#I say that with love I'm glad girl characters are allowed to be a bit lame sometimes

[joejoeba]

Can I humbly request some F2 Jolymes? I have feelings about them

Ermes trying to be cool is my favourite because she's such a loser (affectionate)

(Not taking requests)

[whatstruthgottodowithit]

Uncle Jesse x fem reader!!!

where one night he plays a gig at a bar with his band and during a few songs he sings, they lock eyes and he’s really interested in her, so during his break he goes and talks to her and they hit it off. She invites him back to her place and things get a little steamy until her shirt rides up a bit and he sees bruises on her torso. (Insert protective Jesse!!) (tw abuse.) maybe you could use the line “the last guy was a little rough.” But Jesse knows those aren’t those kinds of bruises and that someone later their hands on her

Season 3/4 era

Sounds Good To Me

Fandom: Full House

Pairing: Jesse Katsopolis x Female Reader 

Characters: Jesse Katsopolis, Female Reader

Word Count: 1363 // Rating: Mature

Summary: Reader and Jesse get off to a good start until her past makes an unpleasant appearance 

Tags/ Warnings: Kissing, Requested Fic, Request, One Night Stand, Abuse, Physical Abuse, Physical Injuries, Bruising, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Violence, Angst, Protective Jesse, Jesse and The Rippers, Uncle Jesse, Set around Season 3/4

Notes: Here ya go @americaarse Hope you like it.

Just a memo other requests might be slow as I'm busy next week and this weekend. I'm going to be doing EP fics for his birthday so I'll be ignoring my inbox till they're done lmao

‘We’ve been Jesse and the Rippers! Thanks for coming out,’ Jesse said as a wave of cheers and applause rippled around the club. He left the stage and headed to the small dressing room the venue owner provided for them. It had been a good show. The crowd liked their material and they’d even managed to sell a good deal of CDs. But that hadn’t been the highlight of his night. No, the highlight of Jesse’s night had been the cute girl who’d been watching him throughout. She didn’t seem to be a fan of theirs, but rather someone who had attended the club they just happened to be playing at, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. And Jesse loved that. As the band packed up their stuff he headed out into the bar to get himself a drink.

He was standing at the bar, waiting to be served, when he felt someone appear beside him and turned to find the girl from before. She glanced at him and smiled. 

‘Hey,’ Jesse said.

‘Hey,’ she said with a soft smile, ‘great set. You guys are really cool.

‘We like to think so,’ he chuckled. 

‘I mean it. I wasn’t even gonna come out tonight but I’m glad I did,’ she said. 

‘Well how about I make your night a little better,’ he said. 

‘Oh yeah?’ she smirked, ‘how are you gonna do that?’ 

‘Well I’ll start by buying you a drink,’ he said with a smirk.

‘Sounds good to me,’ she smiled.

The guys had decided not to stay after the gig but Jesse didn’t much care. He was having a good time without them. He and Y/N had spent hours tucked away in a booth at the back of the club. She was a nice girl. Sweet, funny and smokin’ hot, just Jesse’s type. As the night wore on and the drinks flowed he found himself losing the thread of the conversation as he started getting distracted by her. The way she moved her hair out of her eyes. The way she smiled when she told him something funny. The way her lips formed a perfect pout as if begging for him to kiss her. She was telling him a story, enraptured in the tale, but he had no clue what was going on. He wanted to kiss her. Badly. 

She seemed to catch him staring and blushed, ‘what?’ she asked after a moment. Jesse didn’t say anything, instead, he leaned in and placed his hand on her cheek before he kissed her tenderly. She tensed for a moment and then melted into it allowing him to continue. He pulled her to him and rolled his tongue against her lip as if asking her to go further. She responded and soon enough they were making out. When she finally pulled back Jesse watched her carefully. She was smiling, though a little shy, and said, ‘wanna take this back to my place?’ 

‘Absolutely,’ he said. 

They left pretty sharpish after that, taking a cab to her apartment. Jesse figured it would probably be better than taking her home and having to explain why kids' toys littered every room in his house. Or having to explain to Joey and Danny who she was and why she was there. They were barely out of the cab before they were back on one another kissing one another as if their life depended on it. She forced them to break away so they could walk up to her apartment, though Jesse couldn’t help but come up behind her as she unlocked her door, kissing down her neck as his hands caressed her sides. 

Once they were inside they were back together trying to make their way to the bedroom without breaking apart for too long. His lips were everywhere, nipping and sucking along her neck as he pushed her jacket off her shoulders. As they got into the bedroom Jesse pulled his shirt off, watching as she climbed onto the bed, lying down and watching him with an inviting smile. 

‘Come here,’ she said beckoning him to her. Jesse didn't have to be told twice. He was on her in a shot, hovering over her as their lips reconnected. He made his way down her neck, his fingers tracing along the hem of her shirt before he hiked it up. She moved up so she could pull it off but as she did he noticed something. 

Across her stomach were deep purple bruises, tinged with green around the edges where they’d started to heal. He stopped in his tracks and so did she, noticing him staring at her. She could see what he was seeing and nervously pulled her t-shirt down so they were no longer on show. 

‘It’s fine,’ she said.

‘Those bruises-’

‘Aren’t a big deal,’ she said going to kiss him again but he pulled back until he was sitting up on the bed. She moved to sit up properly.

‘How did you…’ he said, trailing off mid-sentence. He had his own ideas. None of them good. 

‘Let’s just say the last guy was a little rough,’ she said quietly. Jesse felt rage flow through him. He hated bullies. No matter the context. Those who used their fists to get their point across rather than their words. They made him sick. And he didn’t know how anyone could lay a finger on her. They’d only known each other mere hours but it was clear to him how special she was. 

‘It’s fine,’ she said placing a hand on his knee, ‘and it doesn't have to ruin anything between us. I mean if the bruises bother you I’ll keep my shirt on.’

‘Bother me?’ Jesse baulked loudly making her wince, ‘sorry. Honey, I’m not bothered by them. Well the look of them anyway. I’m bothered by the person who did this to you. They shouldn’t be able to get away with this.’

‘It’s not a big deal,’ she said self-consciously. 

‘Yes it is,’ he said as he placed his hand on her knee, ‘you’re a great girl. And whoever this guy is he didn’t deserve you. He doesn’t deserve any woman.’

‘I know that,’ she said quietly. Jesse could see something behind her expression as if she wanted to say something but she was holding herself back whether in fear of him judging her or admitting to whatever it was. 

‘But?’ he said gently. She looked up at him panic-stricken, ‘you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.’ 

‘No it's okay,’ she said, ‘it’s just…I know it’s wrong. I know I shouldn’t let him in but he talks me around. Every time I tell him it’s done and every time he lures me back in until something like this happens. Then it’s like I see sense. You must think I’m really stupid.

‘I don't think you're stupid. Guys like that are just good at getting their way. They know all the cards to play to make you trust them again. It doesn't mean you're stupid for believing they might be a decent human for once,’ he said. Y/N nodded. 

They sat in silence for a moment and she looked up at him with a meek smile as she said, ‘I bet this wasn’t the night you were planning on huh?’

‘Eh,’ he shrugged, ‘I had a good gig, a few drinks and I got to hang out with a pretty girl. I can’t complain.’ 

‘Still a bit of a mood killer though,’ she said. 

‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘but maybe it just gives us a chance to take another run at this whole first date thing.’

‘You wanna go on a date?’ she said.

‘Well, we did take this thing at a hundred miles an hour. Maybe we just need to slow down a little bit,’ he said with a smile. 

‘Sounds good to me,’ she replied.

‘Though,’ Jesse said, clearing his throat, ‘I’m still hoping for something.’

‘What’s that?’ she said in a whisper. 

‘That I can keep kissing you,’ he said, ‘just for a little while longer.’

‘Like I said. Sounds good to me,’ she replied.

[spiderprincess-suffet]

I frickin love my Aus Sally, i purposely made her the opposite of how the fandom majority sees her and I love her now lol.

I feel like the Creepypasta fandom has this overly Pure and innocent view of Sally, with the frilly dresses bows and sweet innocent attitude even not allowing any shipping with her as odd as that is.

I've seen many people headcannon her as Aroace Wich Is fine if you just like it or are even self projecting a bit cuz I've seen people do but, butttt ive also seen a pretty big amount of people headcannon her as Aroace specifically because of the SA in her story, and that's never really sat right with me just cuz it kinda sends the message of

If you've been SA'd in the past you'll never feel love or want to even think of anything romantic or sexual again. Which admittedly can happen as a trauma response but it's not all the time people have many different trauma responses and for my Sally I wanted to lean away from that.

My Sally isn't some innocent girl who can't defend herself and wears all these frilly dresses and needs to be covered at all times, she's not afraid to wear things like Tanktops crop tops shorts heels and just generally more revealing stuff like most of the fandom tends to portray her as, tho obviously it's not to the overly sexualized and inappropriate type of revealing stuff I'm just saying Sally isn't held back by the SA she's grown up and she's not ashamed of her body and not afraid to wear more revealing stuff like Tanktops as it's not what you wear NO ONE deserves SA or is asking for it just by wearing shorts or a crop top and you shouldn't be expected to be innocent and completely covered at all times it's okay to wear whatever it's up to the adults to not be creepy about it.

She's still girly overall loves pink and ribbons and glitter but she's not some innocent child she knows what happened to her was wrong and she's trying to move on from it and live a normal life, she's also not stupid and can defend herself another thing that buggs me is how many people make characters like Masky or Toby or slender always come to her rescue making sure no man can hurt her again but to me that just takes away her agency, saying she needs all the men in her life to protect her when she can protect herself they should be guiding her and teaching her how to fight properly not just doing it for her.

She also likes romance talk my Sally is Bisexual as just because you were SA'd doesn't mean you can never love or want to be loved again shes a normal bisexual girl who gets crushes and sure she still feels awkward and is very cautious especially around men but still she likes to fantasize about going on dates and getting valentine's gifts and that's okay XD

Uh I hope I explained this well im not trying to offend anyone and I'm pretty bad at explaining my thoughts but I tried sorry it might not come off as I intended so feel free to ask questions I'll be glad to attempt some clarifying.🫠

[mylordshesacactus]

VERY soft about my girl Atri tonight tho.

She's a little baby cleric, nineteen, level 2 and one of those is in ranger, raised in a cloister, never been more than a day's travel from her home temple before, but her devotion to the Raven Queen is very real and very very tender.

We're running Death House as the optional intro to Curse of Strahd (so, spoilers if you're avoiding those!) and just. God, I'm so glad I decided to play my girl in this campaign, it's perfect for her.

Atri's defining character trait is that she loves the undead--truly and genuinely, even the mindless or vicious undead, because by their very nature the undead suffer. They're trapped--sometimes in prisons of their own making, yes, but trapped--and, worst of all, very few people seem to care. Even other clerics of her Lady generally view undead as abominations; to be pitied, maybe, and the peaceful ones treated with kindness, but objects of revulsion, an aberration of the natural order, something to be purged.

Atri says: The undead aren't abominations. Necromancers are.

In her world the Goddess of Death makes a promise: All chains are broken. Death means an end--no more joy and memories but no more suffering, no more fear, no more loneliness or pain. No matter what, or what you did in life, bad or good--death ends it. No one can hurt you, and you can't hurt anyone else.

Necromancy breaks that promise. It gives cruel spirits the ability to continue harming others when they should be past all chance of it, and it allows the innocent to continue to suffer. Spirit-binding is an obscenity--you cannot command a soul. No one has that right.

Which means this module has been, just...I couldn't design a scenario to better let Atri shine.

It says a lot about her that, having more than established that the lady of the house murdered her husband and his pregnant paramour using fucked-up necromancy and her vengeful spirit appears to still be around, Atri's response was...to gulp, light incense in her censor, and walk a slow circle around the room, calling out politely to the Lady Elizabeth and offering her some understanding--you must have been very hurt, and very angry. Your husband disrespected you in your own home, and that was wrong of him. I'm sorry you were betrayed that way. Will you talk to me? I'm Atri, Order of the Broken Chain, I'm here to help...

(It says a lot about her, also, that she made no further attempt at reconciliation after finding what she did to her victims. Compassion doesn't mean forgiveness. She just...lit the incense again, called out to what was left of Klara, and very very softly apologized. You were taken advantage of--whether you felt that way or not. And then you were hurt very badly by your employer. They shouldn't have done any of it...I'm sorry. Someone should have helped you...)

The party in and out of character has been pushing Atri to the forefront to do the talking-to-ghosts bit. She's had some lovely, lovely tender conversations with Klara and the kids, telling them how sorry she is, that she and her friends are here to help them...she cut the bindings on the bed where Klara was tortured to death, just as a gesture that might bring her spirit some closure. Broken chains, a promise kept too late. Recited full funerary rites over what was left of the poor woman's body.

Just feeling VERY soft that while we DID ask them important questions about the plot, 90% of Atri's conversations with ghosts in this house haven't been about mystery-solving; they've been about slowly, gently, prying free some of the pain that's kept them trapped in the place just as much as the fucked-up necromancy.

If Atri dies in this prologue, calling it now it'll be because she's not gonna run if it means leaving anyone behind.

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2, episode 1

I'm at it again! I know I never posted the season 1 finale review, and maybe I will go back and do that later. But for now, I just finished the season premiere, and I have to say, Perrin is 100% correct. The five of them are much more impressive together than apart. Which isn't to say I disliked it. They are all on the struggle bus, but that is where character development is at its peak, and where we get to see their true inner strength. Which is to say, I LOVED it. Bring on the angst!

The season opener with the round table of evil plotters was a fun and clever way to deliver some exposition without boring us. Having a little girl crawling under the table, disturbing the Very Important Shadowy Cloak Meeting really humanized every single one of them, and seeing the Fake Dark One be so gentle and patient with her gives some insight into how people can become dark friends. They are just concerned parents. I am now calling him Nancy Reagan, since he is their leader. I also definitely want to pet a trolloc. They look much cuter when they aren’t being ordered to kill everyone in sight. Are they tamable? Or...redeemable? I am still not sure of their level of free will/sentience, so I am not sure which word applies.

The first scene post-credits is Moiraine working hard to take her Very Sad Alone Time Depression Bath. Just one woman, chilling in a hot tub, cuz the water gets cold without magic. It was a very good idea to show the first hot tub scene in the recaps, so I could get the full emotional subtext here. Bathing is a communal activity in this culture, but she can’t handle having someone else see her in such a vulnerable position when she already feels so vulnerable all the time. But the longer she spends isolated, the more alone and vulnerable she will continue to feel.

She and Lan are hiding out with their friends, Sassy Twin, Serious Twin, and Tom. Tom is married to one of them, but I forget which one. Without the warder bond, Lan must have lost the rapid healing that allows him to withstand his severe clothing allergy. Good thing the Sassy Twin is there to helpfully point out additional clothes that might be hurting him, and to reassure him it would be fine to remove them in her home. She truly speaks for all of us. I’m glad Lan has these three friends around to support him as he supports Moiraine. This poor man is having to learn, at the tender age of forty-something, to use his words to describe how he feels. He is afraid for his best friend, he is hurt about being pushed away at a time when he would expect to be leaned on even harder, I am pretty sure he blames her for blocked bond because she had put the block up prior to being shielded, and he feels like he is losing his only purpose in life.

And in the face of all that, he has to exhibit so much patience as Moiraine acts like every insecure teenager ever and tries to push him away. His previous experience with teenagers taught him what this behavior is like, but not how to handle it. Her “I am so aloof and do not care at all about the feelings of others” routine was incredibly transparent to everyone except Lan. He really needed his friends to lovingly slap him in the ego and remind him that the only way to truly help her is to let himself be the vulnerable one, so she can see how it' it's done, and realize it's something she can live with.

But now he has to do it the old fashioned way, by walking upstairs to check on her. Good timing, too. Slightly worse timing for Serious Twin, but at least she could handle all the Eyeless. Hopefully one of the twins does healing.

Meanwhile, at Aes Sedai High, Nynaeve and Egwene are in novice training. Egwene is dealing with a bit of culture shock. She accidentally witnesses an actual, honest to Light, bisexual orgy on screen. She is going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a big fish in an ocean surrounded by other big fish, but she is handling it better than I expected. Nynaeve is handling the entire thing exactly as I hoped she would. While Egwene focuses on adding extra challenges by learning to weave with both hands tied behind her back, Nynaeve is semi-consciously stopping herself from doing any magic at all. Polly tries playing on her pride, by saying she is just scared, and Nynaeve responds by drinking dirty dishwater while making direct eye contact. Such a power move, there. Unfortunately, it leads directly to an unwanted face-to-face discussion with JK Rowling, which quickly turns into a surprise duel. I thought JK was torturing Nynaeve by hurting her, but my husband said she was only making the air too thick for Nynaeve to move through. And really, nothing could possibly torture Nynaeve more than placing an unwanted restriction on her. She did end up shielding her, temporarily, and that was described as one of the most brutal forms of assault. Pretty sick, but also pretty consistent with boarding school hazing rituals.

Later, Nynaeve and Egwene read the letter from Perrin, where he hopes they will all stick together. And JK Rowling goes down to her secret Man Dungeon For Men to read a heavily edited version of the letter to her prisoner, New Mat. And, to this I have to say, come on JK Rowling! Why do you go and pull a stunt that the actual JK Rowling also used in her own book? Your name is getting more and more accurate as time goes on, and that is not a compliment. Anyways, Mat responds in pretty much the same way Harry Potter did, by trying to break out of jail. I’m not sure how I feel about New Mat so far. He seems a bit like a soggy bed sheet, but he is also in the exact circumstances that would lead to soggy bed sheet behavior. His puckish attitude was mostly a mask he put on to lift the spirits of those around him, and his private moments were entirely spent dwelling on his own misery. Presumably the only person he has interacted with for months now is someone who actively feeds on that misery. JK Rowling is a cursed dagger unto herself.

We get a brief glimpse of Rand, with his new haircut. He is sad and has no lines. I assume he will be more present in future episodes. He lights a lantern, presumably for his mother, but maybe for the innocent version of himself that will never exist again. Maybe for his friends he thinks he can never see again. They light the lanterns for those they lost, which might not necessarily mean the ones who died.

Perrin, meanwhile, is on a quest to find Padan Fain and steal back the magic horn. He has found another Wolf guy, who seems to be teaching him how his wolf powers work. Apparently he can see the past? Maybe he is smelling the places where things used to be, like Angua does in Discworld? So then, is he a werewolf? This is a very confusing power that has still not been explained at all. I would have liked to see Perrin get a training sequence similar to Egwene and Nynaeve, but the defining trait of wolf guys is that they aren’t a chatty bunch. They find a bunch of bodies of the traitors from the final battle, presumably disposed of once they were no longer useful. The group holds a proper funeral for them, which confuses Perrin. He doesn’t understand how they can go to such effort for the people responsible for the deaths of hundreds. The prince guy responds that if his people spent their time seeking revenge on those who betray them, they wouldn't have time for anything else. It is more helpful to the ones left behind to let it go and focus on the mission. Sort of the way of the leaf, but with a more productive twist. Perrin is really on a quest for a moral philosophy that he can live with, and this one seems slightly more compatible with him.

At Bel Tine, he lights a lantern for his wife. The first time he has to do so. He places his wedding ring on the lantern, but takes it back at the last second. He isn’t ready to let go of his own guilt just yet, but at least he can move forward while carrying it now. Loial seems good for him. And Perrin is good for Loial. He’s way more likeable now that he has gotten used to the wonder of living in the human world, and stopped condescendingly and incorrectly explaining how it all works. They are both figuring that out together. I am not sure how he survived being stabbed with the cursed dagger. By all rights it makes no sense. So I guess… Loial returned somehow. And we are also moving on from it and focusing on the mission, even if we carry our confusion with us.

Other episode reviews

[ofliterarynature]

AUGUST 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope DNF (bookclub) reread*]

True Grit • A Sorceress Comes to Call • (Fit for the Gods) • A Short Walk Through a Wide World • The Chestnut King* • Where the Drowned Girls Go • The Hollow Boy* • The Philosopher's Flight • The Whispering Skull* • Death by Silver • Grandma Gatewood's Walk • Across the Green Grass Fields • Tales from the Hinterland • The Screaming Staircase* • Ascension • Running Close to the Wind • August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

* * * * * *

Lockwood & Co - time for a reread! I really like the idea of ghost books but struggle to find ones that I like, but these are perfect! The worldbuilding and story structure is somehow just what I want - just enough rules to give them the confidence to be bad ass AND tension for when they royally screw up, and a fantastic, case-book type narrative where the characters are going about their lives, fighting ghosts, and not actually getting to the titular case until halfway through the book. Love it! I need more like that actually. (I recommend The Angel of the Crows)

Tales from the Hinterland -since I finally read The Language of Thorns I figured I should get around to this too. I didn't like the related novels all that much but WAS interested in the stories, but it's been so long I've mostly forgotten their context. I didn't mind it, and I think Albert has a better grasp on the language and form of fairy tales than Bardugo, but the inescapable grimness of the stories quickly became repetitive and boring.

Across the Green Grass Fields - it took me a bit to warm up to this one, but once we went through the door I had a good time! I think this is probably my favorite of the individual door stories so far. On the other hand, I usually like the ensemble books, but Where the Drowned Girls Go didn't quite work for me this time, but it might be one that just needs a second read.

Grandma Gatewood's Walk - I've seen this one around (most recently at a Hocking Hills gift shop) and finally picked it up since my library had it on audiobook. Unfortunately it was doing a lot of things that annoy me about certain nonfiction and while it was readable and interesting, I wouldn't say I enjoyed it or would recommend it.

Death by Silver - a gaslamp mystery/gay romance that was fun! If you like a mystery that is, the "romance" coasts along on the "old school friends/hookup buddies" line and doesn't really get any development (or steaminess), but things do keep moving and it was a nice enough read that I'd maybe try some of the author's other work (but maybe not the sequel)

The Philosopher's Flight - I don't even know. It *was* a good read that moved along well, BUT... I don't want to lay everything at the feet of "it was written by a man," but it definitely had its effects. Stories about girls and women going into a man's world and showing them all up are pretty common and catnip to me (Keladry my beloved), but something about a man doing it in a women's organization that exists in a patriarchal society WITH a heavy political-unrest plot going on as well, and despite the abundance of female characters none of them are well developed? And the main character is just a bland-ass dude? It really didn't sit well with me, and I do not want to read the sequel.

The Chestnut King - I'm glad to be done with this series reread. They're honesty just a perfectly middling MG fantasy series, slightly dated but charmingly midwestern in many ways. Kids would probably enjoy it more, but there's not much for an older reader.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World - going in I knew this was being pitched as sort of cozy, and being comp'd to Addie Larue (which I didn't like in execution). Fairly accurate on both counts tbh, and I thought the curse in this one worked much better - the problem with Addie was that the inability for anyone to remember her didn't allow for any connections to make things interesting, whereas A Short Walk's not being able to stay longer than a few days or ever return offers *just* enough to be heartbreaking. Unfortunately there just wasn't much of a shape to the overall story and I was so bored I almost DNF'd. If you're more into the books being marketed as "cozy fantasy" you might have a better time of it than me.

Fit for the Gods - aka "Greek Mythology Reimagined," which feels self explanatory. Anthologies are always a bit of a mixed bag, but I really liked this! Especially compared to the previous anthology (Sword Stone Table), there was only one story I didn't really like, but otherwise really vibed with everything else! I also learned that most of my myth knowledge that's stuck around is from Percy Jackson, lol. (Not to mention the reincarnation story that mentioned Percy Jackson! I cackled XD)

A Sorceress Comes to Call - LOVED!!! Regency house party, magic, murder, mystery is so so SO up my alley. I've seen people call this a stressful book, and I get it, the mother is awful and things are definitely tense, but something was telling me that things would turn out ok for the main characters and I was able to enjoy myself lol. It also helped that it became quickly obvious that the mother was very full of herself and overconfident, even if she was terrifying. I think this is tied with Thornhedge for my favorite Kingfisher so far, though I might rate this a little lower on quality. If you liked this I really recommend checking out the Greenwing & Dart series by Victoria Goddard!

True Grit - meh. Picked this up through a combination of podcast rec/book sale find/needed to read another classic. The kid's got spunk, but that's all I've really got to say. Came very close to dnf'ing, but at least it was short.

DNF

Ascension - 25%. I was really looking forward to making a "if I had a nickle for every book about a mountain mysteriously appearing somewhere it shouldn't, I'd have two nickles" joke, but alas. This started off pretty good, going with the classic "I found these papers among my brother's affects after a long mysterious life" that I was REALLY excited about. Then we actually got to the story and the main character was just Most Special Genius Science Boy, and the way his ex-wife was being written was absolutely bleh. I looked a bit closer at the reviews and decided to dump it. (Other mountain book is My Volcano and you should read it!!!! It's so weird!!)

Running Close to the Wind - 11%. Was this funny? Yes. Was this super horny? Yes. Was this funny and super horny? Super yes. I can really appreciate what was happening here, it's just unfortunately not a style I can consume in anything larger than small bites. I decided to part ways before my feelings really soured.

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space - 41%. I honestly did like what I read, it just wasn't speaking to me? I can see this being a great book for someone, I just had other things I wanted to read more.

[meenawrites]

Seo Yul Deep Dive - Part 1

Well, since my class ended early and I have 20 min to kill, why not.

SO Seo Yul.

First off, I think he's a fantastic second male lead, specifically because he's more complex than just being a secondary love interest to bring drama to the main couple. He's not at all, in fact he's the opposite of that.

Seo Yul is everything all the adults wanted Jang Uk to be in terms of obedience, principles, and morals. He is upright with a strict moral compass, obedient to his elders, and is prone to agonizing over what the right thing to do is, especially once Naksu enters the picture.

He is the foil against which Jang Uk is being measured.

It would have been quite easy and probably acceptable to just make him one dimensional and have him be there mainly to pursue Naksu and be another obstacle in the way of our main couple, but they didn't do that AT ALL! And I'm glad they didn't. In fact, Seo Yul is one of Jang Uk's dearest friends and he cares about him a lot and vice versa continuously throughout the run of the show.

Seo Yul's love for Naksu, or lingering love from his romanticized memories of his time in Danhyangeok serve to further Seo Yul's own character development as well as highlight just why Jang Uk is actually a better romantic partner for Naksu.

The way they love her is very different. I'm not trying to discount Seo Yul's love for Naksu in any way, I think he definitely does and did love her, but he is someone who is incredibly committed to his principles and to following the rules; it's just how he's constructed himself across his life. So Naksu's very existence throws him completely off balance. On the one hand, he's so glad the girl he once loved and thought would never see again is alive. On the other hand, everything he's been taught and everything he believes in is screaming at him to kill her, that her existence as a soul shifter is not right and cannot be allowed to continue. Yet she is also giving his best friend, Jang Uk, everything he's ever wanted–she is making him HAPPY. So Seo Yul is just kind of going back and forth in his agony over what to do. He feels a great sense of responsibility because he believed he was the only one who knew her identity for a while, and he's generally relied on by the adults in his life like Park Jin and Heo Yeom to kind of be their sword and do the right thing.

Jang Uk on the other hand (as I've seen described in a post somewhere) is more loyal to people than he is to principles, whereas Seo Yul leans a bit more towards the opposite.

So for Jang Uk, he's willing to bend his morals or defy what everyone around him says is wrong out of loyalty to the people he cares about, and Naksu quickly becomes one of those people to him. Like she tells him, everyone has always wanted her dead; no one has ever actually attempted to save her. And I think that strikes deep into Jang Uk's heart and he makes a decision very early on that he will be the one to protect her, and he accepts any collateral damage that comes with it.

Where Seo Yul is sitting and agonizing over the principle of Naksu's existence, all Jang Uk is thinking is how he's going to protect her and keep her by his side. There's no question in his mind, no moral quandary about it. He is as loyal to her as he is to Seo Yul or Park Danggu, or Maidservant Kim–some of the most important people in his life.

In essence, Jang Uk is the type of male lead who would let the world burn for the person he loves while Seo Yul would be willing to make the sacrifice if it meant saving the world.

I don't know if either is necessarily better as an attitude, and I don't feel qualified to comment on that. But Jang Uk's attitude is why he is better of a romantic partner for Naksu, because she needs someone like that, to feel like someone will love her to such an extent. She's been betrayed and discarded and used so many times across her life that she needs and wants that kind of unconditional love–chosen unconditional love, I should say. Because Jang Uk CHOOSES to be loyal to her no matter what.

This stark difference between Jang Uk and Seo Yul really comes to a head in the conversation they have (can't remember the episode) that goes something like this:

Seo Yul: We have a duty to protect the world from monsters. [referencing soul shifters and citing what he's been told his whole life]

Jang Uk: But we can also protect the monsters from the world.

I'm totally paraphrasing because I don't have time to go look up the quote, but yeah.

Underlying this conversation, they're both really talking about Naksu, but I'm not sure how aware both of them are that are each referencing her.

This continues on later, once Seo Yul has kind of finally made the decision to let them be, to let Naksu be happy because he does really want that for her. He was even planning on whisking her away to Seo Fortress to protect her and to take responsibility for her which weighs heavily on his shoulders. So we know he cares about her a great deal, maybe even more than his principles, which is what puts him in such mental agony in the first place.

I'm really glad actually that Seo Yul and Naksu got to have a closure conversation near the end of Part 1 (even if it all went to shit after) because they had so much history that needed to be addressed.

This conversation was really a turning point for Yul (again before the tragedy of the last episode) because he had finally made his peace with disregarding some of his principles that have been drilled into him and that he's held onto steadfastly for so long in favor of both his friends' happiness. His loyalty to people superseded his loyalty to his principles.

But then the tragedy happens. And not only does his worst fear come true that Naksu will run wild and cause havoc upon his world, but it comes with a huge price. Danggu and Choyeon's happiness is ruined, many people are killed by her hand or injured, and worst of all, Jang Uk dies on her sword.

Just when he's finally made peace within himself, it all falls apart, and he interprets it as the world telling him that he was wrong. That he should have intervened, done something, even if that meant killing Naksu. That he should have been more pro-active. That everyone else was right, and he should have done something about the monster.

He's a very subtle but very interesting character, especially when contrasted with Jang Uk.

He puts a lot of pressure on himself (possibly an attitude adopted because of other people's expectations of him growing up as the only Seo heir but we don't really know) and tends to take on everything quietly. He loves very deeply, and you can see it in the way he interacts with all the people he considers dear to him. He's very thoughtful and considerate and is always thinking of others at his own expense. His love for Naksu and for Jang Uk only added complexity to his character, and I absolutely love him. I think he's one of the highlights of the show.

I have to go to class but I will return for my thoughts on Seo Yul in part 2.

Let me know what you guys think or if I missing anything you thought was important!

[ordinaryschmuck]

Good things that happened today:

Finished Season One of Parks and Rec. today. And I wish studios can allow good shows to have bad first seasons again. Lately it just feels like "all or nothing," and if a show isn't an immediate win then it's not worth investing in. Literally to CEOs. Just look at Parks and Rec. Leslie is more irresponsible and stupid, Andy is more of a douchebag instead of a lovable doofus, and Mark...fucking exists. But there's still hints of the show that I love in this season. Leslie's golden moral code, that episode where Andy inefficiently helps out around the house, the great acting and direction that makes these characters feel human, and the good characters that outshine a fucker like Mark from existing. And, all and all, I'd say Anne is about the same in quality as the rest of the series. The full season was rough to go through, but it was allowed to be. It made missteps but was allowed to improve in future seasons, focusing on what worked and writing out what didn't, which I wish more shows were allowed to do nowadays.

Played a little bit of the game I bought yesterday and enjoyed it.

Another nice day outside. I even had to take a hoodie because it was so cool out, which is PREFERABLE. Trust me.

Got to pet a dog that leaned into my hand as I pet her, which was the best feeling in the world, let me tell you. And later, I saw a dog in a woman's shopping cart, standing as if he were a captain piloting a ship, the little stinker.

Made a little bit of progress in talking about a new theme. I didn't think I'd do much, and I really didn't, but I'm glad with what I DID manage to write down.

Had more fun answering asks about Team Action and took pride in giving Annie a love of horror movies. It was intentionally meant to be a joke, but I've grown fond of giving this little extra layer to her. It presents decent irony that the super happy girl who's a pacifist superhero is also one that adores horror movies just for the thrill, themes, and artistry put into them. Point is: Give your OCs more hobbies and interests. You'd be surprised by what fun that might bring out.

And I had an idea for a potential fan fic that I might make. Just...give me time. I want to make sure this could be something we'd all be interested in.

Good things about me:

I have good ideas for stories and characters

I have a fair understanding of the characters and shows I enjoy.

I have a decent sense of humor.

My sens of humor blends well with shows that I like.

I have good media literacy, for the most part.

[cobaltqueen]

hi!! i really like your PL au, i love gajeel/lucy brotps and im a luvia girlie (romantic or not), so wanted to maybe propose some solutions to some of the things you said you were struggling with.

if you want gray still on galuna island you could have him hear some kind of rumor about deliora being there and go investigate, or if you want to not have PL involved at all and keep it relatively the same (natsu runs off on the quest, gray and erza end up following along) they could sell the key or advertise giving it away somehow for lucy to end up getting it (or, if you don’t need her to have it prior to her joining the guild, they could just keep it for if they find a trusted celestial wizard) could have that lead into my idea for the loke arc.

even if lucy gives up on being a fairy tail wizard i doubt she’d give up on being a writer, and so maybe she could travel to magnolia occasionally for writing purposes and meet loke there? then they just keep accidentally meeting at places and he starts trusting her that way, even if it’s not enough to reveal the whole circumstances? then it sorta depends on how fast they join fairy tail afterwards, but lucy could plausibly join faster than juvia and gajeel which would allow her to be there for the loke arc?

i don’t know if these make sense in your head but i’d love to hear more about this au <3

Hi! First off, I'm really glad you like the AU! I too am a fan of the dynamics between Lucy and Gajeel, and Lucy and Juvia. They can be so good if given the chance!!

Gray ending up on Galuna island specifically cause he heard rumors about the Deliora thing is a great idea! I wanted team Natsu (-Lucy) to still be on the island and finish the official quest because i think it's just necessary for Grays character development. So maybe something like: Gray hears the rumors, sneaks out, Natsu notices and goes after him with Happy just cause, and then Ezra follows the three of them?

For the key I was thinking that, since in canon Ezra refuses to accept the money reward since they didn't actually destroy the moon, they might leave the key this time too? After all there's no Lucy there. And maybe the old village chief guy makes another quest to "vanquish the moon" or something cause he's stubborn and this is the one Gajeel, Lucy and Juvia take, or maybe it's the same one they just show up late... ( i want this AU to stay a bit silly, i think it's funnier that way).

I'll try to post the Galuna Island doodles i made a while ago later

In regards to Loke, that is actually a really cool idea! It would also make a lot of sense, Loke is canonically a flirt and he did flirt with Lucy before he freaked out about her being a celestial wizard so if lets say, Lucy is out looking for inspiration and Loke is on a job they could feasibly meet and interact!

Thank you very much for those ideas they are very appreciated, i do hope i can give the characters and their dynamics justice!

Talking about them, I was thinking what name to give the Gajeel/ Lucy/ Juvia team. I can see Gajeel potentionally wanting to name it Team Gajeel (as a way to parallel Team Natsu) but also I'm not sure if that would be his go-to and i definetly think the girls would shut that down haha

[bengiyo]

Moonlight Chicken Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

Can you believe we're getting double doses of Aof shows now each week? Yesterday, we were treated to possibly the best opening we've ever had in BL. We have a sense of the dynamics of the restaurant and the way the financial crunch of the pandemic is hurting this town. We know that Uncle Jim is gay, and down to clown with Wen, but only casually. Li Ming doesn't seem happy about his current circumstances, and is now. wrapped up with the deaf son of a local police official. Alan (First Kanaphan) is so notable in his absence that we all were thinking about him. Mark Pakin and Khaotung continue to deliver phenomenal performances from supporting roles.

I'm so curious about Leng coming along with the restaurant.

I love the way Mark moves.

Wen just got here and already is like, "I am persistent."

"Chapter 2: The Temporary Chicken Rice"

I like the vibe Praew is giving off. Curious if this lotto thing is foreshadowing or world building.

Fourth feels so different as Li Ming.

Li Ming has to have thoughts about his uncle's fling suddenly working for them.

Uncle Jim and Li Ming seem to have a tense relationship.

So Heart doesn't have anyone to speak to because his parents haven't learned sign? No wonder he was driven to drinking.

Curious about why Heart took the photo.

Earth being allowed to play older characters is such a sexy move by Aof. He even gets to be funny!

Ah, yes, let's see Leng, Gaipa, and Praew together. These three are so comfortable on film.

I hope Khaotung being in love with either Earth or Mix continues as a bit far into the future. Gaipa is being nice, but he is definitely here to check out the competition.

Fourth joins the ranks of the fit boys we find excuses to strip.

I do like that we're drawing attention to Thai pronouns and how some of them have a familial context. Jim is younger than Li Ming's mom, so I think he would normally use "Ar"

There's a lot seemingly weighing on Li Ming. He clearly seems stressed about affording school in Bangkok, and seemingly has no interest in girls. He also seems to be struggling in his English classes, and seems to project a lot of this onto his uncle.

I think this tv sequence is the first time we've seen Li Ming seemingly relaxed so far.

I figured Praew was going to be pregnant with the eating earlier. Curious that they came to Jim with this problem. Does everyone go to their local gay uncle when they have problems?

Jim is doing such a bad job of keeping Wen at arm's length.

Omg the face journey Mix just took us on when he realized that Li Ming doesn't feel like he can talk to Jim about his desire to travel.

Fourth can smolder. I'm glad he worked with Mix on this show, because you can feel his brewing attraction to Heart.

Mark Pakin just made me cry. When they say acting is reacting, they're talking about Saleng's face dropping in awe when he realized that Jim actually did come through and help him. You could see the relief and thanks wash over him. He thought he was alone with this big situation, but Jim threw him a lifeline.

Wen is clearly fond of this behavior.

"I'm giving you your reward." This feels like something Aof put in from all the BL kids teasing him and always trying to hug him.

"Get serious with someone. Kill your loneliness...I can't stay with you forever you know?" Gosh this felt so gentle and caring.

I like the price of 3000 THB as compensation (roughly $89.33 USD). How you feel about that amount of money says a lot about where you sit.

Jim saw the potential for Wen to be with someone else and instantly retreated.

I like that Aof knew the 1000 stars fans were not going to put up with Mix and Earth making fuck-me eyes at each other all month waiting for payoff. This is much more intriguing.

I kinda hope we don't learn what made Jim give up on love for himself.

Next week we learn about Jim's homophobic sister, confirm that Fourth does the chin thing on his own, and I hope to the gods we see First.

[pastelwitchling]

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is a little more complicated than the previous two, I think. Spoilers below.

To be completely honest, this book was not a 5-star read for most of it. Then the final fourth happened, and I was enamored. I don't think the book itself is worth 5 stars, I think it has quite a few problems, which I'll get into in a second, but I absolutely adore Evangeline, Jacks, Chaos, and Lala, I love the world, I love the writing, and I'm so obsessed with the romance that I don't think I needed this book to be flawless, I just needed it to be... itself (?), and it managed to do that.

Nevertheless, here are some of the reasons that kept it at a 4 to 4.5-star rating for most of the story;

- Jacks... was barely in this. At least for more than the first half, and that's too much time for a main character to be missing. The blurb made it sound like Jacks and Apollo were going to be kind of in competition with each other for Evangeline's heart (the tagline was literally, May the best villain win), and yet for almost the entire story, Jacks has no idea that it was Apollo who had erased Evangeline's memory in the first place.

- The pacing was very slow. The entire first half could've so easily been condensed. There were moments when I was getting just a little bored while reading. Now, I was suffering severe PMS pain, and maybe I just needed a better distraction, but that doesn't change the fact that the pacing was very slow. It's book 3, the final one, and we were STILL having the same conversations with Jacks about how dangerous it was for them to be together, and him pushing Evangeline away. I understand WHY he was doing it, but it's the LAST book and we were still going in circles for so much of it.

If this book had been 700-800 pages or wasn't the last one, I would've understood why it was moving so slowly. But more than halfway through and NOTHING was really happening? More than halfway through and the main couple is BARELY together? It's just too much, to be honest.

- Chaos was barely in this as well. I was sure he had some feelings or attachment to Evangeline in the previous book, so I thought that at the very least, he would be more involved. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I really loved him as a character, and thought we could've used a lot more of him.

- There was no weight to the Valor's return. This ancient founding family had come back from the dead, and it was kind of dismissed as an afterthought.

That's really all on the parts that dragged the book down a bit. For what I loved...

- Evangeline. As always. I love her unique personality, I love how she's allowed to be this POLITE girly girl who loves pink and sparkles and pretty things and dreams and magic and still be such a strong character. In this era of adorkable/emotionless female main characters, Evangeline Fox is such a breath of fresh air.

- Evangeline and Jacks. Words cannot express. I've already said this before, but I have not loved a fictional couple like the way I love these two since Celia and Marco from The Night Circus, which is the highest form of praise coming from me. The chemistry, the romance, the AESTHETIC. Don't touch me.

- Evangeline and Lala's friendship. This is why the pacing bothered me so much. I wanted so much more of these two together, I adore them. I feel like they're what the sister relationship in the Caraval series SHOULD'VE been.

- I loved Jacks saying he didn't even remember what Tella looked like and Evangeline being his everything and the truth behind the curse. I was worried we wouldn't get an answer for that true love's kiss, but ohhhh did Miss Garber deliver.

- That kiss and what followed. I can't even... I... *brain malfunction*

- I knew that's what the ugly tree would do, I so KNEW it, and it was very satisfying.

- I'm glad that Aurora turned out to be a psycho. It was very fun, but also, I hated her from the first page. I can't stand too-perfect characters with adorkable/sassy personalities. I'm just glad that I got to hate her with reason, that's all :)

Just overall everything. Like I said, this book alone isn't flawless, but neither were the last two and I still gave those 5 stars. The biggest thing is that this book doesn't feel like an ending, it feels more like it's kind of already setting up the next series, which is NEVER how a book should feel. Still, I fell in love with this series because of the characters and the relationships and the world, and all of that stays true to itself, so. Also, I think it helps that I went into this after heavily mixed reviews, so I knew to force my expectations down. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look into getting the pretty British pastel editions of this glorious series.

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Book Club! (I'm glad some of you are enjoying reading the nonsense I've been writing up for these things. Thank you very much!) I know some characters I'm highly anticipating are coming up, so let's get to it!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10

Trigun Volume 2: Covers + Extras

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for Trigun Vol. 2, Chapter 1 below.

Chapter 1: Blood and Thunder

WOLFWOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!

I love how intense he looks compared to Vash, who seems to be smiling just a bit. Of course he would. He has a buddy to fight at his back.

"More than just shoes," huh? What, does he make crazy strappy leather body suits, too? Hmmmmmm???

Dramatic Vash title page pose!

Oh, shoot. I remember that fountain from '98. That's... a bad sign.

Meryl: "What a lovely day...." Me: "Not for long."

I do appreciate the pigeon floof, though. Wait, how did pigeons get here? Did they import them? Are these actually not-pigeons but are more closely related to Thomases? Are... are they a type of WORM??!??!!

Oh, Vash. He wants to rest, but he's keeping one eye open.

NM, he's decided rest is the best option.

OMG, this page! Rem with the halo imagery over her. The way her form dominates the page but blends into Vash's, as if she's a bigger part of him than he himself is. The way he seems to be falling through the panels. Gorgeous.

Aaand the moment's gone.

At least they're apologizing?

Wait, there's no water in that fountain, is there?

Goshdarnit, Vash! Don't put that in your mouth! You don't know where it's been!

Yeah, you're not gonna be able to talk while pulling off this maneuver. But I'll allow it.

Hahahaha, once they've properly apologized, he decides to reward them with ice cream. Or maybe just reward himself and reward them as a byproduct, but whatever.

VASH THE STAMPEDE!!! You, of all people, do NOT get to tell Milly (OR ANYONE ELSE) she is not acting her age! Freaking dork....

I love how calmly Meryl is like, "Here's the cash. Get us all ice cream." Although I'm only counting five??

Oh.

Meryl just won like 500 brownie points for that move.

There are few things in life that can't be made to seem at least a little better if one has ice cream.

Vash looks deeply saddened that the girl left.

But it seems like he's moved on pretty fast. No point dwelling on it, right?

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.

Gods, I'm sure people have debated his designs in both '98 and Stampede, but here? Legato looks like a twink. A twink hiding in a big emo jacket with shoulder pads he stole from the '80s and then fed steroids.

Annnnd he's eating a hot dog. I'm not gonna read too much into that. Too late. And now you can, too.

Seriously, though. Of all the foods to import, you'd think someone would leave hot dogs behind. Or not. They do make use of the junk parts of the animal, and I guess you can't be too picky when you live in a desert wasteland.

The way they're having this conversation is suspicious.

Fountain confirmed empty.

Milly's danger sense is tingling.

I just want to point out that, when Milly says Vash's face looks frightening, this is the last expression we see him showing.

He's putting on the glasses. It's serious time. He might have to shoot someone, and he definitely doesn't want anyone else to catch a glimpse of his intentions here.

Wow. The level of force Vash shows in his wording here. It's like he's playing a card that says, "I know I'm superior to you, and given the situation, I'm going to make dead sure you know it, too."

"That monster," huh? Harsh words. Justified, perhaps. But harsh. All of this is harsh coming from such a staunch pacifist.

I just want to point out that all of this is happening after the July incident. For no reason whatsoever, I'm sure.

Legato... PLEASE don't make shitty decisions with your life. What you're suggesting is not the sort of thing likely to end in a win scenario for you....

Ok, so I'm sure some of this is because I've watched '98 and have a better feel for Legato than some... but I LOVE the imagery of him handing food to a hungry child and giving them a pat on the head. It's wrong on so many levels... but it's also a good reminder that people who are capable of absolutely terrible things are also capable of at least presenting a veneer of simple kindness.

Glad that scene upset Vash quite a bit, too.

Assuming Legato isn't bluffing, even Vash would struggle to contain that much slaughter in such a short span of time, I think. And right now, he's got a whole fountain in between him and Legato.

Vash has been gradually losing his mask through this whole conversation. Milly noticed it first, but the kids and Meryl have noticed it by now, too.

This outfit needs more straps.

Yyyyeeeaaaahhhh, if they fight in the busy town square there, the casualty number is gonna be stupid high.

WTF, he gave Vash a quest?? I don't like this quest. This quest is gonna be full of Bad Things.

I LOVE how they're all in silhouette behind Legato there, but with all their forms blended together to make this ominous amorphous blob of eyes and limbs and darkness. I want a clean version without the text balloons.

Sir. Sir, your bag is leaking. Sir, you might want to take a look at that. Sir.

Ok, now I have legitimate questions about the Shoemaker instead of bullshit ones.

I, too, would panic if someone I knew suddenly literally lost their head. Not sure I'd go screaming into the town square, but I would definitely be out of sorts.

Nightow didn't even have to show us what was in the bag to make his point.

Dude, that's an American coin. Hang on a second.... Ok, found it. I'm just gonna put some information on it here if anyone wants to go through it.

I'm pretty sure I recognize that silhouette...

Thinking on the title of the chapter again. Thunder is often seen as the first sign of an oncoming storm. Fitting.

I wanted to go through more than one chapter, but I feel like I have a LOT of notes on this one, and those pop-out posts inevitably take a good chunk of time, so this will do for tonight.

[chororine]

CUBERT, DWIGHT AND THE KROKER KIDS RAN AN ELABORATE SCAM WE'RE SO FUCKING BACK

actual serious thoughts on The One Amigo under the cut

back when I read the summary for this ep I thought "b*nder AND n*f*t*s? hard pass" but it turns out sometimes two wrongs DO make a right. even if the topic is very two or even three years ago and one I actively dislike, I wasn't inherently opposed to it as long as the show clearly wasn't on the side of the n*f*t bros - and indeed it wasn't, in fact it implied they have as much value as children's scribbles!!! on the other hand I was mildly disappointed they didn't touch on the environmental impact of those digital shitstains - I predicted the energy expenditure of The B*nder Collection would indirectly cause some natural disaster in Mexico that threatened his village, but maybe that would've been TOO realistic and bleak (also "Attack of the Clothes" is apparently gonna touch on environmental issues so I guess they didn't want that ep to be redundant)

and oh! my son and his boyfriend, interacting in a canon setting again for the first time since the movies!!! when the teaser clips and screenshots started appearing I got a bit concerned they were gonna revert back to the "B*nder Should Not Be Allowed On TV" characterisations with Cubert and Dwight having no distinct personalities outside of being "The Kids" and do a storyline about b*nder trying to be hip with the youth of today, which in the year 3024 means doing n*f*ts - but I'm glad I worried for nothing because imo the execution (with them being aware it's a scam they can use to their advantage) was pretty in-character for our boys from Awesome Express, incorporating both their keen business sense for their age and their love of pranks, both of which were established all the way back in "The Route of All Evil". and even if their initial bonding seems to have happened off-screen, them taking Axl and Mandy under their wings was a delight - I've wanted these two to have more friends around their own age since... well, always (we did kinda get that with them befriending Tinny Tim and the orphans but as previously mentioned that episode sucked, and sadly the two friends they introduced solely for B*nder's Game don't seem to have stuck)

because I'm me, I kinda fell asleep during the supposed A-plot, and I'm too gringa to say how well they represented Mexico writing-wise - but I do think it was well-done visually, at least. in a weird bit of timing, this April I also went to Mexico to see a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic sight... my boyfriend @zappsbrannigan (and also the total eclipse but that was more, y'know, a bonus) and the robot village and surrounding jungle, with their nice orange-yellow-green-turquoise sky colour palette, match up pretty well with what I saw there. with enough childlike wonder I could imagine that village existing on the outskirts of the town where I saw the eclipse

the actual *plot* was... ok but not amazing I guess? I saw b*nder stealing the quipu coming but still a clever way to tie the A and B plots back together. speaking of which: the heist subplot wasn't super memorable but it was a fun little diversion that let the Professor use his brains and Zoidberg his weird alien quirks, and kept b*nder from completely overwhelming the episode (he's been so overused in the later seasons that I was pretty endeared to Doblando when it was revealed he was trying to get that spotlight-stealing trashcan killed lol). and another bit of weird timing that Leela was barely in an episode that aired on her bday but at least she got to pull a heist in a custom-made mask as a little treat. go Fujiko Mine it up girl

all in all, a great episode for my personal tastes specifically, which is the polar opposite of what I expected based on the summary. it'll be hard to top, but I hope it's just the first of many pleasant surprises this season

[pixelchills]

I just wanted to say two things:

1: I’m glad I’m not the only one who wanted more fluff than what tsams is offering (gosh, stop breaking them, give us joy gdi). I stopped for a similar reason. I want happy lord not all this depressing angst.

2: I’m so sorry people kept comparing your work to tsams, it’s not alike at all! I’m also sad we won’t get to see your lunar eclipse character. I would’ve been very interested to know how he turned out. People don’t realize how hurtful comparisons can be. (I almost killed Roth because someone called him a magical girl because of how he shapeshifts.) Is there any chance you could give a summary of what the Lunar Eclipse would’ve been like? Or is he just gone for good and you don’t want to mention him?

Sorry if this is annoying. Just wanted to say, I’m with you on fluff (which is why I love your work. Perfect balance of angst and fluff! We learn about something painful, and then there are hugs. Something scary happens, and then there are plushies. Well balanced), and I’m sorry you felt you had to remove your lunar eclipse.

Thank you for the nice message!

I know I'm an angst writer myself but depression with no fluff to make up for any of it is not enjoyable. I just think they should've continued with mostly gaming stuff and funnier lore videos after Eclipse was defeated.

But that's just my opinion and I am allowed to stop watching/enjoying content when it doesn't tickle my fancy anymore. If they ever happen to start doing happier and fluffier videos again I might start watching them again, but as of now I feel like the story has gone a bit downhill from what it used to be; too many universes, too many characters, it gets confusing and I don't particularly like how some of the characters are written, like Moon being the OP emo genius, but again, that's just my opinion 😂

What comes to the Lunar Eclipse character I was going to have, here's the deal;

The Lunar Eclipse character is still technically there, but the desing and name have been changed from what I originally had in mind. Lunar would have been a girl.

A big spoiler for "Lunar" to the far future of ANSSW:

"Lunar" was going to be Sun and Moon's adopted daughter. A baby stage Animutant who had to be taken out of the incubator tank too early because of the Apocalypse.

She is still sleeping because she hasn't developed fully. There's a 10% chance that she'll wake up before she is fully grown, but the 90% chance is that it will now take about 200 years since she is no longer in the incubator liquid.

Her new name is Dawn.

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Oh Viv.

Oh Viv ....

Oh that Classic Disney Animator Syndrome Cringe goes deep, huh?

Like oh no....

I'm sorry but This Bimbo.

"She's not one big fat Jewish stereotype that I've constantly made fat jokes with in the past she's just a 1920s flapper girl I vaguely based off a chicken!"

...Okay ... So still fatphobic and honestly kind of sexist and yeah ... Sure she's based on a chicken, Sweetie ... Just like how The Penguin from Batman and that shitty Harley Quinn Animated Series is just based on a penguin and like how Disney Villains are just Disney Villains and it's not like any certain types of coding sometimes just objectively goes into making cartoons whatsoever whether one might be conscious of doing this or not and people are allowed to read into these things and interpret these things critically how they want to and there might actually be a valid criticism here this time for once even if it's a bit of needle in a haystack moment.

Yeah no, I'm going to let people have this one. The "chicken" should've had her head cut off the moment you decided to have her stop riding Alastor's pecker. Like I'm sorry, but you should've killed that Darling.

And oh yeah we need to talk about the gamer incel problem in this damn fandom. I didn't get this screenshot from twitter I got it from a short made by the guy who's gone on record saying that his favorite youtuber besides Viv is pewdiepie, and that he thinks Viv should be more like pewdiepie (because he always has to insert his shitty opinions into his boring drama reports) and if you know anything at all about pewdiepie, you know I don't give a shit what some vivziepaparazzi thinks when he says he doesn't think Medrano created an antisemitic stereotype due to bad character design, which yes, I'm sorry, is objectively the case regarding Mimzy this time.

And for all his own harping about how Medrano can't take criticism and needs to ether get a social media manager or get off social media and keep her mouth shut, Medrano really did need to just keep her mouth shut on this one and take a break from social media this time.

Also, given... some things I just learned last night while watching JayLaws video on Brandon Rogers, Vivienne has absolutely no right to be claiming she's uncomfortable, like oh my god. You hired this man.

I do love her, but next to the Blair White/ Sh0eonhead tribute this is probably the worst tweet she's ever posted and I'm so glad I wasn't there to witness it in real time.

I still love Brandon too but JayLaws video solidified that I'm never buying merch with Blitz on it ever if the whole "Rolling With Robbie" thing wasn't enough to convince me of that compromise already.

Tactless.

Speaking of ...Antis and Fantis obviously DNI.

[frozen-fountain]

Whenever you have time, I’d love some dvd style commentary on Spiced Black Tea.

What struck me about it when I read it way back, was the atmosphere. Having done a lot of hiking to small shelters and bothies myself, it was instantly familiar. Thought you captured the cosiness of such places really well, and how they invite confessions/intimacy. Maybe because they’re temporary, liminal spaces, with a certain kind of magic— the things that happen there have a different weight. (Or so I think anyway lol).

Maybe not a snippet exactly, but it was hard to choose a specific section!

Thank you for sending this, my dear! That is absolutely the atmosphere I was trying to go for, and since I don't actually have experience of a hike that takes more than one day yet, I'm really glad I was able to recreate that for Elena and Yuffie on vibe alone.

I ended up just sort of running with this where it took me, and I'm cutting it because it features discussion of attempted sexual assault, the sexualisation of underage girls, and the experience of being on the receiving end of a predatory gaze in general. Nothing graphic but be careful of your limits.

You've very much right that what transpired in that cabin was facilitated by the liminality of the space – temporary passing-through places, the small hours of the morning, the internet, all these ways you can end up feeling a little removed from reality and the allowance this grants for vulnerability that might never express itself in daylight. I think Yuffie and Elena would've gotten there eventually, but the snow definitely helped expedite the process a bit.

What I hadn't quite realised until I received this ask was that the fic was kind of a liminal space for me as well. Sexual violence isn't a topic I handle unless canon necessitates it, simply because I feel like I have very little of import or distinction to say on the matter. But if I was going to write these characters, I needed to address the whole of their stories, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I managed to turn one of my least favourite scenes in the game into an opportunity to deepen both characters and talk about some real stuff.

Partway through the quest, the FFVII adventuring party is sidelined when Yuffie (who's sixteen) and Elena (who doesn't have a canon age but reads to me as around the same) are kidnapped and threatened with sexual slavery. It's played for laughs and never brought up again afterwards. On the one hand, it's clear in context that neither of them are at any point in any real danger, but on the other... there's more than could have been done here if it had to be included at all. The scene as a whole redeems itself somewhat and works as a fantastic “Hands across the aisle” moments for the protagonists and a squad of secondary antagonists, hinting at a lot of interesting characterisation for the latter – but almost none of that is extended to the girls who are suffering here, and I wasn't about to let that slide. They're both young people with a staunch, black and white view of the world and the conflict they find themselves on opposite sides of – I would've loved to see both of them reconsidering a few things in light of having a terrible experience in common with one of the enemy. In addition, they both hold themselves to very high standards, and very masculine standards at that; it's all about winning, dominating, besting, might making right. There's no way both of them aren't acutely aware that this never would've happened to them if they were boys, and no way it wouldn't haunt them in deep, self-image-shattering ways afterwards.

There's a lot of my experience in there, too, as a queer woman terrified of externalising and perpetuating a gaze that's predatory and invasive, no matter how unfounded that fear might be. I was twelve the first time I noticed an adult man taking notice of me; horrifying enough on its own, but as I grew older and heard more and more harrowing experiences from other women, I learned just how lucky I was to receive nothing more than a look, and to reach such a relatively high age when I did. The idea of having to consider myself fortunate for this is a black mark of shame across the whole world, and on a personal level, it made admitting and embracing my own attraction to women carry a lot of shame and guilt. Again, not as bad as many people from more actively homophobic backgrounds would have it, but enough to weigh on me. Of all the responses I've gotten to my writing over the years, I'm really proud of and touched by the comments from people with some similar personal histories to me and to the girls that said they felt comfortable reading, in the presence of and in a story concerning other women who understand. That's a badge of honour I'll take to the grave.

Somewhat relatedly, but another layer of the fic is its exploration of the hole Yuffie's barely remembered late mother left in her life, and the difficulty she has interfacing with other women because of it. If I recall correctly it's not something any comment I've received has really remarked on but I think I did a good job of weaving that aspect into the subtext, informing the main plot quietly. She's a character who isn't taken seriously or delved into by the fandom at large, at least in my experience, so I like to think I did my small part to contribute to that.

I'll take this opportunity to recommend the fic Scratching the Itch, which is the only one I've found to cover some similar territory. It's not romantic (though it is briefly gay) and it doesn't end with any sort of release or resolution, but it does a remarkable amount with a little.