of my massive to-read list.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen was classic Paul Magrs, so it was good that I went in expecting none of it to make a whole lot of sense. Magrs really does like focusing on aesthetics, meta-commentary, and sometimes emotions over realism or strong plot logic. I really don't mind those kind of focuses, but I much prefer them with some grounding in realistic emotions and a coherent plot, which is why I'm not sure Magrs is quite as high in my list of favourite Who authors as other EU fans. I appreciate what he does with his stories, they're just not my favourite. For example, in this novel a bunch of seemingly normal clay figurines come to life for, unless I'm forgetting something, no reason at all. It's a cool sequence, but not really much more. Then the monsters lead to the kinda awful death of a minor character because the protagonists... ignored him? Forgot about him? And the novel brushes past that pretty quickly. So yeah when I read a Magrs novel, I just need to switch off my mind's logic (including, sometimes, emotional logic) and just enjoy the ride.

But having said all that, I did enjoy the ride quite a lot! Definitely more than The Blue Angel, which I remember dragged a little for me. Mad Dogs, on the other hand, really held my attention, especially when I got to the point where the Tardis team had split up on their own adventures, and all three of them were equally entertaining (A rare EDA achievement!) It's always a joy for Iris to turn up, though I wish she could've been in more of the book, and Fitz's reaction to figuring her out was so entertaining. Also, does Iris' new body in this book make her one of the first Time Lords(ish) in any media to change skin colour? Just two months before Don Warrington made his first appearance as Rassilon (It's always fun to figure out what the comics and audios were doing at the same time as the novel I'm up to.)

Anyway, the premise of the Doctor and his team investigating the various stages of a novel's adaptation into a movie to find out how and why it was temporally interfered with to turn it into propaganda for another planet's politics is fantastic. Noel Coward having such a large part in the plot was a little surprising but fun. It's interesting how Anji still feels like she doesn't quite fit this life after 10 novels now, the poor girl. And the infamous scenes where the Tardis team are stripped naked, collared, and made to crawl around by dogs, and only Anji is at all upset about that is hilarious (That just happened to be the bit I was up to when my girlfriend asked me to read aloud to her to help her fall asleep. She ended up asking me to stop because what I was reading was 'too interesting' for her to sleep to 😂)

[noelwife]

No but imagine that you and Noel got married in a very very poor way, especially very young. With you in very normal clothes with only a very cheap veil, the same goes for Noel. But both you and Noel weren't sad about it because you loved each other so much and just the thought of becoming husband and wife was enough for both of you, but Noel was also happy because by marrying him you wouldn't have had to get married in an arranged marriage as your parents wanted you to marry a man much older than you (which is why Noel decided to marry you so young.) And years after coming out of poverty Noel has remarried you in the best possible way.

[suburbanbeatnik]

Catriona Fergusson never expected to wind up in a London workhouse, but then, she never expected to be disowned by her family or to become a married man’s mistress. Falling pregnant when her protector believes he cannot father children is simply the latest calamity to strike her. Turned out of her home and stripped of funds, she has few choices and fewer friends. Recently elected to the House of Commons, Noel Langston is on a mission to reform England’s cruel treatment of the poor, especially women and children. So when he stumbles upon the pregnant mistress of his bitterest political rival during a visit to a workhouse, he sees an opportunity to fulfill his goals…and to ruffle the feathers of her former protector. First comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Can love come last? The frontispiece for the brand NEW book by Jackie Barbosa in the House of Uncommons series!

Amazon Kindle

Kobo

Google Play

Nook

Apple

[showtoonzfan]

If you’re not familiar with the musical “Ride The Cyclone” and it’s current script situation with one of its main characters, this post is not for you! Thank you!

So I understand the “Ride the Cyclone” Fandom is really upset, including me ESPECIALLY and we all have a right to be, but I think at the same time, we all need to realize these four things regarding the “Ricky Potts script change” situation: Keep in mind I am NOT disabled so I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I do want to share important things that I think most of the fandom needs to acknowledge:

Despite the change being an unnecessary piss poor decision and a HUGE downgrade compared to what the script was like before, we need to acknowledge that Ricky STILL has a disability. He may not have the same one he had before, but being mute from trauma is in fact a disability. I say this because everyone keeps saying he’s no longer disabled and that’s just not true. Again, it was still a bad change but his disability wasn’t completely erased like everyone keeps saying.

Disability representation in theater and casting more actors with said disability’s is something that NEEDS to be spoken up about, but harassing the creators and actors are NOT the way to do it. If you’re just telling the crew to off themselves and painting them as one note monsters, that is not getting anyone anywhere, and not helping.

Speaking of portraying people as one note, some of y’all honestly need to stop painting Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond (the writers of the original script) as irredeemable monsters. Again, this issue in theater is something that desperately NEEDS to be spoken up about, and voices need to be heard, but as much as I hate to say it, we really DON’T know all the details on why the script was changed. We don’t know what was going through the writers heads, we DON’T know the full story, so seeing everyone say the writers changed it simply because they were ableist and nothing else are just jumping to conclusions way too early. Regardless if you think they’re truly ableist or not, regardless if you’ve lost all respect for them, these writers are still PEOPLE at the end of the day, and people make mistakes. There is always room to grow, there is always room to learn and improve. We need to actually speak up and inform them that this change was not a good one, instead of just screaming at them, sending threats and calling them ableist pieces of shit, something that I’ve seen SO many people do and it’s an issue. It’s hard to actually IMPROVE yourself when everyone is just calling you bad names and not seeing you as a layered person.

At this point of making this post, people really need to stop arguing with Kholby Wardwell (actor for Noel Gruber) on twitter. I don’t care if you like him, I don’t care if you don’t like him……STOP….arguing with him. I shouldn’t say everyone is, but there are a few, and there’s no point guys, stop harassing him. He’s made it clear on how he feels about all of this, and its obvious at this point, nobody can change his mind on his viewpoints. People also need to stop calling him ableist as well, because if you’ve read his twitter thread, you can tell he never had malicious intent. Of course I’m not excusing some of the way he worded or said things, but again, these issues for the RTC crew as a whole need to stop being viewed with a one note lens. While it’s not hard to say “theater needs to hire more disabled actors and make it accessible for them”- it’s ALSO not hard to NOT see everything as black and white, mainly the motivations behind the writers and actors. These are all things that need to coexist within the fandom, and people also need to stop pressuring the others to speak on this subject. Again, when you speak up about an important subject matter like this, doing it with aggression is not the way to go.

With all of that said, this script change has heavily disappointed me, even hurt me. I personally thought it was perfectly okay for Ricky to be a kid who got a degenerate disease at 6 years old and lost his ability to walk and talk, but somehow the writers felt the need to change it. It was unnecessary in my opinion, because I felt like the script wasn’t really the issue, it was casting able bodied actors as disabled characters, and getting rid of Ricky’s crutches five minutes into the show. That, as well as treating his disability as a joke, mainly the comments by Ocean. These were all criticisms the show has gotten over the years, so it hurts to see that what we got was the writers idea of “improving” that. Instead of “improving” it however, it felt more like they erased the issue so they wouldn’t get controversy and could avoid the problem, without putting in the effort. HOWEVER, despite that I don’t truly feel like that was the writers intentions. For now, I’ll give the writers the benefit of the doubt, because I do believe that they truly felt like they were helping and encouraging the disabled community, even if the outcome didn’t turn up that way. Again, we STILL don’t know the full story, so I sincerely hope Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond come out with an official statement soon giving us the full insight to why they did what they did, since the new script has gotten so much backlash. It’s clear this change has done more harm than good, and with respect, I hope the writers can be educated and more open minded to why their idea wasn’t the best at all. I have always praised the writing of this musical, I haven’t been in the fandom that long but it has become one of my current favorite musicals of all time, and Ricky Potts has always been a character I adored, and he deserves SO much better. For all of this to happen because of one huge fuckup, hurts. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing. We all want disabled people to be treated like human beings, with respect, and have more accessibility, not just in theater, but EVERYWHERE. We all have a right to be mad, we all have a right to speak up, and I just hope that as a society we all can educate one another without it being taken too far. I sincerely wish the fandom, the writers, everyone, can bounce back from all of this, and society improves as a whole when it comes to the disabled. I will still continue to enjoy Ride the Cyclone, and watch it over and over because no script change can get in the way of my enjoyment of the show. With that said, things NEED to change, and I especially hope the Mccarter Theater gets the consequences to their horrendous action of illegally firing it’s only disabled actor. With that said, feel free to say your thoughts, feel free to disagree, I just needed to get this all out. Thank you for reading.

[texasinnersmile]

things about Some Might Say by Oasis that make me think it's one of the most profound songs ever written:

it's not just about hope but about people who quite literally cannot afford to not hope. "some might say they don't believe in heaven; go and tell it to the man who lives in hell." it's so profound for its time because a) it clashes with the nihilism of so many other 90s bands, like nirvana and b) it was written during the miserable post-thatcher years in britain, during which the divide between rich and poor got bigger, there were cruel conservative policies, and general dissociation by the youth from their newly materialistic society. to be so boldly optimistic about the world and life generally, especially with noel growing up in the surroundings he did (more on that later), is, to me, an immaculate display of the human ability to endure and survive, but also, thrive, during hard times.

"some might say you get what you've been given; if you don't get yours I won't get mine as well" - i see this as a lyric reflecting some kind of brotherhood, either literal (noel and liam) or the 'society' thatcher told us didn't exist. noel says: my brother should get what i get, and if he doesn't, then we live in a bit of a fucked up world, don't we? and like: yeah!!!!! fucking yeah!!

noel wrote this having endured severe childhood abuse from his father, so much so that he was left with a stammer. his mother had to leave with him and his brothers in the night and even after the brothers were famous the dad would haunt them and torment them, culminating in that famous incident in the hotel when he just showed up and liam threatened to break his legs. and yet it was in the wake of this trauma that noel writes a song like 'yeah im in hell and it sucks but heaven exists and you're an idiot if you think it doesn't.' remarkable

'you made no preparation for my reputation once again' is literally a baller fucking lyric and the way liam delivers it is...i'm sorry for the cliche....biblical

nonsense lyrics like 'my dog's been itchin' in the kitchen once again' being alongside all this. we get it noel you like the beatles

[northern-passage]

clem is such an interesting character and so different from what i usually see in IFs like I've yet to see an RO who is scared of everything? in a world of girlbosses and mansplainers we need the clems

thank you!

i'm glad that they feel different :-) when i started tnp, a lot of romance stories, especially fantasy or supernatural, tended to put the mc in Clementine's role. there are exceptions now, of course, i'm not trying to make a broad statement, especially since within IF that's actually something that's changed a lot over the years, but i definitely wanted the mc in tnp to be the competent, protective, "mysterious stranger" type, which is an archetype that used to (typically) go exclusively to love interests.

which means that we get to have poor little meow meows like Clementine as our love interests, instead :-) i also really like having Clem as a bit of balance, because they're life has been so different from everyone else's - Merry is a career criminal, and we've seen that she has no hesitation getting nasty and violent, while Noel, Lea, and the hunter have all been entrenched in the Order for their entire lives, with all of them also being very familiar with violence and comfortable with it or at the very least indifferent towards it.

even though Clementine is running from something, and is just as much as a fugitive as Noel, compared to the others, they really are the "normal" one, who just had their life upturned by running into a group of hardened fighters and criminals. or at least, upturned in a different way than it already was.... we'll get to see their reaction in the second half of chapter 2, but Clementine deals with what happened in Blackwater very differently than everyone else, because it's not like something they've ever really experienced before.

[happy-lemon]

No Rules Legacy - Favorite Generational Gameplay

The margin between one and ten was really, really slim. I loved this legacy from start to finish, and there were no boring generations for me. I especially loved exploring parts of the game I'd never tried before. This is a long one, so 👇

GENERATION 6 - I'd never really explored the equestrian aspects of the Pets EP, and playing with Alexandra and Buran brought out my latent inner horse girl in a big way.

GENERATION 8 - I'd also never tried the singer career of Showtime (or really any of Showtime tbh) and there was no better sim to guide the way than Fable Solomon. Pairing her with a hot former Grim Reaper was also fun, but helping her become a pop sensation was a blast.

GENERATION 1 - Nara got the legacy off on a wild foot with all her university shenanigans. Because I typically pair my OC sims with Jeffery Dean, I really wanted her to end up with Jacob Salaman, but he was the literal worst. Still, it was fun to watch their lust-hate relationship implode. And Jeffery got the girl in the end.

GENERATION 3 - Daisy wins the prize for making me laugh the hardest at any gameplay ever. All I wanted was for her to have three kids with three guys and then choose one as a spouse. Instead, she had two sets of twins and two more kids with the three guys. And the best of them hated children. Her generation was pure chaos every second and I loved it.

GENERATION 7 - The subplot with resurrecting Anna was me, trying to write myself out of a corner, and it was bonkers. But Keahi raising Fable on his own was incredibly special. And maybe some of my best writing. IDK.

GENERATION 2 - Kana and Noel's outdoor lot was my first attempt at off-grid play and it was great fun. I loved their relationship, loved watching Noel rise through the ranks at the restaurant, and Kana was the cutest little pregnant mama I've ever seen.

GENERATION 10 - Despite kind of rushing it at the end because my save was so unstable, Dylan's generation was great. I loved giving him a lifelong friend group at college and exploring all the different ITF futures, which I'd never really done before.

GENERATION 9 - Scuba diving is my absolute favorite in-game activity and it was really great to see the diving career through to the end for once, and Mara loved diving more than anything.

GENERATION 4 - I hadn't ever gone beyond casual nectar making, so that was pretty cool. In achieving her lifetime wish, Noelle made a LOT of wine, so I sold off most of it as the generations progressed. But Dylan still has one bottle of every nectar she made and some of them are worth a small fortune.

GENERATION 5 - Poor Mateo didn't really have a lot to do. It took him almost no time at all to collect the minor pets, and because he was a loner, having an actual job stressed him out. He was happy spending time with his family and it was lovely, even though it wasn't the most exciting gameplay.

[cachu302]

The ToQger crossover was leagues better than the Go-Onger crossover. Genba’s obsession to defeat Disrace paralleled Akira’s desire to find his place to die so damn well! And getting Right actually fighting alongside the Boonboomgers was the best, especially the line-changing into Mio and Hikari’s colors! Why we couldn’t have that with Sosuke will be something I will nitpick forever.

Speaking of Akira, Boonboomger is doing a very poor job of convincing me Sakito and Byun D are trying to be a separate group from the core Boonboomger team. It’s an issue that I feel Sentai does seldomly very well in recent years, in establishing the extra heroes as separate entities from the core team. Either they immediately become a member of the team (Shinken Gold, Gokai Silver, Zyuoh the World), or they spend two or three episodes beefing with the core team before joining for real, then a later episode (around the 38 to 42 mark) actually has them join for real for real. In the case of Akira, he established himself as a separate party from the ToQgers and maintained that distance from them very easily, even coming into conflict with them due to a promise he made with Schwartz. And when he returned, it really felt like he joined for real.

Comparing that to Sakito, who unfortunately falls into the group of sixths who kinda… exist, a la Kiramai Silver, LuPat X, Don Dragoku/Torabolt. They all have really interesting backstories that are either not explored much, or they don’t matter in the long run. We haven’t really had many scenes where Sakito gets to be a cleaner, and he’s just there as the Boonboomger’s sixth. He’s beefing with Genba because… they’re both technically extraterrestrials(?).

Some examples of this kind of dynamic that Sentai has done well are with Shurikenger, Twokaiser, and Starninger. Zox and his family never identified themselves as Zenkaigers, despite being on friendly terms with them, and Kinji was introduced explicitly as a separate party from the Igasaki clan before being induced as an apprentice. Shurikenger especially worked well, due to his gimmick of borrowing faces and appearances. He was more of a shadow mentor to both the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers, and didn’t consider himself a member of the team until Lady Gozen was killed.

Sakito feels like missed potential, similar to Noel from LuPat. The show couldn’t really keep X from staying neutral, and ended up making him a permanent member of the thieves despite his main selling point. Hell, he even took the Siren Striker away from the Patrangers.

If you’re enjoying Boonboomger, all the power to you.

[nijigasakilove]

It’s over 😢 thankfully we have the manga. Perfect finale episode. Got everything that makes this show so good. Not a ton of competition for the spot, but this is harem of the season.

Shintaro and the girls joining in on Lili’s summoning ritual was unexpected, but fun. Of course they summon Shiu 😂 but now we know Lili ain’t a crack at least.

Would not be a summer vacation without going to the beach and ending the night with some fireworks. Warmed my heart seeing everyone so happy and just enjoying being together. All these eccentric characters who seemingly couldn’t be more different coming together and becoming genuine friends is just awesome. I hope everyone can find that in life, myself included.

Poor Tsumugi still getting last name zoned 💀 but in a way that’s something unique she shares with Shintaro since everyone else calls him by first name lol.

Very fitting we end the episode off with one last date for Towa and Shintaro. Towa looked gorgeous in her Yukata and the Senso-Ji scene was so cute! Anyone who’s been there especially in the summer on a weekend knows how packed that place can be!

And what better way to repay Shintaro than with an amazing aerial tour of Tokyo at night. Just a really heartwarming end to this, but I’m so sad to see it go 😢

Noel best girl!