#I'm just going to continue to copy paste and post the same thing every time I see this

[meddow]

I'm going to post exactly the same thing I did last time this popped up on my dash because still no sources cited.

Addressing the main point, here’s an actual source:

Today, agaves are important resources, cultivated by farmers and harvested by rural communities to make products like tequila, mezcal, bacanora, agua miel, pulque, and agave syrup. The leaves, stalks, and rosettes of agaves are also used to make rope, paper, fabric, soap, and to feed livestock. Plus, agave plants have extending root systems which help stabilize soil and control erosion. Alarmingly, extensive land-use changes, livestock grazing, drought, and other pressures are threatening agaves and the ecosystems that depend on them.

Source: Bat Conservation International

It seems there's many complex issues at play when it comes to the conservation of agave and it's not solely the production of agave syrup causing problems.

I'll also point out that agave syrup is not only purchased by vegans.

From a market analysis:

The demand for agave syrup is projected to grow in the forthcoming years, due to increasing incidences of diabetes, obesity, and other cardiovascular diseases. Increased prevalence of the aforementioned diseases is encouraging people to consume natural ingredients, such as agave syrup and products made with them, in place of sugar and other conventional sweeteners.

Source: Fortune Business Insights

lt appears agave syrup is seen by consumers and marketed as a health food/sugar alternative rather than a product purely for vegans.

And as a vegan for five years I've neither purchased agave syrup or honey. If I need to sweeten something I use sugar or maple syrup. There are more options out there than just agave syrup and honey.

Vegans of tumblr, listen up. Harvesting agave in the quantities required so you dont have to eat honey is killing mexican long-nosed bats. They feed off the nectar and pollinate the plants. They need the agave. You want to help the environment? Go back to honey. Your liver and thyroid will thank you, as well. Agave is 90% fructose, which can cause a host of issues. Bye.

[wwilsonbarness]

I messed up.. (part 2)

pairings:  bucky barnes x reader

summary: Bucky tries to apologise for the things he said... do you accept?

warnings: angstttt, some fluff, anxiety?, idkk i think that's all :)

word count: 2535

a/n: I'm so sorry it took so long for part 2. I hated what I first wrote and my week ended up super busy. I'm so scared to post this lmao I hope it doesn't disappoint!

Feedback, likes and reblogs are much appreciated :) 

I do not give permission for my work to be copied, reposted or translated on any other platform.

part one

masterlist

Sam insisted you took it easy for the rest of the night, he brought you dinner in bed, checked on you every hour, and brought you everything you could need. You appreciated it but at the same time you just wanted to lay in bed alone and cry. For the first few hours it was out of sadness, seeing Bucky that angry with you made your chest ache, the thought of disappointing him was something you couldn’t handle, but as the hours passed the sadness slowly turned into anger. The more you replayed his words in your mind the angrier you got, how could he imply you didn’t care about your baby? 

Ever since you were a little girl yourself you had wanted to be a mom, it was your dream and Bucky knew that.You had both spent countless nights talking for hours on end about how excited you were to have a baby together, you thought he was excited too but were you and your baby just a burden to him? A problem he had to sort out? Did he even want this?

Hours had passed and you were starting to drift to sleep when you heard voices outside your bedroom door. Part of you wanted to stay in bed and ignore whoever it was but when you heard Bucky’s voice you jump out of bed. 

“I just want to check if she's okay.” You hear Bucky’s voice through the door, slightly louder than he normally speaks, a clear sign he was getting frustrated. You hear a second voice but you can’t figure out who it is until you move closer, it was Sam.

“You… chance..screwed up..” It’s muffled but you can guess what he said. You keep walking closer to the door and go to open it as you hear a third voice. 

“Barnes, you need to leave her be, you’ve done enough tonight.” That was definitely Tony, he was the only one to call Bucky by his last name. 

You weren’t ready to face Bucky yet but you didn’t want to have to listen to them arguing any longer so you opened the door, to be faced with Bucky standing right in front of you, Tony to the side of him and Sam a few doors down outside his room. 

“Can you guys argue somewhere else please?” Bucky’s head flys round at the sound of your voice. He instantly looks you up and down, focusing on your bump for a few seconds longer than anywhere else, which reminds you of how he had looked at you earlier. You bring your hand up to your stomach without realising. 

“Doll, are you okay?” You could see the concern in his eyes this time but you couldn’t get past the anger you were feeling. 

“I’m fine, Bucky. I just want to sleep so can you three go somewhere else if you’re gonna shout at each other.” Bucky’s face started to lighten up in relief for a second but tensed up again as you continued. 

“I’m sorry, can we please talk?” He starts to walk closer to you but you flinch and move backwards into your room. You weren’t scared of him but you couldn’t handle this tonight. Bucky’s face drops as he watches you move away from him. “Doll I just want to-” 

“I don’t have the energy tonight Bucky, please can you just leave me alone.” You look at each other for a few seconds before you plead again, “Please.” Bucky slightly nods his head but you don’t wait for any other type of response before you close your door. 

You lean your head against the door as it shuts, taking a deep breath in as an attempt to keep yourself calm. You hear Bucky and Tony throw a couple more sentences at each other, resulting in Tony asking F.R.I.D.A.Y to lock your door to anyone but him and Sam. You didn’t want to shut Bucky out but the things he said to you really hurt your feelings and if you were to talk to him about it now you would end up saying things you regret. You just wanted and needed time to yourself to calm down. You climb back into bed and go to sleep to try and forget about the whole situation, it takes a few hours but sleep finally washes over you. 

You could only sleep for a few hours before your morning sickness hit. Without Bucky there to help you like every other morning it was a lot harder to deal with. After sitting beside the toilet for a few minutes you manage to run yourself a bath and relax for a bit. You wanted to put off talking with Bucky as long as you could, you knew he’d already be awake as he was every day, probably in the kitchen making breakfast. 

You hear a knock at your door as you're in the bath which brings you out of your thoughts about Bucky, but when you reach the door all that’s there is a tray with waffles, fruit and orange juice on it. You pick it up and place it on your desk to find a note, recognising Bucky’s handwriting straight away you pick it up.

I’m sorry for everything I said and did. I want to make it up to you when you are ready to talk. I know you’ve probably been unwell this morning so I hope this makes you feel better. I put some gummy bears on the waffles since I know you’ve been craving sweet things. I love you and baby so much - Buck x 

You feel your eyes tear up as you read each word, and even though you’re mad at him all you want in this moment is for Bucky to hold you. You quickly get dressed and start to walk towards the kitchen, hoping he’s still there. To your luck he was still hovering around the cooker cleaning up his mess from cooking breakfast.

“Buck?” His head whips around at lightning speed to the sound of your voice. He takes one step towards you before stopping himself, remembering how you reacted last night. The last thing he wanted to do was scare you more.

“Doll, are you okay?” 

“Mhmm, can we talk?” Bucky lets out a huge breath he wasn’t aware he was holding as you speak, he wants nothing more than to talk to you. 

“Of course doll, wanna sit over here?” He points his hand towards the couch in the corner of the room. You nod your head and walk over. When you both sit down it’s quiet for a few minutes, both of you equally scared to break the silence until Bucky speaks. 

“Are you scared of me?” He asks, tone soft as if he’s scared of what the answer might be.

“No, Bucky I’d never be scared of you.” His shoulders start to relax in relief but not for long as you continue. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not mad at you.” 

“I am so so sorry y/n, I promise you I didn’t mean anything I said, I was just scared which I know isn’t an excuse but it’s the truth. My worst fear is losing you, and now with the baby on the way I’m even more scared of losing you both. When I heard Sam telling Tony and Nat that you were seen with a bump it was.. It was like my brain just took over, I kept imagining you being hurt and I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened. I can’t lose you, either of you. If you let me, I promise I will try my best to make things back the way they were.” 

Bucky’s speech took you off guard, you were expecting and hoping to speak first so you could get everything out while you felt able to, you had to try so hard to hold back your tears. You could tell he was sorry and honestly part of you just wanted to say it’s okay, tell him you forgave him, that everything was fine but the other part of you was still focused on his horrible words yesterday, and you knew things would never be okay again unless you told him how he made you feel. “I just need to get this off my chest Bucky, I know you’re sorry but I still need to say this. He nods his head to show he understands you.

You take a deep breath and prepare yourself to speak. “First off, I just want to make it completely clear, that” you bring your hand to your stomach and cup the small bump you have, “I love and care so much for this baby, more than anything or anyone else in the world. So when you said that to me, said that I.. That I didn’t care, it really really hurt me. I know I went against what we agreed, I know I scared you, but that didn’t give you a right to talk to me the way you did.” 

“I kno-” Bucky tries to respond but you don’t let him. Your voice is beginning to shake and there are tears starting to fall from your eyes. Bucky’s heart was breaking at seeing you so upset.. all because of him.

“No, please let me finish. I.. I know you care about me and our baby, I know you do but you went way too far. You were so worried about other people hurting me you didn’t realise that you were the one doing it.” 

You can hear Bucky swallow deeply as he listens, his eyes growing wetter with every word, it was hard for him to hear but he knew everything you were saying was true. He had done the one thing he swore he never would, he hurt you and he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself for it. “You promised me that you would never hurt me, and I believed you.” Your voice cracks with your last words, and the tears finally escape. “You made me feel like we were burdening you, like we were just a problem to you, something you had to deal with.”

Bucky desperately wants to reach out and comfort you but he stops himself. He keeps his eyes locked with yours and you nod your head a little, a silent way of telling him that it was his turn to talk. He nods back and readies himself, he had a lot he wanted to say but now he’d heard how much he had hurt you, it was like his brain had forgotten everything. 

“You have to know that you both are the most important people in my life, you could never be a burden to me, ever. I'm so sorry I made it feel that way. Y/N I know I hurt you, I want.. I need you to know that when I made that promise I meant it, I’ve never intended to hurt you, and for the rest of my life, as long as you’ll have me I promise, with every single part of me that I will care and love for you and our baby.” You are starting to choke up at what he is saying but try so hard not to let it show. 

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’ll always be scared of something happening to you both and nothing’s gonna ever change that, but I know now that I need to find other ways of working through that. I’ll do anything it takes for you to forgive me. I want to be there for you and our baby forever.” He looks down to your bump, his gaze softens, a slight smile grows, and with a quiet, soft voice he continues. 

“I can’t wait to see you be a mom, you’re gonna be the best there is. I really mean it, our baby is so lucky to have you as a parent.” When he looks up he tries to understand how you’re feeling but your face is pretty much blank, you were in shock. You’d only been in two relationships before Bucky but not once had either of them apologised for something they did, now Bucky was practically begging you to forgive him, you didn’t know how to take it. You just knew you couldn’t lose him.

“Buck.. As much as I hate how you spoke to me, I don’t want to let this argument get between us, I want things to change. I know you are scared and I understand that.. I’m scared too, but we can get through it together. We are strong enough to not let this break us apart, okay?” 

Bucky lets out a huge breath he didn’t even realise he was holding in. “Doll, I want nothing more than for us to be okay.” 

You stand up and put your hand out towards him, “Come on, I got you something.” He hesitantly grabs your hand, and follows you to your room. Just as you reach the door he stops, and drops his hand out of yours. “Bucky.. It’s okay you can come in.” 

“Are you sure?” He asks hesitantly.

“I’m positive.” He smiles slightly at your answer then follows you in.

“I got youu…” You trail your words out as you dig for his gift. “This.” You pass him the teddy, expecting to smile but instead he frowns, rubbing his thumb over each word as he reads it. 

“You don’t like it?” you ask him, taking a seat next to him. 

“I do,” He forces a smile out, “I’m just worried I won’t be a good dad. I’m just scared doll.” He looks up to you again and sees your eyes still glossy, and he feels he has to defend his words. “I am excited, please know I am. I just don’t wanna mess up again.” He reaches out to touch your stomach and you see him hesitating so you put your hand on top of his and gently push it onto your stomach.

“It’s gonna be okay Buck, I trust you.” You lay your head on his shoulder and cuddle into him, “We’re gonna be okay.” 

“I love you both so much.” 

“And we love you too.” Just as you finish speaking your stomach rumbles, which startles Bucky.

“Oh my god. Was that the baby??” 

You had to hold in your laughter as you replied to him, it was way too early for the baby to kick. “No Bucky, I’m just hungry.” He follows your gaze to the tray with the breakfast he made you. 

“Dolll… you didn’t eat?” You shake your head and Bucky stands up and brings it to bed.”Wanna share?” 

“Of course.” He picks up a gummy bear but before he can put it in his mouth you grab it.

“Hey!” He looks at you confused. 

“Sorry,” you say between your giggles, “you aren't getting any of the gummy bears, baby wants all of them.” 

“Oh yeah? Baby wants all of them? Sureee.” You were both laughing now, as you tried to get all the gummy bears before him.

tags: (tagging everyone who was interested, sorry if I miss anyone!)

@missvelvetsstuff @learisa @pattiemac1 @satanstittyss @opheliabarnes @mrs-bucky-barnes-73 @kandis-mom @lokislady82 @k4t13l0u1s3 @jbbarnesgirl @nikkivillar @sarahjoestewy-blog @aboobie @queerqueenlynn @shabanggg @topguncultleader @wintrsoldrluvr @invalid-croissant @ada728 @that-girl-named-alex @spoopiloops @mayusenpai666 @paarthurnax59 @cl7ire @hereforfun22-blog @almosttoopizza @trixiekaulitz @aweleyirene @blackwood-bodecker-housewife @mavrellover91 @yeselmolovesyou

[lexo-is-pesto]

I'm so excited to finally post this.

My full Murder Drones reference! so hopefully I can keep up consistency

Obviously, this is full of my own head canons so close ups and explanations under the cut (it's a LOT) >;]

To be totally honest my focus was on the main characters, and I think that shows in the designs of the Manor Drones and Cabin Fever Squad. BUT I'll still do my best to explain my process here.

For the Disassemblers I decided to do very different builds for each but the same color pallet.

My idea here was that since each have a different designation letter, that was akin to their model type. That's also why "the company" was able to clone J so easily, they just had her model on file. (also like to imagine there are 26 different forms of the Disassemblers Imao).

I had all the colors remain the same to show their unity and of course the Absolute Solver-ification of the basic Worker Drone color scheme. Essentially, I just took the monochromatic WD colors and put the highlighter yellow over it that Cyn loves so much.

For J I did a more lean and strong build. I wanted her to exude that leader energy. I also made her Core a star shape for similar reasons and then I also noticed that N and V had caution stripes at the top of their legs but as far as I could see J didn't, so I decided to add those to the very top of her legs to finish the garter belt look she's got going on. For her hair, I actually really like the pigtails I just flattened them out a bit because the big cutesy poof they had didn't fit her style in my opinion. I brought it back for her worker form though.

With V I gave her a round yet sharp look. (My favorite added detail is the sharp shoulders) I did make her the shortest of the DD because everyone loves the small but vicious archetype. For her core I made it a sword or spear shape, because she's extra violent. And finally, I made her legs a little more pointed than J's to finish off the sharp look.

Last but CERTAINLY not least, N's design is meant to be soft and plushy but still has a little edge to it. His hair is fluffy but the tufts curl to be sharp, His core is meant to look like a heart but it's upside down so the point is still facing the top (which makes it look more like a club but whatever) I gave him a rounder torso than the other two and his elbow and kneecaps are softer too. His general construction is still menacing, though, so don't get too comfortable with all the fluff. I also spent a LONG time contemplating if I should make his thighs black to look like little biker shorts to contrast with J and V's sock looks but went against it because I love how the hazard stripes stand out against the white.

For N and V's worker forms I basically took out all the sharp edges and rounded them out. J's still a little sharp though not as much.

With the Workers I did the opposite of the DD. They have the EXACT same body types (minus Uzi because she's little) and instead I changed their color schemes to all be unique to their eye lights

Since Worker Drones were made to... well... WORK I think their initial manufacturing would be pretty uniform. A copy and paste if you will. It was only when they were left to their own devices that the WD started to customize themselves. Thus came the wigs and clothes.

I like to think the color started with those infected with the Solver, so Yeva and Nori gained color and then passed that on to their kids. Thats also why Alice has color, but Khan, The Manor Squad, and some other drones in the colony don't. Does not explain Lizzy and Thad though (maybe they have a distant relative that had the solver idk)

It was a lot harder to infer about what a base WD body would look like Maybe I was just looking in the wrong places, but I had to infer with things like the worker helmets, we see every WD except Uzi wear one but they seem more coordinated with their outfits so I decided to just continue my color head-canon that its naturally monochrome and you can customize it if you want to!

I added a light to the feet of the worker drones to match the hand lights. I don't think there's a canon reason for the lights but, on the workers at least. I think they're there to help them do grunt work in the dark! to light their ways in caves or tight spaces so they could do their job better. Now they're just another robot cosmetic

For the Parents, I gave them wrinkles because I thought it was unfair that Khan was the only one who got them. So, Nori gets crow's feet hurray! No but I probably had the most difficult time with these drones. It was hard to separate the canon from fanon since we know so little about them, but I fought off all the demons to keep their designs relatively grounded. Minus Khan's scar. And Alice's more natural horns. and-

I also gave some drones eyelashes. just cause. if I thought it fit, I added it and if it didn't, I didn't add it.

Now you may be wondering "Lexo what's up with all the cracks!?" the idea here is that it's the solver taking over. We see in Cabin Fever and Home that the solver virus fundamentally changes the body of a drone. The crack in the casing is basically this process. Depending on the stage of which your drone is at it changes the intensity. We see Cyn being the main host and essentially patient 0, so she has the most cracks. It starts at the core then spreads until it reshapes you entirely and you become a Disassembly Drone. Unless you stop it in time. Thats why J, V, and N have the pale lines on the bottom of their torso, they're more pretty and cleaner since they achieved the solvers "final form" so to speak. Nori and Yeva on the other hand, have repaired cracks but they're still messy since they were stopped mid-way. Alice, however, did not stop the spread with the solver cure since she was "abandoned" so instead she just cut out her core entirely. Yup. Shes functioning on pure insanity and spite at this point. And then of course with the new hosts, there is light spreading. TL: DR the cracks are a zombie bite.

But that's it for my Murder Drones head canons and designs! If you read all the way to the end, you're a champ and I love you. Have a cookie superstar <3🍪

[somedayillbepeterpan]

Finally, I am able to continue this series.

I started doing The Butterfly Ball analysis as a way to get it out of my head because it had burrowed deep inside my brain that it was rotting my thoughts (which still hasn't stopped).

To understand my ramblings fully, you can go to the other parts here:

Start here | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Here we go for: PART 5: BLOCKING AND WHERE COLIN WAS WHILE PEN WAS REVEALING HERSELF AS LW

I've decided to chop this part into smaller pieces too because when I started part 5, the whole thing was way too long for my attention span. I really am so sorry about the deluge of thoughts that I have for this scene. I'm half tempted to copy Sammy Bates and create videos but I do not have the same talent that she has. So, you're stuck with me and my barrage of written thoughts.

Anyway, Part 5.1 - The stage layout

We've talked about the shape of the venue. We've talked about the aesthetics of the event. We've talked about clothes. And we've talked about music and dances.

Now, let's get to the nitty-gritty of things. Let's talk about the blocking of the whole scene. To start it off, we have to understand the layout of stage.

Just for context, at one point in my life, I studied cinematography and I love movies so I get keyed up with blocking and camera angle choices.

To give importance to how important this scene is, sweeping/panning shots that is 360 degrees in motion with about 150, maybe 200 people, in one room is a nightmare in logistics. Every shot has to matter and every shot has to be reviewed and set up precisely. Most of the ball scenes takes 1 week to shoot because of how technical it is. There is an interview of Tom Verica talking about plotting the whole scene (I think it was the Vanity Fair one).

The particular weight of this ball is shown in how it's set-up like a centre stage. Even the lighting and the floor design draws your attention inward. Out of the three seasons' Ep 8 balls, this is the only one elevated and without anything disrupting the centre.

I've drafted a diagram to fully understand how the whole stage looks like.

**you guys are allowed to call me crazy after this post.

There are 4 major sides that I will call anchor points as we go around this layout.

Entrance (in between the two bug cages)

Side entrance 1

Side entrance 2

Ostrich feathers

One particular stand out for me are the pillars around the stage. The pillars hides and distinctly divides each of the 4 anchor points. While this might go past a regular viewers' head, someone looking for it (or a crazy person like me) will understand the significance of each anchor point. It helps easily assign people on each side and and use blocking (+ camera shots) as a great storytelling device.

These 4 anchor points become very important when Pen goes on stage.

Because every single one of it stands an important woman in Pen's life.

(going clockwise from the entrance) Anchor point 1: Prudence by the entrance

Anchor point 2: Portia by side entrance 1

Anchor point 3: Philippa (+ Albion) by the Ostrich feathers

and Eloise (next to Fran, Alice Mondrich, and Lady Danbury) right by Anchor point 4: Side entrance 2

I just loved that every time Pen turned around, there was someone for her to look at and ground herself. Because what she did, being vulnerable and exposing that part of herself she has kept hidden for a very long time, couldn't have been easy.

(We will get to Colin after the next post if you're wondering where he is in all of this).

I understand that some people were disappointed in how the LW reveal/fallout was portrayed but just for a while, let me help you appreciate that in Pen's most vulnerable moment, these women had equal parts surprise and awe on their faces as they watch their sister/daughter/best friend own up to her mistakes and face the Queen herself. And while we didn't get much out of them in the aftermath in terms of communication, it was still wonderful to know that in the end, all these women become/is important for Pen to fully embrace who she is.

I'm hoping to put all of these out every 1-2 days so I can finally move on to writing other things.

Next up: Part 5.2 The Queen and the bugs

[stell404]

𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗝𝗘𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗦

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗨𝗘

🎧

Family jewels masterlist | back to navigation Parings: Sully family x reader, jake sully x daughter!reader Word count: 803 Notes: I hope you guys like this!! I hope this isn't too little for a prologue also sorry if it's bad, english is not my first language 😭😭 Btw the big spaces between some paragraphs indicate a scene change/time skip!! Also, this fic is inspired by @neteyamsilly's fic 'i will soften every edge, hold the world to its best' it's an amazing story so if you haven't read it yet (i'm sure everyone has seen that...if you haven't then what are you doing with your life), not the whole thing, just some parts!! Anyway I hope you all like this (lowkey scared to post this) 🫶🏼🫶🏼

🎧

For the sky-people—and I guess for some Na'vi too—having a daughter is considered 'sad'. It is as if bringing life to a female is something to mourn rather than it being something to celebrate. Why? Perhaps they think that women are useless, just an object of reproduction, a maid, someone who is 'not fit' to lead. What a poor excuse.

This caused troubles to the life of young girls, obviously. Hence, the old sky-people theory.

There is an old theory that first-born daughters were genetically predispositioned to look, act, and think more like their father, this theory was made so that the fathers would love their daughter instead of neglecting them simply because they are female.

Jake's first-born daughter, [Name], is a perfect replica of him. You'd assume Lo'ak was his carbon copy and yeah, indeed he is, not only do they look identical but even his and Lo'ak's life were parallel to each other.

But [Name]'s thoughts, speech, gait, and other traits are very similar to those of Jake when he was a mere teenager like her. The traits that led Jake into trouble as a child—his stubbornness, lust for adventure, pride, and bravery—were also the ones that caused him to become paralyzed from the waist down.

He feared his daughter would go down the same path he did, he could not bear to watch it. He was completely overcome by terror, slowly turning to anger the second the sky-people decided to step foot in Pandora once again.

They no longer had the wonderful father-daughter connection they had when [Name] was a young child; instead, they had become like bulls that constantly butted heads whenever they had the opportunity.

[Name] didn't get why this was happening. It had been like this since they had to move to High camp; perhaps it's because of the stress, there had been this tension amongst her family, like a thick atmosphere keeping them all away from each other.

Considering what [Name] and her siblings are doing, she and her father would definitely get into yet another dispute.

It was way past the eclipse but [Name] and her siblings are still out in the forest. Crackling sounds emitted from the small bonfire they all surrounded. The leaves from trees around them rustled at the wind's subtle blow

Normally, at this time they would be home eating dinner. But tonight it's different, Neteyam agreed to his siblings dumb plan to sneak out, who would've thought?

"You know dad will skin us when we come back," Neteyam said playfully to his siblings.

"No he won't, loser!" Tuk exclaimed, causing gasps and laughter to burst from the siblings.

"Tuk who taught you that!?" Kiri laughed in shock.

"[Name] did," she said, pointing at [Name]. Her big sister simply mouthed a small "fuck you" to her causing her to giggle at her sisters childish manners.

Their night continued on with chatters and laughter. As things started to calm down, and the topic of their conversation got less and less childish, [Name] decided to share her plan to her siblings.

"You know, I've been thinking, I'll tell dad I'm gonna do my Iknimaya soon," [Name] said in a whisper, a small smile of desire decorated her face.

Lo'ak snorted, "He'll say no."

"Lo'ak," Neteyam warned his brother.

"Well I'm not asking him, I'm telling him." [Name] shot back, rolling her eyes.

"He still won't allow you." Lo'ak said in a sing-song voice, as if to tease her. This earned him a playful smack in the head by his sister. Laughter can be heard from afar as Lo'ak and [Name] continued their playful squabbling.

It was almost morning when they all decided to return back to High camp. They quietly snuck in their tent, hoping their parents are still sleeping.

As they were getting closer their mother—Neytiri—opened the tent flaps hastily, the siblings stood in shock as their mother ran to hug them.

"Where were you guys? You got me and your father so worried, are you guys okay? Are any of you hurt?" she asked, stumbling over her words.

"We are fine, Mother." Neteyam spoke, placing a hand on Neytiri's shoulder.

Jake walked up from behind them, clearing his throat to get the attention. The siblings tensed up as they saw him.

"Kiri, Tuk, get some sleep." he said, hugging his daughters. [Name] was jealous, she was his daughter too, why doesn't she get that treatment? Neytiri took her two daughters back to the tent, leaving Jake with her three other kids

Jake stared at his three kids with an angry and disappointed look on his face.  [Name] and her brothers stood straight with their hands behind their backs.

"Sir—" Neteyam started but was quickly cut off by Jake.

"[Name], Netyam, Lo'ak, come with me. We need to talk."

[linkspooky]

Spooky, I'm so tired of seeing people say that "Megumi has no development/is badly written/sucks", especially on reddit, and now I almost started to cry because you started your last answer-meta about Megumi with "Megumi's actually the most complicated and well-written character in the manga", and let me tell you that's a lot coming from someone who writes such great metas!

Then I continue reading and you describe him in the same way that I perceive him but it's also like I'm seeing Megumi for the first time? it's difficult to express this but it always happens to me ... Megumi is so complicated that every time I read an analysis/meta about him this happens and I love it.

Sorry, I'm terrible at expressing myself and everything I wrote might be confusing but I needed to tell you, and also, Thank you for writing and sharing your metas! 🖤

Thank you for sending the ask, anon! I'm just happy you're a fan of Megumi and enjoy his character as much as I do. My friend @theanimepsychologist did a much better post than I did, explaining why exactly the complexity of Megumi's character is hard to miss. I wish I could just copy paste that whole post here and steal it, but I have some brief thoughts on why Megumi is oftentimes overlooked and it has to do with the fact that his development throughout the entire manga is hidden in the shadows.

I say Megumi's development is hidden in shadows, because in typical shonen manga tradition his character development goes hand in hand with him learning to use the Ten Shadows ability. It's outlined for him twice by both Gojo and Sukuna that Megumi should really be a lot more powerful than he is right now.

Megumi is your typical genius kid who everything comes so naturally to him he never learns to study, and therefore when moving up from high school to college begins to fall apart because he didn't learn the skills that would lead to his further development.

If you look at Megumi's situation, he should really be more powerful than he is. Megumi has the ten shadows, which is the strongest technique in the Zen'in, and apparently even capable of defeating a limitless user with the six eyes. Not only that, but he was handpicked and tutored by Gojo Satoru since he was a child, and he's clearly the student that Gojo takes the most interest in teaching.

Gojo and Yuta who have similiar natural talent are already at the level of special class at Megumi's age, and Yuta himself has only been a sorcerer for a year, but Megumi lingers at grade two. Gojo and Megumi himself are frustrated by his own lack of progression and neither of them can understand why.

In typical Gojo fashion, Gojo who only understands the world through the lens of sorcery, just suggests that Megumi get stronger at developing his ten shadows technique and everything else will work out. However, the reason Megumi can't advance isn't because he's not strong enough or not working hard enough, but because he's emotionally weak.

He falls apart mentally rather than physically, and we learn the reason why in his flashbacks to Tsumiki.

Megumi has no emotional reason to want to be a sorcerer, he doesn't even feel an obligation to save people does the way Yuji does, he was just groomed into it by Gojo. However, the loss of Tsumiki at middle school age makes Megumi falter, because the one reason he had for going forward is that he could possibly make Tsumiki safe because doing his job as a sorcerer gave them money to live... but then Tsumiki is out of the picture and Megumi is trapped in a life he doesn't want for no reason.

The difference between Megumi and Gojo that Gojo fails to notice, is that Gojo has an incredibly strong sense of self, and Megumi has no sense of self (which further inhabits his development). He's never once doing things for himself, despite calling himself selfish and espousing a much more selfish philosophy that Yuji does, his goals all focus around providing some kind of service or protection to others.

This is where Megumi's development starts becoming difficult to keep track of, because Megumi is a character who both changes a lot throughout the manga, and doesn't actually change at all. Which is a statement that makes no sense but let me explain: Megumi develops his ten shadows technique and on the outside is developing into a stronger sorcerer, but he never does the internal work and self reflection required to become emotionally strong.

Once again, Gojo in his great genius can only offer this advice to Megumi: Become strong, become a better sorcerer. This is because Gojo misses out that emotional issues are what is holding Megumi back. Megumi's first two major fights in the manga are losses, he's not strong enough to kill the curse on his own in the first chapter so Yuji eats the finger to help, he's not strong enough to stop Sukuna's rampage in Yuji's body, so Yuji dies in front of him.

It's two situations where Megumi reflects, "If I was strong enough, I would have been able to do X, Y, and Z, therefore it's my fault that this bad thing happened."

So we see Megumi throughout the arcs, continually developing his ten shadows technique to be stronger, while at the same time avoiding personal development. The biggest moment of this is origin of obedience, where he unlocks his partial domain expansion and then a few chapters later just avoids an emotionally difficult conversation with Yuji because he's scared to talk with him.

Megumi's desire is to feel free and grow into a better version of himself, but he stops at every opportunity to develop emotionally because that's harder. Gojo suggests that Megumi just pursue strength, so Megumi just starts finding himself in violence. Which is why the progression we do see in his character is him getting stronger and better at using his technique, coupled with him being more openly violent and more like his father the shadow of violence who is always chasing after him. This is what turns Megumi into Mr. "I'll totally kill people in the Culling Games if I need to."

Would Megumi at the beginning of the manga been okay with slaughtering normal people to get points in a game, maybe yes maybe no but he does advocate for just leaving a prisoner to die to curses because they committed a crime once. If anything his development post shibuya is just exaggerating a side to him that was already there. Megumi in times of crisis falls back on violence for survival because that's what Gojo taught him.

Megumi grows more confident with his abilities, he uses them in more creative ways, he even starts demonstrating himself as a leader among the group basically coming up with the strategy for the culling games. He's also more emotionally open with Yuji than he was in the past. There's definite emotional progression.

Beginning of the manga Megumi is lacking in confidence -> Yuji dies in front of him, he realizes his need to get stronger and starts applying himself -> In the Kyoto battle arc despite training with the second years he still falls short in the battle against Hanami -> Gojo reveals to megumi part of the reason he has a mental block against getting stronger is because he's downplaying himself for the sake of others, and afterwards Megumi starts imagining a better version of himself for the first time -> Megumi shows his strength at cooperating in Shibuya, fighting with Yuji, and then later Maki and the rest against Dagon -> Megumi is the one who convinces Yuji to keep fighting showing his emotional development and comes up with the strength for the culling games -> Megumi uses his domain expansion again but much more confidently than he did in origin of obedience.

There's clear progression here on Megumi's part that I can even give a general summary and map out, but at the same time the fundamental problem has not been solved, that Megumi doesn't have a thoroughly developed sense of self and self destructs. Gojo even says as much that part of the reason he's so limited in using his abilities is because he thinks he has Mahoraga to fall back on.

He tries to use Mahoraga in the fight against Sukuna, tries to use it against Todo of all people, tries to use it against the special grade spirit in origin of obedience and this time stops himself (making progress) only to once again default to using Mahoraga in Shibuya when he's cornered. Megumi doesn't try to personally develop himself because he considers his own life worthless and that behavior never stops. It keeps persisting until we get all the way to Sukuna taking over his body, which happened because Megumi ignored every warning from Yuji that Sukuna was planning for something. Because in that case he just assumed Sukuna would kill him and Megumi doesn't care about that because he doesn't value his own life.

Which is where we get the great paradox that is Megumi, he's the most developed character in the manga with a great deal of the manga focused on both his slow progression as a character, but also revealing more parts of his personality that the audience would not notice at first. People who saw Megumi advocate for leaving prisoners behind to die in the first arc of the manga, probably wouldn't assume he'd go so far as killing people in the culling games to get point, because it's quicker that way and he can justify killing bad people, but that's the natural extreme of that behavior to begin with.

We see more and more of Megumi's repressed anger, and his abandonment issues with his sister and his parents, so his character is moving, but we also don't see a lot of progression on those issues because Megumi's not focusing on trying to be a better person just being a better sorcerer.

In typical shonen manga fashion, the focus is put on Megumi getting stronger and learning to develop his technique ore. In atypical shonen manga fashion, Megumi is actually punished by the narrative for only caring about getting stronger. Sukuna's possession of him, and his loss of Tsumiki are both things caused by Megumi being ignorant until the last moment and keeping himself hidden in the shadows too, if he'd valued himself more he'd have steered clear of Sukuna and Yuji because of the danger, if he'd paid more attention to his sister he'd notice Yorozu in his body.

Which is what makes Megumi so unique, but also a little hard to understand because he is in so many ways a typical shonen jump character, and in other ways he's nothing like them because he's just Megumi.

[thwardengates]

Sonic the Hedgehog

Just a lil characterization thing for Sonic in PICAU ^^ same rules apply as my chaos energy drabble post Not an obligatory read but if you feel like reading an essay go ahead I will not stop u!! it wld be very appreciated actually :]

First things first, Sonic is nonverbal in this AU. He did speak, and he might speak again as the story progresses, but for the time being he's gonna be entirely nv. The main reason for this is cause 1. Classic Sonic doesn't speak and I think it's cute, 2. He had to quiet down eventually, & 3. I said so

Second, there will be a LOT of focus on my au's divergence from the canon Forces plotline. Mostly focusing on the whole "6 months of torture" thing but made like, way worse because fuck those little anthro animals with supersonic speed & mountain shattering strength. just screw those little guys. ykwim.

Sonic doesn't give up, not even when he's faced with certain doom. We've seen that. that's how he is in Frontiers, and has been his whole life. So he stays that way. Sonic's capture wasn't pretty. It was fairly gross and bloody, and he looked like a corpse when he finally passed out. His legs were essentially mutilated from the attacks he sustained, and it definitely seemed like he broke a few bones other than his ribs. In an uprising war, it isn't going to be a nice gentle process, and when he's pitted up against phantom copies of Shadow, Metal Sonic, Chaos, Zavok, and then Infinite, he's bound to get beat up. A lot. He does get stronger every passing day (according to him, officially!) but it doesn't make it easier to handle four of your most difficult battles and then a new enemy on top of that. So yeah, he was pretty bruised and battered when he was taken captive on the Death Egg. So much so his legs weren't salvageable after the ordeal, and ended up amputated. (Because who'd think pushing past your limits could have repercussions?)

He's a little more serious than he has been in a few games. Again, more similar to Frontiers. He still makes jokes, but the psychological affects of six months of isolation with only enemies to accompany you & suddenly being unable to do the one thing you do best? It would take a toll. He stopped his snarky comments about halfway through his imprisonment simply because it wasn't worth the little energy he had. Most of it was pushed into conserving his energy, rather than making a snide remark at (fake copies of) your enemies.

He generates his own chaos energy! How? Fake Chaos Emeralds, of course!! Thrilling. Love to see immoral experimentation. Basically, the simple concept is: Eggman wanted to use fake Chaos Emeralds to act as the power/generator for things. It would keep regenerating, was incredibly powerful, and in the event the Phantom Ruby falls short on power, there was still highly destructive amounts of power available to him. But he needed a way to purify/funnel that energy into a more concentrated source, so he ended up using Sonic as a way to filter the energy into a usable form. Some of it is residual, but he also did end up with incredibly tiny, fragmented shards of fake Chaos Emeralds stuck in his body, which end up building up enough and reacting with each other enough to keep building up more energy inside of him, even without the help of an external source of chaos energy. Which essentially leads to constant overexposure. The main reason he doesn't end up vanishing from reality as we know it is because Eggman built up neutralizers that will keep the energy in check when it's not in use, because he can't have Sonic dying on him before the Eggman Empire is completed. His goal is still to kill Sonic in the end if it proves appropriate, or continue using him as a living battery, really.

Unfortunately it still follows a somewhat canon-compliant storyline, Sonic is rescued by the Resistance (+ Shadow and Tails, but that'll be explained in a later post really. All you need to know is I'm giving them a little more spotlight than just "did you know these are fake copies" and "I gave reason for classic Sonic being here so people cld still play as Sonic!") which also means he's away from those neutralizers. So for a good few days/weeks he's left overloading on energy n suffering while Tails tinkers away at his prosthetics. The whole "I'll destroy the world in 3 days" thing isn't going on here simply bc there isn't much that can stop Eggman n Infinite from destroying anything, bc Sonic is supposedly unable to survive for much longer than a day or two without neutralizers. It's more a backup plan if anything. Tails ends up making Sonic's prosthetics, which act as a natural outlet and neutralizer for Sonic's chaos energy. They basically funnel it out of his body and into the prosthetics, which automatically tune themselves to his needs, as well as dealing with his overload issue. Sonic ends up bunkering down with Shadow and Tails, though. He learns a lot about what happened in his absence through them. He also learns about their newfound friendship/bond, and even if he has his grudges about Shadow from the whole phantom-double nearly killing him thing, he's still able to forgive him, especially considering he kept his little brother alive and mostly unscathed the whole time, despite it being a literal warzone outside.

It does take him awhile to get back on 'talking' terms where he's more responsive and socialized again, and he's mostly miffed about the fact he wasn't able to help the Resistance sooner, due to Tails n Shadow forcing him to spend some time to recover and let himself get adjusted to his new set of legs. He's still stand-offish and sorta rockin' that thousand-yard stare when he scrapes his shit together enough that it's acceptable for him to join the fight again. He works alongside Shadow more than the Resistance though, simply because I can't imagine their little rivalry not having some teases about "I spent 6 months locked in a little space cage, and I'm still faster than you!" n also Shadow being mildly peeved at the idea of Sonic going from being weaponized/turned into a living battery to immediately wanting to join the fight again. I figure they'd also be able to connect a little bit cause they've got some similarities that aren't just... Fast hedgehogs. Now they've both been weaponized against their will bc I thought it'd be funny

Once Eggman realizes Sonic is in fact well alive and kickin', and with even more of a grudge and fire to fight than before, that's when the whole 'sun comes careening down to kiss us all a fiery last kiss goodbye' plan comes into action. He's able to get it goin' a little quicker simply because some time does elapse, but not soon enough that the Resistance n Team Dark aren't able to band together to kick ass. also omega gets repaired in this time ig. details details I'm not gettin' into them

Gadget is still very much here btw but this is mostly a focus on the non-resistance team (basically team sonadow dads + their strange fox son) and Sonic's experiences. forces does conclude blah blah I'm not doing all this rn more will get added later I'm tired

[somethingtofightfor-shares]

Tag list status:

I really didn't want to do this, because I know people like getting alerts for new chapters, but I think I'm going to have to discontinue using a tag list moving forward.

I have been inserting tag lists into my chapter reblogs in a specific way for a long time, and the last few chapters I've attempted to use the same method ... it hasn't worked.

I'll go in and copy/paste the lists the same way I usually do, and then click through them to turn them into links ... and then it won't let me save the post as a draft or post it outright. I keep getting an error when I try to do so.

If I strictly copy and paste the usernames that have asked to be tagged and do nothing - just copy, paste and post/save as a draft, that works - but the result is only a partial tag list of users whose names are actual links / who actually get the notifications, which feels pointless. (check out the recent reblog of Liminality 2 to see what I mean)

I don't know if it's because I'm trying to tag too many people (there's a 50 person limit on mobile, but the desktop app doesn't seem to have the same limit)

I already have a writing updates blog - @somethingtofightfor-shares - and if you follow that and turn on alerts, you'll get updates when I post new chapters. I ONLY post things relevant to writing on here, so you won't be bombarded with notifications if that's the route you choose to go.

I'm aware that this will probably tank my engagement, but for my own sanity, I don't think I can continue to try and make these tag lists work as they should with every chapter reblog I try to do ... and spend 10-15 minutes going through and making links only to lose all the progress because it won't let me save or post.

If anyone has a solution, please feel free to let me know.

[the-haunted-office]

Hey guys! Quick update to my rules on Hardblocking. Nobody here has done anything, but I did update things here a little bit and wanted to make sure everybody was aware. I'm going to copy and paste the whole section for you to read, and everything will also be reflected in my rules as well, which is linked in my pinned post. Please keep in mind that there is a handy dandy TLDR in my rules and the reason my rules document is as long as it is, is to provide as many details as possible for folks like me, who like to have details to refer to in case there are questions! But the TLDR is also there for folks who just want the quick, general rundown because I know most folks don't want to read through the whole thing and that's fair. :p

The part I've added is in bold.

Anyway, here's the whole, updated section on Hardblocking. Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any questions. Thank you!

⭐ Hardblocking

I don't hardblock people easily, except in cases of racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, pedophilia, etc. If I have an issue, I will come talk to you about it first and give warnings prior to blocking. I much prefer to talk about things and try to work things out before blocking.

If I have made every effort to comfortably communicate an issue with you or reach out to you in one way or another and I have not received any form of communication back, then I will hardblock. This doesn’t mean I will hardblock you if you’ve gone on hiatus or if an emergency has come up and you are unexpectedly gone for a long period of time - I’m talking about if you are still clearly actively roleplaying on the dash and I’ve tried reaching you for weeks and you are not responding to me. I think we can all agree there comes a point where it becomes obvious that you are being actively and purposely ignored and there’s no other way of explaining it.

If I have warned you many, many times about the same issue over and over again, then I will likely hardblock. I understand that having multiple writing partners who all have different rules means sometimes you will forget things. We’re all human, and I’m not perfect either. This is why communicating is so important. But if it’s something that becomes a significant issue, then I’m sorry, I may have no choice but to hardblock.

If there are repeated instances of you breaking very obvious and universal roleplay rules such as godmodding and metagaming, then I will hardblock you. This should speak for itself. I will let things go on occasion because we all make mistakes and I will communicate with you when things happen. But if you continue to metagame and godmod and manipulate your muse or mine in ways that break universal roleplay etiquette, I will block you.

If I find you’ve blocked me first, then I will also block you so your blog doesn’t keep coming up as a suggested blog.

I ask that if you truly don’t want to rp or talk ooc with me anymore, please hard block me instead of soft blocking. Tumblr has a glitch that randomly makes you unfollow people sometimes, so if you soft block me I’ll assume it was the glitch and follow you again. Hard blocking will communicate to me that you don’t wish to interact any further with me at all and I’ll get the message.

However, if you can’t be bothered to hard block me, and I’ve followed you but you never follow me back and outright ignore any attempts I have at initiating interactions with you, I will hard block you. If you have no interest in interacting with me and can’t be bothered to block me to send the message to me that you aren’t interested, then I will block you so I won’t come back later and try to initiate contact again. I can’t remember everybody’s usernames and it’s embarrassing for me to try to reach out to someone again after I’ve been repeatedly ignored in the past.

[drbatsponge]

Batgirl #62 review...

Disclaimer: this is another review I did on dead app (Amino) for Batgirl #62, copying and pasting it here to test the waters to see if my reviews do well here I guess.

...

Unfortunately some images I probably can't attach to the review here but I'll link the Amino version of the post at the end.

Hey hey! So continuing my Cass Cain birthday-athon or whatever I'm doing another comic review for you all!

I'll also see if I can get to my third blog today, if not we'll continue the celebration into tomorrow, lol.

Anyway, why don't we get right into this review?

Batgirl #62 starts off with Cass in a rather perilous situation as she's drowning, however she's also hallucinating during her near death experience, seeing the ghost of none other than Stephanie Brown.

How did Cass get into this situation? Well prior she had been beaten pretty badly by the Brotherhood of Evil of all villains.

It's not known whether the ghost is actually the spirit of Steph or not, but I choose to think it's just Cassandra's mind playing tricks on her because Stephanie basically relays Cassandra's entire life story to her.

So basically it could just be Cassandra's way of reminding herself what she's fighting for.

Part of the reason I chose this comic to review is because it does a great job of retreading Cassandra's origin.

Also the retread has significance to the story beyond being just a refresh, because this is basically Cassandra's life flashing before her eyes, yet also telling her to keep going.

I also love how the apparition of Steph reminds Cass of what she is despite all she's been through, a hero.

A thing I want to note is that at the time not many Batman related comics were exploring the impact of Stephanie's death after War Games and this was one of the few.

Like hell not even Tim Drake reacted this badly to the fact Steph was dead, it was really curious how Cass was the one who was the most impacted whether it be because of editorial or something else.

But yeah that's another reason I ship these two so much, like Cass was straight up devastated when Steph died.

Cass is told to keep fighting by the apparition of Steph, making her way out of the water.

This leads us to a bit of a funny scene with Brenda Miller where Cass eats a hot meal.

I just love her reaction to the food in this one panel, lmao.

Cass is then seen in her batcave or a batcave researching on how to defeat the Brotherhood of Evil, a goal she actually accomplishes.

It's actually really cool how she's able to defeat them all, a thing about Cass that I love is that she can handle metahuman types despite her being just an exceptionally skilled human.

Also some of my favorite Cass panels appear in this entire sequence, Ale Garza who is the artist for this issue is just amazing. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Cass artists.

But yeah this entire issue is just really great.

It's one of my favorite Cass stories and one that I reread every now and then because I adore it that much.

So obviously I'm gonna give it a 10/10 if I had to score it.

I don't really think my scores matter I just like talking about the comic more than giving it a rating, but yeah lmao.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed my review for Batgirl #62!

As always stay tuned!

Same bat-time, same bat-channel!

Amino version of this review can be found here:

[safestsephiroth]

completely unbiased objective factual review of every MSQ in FFXIV as of the release of base dawntrail (pre-7.1) (Part 2: SB and SHB)

A repeat of the intro from last post, which can be found here: https://safestsephiroth.tumblr.com/post/762492923054047232/completely-unbiased-objective-factual-review-of

Just to clarify, I know some people are bad at reading tone through text. This is, of course, the objective truth because it's my opinion and my opinion has never been wrong ever, and I take this as deathly serious as a hostage negotiation, a military standoff, or an argument about vtubers.

[And if you don't already know this is written tongue-in-cheek with that, then you might not enjoy what's to come. Especially if you cannot stomach negativity. If you keep reading from here that's on you tbh.]

[This series of posts will not be tagged with anything relating to the game because I have learned over the years not to tag things when you're being a hater. If you hate this, it's not likely to come up again on here so just ignore this post dude it ain't hard. Press the J key. Or read and laugh. I'm writing this for me, your enjoyment is not a concern, audience!]

-

STORMBLOOD

Here's the point that everyone who started playing this game in either Heavensward or Shadowbringers finds out they're WRONG AS FUCK and always have been: Stormblood is good. Stormblood MSQ is GOOD. Characters that are at worst mid and by and large pretty great; regions that are (sometimes) visually interesting for the first time since A Realm Reborn; some of the coolest parts of the lore added in the game to this day; some of the most interesting political questions and situations.

Heavensward and Stormblood both ask the question: what does it take to have a political upheaval in a society? Can you restructure a society that might be too far gone?

Stormblood asks this question about countries who, within living memory, used to be free of the worst dictatorship in the setting (Allag is gone and Garlemald are fanboys of it so it has the tiniest bit of bonus points in the same way modern Rome fanboys are even worse than ancient Rome was because they're not even good at understanding the upsides of that ancient awfulness and think the worst parts are the best) and go figure that leads to a far more interesting exploration of the societies at play.

As someone who used to be a big fan of Ala Mhigo and how it was a really neat way to incorporate concepts and ideas from Ivalice without actually just copy-pasting Ivalice wholesale into the game (hm!) I was largely disappointed with its treatment in this game, but you know. It's there! It's better than More Goddamned Ishgard! I do think it's keenly disappointing that by and large the ala mhigo zones are just Pollution And Ruins but whatever.

Incidentally, did you like the part of Stormblood where the Emperor of Garlemald looks directly into the camera and says "JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, WE'RE THE BAD GUYS. THE ONE PURE RACE IS THE ONLY WAY FOR THE WORLD TO CONTINUE. DO YOU RECOGNIZE NOW THAT WE'RE AN ANALOGUE FOR TOTALITARIAN NIGHTMARE SOCIETIES? DO YOU GET THAT WE'RE RUSSIAN NAZIS? DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND YET? WE'RE THE BAD GUYS. GARLEMALD IS BAD. IF GARLEMALD WINS, THAT'S BAD. GARLEAN RULE IS A BAD THING. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT GARLEMALD. IS NOT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD WIN. 'ARE EORZEA THE BAD GUYS' NO. JUST MAKING SURE YOU UNDERSTAND, CRYSTAL CLEAR, THAT THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON."

Anyway by and large Stormblood has exactly as much subtlety as it needs and I appreciate the subtlety that is there. I appreciate that they decided to try to wean themselves off of killing women for no reason by killing a woman for some reason. Good work. Baby steps, FFXIV. Baby steps.

Anyway, remember that time Zenos attacked Rhalgr's Reach and we had no hope of winning and we fought him anyway because instead of watching him massacre people we decided to try to intervene because we're heroic and heroes take fights because they're the right thing to do, even if they lose? Don't worry, I'm sure that won't come up in a future segment of these reviews.

OVERALL, I think, Stormblood does a great job conveying its overall themes and playing to them - revolution does not come from an individual but only when everyone works together, even enemies that feel insurmountable are not invincible, even in fantasy setting equivalents Japan fucking hates foreigners and has a corrupt government, isolationism and neutrality are the same as collaboration with the winner of a conflict and "neutrality" is in essence a lie and an appeaser continues to be a man who feeds his fellows to an alligator hoping to be eaten last.

So anyway.

Stormblood is also the point where class gameplay hit its peak (DARK KNIGHT! ASTRO! MY BELOVED! COME BACK! PLEASE! COME BACK TO ME! I NEVER SPOKE LOUD ENOUGH ON YOUR BEHALF BEFORE! Give me back everything class gameplay was in stormblood my GOD) and also where encounter design really just completely fell to shit. It also might be one of only two points in the entire game where the mandated formula does not excessively hinder the MSQ.

Spoiler alert, the other time is probably the best expansion overall to date.

However, Stormblood is not perfect - it introduced the Ivalice raids whose impact on the setting and how much I FUCKING HATE it cannot be overstated. It also introduced the laziest raid series to date (Fuck it just throw in cameo characters with no real context beyond "a robot did it" and have cid and nero be gay at each other and call it good. It feels completely pointless to have a sidequest that TOTALLY is saving the world bro we swear it's just that it has zero impact on anything visibly. There's no giant robot you're stopping from climbing out of a lake, no giant shards of evil dragon prison or any real sense that you MUST give a shit about Omega to be honest with you. Anything good about this raid series is a retcon. Fight me.)

It's also where gameplay really hit the toilet with the worst dungeon design at the time, Omega ending the concept of Raids being anything more than glorified Trials, and the addition of jump potions meaning you get the dumbest motherfuckers in the world coming in complaining the game they don't want to play is too hard (as if there's any amount of ease you can bring to the game that will make those people happy. As if their opinion is worth more than a handful of sand applied directly to your unprotected eye.)

I also think it's important to note Stormblood came out not super long after Final Fantasy 15, a game where you go on a road trip to save the world with four identical prettyboy JPOP bandmates where it was made explicitly clear to us you couldn't possibly do that story with, GOD FORBID, the presence of a woman in the party, and then Stormblood is Alisaie and Lyse going on a road trip to save the world and it's glorious.

Also if your complaint about Stormblood is that you hate Lyse, but you DON'T recognize that everything bad about her is just describing Aymeric's character too and crow about how great you think Heavensward is all I can conclude is you prefer white bread yaoi elves to white bread jock women and I think that says a lot about you frankly.

Stormblood is a 7/10 MSQ and 6/10 on the gameplay front, carried entirely by the class gameplay despite dreadful encounter design. A lot of people say it was bad because after 5 years of playing the same video game it's kind of normal to get burnt out.

Wait, Stormblood had Eureka. Right.

4/10 on the gameplay front.

Shadowbringers:

Statistically speaking, odds are very high if you're playing FFXIV right now in the year of our lord 2024, your first expansion was Shadowbringers. Shadowbringers in many ways is extremely good. It's got phenomenal worldbuilding, excellent character writing, a marvelous plot, and is gorgeous. The concept of LITERALLY bringing back the night is baller as fuck and you're a fool if you disagree. You better believe I'm disappointed in how few Light Up The Night AMV-equivalents there are for Shadowbringers. (What do you call an AMV made with FFXIV cutscenes?)

It's also the first time we're REALLY the main character of the plot instead of someone who accompanies the main character of the plot. Don't worry, this won't come up again later, probably.

Shadowbringers story-wise is near flawless. Maybe if I really dig I can find nitpicks, but it's extremely tightly-written. The antagonists by and large avoid the trap of being one-note and all tie extremely well into the overarching themes: what do you do in the face of inevitability? Is it ever worth giving up? Is anyone truly strong enough to weather absolute despair? Is it possible to overcome impossibility completely alone? Does imperfection still have value? Is someone a furry if they have cat ears and want to fuck someone with a lion face?

Shadowbringers DOES begin one of the most annoying trends in the entire fanbase (X is shard of Y character!!!!!) but I forgive it for that because it's not like it demanded the fanbase do this they're just Like That.

Shadowbringers as an expansion has many flaws its MSQ doesn't have, though. For my money, the absolute worst part of anything gameplay-wise in the entire game is the final "pull" of Holminster Switch, and if anything ever is worse than that then this video game needs to be euthanized for the good of society. (Fortunately it's looking like that won't happen.) However, Shadowbringers has the worst 24-man and the worst trial series (probably; I didn't bother to do Endwalker's so idk). Sorry not sorry I don't care about Plot Device Van Baelsar's man-pain.

Eden gets a pass because it's gay, but its encounter design is a fucking embarrassment overall and I know most people didn't comment on that because they're so happy that square was able to tell the story of FF8 in a way that didn't suck ass like FF8 did while also correctly identifying it's made better by Ryne and Gaia being turbo gay together. And that's valid, but also, FUCK dude that gameplay sucked.

Hey remember how jobs used to have resources and depth? Shadowbringers was the death of that. Dropping TP was a disastrous decision. Destroying what little unique traits the healers had in Stormblood so that every one could be IDENTICAL henceforth (don't argue, it makes you look stupid to try to go into the minutiae of how ackshually AST and WHM have SO MANY DIFFERENCES!!! for instance, one has STAR particle effects when they heal and the other has GLOWY WATERY LIGHT particle effects) and AST cards could be COMPLETELY meaningless, DRK could have all gameplay depth removed, and zero jobs could have depth added. Dancer in Shadowbringers was pathetic, Gunbreaker was simpler than the simplest tank job in Stormblood but now the most complex tank job because they nerfed the complexity of EVERYTHING so fucking hard, and that is an unforgivable change. Shadowbringers was the point I completely switched over to "This game's story is good enough to justify suffering through the painfully mediocre/bad gameplay. Mostly."

Also I didn't bring it up earlier, but Shadowbringers has a fucking excellent soundtrack that's the pinnacle of FFXIV to date.

Story wise Shadowbringers is an 8.5/10 and gameplay-wise it is definitely a 4/10 but I need you to understand that the fact it's the source of everything that came after means it DESERVES to be the worst of them all in a sense.

[fleetsparrow]

There's something I don't like about this survey question, and I've finally figured out what it is.

The question says:

"Where are you currently in your writing career?"

With the following answers, of which you can only choose one:

Writing for fun—not interested in publishing

Intend to get published, but haven't yet

Published one or more short stories only

Traditionally published one or more books

Self-published one or more books

Mixed traditionally/self-published

All of these are perfectly valid areas to be at. That's not the problem.

I dislike how these options are being framed as part of a single "career path" that moves in only one direction: the ultimate goal being traditionally published books.

Easily, you could argue this is the most well-known path of a "writing career" (very old-school, "write every day" type mentality path). But it's not the only one.

Just to use myself as a personal example, I don't know how to accurately answer this question.

My facts:

I have not been published by a big press

I self-publish my own fanfic and original fic

I have had a story published in a kickstarted anthology press which created hard copies of the anthology

I have never completed a novel or novella

I have wanted in the past to have a traditional publishing path

I have written commissions for actual monies

I am currently writing for fun with no desire to traditionally publish at this time, even though this may change at some future point

The most accurate as in "up to the minute" answer is the first, that I am writing for fun.

But the way this question is worded suggests that I'm "just starting out". That I'm "new" to writing. I can almost guarantee the next suggested solutions will be "Writing 101" type lessons.

I also take offense at this answer option, "Published one or more short stories only", specifically because of their use of "only".

I see this a lot in writing spaces (the strongest of which is/was NaNo spaces).

The implication of the "only" is that short stories are not "real" stories. They're seen as "practice" for the "real" work of writing novels. They're seen as stepping stones on the path to becoming a Real Writer who writes Novels

Sure, you can dabble in short stories, as a treat. Maybe you can even create a collection of them once you're established. But when's your novel coming out? You know, when's your real writing coming out?

It's obviously not like there isn't a lot of crossover between short story writers and novelists. Most writers do both at times, to varying degrees.

But they're not the same thing.

Short stories aren't "novel practice" pieces. Writing a short story is a skill on its own, just like writing a novel is its own skill.

Personal example again:

When I was in high school, I wanted to write novels. I had a couple going at a time, including a large high fantasy epic. It seemed very easy, then. I almost exclusively read novels. I had a very rigid daily routine via school. I had much fewer external stresses in my life at the time.

By the end of college, my brain didn't work like a novel anymore.

During and immediately after college, however, I came to fanfic. I found the StoryADay writing community. I discovered flash fiction and micro fiction.

One of my biggest struggles in school was the mandatory 5 page essay. I could always make my point in about 2. But now... You're telling me people can tell entire stories in 100 words or less??? Sign me up!

I've never written anything novel-length since. Even the longest fanfic I've ever posted is only a little over 23,000 words, and that took me ages to put together. (For the record, it's also more like a flash novel or a series of vignettes, in that very few chapters continue the same inner story.)

So, for all that, where does that leave me on the survey?

I will, for the sake of argument, discount my AO3 works from counting as "self-published". That still leaves me having "published a short story" in someone else's book AND "writing for fun" with no intent on... I guess monetary? publishing.

Which, really, tells them nothing about my "writing career".

[roobylavender]

oh brotherrrrrr nobody cares about reading all that i just wanted you to tag your hate and stop playing ship police. there’s no one “given” way to interpret batcat esp because comics are not the only medium for them unlike bt. people are likelier to see batcat as “endgame” (whatever that means) because some people ship them in the coming reevesverse or the nolanverse or they engage with other works where bruce doesn’t have 10 billion other love interests like the comics. there are just too many interpretations of batcat for you to pigeonhole their dynamics in any which way and they will continue to shift and change as decades pass. as for the wedding, many newcomers were disappointed about the way it was handled and that’s just natural considering the way it was set up. anybody else would be just as upset by such a thing occurring for their own ship. not that serious for you to be ranting about how batcat fans don’t understand their ship when most of them are just joking around about endgames and they do know the ship is never going to be together forever. even clois doesn’t have that guarantee in comics. hopefully you’ll stop writing 5 page essays on here and twitter now.

it's absurd to get so pissy over an ask the wording of which i had no control over 😭 and you're the one not censoring here so this will end up in the tag again (i tried to copy-paste this into my askbox and censor on my own but for some reason when i tried half of your ask got cut off because of a character limit. maybe it's a desktop thing). whenever i talk about bc otherwise (and there are plenty of times i do because i enjoy their relationship) i censor the ship precisely because i don't want to end up in the tags. this has been my consistent practice for everything since i moved here. the fact that one (1) post inadvertently ended up in the tag because an anon forgot to censor and it incited this relentless of an interrogation from you is ridiculous. it's not ship hate to analyze the reductive way in which people engage with dc love interests at large or the way that core tenets of female characters by their creators have been obscured over time due to the evolving priorities of writers or the restrictive nature of adaptations. would it be ship hate to discuss how levitz wrote a bc marriage in the 70s only to kill selina within the same comic so that her imaginary daughter figure could be propped up for the next decade at the expense of any development or further introspection for her? why is it ship hate when someone analyzes the misogynist reduction and obscurity enacted upon her in narrative due to her relationship with bruce but it's not ship hate when someone logically (and rightfully) does the same thing with talia?

i don't mind you being upset that my earlier ask ended up in the tag and i'm sure after this if anyone does send an ask they'll censor it. but from the way you addressed me thereafter it's clear you've been either following me or keeping tabs on me for a long time and frankly i'm confused as to why. this is the thing that baffles me about the people who repeatedly continue to harass me here. the nature of my analysis hasn't changed in well over a year. i nitpick about dc love interests' development and writing in comics a lot. whether that's with regards to talia, selina, kory, barbara, etc. this is because before anything else i'm invested in female characters and their development within a medium largely dominated by male creators. if that mode of analysis is something bothersome or even hateful to you you have every right to block me. it would afford you a lot more peace and i would encourage it

[quickdeaths]

Ooh it's ask Bryn questions day (on dash, at least)? Don't mind if I do! Questions 2, 9, 11 and 13, please! I'd copy/paste the full questions but the askbox is dumb and won't let me do that -and- say: Hello have you contemplated the Brainrot (TM) today?

Every day is ask Bryn questions on dash day if you want it to be hahaha. And yes, I have Contemplated it! I am always Contemplating it.

is it hard for you to write with characters you don’t know/don’t know well?

Yes, but what constitutes "don't know/well" isn't necessarily what one might think. If you're a canon blog from a series I know, with descriptions about canon divergence, headcanons, and how your portrayal is personalized to you? Perfect. Canon blog with a character I don't know, but there's tons of information on the blog? Great! OC with a robust about page? I offer you my heart, I love OCs. Even just talking to me a bunch in IMs/discord counts. When I'm writing a starter or replying to an ask or something, I don't want to get things wrong, and I also want to have an idea of what kind of relationship the characters might have, or how they might interact. When it comes to information, for me, there can't be too much.

What's hard for me is people who do canon characters with just a link to a fandom wiki like "this is my character," or people have canons I don't know without even that much, or people with OCs that don't have much information on their pages. I don't need to be personally familiar with a character before coming to someone's blog in order to write with them, but if I've combed through your blog and I still don't understand what your character is about or who they are? That's where it gets difficult and has me staring at empty posts trying to think of what to write.

when you look at a new blog, what is it that makes you press the follow button? is it the muse, the aesthetics, the writing–?

A nice aesthetic helps make a blog a bit more memorable for me, even if I am not an aesthetic person, and sometimes the character might catch my interest if I have a canon/canon interaction that I'd like to explore, or if it's a character from something I really like but rarely see on Tumblr, but overall? There are two big things. Firstly is the OOC vibes. Could I potentially talk to this person about ideas? Do I feel like we could get along? Do they seem mostly on the same page as I am in terms of what they're looking for? Does their schedule line up with mine (i.e. I am going to get replies back in usually 2-3 days, am I going to turn around and wait 2-3 months for every reply because they have 80 things in their 1/day queue?)

Secondly, and more importantly, is the writing. I'm a multi-para/novella writer who prefers longer threads with continuity between threads and a general story arc in which, over time, character relationships evolve and some kind of plot unfolds. That's what I primarily write and what I'm most interested in writing. It's hard for me to see myself fitting in with someone who mostly does really short content, or mostly memes/dashcomms, or whatever. I don't have anything against those writers, but it feels very incompatible with how I write.

describe your ideal outcome/endgame for the muse you are currently writing. if you are a multimuse blog: do this for your current favorite muse, or the muse of the last reply you posted.

Oh gosh, I wonder who this is for hahaha. As if you don't already have some idea =p. It's hard to say an endgame (aside from a certain ship which IS endgame) because I don't even think a character's story is finished, but that said, for Shinobu Yaguchi Brainrot Queen, there are some things that I would like for her.

In an ideal world for Shinobu maybe ten years on from her default placements, I'd like to see her having smoothed off some of her edges and mellowed a bit. They'll always be a bit of a sharp, prickly person, but they could stand to be more careful in how they deploy it, so as not to hurt people who don't deserve it. I'd also like to see her form relationships easier, of all kinds, without defaulting to cold indifference or callous cruelty. Maybe hypothetically have a wife I mean who knows

Be nicer to Anzu. Let go of her resentment towards her brother, whether that's reconciling with him or fully pushing his memory out of her head. Reevaluate her relationship to archery such that she can claim ownership of it as a thing she does for herself, not for her family. Recognize their worth as a human being outside of expectations they can fulfill, prizes they can win, things they can tangibly do for people. Broadly, I want Shinobu to stop restricting herself to a narrow slice of human experience that she believes herself suited to and open herself up to more things and also get a wife perhaps.

what themes/motifs do you hope other people notice most about your character?

It's less any one character, and more them in aggregate, but I find so narratively fruitful and fascinating the idea of masks, personas, public vs private selves, how people see themselves vs how they present themselves vs how other people see them, etc. etc. etc. It's a theme that I find very interesting and that I keep coming back to because it feels like it has so many different ways it can be taken or directions it can go.

Curating an online version of one's life that is perfect, and trying (failing) to live up to it offline? That's Percy. Believing one's true self to be lame and boring, and committing to playing a character to not disappoint fans? That's Hana. Not really having a grasp on what one's true self even really is, and chameleonically shifting to try and always be valued? That's Anzu. Being assigned a role and having expectations heaped upon it by people who actively want the fantasy over the real person? That's Shinobu. Using a combination of a branded persona, a unique speaking style, and an easygoing surface attitude to divorce from unpleasant realities? That's Tsubasa. Leaning on a persona for strength and confidence because even if you can't do it, your stagesona can? That's Izumi. Rio with the tension between a serious scientist and a lazy otaku, Maki lying about her talent and her home life, Jason a literal costumed superhero, Maxi who has reinvented himself as a cosmopolitan hipster, Yi-Chun a literal idol. It's not everyone, but it's a theme that so many of them reflect in their own unique ways.

Idk, maybe it's Not That Deep, but I think there are so many interesting character beats at the intersection of those questions. Identity is such a personal starting point with a character, and the tension (both internally and externally) that comes as a result of various identities brushing up against each other is something that I just find super interesting to explore and write about.

[maddsmallow]

just gonna copy what i commented: "acting like i'm calling you a monster for wanting to defend yourself is taking my words wildly out of proportion, and that's on you and your relationship with fandom as a hankcon shipper who engages with the hate from father-sonners. all i said is don't feed the trolls. you are the one who went from 0 to 100 because you're so used to being persecuted for your fav ship and couldn't see past the critical view of a post about hankcon despite being from a hankcon shipper."

you're so used to being called a monster because of a god damn fictional ship (which is really sad!! i'm so sorry you've had that experience, genuinely!!) that you couldn't even take my real point, because at the first sign of any critique towards anyone who ships hankcon, you just go into full defense mode guns blazing and can't really take in what is actually being said.

also, if i was new to this fandom and i saw people who also liked my ship, the people i'm supposed to enter some kind of camaraderie or community with, constantly arguing with other people over the ship and, in your own words, "the first thing they encounter in this fandom is aggression and hatred," i'd nope the hell out, are you kidding me? i think YOU are scaring away these hypothetical new shippers by creating a vitriolic and toxic environment by, again, giving the people who send hankcon shippers hate a platform to spew that hate. you know what would bring me in as someone new to the fandom and to the ship? a fucking welcoming community of fellow shippers who dont engage in drama and just focus on the damn ship. like i have said multiple times. "How many shippers like me, once again, are too scared to post their arts just because they see hate as soon as they join the fandom and not support?" you mean the hate you continue to engage with and the support i just said in the last sentence about a welcoming community?

like i said in the comments, if you don't understand what i am trying to say here, i'm taking it as willful ignorance instead of miscommunication because i have said the same things over and over again and you continue to argue with me. my point was: dont give haters attention, because they're gonna take every little crumb of push-back and use it as ammo to say hankcon shippers are all toxic and harassing assholes, and i don't want to be lumped into a group with that reputation because a small handful of y'all can't just ignore the haters and keep giving them more fuel for their fire. that's it. i am disengaging with this whole post now because, like i said, i've said my piece and made my point like five different times now.

listen as much as i disagree with seeing hank and connor as father and son, i'm just here to enjoy the ship like they're just here to enjoy them as a familial relationship. stop fucking going out of your way to argue with and harass father-son enjoyers and giving them real reasons go actively dislike shippers other than just disliking the ship. stop interacting, just block 'em if it bothers you that much, and move on!! don't start like a fuckin ship war or some shit. fucking, touch grass. i don't give a shit how much you disagree with "the other side," i don't want to be lumped into a group known for harassment cuz some of y'all can't just enjoy the damn ship and shut the fuck up. jesus christ. i'm too old for this shit

[vrmxlho]

bruh i posted my fucking hcs while i was in middle of writing them 😕 anyway here it is copied and pasted:

omg aiku is so fucking ajfsdkhjbf every time i see him i go feral,,,, ALSO YES MORE PEOPLE NEED TO READ GOKURAKUGAI THE ART IS BEAUTIFUL +++ i'm pretty sure this is gonna be ooc because i'm really just making shit up so i apologise in advance lmaoo +++ also im sorry its so short i have no idea what to write 😭

cw: swearing + not proofread because who wants to relive this nightmare??? + probably really ooc but this is my blog so i will do as i please honestly 😒 + suggestive but nothing sexual

LEONARDO LUNA レオナルド・ルナ

his love language is either physical touch or giving gifts

he absolutely adores holding you and he always physically on you, either an arm over your shoulder or a hand on your knee, sometimes he even makes you put your legs on his simply because he likes it that way

but at the same time he is 100% the most infuriating person alive and he prides himself in being annoying

at least he's funny ig

he's constantly teasing you, flirting with you excessively

if he hadn't already told everyone in his life that you were his s/o people would've still been able to guess as much

he's like an annoying puppy who always follows you around asking you to play

he's also incredibly petty, like if you ignore him by mistake or leave him on read because the conversation had ended he's purposefully going to do the same to you

even if the subject of the conversation is actually quite important

nothing can get in the way of his pettiness

"leo, can you please fucking answer me???" he only looked at you briefly before continuing with his stupid hair. it had only been like this for about five minutes but you honestly felt like it had been a century. he was being so fucking annoying. "leonardo luna i swear to god, if you don't fucking answer me this instant i'm going to bash your head in." "i'd still be really attractive though, so i don't really-" "will you please stay on topic for once in your life?" "annoying isn't it?" "THE CONVERSATION HAD ENDED YOU SAID 'OK' AND THAT WAS THE END WHAT ELSE WAS THERE TO ADD????" "you can always add an 'i love you'." "boy. be fucking for real."

forgot to mention that he's also rlly vain

by that i mean he pretends to be vain

he pretend to care about his looks more than he actually does because he thinks its funny

it is sometimes

i am a firm believer that he was one of those kids that was fascinated by the ocean and just any type of water body

he wanted to pursue geography and maybe be a marine biologist before he became a football pro

that's why is his ideal date is renting a boat and going to sea caves to scuba dive in

he insisted on the two of you taking scuba diving lessons together because he wanted to swim with sharks and sea turtles

i feel like he was a summer baby, specifically a leo

because my irl best friend is a leo leonardo

he's also the type to collect shells and make shell necklaces for you

once tried convincing you to change your name to sally and start a seashell business because he thought it would be really funny???

concerning

he's naturally funny but at times he says the dumbest things unironically

his favourite way to destress is to have long bubble baths with you while you both chatter about your day

not necessarily in a sexual way

he just enjoys being physically close to you while also being surrounded by water

leonardo luna was exhausted. you could tell as soon as he entered the house. his usually bright and blindingly positive aura had dulled. his eyes looked distant and he walked with a sway. fatigue made his limbs heavy and he hummed softly before he collapsed on the sofa. "are you okay? leo?" he had already begun snoring slightly when you finally reached him. you chuckled a bit. you wouldn't mind leaving him like this. he looked so cute. his silky hair falling gently on his nose and his cheeks a bit red from the slight chill in the air. but he smelled. reeked of sweat. he must've been too tired to even shower after practice. you weren't about to let him sleep in his sweat, it was simply gross. so first, you tried pulling him off. but not only was he a massive man who weighed a lot more than the usual groceries you carried. he was also resisting making it even harder for you make him budge. so you kissed his forehead, hoping it would wake him up. nothing. this time you pinched him. which worked, because now he was stirring. he opened his eyes which burned with anger and frowned at you. "come have a shower with me." suddenly his eyes were wide and bright again. he basically jumped off the sofa and carried you to the bathroom. he was tired but he didn't mind the extra exhaustion that would come from carrying another human being, since it was you. as soon as you got to the bathroom he basically ripped your clothes off and you were in the shower giving him a massage. then washing his hair and running your hand over his back soothingly. he didn't look tired anymore, it seemed like your presence had woken him up. or perhaps he just didn't want to miss out on your touch. "how was practise?" "couldn't stop thinking about you."

his kisses are always hot and passionate

loves holding your face when he kisses you

as if its the last time he will

he loves how his hands are big enough to hold your entire cheek

your first kiss wasn't awkward at all except for the fact that it was in front of the paparazzi because he loves PDA

unless you genuinely hate it he's always holding your hand in front of the cameras, kissing you, full on making out and everything

is a failure in the kitchen but is surprisingly good at following instructions

you'll never have to cut an onion when he's around!!

real men cry 👍

OLIVER AIKU 愛空

you've made it

you are now dating the hottest man on earth, the biggest playboy in the world has settled down

cuz you're just as hot

but that's exactly what makes him so possessive and jealous

it's not that he doesn't trust you he's just a little insecure, why else do you think he always broke up with his previous flings?

he's scared that if you got to see him for who he really was (as if you haven't already ☠️)

however, whenever he sees you talking to someone he doesn't particularly like he'll come up beside you and pull you close to him by the waist

and if you look uncomfortable he'll literally take you to another setting so you feel better

his love language is words of affirmation!!

he loves hearing how much you love him and how much you wanna spend time with him and how you'd kill for him

but at the same time he absolutely loves teasing you and making you get all flustered

oliver had been feeling down. he didn't really know why. it was 3am and he had this deep pit of despair in his stomach. you looked so peaceful on the bed, sleeping softly and scrunching the blanket up a bit. "how can someone so perfect want to be with me?" "if you're going to be so depressing i might actually break up with you..." you had turned around to stare at him with your tired barely open eyes. you weren't a light sleeper per se but your deep connection to aiku meant that you could feel something was off even if you couldn't see if with your own eyes. "sorry, did i wake you?" he moved back into bed. pulling the sheets over you a bit. "you know i love you right? and i wouldn't even dream about leaving your or whatever you were worrying about." "but-" "no, shut the fuck up. it's late," you pulled his arms around your body and placed yourself right onto his chest, " and i'm cold, so do your job. warm up the bed."

bought you an emerald promise ring after the first date because he instantly fell in love with you and he's suddenly discovered that he was actually a big romantic

(emerald to represent his left eye, left being the side the body your heart is in)

as a playboy, the first date was all a ploy to impress you but also give the impression that he wasn't available so breaking things off or ghosting you wouldn't be a hassle

he took you to a fancy restaurant

for once he wasn't two timing you

anyway after all this he took you to the beach to go on a walk where he asked you if you wanted to go skinny dipping

it was his first challenge, if yes, it would be fun, if no, then he had a reason to break things off with you

but the look of indifference you gave him made him crave more

he could already feel his cheeks heating up and from that day onwards he couldn't stop thinking about you like at all

after you got into an actual relationship you both avoid going back to that restaurant because of just how dull that night was

now your dates consist of going to the arcade, doing some karaoke and then maybe watching a movie while living off of buttery popcorn

he honestly has such a beautiful singing voice

would definitely be an idol if he weren't a footballer

he's a huge ABBA fan i can feel it in my soul

his ideal date is having a picnic by the beach and then playing beach volley until you both decide it's too hot and go for a swim

honestly any summer activity would be his ideal date

oliver aiku was probably breaking countless laws right now. it was the end of summer, the nights were short but warm with the skies clear, starry and gorgeous. aiku wanted to celebrate by firing his homemade fireworks he had spent about 2 months making. and you were certain that this was illegal. but he didn't care. "oli- i don't think this is safe..." "don't worry about it, i'm here to protect you." you could almost hear the smirk he was wearing. "you're no lawyer, i won't be breaking the law with you." "oh you're no fun." he looked at you with fake disappointment. frankly, if you weren't in a good mood you would've just left him to his frolicsomeness but you were also sort of intrigued. you really wanted to see what two months of firework building could get you. "make sure we don't get caught." "i'm no amateur love."

likes pulling your hair when kissing

and he's not one to give one quick kiss and run, they need to be deep every single time

pecks on the lips are meaningless in his eyes

he's also one to engage in PDA

he absolutely loves kissing in front of people he dislikes

to sort of one-up them

kisses you all the fucking time for absolutely no reason

you'd think the novelty would have worn off after being kissed so much but it really doesn't

somehow he keeps getting better at kissing

is he practicing behind your back????? (no, i'm jking)