#I'm just saying it's much better compared to the season 5 one.

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 8 !!

[xxsycamore]

❝ CRADLE ❞

╰┈➤ Soon after you've had the "baby talk", Shingen already seems to be thinking ahead - but not all his thoughts are so innocent.

Shingen Takeda/f!Reader • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Breeding; Mentions of Pregnancy; Nipple Play; Dirty Talk; Hand & Finger Kink; Body Worship • wordcount: 595 • masterlist

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪ request by @writingwhimsey <3 thank you!

IKEMEN BREEDING SEASON - Prompt 5. Imagining you pregnant

"I'm glad that you liked the cradle. I can already see you gently rocking our child to sleep."

The very moment Shingen gave you a brief pause from kissing you breathless, you knew he had something to say. Another killer line perhaps, something awfully flirty or downright naughty, just anything that will make your heart skip a beat as he knows best.

Instead, he brings up the cradle. And somehow, the result is the same.

It's only been a handful of days since the baby talk. Your relationship with Shingen has been nothing but dynamic from the get-go, and yet still, the butterflies in your belly now can only be compared to the ones from those early days. Suddenly there's so much to be talked about. It's no wonder how the late-night talks have turned into comparisons between what childrearing looks like in your head versus that of Shingen's. The modern ways versus the old-school. The shocking lack of baby cradles in Sengoku times, at least as you know them. The passionate declaration of Shingen that he'll definitely make one for your future baby.

Future baby. Yet there it is, standing in your peripheral vision; the wooden cradle he presented you with tonight, just a couple of days after you first mentioned the peculiar piece of furniture.

"Of course I would." You take Shingen's hands in your own, for a good measure before they get up to no good feeling you up and preventing you from focusing on what you want to say - and then you place a kiss on each one. "You were the one who made it. And you did a great job, too."

You linger on his right hand a little longer, with purpose. You can see Shingen's eyes darken with lust as you take his thumb into your arm just briefly, provoking him.

"I can see that you're already imagining things, Shingen…"

Shingen smirks, but the raised corners of his mouth soon relax into a softer smile, and it stays there, even as he disrobes you. He finds you wet and willing between your legs - which grants you a quick look with those intoxicating ashy eyes, capable of expressing things dirtier than his mouth does - but still prefers to toy with you before sinking his arching cock inside you.

"Oh, I've been imagining things alright. You'd be surprised exactly how much I've been imagining things."

You decide to be bold, as if carried by your instincts which are telling you that you absolutely must have him tonight. Silly thing considering he's got the same plans in store for you. Yet still, you raise one of your legs up his shoulder, beckoning him, seducing him.

"Tell me more…"

Shingen wets his lips and gladly complies.

"I've been imagining you with child. The way I'd wake up to you every morning, slowly becoming aware of all the little changes. Be assured, princess, I will notice. Your body that I came to know better than my own, how could I fail to notice it becoming more beautiful? Your belly swelling up with the life we created. Your bosom filling out."

The last part he whispers against your chest, his voice becoming muffled as he darts out his tongue to wet your perky nipple. Your own mind gets creative, imagining how much Shingen will enjoy your swollen breasts, and your belly, and then you trail off to all the parts of you he worshipped and the ways in which he'll worship them when…

"Please make it true, Shingen. I need it."

And so does he.

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[antianakin]

I think I'm able to perhaps put a few words to why I really dislike that the Ahsoka show had her choose to come to the conclusion that Anakin was GOOD, that he was a good person and good teacher to her, rather than having her refuse to forgive him and just having to let go of him entirely.

Ahsoka is a character who has been, for her ENTIRE RUN on Star Wars, defined by Anakin and her relationship to him. She's never been able to escape that. She was created as an explanation for why Anakin "matured" over the three year gap between AOTC and ROTS, but her lack of existence in the films means she can have no greater impact on Anakin than that. She is wholly irrelevant to his character but she does not EXIST without him. In Rebels, she is only in one season where all of her appearances are fixated on her discovery of Anakin's betrayal and how that impacts her, leading up to their final confrontation where she appears to die fighting him. She comes back only so her relationship with Anakin can be used to help Ezra let go of Kanan. In TOTJ, she has an entire episode dedicated to explaining that the only reason she survived Order 66 was because of some kind of special training Anakin gave her that made her stronger, better, faster than any other Jedi. In The Mandalorian, her appearance was full of subtext about her trauma regarding Anakin and the way she reacts to other Jedi as a result of that. In The Book of Boba Fett appearance, that subtext is still there, primarily in her conversation with Luke where she even tells him how much he reminds her of Anakin. Which leaves us with the Ahsoka show itself and how it REVOLVES around that relationship, from Sabine being turned into Anakin 2.0 to everything in episode 5 to Ahsoka claiming she'll support Sabine in everything because this is what Anakin did for her to Anakin literally showing up in ghost form to Thrawn predicting everything Ahsoka will do because he has some familiarity with Anakin.

Ahsoka CANNOT escape this relationship, she cannot move out from this particular shadow and become her own person because her character seems to ONLY EXIST to be "Anakin's student." She can almost literally not stand on her own at this point. If her story doesn't revolve around Anakin in some way, it doesn't seem to really exist (please keep in mind here that I am mostly looking at HIGH CANON appearances for this because that's what I am familiar with; I'm sure that some comics have probably managed to move away from her relationship to Anakin a little bit sometimes but I haven't read any of them so they're not being counted in this analysis, especially since I don't think they're really impacting her higher canon characterization anyway).

It's even just visible in how other characters perceive her. She is constantly being COMPARED to Anakin, we keep hearing how like Anakin she is. The only time I can think of that she is compared to anyone OTHER than Anakin is when Trace and Rafa tell her that she acts like a Jedi even if she isn't currently calling herself one (bless their SOULS for this moment, they deserved so much better than the hate they got and one single appearance on fucking TBB). We never hear anyone say she reminds them of Obi-Wan, or Yoda, or Plo Koon. It's ALWAYS Anakin even though she's known Yoda and Plo Koon longer and she seems to spend almost as much time with Obi-Wan as she does Anakin.

By having Ahsoka decide to deal with her feelings about Anakin by just... setting aside all the bad shit he did and focusing ONLY on the good moments that he had and letting that define him, it makes it nearly impossible to separate her from him. If he's good, then it's a GOOD thing to compare her to him. If he's good, then his influence on her HAS to have been a good one. For me, it ruins ANY nuance that could have come from going the opposite direction and recognizing that while he had some good moments, he was in fact an overall bad person who was a terrible teacher to her. He betrayed her, he tried to kill her (and only failed because she was saved by someone else), he abandoned her. I don't care WHAT he did before this, this automatically makes him a BAD TEACHER.

And recognizing that Anakin was a bad teacher would force Ahsoka to look at HERSELF more critically, too, to recognize the places where she has made the same mistakes perhaps, where she's started leading herself down a similar path to his, and then choosing to NOT BE LIKE HIM. Anakin should be (like he is with Luke) the personification of her own darkness. Palpatine represented Anakin's greatest demons and personifications, Anakin can represent something similar for Ahsoka. He is an indisputable part of her now, but she doesn't HAVE to become him, she doesn't have to let that CONTROL her. And by making that choice, she frees herself from being defined by him for the rest of her life.

But now, the narrative has bound Ahsoka to Anakin forever. She'll never be anything more than Anakin's student because this has become what defines her as a person and a character. And it just... it sucks. Ahsoka deserved better than that.

[darklinaforever]

I am convinced that there must be a story between Lilith and Eve, and probably even an identity exchange between the latter at certain times. Why, how, and when, I don't know, but I am convinced that in all cases, there was an exchange !

Here are the official character cards from the hazbin hotel games :

Lilith's seems quite strange. First, the card supposed to represent Lilith does not contain the name Morningstar compared to her daughter and her husband. Of course, this may seem like a simple little detail, but I am convinced that it is not insignificant.

Second, Lilith's haircut and figure (or at least assumed Lilith...), not to mention the smile she displays, are much more similar to the depiction of Eve in the introduction to Hazbin Hotel than to that of Lilith.

And on top of that, a crucial detail, Lilith's face is absent (even though we know it very well, a strange choice), beckoning as if to keep a secret. And once again, she has almost the same smile as Eve in the introduction to Hazbin Hotel and just like Eve, her face is absent. And when else is Lilith's face missing in Hazbin Hotel ? Episode 5, absolutely.

And removing Lilith's face doesn't really make sense, since once again we know it and we even see it in the episode through numerous portraits. Well, it doesn't really make sense, unless it's to point out that something is wrong with her. And once again, the silhouette looks much more like that of Eve than of Lilith.

All this may seem trivial but I am convinced once again that it is not ! To drive the point home, the Hazbin Hotel Twitter account published a photo showing us a little better the two portraits that we were able to see in episode 5 located in Lucifer's office, with a message explicitly saying that the devil is in the details and to look a little closer at the two portraits of the Morningstar family.

And what can we learn from these two paintings concerning Lilith ? She has her eyes open to one, but not to the other (I will also add that we do not see Lilith's eyes in the beach scene, since they are camouflaged by sunglasses). She is very close to her family on one and more withdrawn on the other. She wears her wedding ring on her left hand on one and her left hand is not visible on the other. Another small detail being that Lilith's left hand was also not visible during the flashback of episode 5.

Probably many will think I'm crazy, but I'm convinced that whatever is happening with Lilith, it must have something to do with Eve and that they must have swapped places probably several times for various reasons. Maybe it's not really Lilith we saw at the end of season 1, who knows. But even if it's her, there must be a reason she's here. I doubt that she simply abandoned her husband and daughter overnight to become the real big bad as many theorize. After all, Lilith has literally been with Lucifer since their fall to Hell and lived a family life with him and a visibly happy Charlie from the portraits. So it probably stayed for thousands of years before suddenly mysteriously disappearing for seven years. Also, all this crazy stuff that a lot of people have saying that Lilith is bad because she kept Charlie away from Lucifer… from the portraits it looks like bullshit. Lucifer obviously had his own insecurities regarding his daughter, no point blaming Lilith for that. Especially since, regardless of whether it was Lilith or Eve in the flashback of episode 5, she simply seemed to bring Charlie back to bed damn it ! Don’t hesitate to give me your opinions in comments !

[malk1ns]

Yesterday I came across the 5 on 3 video and since then I have been thinking about baby sid being infatuated by baby geno. Maybe one of them having a crush on the other and just being so not normal when around their crush.

so i had a little bit of a conversation with @plethoriall along these lines earlier today that is helping inform this; i hope you don't mind third party POV!

Mario has rarely regretted offering to have Sid stay with him.

Sid's rookie year he'd been a breeze; compared to most 18-year-old hockey players Mario's known, rear-ending the nanny's car was small potatoes. Sid was respectful of their home, didn't mind when the kids demanded his time and attention, and never put Mario in the awkward position of having to talk to him about not bringing hookups back. He'd expected much of the same when Sid called to let him know when he'd be returning for camp before his sophomore year.

That was before Malkin arrived.

Mario's memories of being a lovesick teenager are pretty dim at this point. He'd had his fair share of ill-advised crushes, more than one person he'd hooked up with that he probably shouldn't have, and Nathalie had forgiven more indiscretions than she should ever have tolerated, but being a 19-year-old with a world-ending crush is foreign to him.

He's doing his best to be empathetic, really he is. But there are really only so many stories one man can be expected to sit through while still pretending that his prodigy isn't head-over-heels for a teammate.

(He'd tried to broach that topic once, when Sid had come home from a night out inconsolable about Geno taking a girl back to the hotel room he still had rented in his name even though he'd essentially moved in with Sarge. Sid had locked himself in his room for three days, only coming out for practice. Austin had been devastated.)

"—and then Geno said the funniest thing," Sid is saying, and all Mario can do is grunt and listen, because Sid had followed him down to the gym and Mario figured he could put him to use as a spotter. He should have known better. "He said that Ovi's last name was...well, I don't remember exactly, but he basically called Ovi a sheep. Isn't that funny?"

"Hilarious," Mario gasps, and luckily Sid notices and grabs the bar before Mario drops it onto his chest. "Okay, I think that's enough for today."

Sid frowns, looking at the clock on the wall. "You've only been down here for twenty minutes, though."

"I have a phone call, just wanted to get a quick set in," Mario says, clapping Sid on the shoulder and making for the stairs. "Thanks, kid."

He manages to lock himself into his office before Sid can come find him with another story about Malkin, dialing Sarge's number and pouring a glass of whiskey as the phone rings.

"What," Sarge snaps as he picks up, and Mario laughs.

"Long day?" he asks, taking a sip.

Sarge's sigh is noisy over the line. "Jesus, Lem, you'd think nobody in the world has ever had a crush before," he complains. "I swear to god, If I have to listen to Sidney this or Sidney that one more time, I'm kicking him back to that hotel. It's ridiculous."

"Not much better over here," Mario murmurs, flicking through his daybook. The younger players have a PR event at Dicks tomorrow; maybe if he makes a few calls he can get Sid and Geno paired up. The cameras can't be on them the whole time. "He almost let me drop the barbell on myself just now."

Sarge snorts. "And somehow they both think the other one couldn't possibly feel the same way, even though they spend half their time making cow eyes at each other. I swear I was never this stupid."

Mario thinks back to the 90-91 season and winces. "I'm sure I came close a few times," he allows.

He has to pull the phone away when Sarge guffaws loudly in his ear. "Oh, I've heard stories," he says, and Mario wrinkles his nose. "But I don't think anything either you or I have ever done could hold a candle to this. And Zhenya won't hear a word from me about it, he acts like the world is ending whenever I try to bring it up."

"Sid's still pretending that he's just a big fan of Malkin's hockey," Mario sighs. "I'm thinking of telling comms to put them together for that event tomorrow and distract the cameras for an hour."

"We could lock them in the equipment room?" Sarge suggests. "Not for too long, of course, but..."

Mario thinks back to dinner the night before, when Sid had chattered on and on about Malkin for so long that even Nathalie's patient smile had started to fray. "I think you're on to something," he says. "Sid always stays late to talk to people—when is Malkin due for a trainer appointment? I'm sure Dana will help us out."

[kehideni]

The time has come... the aroacest person ever will rant about how in LMK Wukong's feelings regarding Macaque were hinted at.

And by hinted at i mean that ultimatelly it can still be platonic but yeah i get why people ship it. I'm grumbling over here like

so you can think of me as a reluctant shipper. (ugh)

Jesus Christ... how do i even start...

I guess with readmore because i'm going to talk about the whole entire show so far. Which means Spoilers for Season 5 (and 4... but like that's been out for a year now)

Also before i start, i'm not gonna talk about Macaque's pov in this because he is even more obvious than Wukong and people talk about him all the time. I should know i'm one of them.

S1E9 "Macaque"

First and foremost it's not much, but SWK's reaction to seeing Macaque for the first time in who knows how long is legit suspicious, not because it's anything special but specifically because it's such a toned down reaction. Even if SWK doesn't know that Macaque is supposed to be dead, Mac has been suggested to be at least MIA since their mysterious fight. He wasn't goofing around, he wasn't taking it lightly, but also he didn't take Macaque's appearance with the weight you'd think he should.

Let's just do a little mental gymnastics: In your mind replace SWK with MK and Macaque with Mei. Imagine that Mei has Macaque's backstory and MK has SWK's. Two long time best friends, with a serious fallout, Mei goes MIA and then comes back. Do you think MK would react the same way SWK did in the episode? Obviously not.

Now i know Wukong is rather secretive, exspecially in S1-3(for plot reasons) but the thing is, that DBK was also SWK's friend, a very dear one at that. His reaction to DBK is goofy, light spirited, hardly interferes with the MK vs DBK fight. He wasn't really shush-shush about missing DBK's company. (S2E2 Revenge of the Spider Queen)

In contrast to that, when he finds out Macaque is back he doesn't take it lightly, no goofing off, but also doesn't seem to want to fight Macaque? In this episode all he does is make Mac back off from MK. I guess he wouldn't want to, of course, but yeah had Mac been anyone else, Wukong would be actively working on how to get rid of him. Ie.: Lady Bone Demon or even the Major("how about him? Is he part of your destiny?" bit)

And we do know SWK was holding back, as he wooped Macaque's behind when he was possessed by LBD no problem.

S2E1 "Happy New Year"

SWK: "It's called misdirection."

MK: "Seems like a shady lesson."

SWK: "Too soon, buddy."

It's not really saying much- again-, after all it's just a one liner joke. It's just that no comparable joke was made in any other character's expense. Also the annotation in SWK's voice wasn't really silly. A "can't decide if i'm supposed to smile at the pun or feel sorry for SWK" thing.

(Now while we are ignoring Mac's side of things, rewatching Shadowplay while having S5 knowledge, it's kind of haunting what kind of parallels the show is drawing between MK and Macaque of all things but moving ooooooon~)

In most of Season 3, Wukong is back to his monkey-ing around personality. S3E1 "On the run" he behaves the same way he'd with DBK.

The next of note episode is pretty far off in S3E9 "The king, the prince, and the shadow"

The importance of this scene

specifically Wukong's expression, is that funnily enough, he believed completely that Macaque was working for LBD, when in truth he was going behind her back the whole time, working towards his own agenda (ie.: freeing himself from her) and also thought he could fool Macaque.

Macaque on the other hand easily read Wukong's intention, something that Nezha fell for completely, that the rings were fake. (Macaque knows Wukong better than Wukong knows Macaque.)

That means, at this point Wukong was convinced that Macaque is a bad guy (something he will mention right at the beginning of Season 5) and still he did not hurt him. He later on almost did, yes, but did not need much convincing from Tang to leave him be.

"If you hurt that kid, i'll..."

"What? Make things worse for MK?"

*cuts to that scene

Obviously intentional poetic positioning, reflecting Macaque in a position that is suggested to be the "made things worse for him" thing that Mac is referring to. Yadda yadda, had Wukong not killed him the LBD would not have her claws in Macaque right now as she wouldn't have resurrected him. *is still a hella sketchy story with holes and i don't intend to make Wukong out to be the bad guy, i'm working with what the show is er... showing us/telling us* !Which is fine!!! The story is on going!!! They choose to tell it as teeth-pullingly slow as possible for plot convenience! Sit down, we all know the truth will be far more nuanced than it was presented in S3

But to get back to Wukong's pov, if you notice, after he hears that Macaque is not loyal to the LBD he tries to tell him that he has a plan, one- presumably (if Mac would have listened) -Wukong would have involved him in. Possibly even help him get free from LBD.

Next in line would be the parallel drawn between Mei and Macaque

Wukong was impulsive way back then and now, hurting "those that care about you the most" But yeah... Macaque's line is also incriminating "She's completely out of control, if there's a time to go it is now."

MK countering it that- paraphrasing now but -"bruh that's not really a punk rock thing to do." Possible reason for ^ that cut to Wukong's reaction is that Macaque's line opened up some scars. Hearing that he'd abandon you when things go wrong is very much the first wound that SWK and Macaque suffered in their friendship (from Wukong's side, again imma just ignore Macaque's side in this post but so help me if anyone goes on a comment rampage about how Macaque is truely a piece of shit i will just tell you to go watch the whole series again because whole ass plotlines and characterDEVELOPMENTS fly right by you)

Nezha: "She controlled the fire? This is impossible."

^ Wukong getting a front row seat view of what could have been had they not given up on each other with Macaque.

"Mei was right, i need to stop dragging you into my fights."

ehm... you guys hear it too i'm sure, but we will get to that later

(On a slight tangent... actually i do recommend a rewatch of the show because LBD's lines get so much more meaning. Macaque specifically gets added to the destiny speech all the time, which is funny considering he should know all about destiny and he is the most againts the idea of a destiny existing, Macaque refuses his own powers???And i do believe Macaque has his future-knowing powers because he has reaction time to things that didn't even start happening yet such as LBD throwing the girl away, hiding from Azure and co. when he shouldn't have known they are free, etc.)

On another cute little side note, Nezha said Wukong is not a loner, no matter how much he seems to be.

Lookit that happy smile, fighting along side all his fwiends awww, go you funky little monkey man

This ending scene for it's few seconds is packed with things to point out. "I hate that guy so much, always acting like he's so cool." Literally no one ever said that or thought that Wukong. That was your take on Macaque's behavior. When i first saw that scene my thought was that "Yeah if i were Macaque i'd have left too."

Or even this gag bit can suggest Wukong being out of balance once Macaque leaves.

Stress eating...

Season 4 goes a bit more into detail concerning Wukong's issues

"Forever is a long time bud, trust me." Shows two monkeys hanging around, eating fruit, doing whatever they want.

So the scroll gets opened, and in no practicular order characters are shown that Wukong feels guilty about, looks properly sad when they show. The stress lines around his eyes start showing after Macaque is shown

Flashback scene, kinda is a thing in season 4 that Wukong is much more physically affectionate than Macaque

not gonna do more screenshots because i could literally just post the clip but the thing that we can take away from these is that Wukong insisted on including Macaque

"You're really going through with this?"

"Correction, WE are going through with this." i'm choosing to take it as a tie back to Nezha's line of Wukong not liking being alone.

Much of the brotherhood doesn't seem to actually care for Macaque and Macaque seems to not care for the brotherhood either. And Peng isn't even our first clue for this, since DBK and Macaque have been around since Season 1 and they have yet to interact with each other, eventhough they are sworn brothers too. Azure Lion and Yellow Tusk if name drop Macaque once the whole season, and Peng is the most vocal about their dislike/hatered of Macaque. (Also when the scroll wants to traumatise Azure it only uses Peng and Yellow Tusk)

You can headcanon that Macaque joined the brotherhood only because Wukong is there, but also it's not really a stretch to think that it was actually Wukong that wanted Macaque in the brotherhood and Macaque just agreed to join because Wukong insisted. Either and both can be true.

I just posted this screenshot because Wukong's face made me laugh.

Wukong being the only one paying attention to Macaque's thoughts and feelings, even if ultimately he brushes them under the rug. (Which says more about the brotherhood than Wukong actually...because the brotherhood just about ignored Macaque completely. Wukong paid attention but ya know... big plans and big dreams require big actions)

His speech is a nice promise, but the annotation is on "like we always wanted". The whole quote going: "Relax bud, when this is over we'll be back here basking in the Sun, getting fat on fruit for the rest of ... well forever!! Like we always wanted."

Since it's a conversation with only Wukong and Macaque in the shot, we as the audience are clued in that it was specifically the dream of those two, not the whole brotherhood.

Btw rewatching the episode, Azure says Wukong had the habit of keeping people at arm's lenght, like bruh that's a straight on lie.

(lmao that Tang joke with the water :'D not thirsty, Tang?)

Now Azure when talking with MK, showing him select few scenes to make himself look the victim says one thing. That Wukong imprisoned them. Did not kill, imprison.

I said this before, i will say it here too. Why would Wukong, who is closest to Macaque from the brotherhood, imprison everyone else, but specifically kill Macaque? Nah ah, i'm pretty sure that was not how it went down. But that's a to be cleared thing for season 6 hopefully.

As.... hilarious as this picture is, it's kinda proof of Wukong's sentimentality.

Finally i arrive at S4E11 A lifetime of mistakes

Nothing much to say about this scene, it speaks for itself.

"Everything i did was for us!" This sentence alone means Wukong's fear of death extended to Macaque. Macaque said that Wukong feared death more than anything which is true, but whenever Wukong talked about his goals the emphasis was on them together spending forever with whatever they wanted.

Third time reminding you of Nezha's statement, that Wukong is not a loner. Something that Azure flat out lied about, telling MK that Wukong kept them at arm's lenght.

It's 2+2 guys... spending eternity alone is boring as fk, of course you need a buddy. And a buddy just as immortal as you, since we know the heartbreak that comes with an immortal - mortal friendship. To the mortal that friendship is for lifetime, to that immortal it's just a small chapter of their lives. Wukong really DID do everything for Macaque, but well... he went overboard, like MK said. He could have stopped right here, he already had his wish:

They already were sitting in the sun, eating fruit and doing whatever they wanted.

But now look at thoooose stress lines

While the show doesn't even suggest what Wukong's full punishment was -because let's keep it PG it is still a kids show- Wukong also just lost his best friend.

In Season 4 peaches were the symbol of their friendship, something that Wukong -probably just out of sheer anger- rejected from Macaque in this scene, only for Macaque to crush said peach in answer and throw it away. My guys, this was an ugly UGLY divorce. Thing is that had cooler heads prevailed, they probably wouldn't have had this fight here. It's dressed up as a gag line, but Wukong says he really wanted that peach.

In the scroll MK and Macaque follow the memories that Wukong punched himself through, trying to find some good ones AKA memories with MK. Wukong saw this memory too, which was the last memory before MK and Mac found Wukong.

After seeing this memory and deciding to escape it he stopped in the next one. Meaning this memory is the freshest Wukong is thinking about.

"I just wanted to protect the people i care about." *camera angles to Macaque.

MK then quotes Wukong saying that maybe they can't fix everything, but they just have to leave it better than they found it. That's just another way to say "fix" btw... and he looks to Macaque, because that's what he wants to fix most.

Well he has an eternity to do it.

He was legit asking permission from Macaque here, idk what for if you are the Monkey King you don't need permission, right?

Next episode "The Plan man" starts with something i already said:

Wukong is looking for Macaque when he notices he is not in the heroic pose with the rest of them. Showing once again, where Wukong's priority laid. He needs to make sure he still has his buddy by him. Kinda going into Sun Mumkong mode, embarassing Macaque:

Do note, Wukong verbally said he wanted all of them to have the "happily ever after" but before that talk with Azure, Macaque was emphasized.

And the thing is, at first i thought, surely i'm reading far too much into this, but this weird Macaque-prioritising will appear in Season 5 too. We will get to that.

This was Wukong's wish, to not be alone.

Anyways, show uppy "tsundere" way of expressing, that he is happy Mac is there.

Like i said, peaches in season 4 were a metaphor for their friendship. Handing Mac a peach ice cream is kinda his way of saying "friends?" but maybe in a different way. The "try again" button in the game if you will.

Season 5 however hooo boi...

I ran out of pictures/post so i'll have to make a part 2, which will be season 5.

[quasi-normalcy]

Surprising Things I Learned From Rewatching All of Star Trek (as of mid 2022)

The first season of the original series is good. Like really, really, good. You can definitely see why it caught on.

"Spock's Brain" isn't actually all that bad. Like, for all it's infamy, I wouldn't even put it in the bottom 5 episodes of TOS. Maybe not even the bottom 10.

The Motion Picture is an amazing movie if you watch it like a symphony with incredible visuals, rather than an action movie.

The weird utopianism of TNG season 1 is actually really appealing now

Wesley was just as bad as I remembered

I actually like Worf. Quite a bit, actually.

Kinda wish that Deep Space Nine had kept a major focus on Bajoran politics. Like, the Dominion War stuff is good, but the political arc in the first few seasons is actually really fascinating.

Voyager has lots of absolute banger episodes, and they're good enough to forgive the overall lack of continuity

Seven of Nine's arc has uncomfortable overtones of reparation therapy when you know that she's queer (and even when you don't, it's basically seems like learning how to mask neurodivergence)

Tuvok is actually a brilliant detective. I didn't notice before.

Enterprise is...well, I'm not going to say "good", but I get what it was going for now. And the Xindi arc is way less jingoistic when considered as a whole than I remember it being.

(The fourth season isn't as good as I remember, just because the constant continuity references have gone from being an exciting novelty to being freaking everywhere)

The 2009 movie really doesn't have a lot going for it, in retrospect. The cast are good, though.

Into Darkness...was even worse than I remembered. Like I'd forgotten just how unlikable it made Captain Kirk. That said, the "anti-militarism" messaging felt somewhat less "tacked-on to the last five minutes of screentime" than I recalled

Even though I don't think it ended well, the first season of Discovery is actually a lot better than I remembered when I already knew where it was going.

The second season of Discovery fares much worse, though. Strange, because I'd thought it an improvement over the first when it was airing.

I'd been disappointed by how the first season of Picard had wrapped up it's plot threads, but on a rewatch, I actually thought it was close to being a masterpiece

The first season of Lower Decks is kind of lacklustre compared to all of the subsequent ones.

[bylrlve]

Warning! Potential spoilers for Stranger Things 5!

To recap, Alex received this dm on 13/2/23, seemingly confirming mileven breakup

She received this message on that day, which states that mileven are still together and happy. However it’s also instantly debunkable bc they’re absolutely not going to do the Hopper-Mike feud bs again. That is beyond clear.

On this past Tuesday, 20/2/23, she received a second message outright stating Mileven breakup.

Finally, on Wednesday, 21/2/23, she received this message full of pretty plausible statements, with mileven breakup included as fact. Interesting.

This person claims it’s all fake, with no rationale or alt info - what, is Will not important now?

Worth noting: Millie is currently doing promo for Damsels, so she’ll be out of commission re: filming for a few weeks. Early March is probably when she’ll come back, but Finn will be be busy with his Ghosbusters 2 promo.

Two conclusions:

1.) there will be no mileven scenes filmed for a few weeks. Filming schedules are very tightly planned to accommodate other actor commitments, so it doesn’t seem like this posed a massive issue. Hm.

2,) Millie will likely be doing any scenes she has with Sadie and Caleb, aka Max and Lucas, when she gets back. As this message says.

This person is probably just smart and well-informed enough to figure this out, but it’s interesting.

There has been some very intriguing activity on a stranger things set a few days ago - red UD ligthing, castle Byers.., and Will Byers. Will’s plotline for season 5 seriously looks like everything us Will stans have been dreaming of in terms of plot relevance, emotional catharsis, etc. This pic dropped yesterday, and the spoiler acc seems to have confirmed it’s Will:

Lastly,this also dropped today:

(Credit to @1987byler on twt)

Very strange framework, here. If the goal is to set up Will being rejected gently by Mike, but understood and accepted, why not focus on that? Why not have Vecna say ‘you’re afraid he’ll be disgusted by you. You’re afraid he’ll see you as the disgusting, broken boy you are’ or something like that? Elsewhere in the game, it’s being reported by players that Will is being taunted about how his friends are all ignoring him, and how Max fits into the group better than he does. This is canonically a sore spot for him - not so much the Max part, but the general point. So why not emphasise his fear of Mike’s rejection, rather than his hurt at Mike picking El over him?

Maybe because, if this is carried into s5 and we get scenes of Vecna taunting Will about Mike choosing El, it’ll be certain that Mike will indeed pick Will. Maybe this is a means of hinting that?

(Side note: at this point in the time line, El was really just a concept to Will. The one time he met her, it was for barely a minute as a delirious, dying child. By s4, it’s very clear that they’re close and loving. I’ll hear no critique of him for apparently not wanting her to come back - it’s very obviously Vecna twisting things, as he did with Max in s4 to make it seem like she actively wanted to murder Billy.)

Also worth noting: the best Mike can say about the girl he supposedly loved at first sight, after a whole week with her, is that she’s ‘cool’, ‘different’, ‘awesome’. Very lacklustre. Compare to how Lucas would describe the comatose max to a newcomer in s4.

Finally: Will quite literally utilises a never-seen memory of Mike and him in Castle Byers as his happy menory, his safe place. You know,like the Snow Ball and those other memories of good times with Lucas that Max clung to in s4?

Credit to @will80sbyers

This post by @nebulousfishgills reports Vecna saying that Will is ‘the key’, manipulating Will’s memories, and directly saying “You’ll finally matter to someone, Will.” Byler kind of has to be endgame, right? For this to make any sense as a narrative? ‘We can still be friends’ won’t cut it, not if, as the messages Alex is getting make out, Will is still so achingly in love post-time jump that he’s staying by Mike’s hospital bed after everyone else leaves and kissing his forehead (a). Not if they’re still emphasising that Mike is his safe place, his home, his light, in (technically) pre-season five promotional material.

All of this is… interesting, to say the least.

I’ll leave off by sharing the posts made by the wonderful @solgmorell on the set leak (x) and the VR byler stuff (x, y).

(a)

ETA: two of the previous dms Alex has gotten state that Will struggles with his friendships with the other party member this season due to being closeted. This game touches heavily on Will’s feeling disconnected from his friends, at least partly bc of his sexuality…. One is above, the other is here:

[psychopasss4]

PPP Novel is out❣️

...just in time for the Lunar New Year Eve, Feb. 9th. 🎉

Noitamina Shop will hold Arata Shindo-kun's bday campaign and at the same time promotes the PPP novel sale 🥂🥳.

Have you already prepared dried persimmons? 🤗 You know, in ancient times people used to wind-hang outside Hoshigaki, thus the Japanese lantern shape we know about today were taken from. 📸 Google Images.

Quick Review:

During the premier of PPP movie before the Global launch, fans kept asking Dir. Shiotani about

The meaning of empty liquor bottle in Kogami's desk.

Why Kogami removed his jacket during his balcony scene

And his answer were simple. Kogami didn't know the difference of wearing it inside or outside. At first, I thought it was some kind of a funny little joke, or I didn't understand the words full well (I'm not a full-bred Japanese though I studied Nihonggo way back in grade school).

But if you read the PPP novel, you will realize Kogami isn't fully adjusted from his traumatic experiences as a mercenary overseas 🤧. So he doesn't feel how to act just as he used to when he's back.

And ofcourse, we all know he and Saiga only emptied the liquor after long hours of chatting and Tonami profiling.

2. It's interesting that the writing team have taken the pulse of the fans during the Q&A session, thus some points in PPP novel is what we might've expect after all 🤭.

3. Some may say it's nothing new. As it seems the writing team pretty much remain loyal to the movie summary. But if you read between the lines, you realize how it is a bit forgiving & fan-serving, compare to the movie itself 👍🏻.

4. The locations...last minute alterations... 😆😂.

5. And ofcourse the last time Akane spent with Saiga on his detention cell 😭. She literally blame herself for asking him to come to them on Dejima in MoFA's HQ to retrieve the Stronskaya Papers a day after. Which we all know ended tragically.

6. She pulls the trigger. She question the justice. Which quotes the same kind of line from PP3 novel when she's writing her thoughts down in an analogue typewriter. From that scene she thought of Kogami's action and how Sybil judged him for that.

But in PPP novel, no doubt she puts into consideration the life of Atsushi Shindo and how he was used as a pawn, only to be a master pawn who puppets the life of another pawn like what happened to Akira Ignatov.

Aswell as Akira Ignatov's sacrifice. He volunteered to be a puppet for the sake of the future generation. For the sake of his brother in particular 😢😓😓😢.

7. Frede-chan's holding back and being indecisive to keep the truth about the mission to Kogami. Is like keeping her phone number to her crush 😹🤭. Sure, she's just conscious how would Kou-chan would react since she knows Saiga and him are pretty close 😮‍💨.

8. The writing team did a pretty good job by staying true to their plot work. They know what they're doing. As if taken up some piece of advice from Gege Akutami 😅😂.

9. The last scene is pretty much heart-aching but well executed 😘🤌🏻❤️

10. The General was a medical AI but I wonder if the creator of Sybil also created that?... how about BiFrost? Oh hello, Season 4! We're waving at you ☺️😀!

11. Many hate Akane for trying to control Kogami, again?! Let me get this straight, SHE ISN'T CONTROLLING ANYONE!

There's a MASSIVE difference when he a.) first pulled the trigger against Makishima (out of revenge) and when he b.) pulls that against Tonami.

Akane knows it best.

a) She doesn't want him to be a person swallowed by revenge like Sasuke (Naruto).

b) She hopes Kogami is back for the better but instead he acted again with his animal instinct which indicates he can still be easily outplayed by emotions instead of not letting it get the human out of him.

Akane still looks up to Kogami. She knows he was labeled as a latent criminal by Sybil. But the way Kou acted is like proving to Sybil that their labeling of him as latent criminal was right. And if there's one thing Akane isn't fond of, that is proving Sybil right.

So it's not about Kogami. It's about her campaign against Sybil's false and unfair judgement! So don't mock her! 😖

Lastly, PPP novel is enjoyable because a lot of fans are exerting efforts to translate it to English for fans abroad. Kudos to you all❣️

Not everyone have the time, capacity and dedication you've spent. Including me, I'm not good in translation. So thank you. You are the heart of PSYCHO-PASS franchise global expansion ❤️🥰.

End of Review.

Okay, so that wasn't a quick one 😋 sorry about that. I just hope you guys have a wonderful day. Have fun and enjoy everything that you do!

🥰🤗

Meanwhile, the original crew of PP1 are in their podcast discussing how the series have been progressing so far 😋😂

Nah! It's just a trace sketch of CD Discussion Vol. 1

🤣🤣🤣

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

It's so annoying to see people in the tag comparing Byler to other queer ships that didn't happen like no Byler is unique and wasn't made by bad writers. Idk if you were in one of those fandoms but it would be amazing if you could explain to all those people why Byler was written differently because I am tired of the classic: "they are queerbaiting you,deal with it". I am like :" wow they queerbaited the Lgbt+ community and the heterosexuals too then because a huge majority of the GA audiences who see Byler aren't from the Lgbt+ community". They also made the "main" ship do unlikeable that it lost at least 40% of their supporters between season 3 and season 4.

Well, I can see where they're coming from, even if I don't agree.

I have never been involved in a fandom before, but I have been a fan of shows/movies where I thought "so and so would make a good couple" only for nothing to come of it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, though. This is the first time I've ever thought it was going to happen, and I've felt that way since season 2. Each season since has left me disappointed, as I don't want it to be a final episode "twist" in order to avoid losing fans, but it's still only become more and more obvious to me that it's inevitable.

I think a lot of fans get caught up in headcanons, particularly between seasons. As a result, they end up forgetting what is actually canon, and they create elaborate predictions that just don't fit the reality.

Yes, queerbaiting is a thing. I'm not familiar with many of the fandoms that this is used with, but I'll give the fans the benefit of the doubt on it. If a show hints at a queer couple, that's not enough for it to be queerbaiting. But if they continually build it up, only for it to go nowhere, then it might be. If they actively use it as a means to market the show, then it definitely is.

Without knowing more about specific fandoms, it's hard for me to make any direct comparisons. I suppose, should, somehow, Byler not be endgame, then I'll probably understand a lot better. However, I will also be extremely confused and will have lost considerable respect for the Duffers as writers.

However, Byler is a unique animals, as far as I can tell. It's something that has had seeds planted to it from the very beginning of the show. It's not some response to fans that the producers felt they could then exploit for marketing/merchandising purposes. It may not have been obvious back in season 1, but the clues were there. There was no retconning done to make Byler fit. There was no sly stoking of the flames in the fandom to get fans excited about it. That all happened organically as more and more people caught on.

I don't think the Duffers are dumb. They built a slowburn same-sex romance between main characters over the course of an entire top-tier series. As much as it annoyed me that it's taken this long, it does make the most sense, both in-universe and as a matter of mass appeal. Both the fans and the characters themselves had to come to terms with teen boys falling in love in the 80s. That's not something to be rushed if it's to be taken seriously.

Will, the one we've been told was gay, has come to terms with his feelings, only to come to the conclusion that it's not meant to be.

Mike, the one we've seen to have more-than-friendly feelings for Will, is still not ready, yet.

Season 5 will be the catalyst for Mike to realize what his deep feelings for Will really mean, so he can show Will that love is something for him to experience.

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-fi prompt from @thatclichedwriter:

If possible, could you explain why airline overbooking happens and how it “works”?

The answer to this one is actually pretty simple, and the same reason that hotel chains overbook.

The short answer is that in order to maximize profits, every seat needs to be full, and on average, there will be a handful of passengers cancelling at the last moment, so overbooking leads to Just Barely filling every seat after cancellations, most of the time.

Let's play with an example!

Our example flight is 100 seats. It goes from Houston to Pittsburg, and takes just under three hours. This is a flight that goes between two cities in the same country, and is comparatively cheap, in relation to international or intercontinental flights.

It is much more likely to be a flight taken for business purposes than for vacation, especially if it's not during a holiday season where someone might be visiting family in another city.

Version 1: The airline books 100 seats. Of those 100 seats, 5 cancel at the last moment due to a change in the business obligation, or an emergency at home. The airline is now flying 95 seats of the 100, leaving 5 seats empty. If each seat is $300 on average, then they have lost out on $1,500 of revenue. (If there's a cancellation fee, then they've lost out on less, but they've still lost money.)

Version 2: The airline books 110 seats. As in the first version, 5 cancel at the last moment. The airline still has 105 bookings, which is 5 more seats than the plane has. They need to either refund or reschedule the flights for 5 passengers in order to take off. They offer travel credit, possibly a hotel, in exchange for several passengers to delay to a less full flight. The airline loses money, but probably less than the $1,500 they would have lost if they'd had 5 empty seats, instead of 5 doubled ones. Depending on how willing customers are to compromise for a new flight, slightly overbooking is better than slightly underbooking.

Version 3: The airline books 105 seats. 5 cancel at the last moment. When the plane takes off, all 100 seats are full, and the airline has not lost any revenue to empty or overbooked flights.

This whole process is pretty complex, and varies based on the most common cause for travel (Sacramento to Fort Worth is going to have a very different set of customers than New York to Athens), the time of year, the time of week, the airline's popularity, and so on.

The causes of cancellations can vary or come in waves, say, a flu epidemic at a university causing a bunch of students to stay at the dorms for Thanksgiving, forcing half-full flights for a few days in November, which would be unexpected and difficult to plan for when most of the flights around a holiday are more than likely booked far in advance, due to the cost.

There are a lot of people on the internet that have done much longer, more math-heavy examples of this entire process. It's a science of its own, though I'd hesitate to call it an art.

But you came here for "explain it to me like I'm five" explanations, and I'm hoping I've managed to fulfill that!

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

[xxk3vonicaxx]

An unhinged ramble about why I have a disliking for Voxval/Staticmoth from Hazbin Hotel and comparing them to my own OCs for what feels like 5 minutess:

This isn't what I normally post buut I wanna ramble about something I used to slightly likee (rant under the cutt) X"DD

I could go on and on about why I don't like Hazbin Hotel (you knoww, blasphemyy, Biblically inaccuratee, S/A glamorizationn, the voodoo stuffss, etc.), buut I'm not gonna do that todayy, today I'm gonna talk about Voxvall (or Staticmoth buut I'm gonna call them Voxval), the ship between Vox and Valentino from the signature show itselff

My problem with Voxval iss, welll, is that neither of the characters have characterr. To be precisee, they're supposed to be villains but they lack what it takes to be actuall, intimidating villainss, often being used with one or two personality traits in mind and nothing moree (Specifically Valentinoo)

In his introduction in episode 2 alonee, Val is simply called something of a whiny crybabyy, which is what he acts like throughout the majority of the time he gets screentime in the episodee (I know about episode 4, I'll discuss it laterr). He doesn't look intimidating at alll, something that he should be considering the build-up we had gotten from the comics Viv made in the pastt, or with Addictt, or with the texts/calls Angel had been getting from him throughout the episodee

He doesn't have much of a characterr, he's not intimidating and he doesn't appear to actually act like a threateningg, serious villain throughout his introduction at alll, which is why it feels so jarring when we see the texts Angel's getting from Val to Val throwing a temper tantrum on Velvet's call with Voxx

If anythingg, if Val was so upsett, he would've come to the hotel himself before Vox even showed upp, he would've tracked Angel down on his ownn! (the guy owns the porn industryy! He'd have connections or witnesses that would see Angel at the Hotel and tell him through thatt) He knew Angel was at the hotel prior to Vox coming theree! Why didn't he come there on his ownn, that would've made him an actual threatt!

Buut nooo, we didn't get thatt, we got Vox calming Val down as ship-baitt-

"Buut Kevinn! What about the Val in episode 4!" The Valentino in episode 4 is literally word for word based off of R2's r*peficc, plus they storyboarded both Addict and the video for Poisonn. It's artificiall

Speaking of Voxx, he's probably the best character in this show from voice alonee (and that's not saying muchh)

Vox here is reduced to the trope of just "comforting the big, strong mann" or simply being the straight mann, and I'm not here for itt, that's literally all he is throughout the entire episode with Valll-

Likee, neither of them have much of a personalityy, they have jobss, they have titless, buut not much of a personalityy

What's Val's character aside from being a rapistt? What's Vox's character except being a manipulatorr?

"Buut Kevinn! Val's cunning and manipulative andd-" Noo, you're lying to yourselff. You're thinking of fanon instead of realityy, you're thinking of Val from before the show actually came outt. I'm talking about the Val from the actual showw, the show that airs on Amazon Primee-

And they're canonn! They're canon from only after being in 2 (slightly 3 if you count episode 4) episodes together without next to no buildup whatsoeverr, 'cause of course R2 ships it tooo! And knowing that Viv's friends with R2 of course she's gonna make it canonn

Likee, I'd have not as much of a problem with it's sudden inclusion in the finale if it were actually built-up uponn, buut it's just suddenly there with nothing building up upon it prior to the finalee, it's jarringg, much like a lot of things within this showw

It would've been better if it were actually built up upon within the seasonn, and then actually having it appear in season 2 if the Vs were to get more screentimee

Seee, you can have ships with villains and make it workk. Much like a normal shipp, you have to build up upon it so that it doesn't feel artificial and appear at random out of nowheree.

Probably the best example that I could give of this would be the ship of my own OCss, Kabastion (that being Kevin and Sabastion from my own showw ((El Origen De Los Shadows)) respectivelyy

With Sabb, obviously he's a rapist and a murderer (no dip sherlock he's literally the main antag of season 1 because of thatt) but he's intimidatingg, from his introduction alone in the show you can already tell something's off with the guyy, he's actually shown to be manipulativee, rather than being a whiny crybabyy, he actually proves himself to be a threat by the end of episode and throughout the entirety of season 1-

With Kevinn, from where he is in his introductionn (juvie for murder and committing a sch**l sh**ting) and his description from Sab while he visited him in juvie in season 1, you can already tell that he's a threatt, moreso even with his behaviors proving himself to be that wayy, the guy's proven to be cunningg, manipulative and unpredictable along with other thingss, which is even moreso highlighted in season 2 alongside with his crimess-

Buut the thing iss: Their crimes aren't their characterr, it's not what their personality iss. They have a similar personality to each other and THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINTT, they're sadomasochistic psychopathss, Kevin would rather have a partner who's exactly like him so he won't get boredd, same with Sabb! And their relationship is built up upon throughout season 1 and highlighted in season 2!

I could talk about these two so much and how complex these two are buut that could be for your own character analysis for those who actually watch the showw ('cause they're meant to be analyzed and not taken at face valuee)

Anywayy, my point iss, is that if you want to make a good ship with two villainss, you need to make those villains have actual character and personality within the source materiall, Voxval has nothing with that to make their characterss, and in turn the shipp, appealing to those who don't indulge in fanonn

Aside from thatt, this toxic yaoi was made in a lab with no development priorr

[pochqmqri]

One change the Railgun anime adaptation does compared to the original manga is introduce Kongou much earlier. In the manga, she isn't introduced until after the Sisters arc, but in the anime, she's introduced in the very first episode of Season 1, and becomes a prominent side character up until the Silent Party arc of Railgun S.

I'm fine with what the anime did, because I think Kongou is one of the more underrated characters in Railgun, and she's great in Silent Party and the Daihasei Festival, but I also feel that the anime cutting out her proper introduction takes out a chunk of her backstory and characterization that makes her truly great.

To start off, there's this running gag where Misaka, trying to break away from a persisent guy, named Unabara, runs into Kongou, the new girl at school, and tries to pretend she's her friend so that she can get away from Unabara. This leads to a misunderstanding where Kongou beleives Misaka's name is Unabara for most of her introductiry chapters, and Misaka is too socially awkward to even introduce herself. It's absolutely hilarious.

Kongou is presented as this haughty ojou-archetype that's too in her pride, such as when she refused to accept help from Kuroko in escorting her to the dorms. Generally these characters can be one-dimensional, but we see with her that there's more than just the surface.

When she was just a little girl, Kongou learned from her father the idea that friends will naturally flock towards one of fine character, which she took the wrong way by allowing her pride and social status to get the better of her. She says to the other girls that they're "allowed" to be friends with her rather than asking directly if they want to be friends, which puts off those girls, who don't accept her indirect birthday invitation.

This reinforces her worldview that because those girls didn't want to hang out with her, they weren't worthy in the first place, rather than focusing on introspection.

Back to current day, and Kongou is the same, even more entrenched in her beliefs, putting herself on a pedestal, that if anyone has a problem with her, it's their fault and not hers. This is why she was immediately drawn to the idea of factions at Tokiwadai, because she desired a clique like the one Shokuhou has.

However, her facade begins to break, as she comes to term with her lonliness underneath all that bravado. She begins to wonder if she's the problem instead.

Her lonliness showed earlier when, after Misaka and Kongou break away from the pushy guy, they start to hang out, which the latter enjoys, stating that she had never done something like that before. But when Misaka finally breaks away at the end, Kongou remembers that this was only born out of a "pretend" situation. Because of the way she grew up, Kongou finds it difficult to be actually honest about her feelings, that all she wanted was a friend.

Misaka comes back to return something to Kongou, which confuses the sheltered girl as she wonders why she'd go through all the effort for her (it's not that relevant to the analysis but Kongou still doesn't know that Misaka is the famed Level 5 Railgun in the school). Misaka replies that it's because she's her friend, which touches the girl, to seemingly be finally considered a friend by someone.

It all comes back full circle at the end, where after Kongou realizes the errors of her ways, the two random girls she met earlier while faction seeking, Wannai and Awatsuki of the swim team, come to Kongou, ask to join her faction. Kongou turns them down, saying that she would rather be friends with them instead, which they accept.

And I think this is just wonderful, it sets up why Kongou, Wannai, and Awatsuki hang out together in the anime and why Kongou is so helpful towards Misaka in the later arcs. She could have easily taken on a more antagonistic and cliquey role like Shokuhou initially has, but her development is actually a joy to read through. It's such a shame that these few chapters weren't properly adapted into the anime.

Kongou is one of my favorite characters in Railgun, one that I find truly underrated, not just for her backstory, but also for how much of a team player she (and the two swim girls) are in the Silent Party and Daihasei Festival arcs. I want to write about that another time.

[solar-wing]

I also realized that Sky's character has no meaning in Fate, it is only to give drama to Stella and Bloom's friendship, when it was not necessary to destroy this friendship. Fate's worst mistake was destroying Stella and Bloom's friendship, because of a stupid love drama.

If you take that drama away, Sky's presence makes no sense. Brandon and Riven would have been better (although Beatrix should have been called Darcy from the beginning).

But Bloom has to have love interests, I guess, when really Bloom is still the same with or without Sky.

Also, it's a shame that Sky's character always focuses on Bloom, Sky gains a lot when he is separated from Bloom.

no seriously!

I didn't really think about it too much when I was just watching the show, but then when I started writing the story and was trying to figure out how to build Sky's story, I was like "damn, you really don't need to be here."

at least for season one. season two, he played more of a role so it made sense, but season one was literally a straight up "ariana, what are u doing here???"

but it wasn't that hard to give him more plot to his story, it was just more of shock like damn, if it wasn't bloom or stella, you would literally have no reason to be here. bloom's story is barely affected by sky's presence, compared to the animation where literally every five seconds it "oooh sky...", "sky doesn't love me anymore!" "why is sky acting like this???" gurl...get a fucking grip. I'm sorry, but I can only take so much.

it made me actually appreciate the live-action version more cause I appreciated seeing the relationship not take too much away from the Bloom as a character. like watching the animation, it's like 50% of this girl's identity is who her boyfriend is. free me, I beg...

but I was disappointed to see them using Sky as a tool between Bloom and Stella, which I also can say I 100% saw coming. like it was such a common thing in the fanfics before the live-action, and then again, seeing the preview and the literally first 5 minutes of the show, I was watching and I was like, ooh...typical. but again, wasn't too mad cause Stella's storyline and the overall plot made up for it.

however, Beatrix is definitely not Darcy's equivalent, she's Stormy's. Cause at the end of season two, Stella had the card with her sister's name on it and they were both clearly indicated to be the live-action versions of Icy and Darcy. Beatrix was an air fairy, and considering all her signature lightning magic and stuff, it was very clear who she was representing. How I saw it, Icy would have been a water fairy that freezes every damn thing as usual, and Darcy would have been a mind fairy, being that she was the witch of darkness and illusion in the animated series.

my biggest gripe with a lot of the romances was how they went out of their way to be different from the original to the point it was unrecognizable. Like Aisha's romance with the blood witch Gray I think his name was...please. If y'all don't stop playing in my damn face and get Nabu up in here! and I'd also would have liked to see Brandon come in. One thing that was always sweet to me in the animated series was how Brandon always put Stella first and was her rock in a lot of situations outside of her friends. And in this series, I would've really liked to see someone put Stella first and see past the person she shows herself to be.

but with this story, I definitely wanted to give Sky a plot that wasn't solely connected to his relationship with Y/N or Bloom. So i hope a do a good job.

heh. anyway...

IT'S THE POWER OF CHARMIX, THE MAGICAL LIGHT…🧚🏽‍♀️🌈✨🌟☀️💫🔥💦🫧 THE POWER OF CHARMIX, AND YOU WILL SHINE BRIGHT!🔥💫🌟🌈💥🧚🏽‍♀️🫧 SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY! LIGHT IT UP THE SKY! 🔥🪽💥🌈💦🌙🧚🏽‍♀️✨☀️ IT'S EASY IF YOU TRRRYYYYYYYYYYY!🔥💫💥🌟🌈🫧💦🌙🧚🏽‍♀️

[loveforlandonorris]

🎤 Lando at the Drivers' Press Conference before the Bahrain GP:

(This video isn't mine, I'm in the UK so I can't access F1 TV sadly 😔 This video was uploaded on YouTube but has since been removed. Also only the first few Journalist Questions were shown in the video, so although they weren't shown, Lando did answer some questions, they're in the transcript)

Transcript

Interviewer: So, Lando, you're closest to me, so you'll start off. Um, obviously, we've had a bit of a break since, uh, the testing, and McLaren last year made such a rapid rate of development. Where are you at ahead of the first race? What are your thoughts and feelings?

Lando: Uh... good question.

Interviewer: Come on, Carlos (Carlos arrives late)

Lando: (Laughs) Uh... yes, it's a question I think everyone's asking. I think we kind of have a rough idea of where we're at, but, um... we don't actually really know where we stand comparing to a few other teams. I think it's clear - the top two, then there's a bit of a bunch behind, which is Mercedes, Aston, us, kind of thing. But in terms of just how the pre-season test went, it was a lot better than last year, and we're in a much better position than last year, so that's the most important thing.

Interviewer: Okay, brilliant.

Journalist Questions:

Q1: (Andrew Benson - BBC Sport) This is for Lewis, Lando, and Fernando. F1 as a sport has said it's making efforts to improve diversity. What's your reaction to the fact that someone accused of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague has been left in his role and been given a platform in official press conferences while an investigation into those allegations was still ongoing?

Lando: I think it's got nothing to do with us for the time being that investigations underway, things are happening. And something I'd prefer to stay out of for now, so simple as that.

Q2 (Niharika Ghorpade - Sportskeeda): To Lando, you seem to be pessimistic after the test. Is there any area of performance you're worried about?

Lando: It's just the honest answer of, I think, where we stand. I think until we get to Friday, we get to Qualifying, it's tricky to know where we're going to stand against some other teams. I think it's pretty close with several. I think there's a lot of expectation for us as a team just because of how well we progressed last year. Certain races, we were the closest to Red Bull and definitely not far away. Certain other races we were still a long way off, you know, easily behind Mercedes, easily behind Ferrari, easily behind Red Bull and at times fighting with the teams behind that. So we were still just very inconsistent.

Bahrain has never been a good circuit for us. We've never had one of our strongest races ever in Bahrain. So I think it's way too quick to judge and just say, "okay, we're not going to be great here in Bahrain. That's the end of the season for us". I think for everyone, because everyone's so up and down, you have to give us 2 or 3, 4 or 5 races to get the first, I think, honest review of where everyone stands against one another and not just judge it off of the performance that we're going to see here in Bahrain.

A combination of things, stuff that we still need to tackle if we want to make sure we've taken a step forward, which I think we have. We've made the car quicker and that's very clear from all the data we've got. But certain things haven't allowed us to progress as much as what I would have liked and I think as we all would have liked as a team. And also some of those issues are just highlighted a lot here in Bahrain, just because of the nature of the circuit.

So I'm still confident when we go to certain circuits. We were very fast at last year, like, going back to Suzuka and things like that. I'm confident we can still be one of the best cars. But Bahrain has just not suited our car ever, necessarily. And exactly for that reason, I think that's why we're going to struggle a bit more here. But I'm confident we can turn it around later down the line.

[userautumn]

what are we thinking about eddies upcoming storyline? I mean it’s definitely going to be linked to masculinity, but will that also include sexuality? if that’s true I’m guessing tommys a gonner

i don't think this current arc is going to lead to a sexuality realization but i don't think it's not going to lead to one either.

walk with me.

parts of this season feel very much like a season 5 redo in the sense of the firefam being split apart, buck having a longterm (relatively longterm) love interest, etc. one of the hallmarks of season five was eddie's battle with his father and with himself. in 5x17, eddie came to terms with the idea that he had childhood trauma that hadn't been addressed. so he addressed it. and in that addressing, there was - and i will maintain this forever - subtextual acknowledgement that his wants for himself were not his parents wants for him, and he was okay with that. these wants include his choice of a partner.

now, i could write here about the shannon / ana / buck of it all but there are a million thinkpieces about that so i'll just summarize. shannon was someone eddie chose for himself, much to his parents disapproval. ana was someone eddie chose for everyone else, as she was objectively "perfect" for him in every way. so buck, who has been textually compared to shannon, but male, would be someone eddie once again picks for himself, post-having this grand realization.

but, obviously, for reasons related to the studio rather than the narrative, this storyline didn't take. so now we fast forward to season eight and eddie stands on the verge of having another realization, deeper this time - a realization that requires him, once again, to dig to the seat of his trauma. and, this season, i am willing to bet that he will find there the same thing he found the first time: what he wants. he will find his selfishness there, he will find his desires there. he will find and acknowledge himself, in all his fullness. not as a father, or a son, or a soldier, or a medic, but as a man. and, sorry to anyone who disagrees with me, but who eddie is as a man is a queer man. i don't hate straight!eddie, and can acknowledge that that's who he is canonically, as of this moment. but there is so much subtext that suggests he is not heterosexual and that's a reading i will maintain.

so. from where i'm standing, the subtext is there but as i've mentioned before, eddie is never going to be the one to come out and say it. whereas buck's sexuality has always been wrapped up in his sense of identity and how he interacts with the world, eddie's (presumed) sexuality is wrapped up in how he views himself and how he honors and reveres and holds space for himself. so eddie's never going to be the guy who has a coming out arc because the being queer part has never terrified him. the wanting has always terrified him, not being what everyone wants him to be has always terrified him. so, yes, i do think there are seeds of queer!eddie we'll be able to identify in this upcoming arc. but i don't think they'll be anything like what we got in 7x4. and, lets be honest, it wouldn't make for good tv anyway.

two queer guys on the same show coming out a season after the other? fucking boring and humiliatingly cliche, transparent, and unserious. come on. on any other show with any other character, i'd be like "god do these people not have any more fucking material? 🙄what kind of diversity quota are they trying to meet?" and it wouldn't matter if the decision to make this character queer was a decision made passionately and in earnest, because it would feel disingenuous and like it's all part of some bigger scheme to thrust the Token Queers together and, i have to be honest, i selfishly want better for eddie than that. i don't want his sexuality to be viewed as checkmark on the road to buddie. ahem.

so, all that to say. the possibility of eddie, once again, reckoning with himself and who he is at his core leading to a subtextual acknowledgement of his wants and non-traditional/non-heterosexual desires is fairly high. and if eddie ends the season single, and buck ends the season single, i'll say okay, we might finally have something here. i've always maintained that, post-ABC reboot, if buck and eddie were to ever get together, it would be during season 9. but if eddie meets a girl in 8b, or if buck is still with tommy, or if they're broken up and he meets a girl, or if he meets another guy then eddie's sexuality will still be what it's going to be, it just won't relate to buck in any capacity.

jesus this was a lot of words. who am i