#Fashion Franchise Opportunity

[hattedhedgehog]

I had the honour of attending the press event for Dragon Age: The Veilguard last week and I had an absolute BLAST. Getting to play the game one final time before launch and seeing how far it's come was incredibly emotional and wonderful. It was very special to meet so many cool people from different places who were equally as passionate about the franchise. It was also a fun opportunity to modify part of my Dorian cosplay to wear as modern Tevinter fashion, in the spirit of the new game locations! - The content embargo for sharing game capture lifts September 19th and I am super excited to share sneak peeks. Fear not, our game capture was restricted to very specific things (none of us want players to be spoiled) and so I won't be posting narrative spoilers or anything that isn't being shared already by official sources.

[tsukii0002]

RAD headcanons

Thanks to a tawdry publication I was able to read comments and opinions about why demons go to school and it left me thinking about it for days…. So here goes the headcanon resulting from that meditation about RAD.

Long text is coming!!

Headcanon on the structure, politics and history of the RAD!

The RAD is a recent new institution, established some time after the war.

Most of the nobles, the court and other powers of Devildom opposed or objected to this new institution.

Diavolo was also supported by many intellectuals and power figures (poets, sorcerers…)

So once the RAD was in place, Diavolo's identity as leader of the Devildom was consolidated (whatever the prince said went without saying).

Now, if Diavolo and Barbatos are among the most powerful demons... why aren't they teachers? Well, because in the society of the demons each type of demon had a function, they were super specialized.

In a manner of speaking, demons know a lot about their own and nothing about other things. For example the incubi and succubi were specialized in manipulation magic or curses that stole vital energy, while they did not know about potions or other types of curses (super specialization) .

Therefore, one of the goals of the RAD was to have experts in any subject to teach ALL demons about that subject. Barbatos may know a lot about potions but surely there would be a demon who would have dedicated their entire life to the art of potions and would be superior to the butler in that aspect.

This would explain why the "bosses" are Diavolo and the brothers, but they are not teachers but students.

Although Diavolo is a "student" everything must be reviewed and approved by the prince in order to move forward.

Considering that there would probably be a very wide range of the population in which age means nothing, we have teachers that are younger than some students.

This brings us to the next point, the RAD is an institution that seeks, in a way, social equality. By providing the opportunity for demons to have a general education, it frees them from having to follow a particular profession.

And this gives rise to a modernization of society with the emergence of new professions and companies such as Corvo or food and fashion franchises, models, magazines, amusement parks…

So a minor demon does not have to dedicate himself to what a minor demon used to dedicate himself to and can dedicate himself to something different, like cooking for example.

The RAD allowed Devildom to break out of the traditional structure that dominated the pre-Davolo reigns.

All with the intention of pursuing his dream, before achieving equality among the three kingdoms he will have to achieve equality among the people of his own kingdom.

With that said, we move on to the fact that RAD is one of the fundamental pillars for the aspirations of our demonic golden retrier: to break the taboos and myths of the Celestial Realm and the human world.

And there is no better way than education.

Diavolo's dream goes in steps, first we teach how the celestial realm works, then we try to establish bonds of cordiality, then that angels are not so threatening and then we bring in an Angel (humans are easier).

To achieve this, a school that is teaching the truth is essential.

Surely the RAD has also taken examples from the Celestial realm or from human educational institutions to create a unique institution that encompasses something of the three worlds, hence the various contacts with witches, wizards and other creatures.

Solomon helped to create the first curricula, zero evidence but no doubt.

As many of you commented, living a very long life means having to be constantly learning, imagine human society how fast it advances (evidence in season 3) in order to keep up with it is necessary to keep learning.

Also there were many reigns, a lot of history prior to what we know, to unravel all that and teach you that history it takes time, new inventions, new contributions or corrections of what is already known...

However, the RAD is divided into blocks, for basic studies, medium studies and advanced studies (which would be where our demons and ourselves are), according to what each student wants to learn.

Attendance at the RAD is not obligatory for demons, only those who aspire to certain jobs, such as historian, professor or politician have to have specific mandatory training.

In the RAD the youngest demons are those equivalent to 12 or 13 years old. Luke is a clear example (I'd like to write about his interactions with demons his age, Mephisto's brother perhaps?)

It took Mc months to understand the structure of the RAD because of its complexity and apparent meaninglessness.

Barbatos attends only the classes he likes.

Diavolo goes to all the classes because he wants to experience the most normal life possible, as some of you commented.

Lucifer attends almost more tutorials with teachers for problems caused by his siblings than he does classes.

Only Barbatos, Diavolo and Lucifer can leave class whenever they want, the other brothers need permission for special situations.

Solomon has pacts with a professor or two, and the tension in his classes are fun to watch.

Mc has been and continues to be lost in the RAD.

Diavolo will try to incorporate any funny events from the human world (thanks MC) even if they are preschoolers.

In short, to say that the RAD is an institution that goes hand in hand with the government and attacking it means attacking Diavolo's reign.

If you have come this far thank you very much, I know that a brick like this is hard to swallow, (re-reading it I have decided that soon I could write the constitution of Devildom XD)

Again thank you very much for reading and I would love to read your headcanon about the RAD, its students, teachers, etc. …. Best wishes.

.

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[fantasylandbitch]

Summary: For the next four days you started preparing for the Sunday meeting you had coming up so you prepared by making a PowerPoint, Designs, and Color palettes based on some of the information your client had sent you through your email but what you didn't account for on Sunday was an urgent phone call from Sam.

Warnings: Cussing, Blood, Longing, Long Chapter,

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 2.5  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 4.5  Chapter 5 Chapter 5.5 Chapter 6 Chapter 6.5 Chapter 7 Chapter 7.5 Chapter 8 Chapter 8.5 Chapter 9 (Chapter 9.5 Coming Soon)

When Sunday arrived, you got up early and did your morning routine, you went to the bathroom before shortly getting dressed for your meeting at a little restaurant called Rancho Tequileria that's located on the Upper West Side of NYC. Upon getting out of your bedroom you pack away your laptop, a flash drive, and earbuds in your suitcase just in case there was a change in your plans and while doing so, you requested for an Uber to come to pick you up. When you were willing, you headed for the front door, locking it in the process before leaving the apartment building while you waited for your Uber. You take the opportunity to change your phone setting from silent to vibrate before looking at your notifications list.

"I guess this is what happens when you go MIA Y/n," you say to yourself before briefly looking around when you notice Sam had left a video message so you swipe the screen, and before you can press the play button your Uber arrives with a honk making you jump.

"Are you Y/n?" the driver asks, looking at his phone when you switch applications to see his information before replying to him.

"Yes I am" and he nods, waving his arm, letting you know you can get in, so you open the back passenger door to get in before you tell the driver where to go. While on the drive, you look at your phone again, and this time you open your suitcase to get your earbuds to connect to your phone, and once connected you place one earbud to your ear so you can listen to the video.

The first thing you see is Sam's face in the camera causing you to smile softly at your phone.

"Tara, am I doing this right?" she asked her little sister. 

Then Tara's face comes into view with a 'Are you serious?' look making you laugh before Tara turns to her sister "You have to press this button, Sam" she shows her older sister, as the camera started recording from the front camera now.

Then you hear a soft "Oh, thanks" from Sam, and for some reason that little line makes you smile even more as you look out the window to distract yourself from feeling overjoyed.

Then the video draws you back in as you hear a man mumbling a voice that was unfamiliar to you and it felt like Sam heard you because she shows you who it is.

"Detective Bailey," you say his name "You look like you'd be a Die Hard fan," you say to yourself as the camera moves away from Bailey to a big room and your jaw drops at the sight.

There are display cases littered all across the room in an organized fashion and Sam scans each one that interests her with her phone. "They’ve got the whole goddamn franchise" you hear Mindy say causing Sam to look over at her before Sam moves her phone camera to Kirby’s figure and you watch as your sister-in-law’s hand touches a blue flannel shirt which makes you remember the time that she felt safe enough to tell you about her ex-best friend.

Suddenly you start to realize why your sister-in-law asked you if you were free four days ago, and why you weren’t with Sam and Tara after you guys had been attacked at their apartment. Kirby asked you if you were free not because she wanted you to hang out with her but because she was afraid of losing a little sister to the darkness, having her past repeat itself, and she doesn’t want to lose another best friend to Ghost Face. This realization caused you to tear up because you didn’t think you would be so important in someone’s life like this, if at all, before you got distracted by Sam’s elevated breathing causing your eyes to be glued to your phone again.

You watch as Sam walks up to what you assume was the middle display case on a stage before the camera is lowered and you read at the bottom of the case “Billy Loomis.” 

The last name Loomis makes your ears perk up as you remember hearing that name coming out of your second eldest brother Tomas's mouth like Billy Loomis had done something to him personally before you watched Sam tuck away her phone. But she didn't tuck her phone in a way that you couldn't see what she was doing. In fact, you think she forgot she still had her phone recording "Why does that display case have your attention Sam?" you questioned.

Then you see Sam look at the glass with a look that resembles maybe curiosity, wariness, or a hint of something dark, you weren't sure. Then you hear Sam say "Fuck, no" as if there were another person near her as your eyes scan what little area you can see for the assailant before you watch Sam look directly at the display case but this time it was a look of temptation as you watch her put her hand the display case.

"What are you doing?" 

You hear Tara ask and suddenly you can breathe again not realizing you were holding your breath as Sam's phone fell to the floor making you jump.

“I got it," Tara says as you watch her pick up Sam’s phone before she continues her thoughts “I’ll send the video to Y/n for you” before ending the video.

After the video was done you look away from your phone to process what happened as you look around the Uber car that you were in before putting your earbuds away in your suitcase and your phone in your pocket as you arrive at your destination. As you get out of the car you go to the app and give your driver five stars because he earned it with all of the traffic and having sick Lofi music in the background while driving before waving at him as he left the curb when you turned around to go into the restaurant.

Now because you were early to arrive you decided to head in to get a seat for you and your client. "Hello, how can I help you today?" a Hostess asked you and you smiled.

"Hi I was wondering if I can get a table for two?" you asked and the Hostess nodded with a smile before looking over her shoulder where a waitress was able to help you find your table.

"Follow me miss," the waitress says as you follow her "My name is Bella and I'll be your waitress this morning,"  Bella says to you when you stopped near a table for two that is by the window. Before Bella leaves she says "Have a great breakfast with your partner" and you smiled awkwardly nodding and mouthing a thank you to her as you waited for your client who didn’t take long to arrive at the meeting as you were setting up your laptop.

“Oh my god, I apologize for taking so long, getting here was hell with all that traffic” 

You hear a woman say to you as you look up from your laptop to reply “Not a problem, I actually think your earl-” You started before you were cut off by the women’s beauty as your eyes examined her outfit. You notice she was wearing a rose silk blouse that revealed her cleavage and black suit pants that hugged her hips as you get a whiff of her powdery musk perfume and suddenly you think you’ve underdressed. “You must be Melanie Rodriguez correct? I got your email stating that you wanted to set up a business website but are having a hard time figuring out what design and layout you’re looking for.”

Melanie nods as she sits down smiling at how slightly nervous you look. “That is correct, I am currently running a small business called Slay the Day and I am looking to expand it in the future by making a website to gain further revenue and clients.” She says as you briefly look at her and nod with a hum as she examines what you were wearing, she licks her lips at your black turtleneck and black bra underneath them as her eyes wandered down your legs seeing your green tailored jogger pants before bringing her eyes to your face “You know Luna didn’t tell me that the person helping her build her business would be so inviting.”

At first, you smile at the mention of Luna’s name because you consider Luna and her wife Erika as your aunties, even though they aren’t related to you but they have mentioned time and time again how they’ve unofficially officially adopted you into their family from the moment you had worked for them while you were in Blackmore. “Yeah, Luna is a great woman, cook, and wife. The same goes for her wife Erika she knows how to really bake and she also makes a mean cup of joe at their little shop in Lower Manhattan. They’re actually hoping to expand their shop in a few months which I’m excited about” you say with a bright smile as you look up from your laptop to show Melanie what designs you had made for her before asking her more questions about her business, not picking up what she was trying to suggest. And for the few hours of your meeting drinking coffee and eating breakfast at the restaurant you never noticed once that Melani was checking you out and constantly licking her lips as she eyed you nor registered her words as being flirty. But the whole time she believes you weren’t just being nice to her but instead just giving her a really good chase that kept her at the edge of her seat.

While your friends in lower central park could not say the same as Sam and Tara walked around the park together constantly looking around and examining anyone and everyone who could be Ghost Face while your sister-in-law sat in a truck with the rest of your friends and talked to Bailey every now and again for updates. Then Sam gets a call to her phone making her pull her phone from her pocket to see who it when Richie’s face appeared, so she answers the phone while her little sister got closer to her to listen in “You're gonna die, you know” Sam quipped when Ghost Face laughed over the phone.

“No, your gonna die Samantha, choking on your own blood while I hack up your sister and that bitch of yours!” Ghost Face yells through the phone causing Sam to lock eyes with her sister while Kirby grinds her teeth while also trying to find Ghost Face’s location. 

“Unless we find you first asshole,” Sam says gripping her phone tightly, finding it rather tempting to make Ghost Face eat his words and cough up his own blood for making threats towards her little sister and you.

“You know for a mastermind you're not very bright. Just. Waiting for me. To call.” Ghost Face says making the last of his sentence stretch to keep Sam focused on his voice as he laughed again. “Desperately hoping I’m nearby so the police can grab me? Samantha how pathetic” Ghost Face continues. “But guess what. I’m not nearby Samantha, in fact, I’m one step ahead” making Sam stop in her tracks as she wonders who he could be targeting next “Be seeing you very soon, Samantha” Ghost Face ends the call.

“Kirby, did you get that?” Sam says with concern as she waits for an answer.

“Yep. I’m getting this fuckers location right now” Kirby says moving her fingers quickly across the keyboard “H-He’s on the Upper West Side. In an apartment building, halfway across the city.”

“On West 96?” Tara questioned making a guess.

“How did you know that?” Kirby says with surprise while she looked at the map before searching for your location before her hands stopped.

“That’s because Gale lives there,” Sam says as she starts running with her sister down a path and not too far behind them Detective Bailey, “I have a friend, Danny who works on the Upper West Side,” she says pulling out her phone “He might be able to get there before we do.”

But Detective Bailey disagrees “Yeah, or he could be there to finish killing Gale off,” he says making Sam and Tara look at each other as they keep running “Sam take a minute we don’t know if he's actually there! We need to do this the right way!” he yells.

And Sam stops to yell at Bailey “WE DON’T HAVE A MINUTE!” stopping him in his tracks because she’s not interested in losing another person in her life not when she sees Gale as another potential mother figure when Tara calls her over.

“Sam! Get in!” she says with a smirk as Sam runs to the police car before rolling up the window disregarding anything Bailey has to say to her and her sister.

“Should we use the sirens?” Sam asks as a smile danced on her lips making her sister smile nodding when Kirby chimes into the headset.

“Sam as much as I would hate to request this, how about you call Y/n she should be nearby the apartment” Kirby talks through the mic while Tara turned on the sirens, Sam’s smile falls as she looks at her sister before looking down.

“I’ll give her a call and I also gave Mindy Y/n’s keys” Sam informs Kirby as Kirby retrieves your keys from Mindy as they round up Chad and Ethan into your car, Tara looks over at her sister before driving out of there. Then Sam pulls her phone to call you as Tara looks over before correcting her driving as she almost hits another car “Keep your eyes on the road, Tara” Sam says to her little sister a little annoyed and ansty as she goes to her contacts to find your information, not hesitating to call you “Pick up Y/n. Please pick up your phone...come on baby answer me” she says desperately to herself.

Not realizing what time it was until you looked outside, you felt that it was pretty late. You looked at your phone as it read 6:10 pm and you were thinking ‘How did this meeting go on for this long?’ perhaps it was because you were getting a free meal out of it plus a drink or maybe you were enjoying the company, you weren't sure. In fact, you slowly started picking up certain flirtatious words and suggestions that Melanie was giving you which would make any woman swoon but not you, internally you were freaking out, it felt like you were cheating. Because this woman wasn’t your Sam you thought as you looked at the scarring on your left hand remembering Sam’s touch and it was like the universe had heard you because your phone vibrates in your pocket and you go to answer it “Sam?”

“Oh thank god! Y/n I need your help!” Sam talks urgently over the phone and you notice this and try to calm her down so you can understand what she has to say to you.

“Sam honey calm down, tell me what you need me to do?” you say to Sam not realizing that you said ‘honey’ in your sentence as your heart begins to race to hearing her talk while the woman across from you pays for the check.

“I need you to go to Gale’s apartment on West 96. She lives in a high-rise apartment…” Sam says her voice dying off while stressing out and you nod to every word she says as you pack up your things.

“I’m on it,” you say to her before getting off the phone and thanking your client “Thanks for dinner Melanie. I’ll get working on your website as soon as possible” and she nods, smiling at you while watching you leave the restaurant as you left with your suitcase running up Amsterdam Ave to get to Gale’s apartment. Upon arriving there you ask the desk agent to hold onto your suitcase as you run up the stairs to get to her apartment room while your legs screamed at you to stop but you didn’t let your body win this time as you finally got to Gale’s floor turning the corner. When you got closer to Gale’s room, you notice that the door is slightly open making you stop in your tracks as you hear a ringing noise in your ears as you tried to slow your breathing down before proceeding to enter her apartment, upon entering you walk passed a door with bullet holes in it while you see the carnage that Ghost Face left behind in front of you before your ears picked up on someone struggling beyond the hallway.

“Fuck You!” you hear Gale’s voice when you notice Ghost Face on top of her making you look around the room frantically when you notice a gun on the floor, picking it up before making your presence known.

“Hey, Asshole!'' You screamed pointing the gun at Ghost Face and as he ran away from Gale’s body, you shot at him, some of your shots missing as you walked around the couch to get to Gale before taking three more shots emptying the gun as all three bullets successfully hit Ghost Face’s back as you kneeled down. Before you attend to Gale, you point the empty gun down the exit that Ghost Face took making sure he doesn’t come back to surprise you, before you hear footsteps running down the hallway you took moments ago, pointing the empty gun there momentarily, placing it down when your eyes land on Sam and Tara as you sigh with relief as they ran over to you and Gale.

“Gale? Gale!” Sam screams coming over to kneel next to Gale, tears already forming at the corner of her eyes while you put aside your differences with Tara to focus on Sam.

“Sam, I need you to listen to me okay?” you say to her as she looks up from Gale to lock eyes with your own “Remember when we watched Keep Breathing together?” Sam gave you a questioning look before she understood what you were asking before getting up to get supplies while Tara looked at you like you were fucking nuts. “Tara, I need you to get me some rags from the kitchen and bathroom” and she nods knowing what she has to do, running over to the kitchen for rags before going to the bathroom to get some more before Tara and Sam regrouped with you.

“What are you trying to do Y/n?” Tara questions you as you take a thin cloth from Sam wrapping the cloth 5 inches above Gale’s thigh wound.

“I’m making a tourniquet, '' you say, making Sam cry and laugh at you before handing you a piece of the shelf not far from you three.

“Why would you remember that?” Sam says, looking at you as you stayed focused on Gale’s leg before turning the wood cylinder and stuffing it in the cloth again to keep it from getting loose as Gale got Sam’s attention.

“Sam,” Gales says as Sam holds her hand “Tell Sidney..” she continues as her breath becomes shallow.

“Tara hand me the rags,” you ask her as she hands the rags to you so you can apply pressure to Gale’s side “Stay with us Gale,” you say as your eyes start to tear up because you can feel something changing in the room as Tara looks at you.

“Tell Sidn-...Tell Sidney that he didn’t get me..” she says as you three saw how Gale’s eyes started to flutter close “Tell her, he never got me” she says last before losing consciousness making Sam sob over her body when you looked up to see a pair of paramedics come into the room, only getting up so they can take over. But Sam wasn’t leaving Gale’s side, because she couldn’t leave her knowing that she had hurt another person who was close to her, making her sob even more as her little sister tried to pull her away but she wouldn’t budge so you quickly walked around the paramedics to help.

“Sam...Sam,” you say her name a few times before you pull her up with Tara’s help “We need to let them do their job,” you say softly as you hold her hand to comfort her.

“We got a weak pulse,” a paramedic says before they turned to their partner “Get the backboard” they ended as the paramedic’s partner got up to get it.

The confirmation causes Sam to nod her head in understanding that Gale will be okay as she turns to you, searching for your eyes before squeezing your hand as she can feel your hand shaking in hers. You respond to Sam squeezing your hand with a squeeze back as you take a deep breath before you turned to look at her with soft eyes, Sam stares at you with her big brown orbs as they started to get glassy again making you pull her into you as she holds you tightly crying into your shoulder. After an hour, you guys went down to the lobby to regroup with your friends but when you entered Mindy, Chad, and Ethan’s view they were surprised to see you but you noticed how Ethan looked mad at you as you followed Tara’s figure to the lobby’s couch before Sam sat next to a plant. Then you remembered that you left your suitcase with the desk agent and your sudden movement to get it made Sam look for you, and when you retrieved your suitcase you decided you would sit on one of the couches behind Sam closer to the elevator when Sam grabbed your wrist before getting up to follow you into the next room.

“I’m glad you came when you did,” Sam tells you in a soft tone as she examines your features after you had placed your suitcase down and took hold of her hand again but this time you're rubbing them.

“You called Sam, how could I say no,” you say looking up at her eyes and smiling before looking down at her hand.

Sam then begins to mirror you but the only difference is that she takes notice of what you're wearing like the black turtle neck that is pressed against your body from sweating, the outline of your bra, and the green tailored jogger pants that look relaxing to wear but hug your waist just right. The sight causes Sam to stare at you for a few minutes until she breathes through her nose catching a strange perfume on you “Y/n were you with anyone when I called you?” Sam asked, worried that someone took your heart before she did. 

Her question caused you to look up at her “Uh yeah I was with a woman named Melanie earlier she owns a store around here called Slay the Day...I was meeting with her at a restaurant nearby, why?”

“Because you don’t normally smell this bad,” she says poking fun at you without insulting you and you smile before playfully punching her stomach. The impact of your fist made you short-circuit because you didn’t think she was built like that, you end up touching the skin that was exposed. 

“Wow…what is your workout routine?” you asked Sam with genuine curiosity while you touched her midsection poking it and pressing it with your fingers at her muscles.

But Sam couldn’t answer you, she was too consumed by the feeling of your fingers touching what little skin is exposed between her shirt and pants relishing in this feeling as she finds it makes her want to kiss you even more while she slowly inches closer to you until you took your hand away when Sam lifted her head to see Danny walking through the entrance doors. 

“Hey. Hey,” he says running into the building when he spots you and Sam walk into the main part of the lobby together. “I got here as fast as I could,” Danny says next before looking at your hands “Why do you have blood on your hands?” he questions as everyone looks at your hands.

“Y/n was helping Me and Tara keep Gale alive until the paramedics arrive..that's why she has blood on her hands,” Sam says putting herself in front of you considering that Danny tried to attack you a few days ago and he knows that too as he gave a nod.

“I want a truce” he continued putting his hands up before standing side by side with Sam and you as you three looked at your friends.  

"Where do we even go from here?" Chad says with concern as you can see the tiredness in his eyes as you do with Mindy and Tara.

“Isn't there a safe place we can hole up in?” Ethan says with both a tired and wired look in his eyes.

Then Danny gives a suggestion "You guys can hole up in my apartment if you want, the more people there, the less likely for the Ghost Fucker to appear" making everyone nod slowly.

"How do we know that you aren't the Ghost Face from earlier?" Tara asks while looking at Danny with a dark and tired stare. The look only causes Danny to straighten up to defend himself because he has evidence to back his claim.

"Because I was at work this whole time plus Sam's known me for almost a year now, emotionally and physically. I would also never hurt your sister" he says smiling a little before continuing "That's longer than she's known Y/n." Danny ends, making you reach for your neck to message out of discomfort, not because Sam knew Danny emotionally and physically but because Sam only regarded him as a friend whenever she would talk vaguely about him to you and not her boyfriend. Now due to the new information about Sam, you decided that you would sit down near Tara unintentionally hurting Sam's feelings at the loss of closeness before she looks over at Danny with a clenched jaw.

This gave Tara and Mindy food for thought as they were both thinking 'Then why did Sam call Y/n and not you cute boy?' before looking at each other and then at you, as you look at the blood on your hands. 

Then Sam nods, weighing her options before looking at you, and before she could say anything you speak up "I think if it's okay with Sam and Tara I say you guys should hole up at Danny's place and figure out a plan" You say before looking at Sam and Tara as the Carpenter sisters look at each other nodding.

That was before Sam repeated what you had said back to herself in her head ‘I say you guys should hole up at Danny’s place’ Once again before she could say anything Tara beat her to the punch as she replayed the same message back in her own noggin. “Why the hell would you not come with us to this guy's apartment, Y/n?” she says, examining your features, only to recognize your sudden hesitation.

“Well for one Tara uh…there wouldn’t be enough room in my car if that is how you guys got here to begin with. Plus I wouldn’t want to..you know wouldn’t want him to feel claustrophobic in his own home” You say pulling all the stops. Tara wasn’t by all means stupid, in fact, she could tell by your eyes alone that you weren’t comfortable with the idea of being in Danny’s apartment if he was involved with Sam and this wasn’t the first time that you would relay to her that you were uncomfortable. Before all of this happened and before Tara decided to go to parties to drown herself in booze she would have to beg and schedule days for you so you can meet her friends  Mindy, Anika, Chad, and her sister Sam or at the very least hang out in her apartment for college assignments and relax afterward. But now, now it's different you were standoffish and cautious when you first met Tara growing out of it with time but now she sees that you're trying your hand at self-preservation all because Sam had hurt your feelings and Tara doesn’t know if she should throw hands with her sister or punch cute boy Danny in the dick.   

“Fine,” Tara says in defeat making Sam, Mindy, and Chad look at her with a ‘Are you fucking serious?’ look, nodding at you slowly to give you more time as she herself wants to take that time to figure out how to say sorry for being a horrible friend. 

Before Mindy attempts to give you back your keys “Here’s your keys kid” and you shake your head with a smile.

“You guys can keep it for a few more days” you say making Sam look at you with concern before you moved your head to look at her “Just incase you guys need to haul ass from the apartment and besides I had ordered an Uber to pick me up” you say before getting up to hug your friends except Danny but when it came to Sam you both held the others gaze. “Alright Sam your the last person to get that type of hug, how do you feel about that?” you say with a tired smile before Sam brings you into a bear hug as you do the same back.

Sam tells you “Text me when you get home please” in a low voice only for you to hear as you nod against her shoulder at her request as you both hesitate to let each other go and when you both do pull away from each other, you examine Sam’s face.

“I will and if you need someone to talk to, you know how to get in touch with me,” you say as you bring your hand up to stroke Sam’s cheek as she nodded, a gesture your friends know you wouldn’t do unless you really cared about them before you remove yourself from Sam to retrieve your suitcase from the other room, heading for the exit afterward.

All the while Sam watches your figure walk away from the group with a look of longing as you disappeared beyond the doorway before she turned her body to her sister and friends not noticing that Tara and Mindy who were both watching your interaction were finding it rather sickening that Sam is pining so hard for you.

But that didn't change the fact that Tara and Mindy who were now looking at each other weren't scheming to get you both together in the same room or at least closer in some way.

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 2.5  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 4.5  Chapter 5 Chapter 5.5 Chapter 6 Chapter 6.5 Chapter 7 Chapter 7.5 Chapter 8 Chapter 8.5 Chapter 9 (Chapter 9.5 Coming Soon)

Stay in my mentions crew: @daddy-carpenter @lummaland @screechcat @grandpatrolnut @octavias-next-meat-bite @fanboy7794 @werewolfbansheelove

MIA: Missing in Action

Scream 6 : A Love so Understanding Playlist

[icouldbeyourprettygirl]

May TC Challenge

I couldn't really find one for May and I'm super bored so here we go

How did your relationship start? Was it you who did most of the initiating?

How often do you think about them?

What kind of weather matches their vibes? What about yours?

May the fourth be with you! Do they have a favorite movie franchise? Do you?

Do you have a playlist dedicated to them? What are your favorite songs on it?

What's your go to fantasy/day dream about them?

If you had the opportunity, would you go on a date with them? (If they're married/taken, imagine their partner is out of the picture) If so, what would you want to do?

Do you dress up on the days you see them? How so?

What's your favorite memory with them?

Have you ever thought about a future with them?

Does your tc give you physical affection?

Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate! Have they ever told you anything about their family? Have you told them about yours?

Do any of your classmates have a crush on your tc?

What’s something you wished they knew about you without you having to tell them?

If your tc was invited to a wedding and asked you to be their plus one, what would you wear, and what would you want to see them in? (Theme of the wedding is up to you, so you can choose your outfits)

Do you have any photos of them? Either those that you've found on their social media or ones you've taken yourself?

Have you ever listened to break up songs/love songs and thought of them?

What style/haircut/tattoos/facial hair/etc do you think would suit them best?

Which color would you assign the feelings they give you? (Ex: happy -> yellow or something bright)

Which decade would they be best in? How about you? (Based on fashion, technology, art, music, the fun stuff.)

Have you ever run into them in public? (Or tried to?) How did it go?

What pushed you to create your blog?

If you could know anything about your tc, what would it be?

How do you think you’d react if they confessed their feelings to you?

Have you ever done/read/watched/listened to something you may not have been interested in because they like it?

If your tc was your age, would you date them? Do they have any red flags?

If your life was a book series/tv series/movie and you had a fan base, would your fans realistically ship you and your tc? (Got this one from TikTok lol because I love the thought)

What’s something that always makes you think of them?

Let’s chat for a sec! What’s something you’ve been dying to talk about regarding your tc?

Do you flirt with them? If so, how?? 👀

What’s something you’re manifesting happening between you two? (If you don’t manifest, what’s something you hope happens?)

[randomthefox]

Art, and the social experience of creating art, is one of the most deeply integrated themes of The World Ends With You. It is infused into the very mechanics of the game, let alone is front and center in the text of the narrative. You literally cannot analyze or define the story of this game without talking about art. Specifically, urban art. And how it speaks to the human condition of being social animals.

The first form of art it focuses on is Fashion. Wearing clothes used to be a way for humanity to protect itself from the elements, but it has evolved along with the development of our interactions within and without our known groups. To put it simply, fashion is how people express themselves. What you wear says something about who you are at a moments glance. It is the first thing you communicate about yourself to someone who doesn't know you, and to a stranger what you wear may be the most critical piece of information they are given about you as a person. The expression is Fashion STATEMENT for a reason.

And in the game fashion is a key element of the gameplay mechanics. The attacks you are able to use in combat come from Pins. The idea is that Neku is putting different pins on his clothes, up to six at a time, which can have different combination interactions that he can use in combat encounters. I.E. you can experiment with what articles of clothing compliment each other, and which ones clash, the same way you would when putting together a wardrobe. And as anyone who has visited a convention can tell you, someone walking around with a bunch of pins on their strap or clothing itself is a way for them to advertise what they're into, either as a general aesthetic or via association with a given franchise property depicted on the pin. Some people who've visited a con might even be able to say they did feel attacked by the pins they saw someone had on lol.

Of course you can also equip the characters with clothes, and logically the locations those clothes go on are significant. You can't wear two hats, you can't wear two sets of pants, ect. The clothes aren't just braindead stat increases for the playable characters, you have to "dress" them in a capacity that actually makes sense. And the clothes you can wear and the pins you can use don't just come from nowhere, they're produced and sold by FASHION BRANDS (which in TWEWY are all modeled after animals from the zodiac, but we don't have time to go into that right now.) And the brands you use while in combat can cause new fashion TRENDS to emerge throughout the city. If you wear a lot of Rabbit clothes and use Rabbit pins in combat, that brand will become more popular and the district will shift to having NPCs who wear that brands clothing will become the predominant NPCs in the area. This mechanic is DIRECTLY utilized in the text of the games narrative by the games principle antagonist to implement his scheme. The gameplay mechanics you can interact with are interwoven with the narrative of the games plot. Fashion trends are exploited to control, and homogenize, society. By the end of the game, people aren't wearing their clothes to express themselves anymore. Their clothes are wearing them.

Shiki is even an aspiring fashionista! She can sew clothes herself, and wants to create her own brand alongside her friend who is a fashion designer. The theme and importance of fashion is seamlessly interwoven within the games gameplay mechanics, overarching narrative, and characterization.

Then you have music. Specifically, the majority of the games soundtrack is composed of RNB, Hip Hop, and Punk songs. RNB hip hop and rap have historically been genres of music that originate from and are sung by the disenfranchised. It is a genre of music that allows the socially oppressed to speak out against their oppressors with their art of self expression, whereas they otherwise have few or no opportunities to act against their oppression. There is a straight line from the songs slaves would sing in the fields, to blues, to jazz, to rap.

And the music of the game is personified in the character of Beat. Beat is designed and written to be the representation of disenfranchised youth who has been abandoned and rejected by the conventions of polite society that he exists within. He doesn't excel academically, which traditionally is given high importance in japanese society, and his parents ostracize him for it because they base his value as a person on his academic performance. Because he's rejected by his own caretakers, he rejects them right back and society along with it. Bleaching his hair blonde, dressing like a punk, and talking in a very informal and outright rude manner. Beat as a character exemplifies the sensibilities of the soundtrack of the game. His and his sisters names being (R)hyme a(N)d (B)eat is no accident. Keep in mind also that the primary enemies encountered throughout the game are called NOISE - and what do people tend to call music that they don't personally enjoy?

Finally you have street art, or graffiti. Hanekoma is a street artist with the art alias of CAT, and his work is definitely meant to be an analogue for Banksy who is a famous street artist who makes commentary on society with his pieces. Street art by its very nature is derisive. Unsanctioned street art is considered vandalism, graffiti as a word is legally defined as a crime. This plays directly into Hanekoma's role in the story as a Fallen Angel, an entity from a higher plane who has deliberately violated the rules of his order and committed a taboo for the sake of the greater good, just like graffiti is a genre of art that is considered criminal by "better society" but is often used to make statements about the nature of society. Hanekoma even directly explains his motivations as an artist: his pieces are meant to inspire imagination, and to gather people together. Encouraging further artistic expression, and encouraging people to interact and clash and expand their worldviews. He is committing a crime with his art in the interest of trying to impart positive values on people - a deliberate cognitive dissonance that summarizes his character and role in the story perfectly.

The pins that are modeled after CAT's graffiti are also the best set of pins in the game that impart game breaking abilities, which only function when all the pins are used together in a single deck allowing the mural they depict to be a complete piece.

Art is how we communicate the story of our human experiences. And communication, verbal or otherwise, is how we allow other people to understand us. TWEWY is a game that's all about communication, in all its forms, and its focus on artistic expression is one of the most critical elements of that theme. Any discussion about the games story and characters and even gameplay is incomplete without including what the game has to say about art within that discussion.

[oodlyenough]

aa5 update while i'm thinking of it:

finished 5-3 turnabout academy the other week and honestly i enjoyed the hell out of that entire case, lol. i thought the npcs were all funny (robin is the MVP), a lot of the reveals were hilarious, i am dual destinies klavier's #1 fan apparently.

assigned prosecutor at birth

the lore of Law High School was something i'd seen mentioned in fandom sometimes and i always rolled my eyes at how stupid it was but in true ace attorney fashion it was in fact SO stupid it came all the way around to being hilarious. themis pumping out under-educated self-described prodigies who only know how to eat hot chip, forge evidence and lie. funny as hell. junie and apollo's weird oedipal moment right in front of klavier and athena's salads was hysterical.

i love the idea that japanifornia has stricter age limits for being a crane operator than for being a lawyer or a judge. hugh the 25 year old deciding to go to themis instead of ... regular law school.... so he could experience the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school mock trials is funny as all hell

athena's ptsd sprites are pretty haunting looking, i have to say.

have since started 5-4 turnabout cosmos and so far it's not quite as bonkers fun but i'm enjoying it ok. more under the cut:

it feels like we're finally going somewhere and building to something, with athena lore and apollo lore and blackquill lore, etc. i remain ambivalent to simon but i am thrilled to have finally met his hotter meaner gayer sister and i can't wait for more of her. truly what dual destinies has lacked to this point is a mean woman. deliver me, aura.

unfortunately all the clay-apollo lore is goofy as hell to me, but "goofy" is still more enjoyable than "boring" so i'll take it. the "i'm fine!!!!" thing is IMO a classic example of when a prequel tries to explain something that never needed explaining. it's just not that poignant of a phrase to make the crux of this relationship, and clay never being mentioned before is so mels pond/Jack Black in that one episode of Community-core.

ah yes, we all remember that classic scene from ace attorney 4: apollo justice where apollo talks to his best friend clay.

finally: this is the funniest thing they could possibly have written to follow up on a game that ended with apollo's long lost mother knowing exactly who he and trucy are ...and fucking off out of the country to sell albums without ever telling him.

why do we bash deadbeat moms for not being there for their kids and never question if the child has bad vibes or is unpleasant to be around

a lot of my earlier complaints about DD stand -- primarily and foremost that it's ridiculous how much this game doesn't want to be a game. we are skipping so many opportunities to investigate, to present, to connect the dots ourselves as a player, even fingerprint minigames and stuff like that just get auto-completed by athena. i like athena as a character, but i have to wonder if part of the "mary sue" criticism i've sometimes seen is just misguided frustration about how much she autonomously solves puzzles for the player instead of letting the player participate lol.

but considering how much i really thought 5-2 monstrous turnabout was just. like. absolutely brutal. a devastating low point for the franchise ... at least 5-3 and, to this point, 5-4 are more interesting. thank god

[djsherriff-responses]

Personal opinions and general character design critique regarding the Nymphs from Rayman (spoiler: they all suffer from having same face/body syndrome and the designers being too horny to consider other design elements)

Betilla: I feel her origins redesign was a downgrade from her whimsical style in the first game, but I also do understand why they wanted to change her, as origins was meant as a reboot of the franchise and they wanted Rayman to be the only limbless in the Glade of Dreams. But since origins ended up not being a series reboot (with its plot only existing in code) and Rayman having skins/costumes who are meant to be different limbless characters anyways , changing Betilla drastically was already meaningless in the long run , much less the choice to make her be a basic hot nymph

Outside of it being impossible to Google her name in front of family , I personally don’t mind how she looks in Origins as the red hair contrasts really nicely with the greens, if you really wanna push some symbolism imagery here you can make arguments the red + green is meant to be reminiscent of flowers or berries. Ultimately though it is just a green bikini outfit with thigh highs and the only real connection to her role as the nymph of the forest/jungle area of the game is the colours, and maybe the odd stitch work pattern

Which is a bit of shame as you can easily replace the blue stars of her old design with an actual star-ish looking flower called Bletilla (literally one letter off from her actual name) or other flora

I don’t think the issue was they wanted to give Betilla a redesign that had sex appeal , I just think they went in the wrong direction with it. Considering that she played a large role in the old educational games and she was a sort of mentor figure to Rayman (if not just straight up his mother depending on one’s headcanons), they could’ve given Betilla a personality and sex appeal by making her a hot teacher type character (who may or may not count as a milf), hell give her signs of age like small wrinkles to really get the point across she’s older than most of the player characters, and she’s aged like spicy fine wine

Her design in the first game is adorable while giving her the vibes of a mature fairy god mother type mentor, but I don’t think it would work in the more modern Rayman games without some updated tweaks. It is pretty though and does has more personality than her origins design, and the other nymphs for that matter

Holly: I like that there’s some actual details on her and some colour variation compared to her sisters, even if she’s 3 out of 6 nymphs whose main colour is some shade of blue

Besides giving her an outfit that isn’t a skirt and bra, I think her design could better reflect that her domain is the desert of dijiridoos by having some musical elements to her design. It’s kinda odd her tattoos/body paint (which do look good on her and her skin tone) don’t reference musical notes at least, wasted opportunity there

I have this issue with Edith and Annetta as well, but I’m a bit confused about why dead animals seems like a popular fashion choice for these ladies , especially since (in the origins game) none of the nymphs are shown as fighters (not saying they’re incapable, the game just doesn’t show them as such) and we’re not giving lore hints about it? I’ll talk more on this issue when I get to the other two , but it’s odd that Holly’s domain is populated by birds and she’s wearing a bird skull

Was it a nightmare and she kill it? Is it a beloved pet and she couldn’t part with them even after death? 🤷‍♀️

I can’t really think of any alternatives for her or the other two animal hat sisters atm, but at least it’s looks badass even if it doesn’t do much personality wise, so points for looking cool at least

Edith: Edith I think is the worst design of the sisters , hands down, no competition. I mean , what is there to really say about her? “Oh we have a level based around a combination of spicy food and ice drinks with dragon butlers , how should we design this chick?”

“Just put her in red with a lizard hat”

Almost nothing about her design reflects her domain besides that she’s blonde and wears red , and that’s only half of the domain she’s meant to be part off. Her outfit pattern could’ve at least have some reference to the ice levels, or give her literally anything to connect her to those ice levels

I also don’t like how her hair is styled, the colour is fine but the shape looks ugly

Incredibly morbid Edith walks around with a dead butler on her head, especially considering the final boss/king of her level is also a dragon. Unlike Holly and Annetta, I can’t even give Edith credit for looking cool because it’s just more red on a very red and bland design

…… do you think Edith uses her corpse hat as a hand puppet?

Annetta: While I think it’s a weird choice to have nymphs of nature walk around with corpse head gear (much less ones of their domain’s general population) I think Annetta is the most justified of the nymph sisters to be wearing a hat made of a dead animal

Considering that her domain has a notable fishing population and she’s already dressed in fish scales, Annetta wearing a fish skull does actually contribute to showing the lore of her as a character and her connection to her domain. Unlike Holly and Edith , I don’t need to come up with some theory about their fashion choices when Annetta’s reflects already existing lore in origins (what little of it at least)

I personally do think the outfit looks ugly and plain uncomfortable, but I will give this design some credit for having one of the more visually detailed designs by virtue of her scales alone, and it actually makes sense for the nymph whose domain is the literal ocean to be in a skimpy outfit, even if her shell bra has to be glued on to her boobs

Unlike Edith’s outfit colour which is just red, Annetta’s has various shades of blues and teals that are reminiscent of the sea. It’s pretty I like it

Helena: Much like Edith there’s not that much to say here but what I can say is mostly positive

Helena’s a pretty standard design of “blonde chick in cool blues with white fluff details” and yeah that’s generic usually, but here I really like her. I think it’s how the fur and cloth looks textured along how her hair front is styled that makes her incredibly cute to me

Yeah, Helena is a simple but cute character design

Weird that a mountain nymph who has to live through cold weather wears a skimpy outfit with her bare thighs out , but I’m gonna assume that’s because she , much like her sisters, was designed to be sexy first and given aesthetics after they made the body model

Fée de la Mort/VooDoo Mama/Big Mama: As cool as she looks, when compared to both her monster form and the other nymphs , you can tell she wasn’t planned to be one of them, especially when you look up Mamma Hite

I bring that up because while Fee has a good design, she is also a visual metaphor that reflects Origins’ identity: a failed series reboot whose plot was scrapped in favour of goofy extremism (or sex appeal in the nymphs case)

So about Fee’s actual design: I personally don’t like the pink used on her and would’ve liked her Nymph form to reflect the monster form besides the hair

probs to the fact she’s the only nymph with her own pose which already gives her a lot of personality , but the combination of her tattoos, bone jewellery and her baggy looking eyes really sells the fact she’s from the land of the livid dead and thus sticks out amongst the other fairies, even if you ignored the bat wings she has

visually she does work as a undead fairy of the underworld who likes to rock and roll, so job well done with that

I kinda do wish they stuck with the frog though

[macmanx]

In December, 2020, in the depths of pandemic winter, the actress Kimiko Glenn got a foreign-royalty statement in the mail from the screen actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA. Glenn is best known for playing the motormouthed, idealistic inmate Brook Soso on the women’s-prison series “Orange Is the New Black,” which ran from 2013 to 2019, on Netflix. The orchid-pink paper listed episodes of the show that she’d appeared on (“A Whole Other Hole,” “Trust No Bitch”) alongside tiny amounts of income (four cents, two cents) culled from overseas levies—a thin slice of pie from the show that had thrust her to prominence. “I was, like, Oh, my God, it’s just so sad,” Glenn recalled. With many television and movie sets shuttered, she was supporting herself with voice-over jobs, and she’d been messing around with TikTok. She posted a video in which she scans the statement—“I’m about to be so riiich!”—then reaches the grand total of $27.30 and shrieks, “WHAT?”

The post got more than four hundred thousand likes and nearly two thousand comments, many from disbelieving fans: “Wait how is that even legal??” “how is this even real you were on one of the biggest netflix shows.” This past May, with screenwriters on strike and labor unrest sweeping Hollywood, Glenn reposted the video on Instagram, where she has almost a million followers. This time, not only fans but castmates weighed in. Matt McGorry, who played a corrections officer: “Exaccctttlllyyy. I kept my day job the entire time I was on the show because it paid better than the mega-hit TV show we were on.” Beth Dover, who played a manager at the company taking over the prison: “It actually COST me money to be in season 3 and 4 since I was cast local hire and had to fly myself out, etc. But I was so excited for the opportunity to be on a show I loved so I took the hit. Its maddening.”

Television actors have traditionally had a base of income from residuals, which come from reruns and other forms of reuse of the shows in which they’ve appeared. At the highest end, residuals can yield a fortune; reportedly, the cast of “Friends” has each made tens of millions of dollars from syndication. But streaming has scrambled that model, endangering the ability of working actors to make a living. “So many of my friends who have nearly a million followers, who are doing billion-dollar franchises, don’t know how to make rent.”

Despite the Beatlemania-like fame, many cast members had to keep their day jobs for multiple seasons. They were waiting tables, bartending. DeLaria continued doing live gigs to keep up with her rent. Diane Guerrero, who played the fashionable inmate Maritza Ramos, worked at a bar, where patrons would recognize her.

These are just some highlights, but the entire article is worth a read, especially if someone you know is (or you are) so deep into watching celebrity culture that you’re having a hard time understanding why actors could possibly want more than they’re getting now.

[karaloza]

Legend of Zelda Theme Park - Castle Town (UPDATED)

As guests move along the walkway at the back of the Welcome Plaza, the noncommittal park ambience is gradually overtaken by facades of old-fashioned half-timber houses, and then masonry castle walls. Finally they arrive at a grand archway with ornate double gates flung open to welcome visitors. Atop the archway sits a picturesque train station, and beyond it is a bustling medieval(-ish) market square of cobblestones, storefronts, gaming booths, and more. In the center is a large marble fountain bearing a sculpture of the Triforce, and on the far side of the square, opposite the entry point, is Hyrule Castle at the end of an avenue lined with trees and statuary. To the right of the castle from the point of view as you enter the area, a cathedral-like structure can be seen rising behind the rooftops. The area music loop consists of a collection of “main town,” shop, and minigame themes from across the franchise.

Castle Town, besides having plenty to do in its own right, serves as the “hub” area of the theme park, with walkways leading directly to three of the other areas (besides the Welcome Plaza) and indirect paths to the others via a ride.

Attractions

Spirit Train Grand Central Station: The Spirit Train is a handy and scenic way to get around the theme park, encircling the central portions on an elevated track, with several stops along the route. Some of the sights in Hyrule can only be seen from aboard the train!

Carnival Games: Most of the central portion of Market Square is occupied by game booths, evoking the numerous “mini-games” found in most LoZ titles. The games themselves are of fairly standard types, but the paraphernalia are all themed like items from the franchise—as just one example, instead of throwing a mere baseball at a target, you throw a “Cucco” (even if it is just a baseball with a chicken face and wings printed on it). Rather than paying cash to play, guests pay “rupees” from a debit card they can get from a vending machine, and the more you put on the card, the more bang for your buck you get—say, five dollars gets you 100 rupees, but twenty gets you 500, and higher amounts net further price breaks. The games themselves cost anywhere from 25 to 100 rupees per play. Prizes are the usual small plush toys and cheap trinkets you would expect, but you can bank wins on your “rupee wallet” card and redeem them for better things if you so choose.

Link and Zelda Meet-and-Greet: What theme park would be complete without an opportunity to meet the star characters? The Hero Link and Princess Zelda can be found in dedicated meet-and-greet spaces on the ground floor of Hyrule Castle. Both characters have undergone many design changes over the course of the series, but by default they appear in something close to their classic, iconic looks. Link gets his green tunic and stocking cap, white leggings, and brown leather arm guards, with a bright but not glaring color palette and more fine detailing than most video game hardware can consistently render. Zelda’s look varies a lot more from game to game, but common features include a white underdress and pink or mauve pinafore-like outer layer with gold embroidery, as well as long blond hair and a distinctive tiara. The objective is to present the theme park itself as an installment in the franchise, with its own story (that you, the guest, create as you go) and details, and its own incarnations of the Hero and the Princess.

Hyrule Castle Gardens: Across from the meet-and-greet spaces, archways lead out into a peaceful courtyard space of flower beds, benches, fountains, and topiary sculptures of familiar creatures from the games, backed by a soft music loop of leitmotives for the game series’ many princesses, love interests, and other gentle, feminine characters. This attraction serves the vital function of relaxation, giving guests an opportunity to take a load off for a while in a tranquil setting.

Temple of Time Theatre: In the back corner of Castle Town, alongside one of the walkways leading to Death Mountain, is a sizable performance venue. The daytime program consists of 30- to 45-minute plays summarizng the plots of actual games, both for entertainment and so non-fans can get some idea of what the big deal is. “Here at the Temple of Time, we can see all across the history of Hyrule and beyond and tell you the legends as they actually happened!” While waiting for the show to begin, guests can enjoy a musical playlist alternating the Temple of Time theme with the score from various “telling a story/recapping a legend” cutscenes. In the evenings, some of the seating area is converted into a dance floor and the plays are traded for mini-concerts by local folk rock bands (and of course, each set includes a cover of at least one iconic LoZ score piece).

Shops

6. Pictobox Shop: If you got your picture taken by a park employee near the main entrance, you can swing by here later in the day to buy prints, perhaps in a nice souvenir frame, or installed in a commemorative keychain.

7. Curiosity Shop: The one in Clock Town may be an outlet for goods of shady provenance, but here, it sells a variety of interesting knickknacks and curios, all guaranteed to be above board.

8. Coro’s Lantern and Oil Shop: This cozy shop offers a selection of wax and LED candles, oil lamps and fuel, scented oil diffusers, and even a unique line of Legend of Zelda-inspired scented soy wax jar candles.

9. Enchanted Kingdom Treasures: Another knickknack shop, this one more targeted to fantasy fans. Some of the items here, from dragon figurines to sword-shaped letter openers, are LoZ-branded, while others are more generic.

10. S*T*A*R*S: Inspired by a minigame in Twilight Princess, this dimly lit tent sells a number of light-up souvenirs, laser-cut crystal sculptures with LED-illuminated stands, and similar tchotchkes.

11. Madame Couture’s: Hytopia’s #1 couturier has her own shop branch here, where guests can buy anything from a simple souvenir tee-shirt to a luxurious fantasy gown, and much, much more!

12. Happy Mask Shop: Named for the innocuous shop in Ocarina of Time that became the founding premise for an entire sequel game, this shop sells licensed masks, hats, and other costume pieces to enhance each guest’s heroic adventure.

13. Badge Market: A shop to buy and trade collectible enamel pins, based on the one of the same name in in Hyrule Warriors. Rather than the endless rows of character images one might expect, pin designs in this theme park focus on iconic emblems from the game franchise, such as the royal crest, symbols of the different peoples of Hyrule, medallions and shields, etc.

Eateries

14. Food Stalls: Interspersed among the game booths in the central portion of the square are booths selling the kind of quick bites you can find at carnivals and farmer’s markets.

15. Potion Hut: A juice and smoothie bar/service counter. Choose from among a wide array of bottled beverages—from common soda brands, water, juice, tea, etc. to unique blends labeled as “health potions,” “energy elixirs,” and other in-universe concepts—or have your own favorite mix made to order!

16. Stock Pot Inn: A buffet restaurant with a menu of hearty soups and stews and flavorful salads.

17. Royal Banquet Hall: An elegant table-service restaurant located on the upper level of Hyrule Castle. It’s pricey and requires a reservation, but it’s worth it for the Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom-inspired menu served in a regally appointed dining room with spectacular window and balcony views of the park. The interior décor features tapestries, paintings, and stained-glass windows depicting iconic LoZ scenes rendered in genuine medieval and Renaissance art styles.

Miscellaneous

After dusk, the Triforce fountain in the center of the area puts on a little light show every 15 minutes.

Paths to the other themed areas in the park can be found in the side alleys encircling Market Square, but that’s not the only reason to explore them! They contain many secrets, some of which are related to the phone app-based minigames.

[klerothesnowman]

The Acolyte was really good but I'm kind of exhausted by it

This one's more about The High Republic than it is about The Acolyte.

In a previous ramble I talked about how the Jedi being what they were supposed to be didn't make for a good movie. But you know what it was REALLY good for? Making a massively successful franchise with a billion entries for nerds to buy up obsessively. The New Republic and Luke's Jedi Order was an absolute narrative gold mine, there was so many stories that were told in that era that people remember fondly. Sure there's a lot that were total trash too but you could forgive one book being Not Great when it was fairly disposable and you had another book next to it which was a really good adventure.

There was just so much room to tell stories in a post Galactic Civil War setting. Political dramas about the New Republic, Luke struggling to find his feet as the new grandmaster of the Jedi Order, skirmishes with the remnant of the Empire, people just trying to live their life in a whacky galaxy, new Jedi finding themselves. It was hopeful, it was exciting, it was a setting that sparked your imagination and let anything be possible.

But it didn't make for good movies, so when Disney decided they wanted to make more movies they threw out all of it and made a new post Galactic Civil War galaxy. This time it's one without a new Jedi Order, the New Republic is wiped out in the first movie and the Imperial Remnant is defeated in the backstory.

I don't think it is at all a coincidence that there just isn't really any expanded universe material set in that era, there's a lot set before The Force Awakens, where this stuff still kind of exists, but there's significantly less freedom to do anything with it as it's all going to end with The Resistance and The First Order doing the original trilogy again.

Since Disney took over expanded materials pretty much solely concern themselves with times between movies, where everything has an inherent time limit attached to it and concepts can't be too big.

And I think LucasFilms really recognized that, because they made The High Republic.

I have a few problems with The High Republic. It seems a little hyper focused on Jedi, I think dividing everything into "Phases" is MCU brainrot that just sets yourself up for failure and having a single threat for an entire "Phase" kind of narrows the scope of what you can do. More importantly by shying away from having Dark Jedi there's significantly less opportunity for swashbuckling sword fights, which is what Star Wars is all about when you think about it.

But it's still a great idea. give all the Star Wars writers a playground where they can do whatever they want. Even better, set it when the Jedi are at their peak, show everyone what an Average Jedi Adventure really is, without being dragged down by the metanarrative context of the Clone Wars or Galactic Civil War.

It was just classic, Star Wars pulp. Adventure, and fun. It had a teenage Jedi Knight who had a cool lightsaber whip!

And what a breath of fresh air it is, right? Because is it just me or has Star Wars just been really grim lately? Everything always seems to be about how the Jedi suck, or the unfortunate reality of existing within a tyrannical fascist dictatorship, and don't get me wrong I enjoy it, but I would kill for some good old fashioned pulp adventure, which is why it frustrated me a little extra that I wasn't vibing with The High Republic as much as I wanted to.

And now we've got the Acolyte, which is really good. But, man... it's really grim isn't it?

And I get it, I get that the idea is that this is the "End" of the High Republic. I get that one day the upbeat and hopeful Jedi Order needs to get bogged down with institution and lose its way and then get manipulated into self collapse.

I really want to know what Justina Ireland, the writer who created Vernestra, thinks of the direction they took her character. I understand the thematic weight of taking one of the central focuses of The High Republic and showing how even she compromises and becomes part of the problem with the Order, but... Again, it's just really grim isn't it?

I guess I'm just kind of bummed out that the first Jedi focused media we get in so long is about how the Jedi suck.

[heliphantie]

"Inside Out 2"

I've watched “Inside Out 2”, and there’s my notes:

Conflict expands on themes of first movie, and if the moral of first was, difficult and discomfortable emotions and memories are as important for personal growth as positive ones, here it is about not giving away basic emotions and good memories even while growing and building personality and ambitions. I’d say conflict of IO was executed in better organized form and it was easier to follow as it unrolled, but it’s a general flaw of sequels. It wasn’t so bad.

Interestingly, antagonist is motivated by striving for better future, which mainstream media usually reserves for protagonist. As someone who is critical to “destroy the past, build future on the ruins of it” philosophy pushed by media as role model, I can say I welcome this twist in formula. Pixar in general seems to handle “Well-Intentioned Extremist” trope decently, be it antagonists or antiheroes. Even characters who could be villainous in regular media defied expectations. (I honestly expected Val ending to be “bad influence”, in typical fashion for “cool kids” trope, but she’s ended to be sympathetic character throughout the movie and not the source of conflict.)

Main 5 kept (mostly) together for the length of movie gives room for interactions and dynamics that were limited in first one. Breakout star, unexpectedly for me, is Anger, he had the funniest scenes. I generally like the characters like that (Grumpy the dwarf, octopus Hank, Gabo in Wish… you got idea), but can’t say he was enjoyable to this extent in first movie. Maybe he just better works as foil for someone with opposite personality, rather than with somebody like Disgust and Fear.

Speaking about antagonists, I felt there was potential in Envy, even guessed if she ends to be twist villain before the first trailer. In the end, new emotions somehow turned less interesting personality-wise compared to old ones. There are still opportunities for the franchise unfolding, so likely their spotlights are in due course.

References/memetic moments in regard to first movie are scarce, but ones that happen are fairly unexpected (like cameo of certain brick joke), and don’t linger too long. There is also some shipteasing sprinkled over (but not too overt), which wasn’t a thing in original. (Mount Crashmore was a biggest surprise, by the way.)

One thing carried on from IO is, fairly hilarious one scene wonders, my favorite is one that wasn’t spoilered by promos, you know which if you have seen it) Worthy successor of Brazilian helicopter pilot. (I feel fans are going to have a field day with them…)

Another unexpected moment is the scene that seems to be an explicit dig at industry of which the movie is a product. Animators that rebel when main five encourage them to let imagination run free as opposed to following demands of Anxiety who’s obsessed with sticking to trends in pursuit of success. One can wonder what it was about…

Conclusion: enjoyable movie, which doesn’t even seem forced, as it happens so often with sequels. It even appears to left open for further expansion, and I smell mini-series, maybe? It’s a good concept to be mined, frankly.

Oh, and I’ve got idea I couldn’t wait to work on so I didn’t wait for the movie to get released and started it in advance and almost done with. So… does it count as fanart if it doesn’t involve the setting and characters of thing, but deals with central concept of it? Anyway, soon.

[thelargefrye]

˳ ׄ ཐིiཋྀ ⟡ — HUSBAND MONTAGE LORE.

THE ARTIST — an upcoming artist who often gets commissioned to do paintings. sometimes she will take jobs in illustrating children’s storybooks. is best known for illustrating the character “sharky” and his adventures on land. in 2024, she held her first gallery called “the stages of eve, psyche, and the bluebeard’s wife.”

NCT HER — mostly known in korea as being a part of sm’s group, nct, she is also well known in japan for her acting. going under the stage name nct her, she debuted in 2016 as a soloist and in the units nct u, nct dream, and eventually nct 127.

THE INDIE DEVELOPER — known for popular indie horror game turned franchise "odd eye club." she's been creating video games since she was a teenager in 2016 and continued to make them even into adulthood. "odd eye club" has been turned into a multimedia story that has gained a rather strong following since its release in 2018. in 2022, she created her own game publishing company called "freight punch" in order to help other indie game developers be recognized.

THE FASHION STUDENT — originally a fashion student studying in korea. she would be offer an opportunity to study at a high-end fashion school in tokyo for two years. after she graduates, she would return to korea and start a fashion brand called 'aera's' a few years later. ateez's yeosang is often seen wearing the brand and was also named as the face of it in 2027.

THE WANNABE AUTHOR — originally came to korea to study aboard, but fell in love with the place. she would eventually move back after graduating. she has always wanted to be an author and had been working on a novel for years before it was published. while staying in korea, she worked at kq ent. as a staff member for the creative director team. around 2025, she was assigned as a lead creator for kq's girl group, rookie.

THE WEBTOONIST — creator of the popular horror webtoon 'the red sun' which is known for its gory images and monsters. she is known as a homebody and is best known for the cat head mask she wears whenever she makes public appearances to hide her identity. in 2023, she started a new isekai webtoon series titled 'idealism' which has seemingly reached the same success as her previous webtoon.

GIDLE’S DAZZLING MEMBER — a member of the popular girl group gidle. she is the group's main dancer and lead vocalist. she earned her nickname "dazzling gem" from her members as she has been noted to be basically an ace in all departments of being an idol. she is also credited for creating the dances for some of her group's songs like "oh my god," "tomboy," and "queencard."

THE PRODUCER — known more professional as "princex," she has been producing and writing music since 2015. she has been credited for a lot of popular songs in k-pop. she is mostly known for creating the song "move" by taemin which is really what helped skyrocket her career. sometime in 2019, she would sign with kq entertainment as both a producer and artist. from here she would help create a lot of ateez's songs.

please note that anything here is subject to change as i continue to write for this au and the characters!

[litcityblues]

Weird Feelings, But A Fond Farewell

I have weird feelings about Star Trek Discovery. When it was first announced, I was less than thrilled. Another prequel, I thought, and not even a particularly interesting one. (There's a whole blank page of history between The Original Series and The Next Generation that remains largely unexplored in the chronology. What happens in the Temporal Wars or the aftermath of the Dominion War? I would have been intrigued to see that any of those-- a prequel to the Original Series? Not so much.)

The first couple of seasons were interesting and I'm still not entirely sure how to feel about them. For a start, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is not exactly your typical Trek Captain. Point of fact, she starts out by getting her Captain, Phillippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) killed and starting a war with the Klingons. If that wasn't enough, we get more wrinkles thrown at us: Michael's parents had been killed in a Klingon attack on their colony, and with no other family, she gets adopted by Sarek of Vulcan and his wife, Amanda Grayson.

That's right: Spock had a secret adopted human sister.

Now, that part didn't bother me. In fact, it was logical, after a fashion- though why we hadn't met her before was still something of a mystery. But if you're Sarek and you've got a human wife and a half-human son that you struggle to understand and connect with, a human sibling (even an adopted one) would be something worthy of consideration should the opportunity to present itself.

The fact that Michael gets raised on Vulcan also makes the character make sense-- if Spock has trouble dealing with his emotions from time to time, Michael lets logic get in the way of hers, which is why she insists on firing on the Klingons, believing, logically, that they will only respond to a show of force.

Speaking of the Klingons: not the Klingons you've come to know and expect-- which I was also of two minds about. On the one hand: Discovery era Klingons are far more alien than 90s-Trek Era Klingons. They feel alien. They feel new-- their leader, T'Kuvma, lights the beacon of Kahless and unites the warring houses behind him in a war against the Federation.

We then meet a prisoner Michael Burnham who gets swept aboard the Discovery where we meet Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Saru (Doug Jones) and Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) and we soon find ourselves running around the Mirror Universe with Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) using a spore drive, where Discovery jumps from Point A to Point B instantaneously using the spore network that runs throughout the Universe.

After we get the first season dealt with, we get a plot twist for the second season when they encounter the U.S.S. Enterprise and Pike (Anson Mount) takes command to investigate seven mysterious signals that have been appearing all over the galaxy.

Pike was so good in this role and the introduction of the Enterprise went so well that we got Strange New Worlds out of the deal, so if Discovery did anything for Trek, there's always that. You can hate every episode of this series, but we got Strange New Worlds out of it, so something good came of it. (I don't hate this series, by the way. I think parts of it are very good indeed.)

But what I think turns the show is the decision at the end of Season 2 to send Discovery 900 years into the future.

Whether it was because the showrunners and writers realized that had sort of written themselves into a corner or whether it was the plan all along, I don't know but it was the boldest move in the history of the franchise- they BOLDLY WENT-- how much more Star Trek could you get than that?

Season 3, Discovery's First in the Future was interesting. The Federation and the Galaxy were devastated by a disaster known as 'The Burn' where all the dilithium was suddenly rendered inert by something-- Discovery, once it reaches the future, sets about finding what's left of Starfleet and putting it back together, which they successfully do and defeat the Emerald Chain which is the preeminent power in the galaxy. By the end of the season, Discovery is transporting dilithium to start the process of reconnecting planets and the Federation starts coming back together little by little.

(Honestly, I need to rewatch this season at some point. I might be judging it a little unfairly. But it feels like the weakest of the five to me. There's more than a touch of Andromeda to it and the ultimate cause of The Burn should have been something more grounded in science than I remember it being, in my opinion. But overall, the story breaks new ground-- good for Trek and takes big swings-- which is also good for Trek, so on balance, I'm okay with it.)

Seasons 4 and 5 were where I think this show started to find its feet a bit. You can have issues with the serialized storytelling of both seasons, but they worked really well for me and ultimately, I think I'm going to come down to the notion that this show deserved at least one, maybe two more seasons.

The finale was good. There was a wedding and nobody died (which might be a first for Star Trek?). It was not revealed to be a holodeck adventure that Commander Riker was enjoying as a spectator. Nothing can probably top 'All Good Things' but I'd slot 'Life Itself' probably just behind 'Endgame' in terms of finales. You got the sense- especially with Zora and Discovery just being sent away for an unspecified mission- that there was more story to be told, but it also felt like an ending. It felt earned. It felt final and I could work with that.

It wasn't all perfect: Owo and Detmer were more or less absent from the back half of season five, which sucked- they do make an appearance in the finale though. And if Discovery wasn't that great at something, it was probably exploring the lives and characters of the rest of the bridge crew more effectively. I think they got better at the deeper into their run that they got, but it was still never what it should have been, in my opinion.

They left some interesting story possibilities on the table as well. I've seen a lot of older, crustier Trek fans complaining about how all the characters do is examine their feelings and their various traumas and yes, there's some of that, but also, look what these characters have been through: if you left your entire family behind and traveled 900 years to the future, you'd probably need some therapy too.

But it's not the Discovery crew that would have made the interesting storyline there-- it's the Starfleet that stayed hidden and stuck together through the years of The Burn. What was that like? Do those Captains resent the sudden intrusion of these randos from the past? (I think Rayner's character was meant to play with this idea a bit in the final season.)

Overall: I was left wanting more and who could ask for anything more than that? (Other than two more seasons and a movie, maybe?) Discovery may have fallen victim to the ongoing churn in the streaming wars, but I do think, on a rewatch, it will hold up better than people think.

But as the first new Trek series in over a decade when it debuted in 2017, it's worthy of appreciation. It took big swings. It wasn't afraid to challenge franchise orthodoxy and most importantly, to me, as a fan, it went boldly where no other Trek show had gone before.

Did I like the serialized storytelling? Not always. Did I like every episode? No. Do I think it could have been more grounded in parts? Yes. Did it miss opportunities and storylines? Yes. But on balance, this is a worthy addition to the franchise and I do think people are going to reassess this show positively when they look back on it. (My general impression is that people either love this or absolutely hate it.) My Grade: *** out of ****

[kalliyen]

Date Night

Pairing: Justin Jay Takagi (JJ) x GN!Reader

Featuring: JJ, Lee Sangwon, Zhao Yufan (James), Han Jihoon

Genre: Tooth-rotting Fluff

Reader’s Pronouns: Not specified

Warning: careful you might get a toothache

A/N: HI!!! Thank you so much for requesting @amymyli ! I appreciate it very much, and don’t worry! you’re english is just fine. I hope you enjoy this ! (i’m sorry if it not what you expected 😭😭) <33

Disclaimer: ⚠️ ONLY A WORK OF FICTION!

Lately, The members of Trainee A have been noticing their outgoing and loud member, JJ, had been quite reserved lately.

“Hey JJ, got something on mind?” James asks, “Oh, hey Hyung, no no, I’m fine don’t worry about me” The younger responds.

But the members knew better, they knew something was going on, and they were going to find out what.

“Alright guys, that’s enough practice for today” Their trainer announces. All the members sigh in relief, “Finally it’s over! Hyungs can we go to the arcade later?” The youngest pleads, with his signature cute face.

The older members, gave in, they couldn’t say no to their maknae. “Sure Hoon, why not” “Horray!!!”

“Sorry guys. I’m gonna have to pass on this one.” JJ suddenly says, while looking down at his phone trying to not act suspicious while hiding his smile.

The other members look at JJ, then at each other, suspiciously. Sangwon speaks up with “But you never say no to going to the arcade? is something going on JJ??” “Yeah Hyung, you got a date or something?” Jihoon says while wiggling his eyebrows.

JJ shoots his head up in surprise, “No! no. no I don’t…it’s just one of my friends…want to hang out later.” “Okay JJ…whatever you say” James says in a teasing tone.

Turns out, they did not go to the arcade. Much to Jihoon’s dismay. Instead, they followed JJ to find out where he was going, per request of James.

“Do you guys see anything? I can barely see anything in these ridiculous glasses.” “I see..a missed opportunity to play games at the arcade.” “Oh shush Hoon! You already play video games at home!” “There! I see JJ with someone!” “Do you think that’s his date?” “No I think that’s his cousin. Who else could it be dipshit?! Obviously it’s his date!” “Oh shit their holding hands!! Our JJ is growing up so fast.”

To any by passers, this situation must’ve looked utterly stupid. 5 boys huddled into a small corner table, looking at one kid across the hall. Probably not a good impression, but they could’ve cared less at this point. All they wanted to know was, who was their little JJ with?

They all went back to their dorm, waiting for the arrival of their little lover boy.

Even though you and Jj have been on multiple dates, your heart still beats uncontrollably when you see him all fancied up for a date, which makes you question if your fashion choice was appropriate for the occasion.

“Hey Justy! I hope I’m not too underdressed for our date tonight. Where are we going anyway?”

Jj looks up from his phone, double checking his surprise for your for the nth time. Even in your simple outfit, he was looking at you like the most delicate flower in a field.

“Hi my Love, Remember that movie you wanted to see from your favorite franchise?” “Yeah?” you say excitement bubbling in your stomach. “Well, surprise! I got tickets for it! And the exclusive kind~” “Really Justy?? Oh my god thank you so much!” You exclaim, immediately hugging him.

After the movie, he offers to take you home to your dorms, while you were both walking home, you talked about anything and everything you could, how practice was going for both of your groups, what’s been going on in your lives and stuff like that.

When you got to your front door, you both faced each other while holding hands. “Well, this is me, I’ll see you soon Justy, thank you for this amazing date.” You say while giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s no problem my love. Anything to make you happy.” Before he lets you walk away from him, he gives you a tender kiss on the lips, and another one on your forehead.

“I love you Jj” “I love you to Y/N, goodnight”

————————————————————————

-Fin

A/N: Sorry if this ending was shit 😭😭 I’ll do another fic if you want me too :)

[theangelwithawand]

Princess and the Scoundrel Thoughts

Spoilers ahead:

First of all, the title and cover of this book are ridiculous. The art is pretty, but the pose looks like a cheesy romance. I think they’re paying homage to Courtship of Princess Leia, which while that story is hilarious, is one of the worst Star Wars books ever. But we get the Dathomir witches so it’s fine I guess.

On the other hand, Princess and the Scoundrel, is one of the best Star Wars books. Despite everything, despite all of the obstacles this book had from the beginning, it succeeds as having some of the best and most subtle character work in the entire franchise. Which is hilarious, because this book literally only exists to market a hotel. But Beth Revis said, “yeah, but what if it was good and I actually tried?”

Now, Beth Revis has clearly read COPL. You can tell and it’s kind of hilarious. For example, in COPL, there is a really long scene where Han plays sabacc (space poker) during a bout of insecurity and wins a planet to give to Leia and he uses THE MILLENNIUM FALCON for collateral. Han Solo would never do this. Now in PatS, Han plays sabacc while Leia is working to help her out by gathering intelligence. One of the players mentions that he wants to kidnap Leia (not knowing who Han is), and Han almost murders the guy. It’s awesome.

Here’s the thing, you can tell when Leia is being written by a woman instead of a man. In COPL, there is one moment where it’s brought up that if Leia marries Isolder there will be a planet for the survivors of the Alderaani genocide, but it’s only mentioned a few times and not by Leia. So any opportunity for a duty vs love internal conflict is not used. Her conflict is “Han and I are distant and space Fabio is hot so…”. Then HAN KIDNAPS LEIA USING A MIND CONTROL GUN. And she doesn’t murder him. So…I don’t care about this relationship anymore because both of them suck and it isn’t even clear why Leia falls in love with Han all over again.

Beth Revis gives Leia a very multi faceted internal conflict. Part of it is her dealing with her feelings about Vader, about being part of a team, and her guilt over Alderaan. It doesn’t take up too much time, but they inform a lot of her character.

Now, in a different canon book, that came out previously, it was mentioned in passing that Han and Leia got married on Endor. Now, at that point in both the EU and Canon, Han and Leia have been forcibly separated for a year and only actually got together a little bit before that. So, that’s really weird. But Revis is stuck with this. So she says to herself, “Why would they do this? Why would they move this quickly?”

And she remembers that this is Star Wars. They are living through war, they all almost died, and just spent a year forcibly separated. And they’ve decided that they’re done wasting time. Han just kind of…proposes and Leia (in typical fashion) debates for a second before deciding to take a leap of faith for love. It’s genuinely very, very sweet. Despite the title and cover this is not a romance book. There is no “will they won’t they” bullshit. Thank. God. They just get married and it’s really happy and Lando pranks Han into dressing nice, and it’s great. Then it’s a Star Wars adventure featuring Han and Leia.

That’s not to say Han and Leia don’t have any tension between them. The difference is it’s interesting. Han and Leia, especially her, do not know how to fully let each other into their lives. It isn’t that Han forgets for a bit that he married a very driven woman. He absolutely knows. His frustration stems from the fact that they are literally on their honeymoon, and Leia keeps leaving to work, because that is all she knows how to do. It is how she has coped with her trauma for three years. On the other hand, Leia feels like she is solely responsible for saving the galaxy, and that Han doesn’t understand that. Both sides of this argument are understandable. The book switches between Han and Leia’s perspectives. There are no stupid cutaways to Luke or space Fabio, there are no space witches. It is a focused relationship/ character study of Han and Leia while they’re on a decently interesting mission.

And the build up to the fight they end up having, is great. It’s a slow build up, you can feel their mutual frustration, and once they have the fight it is very cathartic. They don’t fight for the entire book either. They flirt and tease and have real conversations too.

So, after this huge fight, Leia is trying to divert the cruiser they’re on to this other planet, and Han finds out and helps her. Together, they succeed, but Leia is confused. They haven’t made up from their fight yet, and she asks why he helped her fight to go on a mission that’s going to take up more of their time. And Han says, “You’re my wife. If you’re running a con, I’m going to help you.”

Now, this might just be one of my favorite lines. Beth Revis understands that Han Solo is very loyal to the few people he cares about. He loves Leia, it’s why he goes back for her on Hoth at his own risk, why he saves Luke at Yavin and on Hoth. (She also understands the little bit of dorkiness Han Solo has beneath the posturing, up to the point that she gives him a sweet tooth.) Neither of them are overly mushy, they just love and respect each other.

There’s this great symbolism with their wedding rings. They’re made of hardened amber by the ewoks, and their fragility is a constant reminder of Han and Leia’s issues. They crack under pressure, and have to be maintained carefully. They eventually end up breaking under immense water pressure, but Han gives Leia a new ring (the one she wears in the sequels) reminiscent of the amber ones, symbolizing that they’re coming out stronger. It’s so sweet, and while it’s a little bit on the nose, it’s a great literary technique.

He’s acknowledging that he recognizes this part of Leia’s character, Leia realizes she needs to also put him first. In the aftermath, they both feel bad, apologize, and resolve to work on their issues together. And when they make-up, it feels real. This runs through the entire book, and the way it ends is really satisfying. Now, we know what happens to them in the sequels, so we can see how this conflict may come back into play later and lead to their eventual separation in canon. But, it’s also easy to see a different path where they work through these issues and live happily ever after. It’s just ambiguous enough to be read as either a prelude to eventual tragedy or the beginning of a long, happy life between two complex people. (I prefer the first one, but whatever).

Other things I liked:

- Han proposing. It’s literally that “I want you” “For what?” “A really long time.” quote on the internet.

Han: I want you.

Leia: Me? For what?

Han: Forever. Marry me.

- Leia tells Han about her true parentage and he just does not care. Like, he’s sympathetic towards her feelings, but is like, “why would this impact my love for you?”

- Leia finally lets herself do something spontaneous.

- Luke and Mon Mothma ship it.

- This quote:

Leia: About time.

Han: For what?

Leia: You once promised me a good kiss. I’ve been waiting.

- The conflict on Madurs is also pretty interesting. Leia is unwilling to let another planet die, giving an insight into Leia’s feelings about Alderaan, especially since Madurs values art like Alderaan.

Honestly, I want Beth Revis to write the canon “trip to Bespin” book.

Also…

This book kind of implies that Leia is bi? There’s a scene where Leia is remembering a conversation with her mother. So, when Alderaanian royals get married, their parent straps the ceremonial Rhindon sword (also used during their coronation) around their waist before the wedding.

In the flashback, Breha specifically says “whoever you marry” and “your husband or wife”…

Some people may say that it’s just ‘forced inclusion’ but that’s boring. Now, in the EU, fanon, and canon, Leia always puts emphasis on how close she and her parents were. This is something that I don’t think is ever particularly well illustrated, especially in canon. In parts the Kenobi series (she gets better later) and Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Breha in particular comes off as really unlikable.

But, if Leia isn’t over romanticizing (and there’s no indication that she is), she was really close to her parents. So, it stands to reason that her mother would know her sexuality. They at least seem really accepting in this passage, so it doesn’t seem like something Leia would keep from them.

I have no other evidence, and as far as I know, Leia is always seen in romances with men in both canon and legends, but in this context, it is a very interesting hint of something new about her character.

[dojae-huh]

as we all know, doyoung get chosen as prosperity burger brand ambassador next year (afaik, the burger only available until 24th jan) and the twitter reaction is so.. harsh. i get the sentiment bc mcdonalds has been listed to the boycott list but ppl has been calling him 'names' and purposely using this as the gotcha moment to hate him instead of spreading more awareness abt the boycott. i feel disappointed with him too but knowing he loves the burger so much and the deal has been made since months ago.. idk how to feel. i still want to support him but it will seen like i'm defending him (while in fact, i dont). what do u think about this? i need to talk with someone with rational thinking process so i can sort things out ;-; tysm

Urgh, I wanted to avoid this topic, but you asked so nicely...

Brace yourself to wait out the unleash of anti-comments Doyoung is getting. Antis are using the opportunity, and many fans are confused, shaken by emotions. It will be OK, it will pass soon enough.

McDac's promotion is aimed at SK and it is a charity. Doyoung donated 50mln won for children around Christmas. He participated in the ad for charity as well. Doubting him or blaming him speaks more about a fan's weak sense of morale and integrity than his. These advertisement companies are planned beforehand, moreover, they are created by absolutely different people in different parts of the world. US branch of MD and Korean branch of MD are not the same. Local businessmen buy the right to use the brand name, it's a franchise.

Korea is Korea, it's a country half-globe away from the conflict in question. K-pop has nothing to do with it. There are multiple conflicts and disasters all over the world that happen at the same time. However, people pay attention mostly only to those that are covered by the media. I haven't seen any k-pop fan talking about Armenia-Azerbaijan (and Armenian people experienced a genocide in the past), zero talks about what happens in Haiti, and it's been ages since I saw mention of Ukraine. And Russia-Ukraine war continues with thousands of people being killed on both sides. And it won't stop as long as Putin is in power. Noone is cancelling him in the fandom, for some reason. US is abuzz about the migrant crisis, but the rest of the world is blissfully unaware. How many people die in those jungles?

I can give you an example of fans only following the guidance of a laser pointer. You should be aware of regular "controversies" over t-shirts, headwear, hair styles, stage design. Doyoung was given a shirt with themes of Moscow (the cathedral) and Orthodoxy (Mary with Jesus, they way it is portrayed on Russian icons). Has anyone sounded concerns that Russia is on the black list, that Doyoung is a non-Orthodox Christian, that using religious imagery for fashion on a "see-thorough" shirt can be offensive for believers/cultural appropriation? (Russia has laws nowadays, plays like "Jesus Christ Superstar" can't be played). Or that such tattoos are actually prison culture, like with yakuza? Noone batted an eye. And rightfully so, because it's just a silly shirt from a fashion collection.

4. I understand fans want to do good, but what they are doing is mostly virtue-signalling. Their online actions don't help.

When Russia attacked Ukraine many companies left Russia. Either on their own or being pressured to do so. The results:

Common people lost their secure jobs with good salaries. Companies like IKEA brought with them their corporate culture of taking care of their employees, what can't be said about Russian workplaces. Russia is a very hard market to enter due to local corruption and no real protection by law. I know IKEA spent like 10 years to do so. The fruits of labour of those middle level executives were just scratched off like that.

The foreign companies were either seized or sold cheaply to Putin's cronies. As a result, he gained more of their support, because he gave them "feudal lands", conpensated for their losses due to the war and sanctions.

The state started propaganda "domestic replacement" campaign (to calm down the people, "we don't need the West or anybody!"). Money were given to any shady bussenesmen who promised to invent "Russian alternative". In reality, those money were taken and no product developed. Or a label with a Russian company name plastered on a Chinese product like a tractor. Again, another scheme for people in power, from "the elite", to fill their pockets with money and to not mind the war started by Putin.

Apple, Coca-Cola and other products are still present in the shops. They are just imported/smuggled via neighbouring countries and sold for higher price. Commoners suffer because of the prices, businessmen and the brands stay OK. And taxes still go to the state.

Many freelancers and artists either lost completely the opportunity to earn money with their craft or needed a long time to readjust and are earning less. There is little demand for art on the domestic market, so the artists need other countries. PayPal left the country, so no Etsy for them. No direct payments thorough Visa/Mastercard as they don't work with Russians banks anymore either. My own shop were I was selling my watercolours was closed by Etsy. I have to ask foreign friends to get money for me or buy me bus tickets as I can't use Wise or Paypal or WesterUnion. Politicians and businessmen? They are doing just fine. They simply opened accounts for a high price (like two montly salary of a commoner) in neighouring countries and use those credit cards. I can't shift to working for foreign publishing companies and not paying taxes to my government because I don't have a credit card to receive payment. I earn twice as less due to currency exchange as well.

In the end. Yes, Russian commoners suffer. The regime doesn't. We are talking oil, gas and natural resourses like minerals. Russia is still paid loads of money for them. Those companies leaving Russia did nothing to help to stop the war. The majority of people haven't even used those companies living far away from the capital in poverty to begin with. McDac is for spoiled brats in Moscow, not for workers on factories.

People feel a negative emotion and want a quick and easy solution to it. If I donate following this demanding action ad, I will help. If I re-twit this black list, I will do something for the good.

It doesn't work like that. There is no easy A to B. It's a giant multilayered problem, and more often than not you are being used in an informational war by one side or the other. Hamas terrorists steal the trucks with foreign aid for themselves. And who knows how many fake donation schemes there are. Israel won't listen to the opinion of college students because it's a question of survival as a country for them. The wars in the Middle East won't end as long as their is oil and gas. McDac will lose some money now in one country and earn them back in another by lowering the quality of its products or the conditions for cows raised for burgers or the salaries of its workers in developing countries.

If you really want to do good. Do it in your neighbourhood. And do it smartly, after a thorough reserch. And in the area you want, and not what others pressure you to do. This way you can both control how your contribution is used and see the positive results with your own eyes.

And the cheapest way to do some good? Is to stop being the source of negativity and to stop judging and cancelling other people.