#I really do get your point though. Everyone on the island has done most of his “crimes” in the past and never received punishments

[qtubbo]

tubbo going to prison really depends on whether or not he gets a fair trial. which i do not expect will happen. he has full permission for his perimeter project, it's not going to stay a hole forever, and it's going to be cool and functional. and if we're talking about past crimes, most of them were not technically illegal until after he did them or they were things that other islanders were doing at the same time. i wonder if any of them will start to pick up on the fact that he isn't just a rule breaker and that he's being made into a scapegoat.

Honestly he does break the rules a lot, but I get your point he really hasn’t done anything other islanders don’t do themselves. It just seems like he gets a more aggressive response, including actively changing laws to prevent him. One of the main reasons I think that he’ll end up in prison even in a fair trial is who would vouch for him, most people have literally evidence of them saying or talking about him breaking the rules. Everyone has already decided he deserves to be there, or actively think of it as a joke.

[saerins]

𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖…

+ itoshi sae x f!reader | wc 2.5k | content: fluff, pining, mentions of fake dating, jealousy, reader is kind of an idiot, sae loves to tease, best friend otoya, cussing

notes: hello hello i’m on board the sae love train once more , are you guys still with me ^_^

summary: what do you do when your best friend kind of sort of forces you to confess your two-year long crush when you’re not ready to? pray and hope for the best.

“i could just tell him for you.”

“eita, fuck no,” you throw him a warning glare as you chop the vegetables up with scary precision despite not having an eye on them. only because you know if you don’t explicitly tell him not to, that he’d think it’s no big deal and do it anyway.

and let’s say, you’d rather die than let that happen.

sure, you and sae had been closer back in high school; he sat behind you and entertained the secret notes you passed to him, he used to ruffle the top of your head whenever you pouted, he used to buy food for you during breaks.

but that’s all in the past and somehow, the both of you had drifted since then.

otoya deadpans, an unamused pair of eyes looking back at you from their spot across the island. “it’s been what, four fucking years since you graduated? grow a pair,” he retorts, attempting to steal a carrot but getting a slap on the back of his hand instead.

“bold of you to say that to a girl with a knife,” you snap at him, pointing the blade at his face.

to which he merely rolls his eyes, using two fingers to push it aside. “not like you’re that good at using it.” but he sighs when you silently turn your attention back to chopping vegetables. “does that mean i have to put up with your miserable face even longer?”

you and otoya continue to bicker, and you’re beginning to wonder how you’ve tolerated being best friends with him for the past four years. he’s a real piece of work.

“fine, fine,” otoya grumbles after you’re done with lunch, bangs over his eyes. “i promise i won’t tell sae anything, okay?”

that’s after you threatened not to let him hijack your house anymore for food. for someone who’s earning big bucks being a famous soccer player, you can’t make sense of why he won’t just get food delivered. maybe he just likes to annoy you.

“good. or else i’ll kill you.”

your crush on itoshi sae has been somewhat dormant for the past few years. and by dormant you mean that you haven’t tried making any moves because you’re too scared.

itoshi sae. one of the most famous international breakout stars in soccer. one of the most talented playmakers the world has ever seen. that comes with its own sets of pros and cons.

pros? he definitely doesn’t seem like he has much trouble doing anything he wants. he gets paid for every game. he gets paid for gigs. he gets sponsorships all over the place. which basically means that financially, he doesn’t need to give a shit.

cons? the media can be brutal. sae does something that’s remotely questionable and they’re all over it. he doesn’t thank a waiter that one time? automatically labeled as a rude brat by the paparazzi. and not to mention—the amount of girls he’s forced to fake date just for the sake of publicity.

you’re mostly pressed on that last part though, because they’re all supermodels or olympic stars or rich socialites. and compared to them, well, you’re just someone who happens to be in the same friend group and hang out together every once in a while when he’s back in japan. sae doesn’t even hang out much with the group, to your dismay.

it’s a pain, or so he says.

you wonder how you drifted in the first place. maybe it’s just the fame. you wonder if he thinks of you too sometimes.

must be your wishful thinking.

kind of makes you wonder whether he does have a secret girlfriend that he’s keeping from everyone. you wouldn’t really put it past him. it’s not like he has any super deep emotional bonds with any of you (that you know of). eita says he’s definitely single, but you think he’s just saying that to appease you. he already has his hands full having to watch you mope whenever you see news of sae and another girl and yet another dating rumor.

just as well. you think sae could do better than you, spending your friday nights at home, washing dishes at the sink and looking out at the tokyo skyline instead of out partying and living life with countless friends.

you don’t think you’re too shabby though. you’re a fresh graduate with a job at one of the most prestigious companies in tokyo you can think of. it’s not bad. but you can’t help but feel it’s worlds away from the one sae lives in.

the doorbell rings, snapping you out of your thoughts, nearly dropping the white marble plate you’re washing. your eyes snap to the clock in the living room. it’s almost 9pm—right about the time when eita usually comes knocking and asking you for supper.

groaning, you wash whatever’s left of the dish soap away from your hands and sloppily dry them against the bottom of your shirt, grumbling out loud about how you really should stop coming here whenever the fuck you want, eita while you stomp over to the front door.

you open the door, messy hair and bare face and baggy clothes, fully expecting to smack some sense into otoya eita when you feel yourself freeze up at the pair of eyes looking back at you.

they’re teal and framed by pretty long lashes and definitely don’t belong to your best friend.

what the fuck is he doing here?

this is one of the rare times that you’d actually prefer to see eita at your front door instead.

sae raises a brow, giving you a once-over. of course, he’s never seen you in this state—hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, not a trace of makeup on your face. you’d made sure that whenever there was a possibility that sae would see you that you dressed yourself up as nice as possible. if you’d known he was coming over, you’d have at least dressed decently. definitely not baggy shirt and pants that you can barely see.

“uh… w-what are you doing here?” stupid, but the best you can manage.

he has his hands in his gray sweat pockets, and fuck him for wearing a black compression top. you can just make out the outline of his abs under there, the muscles on his arms already much too obvious with those short sleeves.

“dunno, eita said there was an emergency and i needed to get here,” sae says, wholly unbothered, monotonous as usual. he lets himself in, toeing his shoes off at the entryway, positioning them neatly beside your everyday sneakers.

fucking eita.

judging by what you know, sae was probably on his way for an evening jog when otoya called him. he still has his wireless earbuds in. you wonder if anything’s even playing.

sae takes it off once he catches you staring.

he’s not carrying anything. it’s just him. you wonder if anyone managed to catch him coming over. is his most recent pr stunt already over? won’t do either of you any good if he’s labeled as a cheater.

“so? what is it?” sae asks you, again, while he walks himself inside, curious eyes looking around your apartment, and suddenly you’re hyper aware. you hope to god you didn’t leave any of your inner wear lying around at random places.

in a panic, you rush over to him, blocking his path inside, both hands on his chest as you attempt to push him back to the front door. unfortunately for you, sae’s much stronger than you are, his body not budging an inch.

“it’s nothing, he made a mistake,” you sigh, giving up when you figure that sae’s only going to move of his own accord. “he’s probably just playing a prank on you, that’s all.”

you’re hoping, praying, wishing that sae will just take your word for it and go. because that’s what he does; he doesn’t hover much, doesn’t care about anything much at all. you don’t even know the last time he’s asked about how any of your lives are doing.

the world must hate you though, because sae only offers a grunt in response before looking towards your kitchen (you’re internally sighing in relief, glad that you cleaned your kitchen up before this). “i’m thirsty, you have anything to drink?”

you blink at him, stumped that sae is wasting his precious time in your apartment, but who are you to say no to sae, of all people?

“yeah, sure, juice?”

sae shrugs, “whatever.”

you turn your back on him, slowly taking your carton of apple juice and finding the nicest glass that exists in your cupboard, cursing yourself internally for not preparing for unexpected guests enough. you do this slowly partly because you’re trying to calm your stupid heart down, still not fathoming why on earth sae’s wasting his time with you.

carefully, you rehearse yourself in your head, where you’re going to step, how you’re going to walk over to him—you really are just hopeless. count it your bad luck that the moment you turn around, you nearly drop the glass because you’re forgetting a really fundamental issue here: your merch.

“no no no, uh—” you leave the glass on the countertop, scurrying over to where sae’s staring and thumbing at something on your coffee table.

sae looks at your flustered reaction, giving you way to grab your things off the table and stuff them in the drawer where they’re out of sight. he blinks at you, a slight amusement bubbling inside him.

“wow, big fan, huh?”

you don’t know what’s worse: you being your most unpresentable self right now or that sae just caught you having some of his merch.

“so you have some of eita’s merch lying around too or is it just mine?”

you could die of embarrassment right now.

back still turned to sae, you desperately search your brain for answers. thinking on the spot doesn’t seem like your strong suit right now.

“it… was a gift.” believable, right?

sae hums, as though he’s contemplating. “why just mine then? why not oliver’s or my brother’s?”

fuck.

“i don’t know, maybe yours was the only one that wasn’t sold out.”

“ouch.”

you didn’t mean to indirectly insult him but what’s a drowning girl to do?

sae sighs when you keep quiet, still staying out where you are, trembling too much to move. “didn’t know you were in love with me.”

this time, you whip your head around to face him—that same stoic expression of his unchanging on his face. “am not!”

his brows shoot up. “but you bought some of my merch.”

“i told you, it was a gift.”

you need to get paid for still standing up on your own two feet right now. your head’s way too giddy from the interaction, considering.

“even that figurine over there?” sae’s finger points to a small toy just barely visible behind the nooks of the bookshelf. it’s a small figurine; something sold a few years back when sae was just first starting out. you’d bought it because, well, you’d thought chibi sae looked cuter than actual sae. (especially now when he’s just staring blankly at you.)

“that was…”

“a gift?”

you think he’s making fun of you now at this point.

“anyway, we’ve established that there’s no emergency here so why don’t you just go?” you’re pretty sure sae won’t ever talk to you again—not after coming across what he did tonight. he probably thinks you’re a freak, probably questions why he even considers you his friend (to which you’re now wondering if that’s even true at all).

you make a mental reminder to yourself to kill otoya eita tomorrow.

sae lets you push him towards the entryway, apple juice long forgotten on the countertop, collecting condensation with water pooling below the glass.

“you must like me a lot, huh?” he ponders out loud as you continue pushing him towards the door. you see a hint of cockiness in his stare now, the slightest tug of a smirk on the corner of his lips.

“i do n—”

“be careful what you say,” sae cuts you off, toeing his shoes back on, looking glamorous as ever and you nearly forget that he looks straight out of a magazine even in his sportswear. “‘cause i’ll believe you.”

part of you wants him to just go already so your knees can buckle under, but part of you wants to ask him what he means. what’s he insinuating? isn’t the answer clear enough.

but now it’s way past nine and he’s all ready to go yet he’s still standing at your doorway, waiting for your answer. you want to scream no, you want to keep your secret safe, you don’t want him to know about the crush you’d been harbouring. but he told you to be careful what you say because he’ll believe you.

“s-so what if i do?” you stutter, failing to look him in the eyes, your stare focused on the air in between you.

sae’s features soften ever so slightly, like he wasn’t expecting you to give in so quickly, but it isn’t one of disgust. it’s more like one of pleasant surprise.

after what seems like an eternity, sae finally opens his mouth.

“you must’ve gotten jealous a lot with all those girls i’d gone out with.”

your fist instinctively connect with his arm, his stoic finally giving way to a grimace, palm rubbing his triceps in pain. out of all the things to say, he chooses to say that? you think he deserves it.

“you know what, sae? you can go back to your fake girlfriends, i could care less,” you snap at him, pouting. you hate that despite how ignorant his words are that you can’t find it in yourself to hate him.

sae exhales sharply, chuckling softly when he sees your pout, and you feel as though it’s the first time you’ve seen him like this even though it’s not. his hand comes up to ruffle the top of your head gently, and you’re reminded of when he did this to you back in high school.

“can’t do that, can i?” he tells you, that soft disposition gone and the stoic mischief coming right back. “not when i’m in front of who could be my real girlfriend.”

your heart might’ve forgotten how to beat.

sae leaves you standing there, left to your own devices as he exits your apartment, fully aware of his effect on you.

not long after he leaves (while you’re still standing in the doorway), your phone buzzes in your pocket. you fish it out and see his name there for the first time in a long time.

you smile to yourself as you read his message. okay, so maybe you’ll spare eita’s life for now.

[tapwater118]

Has anyone ever heard of “Battle for Dream Island” (1990) before? Really obscure NES game, doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page (or hell, even a mention in one).

From what little I can find about it on the internet, Battle for Dream Island was an NES game released on January 1st, 1990, apparently made entirely by a pair of independent American developers. Never made all that many sales, but eventually it garnered a rather niche following on an obscure gaming forum, though it had long since dissipated. Unfortunately, seemingly nothing from the forum threads was archived, so all I have to go on are a few vague threads titles from a navigation page.

I, rather cliched like, bought this BfDI cartridge from a sleazy old guy at a flea market (along with Puzznic and Wario’s Woods for a bargain deal). I dumped the ROM and booted it up on an emulator to take some screencaps.

Upon pressing start, you are prompted to “Choose Contestant,” and have a choice between any of 20 playable characters (who are all everyday objects, for some reason). Each contestant has their own stats, and while you can feel the difference while playing, the overall impact of character choice is pretty negligible. (Also some of these guys don’t even have arms?? Weird design choice but okay.)

Two screencaps of the character select screen. I went with Pin for my first playthrough cause idk she seemed kinda cute. I’m almost sure the stats are “Strength,” “Speed,” “Jump,” and “Skill.”

(Continued under cut)

While touting itself as a game show, BfDI is essentially a glorified minigame collection. The gameplay loop is as follows: You and the 19 other contestants play a minigame (referred to as “challenges”) to earn points based on how well you do (though I’m fairly certain the computer contestants just get a random amount of points for each challenge). Most of the challenges are various platforming segments, though some others fall more into puzzle game territory.

Two of the challenges. The green “Win Tokens” can be collected for bonus points. LEFT: A horizontal platformer level. The grey wall in the middle of the screencap moves up and down. RIGHT: A challenge about climbing ladders while avoiding “acid spitballs.” The game pauses to scroll vertically a la Super Mario Bros. 2.

After each challenge, this speaker thing shows up (pretty sure he’s supposed to be like a game show host?) and tallies up everyone’s score. The contestant with the least score gets “eliminated” and removed from the game.

The results screen. Leafy did rather poor on the last challenge, so she’s out of the game.

The game continues like this until you lose (have the least amount of points) and get booted to the game over screen, or until you are the last one left, in which case you win Dream Island! (Though of course in reality you just get booted back to the title screen. No Dream Island for you.)

The victory screen, with the gates to Dream Island in sight. Feels more like the gates to hell given how Pin’s staring at me.

It’s a fairly easy game for NES standards (I won on my first try). Took me about 80 minutes on my first playthrough, though subsequent ones could take less than an hour as I knew what I was doing. The brevity and the fact it saves your high score gives BfDI a nice sense of replayability (though this is probably best done sporadically, as the challenges tend to get a bit samey after a couple of back-to-back playthroughs).

So yeah, just wanted to share this in case anybody else has heard of it. I’ll probably rip the sprites and upload them sometime later cause it doesn’t look like anybody’s done that yet.

[dangermousie]

2023 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

Yes, we have a some of December left, and I want to check out Death's Game but whatever. I got time for this now and not sure if I will have later so here goes.

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2023; if I watched it but it was made in a different year, it’s not on the list. This was an excellent kdrama year, the likes of which we hadn't had in a long time.

DRAMAS WATCHED

In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality so pls don't come for me, fans of some popular dramas that are on my nope list. Also, I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list.

33. The Escape of the Seven - this is so aggressively stupid and mean that it feels like the makers are playing a practical joke seeing how much their audience will take. This has a season 2 coming, so the answer is a lot.

32. Behind Your Touch - the FL gets superpowers by touching people's and animals' butts. Yes, you read this right. Do I really need to add anything?

31. King the Land - yes, it was a hit. Yes, it stars popular actors. I HATED IT LIKE IT TOUCHED MY BUTT TO GET SUPERPOWERS!!! Plastic people in paint by the numbers story, with about as much genuineness or retability as a barbie aisle in walmart. I never expect much from Yoona so whatever, but to have LJH go from The Red Sleeve to this boggles the mind.

30. Mrs Durian - this is so dumb that I think I lost a few IQ points watching this, but its insanity becomes entertaining - I mean what kdrama can you name where a daughter in law declares her love and lust for her mother in law at a family dinner?

29. The Matchmakers - there is nothing offensive about this drama at all. But there is nothing in the least interesting either. If elevator music took drama shape, it would be this show.

28. Destined with You - sorry, Rowoon, I am still fond of you, but you are two for two in drama duds department this year. This is a drama where I loved ep 1, liked ep 2, was indifferent to 3 and...you get the point. Each ep was worse than the one before, and I bailed before I was dragged into a cosmic singularity.

27. Oasis - great first two episodes. Unfortunately it was not a two ep show. The performances are solid but the story is just not there - the effect is like a fancy chef making an amazing sauce to put on pig slop.

26. Boyhood - it's not you, it's me in action. I can see why people would like it but a 34-year old playing a high schooler in a Weak Hero Class 1 Slapstick Edition is no go for me.

25. Castaway Diva - it's so precious and kooky in the most annoying ways, with the most well-adjusted abused castaway in history. I like magic realism when done by Jorge Amado, but this ain't Amado.

24. Island - it had a good concept, good cast and fun visuals but the execution deserved one of ML's swords through the neck.

23. The Worst of Evil - if I wanted an American show, I'd watch one. Very solid performances though.

22. Song of the Bandits - period edition of what I said about The Worst of Evil.

21. Welcome to Samdalri - and goodbye to any hope of emotional involvement.

20. Joseon Attorney - I have yet to like a single sageuk centered around a profession and this was not an exception. I guess it could be worse but it also could have been so much better.

19. Twinkling Watermelon - everyone loved this drama. Everyone except for me. It's the kind of precious that sets my teeth on edge and I couldn't stand half the main characters we were supposed to root for. I guess I like my fruits to shine steadily.

18. Our Blooming Youth - probably the biggest disappointment on this list. This is not a bad drama by any means, but with that cast and that story (I loved the novel), I was hoping for a memorable sageuk not merely all right.

17. Vigilante - it has the emotional complexity and nuance of a punch to the throat but it gives us quasi-gay openly-murderous dudes going after psychos and Yoo Ji Tae holding feral Nam Joo Hyuk by his hoodie at his feet.

16. The Forbidden Marriage - expected nothing but it was a surprisingly enjoyable trifle of a costume drama that was also quite pretty.

15. Arthdal Chronicles: Sword of Aramun - a hot mess but such an entertaining epic one. And it gave us TWO Lee Jun Kis in period gear and who am I to cavil at the bounty of God?

14. The Story of Park's Marriage - it's a trifle, a souffle, so light it might blow away, but it keeps my attention and is so fun and sweet.

13. My Lovely Liar - a huge surprise, that manages to mix a murder mystery and a romcom, and shocked me by showing Hwang Minhyun can act.

12. Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - the original ToNT was my fave drama of its year and I did not think it needed a sequel. But this is not a sequel but more of a side-quel and is such a total delight with brotherly love, adventures, romance and hijinks. It's a joy.

11. Perfect Marriage Revenge - it's actually very hard to do a soap right but this slim 12 ep drama managed. So fun, so crazy, such a good ship!

10. My Lovely Boxer - not really about sports, but about two broken people finding salvation because of and in each other. Also, if you like age gap romances, this is delicious. Sort of loses steam by the end but c’est la vie.

9. The Secret Romantic Guesthouse - this was a sageuk that was not on my radar with a bunch of actors I was not familiar with but it took my heart away. A good plot that was perfectly paced, characters and ships I adored, a logical ending. This is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year for me.

8. Tell Me That You Love Me - a slice of life remake (sort of, it's more "inspired by") of my favorite jdrama of all time. It's not as good as the jdrama because nothing could be, but it's an aching lovely story with some incredible performances.

7. See You In My 19th Life - funny and romantic and haunting and hopeful and odd. This was one of my favorites of the year.

6. Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow - it's rare for me to like a (1) sequel (2) with FL actress change (3) that is a Hong Sisters drama. But this was such a gorgeous, surprisingly achy story of love and loss and love regained with some cool monster fighting in the middle. Between the two seasons, this is the first Hong Sisters' drama I enjoyed from beginning to end in well over a decade.

5. My Demon - so tropey (chaebols, supernaturals) but it proves that these tropes are popular for a reason. The chemistry is fire, the story is unpredictable and the whole thing is an addictive delight. A rare drama where I like each new ep more than the last one.

4. Goryeo Khitan War - an old school sageuk in every meaning of the term (no romance, no eye candy, lots of bearded men, battles and politics), this feels like watching an epic movie more than a drama. The vast cast all earns their place and the performances (mainly from character actors given a chance to shine) are incredible.

3. Call It Love - two very very damaged people finding love and healing with each other. This is a narrative very hard to do to my satisfaction but when it's done well, as here, there are few things that can hold a candle to it.

2. My Dearest - a masterpiece of cinematography, narrative, performances. This is an old-school epic romance in the best sense of the term. If it doesn't make you swoon or break your heart, there is something wrong with you. A story of two untraditional, strong-willed, flawed people who fall in love in the middle of the horrifying Qing invasion of Korea and have to deal with all that the world throws at them, this is a bona fide masterpiece.

1 - Moon in the Day - who knew my favorite kdrama of the year will star a store brand Domyoji from Extraordinary You and an actress I was never familiar with. But this part period/part modern fantasy tale of doomed cursed lovers is everything I knew I wanted and everything I didn't know I wanted but did. Two lovers where their love did not save them and in modern day it might not again, has got me obsessed the way I haven't been in years.

FAVORITE DRAMA

Moon in the Day - if there is such a thing as a drama made perfectly for me, this gorgeous, emotionally haunting, utterly romantic, twisty tale is it.

WORST DRAMA

The Escape of the Seven. This drama is proof that demons exist and not sexy ones like Song Kang but horrible nasty ones who delight in the torment this hot mess inflicted on its viewers.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Ha, Moon in the Day - a Silla general and a consummate killer who committed atrocities on the orders of his monster father and yearned to die for them, who found the meaning in life in loving his enemy but it did not make him better, a man so obsessed he literally was around for 1500 years of horrifying ghostly existence and still went "worth it" for a woman who killed him as long as he knew she loved him while she did it. He's intense and competent and beyond fucked up and has never had a normal day and I love him so so so very much from a safe distance.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Gil Chae, My Dearest - she starts out as vain and spoiled but the horrors that break so many others bring out all her fierce survivor potential and she becomes such a force of nature - capable of incredible love but also sacrifice and strength and compassion.

Runner Up: Shin Hye Sun's reincarnator in See You In My 19th Life - quirky, damaged, strong, so odd and so vulnerable at once.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

There are a lot of characters who fit that category (King Injo in My Dearest? My God) but the crown belongs to So Ri Bu from Moon in the Day. You think you've seen abusive parents but until you've seen a man abuse his son his whole life and then continue for 1500 years after his death, you ain't seen nothing!

FAVORITE SHIP

The doomed by the narrative OTP of Moon in The Day. Only thing that's better than enemies to lovers is enemies while lovers and their impossible relationship where her killing him is a supreme act of love and his refusing to let go is so strong that he stays around for 1500 years watching her, helpless as she dies over and over again, is everything you ever want.

Runner up: Jang Hyun/Gil Chae, My Dearest. They are so strong and so damaged and it takes them so long to figure out what they feel and what the other person feels but their love and sacrifice and complexities are perfect.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Kim Shi Yeol/Hong Joo, The Secret Romantic Guesthouse - an assassin bodyguard pretending to be a carefree scholar and a widow of the man he killed to protect his king (and whose life was destroyed as a result.) I enjoyed the main OTP of this drama but I was utterly and completely unhinged for the secondary couple.

I'd have probably picked Rang and his mermaid from TotNT 1938 even over them, but they really were the main OTP of that drama.

NOTP

King the Land couple seems like an easy target but honestly, they are both so terribly bland and antiseptic and marketing by committee, they kinda deserve each other. So I am gonna go with Destined with You, one half of which thinks supernaturally roofying someone into loving them is cute and the other half thinks dating one woman while wooing another is totally a-ok. Ugh.

FAVORITE SCENE

There is no competition for the scene in the slave market in My Dearest, where Jang Hyun finds Gil Chae - the way he screams and tries to clutch the hem of her skirt will live in my head forever.

And the scene where he 'wins' that horrifying bet, or the scene where she finds him in a pile of bodies - they are as good also. Or when he fights off a squad to protect her even though he's sick. That whole drama is perfect.

Runner up: the scene of Do Ha executing Ri Ta's family, covered in blood, as she looks at him from the crowd in Moon in the Day.

Or the scene where he talks about how he cannot live as a person but at least maybe she will kill him and he will die as one. Or when her confession in the past intercuts with his walking in the present, or when he comes home in his bloodied armor and she finds he has a fever and it's the first tender touch he's probably ever known. Her murdering So Ri Bu saying she knows she's going against filial piety in loving her parents' murderer, the way they hug, both bloody, as he says "let's live." The way she says she can't go on as she's hit rock bottom and he replies she cannot quit because she must accompany him to his rock bottom now. Honestly, the drama is a font of amazingness.

Also, the opening scene of Goryeo Khitan War or the scene of Yang Gyu ordering to shoot the captives and having to do so himself.

The OTP meeting again at the intersection at the end of ep 1 of Tell Me That You Love Me. SHS comforting ABH as he's having a traumatic breakdown in 19th Life. The love-making scene in Call It Love. There were a lot of great scenes this year.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Lee Jang Hyun, My Dearest - is that even a competition? He's flawed - vain, often emotionally closed off, not great at processing emotions, lashing out when hurt. He is also incredibly heroic in a real, knows the cost but bears it, kind of way. Whatever he does, he commits utterly but it's never without understanding the cost. He felt both larger than life and utterly real. He went through hell and maintained his soul and the way he loved Gil Chae was breath-taking to behold.

Runner Up: Yang Gyu, Goryeo Khitan War - an experienced military commander who wins an impossible victory even as it ravages his soul. Competence is sexy as fuck.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Rang, Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - 1938 really was Rang's chance to shine and he took it. For a character I started out disliking in the original, he really stole my entire heart in this drama. I am so glad he got his happy ending with his brother and his girl.

Runner Up: Crown Prince, My Dearest. He started out as a sheltered, spoiled aristocrat, convinced the world owed him for existing. He grew up slowly and painfully into an amazing man. And then was murdered for it and I cried.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Arthdal - it leaves the story at a good stopping point but it's very much a "world in flux, adventures and conflicts continue" ending and I would love to see more of these characters. I know we won't but it would have been nice.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Behind Your Touch - should have been snipped at birth.

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Vigilante - I don't mean it had scissors taken to it because it's not cdrama and there is no NRTA, but this drama would have benefitted from being longer. I mean, I love fights and gay polycules as much as the next tumblr person but a bit more character development would not have come amiss. (ahaha - I said come. Leave me alone.)

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

I don't care about cops/doctors/trash collectors/whoever - workplace drama centering on their "cases" needs to die. I hate procedurals from any country and Korea is no exception.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Supernatural critter devoted to their OTP with all the power of their long life.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Our Blooming Youth - it was far from terrible but it was a giant meh. I was so excited to see Park Hyung Sik in a sageuk (that wasn't the hot mess that was Hwarang) and I adored the source novel. It actually started well and then...it's like Revenge of the Beige!

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

I want to say Moon in the Day but to be honest, I was excited by posters and trailers so it wasn't wholly a surprise despite not having much of an opinion on the actors before I saw them. So I am going to say My Demon. I was bored by the trailers, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Kim Yoo Jung drama and before this year I would have said Song Kang was an incredibly limited actor in everything I've seen him in and not appealing to me at all. And here I am rabidly rabiding for this drama!

If I am not limiting myself to dramas but can use this for actors - Hwang Minhyun in My Lovely Liar. I genuinely did not think the man could act and then he gave such a pitch-perfect, nuanced performance out of nowhere!

2023 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

I have actually watched all the kdramas that aired this year that I wanted to check out except for Evilive. I am saving this for when I have time.

BEST NON-2023 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2023

I don't know if I'd say it's the best but Say You Love Me (2004) with Kim Rae Won as a quasi monk seduced away from his true love by an evil older woman was a hell of a ride.

MOST ANTICIPATED

Love Song for Illusion (Lady assassin falls for her royal target who has two personalities), Captivating the King (lady spy falls for her royal target who is tormented) - notice a theme? Also Flower that Blooms at Night because Honey Lee in a sageuk, The Life of Mrs Ock (Lim Ji Yeon in a sageuk), The Love Story of Chun Hwa (an "erotic" sageuk, hmmmm, what?!), Hong Rang (Lee Jae Wook in a super angst sageuk), Queen Woo (that cast and set in Goguryeo!), Wong Kyung (about Lee Bang Won's wife and I love the cast.) Basically, if it's period, I am there with bells on.

[annestie]

What Do You Mean Betrothed to Him? - Chapter 1

Summary: For as long as Neteyam could remember, he had been betrothed to the eldest son of the Metkayina Olo’eyktan. A boy about his age. The agreement had come through their fathers, many years before either boy could remember.

So when, Jake announced that they would be hiding in Awa’atlu, Neteyam isn't that surprised. Though, what he does find strange was the confusion of his siblings. They ask why Awa’atlu, why not another clan or island or village. To Neteyam, Awa’atlu seems like the obvious choice, especially with their connection there and Neteyam has talked to them about who his betrothed is.

Neteyam wouldn’t have forgotten to mention that part. Right?

Pairing: Ao'nung x Neteyam

Word Count So Far: 3349

Notes: I haven't really mentioned it but my Ao3 is now locked to users only due to AI scalping but I will be posting this fic here for everyone to read. This was a fun write.

Also thank you @crystalskies42 for helping. I know we're still iffy on the "does it count as being a beta reader?" but you helped so you get credit. She have some AMAZINGLY angsty fics that will destroy you. 10/10 would recommend :D

Growing up betrothed is a strange ordeal. You know that one day you will wed; but, unlike those around, you know who. There’s no real question to it. Your fate already decided from the moment the agreement made. And sure while no betrothal is without Eywa’s blessing it’s still hard not having the choice.

Neteyam doesn’t even remember a time where his betrothal hadn’t loomed over his life. A constant thought in his mind that his future had already been decided for him. He used to be jealous—a terrible, fiery emotion—of those around him that could choose. That they had a choice and he did not, simply because of who he was born to.

However, along that path of jealousy, it changes. At some point, a point that Neteyam no longer quite remembers, his feelings of jealousy transform into something else. Something that definitely couldn’t be called jealously.

Maybe it’s Ao’nung’s stupid charm or Eywa, herself, intervening, but at some point Neteyam falls and he falls hard. If he had actually fallen, it would have been flat on his face from a tree.

Really, Ao’nung insist it was his charm that had done it. Neteyam is less so convinced by that; though, does let his betrothed continue believing whatever he wishes in the pure act of wanting to see the other happy.

Such a weird thing, love that is. Such a light emotion at the face; a simple care for someone yet it controls so much of life. Like the way Ao’nung sacrifices all his clams to Neteyam when he visits as he knows those are Neteyam’s favorite. Or how Neteyam takes Ao’nung on his ikran, as the latter doesn’t know how to ride a tsurak yet; though still loves that feeling of flight.

So after everything, when the decision is announced that they would be hiding within Awa’atlu, Neteyam’s happy even despite the circumstances. When you’ve lived the way he has you learn to find the best in the worst. In this case, getting to live with the betrothed he had accidentally fallen for.

Neteyam carefully packs the last of his things that he would be bringing. The most of what he’s packing are his jewelry and other accessories. He would be leaving most of his clothing as the weaving is simply too heavy for the water. They would weigh him down and drag, making it even harder to swim and keep up. Something he had learned firsthand.

Besides, he could always steal some of Ao’nung’s clothes while making new ones. Sure, Ao’nung might have some protests; however, it would certainly be rude for Ao’nung to deny his betrothed like that. So very rude.

As Neteyam packs the last few straggling things, he wonders if he even needs this much. Ao’nung had things. Things that Neteyam likes. Does Ao’nung really need all those brushes and clothes and whatnot just for himself?

They were getting married in a year or two, and the announcement would have been this year if it wasn’t for… Well you know. The formal announcement that is. The one where they would officially announce it to the clans. Currently the knowledge their betrothal is sort of limited, not that they try very hard—if at all— to keep it secret.

So soon, they’d probably have a marui built for them, seeing as Neteyam would be moving to Awa’atlu. They would be sharing much of their things as well. Which brings back the question, does Neteyam even need to pack this many things if they are soon to be wed?

“I guess you must be happy, I mean, you can finally choose for yourself,” Lo’ak comments as he walks into the pod and crouches down beside Neteyam.

Distracted, Neteyam looks up confused. Not having caught any word of it, too busy thinking of marriage. A few years ago, he would have thought himself gone insane if he heard that. “Sorry, wasn’t listening,” he quickly tells Lo’ak, looking away from his things.

“You must be happy with your betrothal and all,” Lo’ak says with a smile.

“Yeah. I am,” Neteyam replies back, blissfully unaware as his attention is on finishing the last of his packing and figuring out what to actually bring.

“You’ve been there before, haven’t you? With dad? What was it like?” Lo’ak asks. Out of everyone, he and Spider had been the most nervous of the move. Understandably, of course.

“Yeah, every year. It’s beautiful,” Neteyam says. That’s really the only way he could describe the waves that hit against the shore and the soft, warm sands that draw you in. The way the sun lights up the beach in the most stunning way. And how it all just mesmerizes as the eclipse is setting.  “You can even finally-” Neteyam’s cuts himself off as Neytiri enters the pod.

“We leave soon, are you both done packing?” Neytiri asks as she picks up more of their things to bring out to the ikrans.

Neteyam nods gesturing to the few bags he has on the ground. Most of them were already at the ikrans.

Neytiri nods then turns her attention to Lo’ak. “And you?” she asks with a look that you certainly don’t want to challenge.

“Uh, almost,” Lo’ak lies with a nervous smile.

Neytiri huffs, tossing the bag she has in her hand over her shoulder. “Finish it now,” she commands him before leaving.

Neteyam laughs slightly to himself. “Come on, I’ll help you,” he tells Lo’ak as soon as Neytiri is out of earshot. The topic of Neteyam’s own betrothal lost to the chaos of packing.

It isn’t long before after that they’re in the air.

Neteyam has completed this exact flight so many times that he allows Paysyul, his ikran, to simply fly the way. She knows exactly how. She had always loved trips, especially ones to Awa’atlu. Though, Neteyam suspects that the love is out of the extra treats Ao’nung gives rather than anything else.

This trip is like any of the other ones they’ve flown. Well, besides the extra company. It’s a little different flying with five ikrans rather than two. Also the many more breaks they need to take because of the extra people and stuff.

Tuk and Spider don’t have ikrans, so their stuff got distributed to everyone else’s’. Which is fine; though, to not overwork the ikrans they do need more frequent break.

Tuk and Spider spend the trip bouncing around between the different ikrans. At each break, going with someone else. To keep it fair. However, Neteyam suspects it’s more likely to keep everyone from getting on each other’s nerves.

They arrive in Awa’atlu a little after midday, close to the eclipse. The time of day where darkness hasn’t started yet but still the rush and energy of earlier is gone. A time of winding down where the last tasks of the day are completed. The sun still shines in the sky; but it’s the start of the end of the day.

The familiar sounds of a conch alerts the village of their presence. Neteyam can’t help the smile that forms at the thought of seeing Ao’nung. Even if their actual reunion would probably have to wait until later. Perhaps that’s only for the better. Eclipse has always been Neteyam favorite time of day in Awa’atlu.

They need to get uturu first before anything else, which may only prove harder with Spider. Hopefully their betrothal and arrangement have softened the Olo’eyktan and, specifically, Tsahìk to the idea of good sky people.

They end up landing on a sand bank that Neteyam has never seen having any specific use in the years he’s visited. Almost immediately, a crowd forms around them.

They should be used to Omatikaya; though Neteyam supposes that it’s more to do with the amount of people and the fact they haven’t seen a sky person. There’s murmurs and mumbles about the crowd as Spider walks past which only confirm Neteyam’s suspicions.

Neteyam carefully places himself between crowd and Spider. He knows most of those know, or at least know of, him and he can only pray that the respect they hold for him translates to Spider. Although, perhaps that is second in need, the first being to get the permission to stay.

Just before the Olo’eyktan and Tsahìk can appear, Neteyam watches as a certain Metkayina pushes his way through the crowd. Their eyes lock almost immediately and Neteyam can’t help the way his face lights up at seeing the other.

It takes everything within Neteyam to not run to Ao’nung. All he wants is to sit with the other and relax in each other’s company as they tell of the year, they’ve been apart. Of the things they’ve done. Of the parts they’ve missed. And of the things they wish for.

Ao’nung grins as well, it brightens his face in the best way. It’s a smile that Neteyam has surely missed seeing. How he’s missed the other, Neteyam thinks as he looks Ao’nung over.

It’s been longer than when the trip would normally be. A few months. So little time looking back; but they seemed so lonely in the moment.

However, their moment is interrupted by the Olo’eyktan calling out to them­­­­—specifically Jake. “Jake Sully, what are you here for?” Tonowari asks, stepping towards the other. “Especially at a time like such.”

The two of them have a fairly good relationship from what Neteyam’s seen. Certainly better than the one Ronal and Neytiri hold, even with their children’s betrothal there’s just something about the two that doesn’t mesh quite right.

“I wish we were here on better circumstances,” Jake says. He goes on going into as little detail as possible to explaining it. Telling Tonowari only what they need. Uturu. Sanctuary.

Slowly, Neteyam’s eyes drift back Ao’nung. Something that’s become a bit of a habit from a few trips ago. The rest seems to tune out as Neteyam watches Ao’nung secretly sign, “I missed you.” Neteyam’s smile widens.

Neteyam’s thoughts grace the idea of signing something back; though, he’s quickly pulled back to the actual problem at hand. They could talk later, he reminds himself. Once, Neteyam and his family weren’t possibly getting kicked out of the clan.

The Tsahìk walks out from the crowd, her eyes immediately set the family. “This was not the agreement,” Ronal says, circling the family. “And you even bring the thing you are running from.”

“No,” Neteyam protests, hopeful that his standing and somewhat good relationship with the Tsahìk will ensure he isn’t kicked out. “He—Spider—is one of us. He is na’vi.”

Ronal looks unconvinced as she stares more intently at Spider. “He is like them.”

“In body but not spirit. He was born here and has lived just as we have.” Neteyam protectively puts himself between Ronal and Spider. “Please, he is just as na’vi as the rest of us.”

For a moment everything stills, Ronal looking Spider up and down in scrutiny. In that moment, all that Neteyam can think of what will happen. Would Neteyam stay and his family leave? Would they send Spider back with one of them as an escort? Would they all leave?

“I trust him as yours then,” Ronal finally says before stepping away. Which isn’t the best, though not the worst either.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Neteyam smiles. “Thank you,” he says. All he had to do now is pray that Spider be on his best behavior for anything he does will reflect fully on Neteyam. Though, he’s not even sure if Eywa can stop Spider and Lo’ak. Great Mother have mercy.

Once Ronal makes her way to Tonowari, the two share a look of contemplation. An unspoken conversation as they both make their final decisions. Neteyam has seen the two do it before; with many of their decisions they had done the same.

Until, Tonowari sighs and looks back to them. “With all that you have done, your presence is always welcome. However, in order to stay, you must learn the way of water,” Tonowari announces, gesturing around them. “You must all learn the way of water,” he then says. more pointedly in Spider’s direction.

To Spider’s credit, he doesn’t back down at the Olo’eyktan. Rather he puffs his chest out and nods, holding himself with as much confidence as he can muster.

“My son and daughter will help teach your children,” Tonowari says as he waves Ao’nung and Tsireya over. “For now, we will show you to your marui. You all must be tired from your journey.”

They’re led through the village by Tsireya to their new home—a marui as it’s called.

Neteyam had met Tsireya a few times, then again with her being the tsakarem and their trips only being a week or so he never spent much time with her. There was always something to be done, a dinner to attend, responsibilities to care for. It seemed almost as if their schedules were made for the two to avoid one another.  

Another reason Neteyam prefers the eclipsed nights to the days. Not only was the island absolutely stunning but most of his day responsibilities were also done. Besides the dreadful dinners that is.

The marui they’re led to is much bigger than the one that Neteyam and Jake had usually stayed in. It does makes sense though. They barely even spent any time there during their visits, only using it to sleep really, perhaps eat or meal two but that was often a rarity.

Trailing behind the rest of his family, Neteyam watches as they all gladly enter the marui and begin throwing their things down. The day had been long and the trip tiring. He is not happily awaiting the tedious unpacking he knows will soon ensue. Their mother is not one to let the things go unpacked.

Sighing, Neteyam looks around again. Hoping that Ao’nung had stuck by. Quickly, he catches the other’s eyes and walks over.

Neteyam grabs Ao’nung’s hand and pulls him off to the side. Just out of the way of the Metkayina carrying things to the marui and, maybe coincidentally, out of the view of his family. “Meet me later?” Neteyam asks with a smile.

“By that cove?” Ao’nung says back with a grin. Neteyam could happily stare at his betrothed’s face the entire day.

“Of course. I’ll come by at the eclipse start.” Neteyam squeezes Ao’nung’s hand once more before leaving to help the unpacking.

It takes much strength to walk away after but Neteyam does so gracefully. The only reason being that he knows that they will much time later. Time that they usually did not have. Such a luxury.

“That’s mine!” is the first thing Neteyam hears as he enters their new home, followed by an irritated, “Nuh uh!” He could already feel the headache.

It’s just after the eclipse when Neteyam quietly slips out from their almost completely unpacked marui. He casts a quick goodbye to his family and smiles at the knowing looks his parents give. Then, ventures out going towards what—or rather who—he truly seeks.

The cove Neteyam’s headed to has been their ‘spot’ for years after discovering it together by accident. It’s beautiful to say the least.

It’s hidden. With you having to hike almost to the center of the island then swim all the way through a tunnel simply to get there. The trek is worth it though.

The cove itself is stunning. The ceiling of it is covered in many small gaps where light filters in and casts beautiful rays onto the pool of water below. The rays dance in the water, even in the dimly eclipsed light. During the day the light rays are charming; but once the sun is covered it’s breathtaking. Illuminating the closed space in the most mystifying way.

The hardest part is finding the opening of the tunnel with it being so small and covered with foliage. Though, with how many times Neteyam’s made the trek, it isn’t hard to let his legs lead him the way. The path through the forest is winding and confusing with many turns seeming wrong or backwards. But, no matter how wrong the path seems, it always leads there.

The tunnel has many air pockets along the way. Air pockets that Neteyam used to need frequently when they first found the cove. Neteyam truly thanks finding the spot for the reason his breath is so well trained.

It’s not long before Neteyam’s already reaching the end of the tunnel. Already praying for Ao’nung to be there. Immediately as Neteyam surfaces, he finds a certain na’vi awaiting him just as he had hoped.

“’Teyam,” Ao’nung says softly as he helps the other up onto the rocky shore of the cove. “It’s been too long,” he muses

Gladly taking the other’s hand, Neteyam grips it tight. Almost as if he fears that if he were to let go, it would disappear. “It’s only been a few months more than usual,” Neteyam says even knowing those few months had been filled with the most longing he’s ever experienced.

“Torture is what it was,” Ao’nung supplies, almost reading Neteyam’s mind.

Neteyam pulls himself the rest of way onto the shore. Then, quickly, the two wrap their arms around each other in an embrace. An embrace that seems so fulfilling yet too little. After so long, it’s welcome but not enough.

“Torture, huh?” Neteyam asks, leaning his head back slightly to look at the other.

“The worst.”

Neteyam leans in again, capturing the other’s lips with his own. A kiss that he had wished for from the moment their hiding had been announced. A kiss that Ao’nung had obviously longed for as well.

They aren’t quite that open to such displays of affection in public. Which is why it’s even more of a blessing that they had found this secret cove of sorts. A quiet, beautiful, hidden paradise to themselves.

They do eventually have to break apart though. Rather unfortunately, they both do need to breathe. A terrible thing really. However, it does give the chance for them to talk, another thing that Neteyam delights in. That they both delight in.

Many times their conversations have spanned hours into the night. Where their parents almost decide to send out search parties in their absence, only for the two to return just in time.

It’s happened so much though that they hardly ever worry anymore. Simply glad that the two betrotheds are so happy with one another.

There is much to catch up on. Much to tell and explain. So Neteyam soon finds himself sitting with his back against a rock as Ao’nung uses his legs a pillow. Simply talking of the missing time.

“Tell me of it,” Ao’nung says, looking up towards Neteyam. Grinning at the other, Ao’nung takes hold of Neteyam’s hand.

“Of what?” Neteyam questions with a small chuckle as he gently runs the fingers of his free hand through Ao’nung’s—now loose—hair.

“All of it,” Ao’nung says, squeezing Neteyam’s hand.

“There is too much to tell,” Neteyam says. “We would be here for hours, maybe days,” he jokes though he isn’t that opposed to the idea once speaking it aloud.

“Fine. Tell me of your brother then. The sky person.”

“He’s just that. A brother. He grew alongside us. Spent most of his days, and even nights, with us,” Neteyam explains with a smile. He’s told Ao’nung a little of his siblings before; though with the limited time they usually have, it doesn’t come up as much. “He is very stubborn; I think you two will get along fine.”

“Hey!” Ao’nung protests. “How dare you? You wound me. Your own betrothed,” he says dramatically.

Neteyam doesn’t feel any remorse though does bend and place a kiss atop Ao’nung’s forehead which seems to quiet him. “I’m so deeply sorry for that,” he says. “But I don’t hear you denying it.”

The two laugh. Their laughs echoing against the walls of the cove. How they’ve both missed this in the time they’ve been apart.

[honeybewrites]

Hello HoneyBe! 👋✨

I heard you love to talk about magic systems. Can you talk a bit about the ones in both EoWC and LotA? How are they the same/similar? How are they different? Which characters use magic the most, and what are their motives with the magic?

Extra kudos for you, for being genuinely sweet and supporting writers in the community ♥️

This is my literal reaction to this ask! Thank you @the-golden-comet so much!!! I needed a little pick up when I received this the other day, and it really helped <3!!

I need very little motivation to ramble about my world building, especially my magic system! I've done an intro post for my magic system here if anyone is interested! For this though, I'm going in depth on how my characters use their magic personally/motives and the similarities/differences in EoWC and LotA's magic.

This is a long post, so kind of sorry in advance 😂

SO! Let's start with the similarities and differences.

Little bit of background; EoWC and LotA take place in the same world, but at different points in history. Like Star Wars with the original trilogy and prequels. In this case, EoWC is the original series and LotA the prequels, with a much larger time difference than Star Wars haha

Due to that, LotA has a much more complex, powerful, and kind of experimental and also knowledgeable system. I know that's contradictory, but bare with me. Elemental (my magic) was much more abundant and widely practiced. This lead to more people adopting the fuck around and find out philosophy as well as more scholarly people writing things down that became general knowledge and practice. There weren't many big name schools that taught elemental, but that was more due to the fact that parents would teach their kids and it was covered in basic school as well.

LotA has a lot more elemental used, both in everyday life and for things like combat. A person is just as likely to use elemental to boil water as they are to throw a boulder in your face.

During the time of LotA, large elemental casts were much more common. A combination of teaching, skill, and more energy all contributed to that. Feats of parting oceans, lifting islands into the sky, even leveling cities with massive energy serges were recorded during that time. they weren't common feats, but they weren't rare either.

As for EoWC, elemental is seen more as a privilege to learn, not something everyone is able to do. Sure, everyone still has the ability to use elemental, but most people don't, simply because they were never taught. Now, elemental is reserved for government/military uses, a few select professions, and for the rich people who can pay to learn it.

People grew accustomed to using other means, such as technology, for their elemental needs. Honestly, the average person doesn't really have a need to use elemental anymore with all the technological advancements. So to know any kind of elemental, you're already ahead and if you're proficient in it, it can get you a lot of place. And it can also get you quite a bit of prejudice.

Because all the rich people can learn elemental, knowing any kind of elemental is pretty much just announcing that you're well off and people see it as showing off and unnecessary.

And since elemental has quickly declined in being practiced, it's affected the different species biology. So, for example, the average Mirralian from LotA times is on par with a professionally trained Mirralian from EoWC. Now this isn't the case for all species. Tanimoriem and Levekints are two examples where biology has declined much slower and they can still preform larger casts with some ease. But things like leveling towns is completely unheard of, if at all possible.

To sum it up; the basics of elemental stay the same, e.g. how casts work, what elemental species use, but the power levels, accessibility, and knowledge are different.

Now what I'm really dying to talk about, my characters and their relation to magic/elemental!!

Let's start with LotA. All three major characters (or at least the major ones I've talk about) use elemental pretty much daily. Ryuk, who mostly uses elemental for combat, transportation, and everyday ease. Emaeh who also uses it for combat but also for healing, every day ease, and learning. And Vern who pretty much exclusively uses elemental for personal everyday ease and healing. To them, it's just a part of their every day lives. You don't really have a motive to use a car other than easier transportation. It's simply a tool and they use it whenever they can. They certainly use it far more than anyone in EoWC.

Obviously, there are people during LotA who use elemental for more... inconvenient and questionable means, but that's going to exist anywhere.

As for EoWC, most of the main cast do use elemental, but it's much less frequent. 703 for example, uses it mostly for combat or mission related things. You won't catch her using it to lift something heavy instead of carrying it or to warm up when she's not on a mission. As does pretty much the entire EoWC cast. Rage is a slight exception to this, as he uses elemental to "see" (I talked about that here) as well as for his healing job. In that sense, Rage definitely uses elemental the most.

Unlike the rest of them, 703 is nearly as powerful as LotA Tanimoriem. This is due to Healer Asurr messing with her biology and she's actually considered one of, if not the, most powerful elementist in the Seven Realms during EoWC.

Most people during EoWC have more questionable or violent motivations to use elemental. Especially considering it's used primarily in the government and military.

Anyway, sorry for the long post! Posting on here is the only time I get to talk about my WIPs and I've had them for years, so a lot of built up information haha! And thanks for reading through!! Hope you enjoyed it 💚

Also, slapping my tag list on this because it's fun and I love lore dumping onto you guys!

General Tag List: @orions-quill @fractured-shield @pluppsauthor @anaisbebe @wyked-ao3

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on today's volume ! sienna is annoying, and it's even worse because she'll continue to harass you regardless of whether you're pursuing your OG LI or not . i'm not trying to get back with jin (unless claud's somehow still unavailable at the next recoupling)

MC needs a "leave me alone, bride of chucky" option. moving on

next up is snog marry pie. once again, theo is flirting with me despite MC showing no interest in him ? i'll talk more about this later. for now i had to let him know that i'm Mx. Steal Your Girl

my wife !! i'll be wearing a wedding suit though, don't get it twistedddd 😏

i snogged kyle, married claudia, pied liam, then used the bonus pie on sienna. hazel pied off jin for some vague reason, "you know what you did," type stuff. and i mean ... sorry to the loyal girlies, but i actually hope OG LI did something major. it'd be sad & frustrating among other things if FB decided to set up yet another black woman islander as a petty, jealous villain

i can't lie, this argument was funny af. bonus points for this actually being unique dialogue (i think they should kiss...👀)

and what is this black swan (2010) halloween costume from shein-looking ass dress ???!!!! i think this rivals the season 7 suggested prom monstrosity as the fastest "see other options" selection i've ever made. this outfit is not the one, two, three, or four

next challenge is "couple goals 2.0," a bit lazy there😖

for the most part i've glossed over liam's dialogue cus he genuinely has nothing of value to say, but what ?? i've never gotten steamy with theo . in fact, i barely see the dude because (outside of casa amor) him and claudia share the same "slot" for private chats and alone time. not to mention the only person in this entire villa who's ever done anything with MC outside of a challenge is claudia (my MC didn't even go in the hideaway)

once we came back from casa theo began having a really obvious crush on my MC (don't get me wrong, i think he's gorgeous. i just avoid him specifically because the overlap of his & claudia's routes) and i know some people have complained about claudia flirting with them in casa amor on a straight theo route. i don't know if this is intentional, or if this is just the game falling apart. knowing FB it's probably the latter

venus girl you're so messy ... (acting like i didn't choose these options😭)

speaking of mess, i did expose sienna for hooking up with oakley . (mainly because she had the nerve and audacity to insinuate that i did bits with kyle in casa when we didn't even sleep in the same bed) i didn't reveal that it was theo who caught them, tho people should put two & two together based on him trying to get MC to stop talking lol . i kinda regret it, because oakley is trying to spin it as MC being the one that's somehow "out of control," but i'll just see how the next volume goes before i decide to do a replay. if they're exposed during movie night i'll go back and keep it a secret 🤷

enough of that though, we got a steamy scene with claudia 👀 plus some more confirmation that she's 100% focused on us ... i don't know when the next recoupling is but hopefully within the next couple of episodes, i'm tired of being forced to lead people on 😩

next volume is movie night ! i pray for some branching here, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was some ridiculous clip that can make everyone, even the loyal girlies, look "bad." throwback to vicky getting pissed at my movie night clip of giving bonnie a hug 🙄

[miscfandomwrites]

A/N: I wanted a road trip fic, and considering this idea has been gathering dust for about a month now I figured I could give it life. I love Carol Danvers-She’s my wife (Diana Prince is DC wife) and I’ve honestly lost track of how many times I’ve seen Captain Marvel. Not to mention the poster (I had, it got torn -_-), the keychain, THE HAT (Like in the photo! I have one!), the little lego figure, the lunchbox…. Yeah, she’s my wife. Also kind of a slowburnish fic for the first part. I am considering making this into a small series. 

Pairing: Carol Danvers x F! Reader

Warnings: Language, talk about COVID in USA. Dissing the USA’s government. 

Words: About 1.5k

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

Summary: After being cooped up in the tower for months during quarantine, you need to get out and get moving. You’re restless, and can barely fall asleep because of it. Then, Carol Danvers makes you an offer: A two-week road trip to see her friend and her god daughter. It’s two weeks straight in a car, with minor detours depending. With nothing better to do and the fact that you might rip your hair out if you have to stay inside for another fucking week-you accept.

~~

“I need to get the hell out of this tower.” I grumbled as I paced by the bay windows. Natasha watched in interest as my rapid steps thundered throughout the room.

“Well they’re still trying to find a cure for the virus. We can go out, but we need to distance ourselves and wear masks.” She replied, lazily picking at her nails.

“Yeah, but I need to get out of this city. As much as I love the bustle of New York, I need to get out - take a break from the noise, the smells, the city itself. I need to get out into the country again.” I said as I walked towards the kitchen.

Despite quarantine making almost everyone gain some weight, I had stretched and done nearly everything I could indoors. It included working out, and I was happy with the results of that hobby. Arts and crafts were burned out, as well as movies and tv shows. Actually, the only thing I really did anymore was swim and read. Everything else I’d done to the point of mental exhaustion.

I opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, ignoring the fact that it wasn’t even four in the afternoon yet. 

“Well, you could go on a road trip.” She said, her torso leaned back over the arm of the couch as she stared at me. Stretching like a lazy cat, she got up and silently padded to the kitchen. I handed her a beer and lifted myself up to sit on the island counter. 

She nodded in thanks and took a sip from it. “I’ve got nowhere and no one to go to, Nat. Not even Clint’s family, because if I have the virus I don’t want to give it to them.” I replied.

She nodded, remembering what we’d agreed on. 

“We can’t do anything to help. I’d actually look bad if we went out and did anything. The best thing is to stay here, and only if we’re absolutely needed, then we leave.” Steve said as he flipped through the folder on the table. We’d finally gotten the official word from S.H.I.E.L.D. about what we were supposed to do. Or rather, what would look good to the press. 

Cases were rising and it seemed everyday they doubled, or tripled, in some states. I wasn’t worried for anyone in the tower, save Tony because even though the man had a metal heart, I doubted he washed his hands often. 

“And in the meantime?” Sam asked him, flipping through his folder. Steve started listing off ideas and I tuned out, starting to look through my own folder. 

Inside were some lists and things we could do, put together by the ever-loving government. Most ‘Ideas’ included making  our social media presence known and trying to encourage people to stay home, followed by training when we didn’t have anything better to do. 

“I’m not going back home, not with travel restricted and asymptomatic people.” Clint spoke, his hands resting on the back of his chair as he stared blankly at the table.

“It’s going to be okay, Clint. As soon as we’re cleared and the lockdown ends, we’ll be off. Until then, no one gets to visit your family. It’s for their safety.” Natasha said, soothingly rubbing a hand  on his back.

First thing on my list was sleeping, because I’d barely gotten back from a six week mission when this shitstorm started. Staying home for a while sounded nice.

“(Y/N), what’s the first thing you’re going to do?” Bruce’s voice ripped me out of my thoughts. I gave him a small, sleepy smile and replied that I was probably going to sleep for a week or so. The doctor chucked and patted my shoulder as he left the room, the others slowly draining out.

I sighed as I flipped through the folder some more, rereading the paper until it was memorized. I headed out of the conference room and to my floor, only stopping to get some food from the kitchen. We might have a small kitchen on our floors, but the best food was kept in the main kitchen. 

I yawned as I set the basket and the folder down on the kitchen island, and headed to my room. I kicked my shoes off and practically collapsed on the bed. I was out before my head hit the pillow. 

“I know that Clint isn’t even going to them. It’s horrible, I have no idea why we’re still not on lockdown.” I said as I absentmindedly read the label on the bottle. 

Natasha sighed as she drained her beer, and tossed in the garbage. “Because our government is filled with horrible people who value their own wealth over the lives of others. Greed is what America has become.” She said over her shoulder as she headed to the elevators.

Where she was off to wasn't my business and I had a feeling she’d rather shoot me than have me find out about it. I stayed in the kitchen while I finished my beer, going through my ‘inspirational’ Instagram feed of people doing their routines and workouts from home. I grew tired of it rather quickly, and tossed my empty bottle in the trash. Maybe I should just delete social media in general. 

I walked out of the kitchen, busy enough deleting Snapchat and Instagram that I didn’t notice I was about to bump into someone until we collided.

“I am so sorry!” Immediately came out of my mouth as I stepped back, looking at the figure who was….

Carol freaking Danvers. 

I had no idea she was staying here, let alone that she was on this planet. 

“Hey, it’s no big deal. I was actually looking for you.” She said as she straightened her jacket. Her blonde hair was growing long, just barely running past her shoulders. Dressed in a pair of workout pants and her windbreaker with a white pair of sneakers - and the fact that she had her bluetooth headphones around her neck, it seemed like she just got back from a run outside.

“Me?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. She grinned and I swore my heart shuddered at the sight. It wasn’t known that I had a moderate-to-severe crush on her, and as far as I was publicly concerned, only Natasha and Wanda knew about it. The latter had told the former. Damn mind readers.

“Natasha said you were about to go insane from being cooped up in here.” She replied, heading past me and into the kitchen. I turned and watched her start to make a protein shake.

“I’m taking a road trip to see my friend. It’s a two week drive, because she lives in the middle of nowhere. I was looking for someone to come along with me.” She said as she prepared her drink. 

My jaw opened and closed like a rusty gate before my brain finally registered the words and formed an answer to them. 

“Yeah, sure. When do we leave?” I asked. I finished deleting all the social media, save Pinterest, Tumblr, and Youtube off my phone. Bye-Bye snap streaks. 

“Tomorrow. I was figuring we’d stop and get some snacks before we headed out on the road. You’re not allergic to cats, are you?” She asked me, sipping her drink. 

I shook my head. A two week road trip with my crush? Holy shit…

She nodded at me. My phone buzzed, and with a glance I knew that Natasha had set me up for this.

Wow. Sometimes you love your red headed assassin friends. 

“Okay then. Guess I’ll go pack.” I said as I turned, headed for the elevator. 

Holy shit. 

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

what can you say about the arguments from this post?

https://www.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/723566883369025537/your-response-to-that-anon-makes-it-pretty-clear?source=share

I stumbled upon it by accident and have been feeling sick for the second day. These people really cannot see and choice not to see beyond their own nose.

I don't really need to respond to it, the anon that sent it already did that for me.

"Aang never did as much for Katara as she did for him!" they say, ignoring the HUGE list of things Aang did for Katara that the anon so kindly sent.

"Emotional labor" has already become the new "male gaze" and "gaslighting." It used to mean something, and now it's just hollow words because people refuse to use it right.

Yes, Katara gave Aang lots of emotional support. AND SO DID HE. And neither of them ever demanded it, because they didn't have to. It's called "caring about each other." A shocking concept, I know. Zutarians would understand that if their social life didn't consist solely of regurgitating lies about a cartoon and then harrassing people online.

And even though they love pretending that Aang telling his traumatized friend (who may I remind you, is 14-years-old and has always made it clear she wants to be allowed to just be a kid again) "Don't murder this guy even though he's awful, you know you'll regret it later" was NOT him thinking of her emotional well-being, especially when he says to her to let her anger out, then let it go, or when he's totally chill with her saying that she will never forgive her mother's killer. Apparently taking care of someone can ONLY be done by supporting absolutely everything they want to do. Remember folks, if your best friend wants to jump off the plane without a parachute, you let them. If you don't, you're controling, abusive and don't really trust them like they trust you.

"Oh, but he immediately conflates justice and revenge! How terrible of Aang to do that! Please ignore the part of the scene in which Katara explicitly says that, yes, she wants revenge!" These people just never get tired of lying about what happened on the show right?

Also, very funny that they use things Aang lashing out at Katara after Appa has been kidnaped (and APOLOGIZING, something these people conveniently never bring up) and acting like that is unforgivable, yet ship Katara with ZUKO. The character whose whole deal "Gets angry and makes that everyone else's problem, especially when someone is trying to make him see reason."

Them getting hung up on the non-consensual kiss and how Zuko would NEEEVER ignore his girlfriend/crush's explicit objections like that is hilarious too. Like, did these people not see that scene in The Beach, where Mai says "You want me to express myself? LEAVE ME ALONE!" and Zuko somehow thinks that's the perfect time to make a move on her, and was suprised when she then told him not to touch her. Sorry to break it to you, Zutarians, but Zuko isn't perfect either.

Also, at least in both of these cases, the boys were shown as being in the wrong. Uncle Iroh is problably the most beloved character in the whole series, and the scene in which he pretended to be paralyzed to perv on June, a woman that was MUCH younger than him and clearly not interested, was played for laughs and NOBODY calls people abuse apologists for still liking him. Why the hell is liking Kataang despite the Ember Island kiss treated as a crime?

There's just no way to have a chill, reasonable discussion about any aspect of the show with these people. They live in their own little world, with their alternative version of the story, and will get very mad if you point out "This thing you're describing didn't happen like that/never happened at all"

[hungry-tum-stuff]

Regional Phenomena - Rito Village: Fanfic

! Spoilers for the Regional Phenomena Questline in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom !

Author’s Note: In my interpretation of the timeline, TOTK takes place 3-5 years after BOTW, placing Link in his twenties. This is not everyone’s interpretation, but there is reference to Link’s age in this fic, so just bear that in mind as being my interpretation.

CW: Depictions of pushing oneself to the point of exhaustion, ignoring physical needs, physical injury, (blunt force trauma) descriptions of hunger, refusal to eat.

Word Count: 1.6k

“Come on Link! What’s taking you so long?”

Link grunted and hoisted himself up onto the floating rubble of the ruins they were traversing, doubled over and trying desperately to catch his breath. Tulin, who had been flying just ahead of Link the entire time, tilts his head and lands beside the hero.

“Are you okay Link? We can stop if you’re tired, I know you can’t really fly like I can.”

Link stands back up straight and glances at Tulin, then looks up at the storm swirling around the mass of islands they still had to climb. He just sighs and shakes his head, and Tulin nods, taking flight once more.

“Alright, let’s keep going then! I’ll race ya to the next island.” Tulin challenged before darting off. Link shook his head and smiled, following after at a light jog in the hopes that he could mask his exhaustion.

He wished he could match Tulin’s energy. It hadn’t been too long ago when he was a kid rushing around trying to save Hyrule. Which he still was, but being in his twenties and adventuring alongside a literal child aged him just a bit. He knew it wasn’t just that though, the effects of the gloom were still weighing heavy on his body. He didn’t have the endurance or the constitution he was used to, and while the Light of Blessing he’d received so far had relieved some of the damage done, he still felt like he was fighting off some kind of sickness that had sapped all his strength.

Which might end up being the case if he stayed out in this blizzard for too long.

Link stopped at the edge of a gap and whistled to Tulin, who turned tail to see Link making the sign for his Gust. Tulin grinned and sped back, flapping his wings and creating a gust just as Link dove off the ruins and opened his paraglider.

“You know, you fly better than most Rito!” Tulin called through the gale as he sped to fly alongside Link. “Not me though, of course.”

Link chuckled silently as he landed on the next platform, folding his paraglider and signing a quick ‘Thank you.’ Tulin landed and repeated the sign, pausing to think for a moment.

“Oh! That meant ‘thank you,’ right?”

Link nodded encouragingly, and Tulin beamed.

“Good. I’m getting better, it’s just hard to find a good teacher when nobody in your village has fingers, y’know?”

Link chuckled and nodded understandingly as they continued to walk through the ruins. True, there was a bit of a language barrier between them. Tulin only knew what Link had taught him, which was the alphabet and a few basic signs. But they found ways to communicate aside from that: They’d come up with their own sign for Gust, and Tulin was fairly good at charades.

“Look out!” Link rounded a corner and didn’t have the time to react to a construct’s hammer hitting him square in the ribs. He’s sent flying into a nearby pillar, and Tulin gasps, drawing his bow and landing an arrow square in the construct’s eye. Tulin looked around worriedly as two more constructs noticed the fight and rushed over to them, and it was the most Link could do to roll out of the way as a construct’s blade swung down at him. Link fought to get to his feet, his muscles aching with effort.

And thankfully, he and Tulin didn’t need language to fight together.

Link drew his own blade, and Tulin wasted no time in covering Link with his pinpoint aim as he went in and smacked the constructs around, taking down one after the other. Tulin sent the killing blow into the last one, and Link watched as the thing crumbled into a heap of Zonai tech.

And as soon as the adrenaline of the fight subsided, Link took a knee, clutching his surely bruised ribs.

“Link! Are you alright? Gosh, that was a close one. You should probably stop and rest, you got hit pretty hard…” Tulin suggested, only for Link to shake his head and push himself off the ground, using his blade to steady himself before walking away from his friend. Tulin frowned and followed Link to a ledge, where he paraglided down into an overhang in the ruins, where the blizzard was briefly off their backs.

“Okay, well I want to take a break. Look, there’s a cooking pot here too! We can make something to eat.” Tulin said excitedly, rushing over to the pot and beginning to gather up any nearby kindling that wasn’t soaked through from the storm.

And Link froze in his tracks and his hand slid down to his belly as soon as Tulin brought up making food.

That was another reason why he felt so weak: He was absolutely starving. Ever since Zelda went missing he couldn’t say he’d been paying the most attention to his needs. When he woke up on The Great Sky Island, he had eaten just enough to get by. After all, for all he knew he wasn’t even in Hyrule anymore. He got about a day of recovery when he first arrived in Lookout Landing; Everyone had been happy to have him back, and he got the chance to eat a few proper meals and sleep in a real bed again. But after that he jumped right into helping out in the search effort for Zelda: Which had led him out to Rito Village.

And he hadn’t eaten a proper meal since he set foot in the tundra.

He hadn’t meant to go this long. In all honesty, he forgot that the stable by Rito Village had been converted into The Lucky Clover Gazette, so there wasn’t a cooking pot available. And when he got into Rito Village… Well, he didn’t exactly feel great cooking up a meal for himself when the village was full of kids who didn’t have enough food amongst themselves to keep the shop’s shelves stocked.

So, he gave up a couple meals. Which really bit him in the behind when he had to scale floating ruins to stop a magic storm. Because he was running on fumes, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last.

“Link! Do you have anything to cook?” Link snapped out of his momentary trance to see that Tulin had started a fire, and he nodded. He sat down beside his friend and took some fish and mushrooms from his bag, setting them in the pot to simmer.

And as soon as they began sizzling and the smell of food filled the air, Link’s mouth began to water.

“Gosh, that smells great! Where’d you learn to cook so good?” Tulin looked over at Link for his response, but to his surprise, he found the hero doubled over onto himself with both arms wrapped around his middle. A grimace was stuck on his face, and Tulin immediately rushed to his side.

“Link! Are you okay?” Link cracked an eye open to look at Tulin and nod slowly, but his body language, and his own body betrayed him as his stomach growled desperately. Link grunted in pain, and Tulin furrowed his brow.

“I’m glad we stopped, you sound really hungry… Hang on, I think the food’s done. If it’s not, then we can just put it back over the fire, right?” Tulin chattered, trying to make conversation to keep the mood up. Eventually Link was able to open both of his eyes only to see Tulin standing right in front of him: Holding a plate of delicious-looking roasted fish and mushrooms.

Link’s stomach grumbled again. But he shook his head, and pushed the plate away.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

Link pointed to the plate, and then pointed to Tulin.

“Me? Eat it?”

Link nodded. Tulin frowned.

“Well then how are you gonna get up to the flying ship? You gotta eat, Link… We don’t know what else is waiting for us out there! And I don’t want you to keep fighting on an empty stomach… You already got hurt.” Tulin reasoned. Link thought for a moment and glanced away, raising his hands to sign to Tulin:

‘U-R-A-K-I-D’

Tulin processed the signs for a second, gasping as soon as he put the sentence together.

“I’m not a kid!” He stamped his foot. “Is that why you won’t eat? That’s dumb. And no offense Link, but we were fending for ourselves just fine before you came to town. My scout teams are ah-mazing.”

Link was able to crack a small smile past the tearing ache in his belly at that, and Tulin sat down in front of him, setting the plate on the ground and staring Link down.

“We’re both eating. I don’t want you giving up stuff for me, because we’re supposed to help each other.” Tulin insisted.

And Link pursed his lips, sighed, and nodded.

“Yes! Oh, I call that mushroom though.” Tulin insisted as he swiped it off the plate. Link chuckled silently and reached for his own helping, opting to take a bite of the fish first.

“Mhmm…” Tulin looked up from his food upon Link’s wordless exclamation.

“You know, after all this, I get to go back to Rito Village and say that I saved Link! The Hero of Hyrule, cornered by monsters and weak from the cold, saved by the brave, Rito Warrior: Tulin!” He said exaggeratedly, and Link chuckled and rolled his eyes.

‘Don’t get too cocky.’

“Hey, what did you just say?”

Link just shrugged, feigning innocence. And as the meal settled in his tummy, he knew that he would have the strength to carry on alongside his friend.

[writingwhimsey]

All's Fair In Love & War- Nobunaga Ch. 16

Chapter 16

I was in my room, Sato with me , helping me to get ready for the festival. I had given the maids the day off so that they could enjoy the festival with their families. Something I did every year. “So, you invited Lord Nobunaga to join you…is it a date? That’s the term you told me about before…the one from where you originally came from?” She asked as she helped me into my yukata. I could normally do this myself…but my shoulder was still screaming at me when I moved it too much…of course I had been given a medicinal elixir to help with the pain.

“I mean…I guess.” I replied, trying to avoid admitting I had invited him out on a date.

“Well, if that’s the case, I think you should totally let me do something a little different with your hair…and maybe we should even put on just a touch of makeup.” Sato said, grinning at me as she carefully tied the sash at my waist.

“You know it’s traditional for me to wear my hair in a bun.” I told her. “And…I was kind of already planning on applying at least a bit of rouge. Keep everyone from worrying too much about me.”

Sato sighed. “Alright, but I am going to do something just a tad bit different with your hair.” She said. “Now sit down and let me help you out.”

“Last time I checked I was the one in charge here.” I said, giving her a look.

“When we are dealing with diplomatic, economic, and military matters yes you are.” Sato replied. “But when it comes to matters of the heart and getting you all dolled up, I am in charge.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but complied and took a seat. Sato was then moving behind me, a cob in hand as she began to run it through my hair. “Why exactly do you seem to be so supportive of the idea of me and Nobunaga getting romantically involved?” I asked her.

“Ava, you have done so much for me and for the people of this land.” She began to explain and I could picture the thoughtful expression on her face. “Ever since we met, you have been the most selfless leader I know. You have also been the most amazing friend to me over the years…when we met you saw me for what I could be instead of what I had been raised to be and you helped me become who I am today. I can see what you and Lord Nobunaga can be. You deserve to be happy and to for once take something for yourself.”

“Well…” I began, but really couldn’t find the words.

Once she had finished combing my hair, Sato was pulling the sides into braids. “You know, we all want you to be happy, my lord.” Sato told me. “We can all see it. There’s really something special between you two. And you know the maids have been saying for years that you need to marry.”

I laughed. “Yeah, they have been pushing that one for a while…and so have the other clans.” I replied. “Though that has never worked out.”

“I think it’s because all possible suitors have been horribly undermatched for you.” Sato replied. “They’ve all been second sons who are just power hungry.”

“True…they couldn’t lead their own clans so that thought they could woo me and marry me and take over mine.” I replied with a frown.

“And Lord Nobunaga doesn’t have a need to take over the Yamada clan.” Sato replied. “You and he are on more equal footing.”

“That’s something weird to think about.” I replied. Me on equal footing with one of the great unifiers of Japan.

“You two are also quite similar.” Sato added, as she finished up a second braid. She was then grabbing hair pins and sticks as she worked to pull back the still loose hair up and into a bun.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“You know Lord Nobunaga’s original province wasn’t that large.” Sato said. “For quite some time he was known as the fool of Owari, but he rose to power and began his grand ambition of uniting these islands… and look how far he has come…and you had a similar rise to prominence. Which would likely be why he decided to ally with you in the first place.”

“You do have a very good point.” I replied. “Though my rise pretty much started because I wanted revenge on the Ishihara.”

“True, but even through that you still made things better for everyone.” Sato replied. Once she had finished the bun, she took the braids and pulled them back, wrapping them around the bun. “There, your hair is all finished, now let’s get a bit of color on those cheeks and your lips.”

I laughed. “Alright.” I agreed. “Thank you…for always being there for me.” I added.

Sato smiled. “And thank YOU for always being you.” She was then dabbing a bit of rouge on my cheeks, lips, and a touch at the corners of my eyes. “There, you look stunning, my lord.” She was then handing me my small hand mirror.

I looked into it…and honestly I didn’t recognize myself. I had been in warrior and warlord mode for so long…I sometimes forgot what I looked like when I wasn’t. Granted I wore the Yukata every year and it was clearly made of the highest quality silk…but even in the past I have always still looked battle ready. Right now…I just looked like a woman about to attend a festival.

“I think Lord Nobunaga is gonna be speechless.” Sato said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think anything can make that man speechless.” I replied.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” She said, still grinning. “Now come on let’s go.”

Sato helped me up and then we were leaving my room. We were soon making our way out to the front of the castle, where the others were already gathered. Everyone was dressed in their finest, ready to celebrate and enjoy the festival.

Of course, I didn’t really notice anyone once I caught sight of Nobunaga. He was dressed in a fine red kimono that had a black and gold collar…and if I wasn’t mistaken was open just a bit more than his usual clothes. Seeing more of his defined chest than normal…struck me with some rather strong and not so innocent desires.

“We’re all set!” Sato declared with a grin, getting the attention of the others.

When Nobunaga’s eyes turned to me…it seemed my appearance must have had an effect on him as well. His eyes widened momentarily before a smile graced his handsome lips. “It is good to see you up and about Ava.” He said.

I fought the urge to pout. This is the part where you’re supposed to tell me I look beautiful. I thought to myself. Instead I smiled. “Nothing plenty of rest and good food can’t take care of.” I replied. “Besides, I’m made of tougher stuff than that.”

“As you are.” Nobunaga agreed.

Masamune was letting out a whistle as he came to stand next to me. “Looking good there, lass.” He said. “I know you’ve invited Nobunaga as your special guest, but you think you can fit in some time for me?”

I just glared at him as I reached up to shove against his chest with my good arm. “Personal space, Masamune. Stay out of mine.”

Nobunaga was then reaching for my hand as I brought it back down to my side and gently tugging, until I was close at his side. “I will not be sharing my title of special guest.” He said to Masamune, fixing a hard look upon the other man.

I had to admit…I felt a bit giddy at the idea of Nobunaga getting what appeared to be jealous over me.

Masamune just laughed. “I’m only teasing…or at least mostly.” He said, grinning.

“Alright, we need to get going.” Jiro said. “We can’t miss the opening ceremony, my lord…especially since you have to give your speech.”

“Why must you always remind me as if I do not already know?” I asked Jiro.

“Because he believes it is his job to be your schedule keeper.” Sato answered.

“Come on, let’s just go.” I said.

We all began to leave the castle together…Nobunaga still holding my hand. His hand was so much larger than mine…but my hand fit just so perfectly inside his. And his touch…it was so warm. I could feel the eyes of the others on us as we made our way to the center of town, but for the most part no one mentioned our joined hands.

“I am looking forward to this festival.” Nobunaga said. “What kind of opening ceremony do you have?”

“It opens with a prayer for a good growing season from the local temple monks. Then we have dancers and musicians who put on a performance.” I answered. “And then afterwards I go up and announce the beginning of the festival.”

“Did your father participate in this opening ceremony?” Hideyoshi asked.

“He did. Then when he started giving me more responsibilities, this was one of the first things he handed over to me.” I replied.

“But before that you still participated in the opening ceremony.” Sato said, grinning at me.

“No need to talk about that.” I replied, knowing exactly what she was getting at.

Nobunaga looked at me intrigued. “Oh? What did you do?” He asked.

“Our lord used to dance with the dancing girls in the troupe.” Sato informed him because she knew I wouldn’t want to. “And she was quite the dancer. Very graceful.”

“I would have loved to have witnessed that.” Nobunaga said, smiling at me.

“Yes, well, I don’t do that anymore.” I replied. “Besides…I mainly participated in the dance as a favor to my mother.” My mother had always joined the dancers and she’d wanted me to join her. So I did, to make her happy…the smile on her face, I can still see it so clearly.

“Yeah Lady Kaede could get you to do just about anything.” Sato said, grinning at me.

“Don’t act like you never fell for my mother’s charms.” I countered. “She would say jump and you’d say how high, my lady.” 

“Well, she was a very special woman.” Sato replied. “And you are most certainly your mother’s daughter.”

I felt the bitter sweet sting that came with the memories of my parents. They had truly been amazing people and I would always miss them…and these festivals always did make me a bit nostalgic. “Alright, alright. Enough of that. Let’s just get there.” I said, needing to not be crying. This was a celebration after all.

Before much longer, we arrived at the center of the town. With our arrival, the opening prayer was said by the temple monks and then the music started as soon as the prayer ended. The dancers moved gracefully across the stage. The backdrop of the early sunset sky made for a stunning visual.

Once the dancers were finished, it was my turn to step out on the stage. Nobunaga released my hand as I climbed up on the stage. I smiled as I looked out at the people gathered. I was happy to see the usual faces from my lands and the now familiar faces of the people of Azuchi who had come to participate.

“Good evening and welcome everyone!” I greeted, my voice carrying out over the gathered crowd. “On this day, we celebrate new beginnings and look towards the bright future ahead. May the heavens bless us with a bright year filled with peace, prosperity, a fruitful harvest, broader horizons, and new friends.” It was the same speech I gave every year. Short and sweet, but it was what the people loved and expected. There were cheers from the crowd and then I was exiting the stage as the music began to play and the festival began to move into full swing.

“I was half expecting a grand speech.” Masamune said, giving me a teasingly disappointed look.

“It’s the traditional short and sweet opening that the people expect.” I replied. Though, this year those words felt truer than that had before. “Now come on, we have food and games and music and dancing to enjoy.”

We were all heading off then, to walk around and enjoy the festival. We ended up splitting up, each of us wanting to check out different things. Nobunaga and I ended up on our own. “What will you show me first?” Nobunaga asked, looking at me.

“What? You expect ME to entertain YOU?” I teased. “Though I can think of something you’ll like.” I was then reaching for his hand and leading him towards the food vendors. We had a very special one that I had a feeling he would like.

When we arrived at the small cart, we were greeted with a happy smile from the vendor. “Ah, my lord. I am happy to see you as always.”

I returned his smile. “I am happy you have come back to town. We’ll take two.” I said.

He smiled at me. “Of course, my lord.” He was then handing me two sticks with what one would think was blown and sculpted glass in the shape of water dragons.

“What is this?” Nobunaga asked as I handed him one.

I smiled. “Candy.” I answered. “Go on, try it.”

I watched as Nobunaga brought the stick to his lips, his tongue coming out to taste the treat, almost hesitantly as if he didn’t believe it was really candy. His eyes went wide. “That is delicious.” He declared.

I grinned and we paid for our treats, Nobunaga picking and buying some extra for later. “I had a feeling that would be one you would enjoy.”

“I commend you on your first recommendation.” He said, smiling at me.

I couldn’t help but to giggle a bit. We checked out a few more food vendors, before I led Nobunaga to the games. “We didn’t always have all of these games, but they are some additions I have made over the years.”

The games were all variations of simple carnival games I remembered from the future and could replicate here…or some variations of such things. There was also a knife throwing competition, an archery competition. I looked over at Nobunaga. “Are you up for a little friendly competition?” I asked, a grin on my face.

“I am…though it almost doesn’t seem fair…given the circumstances.” He replied, grinning right back at me.

“Well, it’s a good thing then that most of these require only one good arm and I am right-handed.” I replied.

We went first to a ring-toss game, where you had to toss the rings and get them into the bottles. Nobunaga won this competition. I had always sucked at this one even in the modern day. Our next game was where you threw a ball to try and knock over a stack of bottles over. I won this competition.

We did several more of the games, both of us winning some and losing some and even tying at others. Nobunaga was smiling at me, laughter dancing in his eyes as we moved from game to game. 

“This festival is quite entertaining.” Nobunaga said, as we finished the knife throwing competition.

I had to admit that while I was having fun, my shoulder was beginning to scream at me…. But I was nowhere near ready for the night to end. Besides, we still had the fireworks to see. “I’m glad.” I replied, pushing down the pain.

Nobunaga was lifting his hand to my face, fingertips tracing my cheek delicately. “Perhaps we should find a quiet place to sit?” He asked, his eyes looking into mine.

“I’m fine to keep going.” I replied.

“Ava…” he said my name as he leaned in close, his lips at my ear, “We can always return after you have had a rest.”

I felt a shiver run down my spine at his proximity and how his breath tickled my ear. I nodded. “Alright…the fireworks should be starting before long so we can find a good place to view them from.” 

Nobunaga pulled back, smiling at me. “Yes.”

I thought for a moment, remembering where they were going to be set off from and then led Nobunaga to a secluded spot down by the river that ran through my land. There was a bench sitting beneath a tree on the riverbank, one my father had placed there years ago. It had been a favorite spot for him and mother.

We walked over and sat on the bench beside each other and looked up at the night sky. “It’s a beautiful and clear night.” I said, a smile on my face.

“Yes.” Nobunaga replied. I felt his fingers brush my cheek once again. “How are you feeling?” He asked.

“As good as can be expected.” I replied, turning to look back at him. His handsome face was so close to mine. “It still hurts...especially if I move it too much, but it’s nothing I can’t push through.”

Nobunaga was looking intently at my face before looking at my left shoulder. It was as if he were inspecting for blood or any other sign that I had reopened the wound. “Are you certain? You haven’t reopened it?”

“I promise, I am fine.” I replied. “It honestly feels good to be up and moving. I hate just laying around doing nothing…I don’t idle well.”

Nobunaga chuckled at my words, though I could still see the concern in his eyes. It was as if it just wouldn’t leave. His hand moved to fully cup my cheek. “See that you take care of yourself.” He said, his words so gentle, so sincere.

“Why…why do you care so much…about what happens to me, Nobunaga?” I found myself asking. “What am I to you?”

“I…don’t know.” He answered. “It is…to see you hurt or in distress…it makes my chest tighten and ache as it never has before…and when I see you smile or hear you laugh…nothing brings me as much joy…and I find myself…thinking about you even when you are not near and at times it makes no sense…wondering how you are and what you are doing…wondering if you are thinking of me, too…and then when we are together…I am filled with the strangest of desires…I want to reach out and touch you…hold you…”

It sounded like Nobunaga was feeling the same way about me as I was about him. “You have… no idea what you do to me when you say such things, Nobunaga.” I found myself telling him.

“What do you mean?”

I was reaching for his other hand and bringing it to my chest. “Making my heart beat fast like this for one thing.” I replied. “And when your fingers touch my cheek…or when you’ve kissed my forehead…and you consume my thoughts just as you say I do yours.”

Nobunaga seemed surprised by this. His eyes widening and his lips parting as a slight gasp slipped out. “Ava…”

“Nobunaga…”

As we sat there, I couldn’t help but to be filled with my own strange desires as I looked into those carnelian eyes. Without even thinking about it, I lifted my hands and fisted them in the fabric of his kimono…then I pulled him towards me as I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

Nobunaga seemed surprised for a moment before his lips twitched into a smile against my own. It only lasted a moment as his arms wrapped around my waist and his lips began to mold and move with mine. I felt his tongue gently prodding at my lips before slipping inside to tangle with my own.

As our kiss deepened and continued, I could hear the boom of the fireworks and I saw the bright colors dancing behind my lids. Though…they really didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered in that moment was Nobunaga and his lips against mine, his arms around me. It was in this kiss that I knew and I could finally give a name to what I had been feeling.

I am in love with you Nobunaga. Truly and deeply, I love you.

[willkimurashat]

Exactly 0 people asked, but here I am anyway with a rating of Love Island The Game: Ex in the Villa lol!

As you’ve probably noticed, I played each volume as it came out, did not read the spoilers. I always loved litg for giving me escapism from reality I so much craved because it was a fun, problem-free game, where I was the center of attention in a good way, and pixels loved me unconditionally. That is until s5 rolled up. I was really excited about it, even though still not over s4 because they released it so close to each other, but nonetheless wanted to give it a fair go. I was very open to the story and the characters, but about half way through, I just could not defend them anymore. It wasn’t a good time anymore, it was a “how will fusebox piss me off today” time. Anyways, maybe this whole collective trauma of s5 is still very fresh in my mind, and I won’t think it’s so bad as time goes on, but here’s my thoughts on it now.

Disclaimer: All of these are obviously just my subjective, humble opinion - feel free to agree or disagree or add your own:) and if you’d like to use these categories for your own ratings - please, by all means!

Also, potential spoilers ahead:)

So. Let’s break it down into some categories…

Character design: 7/10

This is just my personal taste I guess, but they really went off with Suresh and Gabi. Meera and Johnny made me swoon too. The rest look aight, but I think slight tweaks like aligning Finn’s jaw or Kat’s eyes or making her hair less high up, stuff like that - it would really help. Also, never forget the atrocious outfits (I mean, rubber duckies? Really? The stupid hat? The abominable sandals?? Ugh…)

Character personality: 7/10

I’m probably being too generous, but I do feel like everyone had a distinct personality and a “role” in the villa. Now, where they annoying most of the time? Yes. Were they mean to MC? Also yes, but that’s a completely different point. Did we really get to know anyone or was it mostly just conversations about how Suresh would feel if MC went for someone else and vice versa? I’ll let you answer that one… Disclaimer: MC not included here, she’s an outlier and would skew the score too much.

Character diversity: 4/10

We got some range of characters, but where they done well? Starting with not specifying ethnicities of every single mixed race islander on their applications, perpetuating stereotypes about characters of color and abuse, making them toxic, continuing to make woc villains of the story… LGBT characters being all over the place and, again, villains/unlikeable… Yeah, do better fusebox.

MC design: 6.5/10

My first impression when I saw mc was… not the greatest. My second impression when I played the game - better, but not great. I think my main issue is some expressions, which are just not.. it… I appreciate that they made a curvier body type option, but the face just looks a bit off anyway? Like, don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely potential and so many people were able to make them look hot, but my mc? Idk, can’t help but think that something’s off with her every time I look at her:/ (I figured out who my mc reminds me of btw!)

MC personality: 1/10

It really is a 0, but again, I’m being generous. 16 volumes, 42 episodes and we know absolutely nothing about them. What do they like? Who’s their type? What’s their passion in life? What makes them, well, them? Who is mc? A hologram. A cardboard cut out that only has three preprogrammed comments: yes/no/i don’t know.

MC customization: 5/10

I think overall, the customization was alright and I was pretty much able to make mc look like me, but that being said, I’m a white girl, so I’m privileged enough to not have to run into problems like having ethnic hair gem blocked… And again, I like the curvy body type option, (though it’s still kinda limited), but we still can’t have a choice of feminine/masculine presenting bodies, which I don’t think is too much to ask for (they do it on Lovelink for example). And the outfits… granny fashion and shattered glass bikini? Please just.. let’s just move on.

Challenges: 5/10

The idea for challenges was quite good. Who doesn’t love an obstacle challenge, a snog, marry, pie, a heart racing challenge, or kiss the islander with ___ secret? I know I do! No, we didn’t get the baby challenge or the mean tweets, but it was still a good selection of challenges. However, they were written so… dryly? (Is that a word? It feels like it’s not, but it is now lol.) Anyway, just like the rest of the season, it’s three lines of dry textbook text that just didn’t excite me in the slightest. I read textbooks for grad school every day, I want creative writing in a romance game pretty please! I didn’t feel like I was actually there, doing the challenge. I didn’t care if I won the challenge either because there were no prizes for them anyway and no one-on-one time with our li’s, so… Good idea, poor execution:/

Drama: 3/10

E X C E S S I V E and U N C A L L E D F O R. Of course, it made sense that in a season about Exes in the Villa the main drama will be about Exes in the Villa. I get it, trust me. But you would hope that the drama will get resolved, which in my opinion, it wasn’t. Or it didn’t feel like a satisfying resolution to me personally. It kept going in circles, “hear me out!” “I’m done apologizing!” “Maybe we are different people” “I’m gonna win you back” “How do you think Suresh would feel if…?” “How do you feel now that Suresh is with…?” And the ending was that he wanted to propose to you too, but because of miscommunication it didn’t happen, making this whole drama actually pointless. And that’s only Suresh drama, which if you’re not on his route is tiring, repetitive, and… boring?

Moving on, I wrote a lot of rants about Alfie drama, so I won’t go into it, you all know how I feel. Arlo was feisty with mc for no reason, especially if you constantly reject Suresh’s advances. Drastically changing Meera’s character to an insufferable bitch was unnecessary. Same with Johnny/Nicolas - there was no indication that they are terrible people during casa amor, and the evil master plans came out of nowhere, and only served to further hurt mc. Eddie as a villain was enough for me tbh, we didn’t need the whole villa ganging up on mc. Plus, we shouldn’t be the only ones with drama, I would like to have some fun time at least, thank you very much. Overall, I’m not saying this should be Friend Island - I’ve seen the show, I know how it goes and I know some drama can be absolutely ridiculous, but I just think it wasn’t balanced out at all. It wasn’t healthy. It wasn’t proportional. (Maybe I’m alone in thinking this, but I think s4 had a good balance of drama/friendships/romance, so it was still there, but it wasn’t overbearing.)

Relationships: 3.5/10

The only points here are for Lulu, honestly. And Gabi, but I might be biased lol. Okay, maybe also Alfie-Finn bromance, I’m a sucker for those. Friendship-wise, the whole season I felt alone and felt like I couldn’t trust anyone. Kat was going back and forth between being my friend and being my rival. Arlo had issues with me… why exactly? I’m honestly not sure… Dana was… just there? Her friendship entailed pulling me for a chat any time I wanted to have a conversation with my li and gossiping or asking for reassurance. Meera was nothing, but an insecure bitch to me. Eddie wanted nothing to do with me, until the very end we’re apparently all buddy-buddy and he’s spilling secrets to me. Don’t forget the blackmailing too. Finn was nice only in one (1) occasion, and that is during Snog, Marry, Pie. Alfie may have been a good friend, but I didn’t do that route with him. Lulu was the only one consistently kind and on mc’s side. Gabi was an interesting addition, it’s a shame we didn’t get to know her at all basically.

Romance-wise, again, felt like I couldn’t trust anyone. It was the first season where I just wasn’t interested in anyone romantically because I didn’t get to know anyone really, and most were horrible to me. When the first character designs dropped, I liked Suresh, then was let down. I liked Alfie, then was let down. I liked Johnny, then was let down. I liked Finn, then was let down. I liked Lulu, but the choice to pick Gabi was just too tempting, and guess what? Lulu didn’t let me down, even as just a friend. (I’m glad I picked Gabi in the end, but I still know nothing about her…) Nobody really wanted mc and mc couldn’t really have anyone either. I think there was a lot of wasted potential with li’s. Like, hear me out: Suresh - enemies to lovers, Alfie/Dana - loyal routes, Finn - slow burn, Kat - friends to lovers, Johnny/Nicolas - partners in crime, Lulu - last-minute-sweep-me-off-my-feet, Gabi - messy, peak drama choice (I mean, come on, two girls wronged by the same ex get together? It’s my favorite part of this whole season - literally why I picked her, and she’s actually a sweetheart:))

Recouplings: 2/10

I remember in s4, I felt like there were too many recouplings, so in s5 they went ahead and gave us the least recouplings possible. Only once (1) can you actually pick someone you want to be with throughout the whole time in the villa, throughout all 42 episodes, all 16 volumes - right at the very end (!!!), unless you also willingly chose to twist switch to someone after casa amor. My main issue is that the whole season can be considered pointless because you can basically never couple up with who you want, casa boys wrong you and leave you anyway, bringing us back to square one with 3 og guys that you might’ve tried to escape the whole time. Or, if you’re on a Suresh route, the whole pining angst, or even, the whole idea of going to love island was useless and pointless because even though neither of them really grow or change as people (sorry my Suresh lovelies, it’s just how i see it), they finally talk it out and make up anyway, so none of these 42 episodes really mattered. Yeah, it angers me.

Finale: 4/10

As contradicting as it may sound, I do believe the team took feedback regarding s4 finale into consideration. We got final dates, prom prep, prom, declarations of love, winner announcements, love vs. money, and even a special vip guest - all components needed for a successful finale, the climactic resolution of the season, right? Wrong. I can live with the sacrifice of afterparty (not that I would want to see anyone from this season ever again anyway), but it seems natural progression of the finale was also sacrificed for the sake of jam-packing everything into the last volume. The events felt like they were happening with a speed of light: recoupling-hideaway (ugh)-date-picking a dress-prom-declaration-winners-money/love. I may be sleep deprived, but this made me even more dizzy. And not even that, but the progression of the relationship felt anything, but natural - it was more of a fever dream, really. I like you, Gabi, I do, and you’re sweet and give me full attention, but other than the fact that you like tattooing and fear squirrels, I know absolutely nothing about you (besides the obvious, of course). So all the plastic rings flying around, “being exclusive” and ahem, a PROPOSAL felt, uh… rushed. This is not Vegas, we are not eloping, and I basically don’t know you, so why, oh why would that even be an option?

Moving on, the resolution of the season overall was quite lackluster. Finn never confronted Kat, continuing on with a perfect illusion of romance for her. Well done, Finn. Suresh leaves (if you’re not with him), and decides to let loose and go to Barbados, clearly indicating that he will resort back to his old ways. Nice. Alfie claims to have become a changed man, even appears regretful about things, but who’s to say if he really did change? A half-assed “we’re friends” speech from Kat really did nothing to me neither physically nor emotionally. Sooo… 16 volumes, 42 episodes later nobody learned anything, nobody admitted they were wrong, nobody really genuinely apologized, and nobody grew as a person. Yet again - the whole season was pointless. Add in the driest, most uninteresting writing and it was enough to leave me disappointed still.

We will not talk about Bobby. I refuse to talk about Bobby. That was not Bobby, he was not canon, it did not happen, and I will not accept any criticism.

Structure: 3/10

The only points here are for casa amor, and even that wasn’t done well (i have a post about it here somewhere). Starting with only 3 couples? Only what, like, 3 recouplings ever? Not a single beach hut moment? Not a single hideaway moment??? (No no, they cannot get away with a lackluster last minute “whatever, you can have your stupid hideaway” scene in the very end of the season) We’ve only been there for what feels like a week?? Are you kidding me? It seems we keep straying further and further away from the format of the actual show it’s meant to be based on and I don’t really like that tbh.

Storyline: 5/10

Tell you what, I was actually really intrigued when they first announced the theme of the season as “Ex in the Villa”. I remember people theorizing how they’re gonna handle it, who they’re bringing in, etc. But, a few episodes in I realized just how limiting it was to constrain the whole plotline to… just Suresh. All the conversations and all the drama got very-very redundant very-very quickly. The only redeeming quality was being able to pick Gabi. Check and mate. Oh, and Lulu. Lulu is my queen:) Here’s alternative ways they could’ve improved it: let players choose who their ex is from given characters; let our ex despise mc and mc despises them back in the beginning (enemies to lovers/enemies to besties); let all islanders be exes of other islanders (it won’t be love island the show anymore, but they weren’t really sticking to the format anyway, so); let mc have multiple exes in the villa (and then those two (or three?) exes fight for them); let players choose the reason why they’re exes.

Writing: 2/10

I’m kinda conflicted because I feel like it did get better, but it also got worse? Like, I appreciate using more of love island jargon and the conversations felt pretty natural, like real people would speak, you know? (But still, I can’t really speak to that, since I don’t live in the UK, my only exposure to different accents is through tv and videos.) But at the same time all conversations (75% of which are about Suresh and MC lol) felt so repetitive and so boring and it dragged on and on and on… and then you look back at the episode and realize that nothing’s happened and you didn’t learn anything about anyone. Character development was minimal, if there at all. Very little character depth, very limited background information. I’m not even going to mention mc… Spicy scenes were basically nonexistent and a massive downgrade from s4 (don’t even talk to me). And even in general, every scene was written so dry, so robotic, and so anticlimactic that it was just constant disappointment. The constant bullying from girls to wear expensive outfits was super annoying and unnecessary as well.

Update: I initially had a higher rating for writing, but after playing the finale, I had to cut it in half for the mere reason that I have reached my limit. The utter disrespect I felt when my eyeballs glanced over the screen and read “NSFW kiss” during a prom scene with Gabi was beyond something I could accept with understanding. Perhaps in some circumstances it could be an acceptable form of writing and communicating, but personally I considered the phrasing as a placeholder, instead of a legitimate description of such kiss. I believe if the company had at least the slightest respect for their players, they would and should do the bare minimum of proofreading the text before releasing it for satisfactory gaming experience. Unfortunately, I had to remove points for personal vindication and emotional damage, which is reflective of how I have been treated as a player.

Replayability: 2/10

Hmmm idk. Idk if I’ll ever replay this one. I never got too attached to characters or the storyline, maybe because they released it so soon after s4 and I wasn’t over that yet. And when I did feel a teeny tiny spark with a character, they went on and did something stupid/annoying/hurtful, so even if I did want to go back and do their routes, I feel like they hurt me and I don’t like them much anymore. The only way I mightttt replay it at some point is to just be a bitch to everyone from the beginning because they all deserve that, honestly…

Overall score: 4/10

Well, and that about wraps it up. I never had this many… negative emotions about a season - me, the person who always tells people to not compare seasons, give it a fair go, and not take it close to heart because it’s a game. I usually love burying my face in a pillow, giggling at my screen, and kicking my feet as pixels swoon over me, professing their undying love, but I was robbed of that this season, unfortunately. I’m definitely gonna miss the memes and the rants here every Wednesday, and being the sentimental ass that I am, I will actually feel kinda sad that it’s over. At the same time, this was the first season that I spent here, as an official member of the litg fandom lol, and I’m thankful to have made friends here, bonding over this season:) Thank you for reading my rants, agreeing with me, and offering your own insights and perspectives! I hope I was able to make you laugh a little bit too:) This season prompted me to write two fics (and maybe more to come) that I’m quite proud of, and it made me want to replay other seasons, so I guess there is some good that came out of it, right? ;) and since we didn’t get a traditional ending this season, in true litg fashion I’ll say it…

…Stay hydrated, islanders xoxo

[mskinkyafro]

Natasha doesn’t bother me for pursuing Stefan — I do not want that man. But it really irks me that she’s constantly gossiping, both about MC and her relationship w Stefan, and just about everyone in general. Her beef where it was revealed she had all this to say about all the other women rubbed me the wrong way; why are they making that her only personality?

I’m not doing a Natasha route but she’s so pretty and she seems really fun. I just wish the writers would let her expand her topics of conversation from MC/Stefan to literally anything else. Does that make sense?

I’m not trying to diss Natasha. Again, she’s gorgeous and I couldn’t care less who she couples with (I’m flirting with her man Hamish so what can I say about her and Stefan). I think more than anything the writers hate her and are making her kinda gossipy, which feels… icky considering she could be a LI. Idk. I think I’m crazy

1. To answer your point she’s always gossiping, maybe I’m forgetting things or not reading into it enough, but I don’t feel like she gossips a lot. I feel like the part that was capture on the PDA Awards was the bulk of it. And also the moment with Melissa. I feel like her gossip level is similar to everyone in the house bc they have nothing to do BUT interact with each other and “gossip”. You can apply it to literally everyone else. Shit even my man Finn, was desperate for some tea during the kiss during hide n seek between Kat and whoever. Like they all do.

To your credit, I agree with the writers have had her bring up Stefan and Mc relationship too much. Which is annoying. That I wish they would have done better at feeding that to the player without using her as much. I think they needed to a certain activity discuss more about what went wrong in everyone past relationships or instead of paywalling it, airing out what happen in everyone season since some people are in the loop or out of it regarding the other islanders season.

And Natasha shared a season with Mc so even though she constantly bring them up, I see it as her way of trying to discuss or compare their different journeys navigating the same season.

Now this might be my bias coming in, but I feel like her commentary or “gossip” isn’t any different from like mc’s own that typically we see in the thought bubbles or comebacks during challenges. So I guess it just boils to personal preference and how we perceive the writing, but I just see it as no different from Mc commenting or being savage to people’s face. Hers just got aired in the most messy way.

2. I agree and ultimately still blame the writers as a whole from keeping her as our go to lore character. And therefore we hardly get more about her personality. We see that a lot with the entire cast.

Especially when there’s so much more interesting things about her. She’s a dog groomer, is it high end or specialized in certain breeds. She’s really flexible, was she a gymnast star?

Like so many things. I guess for me, I tend to really hone in on those things and run with it to help fill in the gaps. But it’s annoying that as a player I HAVE to do that bc they don’t give them more time to talk about more things.

3. But lastly, You’re not really the demographic target for my rant LOL. I just was annoyed by moreso ppl who don’t even want Stefan or on a non Stefan route pissed off at her when in my eyes , the very qualities they claim that makes her snakey or bad friend is the very same ones Mc can have and typically does. Ones that we later revere.

Or better yet, Kat still gets hate typically but we got some who prefer her over Nat and I’m like, Kat has been the absolute WORST compared to Nat. Like cmon now.

And yes, honestly the writers once again set up the black female character for mistreatment. They know damn well a certain chunk of this fandom can’t resist it. So yknow. It is what it is. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I’m never surprised.

But appreciate your reasonings, nonny. Like I said, you’re not who I’m aiming my critiques to but still. I see where you coming from and appreciate it nonetheless.

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Finished the One Piece Live Action and overall I'd give it an 8/10. Most of the actors are great at portraying their roles, and despite a few small (and two not so small) criticisms I had with the show, overall it still felt like One Piece, albeit a different version of it.

I sincerely hope they do a season two, despite my criticisms. I think they could easily do the Alabasta arc, even in just eight episodes, though I'd hope for more.

Logue Town

Reverse Mountain / Crocus / Laboon

Whiskey Peak

& 5. Skip Little Garden and go straight to Drum Island

6. , 7., & 8. Alabasta

Would be so awesome if they did that.

Spoilers below where I go in-depth about my criticisms, mainly for my own benefit.

Starting with the biggest criticism I had, I think it was genuinely a mistake for them to cut the Don Krieg fight because of how it really makes both Sanji deciding to join the crew, and Nami's iconic "Luffy, help me" scene kind of fall flat.

It messes up Sanji joining the crew because, without it there's really no reason for Sanji to even consider joining his crew. At that point, Luffy was just this random wannabe pirate captain who had been forced into becoming a dishwasher for the Baratie, and whose crew consisted of a half-dead swordsman, a liar, and a thief who betrayed them. Not to mention, said-wannabe pirate captain just had his ass handed to him and was looking to presumably get his ass handed to him again by the same guy while presumably going after a woman who stated clearly that she wanted nothing to do with them anymore. What about that screams: "Ah yes, I should quit my sure thing of a life and job to go hangout with these all-powerful, super intelligent, upstanding people!"

It also just sort of lessens the Nami moment later on because at that point she has no reason to even hope Luffy can beat Arlong, and literally every reason to believe he can't given that she'd literally just seen him lose to Arlong at the Baratie. Instead of it being an inspiration of hope at her lowest point, it became this pathetic last-ditch effort to beg for help from someone who she has every reason to believe can't help her.

This isn't to say that scene wasn't done well, for what it's worth. I thought Nami did a good job of recreating the scene pretty well honestly. It was just the setup to that moment that I had an issue with.

Beyond that, I had an issue with Sanji overall, but this is again connected to the fact that they cut the Don Krieg fight. Honestly, while I thought the Syrup Village was easily more enjoyable in live action than it was in the anime, I really wish they'd cut that arc down to just one episode and given Baratie the time it deserved to be what it needed to be. I know they had a lot to cram into just 8 episodes, but I really don't think they did the best of jobs deciding what was worth keeping and what was worth tossing.

Of course, I have to assume this was mainly due to budget and effects, hence why they also decided to cut out easily the best character in Arlong Park (probably hard to depict an 6-armed octopusman), Hatchan, who I would argue is far more important as a comedic relief character than one might expect, but I digress. His role in Arlong Park really helps relieve some of the tension, reminding everyone that this is supposed to be a goofy pirate show and not always some ultra serious, depressing drama series.

Other than all that, the show was great I thought. You really have to open your mind a bit and not be such a stickler to the source material, as I often find myself being. I really hope they do a season two though. I can see it being somewhat feasible for them to do an Alabasta Saga next. 1 ep for Logue Town, 1 for Reverse Mountain/Crocus, 1 for Whiskey Peak, skip Little Garden since ultimately it's not super important and just have Nami get sick some other way, 2 eps for Drum Island, and then I think Alabasta itself probably deserves 3 episodes so we can maybe see at least a couple of the fights.

I'd love to see Zoro solo the Millions, and especially his fight against Mr. 1 since I think that's a pivotal power-scaling moment for him when he cuts steel for the first time. Of course, you can't have Alabasta without Bon Clay, so seeing him and Sanji fight would be good. And then obviously, Luffy vs. Crocodile. I'm not sure where Nami, Usopp and Chopper would fit in, since I'm trying to think of how you'd keep this budget-friendly, and having them all fight their actual opponents I think would just be too much (especially Usopp & Chopper vs. Ms. Merry Christmas & Mr. 4).

[roydeezed]

Dungeon Meshi Thoughts 04

It took a lot of will power because I wanted to come here and write things multiple times but I finally reached and finished Chapter 50. Which is what I wanted to do before writing another one of these. Somebody said on my last post that they couldn’t imagine stopping every once in a while to write down my thoughts and I have to say it’s really hard not to binge the whole thing. That’s usually how I consume most manga and comic books but trying it out this way has been pretty fulfilling. I also get a vicarious joy everytime I follow along with a friend's journey with One Piece so I thought this might provide similar entertainment to Dungeon Meshi fans. Especially the wrong guesses! So this round of thoughts is covering chapters 37-50. So, for my fiftieth post I’ll talk about Dungeon Meshi up till Chapter 50. I’ll go into more in-depth past the “Keep reading” so check it out!

Wow! Everytime I think I know what’s going to happen I’m pleasantly surprised by how nuanced the actual events are. This whole ideological conflict between Shuro and Laios doesn’t devolve to a full on conflict, not if you don’t count their little catfight, but instead ends with a third option I hadn’t even considered, with Shuro planning on leaving the island. That’s such a great out to not having to resort to fighting someone or stooping to, as Shuro sees it, their level. And of course the narrative still keeps Shuro in the narrative through actual plot developments even after he makes up his mind but I’m getting ahead of myself. First of all, reading back on my past thoughts, I am so happy I predicted some of these things right! Like most of the case with the mad sorcerer. Thank you One Piece community for your insane-ass theories and break weeks. But that really speaks to how well this manga is laid out. A lot of the mistakes I made were in assuming this manga’s tone and not respecting that it could have such a nuanced plot and characters. 

Let’s get going on a chronological recap/breakdown before I get distracted and lose my mind over how much I love Kabru. The answer is a lot and that will come at the end. Leaving off in Chapter 36, Laios had just told Shuro that they’d used dark magic to resurrect her, causing him to fly off the handle and point his blade at Laios. Kabru, being the little bastard(affectionate) that he is, highlights to Shuro that he would’ve done the exact same thing by exaggerating his side of things while at the same time showing Laios how serious his actions were. At the time I was reading this I wasn’t sure if Kabru had somehow luckily stumbled upon the right answer but now knowing him better, this shows his skill in social situations. This is the first major instance of him finding a third option and laying the groundwork for a peaceful solution and for everyone to also find their third option. I kind of see Kabru as synonymous with the number three. Third option and third prominent party leader after Laios and Shoru. I feel like it will be an important part of his character.

After that tense exchange Chilchuck comes in to warn them about the impending attack and learns about Laios telling Shoru and loses it. I sympathize with Chilchuck so much. In a party of complete weirdos(again affectionate) he’s the only one with a level head. We’ve also only had Laios interacting with his fellow party members who understand him and put up with him so it wasn’t until he talked with Shoru, a person who actively despised him, that it was apparent how bad he is at social interactions and reading people. He is so much purer than I thought. He really is a monster loving freak. Bless his precious heart.

He sees Falin’s new form and the first thing he thinks is how cool she is. He really does have his priorities straight. I can’t blame him though, she really does look super cool. 

There’s also a great moment where Chilchuck makes Shoru and Laios command people. It’s such a great peek into the realism that’s pumped into this series as deciding on how commands are issued would be a vital part of dungeon fighting as you wouldn’t want conflicting orders. Here we also get Inutade trying to follow Shoru’s batshit insane order of holding down a griffon creature 5 times bigger than her without hurting it.  I love Inutade in all the small glimpses of her we get. She’s simply adorable and I hope we get more of her. But this moment also contributes to Shoru’s decision to leave as his conflict of interest gets so many people hurt and killed.

I love how the author uses the battle to show off strong character moments such as Kabru’s no-nonsense policy towards monsters and his skill at killing humanoids or Chilchuck saving the younger halfling.

Laios accepts the fact that though he loves monsters and he loves his sister, they still are monsters.

But before he goes in for the kill, Falin shows a sign of sentience that prompts him to remember a third option just as he saves Kabru. As the sorcerer came the last time they killed the dragon there’s a chance that he would come again so they have to drive her back. But I feel like there’s going to come a moment of reckoning for Laios. Where he’ll have to firmly put a stake in the ground between monsters and not, and because this story might just do it, I worry that it will be with his sister. 

They drive Falin away and revive everyone and Shoru comes to the decision that he’s gonna tell on them like a tattle tale. A snitch. A narc. We don’t like those here. Not with my boi Chilchuck around. But they also come to the conclusion that Falin’s soul was mixed in with the dragon's, making her a hybrid. And this is where Laios’s resolve to defeat the mad sorcerer becomes solidified. He’s been eating three meals a day, of course he’s serious now… fucking dork. I love my socially unaware boy. 

I feel so bad though. Because he believed so earnestly that Shoru was his first real friend.

And that’s why his friendship with Senshi feels so real, because even though they don’t dive deep into Senshi’s backstory until a little bit later they still have an inherent understanding of each other. 

I get it though Shoru, it makes sense. 

The detail of Soru proposing to Falin without dating or expressing his feelings was also a nice touch as it showed the disconnect between cultures, especially with Chilchuck educating the younger halfling on it. It’s little things like this that build out the world so organically. Kabru evaluates Laios and finds that he could probably defeat the mad sorcerer but wonders if he’d be able to make the hard decision to seal away the dungeon. And I think he would if he had to. We’ve seen time and time again, that when presented with a solid argument, Laios, as a leader, seriously considers it and even acts on it, like trying to go back to the surface or killing Monster Falin, only being stopped by new information and outside factors.

We get a small glimpse of Kabru’s backstory and he eats monster to earn Laios’s trust. (MUST RESIST TALKING ABOUT KABRU UNTIL WE GET TO HIS PART). The party continues to lower floors and Laios casually lore drops and it makes me wonder what the chances are they can actually talk to the sorcerer. I’ll save that discussion for when they get pulled in by the citizens. But for now, we get a small little mystery where the characters get doppelgangers based on each other’s perception of them that Laios not only helps solve but he also resolves by once again being a dork. I can never say enough how much I love him. The  dopplegangers tell us a lot of fun things about each person’s perception but the thing I want to focus on is that Laios definitely sees Senshi as superhot. That’s all my peabrain can fixate on from this sequence. 

We also meet our newest party member not soon after! I love Izutsumi. Honestly, I love all of the party members. They all feel essential and after they introduced or a new dynamic or piece of information is unveiled it leaves me wondering how I was getting along fine without it. But Izutsumi’s messiness paired with her being a picky eater is such a fun and adorable combo. And while each member sparked off of each other and came in conflict with each other Senshi always felt like an outsider. I thought it was because he wasn’t an original part of the group but it was really because no one would directly challenge him, usually only going through Laios. With Izutsumi joining we get these moments that make them both feel like they’re a part of the team as they clash but also have wholesome and adorable moments together.

With increasing frequency I see Laios’s desire and willingness to turn animalistic and monstrous and I wonder if that payoff is that he himself turns into a monster or takes Falin’s place? Or is he only able to appreciate the difference between him and monsters because he’s a human. 

I also appreciate this added depth we get into Marcille, that she’s afraid of seeing the ones she loves passing on before her. And I wonder if at the end of the dungeon she might not be the most dangerous one? We already saw she was willing to break rules to keep the ones she loves around, but with the sorcerer knowing about immortality it could tempt her. Even her wishing for his grimoire could be foreshadowing. It would be consistent with Marcille’s character arc and in the end might not even be a bad thing in context as this manga often has a habit of flipping the context on its head.

Izutsumi becoming a part of the squad not only helped Senshi feel more cohesive but her combative nature also makes things more dynamic with every other member, including fighting with Chilchuck and Marcille and making up after the fact and in the process showing off all of their best qualities. Marseille’s explanation on why she’s capitulated to a lot of Laios’s weirder whims helps me understand her a lot better as well, as she sees denying opportunities as veering further from her goal, flipping the context from it being a loss of her beliefs into a strengthening of her conviction. 

OKOKOK Kabru time! Through the guise of elven negotiations we learn a lot about Kabru. One of the main things that always stood out to me about him was that despite his age and apparent lack of skill fighting monsters, he was always shrewd. And seeing how the Elves storm in like magical FBI and take over dungeons without telling anyone what happens and the fact that he was raised by them, not only makes me believe that elves behave in a much more machiavellian way but that he learnt it all from them. It’s nurture not nature and his whole motivation is quite noble. He’s such an interesting character because he can go in so many directions now. He’s helping the progress of our party and could one day be a valuable advisor to Laios, someone who respects that, but could also just as equally succumb to the power and manipulate Laios. I don’t think he will now that I’ve seen his motivation but each scene with him is so interesting. He’s got the most bird’s eye view overview of the situation and I love how he collects his information. It scratches that very specific itch of characters that are like Light from Death Note but not complete d-bags, like Shiroe from Log Horizon. And so much of how Kabru has interacted with the world makes sense now. I can’t wait to see him outmaneuver the elves because they might actually be a match for him, being equally manipulative.

Okay, I don’t know about yall but this visit into the village stuck in time seemed way off to me. A little too grimm’s fairy tales like if you know what I mean. So we know the jist already. Thistle, the mad sorcerer, was hired as a jester by Derghal’s dad. Raised alongside Derghal, he got them industry connects to become a magician and learnt magic, became mad and cast an immortality curse on the country. But being asked what drove him mad, Yaado, Derghal’s grandson says he doesn’t know. Feels a bit too clean to me. For a thousand years how can they be content not knowing. I feel like they know but are too ashamed to admit it because they drove him to madness. Then again, is it even madness? It’s love for Derghal for sure, but there could be more too. Why’s he only looking for Derghal after six years? Of course it could be that six years barely counts as time passed to Thistle but the clues feel too significant to ignore. Anyways, I wanted to bring it up before I continued, even though I don’t have a proper answer to what they could’ve done. 

Next, we get another thing I’ve waited for, Senshi’s backstory! And some more information on Chilchuck. Before we dive into Senshi’s past I want to talk about Chilchuck. Since Senshi was basically a baby when he went into the dungeon, does that make Chilchuck comparatively the oldest as not only did the other halfling call him an elder at 29 years of age, but he also has a wife and child! That he can’t see for some reason. I can’t wait to see his tragic backstory. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that he’s always seemed the most guarded. It seemed like a really big leap of faith for Chilchuck to share about himself like that. 

But then we learn about Senshi. He came into the dungeon when he was a kid and lost his whole party and believed he had eaten them because of the way things played out. It’s also why he avoided forming attachments. Laios eventually helps him figure out that he did not in fact canniablize his fellow dwarves and they walk away happily before becoming changed. But with this, the character who facilitated this entire premise, of cooking monsters you kill in a dungeon, also become the character we know the most about, knowing most of his motivations and reasons over the last ten years. It’s a really confident move and I’m curious to see how it affects the dynamics going forwards because it’s such a 180 from the past 48 chapter as we knew next to nothing about Senshi until now. One thing I do wonder is that if Senshi's desire to not have eaten his companions was so strong, could it have manilpualted the meat to make it seem like he did eat hippogriffs before? Because this time th meat was only transformed after being cut so the mushrooms could have changed it to dwarf meat to go along with Senshi's desires. It's probably not that dark but I couldn't help theorizing. With them having been changed by the mushrooms we’ve caught up with chapter 50 and I’ll leave it here as it’s getting quite long. See ya’ll next time!

[stargazer-sims]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

I was tagged by @damseljamsel

What’s your favourite sims death? Death by chickens & bunnies (Cottage Living)

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch? I'm not a big alpha fan. I do have some alpha CC, but I'd say I'm 97% Maxis-match.

Do you cheat your sims weight? No, but they never really seem to change their weight, so.... ???

Do you use move objects? Absolutely! I do a lot of building and it's practically essential for building

Favourite Mod? MC Command Center. I don't actually have that many mods in my game, and I could live without most of them, but MCCC is too useful to play without at this point.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack? Get To Work (EP), Outdoor Retreat (GP), and I forget which stuff pack I got first. It was either Spooky Stuff or Backyard Stuff.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing? I pronounce it like "LIVing"

Who's your favourite sim that you've made? As a character, definitely Victor Nelson, but in terms of aesthetic/attractiveness (to me) I'll say Eden Seong, and Prince Makai.

Have you made a simself? Yes, I have made a simself, and I've played her in more than one save. Currently, she's living her best life in Newcrest.

Which Sim traits do you give yourself? Dog Lover, Creative, Socially Awkward, Foodie

Which is your favourite EA hair color? either ginger or black

Favourite EA hair? For both males and females, I really like the wavy hair that's tucked up in back, with wisps at the sides, that came with Eco Lifestyle.

Favourite life stage? Young Adult or Adult, simply because the majority of interactions and opportunities in the game are geared toward them. I'm starting to appreciate children a bit more, though they still leave much to be desired in terms of gameplay.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? I would definitely consider myself a builder, although it's certainly not the only thing I do with the game.

Are you a CC creator? Yes - @stargazer-sims-cc

Do you have any simblr friends / a sim squad? I have simblr acquaintances who I'm friendly with. I'm pretty sure I've never had a "squad" anywhere at any time, either online or offline lol.

What’s your favourite game? Unpopular opinion, but my favourite iteration of the game is actually Sims 4 (and I've played every version; original, 2, 3 and 4)

Do you have any sims merch? lol no, although I do kind of want to get this coffee mug.

Do you have a YouTube for sims? No

How has your « sims style » changed throughout your years of playing? I'm not sure my actual "style" has changed, but I do think my sims look better than they did when I didn't use skin details and non-default eyes. Plus, with practice, I've learned to create better faces.

What's your origin id? It's SafireStargazer, although I haven't posted anything to the Gallery in a while.

Who’s your favourite CC creator? I don’t really have a favourite. I like what I like, regardless of who made it.

How long have you had simblr? Since 2015. This account is my second one, made in 2019, but not actively used until the end of 2020/beginning of 2021.

How do you edit your pictures? My editing software is PaintShop Pro (currently using version 2022)

What expansion / game pack is your favourite? It’s a tie between Snowy Escape and Island Living for my favourite EP, and my favourite GP is still Outdoor Retreat.

I'm not going to tag anybody, because I feel like everyone has already done this. But, if you haven't done it and you want to, feel free to say you were tagged by me.