#I want more vibes on what everyone has been doing beside the obvious

[aaeds]

I feel like some of the fandom is still a little blind to Evan's issues, and no amount of (insert character) can fix it is going to work. I don't see enough discussion on the topic of what is wrong with Evan Kelmp, specifically. Like, for real. I know we're only 3 episodes in but damn.

Evan rolls into the first island and is immediately like "don't freak out your old friends immediately by resorting to violence" gave me the impression that the reason he's covered in tons of scars and broken bones isn't because 'oh his shadow is gone now' making him inherently at risk for sad boi beat downs. I don't think there's a luck component to Evan off screen where he prat falls down a sewer drain and knife fights a Scottish street kid looking for a relic.

Evan is a deeply paranoid individual, would it matter if even half those encounters resulting in visual injury involved others with weapons or could someone say something to set him off? Followed too close? Escalate things too far until you're in the same situation as with the salamander kicking its face in because you can? If they were in service to Dr. Boodle, why Dr. Boodle so upset about weapons? Specifically stating his errands for Evan don't involve weapons (thus far.) That comes from somewhere, and Sam was valid in asking a dulled-emotion Evan to not kick his own body in the bag. It is a strange reflex. Not to think of your body as your object, but to physically kick it into a bag. We know about his past and how he was afraid he would hurt someone if he let his demons out, but he can delight in hurting others. Is it a form of retribution, or his pound of flesh for how he lived?

I see so many 'ship has sailed' 'Sam can fix him' 'Sam is what he needs' but that is just as toxic as referring to K as the 'I can fix him' individual. Sam has a lot more to give as a character on her own outside of Evan and I would like the cast to exchange meaningful scenes with one another. Evan needs so much more and a lot of that has to come out of the character himself through this adventure if he wants to change. Choosing to live is a step, and the amount of things he stuck around to haunt was another.

There could be more accepting of ideals and differences, even if intimacy feels partially alluded to playing some part in his break up with K (I can't overlook that.) The unwillingness to trust someone else's word. I want to see that growth or spark of trust that longer seasons can allow. Not everyone has had it easy, Jammer has had to work for everything he has and those values come from somewhere. You're never too late to change and surrounding yourself with people you feel safe to be around is important.

tl;dr I don't think this needs a Beauty and the Beast situation of character A sees character B for who they are and frees them from a lifetime of self sabotage. Also the table should tell a story together, not just two people. Ship and let ship as they say but I would be disappointed if the answer were as simple as "K was bad for him, Sam is good for him."

[cheemscakecat]

Bucket Scene Analysis pt. 1

So I’m revisiting the Bucket Scene from Expiration Date, and I noticed some things. Spy’s feelings got really hurt, but the other Mercenaries didn’t mean to seriously upset him. Let’s go over their POV first.

Engineer and Medic are doing more experiments on the teleporter, so they aren’t present for the bucket scene. They’ll be trying to figure out a way to stop the tumors for the next three days instead of accepting the team’s deaths.

Soldier is too dumb to understand what’s going on, and Pyro presumably isn’t aware enough of his surroundings.

Demoman comes from a family with really disturbing traditions; they let him live as an orphan and only revealed themselves after he killed his adoptive family in an explosion… Because he was showing his skill. He’s actually expected to lose his sight entirely like his parents. Out of anybody there who knows what’s happening, he’s the most unbothered by them dying because of that twisted heritage.

Sniper calls his parents every week, and I’m sure he’s told them/about to tell them what’s happening. But he also has a plan to kill everyone he meets, so even if he is bothered by the fact that he’ll die, he’s not going to make the others privy.

Heavy has been responsible for his three sisters and his mother since he was a child. Around them, he’d be a bit more open and accept their hand on his shoulder.. But not Spy. Around co-workers, Heavy’d rather think on what’s happening and be left to those thoughts. Besides that, he already provided a secluded cabin in Siberia for his family to keep them safe, so if he dies at work he’ll be at peace knowing they’re ok.

I very much get the vibe that Spy never puts his hand on the others like this, and that’s why Heavy hit him with that Side-eye Claire face.

Now Scout? He’s an interesting case because he’s about to humiliate Spy with the fake cards, but in terms of them dying in three days:

“Ve have three days to live!”

It’s subtle, but he looks like he might cry. Not in front of them, but still. And that tracks, because he and Spy are the most sensitive members of the team. You can look at Spy’s reaction behind Medic, and it becomes more obvious.

But Jeremy wasn’t raised by Spy.

He was raised by his mother [who’s doing her best] and seven older brothers who are terrible role models. I have no doubt that his brothers were involved in petty street crime and gangs when they were younger, even if some came to their senses as adults. And gangs are not well known for emotional stability.

Scout grew up around seven guys that wanted to be “hard” and ignored their emotional needs/daddy issues… As the youngest and the most sensitive one. I imagine that crying and showing that something is getting to you was met with mockery. And being labeled a weakling. So Scout did his best to stop showing that “weakness”.

Now he’s graduated from the criminal fights his brothers used to get into, and joined a group of mercenaries. Since he looked up to his brothers and grew up imbedded in their worldview, he seeks approval from the other Mercenaries in the same way. That’s why he chooses to mock Spy instead of asking for the last wishes. It makes him look unbothered and he can call Spy the weak one instead of being cruelly labeled himself.

But RED team doesn’t operate like Scout’s siblings or a gang. They’re all individuals that specialize in a certain area of mercenary work, who could leave for a different team or independent work if they weren’t happy on the team. [Provided they don’t release any information that the Administrator wants hidden, or rebel against her.]

So when Scout pranks Spy, they aren’t seeing his as a weakling; it’s not even crossing their minds. They’re smiling because Scout seems happy despite impending doom. And why shouldn’t they be glad that he’s having a good time of it? Beats being dejected and since he’s the youngest, they’re more worried about his well-being.

What’s interesting is that Heavy seems to sense that Spy is upset, because his smile noticeably fades when he looks up. But I still don’t think he realizes how much this prank and the teams’ indifference hurt Spy.

[fbfh]

Could I request a drabble with Dave Lizewski and his best friend who has a major crush on Kick Ass and tells Dave all the dirty details?

OOOOOH SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS. aged up to 18+ obvs, give me a hoot or holler in the notes or my ask box if you want a fluffier version lol

Dave always wondered why girls never noticed him. he figured it was cause he's a quiet geeky nerd who likes comic books and superheroes. nope. it's because of you. when you first met Dave - however old you were, freshman, middle schoolers, kindergarteners - you latched the fuck onto this boy so fast. you've always been protective over him, always had that vibe that says you fuck with him, I'll fuck you up. besides, having a best friend as hot as you immediately made everyone assume he's totally off the market. like, it should be obvious. being "best friends" with someone as hot as you, spending all your time together - you have sleepovers for god's sake. EVERYONE at school fully believes you're fucking. the only ones unaware of this are Dave and Todd and Marty and possibly yourself.

it's at one of these infamous sleepovers that you finally spilled the beans. you've been obsessing over kickass for weeks, constantly talking about him and his exploits to Dave. you just got your hands on another grainy, horribly low quality picture of kickass stopping a purse snatching from someone's video doorbell. you're sitting at Dave's desk while he's flopped on his bed, finishing some homework.

"fuck I want him in my mouth so fucking bad..."

it just slips out, but Dave is instantly hard. he startles, sputtering and desperate to know who his best friend is practically moaning for.

"y-you want who?!" he demands in confusion at your sudden outburst, causing both of you to laugh. you turn the monitor towards him, and Dave sees himself looking back. his stomach does the thing, that flippy jerky oh shit thing from both anxiety and horniness. he is really, really hard now.

"k-kickass?" he asks, his voice getting all whiny and cracking in that way you've always found so cute.

"yes!" you exclaim with a laugh, looking at him incredulously. "come on Dave, you told me about a sex dream you had about our math teacher two days ago. he groans half heartedly at you bringing up.

"I already regret telling you about that." he protests playfully, his voice muffled into his duvet.

"just look at him," you sigh, already looking at the pictures of kickass. "look at his arms... I'd probably cum just from him putting me in a headlock."

Dave nearly chokes on his spit. He's really glad he's laying on his stomach so you can't see the way he's kind of rubbing against his mattress. it's not on purpose or anything, it's not like he's trying to get off to his best friend (even though he has before. like a lot. like he has to clear his porn search history because it's all descriptors of people who look like you) but when you're going on and on about how wet you'd get from being choked by a guy without realizing he's actually inches away from you... well, what is he supposed to do??

"christ, you can see his whole bulge in this one," you murmur, biting you lip. "I have never wanted to suck someone off so bad."

Dave lets out a choked noise, which you interpret as more playful disgust over your thirsting.

"I'm serious!" you exclaim. "I swear to god, he could keep me barefoot and pregnant and I'd thank him."

Dave's hips have started moving faster on their own as he grinds against his mattress. he knows he shouldn't prod for more details of what you'd do to kickass - to him - he knows you're his best friend and that you'd probably think he was some sick freak if you knew the truth, that he's kickass and he's getting off to you listening to you talk about him like that. Dave loves you, he respects you and admires you and cherishes your friendship so much, so why is feeling guilty and conflicted about about listening to you unintentionally dirty talk like this making it feel so good??

"literally, I would make sure his balls were always empty. like, always." you state.

each word that tumbles out of your mouth makes his blood burn with lust.

"U-uh huh," he chokes out, fighting for his LIFE not to moan in front of you right now.

"just one chance," you sigh, "I just know he's majorly packing. Bet he cums a lot too." you murmur.

you're pouting now. pouting over not being able to taste his cock. the same cock Dave is trying to discreetly jerk off just a few feet away from you. he whines softly, praying you won't notice as you continue to look through photos of him as kickass.

"I don't think I've ever been so down for someone," you whine, throwing your head back and sighing. "okay, you can't tell anyone about this-"

you start seriously.

"but I literally got off thinking about him last night, and I came so hard-"

and if that's not the straw that breaks the camel's back. Dave lets out a strangled, stifled whining moan as his hips rut and stutter against his mattress. his head swims as he cums in his pants, blinded by a raw, pure pleasure.

"O-oh god!" he pants, head spinning as he comes down from his high. his cheeks are flushed, and he can't fucking believe he just did that in front of you. he swallows thickly, terrified - and for some reason, a little thrilled by how you'll react.

you look over at him, eyes locked on him for a moment. it only takes you a second to realize what just happened - your horndog best friend got so turned on from listening to you thirst over kickass that he actually creamed his pants.

"You're so gross," you laugh playfully, throwing a pen at him. "I hope you know how lucky you are that I'm great at keeping secrets." you finish, an unspoken promise that tonight will stay between the two of you.

you turn back to what you're doing, unperturbed by the fact that your best friend just came in his pants from hearing you talk like that, chalking it up to Dave being Dave. this isn't the first time he's gotten hard at an awkward time, but usually he just sneaks off to the bathroom or something to take care of it himself. you had a hunch he might resort to something like this eventually, so you're not too surprised.

"Anyway, what do you think his type is?" you ask, swiveling around Dave's desk chair to look at him. your arms are crossed on the back of the chair, and you lean down on them as you look at him.

"Like, from an objective, guy perspective?"

"U-uh," Dave starts with a soft, nervous laugh, still unable to believe that just happened. "I- I don't know..." he shrugs.

he thinks that's the first time he's lied to you. he knows exactly what kickass's type is, because he's looking right at you.

[cameronspecial]

Hi I know I just requested one but I Kinda have and idea and I tought just to send you cause I have nothing to lose. The reader is Topper’s sister and she again is Rafe’s girl, the whole island knows she’s off limits, the difference between her and her brother is that she gets along with everyone including the pouges. The idea is that Pope developes a really huge crush on her, without even realizing. The reader is kinda clueless because she’d been with Rafe her whole life but Rafe knows for sure because he’d seen how Pope acts around her and he’s not happy about that (I imagine him being really touchy with the reader when pope’s around them and smirking when he sees the sad puppy face he makes). And maybe at the movie party where they fight cause of topper’s boat the reader tries to defend pope and tells Rafe to stop he’s insisting pope has a crush on her and when she says he’s just jealous for no reason he’s something like “then kiss me princess/angel” but when she gives him a quick peck on the lips he smirks while rolling his eyes and he get’s her really close to him saying “not like that” and they fully make out in front of pope who looks at them with a really sad face kinda proving Rafe’s point.

It’s okay if you don’t want to do it, I kinda went overboard with the details and I really like the concept and the extremes here cause I mostly see imagines with the reader between Jj and Rafe. Jj is the poor bad boy and Rafe the rich bad boy. Here Pope is the poor good guy who’d love you and cherish you and Rafe is the rich bad boy who’s really posesive and gives the “she’s mine” vibes

The Lesson

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Thornton!Reader

Warnings: Violence, Ass Grabbing.

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 0.5K

A/N: @a-j-stuffs feel free to send as many requests as you want as long as my requests are open. Hope you enjoy it!

Everyone knows that Y/N Thornton is off-limits. If not because of her protective big brother, then because she is Rafe Cameron’s girl. The difference between her and both boys in her life is she doesn’t mind hanging out with the pogues. She can often be found getting drunk with them at the Chateau or getting caught up in their hijinks, much to Topper and Rafe’s chagrin. This leaves Rafe to have to pick her up so she can get home safely just like he is about to do right now. 

She’s hunching over the toilet, puking out all the alcohol she just consumed. Pope sits beside her with a reassuring hand on her back. He moves her hair out of her face, “Let it all out. That’s it.” Rafe isn’t blind to see that Pope has a thing for his girlfriend. He clears his throat and moves to sit beside Y/N. He swats Pope’s hand away. The other boy stands up with his hand in the air, watching sadly as Rafe kisses her temple with comforting words. Rafe catches Pope’s sad look from the corner of the eye and smirks as she turns into his hold, which causes the pogue to walk away. 

———

Y/N begged Rafe to go with her to movie night, which he was happy to comply with. Little did he know that Pope would be there giving his girlfriend love-sick puppy dog eyes throughout the whole movie. This goes unnoticed by Y/N as she enjoys the movie, but Rafe has had enough. Pope and JJ get up from where they sit and round their way behind the screen. Rafe gets up from the blanket, promising to return with more snacks for her and motions for Topper and Kelce to follow him. “I’m tired of that pogue always ogling my girl,” he explains with an edge in his voice. The boys find JJ and Pope zipping up their pants. They wait for the both of them to turn towards them for the attack. Rafe punches Pope in the face and gets on top of him, continuing the battery. 

The scream let out by Y/N stops Rafe. He looks up to see the disappointed look on her face and rushes to her. However, she heads to help Pope up. “What are you doing, baby? Are you crazy?” she criticizes, looking over Pope’s face. Rafe just shakes his head, “He has a crush on you, Princess. It’s obvious. I’m just reminding him who has your heart.”

“This is very childish. You don’t need to remind him of anything. I love you. I only have eyes for you.”

Rafe smirks at the look of pain that crosses Pope’s face, “Then prove it. Kiss me, Princess.” She sighs, knowing this would be the only way to get him to stop. She walks over to him and gives him a quick peck on the lips. He again shakes his head, pulling her in by the waist. “Not like that,” he growls. Y/N attaches their lips and this time, deepens it. She allows his tongue entry to her mouth. He slips his hand down to squeeze her bum. Pope observes the scene with a sense of defeat and signals to JJ that they should go. Rafe catches this happening from the corner of his eye and smirks. Looks like Pope got the message.

[yannaryartside]

Shapiro’s angle

I don't think this guy is bad news, or a bad guy per se.

I think he is just an opportunist. And I think he is doing this mostly for himself.

I may be wrong, but for me, the most on-the-nose foreshadowing about Shapiro was Luca telling him:

"Are you getting your sticky fingers on everything again?"

This was right before he asked to talk to Sydney (about the partnership) at Ever's funeral. It was definitely a sign.

Now, it could be a warning about his bad intentions; sticky fingers could be related to wanting to trap someone and never let them go. Maybe Syd should have Pete revise that new partnership agreement.

Mostly, I have a hard time thinking Andrea Terry would have a CDC that was actually toxic or damaging; his true colors would have shown at some point, and she would have known. Maybe that's me being optimistic. Maybe he would show his actual colors when he doesn't have to answer to anybody. Luca hasn't seemed to get awful vibes from him, either.

FINGERPRINTS OF LEGACY

But I associate the sticky fingers comment more with Shapiro wanting to get a "fingerprint" on Sydney. The way a fingerprint may alter the presentation of a fine ceramic plate. Is about marking it as yours, it was in your hands.

Shapiro may think that he has gotten as good as he can get on his own merit, he said he would have stayed with Andrea forever if she hadn't closed Ever, which is a remark on his lack of ambition as a cdc. I think he may be a chef who (also, as he said) is tired of the all-day cooking job, but he still wants to get some glory under his name without all the work. Proteges are a good way to do that.

The only thing about Sydney he knows that could indicate her potential (besides her cooking, which he only tested once) is that she works for Carmen. Carmen has been awarded the best in the world, and the fact that he sees something in Sydney may be enough for Shapiro to bet on her (and a huge bet, considering how much freedom he promised her). Now, what kind of mentor would he be? I would like to think he will try to be Andrea and see where it gets him.

He may have seen the bear's kitchen's obvious lack of functionality and seen it as an opportunity to steal Carmy's best asset from him while she is still unknown by the industry. She could become more expensive to get in the future if she gets a name under Carmen. Shapiro has better chances to get her now. He may even say in the future that he was the only one capable of forming her like a chef while Carmy didn't.

So yeah, he is making a bet on an unknown asset with the hope that it will pay off later since Carmys is not looking. We don't know much about his character besides the fact that at Ever, everyone was cool with him.

I DON'T WANT SYDNEY TO FAIL OR GET SCREWED

Besides how much I care for her—I know it sounds obvious—I don't think it would be a good narrative for the show either way.

Because she has survived Carmy, that has been horrible, but in terms of women in the workplace, at least she doesn't have to worry about being exploited (or other horrible things that we know could happen in these spaces) because Carmy cares about her well-being, the same as the rest of the family.

So, if she hypothetically goes with Shapiro because her voice is being drowned under Carmy's madness, and then Shapiro screws her over, and Carmy has to rescue her.

I am sorry, fuck that.

Because what is the lesson on that? Women should stick around toxic behavior, being grateful that at least they are not taken advantage of? Better the devil you know than the one you don't? Sydney is very capable, and you will punish her for believing in herself?

image by @gingergofastboatsmojito

[creatingblackcharacters]

Where is the line when it comes to calling out how people draw black characters? Im genuinely asking. Just did some digging in the elphaba tag. 28/35 of the top art did a great job of depicting her microbraids. Of those 7 that did a bad job, all but 2 of them put in effort to draw microbraids, its just that some of those artists arent very good. So… theyre practicing. Additionally, there were 2 pieces of art (in addition to that 35) that were clearly depicting the musical and book art (obvious fans for years, from before cynthia was cast and the movie). So… wheres the line? Do we call out just those 2 who didnt put in a real effort to draw her microbraids? Do we call out all 7 who didnt draw them well? Do we message them privately, even though we really dont know them at all besides this one piece we happened to come across? Do we send them an ask about it and hope they arent malicious? It stands to reason that they KNOW they should put in an effort, theyre in the *obvious* minority of artists in this fandom so… odds are they do not give a fuck about depicting Black hairstyles well. I dont want to make a fuss where its not beneficial, especially as a non black person, for the obvious reasons of how fandoms typically treat black fans. But, there IS an issue, however small a percentage… so wheres the line?

I must admit, this one gave me an off vibe 😅 To one of your concerns, Let me put it this way:

"I know that Nazi will never change his mind, so I'll let him keep speaking loudly in the room where I and everyone else is sitting. It won't make a difference if I say anything to him. If we ignore him, he'll go away."

Is that true?

Or will speaking up let that Nazi know that at least ONE person in the room hears their bullshit and doesn't accept it? Will speaking up let the people in the room that the Nazi was targeting realize that everyone else in the room isn't also a Nazi that condones the way they're being treated? Will it allow them to feel stronger in speaking up? Will it at least show that you are not a fellow Nazi, because your actions are what deliver- and silence and tolerance delivers nothing, in this case?

"Making a fuss where it's not beneficial"- I always say here that my entire purpose is not to change your minds, but to shatter the excuse of your ignorance. I could have always just ended it with "everyone's a goddamn racist for funsies on here and I hate all of you"- because in my experience when we talk about "where's the line" on here, it's almost non-existent for the majority, not the minority! It's incredibly tempting to damn you all!

Instead, I made an entire blog to give people a chance. If I, who actually undergoes the very bigotry I teach about, have the grace to do that for you, I do believe that everyone else can reach inside for the strength to apply and hold accountable. There's always a benefit to speaking up against racism and injustice, even if it's not "changing their mind".

Now, if you genuinely just don't want to do that, then don't- but recognize that that's not because nothing can be done! That said, you don't have to fight every battle, and every battle doesn't have to be a fight! For those who you genuinely think are just "new" or "learning" artists, when you point out the issue, you can offer guidance. "Hey, here's an idea on how to better capture this braid pattern in a way that more accurately reflects Black hair". It doesn't have to be a "callout" off rip. If they don't take it well, then that's on them. That's a reflection of their character, not yours. And as a nonblack person, that is a role in your allyship that is important, because I don't expect Black people to have to show grace and teach to those who do wrong by us.

So no, I can't give you some statistically defined line of "oh this is antiblackness". because it's not that simple and it never has been.

[saltminerising]

I’m usually kind of annoyed when a new breed drops and ppl are making those positivity threads about them in response to criticism but in this case I’m really supporting the positivity threads because they’re being made in response to fatphobia. every ‘criticism’ I’ve seen has just been people complaining about the dragon being fat. which isn’t criticism it’s just you being weird and shitty.. with the other recent ancient breeds there’s been legitimate things to criticize (auraboa lore, dusthides looking halfbaked) but in this case it just bothers me a lot to see people act like they’re just ‘criticizing a design’ or ‘criticizing lineart’ and they’re definitely just complaining about everlux being fat. someday yall are going to realize how obvious you are lol..

i like the dragon even more knowing it pisses off people in light.

Dear everyone who are crying about the new breed and telling others who enjoy it that their enjoyment of the breed offends you: It's time to leave your computer and go touch grass

As soon as the disappointment thread unlocked I think some people must have deleted their posts lol. Feeling shame after posting something gross? Good, you deserve it

flight rising users will see something that looks like a maggot and write 1500 words about why you're literally evil if you dislike it

salt to all the "light flight purists" like omgggg. this doesn't match your perfect flight aesthetic that you made up? dont buy any then. easy. how do you think plague and nature feel sharing a modern. and you have two!! 2 moderns!!! please stop complaining, you have three lovely dragon designs.

after witnessing this whole clown show, i think my main takeaway is that you have to be SUCH a strong person to be an official FR artist

I'm well hydrated from lapping up the tears of the snobby Skydancer f pose silk lovers sobbing about the Everluxes being fat bugs. Keep on crying you pitiful weaklings.

"deviated so far from other dragons of the flight" genuinely what other flight besides light's moderns has dragons that are similar to each other. Like just ice maybe and even then the vibes of the two different fluffy dragons are very different. Skydancers and spirals? Wildclaws and auraboas? Coatls and banescale? Why now is it suddenly unacceptable to have a different looking dragon 🤨 If it was yet another vaguely 'majestic' dragon with whiskers and a mane that would be incredibly boring sorry. And I love imps and pcs. Would not have wanted a third one however

I hope every breed ever released in the future is fat, just to spite the people pissed off that they didn't get Lanky Snake number 873.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I absolutely love your analysis of the gerudo and Ganondorf because they put into words what bothers me about how TOTK portrays Ganondorf. That being they remove his agency as a character in favor of having some great evil against the good guys.

[Major story spoilers ahead for the end of the game]

At the end of the game, when you’ve defeated Ganondorf, he swallows the secret stone and becomes a dragon, like Zelda, fully knowing the consequences of what happens when that happens. And it’s just kinda left me with a bitter taste in my mouth? In the context of the story it makes sense, he’s portrayed as a egomaniac who just wants to destroy Hyrule. But compared to other versions of him, this one just feels more openly biased against him and the gerudo, with no reason or justification other than “he’s evil, hate him.” As far as I can tell… They never really show us that he’s done anything horrible or deserving of being feared before the show of fealty cutscene, other than not submit to Hyrule, attack them once, and generally have bad vibes. It feels forced how much they want us to hate him and the people who follow him. I’m not saying character in video games always have to be nuanced or complex but comparing like, Wind Waker Ganondorf next to TOTK Ganondorf…. 🙃 Waste of an excellent design imo.

Heyyy sorry for being a billion years late with this ask!! I was busy finishing the game!!! among other things!!! Thank you so much for your kind words, I'm super happy it resonated with you in that way!

I mean, the whole draconification plot beat doesn't really work for me. Like yeah, sure it's sad that Zelda is now a giant dragon and it's cool to have her soaring above your head while you have no idea where she actually is (a situation that isn't nearly tapped into enough in the narrative imo, like it gets obvious way too fast if you happen upon the wrong memory, etc), and I actually think the whole sequence of you removing the Master Sword from her head was the best scene in the entire game in terms of mood and emotions --even THOUGH it would have been so much better with a stronger story and stronger stakes-- BUT. How does that build up thematically?

I think what doesn't work for the Zelda side of this plot point (I'll get to Ganon next) is that... she doesn't make that choice. It's not like she's being tempted by an easy way out and decides to sacrifice herself for the sake of Hyrule or Link or whoever: she has no choice in the matter. Her powers activate (?? somehow? once and never again also, talk about dropped plot threads), she finds herself in the past, is the passive witness to a bunch of shit that only tangientially relates to her --it's like she's visiting estranged family in a foreign country and watch their drama awkwardly before being dragged into it against her will even though she was just trying to renew her passport and get back home (if there had been any callback to her relationship with her father it would have landed better, but it's just completely ignored so vOv). Then her relatives all die or corrupt or something, and she still can't get back home. What is she meant to do besides draconify? Grow old and die in the past? What would that accomplish?? Her adventures in the past are just basically about solving a shrine puzzle with a particularly weird solution --but the game treats it like a huge sacrifice when it's basically her only way out, and she lost absolutely nothing making that sacrifice (and then she... cries about the weird family drama? sure. Honestly I think it would have worked better if the tears were Rauru's, it's his bullshit everyone is dealing with right? He's the one who feels broken and aggrieved by the whole thing.)

So, if we ignore the draconification precedent builds up to zero thing thematically beyond cheap drama that reveals nothing about neither the characters nor the world, I think Ganondorf's case is a little more compelling because he does make a choice here: dying as he tries to achieve his weird lofty goals (and fail), or postpone his victory eternally by sacrificing his objectives but reject death and defeat --while also barring himself from victory. In a better crafted story, this could be utterly excellent and it feels very Ganondorf to me. BUT, my beef with that plot beat isn't that he chooses the second option, making him kinda active for the first time in the entire game (and makes an appropriate hideous smile: *loved* this second one, the first one didn't land for me but this one really captures the ecstatic insanity and transcendance and desperate madness of the act --I have nothing against Ganondorf offputting smiles and cackles when they feel earned, and the Sonia one just... doesn't to me, it just feels like weird rigging and mesh deformation choices getting out of control).

My problem is that his existence as a dragon contradicts everything we knew about dragons before --both for him and for Zelda. I thought the big issue with draconification was that you'd lose yourself to the act entirely, and would become this sort of organic landmark of infinite power and eternal life but without will to act on your precedent goals and understanding of yourself. But the second the big man becomes an evil dragon, suddenly Zelda zips in to the rescue (apparently remembering who you are? understanding she's meant to fight Ganondorf? I mean, this kind of works emotionally as a climactic ending and the power of love or whatever, again it would have worked better in a better story), and Ganondorf is still very much into destroying the world as well as you and Zelda.

Also, he's very definitively mortal (and he has the stone on his head again? And so if you destroy it you destroy his immortality? why???)

So... What I dislike here is the suggestion that he was somehow so evil and rotten and bad that all of these rare moments of interesting worldbuilding and ambivalence gets completely swallowed in the bossfight logic, making his choice (and Zelda's) completely meaningless in retrospect.

also: let Zelda remain a dragon you cowards, that way Hyrule gets any sort of chance to escape and reimagine its horrying eternal monarchy instead of re-establishing it even harder than before!!!

[feyhunter78]

Hi!

How are you? I hope well, this is my first request ever and I have really no idea how to word this LOL. But I do really dig your writing style! But continuing with the request! Could you do rop!Elrond x elf!reader with something along the lines of the reader is just anxious and just really stuck in a rut of isolation, but kinda feels like they can’t get out of it and elrond gets worried? And just try’s to comfort them, maybe with a smidgen of coaxing but just like a sprinkle of chocolate on a really fancy dessert kinda vibes? Feel free to change it up a little. The more angst (on the readers behalf) the better with lots of comfort. Thanks so much for even considering and slay the day away!

Hi love!!! I'm doing good! Super busy with work, but your request has been sitting in my inbox for a bit now, so I really wanted to get it something for you!!! I hope this is what you were looking for <3

Two Ripples in a Pond

You were new to Lindon, having lived with your human mother in the Southlands, you had to evacuate when it became Mordor. Everyone was kind, but you felt like an outsider, which wasn’t too different from your home, but at least the humans had given you a chance. They had seen you with your human mother, when she was alive, and if you kept your hair down to cover your ears, everyone, including you, pretended you were human.

There was none of that in Lindon, it was glaringly obvious you were too human and while no one said anything to your face, the weight of the whispers were beginning to drag you down. So, you retreated, stayed in the beautiful chambers they’d provided you, hiding away from your father’s people.

Sitting in front of the fireplace, a blanket wrapped around you, staring into the dancing flames with an anxious look on your face, was how Elrond found you.

Elrond thought you were the most beautiful creature to ever walk Middle-Earth, your laugh like music, your eyes lit with joy to rival the sun. Your skin, and hair reminded him of the beauty of nature, drawing elements from the forest floor, the sky above, and the flowers that dotted the fields. But it was your quiet demeanor that drew him in. You kept to yourself, eyes always alert and watching.

He slowly gained your trust, and each layer he peeled away revealed more and more he found fascinating about you. He knew that you had begun to notice the whispers of the others, and as often as he tried to keep them from you, or set them straight, he knew it wasn’t enough.

Elrond knelt beside you, and you looked up at him, tears on your lashes. “They hate me.” You sniffled.

He shook his head and gently wiped away your tears. “No, sweet starlight, they are simply jealous.”

“Jealous? I have no home, no family, no people to call my own, and all my possessions were lost to the flames, what do I have for them to envy?” You asked, tears tracking down your face, your chest tight. You were hesitant to express your feelings to Elrond. He had been such a supportive friend, and you were afraid to scare him away.

Elrond cupped your face. “You are kind and beautiful, and the High-King has rejoiced at your return to us. Your presence here is proof that we can rebuild relations with the mortal men of Middle-Earth.”

Is that all you were good for? Proof that elves and humans could co-exist? You were completely alone, you didn’t want to be proof you wanted your mother, and your home.

You closed your eyes, a sob ripping from your throat. “I am alone, the sole survivor of my village, how can I prove anything if my father’s people will not even give me a chance?”

Elrond gently kissed your forehead and sighed. “I know it is difficult y/n, but our people are slow to change, it is a folly of our long lives.”

You knew he was attempting to help, but his words only dragged you further into your fears. “So, I will suffer this way until they decide that I am worthy of their attention? I would rather take my chances with the humans.” You said, panic building in your chest as you imagined spending the rest of your life locked in your chambers, wishing for your old life.

Elrond shushed you gently as your voice rose in pitch. “No, no, I am sorry, starlight, I am butchering this.” He pulled you into his embrace. “Our lives are long, which means much change can be had, there simply needs to be one ripple to disrupt the still waters.”

You started to argue, but he smoothed down your hair continuing in his steady tone, eyes locked on yours.

“You do not need to be that ripple, not alone. I will help you; I will take this burden on with you. Y/N, you are not the only one they deem too human.” His thumbs caressed your skin, his oakwood eyes flickering down to your lips, puffy from you raking your teeth over them as you sat worrying before the fireplace.

“But you are so graceful, so perfect, how could anyone deem you too human?” You asked quietly, eyes flickering to his lips as well.

Elrond tilted your face up and kissed you, his heated lips melding with yours, the taste of sunlight and clear waters washing over you as butterflies erupted in your stomach. One hand tangling in your hair as Elrond deepened the kiss, his tongue dancing across yours with a sensual grace that sent liquid fire through your veins. His thumb continued caressing your cheekbones, and he nipped your bottom lip before he pulled away.

You looked at him wide-eyed and breathless. Your heart racing in your chest, but now for a pleasant reason.

He brushed your bottom lip with his thumb, a heated look in his eyes. “The depths of my passions, of my desires, are testament to my mortal blood. The very blood that flows through my veins, much too loudly for any pure-blooded elf to ignore.”

Your lips remained parted in surprise, and the weight on your shoulders lessened. Elrond’s calm demeanor soothed your troubled heart, your lips tingling, and face flushed as you stumbled over yourself to respond. “I think…I understand…”

He smiled softly at you, his nose brushing against yours. “Come to me when you feel this way, my starlight, I will remind you that you are not alone.” Then he captured your lips once more, banishing the worries from your mind as you sunk into his embrace once more.

Tag list: @nyctophilic0vitnir, @elronds-pointy-ears, @elrondscalaquendi, @dilf-superiority, @jesticace

[mariana-oconnor]

The Beryl Coronet pt 2

We continue the tale of Mr Holder, who last time made an astonishingly bad sequence of decisions that ended in him accusing his son of theft and handing him over to the police.

And I definitely, in no way decided arbitrarily that other characters were guilty. There was evidence. I presented it.

Mary did fail the vibe check. Although I do sort of support her given that a) she was stealing from the state/the royal family, and it's not like they can't afford it b) apparently her uncle wants her to marry her cousin and c) I want her to break out of the conventional Victorian gentlewoman mould the narrative is painting her into.

Sure, if she's guilty, she's causing a national crisis, but really Bertie, Prince of Wales, did that already, she's just leading everyone else's dumb ideas to their inevitable conclusions. Can we really blame her for that?

Yes, we probably can. And it does seem likely that the (not at all an archfey) Sir George Burnwell may be manipulating her into it, which would detract from her agency in the matter.

I suppose it could still be Lucy the maid, but I still think it's more likely that Arthur is covering for Mary.

“She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She is four-and-twenty.”

She is a baby.

Also, she doesn't go out and Sir George Burnwell has been around 'several times lately'. Yep.

But yeah, this does twist it more towards a 'Georgie has been manipulating and grooming a young sheltered girl' and less 'Mary is breaking out of her societal prison with a jewel heist.' Pity.

“Terrible! She is even more affected than I.”

Yeah, he took the jewels and ran off and left her.

Well, let's all hope he dies in a shipwreck.

"If his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?” “Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie?"

Guy's too damn honourable for his own good. Refuses to lie, refuses to condemn the woman he loves. It would be romantic if not for the whole... cousins sort of raised as siblings thing. She calls your father 'dad'... that's weird. Maybe not weird for the time. But it feels weird.

“What did the police think of the noise which awoke you from your sleep?” “They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his bedroom door.” “A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door so as to wake a household."

I love how outraged Holmes is by this theory. The exclamation mark is perfect. Of course, the door might have been slammed by the wind, but then you wouldn't go and steal the gems immediately, you'd wait until you were sure people weren't getting up.

"Consider what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?"

I confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted explanation.

Once you have jumped to a conclusion, any evidence to the contrary, no matter how ridiculous it may make your theory look, must be completely dismissed.

I'm not being fair. Caught holding the remains of the coronet is not a good look. But if they can't find the missing beryls, then clearly someone else must be involved at least.

Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.

The phrase 'sweet womanly caress' upsets me on a fundamental level. But also it makes me really want Mary to be the villain of the piece. Like, I'm 90% sure that Burnwell has done a runner, but I want Mary to have set some part of this in motion just so she can scream and go a little feral, y'know, as a treat.

I kind of want her to catch up with Burnwell, maybe make sure the police catch him with one of the gems, then take the other two and go off on her own.

“But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be sorry for having acted so harshly.”

Woman's instincts or... knowing he's innocent because you're the one who is guilty?

“You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?” “Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet.” “I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery.”

But why would Arthur protect the maid? Also, I feel like Mary is a little too eager to push the possibility of Lucy's guilt here. She adds that bit about the drawing-room all by herself. Yes, she seems concerned about Arthur, but still... she's very much been leaving all the breadcrumbs about Lucy.

Lucy makes sense as a suspect apart from why Arthur would be covering for her. Unless offpage they are having a romance, despite him having canonically proposed to Mary multiple times, then I just don't see that happening. But then we have also been told that canonically Mary dislikes Burnwell. There is clearly a secret romantic relationship somewhere in this tale. I'm inclined to think Burnwell (who has been noted as a wrong'un) rather than Lucy.

“Which key was used to open it?” he asked. “That which my son himself indicated—that of the cupboard of the lumber-room.”

If Mary locks up at night, she also has access to all the keys. Just saying.

“Then I will.” Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but without result. “I feel it give a little,” said he; “but, though I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my time to break it."

Even Holmes, who once bent an iron poker back to straight again, cannot break off a part of the coronet on his own. So... struggle.

"I understand that you give me carte blanche to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you place no limit on the sum I may draw.”

Considering the sums of money involved in this story, I fear that Mr Holder is going to be left bankrupt even if he does recover the jewels. Buying them back might be the only way to recover them. But maybe he won't have to actually buy them, just pretend to be willing to buy them in order to lure Burnwell in. (I'm pretty sure Francis Prosper, the one-legged greengrocer is not involved, but I hope he and Lucy are happy).

He hurried to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he was a perfect sample of the class.

And Holmes is in disguise again! Always fun to play dress up. I assume he is fact gathering in order to work out where Burnwell is and how to reach him to try to 'buy' the gems, but I have no idea why this particular disguise is the way to go.

I'm not sure how happily this can end, as the coronet itself has already been broken, so there is clear evidence of it having been tampered with. I fear that Bertie is going to have to have a little chat with his mother about this. Clearly it's going badly so far.

[nateslehky]

⭐ cribbage fic? either part I love them both

below a cut cause it got a lil long :) fic for reference

come into my ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines. 

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐  to have me select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

so one thing i struggled most with in this fic is the conflict that happens near the end where nate is jealous and a bit a dick about it. because my overall goal for this fic was for it to be lighthearted and silly (it's about cribbage lmfao), but i also wanted the emotions/actions to feel real and authentic, and part of that is nate being an asshole. so this scene, in particular from nate's pov , was interesting to write just because i needed to find that balance of lighthearted-but-still-real-and-believable-emotions-and-actions.

There’s a stirring in Nate’s gut as he sits across from Cale at the restaurant, both of them donning nice clothes while the flickering candles cast the table in a warm glow. [this is the first time in a bit nate and cale have interacted outside of the rink, and nate's struggling with that especially cause cale is ohhhh so cute] Nate can’t help but wonder if this is the outfit Cale would actually wear on a date to a restaurant like this instead of just a team dinner—or Teamsgiving, as Gabe insists on calling it. 

He’s in snug dress pants that hug his ass and a soft, cozy cashmere sweater. [there's a lot more detail in this scene from nate's pov vs cale's, and part of that is because i wrote cale's first so i already had something to work with/fill in, but also cale as a narrator is pretty oblivious to what's going on, like that's kinda the whole vibe of the fic. oblivious and in love.] He looks very datable. [i deliberately included this in nate's pov because in cale's pov of this scene, when nate call's him out he thinks 'Especially coming from Nate. Who clearly thinks Cale is undateable on principle.' it's a direct parralell and another indication that these two are sooooooo stupid at telling how the other feels lol]

So much so, that if Nate were to ignore the rest of the team, he could almost pretend he and Cale were on an actual date. That is, if they were actually talking right now. Which they aren’t, not really. [and whose fault is that, nathan?]

Nate’s chest aches. [oh right, yours]

Beside Nate, EJ is ranting about the complexities of whatever absurdly expensive wine he ordered, but it’s going in one ear and out the other. [more about ej later, but i liked adding him into this scene a lot lol]

Nate does try to listen, but he’s too distracted by Cale and the way he is somehow completely oblivious to the fact that the waitress is definitely flirting with him. She laughs at his polite comments, her hand lingering on his arm as she flicks her hair behind her ear. It’s obvious to everyone at the table, except apparently to Cale. [obviously from cale's pov we get that he's oblivious to this. to him, she's just being polite and doing her job, and he is being polite in return. it mirrors the fact that cale is also completely oblivious to nate's feelings towards him, which of course is something nate doesn't even consider in this moment (or ever)]

Nate’s trying—and failing—to ignore it. 

“She’s cute, Cale,” says Mikko after the waitress leaves. “If you ask her out, I think she’d be into it.”

Nate stills, gripping the stem of his wine glass harder than he should. Mikko is correct, she definitely would, but that doesn’t mean he has to say that. He slams back a gulp of his wine, ignoring EJ’s instructions on the proper way to taste the intricacies of its flavor.

Cale flushes, embarrassed, color rising high on his cheeks and low down his neck, below the collar of his sweater. [nate thinks cale is blushing because he likes the girl or thinks she's pretty etc etc.... cue ensuing jealousy]

Nate frowns, the wine tasting bitter on his tongue, matching his attitude.

“Cale doesn’t date,” he says before Cale can answer. [from cale's pov, this is the first time we're even made aware of nate in this scene. cale's entirely oblivious to both the waitress and nate and meanwhile it's all nate can think about lol]

Across from him, Cale takes a sip of his wine, then says, “I date.”

Something suffocates Nate’s chest then, his heart squeezing tight. [Even as Nate does this it makes him feel like shit and he's aware of that, but does it anyway cause he's stupid (both in general and about Cale)]

“No, you don’t,” says Nate firmly. 

He isn’t sure where this is coming from, this necessity to make it clear that Cale isn’t dating anyone. The urge to press him, goad him into admitting something Nate knows is correct. [nate is incredibly desperate to be correct in this situation and we all know why lol. his actions stem from a fear that he isn't correct and this guy he's been crushing on is actually in love with someone else.]

“Yes, I do,” says Cale immediately, voice firm.

Who the fuck is he taking on dates? He has never once mentioned a girl to Nate or to anyone else, not in the locker room, not during team outings, not anywhere. That is something Nate would definitely remember. [in both povs of this fic, there's moments/line like this that make the reader aware that both these guys are fucking idiots and they're obviously hanging out a lot even though both of them act like they aren't. Nate knows Cale, both as a teammate and as a friend, and besides the obvious jealousy, there's also a sense of hurt because if cale were dating he would've expected cale to have told him, as a friend, because they're friends.]

“All you do is talk about your stupid board game and the books you read and the shit you get from grocery stores.” [again, this line is another indication that they actually talk quite a bit. and nate pays attention to what cale says. and even though he's an asshole about it in this moment, he actually very much enjoys and finds their conversations interesting]

The screech of Cale’s chair as he pushes away from the table causes Nate to flinch, but he sits still, acutely aware that everyone else has fallen silent. EJ glances between Cale and Nate, his wine glass in his hand, looking bewildered. [i adore EJ in this scene and had a lot of fun writing him in. in cale's pov he isn't mentioned at all except for when cale hear's him say "the hell was that" (and doesn't even know it's ej saying it), but adding him into Nate's pov was a lot of fun and i think it helped break-up the asshole-y behavior from nate's internal monologue in a fun way and kept it more light hearted]

Cale grips the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white. “I go on plenty of dates, Nate,” he says, his voice shaking slightly. “Just because I don’t talk about them doesn’t mean they don’t happen.” [this is obviously, as we know from cale's pov, a lie. and nate, deep down, knows it is, but there's also a part of him that wonders and latches onto the belief that it isn't]

Momentarily, Nate deflates, feeling as though he kicked a puppy. He hates the look in Cale’s eyes and he hates that he’s the one that caused it, but the whole team is watching them now, and he refuses to back down. [nathan is nothing if not stubborn] He crosses his arms and smirks, but there’s something coiling in his gut, causing him to shift uncomfortably. [even, and often especially, to his own detriment]

Cale storms away, and Nate swallows before delicately grabbing his wine and taking a sip. [he's trying to play it cool. like it's no big deal that cale's dating and that he wasn't just a bit of a dick]

“The hell was that?” asks EJ, breaking the silence that has fallen over the table. [ej's statement, of course, calls out both of these things haha]

that's where cale's pov of this scene ends, but i enjoyed writing this next bit because as a whole, i think the team is both used to and also doesn't put up with nate's shit. so him acting like this, while weird, is not entirely surprising, even if most of them don't know the context

“Yes, Nate,” says Gabe coldly. “What the hell was that?” [gabe obviously does know the context]

Nate shrugs, looking around at the guys, but no one really meets his eyes. 

“I’m right. You all know I’m right.” Please tell me I’m right. “Cale doesn’t date.” [this calls back to the beginning of the scene and reminds the reader that nate's doing this out of almost desperation because he's scared the boy he likes not only doesn't like him back, but likes someone else instead]

ok ok i'll call this quits here, but this was so much fun! thank you for sending <3

[razzmothazz]

random yuno stuff to make up for the fact ive only been rambling abt makoto so far

yuno is a little MENACE /aff they love pulling little pranks, annoying people and inconveniencing them in little ways. she obviously never takes it far and because she can read people well, they know when someone is too annoyed/upset and makes sure to apologize and make it up to them when she gets carried away. she loves playful banter and their love laguage is definitely friendly bullying

doesnt have the best relationship with her dad and her mom is uhm . out of the picture you could say [this is a pun only i and perhaps pinna get but i will elaborate on it. someday] so they tend to sneak out a lot to stay with UNIT MEMBER THAT SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED UNTILL MY SISTER DECIDES TO FINALLY FLESH THEM OUT AND TELL ME ABOUT THEM. anyway yeah yuno doesnt like staying home unless its them locked up comfy in their room doing their own thing, so they go out a lot and spend most of their time out and about doing whatever they feel like doing

despite their cheery and energetic personality, their mindset is actually pretty nihilistic, believing nothing really matter and life has no set meaning. she believes people exist just to exist, same as everything else. youre born, you live, you die. however she doesnt see it as a bad thing, it motivates her to make life as fun as possible while it lasts and to not dwell on anything too long since its inconsequential in the long run, my girl just wants to have fun with it !!

very creative person !!! she cant stick to just one art medium for too long and instead does all kinds of stuff, their favourite form is watercolor painting tho! she thinks the soft look of the paints is very pretty, but besides that she also does sculptures, writing, other types of paintings, digital art, sewing, literally you name any form of artistic craft and they probably tried it at least once, its their main form of self expression since they dont talk about their feelings like. at all

related to the feelings thing, theyre VERY expressive, which is one reason why they never feel the need to talk about their feelings, its cause everyone can simply tell what they feel. she learned that if people cant read you they will ask too many questions and get overly concerned, so she started putting her feelings on full display, yet still doesnt like elaborating on them. shes the kind of person you can know for years and suddenly you realize that after all this time spent together, you dont know much about them at all. she doesnt feel the need to open up, believing some things arent important for others to know [mostly because of her life "philosophy" or whatev u wann call it]

their fav colours are yellow and pink!!! pretty obvious since they LOVE wearing them, most of their closet is actually made up of clothing in those exact colours :3 if you ask her to pick between those 2 colours she will go on a rant about how its impossible to choose and will make the speech overly emotional and theatrical for no reason other than to mess with you

speaking of theatrical shes a HUGE wxs fan !!! she randomly saw their show one day when hanging out at the phoenix wonderland and LOVED IT!!! again, she loves every form of art so this was to be expected. emu especially caught their eye with her silly childlike wonder vibes, not to mention the pink hair was an immediate attention grab for yuno lmao. when they learn more about the troupe they grew to not only admire and respect them as performers but also on a more personal level, especially tsukasa and his leadership and sheer stage presence. i feel like tsukasa would definitely end up treating yuno like another one of his siblings tbh dkdghdjdhbd they have a pretty silly dynamic in my head

basically she thrives in any social setting, not everyone enjoys their company but shes not bothered by that at all and continues to do her own thing and being their silly energetic self, its no fun otherwise for them

she enjoys learning and wants to learn so many random things.. they also often just study how other people act and have a very strong interest in psychology and social stuff, you can often catch her staring and looking around at others with an oddly determined and focused look. despite her love of learning they do NOT enjoy school, mostly using it as a social space and an excuse to not be home. their grades are fine, but she finds most classes boring and only wants to learn stuff that interests her.

one of her hobbies includes fixing random stuff no matter how difficult with no experience because shes convinced she can just "figure it out" and it always works. they cant explain how they did it exactly but she will fix pretty much anything up somehow. everyone finds it a little scary because you can find her messing with electrical objects to fix them with zero clue on what to actually do to fix them. but they will always be fixed.

their only issue that they cant seem to brush off and follows them around no matter what is their fear of abandonment, she feels the constant need to be around people and have as many close friends as possible, they cant stand being alone. its no fun living when you have no one. they want to do their thing and have fun, but sometimes the self doubt creeps in and she starts wishing she was more normal. its a constant struggle for them, but they still tend to try and brush it off with some excuse like "i can always find someone else", and immediately feel weird about thinking that because who would want to replace their friends like that? this runs rlly deep btw and i wanna expand on this more when i figure out her backstory properly

so yeah, they stay silly but at what cost... /j

basically yuno is like. the embodiment of "i was born to love my friends and have a silly fun time"

i had way more thoughts but this is all i remember rn soooo BYE

[himebushou]

I've basically been doing very little with my time besides watching Shaman King 2021 so phew, here are some thoughts on Episodes 10-32!

Episode 10

The bit with everybody hanging out at the inn was adorable, hee.

I LOVE BOZ THEY'RE SO FUNNY

It's odd that Yoh is already paying that much attention to "Hao" considering the name has come up once? But yeah...

Ryu comes back!! And damn, he already qualified for the main tournament?

Bason and Ren are too cute. Also, it's interesting to watch Ren's mindset change and hee, we get the showdown against Tao En!

Episode 11

Phew — Ren gets captured by his Pops and the Zoldyck vibes INTENSIFY.

I don't remember the Tao family having their own Super Sentai Squad, but hey, it tracks!

It's a bit of a shame that these battles were concluded so quickly, but it was cool to see Horohoro and Ryu's upgrades!

Can't believe Tao Rn squeezed that poor baby panda to death only for it to be resurrected as a zombie in the next scene! SHEESH!

Episode 12

This episode also went at THE SPEED OF LIGHT! I cant believe we got Jun's dramatic rescue and the whole Tao En reveal and fight in the same episode! I mean, at this speed, Ren's deep loyalty to the gang does seem a bit goofy, but hey, I'll deal!

Ryu saying, "Just what exactly do you think wavering is?" had me laughing so much, oh man.

Episode 13

How is SO MUCH happeningin EVERY EPISODE?

Yoh and the crew leave home!

They meet Hao!

They get dropped out of a plane!

They meet Lilirara, who's really cool! There's sone backstory!

They go on their way — AND THEN LILIRARA DIES???

Wild!!!!

Horohoro continues to be adorable and guh, I'm really enjoying watching the episodes dubbed... honestly, the dub iis really, really good!

Episode 14

WHEEE LYSERG THE DOOFUS IS HERE... to be honest he's a lil green Sherlock. Isn't it nice that everyone has a colour-coded Oracle Bell lol Yoh's is orange and Lyserg's is green... it's been like 15 years but I still don't know if I've forgiven him for what comes later. Whoops.

Anna is such a great character and I love how much bearing she has on the story.

New ending! And it's Iron Maiden Jeanne!!

Also, the goof with 6 years versus 8 years... Lyserg's parents definitely weren't killed 6 years ago, sheesh.

Episode 15

Okay, so this was one of the eps where the pacing was definitely painful. Anna got a (hodgepodge) version of Hao's backstory — honestly, why didn't Yohmei just tell her the whole deal if he was going to reveal so much? And then, she dealt with Hao's familiars SO QUICKLY that there was like. No threat to them at all. I was expecting more boom bang...

But she did use the 1080 beads! We love the 1080 beads!

Horohoro is just one of the best characters and I loved his upgrade, gosh. Again, we could have had a whole episode dedicated to his time with Apollo, rather than 10 mins. I also don't know HOW Ranger Bluebell knew bout him wanting to become the Shaman King since that wasn't discussed

For obvious reasons, Morphin is renamed Morphia in the dub, hue.

Episode 16

Not much that I can say about this episode (I was a bit sleepy when I watched it). Ryu is getting an upgrade — at lastl! And this episode had some of the humour I love from Shaman King: the whole bit with the vampiric guys was SO funny. "If there are only 5 in the group, why do two of them look the same?!" Yoh/Ren/Horohoro are such a darling trio.

Episode 17

/inhales

THE X-LAWS ARE HERE

WHICH MEANS MARCO IS HERE

WHICH MEANS... ERIC STUART!!!

And man I hate Marco (thought ťhe X-Laws are great villains who basically permanently impacted mine and my friends' psyches; they're a specific type of evil) but boy oh boy, it is sooo good to hear Seto Kaiba in an anime again, sobs.

Lyserg... tbh, I don't think I ever forgave his betrayal back from 2001; THERE'S STILL A PART OF ME THAT'S MAD. I wonder if I might feel differently this time around but I half-expected the little green bean to run off with the X-Laws in this very episode so I was a bit surprised when he didn't.

And then a surprise! Hao chatted to Anna and Manta and Tamao! Anna looks so cool with the sunglasses, lol. Though... I feel like Manta's being from money is largely a plot device (because how else would everyone get to the States)... but I often find this with rich/wealthy characters. sighs!

Oh, also! The Shaman King timeline is SO WHACK. Like, Ryu says to Yoh: "You forgot about me in Izumo which is when I trained to be a shaman." But here's the problem. I think Ryu only went to Izumo in the he first place to take Manta there and THEN he trained with Yohmei — but the flashback reveals that Ryu had to wait for a week to get Yohmei to train him (why is Mikihisa Like That btw) which means that. Yoh would have already been back and fighting and drawing against Ren and therefore concluding prelims in the same time that Ryu was supposedly waiting for Yohemi to train him? And yet Ryu somehow had an Oracle Bell AND qualified for the main tournament? While Ren had only completed two battles?

fudjdjd stuff like this drives me absolutely cuckoo I NEED WRITERS TO HAVE CHARTS AND TOURNAMENT TABLES AND TIMELINES AND ALL ELSE. URHFJFJD

Episode 18

JOCO!!! HEART EMOJIIIS

Anna slapping Hao with her free hand!

Mihihisa being revealed to be Yoh's dad!!

And the whole bit with Ren deciding the teams fhdjd man I am CRACKING UP!

(I rewatched some scenes in English and Japanese and wow, some of the changes are completely unnecessary fjdjd)

Episode 19

I... finally caught the Mic the Jaguar / Mic Jagger joke.

After almost 20 years.

SHEESH.

(I love Boz they're so funny fjljjd)

Episode 20

I never knew that Joco's backstory was so sad... my poor little guy...

I love how Ren pointed out that Horohoro did nothing, zero and zilch in the match dhdjd

Episode 21

Phew... to say that the X-Laws are brutal is putting it lightly... and looking at Jeanne and the way she was in this episode and knowing that she ends up with Ren is very. HUH?

I kind of can't believe just how laidback Yoh is sometimes. It kinda irritates me a tiny bit? Back in the day, I couldn't choose between Yoh, Ren and Horohoro for the Favourite Character Spot, but I'm not firmly Team Horohoro, ehe.

Poor Team Niles. Gosh.

Episode 22

Crying and sobbing... why won't Shaman King just give me. A TIMELINE? So now I discover that it's been TWO MONTHS since they were in the Patch village (???) and it's already the last battle of the first round of the tournament (???) and that Anna already taught Team Funbari Hot Springs EVERYTHING in Hao's big bad book (???) and? We didn't get to see any of that? Like I understand this decision if that's how it went down in the manga and the double OS was a major, unprecedented reveal, but if not... I LOVE A TRAINING MONTAGE. Give me these arcs...

Also, the dub's choices for which terms to leave in Japanese are messy. They use words like Onmyoji and Ultra Senji Ryakketsu, but 'Mana' replaces 'furyoku'... like I'm pretty sure the 4Kids dub used furyoku because it was a term I was v. familiar with.

Anyway, its nice to see a battle span two eps!

Episode 23

Wowee... this episode got me teary. Ryu's upgrade is NICE and Anna talking about the flexibility of Yoh's furyoku was so sweet. I also love the Icemen and their design — and it was particularly cute to see Pino and Horohoro chatting together at the end.

And then Hao's whole convo with Ren (the 4Kids dub called him Len and Yoh nicknamed him Lenny which was the cutest; gah, things I miss!) was really interesting

BUT WHY HAS YOH SOUGHT OUT LYSERG THE TRAITOR... ooft!

Episode 24

WAAAA WHAT A COOL EPISODE?

Okay, so it turns out that I was wrong about all the matches being over because this ep was HAO VS THE X-LAWS and damn, Hao using OXYGEN as his medium? That's bloody cool!!!

The OST in this ep was top tiiieeer and freaking — the X-Laws being humanised? A bit? I am SHOCKED.

Episode 25

Revelations galore... and Yohmei Tries to Commit Infanticide: Extended Edition.

Blimey. This anime is getting me so emotional.

(I love Horohoro I love what a good friend he is he is my FAVOURITE.)

Episode 26

WOW I LOVED THIS EPISODE.

The senior Asakura and Tao folks coming together to discuss Hao's bigtime book and the gang finally finding out about Yoh's origins! I got to see TAO RAN again (I love her) and freaking heck, Mikihisa is so cool? I guess jury has to be out with him a liiiittle bit because I've seen people commenting that he sucks. But. I have a major soft-spot for shounen dads (Goku, Echizen Nanjiroh, Van Hohenheim, Kurosaki Isshin...) and I reckon Mikihisa ticks cool points.

And freaking Ren! Why is everyone so cool??

Episode 27

NO TIME YO RECORD THOUGHTS MUST WATCH NEXT EP

Team Flower vs Jun / Anna / Tamao yeah!!

GOTTA SAVE REEEEN!!!

Episode 28

HOWLING

HOWLING!!

The Iron Maiden will save Ren (oh my GOSH — NOW, CERTAIN THINGS make more sense) and Yoh will be withdrawing from the tournament (?) and we got a new opening AND a new ending and Horohoro had that whole speech and buuu MY TEARS!

Episode 29

Mikihisa appears and just adopts everyone on sight and oh my gosh, the babies? Forget everyone else I want THEIR happiness and dhdhd what is this stuff about a golem?

HOW CAN I GO TO SLEEP WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH HAPPENING IN THIS ANIME

Episode 30

Ahhh we're entering a flashback! So this is what people were talking about when they kept bringing up "Osorezan Arc", huh?? YOH AND ANNA'S FIRST MEETING!

AND SHE WAS SO DISGUSTED.

Once again, the timeline is WHACK because there's really no way it can be the year 2000 at the time of the Shaman Fight unless I'm missing something huuuge... Yoh and Anna really should've been 8 when they met, not 10?

And I'm finally meeting Matamune!

But he was in the last Shaman Fight dhdhd i guess Hao couldn't have participated since he was a Patch that time but what happened at the fight 1000 years ago?

SO MANY MYSTERIIIES

Episode 31

Oh man, I can see why people were so obsessed with this arc... there is just so much emotion here from all sides: Matamune (having to defeat Hao!!), Yoh and Anna, Kino — everything.

You can see why Yoh and Anna are the dream team, wow.

Also, I looked up a timeline and I think I can make my peace with it being the year 2000 in canon... but the anime did not explain it AT ALL, which is pretty poor.

Episode 32

Wow.

Yoh and Anna are very, very special.

[insanepoll]

hi. here's another blaseball fan trying to get more people into blaseball

to understand what makes these guys insane, you need more context about blaseball. blaseball, just as a website, is a baseball simulator. except people die sometimes. other things happen too, like a player will siphon another player's blood in bloodrain, players get encased by a giant peanut (aka getting shelled), players change teams in feedback weather, etc etc etc.

blaseball fans make the entirety of the blaseball lore. all headcanons are excepted. like, jessica telephone is usually depicted as a girl with telephone features worked into her somehow (like a keypad on her face, giant phone for a bat, etc.), but you can just decide that you think jessica telephone is a lion and that's an official IRM (interdimensional rumor mill, a term used to describe all of these different interpretations). the wiki has irms for some of the players. i say some, because 1) more popular players don't really have an IRM section. players like jessica telephone, jaylen hotdogfingers, and nagomi mcdaniel have widely-accepted irms, so they kinda just get one. older players that aren't super popular but well-known by a specific team will have this as well, like reese clark of the houston spies. but lesser-known players will have multiple. for example, brock forbes has eleven rumors, terrell bradley has two, etc.

teams also write lore about the team itself. for example, the baltimore crabs live in baltimore, maryland, but the original players on the team killed Big Deb (the giant crab goddess that ruled baltimore) and now her carcass is used as the stadium :]

there's 24 teams, and all of them have their own culture and vibe. it can be a lot to try and figure out which team you want to go with. here's a cool hint: even tho the website makes you pick one team, you can join as many teams as you'd like. personally, i am on both the houston spies and baltimore crabs.

the teams: atlantis georgias, baltimore crabs, boston flowers, breckenridge (broken ridge) jazz hands, canada moist talkers, charleston shoe thieves, chicago firefighters, core mechanics, dallas steaks, hades tigers, hawaii fridays, houston spies, kansas city breath mints, los angeli unlimited tacos (the "los angeles" is plural), mexico city wild wings, miami dale, moab hellmouth sunbeams, new york millennials, ohio worms, philidelphia pies (everyone just calls them the philly pies), san francisco lovers, seattle garages, tokyo lift, and yellowstone magic.

so yeah! a lot! some teams you can get a vibe for immediately, but even then there's bits and pieces that aren't as obvious. for example, the tokyo lift is a gym-themed team, but they also have past lives as pirates.

if you want more info on individual teams, the houston spies bit together this slideshow. it's a little outdated, but the general vibes stay the same. for most teams, you can visit different team channels in the maincord, but some teams mostly or only use a sidecord, like the baltimore crabs. the maincord is huge, but you can mute most of the channels. i have every channel besides my team channels and announcements muted.

for finding more info: someone else mentioned the wiki, which is helpful, but hasn't been outdated for the new era (coronation). it's still not fully updated from the expansion era (because the expansion era was hella hectic). most teams will have their lore in their own discord server, since it's not allowed in maincord anymore (because people were being Weird when making lore and there's only so many mods). most if not all teams have links to their servers pinned in one of their channels.

going thru all of those channels and finding links can be A Lot. finding a team can be A Lot. but don't worry! there's no wrong answers and everyone is excited to have new people.

when i was picking teams, i considered these questions:

what size team do i want? i prefer smaller teams, so i went with the spies. some teams are big but don't feel too big, like the crabs (although i have most of the Crabitat channels muted).

do i like lore or stats more? i definitely prioritize lore but i ended up on two stat-heavy teams lol. every team needs a balance, though, so no matter what you want to contribute, you'll be welcomed (even if you don't feel like contributing anything). i definitely have a place within the spies for Making Lore

how much do i care about winning? i do not give a singular fuck, which is how i ended up on the spies.

how competitive of an environment do i want? some teams are much more cutthroat than others and that's important to think about

what aesthetics do i like? this one isn't as big for me personally. im not too attached to the aesthetics of the spies or crabs, and they aren't really aesthetics-driven, either. but some teams, like the lovers and the garages, have very established aesthetics. even if you don't "fit" within the team aesthetic, tho, the team itself can still be a good fit.

i think that's all i have for right now. i mean. its a lot. lol. but i may add more later :3

huh thats kinda cool. collaborative lore. love when people come together to make something<3 even more when that something is kinda fucked up<3

[gracefireheart]

Time for a lil’ continuation of my Pokemon Trainer AU for Bells Hells. Right here I’m just gonna go over what I have so far for everyone besides FCG (since I’ve already drawn their team right here), and then say a bit about what they do in this AU, I guess.

I’ll start off by showing Ashton’s team, as that’s the only team I’ve fully finished making. On their team, they got; *Golisopod    -Idk how else to explain this choice other than it just fits, but I could switch this pokemon out for some other pokemon. *Annihilape    -A Primape that evolves into a sorta dead version of itself after using the move Rage Fist a lot. *Alolan Geodude    -A lil’ geode fella that also has the ability “Magnet Pull”, which could be in reference to the Gravity thingy they do sometimes while raging. *[shiny] Whirlepde    -Got the ability “Speedboost”, which I thought could fit with the Time thingy they do sometimes while raging. *Joltik    -The closest I could get to an ability [Compoundeyes in this case] that would somewhat fit with the Space thingy they do sometimes while raging. *Stonjourner    -Got the ability “Power Spot”, which I thought was the closest I would get to the Luck thingy they do sometimes while raging.

Imogen’s team is sorta finished, but I’m still unsure about some of the pokemon I’ve chosen. So far I’ve chosen; *Psyduck or Espurr    -A pokemon with constant headaches vs a pokemon that has an unbelievable amount of psychic power + is purple. *Munna    -Obvious one as it’s a pokemon related to dreams that’s also purple. *Mudsdale    -Since I don’t want to use any pokemon that I already chose in my PMD!AU for Bells Hells, I didn’t choose Galarian Rapidash for Imogen. But I think Mudsdale fits her pretty well too. :] *Lunatone    -I mean, this one’s pretty obvious too as it’s literally the moon-shaped pokemon, but I’m also tempted to give her a [shiny] Cosmog instead so it could evolve into Lunala. *[shiny] Braixen    -It’s a witch pokemon, it’s shiny is purple, and with Imogen having been transformed into a fox for a few seconds in one of the c3 episodes, it kinda seems like a nice fit. *Hatenna    -If I chose Espurr over Psyduck, Hatenna would be a good replacement for Psyduck as in their pokedex, it says this:

Next one I almost finished was Fearne. But again, I’m unsure about some of my pokemon choices for her. Anyways, the team I chose for her so far is; *Monferno    -It was between this pokemon and Pansear for being Little Mister, but I chose Monferno instead. :] *Skiddo or Wooloo    -A goat or sheep pokemon since she ain’t a satyr in this AU. úvù *Shiinotic    -A grass and fairy pokemon that just has a very Fearne or Feywild vibe to it. *Paldean Wooper or Clodsire    -Yes. Onto the next pokemon. *Weavile or Sneasler    -Either pokemon has the ability “Pickpocket”, but idk which fits more between shorty or the tall sass queen. [The last pokemon I was extremely unsure about, but I thought that maybe she should have an extra fire pokemon ‘cause of her subclass, or a pokemon based on a “weird” animal. Idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

The last few- those being Laudna, Orym and Chetney- I haven’t gotten that many pokemon for. Such as for Laudna, I only got an alolan Rattata [Pâté], Trevenant [New Form of Dread], maybe Minccino [a pokemon that likes to keep things tidy], and a shiny Luvdisc [a gift from Imogen / in reference to the ring]. For Orym, I’ve only thought of Luxio [evolves into Luxray, which is a great scouting pokemon] and either Pawniard or Riolu [some form of knight/protector pokemon. And lastly, for Chetney, I’ve only got a (midnight) Lycanroc [in reference to his werewolf form] and Smeargle [a lil’ pokemon to help him paint his wooden toys and such].

Now with all that done, how about a lil’ bit of focus on the characters themselves? Mostly, it’s about what exactly they’re doing out in the world of pokemon between challenging pokemon gyms, doing pokemon contests, trying ot become a pokemon ranger, studying stuff about mythical/legendary pokemon, and so on.

For example, I thought that FCG could be a regular badge-collecting pokemon trainer early on, but decided to quit that path after an incident involving their Spiritomb. Instead, FCG studies- while on the road with the rest of BH- to become a pokemon nurse.

Ashton I could 100% see as a regular pokemon trainer that wants to defeat the Champion and whatnot.

Imogen probably wouldn’t be a regular pokemon trainer that’s collecting badges and stuff, but is instead either trying to learn about what Cosmog is (if I eventually decide that she should have that pokemon on her team) or is trying to figure out what this Lunala pokemon is as her mother disappeared after trying to research said legendary pokemon.

Laudna would definitely be a pokemon coordinator (aka a pokemon trainer that participates in pokemon contests) while also trying to help Imogen in her research for Cosmog/Lunala and what happened to her mother.

Orym could potentially be a pokemon ranger, someone who tries to help wild pokemon in need or get wild pokemon safely out of human-populated areas. But I’m still a lil’ unsure.

Fearne I could see just doing whatever floats her boat. Maybe she’ll try fighting the Gym Leader Ashton’s going up against, or she’ll join a pokemon contest with Laudna, and so on.

And lastly, Chetney I could maayyybe see as an ex-Gym Leader that decides to join along BH. Something like Brock or Misty, idk.

That’s that for now. It’s-- a lot. And obviously, there’s still some stuff I gotta figure out (mostly around their pokemon team). So uh... Look forward to it?

As a side note, I also do want to try and make a pokemon team for Dorian (and maybe Cyrus), Yu, Deanna, and FRIDA. But uh, that’ll be much later.

[curestardust]

Dust Watched: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hashira Geiko-hen

Genres: Shounen, Fantasy, Action, TW: blood, gore (the usual) // 8 episodes // S01 (x) | S02 (x) | S03 (x) | S04 (x)

Figures two shows I want to watch decide to air at the same time when my concentration is completely shot.

✧  story  ✧

I'm fairly sure I mentioned this in one of my previous reviews but I always felt like KNY needed more filler. I know that's basically a crime to say as filler in general as seen as lazy and a waste of time but I disagree. They serve as breaks in the marathon that is the main story, let's us digest the previous events and prepare us for the next arc while also giving us some character focus and funny moments.

Now... making an *entire* season a filler is certainly a bold move.

The "Hashira Training Arc" is exactly as it sounds. Besides the last episode, this (quite short) season takes us through the Hashiras through Tanjiro's training with them. It's a very obvious set-up for the soon-to-come final big ending, with us getting a look at the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps, the Hashiras relationships, Tanjiro's current power level, and something being set-up with Zenitsu (Inosuke is just vibing).

Then the final episode sets up the next arc which will be coming out as a movie trilogy. Please tune in for my next review in 2050! (I love you Ufotable but please.....)

✧  characters  ✧

I'm actually in the camp that this season should've been longer because we could've spent more time with some of the Hashiras but I'm sure they'll get the time to shine later.

We did get the backstory for the Stone Hashira and WOW, everyone he loved was killed by a demon! Crazy! (I deadass don't count this as spoiler as all out of 1 Hashira so far has this exact same backstory.)

Tanjiro being more confident in himself was nice to see and I'm really itching to know what the hell Zenitsu was doing but if he finally escapes the comedic relief jail and is allowed to kick ass while actually awake, that'll be a huge win.

The final episode was absolutely crazy good btw. [Spoiler] showing up out of nowhere and doing THAT, what [Spoiler] did and how even [Spoiler] found it crazy despite being a demon was.... WHEEEWWW. Great episode.

✧  art  ✧

Okay, we all know that the animation is the usual 10/10 from Ufotable, especially with the shorter runtime but PLEASE.

I know you guys are proud of your 3DCG environments but [Spoiler]'s entrance in the final episode with him literally walking taking 3 minutes and the camera spazzing out, spinning, flickering literally looked like this meme and I could NOT take it seriously.

✧  sound ✧

Fantastic as usual.

✧  overview ✧

Honestly I understand people who're pissed at this season. We did wait 1 whole year for essentially a filler arc. I really think it was needed as the rest of this adaptation is going to be a straight marathon til the end but yeah, I get it. I just hope I'll live to see Ufotable fully adapt this manga to the end.

My Rating: 7.8/10