#Maybe weird to say but trying to copy the way he writes feels like understanding him a little

[revolutionarywig]

I think i can do a pretty good robespierre signature forgery

[grandlinedreams]

absolutely love your writing 😭 you write law so in character its so good. i want to see laws reaction to reader accidentally (or not) discovering his nerdy sora comics collection. ty 💛

Hi!! Thank-you so much, that's an honor 🥺 I'm a lil obsessed w him istg (more than a little but anyways) here you go, I hope you enjoy it!!

You're acting weird. To be fair though, in a crew as diverse as the Heart Pirates, "weird" is a subjective thing and depends on who Law is meaning.

You're acting weird for you. There's an odd jumpiness to you now, specifically whenever Law is involved ㅡ and he wonders if he's done something wrong.

Your relationship is still fairly new to you both, still trying to find the perfect balance between professionalism and something softer and more intimate.

Law mentally filters through your interactions (both as crewmates and not) and when he comes up with nothing, he decides to ask you.

"Have I done something to upset you? I'd like to know so I can fix it." He watches confusion flicker across your face, then guilt.

"No, you didn't do anything." You bite your lip, a habit he's been trying to break you of. Instinctively, he reaches to press his thumb against your bottom lip, tugging it free of the worried knead of your teeth. "Promise you won't be mad?"

Now it's Law's turn to be confused. "It depends on what you did," he answers honestly and immediately kicks himself for the way you shrink back. "As long as it has nothing to do with the integrity the Polar Tang and you haven't sold us out to the Marines, it can't be that bad."

That at least gets a ghost of a smile from you. "As if I'd ever do either of those," you tell him, a hint of pride in your voice. The Polar Tang is your home, and the Heart Pirates are your family.

"Continue," he prods gently, and the nervousness returns to your expression. He gives you a moment, watches as you steel yourself before you blurt in a tumbled rush of words,

"I maybe sort of accidentally found your Sora Warrior of the Sea comics."

It takes him a long moment to parse out what you've said, and you watch as his expression shifts to an unreadable one, brim of his hat shadowing his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," you say, feeling even worse than you have the last couple of days. "I didn't mean to, honest. Bepo needed a copy of a report from a few days ago and I thought I'd seen you put it in one of the drawers andㅡ" You halt, voice wavering. "I'm really sorry."

You mean it. He knows you do, knows you'd never breach his privacy without good reason ㅡ even as close as you are now, there are things he's not ready to talk about, or show.

In the grand scheme of things, the discovery of his carefully curated collection of beloved comics is not the end of the world. Hardly a punishable offense, even though you're clearly expecting him to be pissed.

"It's okay, [Name]." He watches as you visibly relax, though there's still a nervous edge to you. "I'm not upset, just...surprised."

"Understandable," you mumble. "For what it's worth, it's a nice collection. I wanted to get into it when I was younger, but I never got a chance to."

He perks up a little at that, latches onto the opportunity you've given him. "If you'd like," he says, "we can read them together. If you want, I mean."

Another little flake off that careful barrier he's built around himself, another soft spot exposed ㅡ trusting you not to abuse it. As if you ever would ㅡ his trust in you is one of your most teasured things.

"Law?" He looks at you, taking in that wonderful smile he'd do unspeakable things to protect. "I'd love that."

[agentarc]

fox headcanons for the fic i might actually try to write

this is copy-pasted from notes app so the formatting is gonna be weird

fox autism and mental health HCs

- difficulty understanding his own emotions. he can’t describe what he’s feeling. if asked to elaborate, he might describe things ineloquently, or using metaphors

- sometimes struggles to understand other people’s emotions. he’s not very in tune with his own, and he finds it hard to relate to others in general. it’s easier with clones, but for natborns it’s a lost cause.

- afraid of Feeling His Feelings. he’s always staving off a mental breakdown, and thus can’t afford to Feel and have the dam break, because if he has a breakdown he Will Die. (he doesn’t know anything about panic attacks or meltdowns — he just thinks he’s defective. since he can’t afford to be anything less than perfect, he has taken every measure possible to keep the breakdowns behind the dam.)

- his facial expressions don’t always match the emotion he’s feeling

- doesn’t know how to show love and affection in a “normal” way. his way of loving is to keep everyone safe and healthy, even at the expense of himself, and even at the expense of others outside of his family.

- touch-adverse and touch-starved at the same time. (he’s afraid of touching people in part because he worries he’ll corrupt them with his wrongness)

- pressure and dark, enclosed spaces are very comforting

- stimming habit. he thinks it’s unbecoming (and so did his trainers as a cadet) and thus has tried to train it out of himself, but he still falls back on certain low-key stimming habits when he’s focused or not paying attention to himself.

- control freak

- meticulously tidy, though his own hygiene is lacking

- forgets / doesn’t know how to take care of himself

- food-adverse. can only tolerate one variety of ration bars and they’re not always available. he survives off forced bites and caf. (potential to explore other types of food? ration bars are safe and familiar, but we might explore other safe foods after the war is over…)

- dissociation — sometimes he doesn’t feel real and he doesn’t know how to articulate that. it feels wrong in every way, but it keeps the paralyzing breakdowns at bay so he has started using it as a coping mechanism. he feels like he’s on autopilot, like he’s making these decisions from a faraway place and isn’t quite tethered to his body. if he has to appear normal while actively panicking, he’s probably dissociated to some extent, not allowing himself to come to terms with the reality of whatever’s going on, allowing autopilot to take over. (he doesn’t like to think about it, and might spiral if forced to address it)

- strange relationship to pain. it makes sense to him, and he finds it grounding. it can tether him when he’s dissociating. not only is it the body’s natural way of saying it’s injured, but it can also be a befitting consequence or punishment, which he genuinely thinks he deserves. (he knows this applies to him and him only — he’s always been different from other clones) (maybe he has a deep scar somewhere accessible with his armor on, and pressing on it causes pain or numbness. wrist? palm? maybe one if his habits is repeatedly clenching his fist in a way that presses on it)

- self-mutilation, like knuckle biting, skin picking, digging his fingernails into his arm, exacerbating existing injuries

- he feels like a droid, or like he wishes he was a droid. he knows he’s not, but sometimes thinks it would be easier to maintain his body. during dissociation or breakdowns, he might use pain or blood to remind him that he’s still human

- compulsion to *fix*. he is always there for his brothers, not only because it’s his duty as commander and as ori’vod, but because his brothers are the most important thing in the world to him. without his purpose as his brothers’ keeper, he has zero self-worth. when things start getting harder, he will have more trouble coming up with the solution and it will seriously upset him. he will also get confused and frustrated when his vode don’t come to him with their issues — he’ll believe it’s because he’s a failure of an ori’vod. later, after the collapse, he will be so burnt out that anyone having any expectation of him at all will be triggering. (or maybe the opposite is true — not having orders or a direction leaves him floundering and he will spiral and spiral. could be that both are true, that he needs orders or a job or something, but anything outside the scope of his ability or mental capacity will cause a stress breakdown)

- trust issues. he can’t be vulnerable with pretty much anyone at all — at least he won’t if he can help it — and will never be fully relaxed in the company of people he doesn’t explicitly know and trust.

- paranoid. every single thing out of place is a threat.

- hates crowds

- hates people looking at him without his armor on. he always feels exposed and vulnerable, and he’s ashamed of all the scars he has. since his job is supposed to be “the easiest of the entire GAR,” he thinks there’s no excuse to be so scarred, and the only reason he would be is because he can’t defend himself adequately. plus, if he’s asked about his scars, it’s not really easy to explain that they’re from the red guard beating the shit out of him for fun

- hates the sonics because of the sound, and also because of the freshers’ communal nature. he will only shower at odd hours, and usually has one of the other commanders guard the door.

personality HCs

- as a cadet, and at the beginning of the war, fox was a cunning trickster and full of chaos. he becomes quieter and more worn down as the war continues.

- he loves mischief and fun, but at this point in his life has forgotten how to have fun. when he was a cadet, his slyness and cunning made him the perfect prankster. if he ever went too far and hurt or offended someone, cody would step in and tell fox to apologize, which fox does. he’s never meant to hurt anyone with his tricks.

- he doesn’t necessarily tell jokes, but his dry wit and sarcasm and his darker sense of humor makes him pretty funny sometimes

- although he would never admit it, he absolutely loves being surrounded by his brothers while they’re having a good time. he rarely joins in on the fun, bogged down by stress and illness, but wishes he could. regardless, he loves to soak up the good vibes, and his brothers laughing and happy is one of the only things that makes his heart soar.

- chronically tired

- chronically freezing cold

- chronically stressed tf out. he’s been under so much stress for so long that he’s been permanently shaped by it.

- outwardly, he’s all cold durasteel walls and ruthless determination. he’s meticulously neat, always demonstrating perfect form, his armor polished to a shine. an unstoppable force who will overcome any immovable object. he’s capable of making the hard choices and doing whatever it takes. anyone who doesn’t know him well enough will assume that he’s an uptight, hard-ass, self-righteous jerk who cares only about orders and duty, even at the expense of brothers. because of this, he’s not a popular or well-liked clone. (this bothers him a lot more than he lets on.)

- in reality, the safety and wellbeing of ALL brothers is his highest priority. he’s most loyal to those in his circle, and because of the position he’s in, it can appear as though he doesn’t care about anyone else.

- fox loves and cares so deeply that it IS the core of who he is. everything he does is for his family, even if his actions seem at odds with that.

- he trusts seldomly, but deeply. he is not relaxed with anyone he doesn’t trust, and sometimes STILL isn’t trusting enough to relax.

- he’s affectionate in his own way, which is to say non-traditionally. his way of taking care of people is to make sure everyone’s taken care of, taking care of themselves, and following rules. with certain vode, he may offer touch as comfort.

- has a very impressive sabacc face, although he’s pretty much always panicking over something. if he’s actively panicking but has to appear normal, he will most likely be dissociated to some extent.

- when in commander mode, he looks calm and collected, with an appropriate amount of urgency. he’s quick-thinking, cunning and clever, sharp-tongued and decisive, and in complete control. if he’s having a particularly rough time, anyone who doesn’t know him well enough wouldn’t be able to tell. closer vode can pick up on his subtle tells.

- a low-key stressed but relaxing fox is very subdued. small grins, wisecracks and one-liners, snickering along, but on the quiet side.

- a truly happy fox throws his head back when he laughs and smiles with all his teeth. his eyes are bright and sharp and full of mischief. he’s much more willing to initiate physical contact, and even grab a brother to wrestle playfully.

- when he’s having a rough one, he’s barbed and unreachable. he says nasty things and never means them, wanting to push others away.

- he’s always busy. he always has an insurmountable workload. when too overwhelmed, he will shut down, become paralyzed and be unable to complete anything at all, triggering a meltdown.

- a truly relaxed fox is boneless. for once in his life, he’s not on the move.

- under different circumstances, a happy fox would be nearly as busy as he is at this point, but on his own terms instead. he’d be doing stuff with his hands, filling his time with jobs and projects.

- allergic to downtime. he always has to be busy. if something needs to be done, he will be unable to relax until it’s done. if there’s nothing to do, he will either create more work for himself or start spiraling.

[satoriberry]

niko ikki crushing on you!! :>

❥ summary: headcanons with a pining niko [requested by anon]

❥ pairing: niko ikki x gn!reader

❥ watch out for: nothing!! just cute stuff with some crack + reader is oblivious asf btw not proofread

- let me preface by saying that i love this guy so much

- ok lets start

- you're a student at his school and you just happen to catch his attention

- maybe it was your charm, maybe it was the kindness that you treated everyone with unconditionally, but whatever it was, it pulled on his heart strings and made him a sucker for you

- you're just so perfect and beautiful and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA <- representation of his thoughts about you

- everytime you walk past him, he just feels the urge to turn around and pull you into his arms but he can't because no.

- that's not how real life works

- even if you're not in the same class as him, he'd still try to find where you're hanging out in the school so he can sit far away and.....observe you.

- he does that a lot. his afro allows him to hide his eyes so you wouldn't tell whether he was staring at your or not

- doesnt have the courage to talk to you directly, but whenever he can, he tries to join conversations with mutual friend groups. he gets to hear your voice more closely :)

- he's an avid anime watcher (canon) and what he watches is influenced by his current life status

- so when he falls for you, you bet your ass he's watching all them cheesy shoujo anime where the male love interest is a suave, cool hottie so he can project onto him

- but at the same time, he feels so cringe because he thinks you'd definitely see him as some kind of weird loser with no social life

- tries to understand you by piecing together stuff his friends and classmates say about you, like favourite colour, food, celebrity, movie etc

- buys merch of your favourite band in hopes that it'll catch your attention and you'll walk up to him to talk :(

- he's bad at dropping signals and thinks that the most subtle gestures will attract you. they don't. you're too fucking dumb.

- his friends tease him for that a lot

- "bro, doodling their favourite character on your notebook will not make them notice you" "shut the fuck up, you don't know shit."

- seriously, he's so romantically inexperienced and doesn't know how to go about it

- during a particularly windy day, his bangs flew up and revealed his eyes when you were sitting on the rooftop (him alone and you with your friends). he ran off from embarrassment but left behind the book he was reading

- later that day, you walked up to him to return his book and while doing that, you slipped a complement about his eyes and how they were cute

- he screamed into his pillow when he got back home.

- but!!!! he can now talk to you!!

- buys your preferred candy by "accident" and gives it to you because "he pressed the wrong button on the vending machine"

- loves the little smile you wear when enjoying it ♡

- started to give you little acknowledgement nods when crossing each other in hallways. his brain melts when you nod back with a grin

- he daydreams about you a lot and even does that dreamy sigh thing with his cheek against his palm

- he....

- he has a manifestation journal and sporadically writes affirmations with your name in them...

- anyways.

- wants to invite you to soccer practice so you can watch him pull off sick tricks but doesnt know howwww >:/

- asks his friends to say good stuff about him so you can think he's cool

- "yeah niko regularly helps at a cat shelter", "he tutors my brother every sunday", "ive seen him adopt strays"

- at some point they started to say some ridiculous things so he had to force them to stop 💀💀

- watches your mannerisms closely and subconsciously copies them

- the way you open your drinks, tap your feet against the floor to make sure your shoes fit right, pop your neck in specific directions

- when he realizes what he's doing, he buries his face in his hands and lets out a high pitched scream with his face turning into a dark shade of pink

- gets really mushy when thinking about you, writes your name in hearts a lot

- turns into a mess when you're cheerfully talking to him about something you like

- once caught you napping in the library and took it upon himself to sit next to you and make sure nothing bad happens

- by the way that's a lie because nothing that bad could've happened and he wanted to gaze at your calm sleeping figure

- literally squealed as he watched you softly adjust your head on your arms

- so. we can conclude by saying that niko is really awkward when it comes to you and he has some pretty unorthodox methods of expressing his feelings, but he never loses hope that, maybe one day, you'll see him in the same light (he's a dumbass that can't see you already do)

[danaedanette]

About racism in ACOTAR

I hate the expression "lesser faerie". It's really horrible to name entire species like this, and more so to call them "lesser" to their face. Plus, we already know that you're racist and arrogant, it's in your name : High Fae. We get it, you're better than everyone else, blabla. No need to overkill it and call others the "lesser" beings, it's insensitive and frankly, if we think about it, it can also come across as insecure. "I'm a HIGH FAE I'm BETTER than you, you're LESSER" yeah yeah, we know.

SJM did not think real hard about this and it's sadden me, because writing about fae is really about limitless opportunities. Faes have some rules like no lying, or the time in fae realms is weird, and some others (and we all know that SJM followed and respected exactly zero of those rules). But as with their appearances and their powers, writers can go crazy and do almost anything they want. And we have SJM, renowned all around the world for her ACOTAR series and her fae writing, and what does she serve us ? Bland ass character. The most human looking her fae are, the most powerful they are. The most "high". Like, not only her faes are raging misogynists, they're also racists. We want escapism, not a carbon copy of our own world with a pinch of glamour

Also, I want to talk about Cassian. Now, we know that Illyrians are considered with contempt by about everyone, so I won't bother pulling quotes from the book. We also know that Cassian, as a bastard, know what it's like to be rejected and hated for something he has no control over, here, his birth. He was just born this way, exactly like "lesser faeries" are born this way. And yet, all Cassian has to say on the matter is : "and we're not lesser faeries, though some try to call us that. We're just — Illyrians". (ACOMAF, chapter 16 page 151) Maybe he doesn't mean anything but it's just feel so... condescendant to me. I feel like there is a subtext of "we're better than lesser faeries" in his phrase.

So. I guess there is no real point to this rant except that SJM is a shitty author. She can't name a specie (or rather, specieS, plural) "lesser faeries" and just leave it there and expect the readers to merrily keep on reading about Feysand fucking in the sky. There is so many issues with using the name "lesser faeries" that need to be adressed. And I genuinely think that SJM just didn't understand that there were issues in using this name in the first place. It's kind of impressive having so little thoughts about your own worldbuilding and about the words you're using when, you know, you're a writer.

So... yeah. If you have thoughts about it, I would love to exchange !

[mrsnancywheeler]

Billy Dunne who when you get into a fight reminds you of who you are to him. He’s got girls who would kill to be you, you’re not all the special.

But honestly? Why does he describe you in his songs?

this because a pretty long blurb with mentions of drugs and alcohol and toxicity

he's so endlessly infuriating, he can be so quick to anger, mixed with drugs and alcohol of it all, he's callous, harsh, hateful even. so you've learned not to attempt and not take him too seriously when he's in one of his moods, but recently it's been an endless spiral of them. all he does is write, practice, record, perform, drink, do any drug he can get his hands on, and especially when your not on whatever he is, it pushes all your buttons. he finally finds the straw that breaks the camels back when does a line off one of the bands groupies tits.

you've never been under any false pretenses about your relationship, you never assumed he'd want to settle down and marry you, but the bare minimum is while he calls you his girl, he keeps his paws off of everyone else. and if he wanted to do a line like that so badly he could've asked you, you would have indulged him. of course you're pissy and snappier then usual, so when he's saying he wants to go down to the bar after drinking most of the bottle of whiskey you were supposed to split you fucking lose it.

on and on about how ridiculous it is that he does all the shit he does, how pathetic he is to be acting the way he does, and it does not fair well.

"if we're talking about pathetic, baby, we can talk about the groupie in the room, fucking her way to the top."

you're lighting a cigarette like it'll clear your head even if realistically all it does is make the room smell. "you love a groupie billy, just wanna be at the top so everyone pines after you. get over yourself."

"you, get over yourself. everyone does fucking pine after me and they're lining up outside for it, you're not special. just because you're interesting enough to talk to doesn't mean you're the only one. the only thing you have, baby, is your daddy's money and the fact you get to fuck billy dunne. somebody else could fill that role just as easily."

you don't want to admit to yourself that it stings, but it does. you don't want to admit you've fully fallen for him, but you have. and you understand that's not the kind of lifestyle he wants so you've let him get away with so much, for so long, given him the push and pull, all your time, and he could find another carbon copy to fill your place in a heartbeat.

"and I can find another fucking band." you won't, you won't even try, but there's a weird satisfaction when you say it. the anger in his eyes matches how you feel. you're grabbing your purse and random items, you're not too worried about your clothes, your dad will give you money for more, and maybe a deep part of you knows you'll be back anyways.

"yeah go hide away in your daddy's house when things don't go your way! you're just another groupie, you'll get lost in the goddamn crowd."

"fuck off!" you're nearly out the door when his hands are on your face, he's pulling the cigarette out of your mouth, and you're cursing yourself for loving his touch so much.

"at least you're pretty, if you still want some fame they'll probably let you be a playboy bunny, you could be in the magazine." he's disgusting and you hate him, hate that you love him. you're scoffing and pulling away to leave, he's using your fucking cigarettes now.

"good luck finding someone to write your songs about, billy."

"playmate of the month, baby, maybe even playmate of the fucking year."

and a few weeks later he's calling you up at home, not to say he'll drink less, or try to sober up, and he doesn't even say he's sorry on the call.

"you should come over, baby." his voice is so intoxicating over and you're ready to give in. but you can't give in that easily.

"why?" although you sound sweet and soft enough that he probably already knows you're gonna give in.

"I've been working on something I wanna run past you, baby."

"past me?"

"yeah, need my girl to hear it first. make sure it's good." and when he calls you his girl you've already bended to him, all is forgiven because you need to be around him. so next time it happens you already know it'll just be the same thing. you're addicted to billy fucking dunne.

@nomorespahgetti

[monstersinthecosmos]

List 7 comfort films and tag 7 people!

Tagged by @ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet ! thanks!! I WROTE DOWN A FEW FAVS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD (IN NO ORDER) AND HAD 9, SO, I THINK IWTV 1994 GOES WITHOUT SAYING LMFAO, ALSO HONORABLE MENTION TO AMERICAN PSYCHO BC IT MAKES ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF EVERY TIME BUT I ULTIMATELY CUT IT FROM THIS PRESITIGOUS LIST.

is it obnoxious if i put some pictures in the post too? Sorry I get really excited to talk about movies hkjdslgasd please don't feel obligated to put pictures in yours, I'm just being extra.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day [1991]

LISTEN I CRY EVERY FUCKING TIME it's just the best, ROBOT DADDY??? HOT MOMMY???? The T-1000 is so scary?? ALL THESE RIDICULOUS EPIC FIGHT SCENES AND THE ACTORS ARE JUST NOT EMOTING AT ALL BECAUSE THEY'RE ROBOTS? The director's cut with the extra scene where John is trying to teach the Terminator to smile and you realize when he does his little side smirk it's because he's copying John's smile, bc when he copied randos it didnt fit on his face?!??! Eddie Furlong's voice cracking which feels like such a happy accident because he's a weak little fragile human in contrast to the killing machine?? PLEASE.

Hellraiser [1987]

IT'S WEIRD, IT'S KINKY, IT'S GAY, IT'S CHEESY, IT'S GOT PRACTICAL EFFECTS THAT ARE KINDA COOL BUT KINDA STUPID, IT'S GOT THE GRAINY 80S COZY FEEL, IT'S GOT INCREDIBLE FEMALE SEXUALITY AND BAD ACTING, I JUST LOVE IT. It's just a movie I put on when I need to relax and wow it just makes me really happy ;.;

Pet Sematary [1989]

okay this one and the next one and the last one are all GRAINY 80S COZY FEEL, you have to understand that I grew up watching 80s horror from like the age of 5 so that flim look, the grain, the flat lighting, it just !!!!!!! gives me so much cozy fuzzy warmth for childhood and I just adore it. Anyway !!!!!!1 I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH it's so extremely dark and also extremely absurd, somehow it's so magnetic that you are immediately immersed even though it's got the aesthetic of a bad TV movie, it's just wonderful I adore it. ALSO a rare super faithful Stephen King adaptation!

An American Werewolf in London [1981]

PRACTICAL EFFECTS MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!11 blah blah cozy 80s, but also! FUNNY! ROMANTIC! TRAGIC! SCARY WHEN IT NEEDS TO BE! I'm so deeply deeply impressed by the practical effects in this film, too! But wow it's so good every time, the hot nurse in this movie is a crazy monsterfucker I adore her, it's a good Armand/Daniel AU, the end is a gut punch every fucking time, it's the best, a naked American man stole my balloons, etc. Absolutely perfect film.

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain [2001]

VISUALLY STUNNING FILM ABOUT AN ASEXUAL WOMAN WITH SOCIAL ANXIETY, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I think this movie like, changed my life maybe? I think I saw it when I was 15 or so and it just had such a huge impact on me. I used to watch it so much I would just turn the subtitles off because I'd get distracted and didnt even need them anymore. It's a movie I used to bring with me when I traveled, like I brought the DVD with me when I studied abroad because I was so scared I'd have anxiety or get homesick, I just always wanted to be able to watch it if I need to. IF I WATCH THIS AT THE WRONG TIME OF THE MONTH I CRY MY EYES OUT which is cathartic in the end, idk if it's comfy or comforting but wow. but wow really amazing film it's so beautiful and had such a huge impact on my worldview and my creativity and the way I write and the way I do photography and just !!! ;.; I'm gonna cry!

The Departed [2006]

I really like it when Leo DiCaprio cries and he's not a super crybaby in his one but he does scream in pain and have the shit beat out of him and has panic attacks and needs anxiety meds! The cast is sick! The music is amazing! It's such cool storytelling!!! It's exciting every time! The ending fucks! GOD. Just wonderful, I love it so much. The Blu-ray starts over every time it ends so every time I watch it I tend to walk away and let it loop all day LOL. It's disgusting how many times I've watched it. ALSO MY BABE VERA FARMIGA WHAT A MILF god i love her.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall [2008]

this is like such a perfect comedy for my sense of humor, INCLUDING A BONUS DRACULA SUBPLOT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, but is actually such a clever and lovely story about getting over heartbreak wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this movie so fucking much oh my god. Also ever since I worked on ships I feel like especially potent to it because there's something about the social community within the resort that feels so much like the community of a cruise ship crew!! ;.;

Tagging (but no pressure!): @rugbertgoeshome @hekateinhell @mothmage @apoptoses @cup-of-lixx @somevagrantchild @covenofthearticulate

[flamebringer0]

More About Nightwing Powers

I decided I had more to say about this post, so I reblogged it and wrote some more. It seems like when you do that Tumblr doesn't put the post into tag searches, so nobody can actually find it. I'm just going to copy the full text into a new post. I'm sorry if this spams anyone's feed, I just don't understand how this site works yet. I've never actually had a blog before.

-----

Ohhhh damn I just had another thought about this. This is my problem, I think about this stuff all the time and I keep coming up with new things I think are cool, but now that I've written all this out and published it for the whole world to see I can't change it so easily.

It's actually fine though. These thoughts are kind of a mix of things I think are canon but sufficiently non-obvious to be worth stating (All Nightwings have powers at hatching and then lose them), things that are definitely not canon but I feel like it doesn't mess with the story too much to change them (Prophets have a silver scale on their foreheads), and things that are ambiguous and I'm just filling in the blanks (fake Nightwing magic is based on their sense of smell). But there's a fourth category, which is things that I don't like about canon but changing them would basically entail writing a whole new story. I'm pretty sure this new idea falls into the latter category, so I wouldn't really have put it in that post anyway.

But let's explore the hypothesis that Tui T Sutherland and Scholastic collectively lose their minds and give me the rights to Wings of Fire, and also I have infinite time, resources and motivation to make my own adaptation of the story. Then what happens? Well, the first thing is obviously to change animus magic to be something other than total omnipotence, because omnipotent characters are the kind of albatross (tee hee) you don't want around your neck when you're trying to write a coherent story. And the second thing is to make it so the terrible Rainwing queens in book 3 are hereditary royalty and Glory is not, because I've never liked the valorisation of hereditary royalty in WOF (or in general), and that would be an easy way to subvert that. And THEN I would turn scavengers into lizard people, because I am a furry and I think that's cuter than making them humans. Lol.

But somewhere down the list would be the fact that I don't actually vibe with the idea that normal Nightwing seers/mind readers apparently have a built-in power limiter that varies randomly according to the specific individual, and the special gift you get for hatching under three moons is just to have that limiter set to 0. I don't like this because, first of all, the fact that it works like that just doesn't fit into my brain in a satisfactory way. Hatching under zero, one, or two full moons each results in a qualitatively different outcome, so in my mind, the third full moon should also do something qualitatively different. But it doesn't, it's just the same as two full moons but better. And then I'm left to assume that there are probably very rare cases of twice-moonborn Nightwings who have all the power, just because whatever secondary factors there are happened to line up in their favor? Weird.

But the more important reason is, I don't really like the idea of Clearsight as someone who has extraordinary power because she just hatched that way. Nor do I like the fact that the reasons for this are, on the one talon, unexplained (maybe inexplicable?), and on the other, not a function of who she is as a character. I think it would make for a much stronger motif if run-of-the-mill seer Clearsight were able to take down once-in-a-generation chosen one Darkstalker because she's diligent and doesn't believe in destiny while he's entitled and sure of his glorious future. At its core this feeling is actually the same thing as what I said about the Rainwing queens above: I just don't find it satisfying when the hero has some kind of special trait that makes them naturally better than everyone else. A villain can have that, but a hero I want to prove themselves through their own efforts. But that's explicitly not what happened in canon: Clearsight IS naturally more powerful than all the other seers, that's an essential part of her story, and changing it requires basically rewriting the books. I don't love it!

So anyway in the universe where I'm rewriting the books, here's a thought about how Nightwing powers might work. This partially contradicts what I wrote above, but I've decided I'm cool with that. I love contradicting myself actually, and maybe next week I'll contradict all of this again. There are no laws.

Some Nightwings are seers, some are mind readers, a few are both, and most are neither. But aside from the fact that an individual might or might not have these powers, they don't vary in strength from dragon to dragon. All seers have equally strong abilities, and all mind readers have equally strong abilities. But the strength of the abilities does vary: not per individual, but over time. Specifically, the current state of the moons affects the abilities of empowered Nightwings. On a hypothetical "darkest night" with three new moons, all Nightwings are effectively powerless. On the brightest night, empowered Nightwings experience the full strength of their abilities. Seers can easily look down many different paths into the distant future, and mind readers can easily examine any information in the mind of another dragon. Of course, the phases of the three moons are not synchronous. Most of the time, the moons are all in different states, and empowered Nightwings experience abilities somewhere in between those extremes.

Above, I said that the "strength" of Nightwing abilities doesn't really vary per dragon. Strength, as I use the term here, only refers to the raw potential to look into the future or into another dragon's mind. But different individuals do have different levels of adeptness when it comes to applying their abilities. On the brightest night, any seer can look with relative ease into the far future, down multiple timelines, examining subtle ripples of possibility. The rest of the time, most seers can't use their abilities on that level, but a particularly adept one can get closer. What makes one seer more adept than another? Well, it's really just training. If you're someone who, for whatever reason, keeps looking into the future, over time you'll get better at it, just like anything you keep doing. This is what sets Clearsight apart from her peers. She isn't more blessed by the moons than them, because no seer is more blessed by the moons than any other. Clearsight just looks into the future all the time, to a degree nobody else does. She works harder on her visions than any other seer, so her abilities are more advanced than those of any other seer.

There is one exception to the maxim "no seer is more blessed by the moons than any other". The special gift of the thrice-moonborn is that they are exempt from the cyclical waning and waxing of power with the phases of the moons. They hatch on the brightest night, and its power soaks into them and becomes permanently part of them. And so, they live as if every night is a brightest night. They always have the potential to see the ripples that spread into many distant futures, and they can always pluck any information they want out of another dragon's mind. What other Nightwings may train and train for, these dragons do as easily as they breathe.

There are few Nightwings who never dreamed as dragonets about what it would be like to have hatched under three full moons. How different their lives could have been from those of the common powerless Nightwing, or even ordinary seers and mind readers! And not just directly because of what they could see: the thrice-moonborn are almost inevitably beloved by their tribe, showered with attention, and elevated to the highest strata of society. Wouldn't that be nice, think the dragons who could have walked that path but for something as meaningless as the sky under which they hatched.

It's unsurprising that many covet that life, but it's not entirely as pleasant as they imagine. The adulation that surrounds the most powerful Nightwings is instrumental. As laid out in excruciating detail just behind the eyes of smiling dragons, few love them for who they are; many more love them for what they are. They will never have any interaction with friends or family that isn't fundamentally shaped by the asymmetrical power dynamic implied by their abilities. It's easy for a dragon in that situation to become profoundly isolated, especially without support. But the brightest night comes so rarely that most Nightwings who receive its gift will grow up with neither peers, nor mentors who can relate to these experiences. That many ultimately respond in unhealthy, self-destructive ways is a given; that the self-destruction of such powerful dragons often also destroys those around them is a recurring tragedy in the history of the tribe.

But it's not inevitable. No dragon's fate is actually written in the stars or sealed by the moons. It's always possible to choose a different future.

[cherrylng]

Matt Bellamy Interview - Muse [INROCK (May 2000)]

A future superstar born between a medium and a former star musician!?

INTERVIEW: YUKO KATO

I've collected a lot of articles about you guys, and the interview with Melody Maker magazine was particularly interesting. Matthew Bellamy (vo., g.): The guy who wrote that article, Mark Beaumont, wants to write a rock 'n' roll story centred around sex and drugs. He doesn't give a shit about music. I only talked about the music and all he wrote was stupid jokes and stuff like that.

So you didn't say, "It's going to be a muse millennium"? Matthew: No, I didn't. I never said that. It's just an ordinary article, you know, you read it. But it's incredibly over the top. It's just terrible.

It says you guys won a newcomer award, what kind of award did you win? Matthew: Newcomer… Oh, the Newcomer of the Year award. Yeah, we won the NME Readers' Choice for Best Newcomer. (chuckles) We were on tour in Germany the day of the awards. So we had a gig the day before the ceremony, and then another gig in the evening on the day of the ceremony. But the NME still offered to pay for a small plane ticket, like a private one, so we could come. That's when I realised we must have won an award, because the NME rarely pays. So we decided that if they were going to pay for our flights, then fine, we'd go to the awards ceremony. We won the award, but we had to leave as soon as we were done. So we couldn't watch the rest of the awards ceremony. So we got on the plane and it took off and then landed again right afterwards. One of the engines was on fire. But it wasn't anything serious. It just started to catch fire a little bit. First of all, we were so happy about winning the award that we weren't afraid of the accident at all.

It says in Melody Maker that at the moment you guys are in all sorts of trouble, or you've had some near-death experiences. And it also says that your mother is a medium. Matthew: Yeah, my mum was a medium.

Is that why things tend to get so weird around you? Matthew: …Hmmm… I don't know. Maybe… I mean, I don't know. When you're alive and you're living your life in your own way, you don't really know what's normal and what's not, you know? I don't feel different from other people. Of course there are times when I don't, but most of the time I feel fine.

Does your mother influence you to see anything special? Do you believe in things that other people don't? Matthew: When I was a kid… You know what I mean by mediumship, contacting dead people, don't you? You know how you put your finger on a board with a bunch of letters on it and the spirits start talking? But mediums don't need such a board (so called "kokkuri-san"). Mediums can talk directly to the spirits. That's what my mother did. When I was a kid I used to see my mum talking to spirits every week. But as I grew up… I think when I was about 11 or 12, me and my brother got into mediumship. We didn't do the things that normal kids do, we only got mediumship. That's why my mother stopped her mediumship. She was worried that it would have too much of a bad influence on me.

What were you doing yourself? Matthew: Me? Me and my brother used to try to copy what our mother was doing. We wanted to try mediumship too. But you need special powers to be a medium. My mum had that, though. You have to understand something special. I'm an adult now and I don't think so much about the past. I don't even know if I believe it's really possible to talk to spirits now. Maybe it's possible subconsciously. It's an interesting thing, though.

I don't have the ability to see that kind of thing. Matthew: I don't either. I used to feel things when I was a kid, but as an adult I don't feel anything anymore. I've never even seen a spirit.

But I think it's good for an artist to have that experience. In short, you have sensitive senses, don't you? When I listen to your music, the melodies are very dramatic, which I like a lot, but I also feel that some of the songs have a very mysterious atmosphere to them. Do you think you can express that kind of spirituality in your music? Matthew: I never thought of it that way myself, but I guess so. My mum had a very spiritual life and so did her parents. But I've never really thought about that aspect of myself. I didn't think about it until you just told me (laughs). Maybe it's possible. That's interesting.

If you know that spirits exist, doesn't that make you less afraid of death? Matthew: Yes, it does. I've never been afraid of death. I'm not afraid of dying and leaving everything behind in this world, and I'm not afraid of forgetting all the memories I have in this world and moving on to another. I think fear is dangerous.

Dangerous? Matthew: If you're afraid of dying, you can't leave this world and go somewhere else, can you? People often say that when you're close to death, your whole life goes through your head in a flash, but sometimes I wonder if we all live the same life over and over again. It seems to me that the scene I'm living right now might be part of the running lights I see just before my death, when I'm living at another time. After death, we may have a different sense of time than we did when we were alive. When I'm afraid of death, I think that maybe I'll end up living over and over again, experiencing the running lights over and over again, and then I'll finally be ready to leave this world with a fixed mind and I'll finally be able to truly die. As long as you're afraid of death, you're probably in a circle that keeps turning over and over again like that. I'm sure that one day your fear will disappear and you will realise that death is not something to be afraid of and you will be ready to leave this world.

Do you think there is any underlying reason for being a rock star in this world? Being alive in this world right now is part of a cycle, isn't it? Matthew: Yeah. Yeah, maybe (laughs). Maybe we've been rocking over and over and over again. … I don't know what criteria you use to decide what's good enough to do what you're doing, and sometimes you pick something specific and it doesn't make any difference, you know? But you keep doing those things and when you finally get somewhere, I'm sure you'll be happy.

How was your last show in Tokyo? Matthew: It was a great show. The crowd was very quiet at first, but then it got more and more lively, and by the middle of the show everyone was jumping to the songs. It was a very lively show. I was a bit surprised. I thought it was going to be a quiet show. But it was a good audience, very energetic. I was a bit shy for the first couple of songs… I don't mean I was shy, but I was just concentrating on playing, and then I started looking at the audience instead of looking down. Then I started having more and more fun, and I started telling jokes and the audience started laughing and enjoying it. And the whole place got into a really positive mood. People reacted really well. When I look at the audience or go to the front with my guitar in my hand, people react really well.

Did you talk to the fans after the show? Matthew: Yeah. There were a couple of kids who followed us. They followed us into the restaurant. And when we went outside a couple of hours after dinner, they were still waiting for us. So I signed autographs and talked to them.

But you guys are used to that by now, aren't you? You have a lot of fans in France who are crazy about you. Matthew: It's definitely been an unusual experience, but it's not easy to get used to. Sometimes it's nice, but sometimes it's a bit difficult. I don't really know how to behave towards the fans. I want to be friendly and talk to them, but depending on who I'm talking to, I might be cold to them and let them down.

I've heard that the fan girl you talked to thought you were totally into her and broke up with her boyfriend. Did that really happen? Or are you just making that up? Matthew: It only happened to one person, but it really happened. There's a girl from Germany who comes to all our shows and follows us. When she first came, we spoke to her in a friendly way. She came to see our show and we had a few drinks together, and she was a very normal girl at that time. Then she started coming to all our concerts. When I didn't speak to her, she got very angry. I asked her why she was so angry. She said weird things like she had to break up with her boyfriend to come to see me. That's none of my business, right? But she expects to be treated specially.

I think some Germans are terribly obsessive. Matthew: Hmmm, maybe… That's true for that fan girl, but in general I don't think you can say that all Germans are clingy. I don't know Germans that well, but I've certainly had some weird experiences with fans like that.

Do you remember a band called Take That? When Robbie Williams left, some German fans killed themselves. Isn't that strange? Matthew: Yeah, it's very strange. Actually, the girl I was telling you about used to be a big Robbie Williams fan (laughs). When I heard that, I thought, "Hmm, maybe I should keep my distance from this girl…" (laughs).

Can you talk about the other band members? They're more like band mates, but they're really close, aren't they? How do you see yourselves in this kind of relationship? Matthew: Sometimes we get on like that, and sometimes we don't talk at all for a couple of weeks. But we're part of each other's lives. It's an interesting time with a lot of things happening and we have to talk about a lot of things. I think it's important for us to grow together as a band. Things are changing and I hope we can grow together. But of course it doesn't always work out that well. There are times when I'm really tired and everyone is quiet and I don't want to make a fuss.

You met Dominic when you were in your mid-teens, when your parents were divorced and you started thinking about who your real friends were. So I thought maybe your friendship was a bit different to a normal friendship. Matthew: Maybe it is. Maybe because we came from similar backgrounds. Of course we're different people, but the three of us are from the north of England and when we were teenagers, our respective parents all did the same thing. We all moved to the same part of Devon and changed schools. Of course we didn't know each other then, but coming from different parts of the UK to one place, we've had very similar experiences. The three of us had the same experience of changing schools, being separated from our friends and moving to a new place at the same time.

Are you wary of people approaching you? Matthew: Not really. I mean, sometimes I am, but who wouldn't be?

I heard about your father. He used to be a successful musician. You didn't tell me that before, did you? Matthew: (laughs) I didn't think I needed to… He was in the first British band to go number one in America… He was in a band. It's very different now, but my father used to work on a ship for the army or something, and he lived on the ship for years, and he got off the ship when he was about 19 or 20 years old. He saw an advert in Melody Maker for a guitarist at the time and joined a band, and two months later they had a number one hit. It was a band that had been there since the beginning, and they only needed a guitarist, so my dad got in.

And after that? Matthew: He was in it for three or four years and then it was over and he quit the band and started a normal job. Things were a lot different then than they are now. It was the end of the fifties, about 1959 or 1960, just before the Beatles and stuff came out.

So they couldn't become like the Beatles. Matthew: My dad's band was instrumental and didn't have a singer. The band was experimental and did music that was out of the ordinary for the time.

"I think it's important to avoid playing it safe all the time."

So it was quite natural for you to walk the path your father walked? Matthew: I knew my dad did that from a young age, and I'm sure he never felt uncomfortable with the idea of performing. So I've never been anxious about doing this kind of work.

But you're critical of showbiz and record labels because of what happened to your dad, aren't you? Matthew: Yeah. Because of that, my father lost a lot of money financially. Back then, bands were paid like a normal job, and even if you were number one, you still got paid the same. But that was the way it was then. It was a very different time in the '50s and the industry was just starting to come into being, and things are very different now.

Now, would you like to work with John Leckie (producer) again? There are a lot of people who compare you guys to Radiohead because of the John Leckie connection? Matthew: He's a great producer. But I want to work with a lot of different people. I want to do a lot of different things, I want to have new experiences, I want to take risks. I don't think it's important to avoid playing it safe. If we do another one with John Leckie, it might sound exactly the same as the first album, you know? I think it's good to try new stuff, to take the next step and do something a bit different from before. But of course I'd love to work with John Leckie again sometime in the future. But I just want to do something a bit different on the next album.

Don't you always hate being compared to Radiohead? Matthew: I don't really care that much about what the press says anymore. In the beginning, it was a huge shock when I read all the bullshit about us in magazines like Melody Maker. I was worried that my friends would read it and get the wrong idea about me.

Plus, that Melody Maker article makes you seem like a very pompous person. Matthew: Yeah, I know. Even though I'm not really. But now I don't really care what anyone says anymore. I just let them say whatever they want.

This is an interesting question. I laughed a lot when I read this article, but I agree with the journalist who wrote it. When I saw your concert in Lyon, I also felt that you showed many different characters on stage. I thought you showed a different aura, a different side to each song. Do you deliberately play a different character for each song? Matthew: I've only started doing that recently. Last year I was playing every song in the same way, but since January this year I've been more positive on stage, or I've been creating atmosphere with my movements. I think it's because after you play a song over and over again, the way you play it, the whole performance, the way you think about the song changes. I don't know if you can call it character, but it definitely makes a difference. Each song has its own theme, so it's a different vibe. Some songs are very personal and I just can't open up to the audience. In those cases, I close my eyes. I don't want to think about the fact that there are so many people in front of me. So there are songs that are very personal, and there are songs that I share with the audience. But I think everyone has more than one character.

Maybe people don't realise that. Matthew: I think when you're 21, or when you're my age, you're probably going back and forth between those two selves all the time. But I think as you get older and more mature, you find a balance between both of them. If not, then maybe I'll just be one self in a way. But I think you usually learn to balance it out. I think in order to be happy as you get older, you have to strike the right balance.

(Recorded on March 2nd in Tokyo)

Translator's Note: Believe it or not, even though this was published in May 2000, this isn't even the earliest Muse interview done by a Japanese magazine. There's one even earlier still that I'll scan it later on.

Also... "So I thought maybe your friendship was a bit different to a normal friendship." So did we, Journalist-san. So did we... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[athetos]

I finally (after years of putting it off) watched annihilation and honestly I was pleasantly surprised because while I don’t think it was superior to the book in any way, it served as a nice complement. It took the main themes and vibes and made something enjoyable and unsettling that can stand on its own. I think the metaphor about refraction was a really nice addition, and the many (so, so many) changes from the book were mostly born from necessity as it would be impossible to translate them to a visual medium. I’m glad it didn’t try to just copy the book’s plot and characterization because it would never hold a candle to Jeff vandermeer’s writing.

However, with all that said, there are two glaring detractions. Firstly, the ending was disappointing. If I had the ability to change just one detail, it would be to make it ambiguous as to whether the shimmer truly disappeared, or if it advanced to encompass the entire planet. That alone would be much more interesting. Obviously I don’t expect them to tackle questions like “what IS the shimmer” because even the novels don’t really answer that question (I mean there’s a 4th book in the works so MAYBE but c’mon it’s Jeff vandermeer he’s not going to give a definitive answer).

The second major criticism I have is that there’s no tower or crawler! I know they kind of merged the tower with the lighthouse but it’s a pretty weird omission to me since the tower is the most significant part of the first book and whenever I think about them, I always picture the tower and the nonsensical but chilling scripture first. I do understand why it might not have been included for budget and set purposes but I’m so distraught over this…

I guess the last two, smaller criticisms I have is that they had to throw in a contrived affair (why does every other movie feel the need to do this) and that they didn’t explain what annihilation meant. I won’t spoil it for people who haven’t read it but it has a very specific meaning that gave me chills when it was explained. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t mention the psychologist using any type of hypnotism or mind tricks on them at all. It adds a lot more to Ventress’ character even without the backstory for her we get in the other two books, and it would play way more into the “are we being manipulated to turn on each other” question that arose.

Other than that I think most of the changes made sense from a filmmaking perspective. Lena is ex-military so they can show her shooting big damn guns. They let them bring electronics into the shimmer because finding a videotape left behind is way more interesting to the audience than reading a journal entry. They gave the other survey members backstories to make the audience get more attached to them. They let Kane live because they needed another ‘changed’ person for the ending. Kane (presumably the original) committed suicide because it was a great way to show the plot twist. Etc etc

I also want to address that there is whitewashing in this movie but it seems to come from a place of genuine unawareness. The main character is Asian and the psychologist is indigenous in the books however they’re both white in the movie, but their races are never touched on until the second book, which was being written and cast at the time of the script’s writing (the rights for the film adaptation were acquired before the first book was even officially released!) I truly don’t think anyone involved was aware of this information, as it just wasn’t available. I don’t know enough about the filming process to know if they could have altered it after the second book came out or if it was too late in the process, so that’s all I have to say, but I don’t think it was done with malicious intent at all.

TLDR: it was a good movie and I recommend it but I recommend the books way harder go read them right now

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

RPWP let's go! To be honest, I didn't know the album dropped today. I thought Lost was another pre-release and that the album would drop in June, but I think that's NJs new album?

Anyway, I watched the Lost MV after waking up and was kind of disappointed. Namjoon's always a mixed bag (except in collabs). I don't understand his way of writing and expressing himself, and find it quite indigestible and dense; his English rap is very slurred most of the time too. Yes, he's incredibly intelligent, can write amazing lyrics, and his Korean rap can be insane, but a lot of the times I can't enjoy his songs. I tend to like his features more (he has some amazing ones, like Change, Sexy Nukim and Don't).

Hours later, I'm back from work and have listened to his album:

Right People, Wrong Place: Nice intro, but immediately his English accent and the way he sings in English is off-putting. The track is also very alternative and indie, which are genres I don't vibe with.

Nuts: Very interesting song... The way he's rapping in the beginning is a bit... it doesn't work super well. I loved the outro though - that part was cool. Overall, it's a good song. People went fucking crazy over the "she's a pro-rider", and also "he's a pro-rider", but I'm not sure this is Namjoon being a "bisexual king"; it's like the relationship from the guy's pov, which is why he says "no woman could stop him" and not "no man [RM] could stop him". But it's still a possible interpretation. I just see too many Armys taking everything he said literally and filling in the blanks with assumptions, creating their own narrative which is quickly being spread as the truth. People are saying RM cut his hair, started working out and deleted his IG pics because of a breakup and that he then got into situationships. I mean, this would be a normal thing to do but those could all be isolated events. You don't know if he cut his hair over a breakup?... Like, Army wants BTS relationship drama so much they act like they know everything. I admit I'm not a normal 20 year old, so who knows? I also wasn't keeping up with his Weverse lives.

out of love: Well, this whole album is very Sundance coming of age movie about a "cool yet lost guy in his 20s who goes to bars, drinks, smokes with this friends while contemplating his existence" which couldn't be further from my vibe. I hate indie music because it's slow, lethargic, whimsical, loose, and I'm neurotic, high-strung, literal, and uptight. I can't vibe with indie; I can't relate to normal 20 years old who smoke weed at parties. That's really nothing special, but to me it's a whole different universe. I have no friends or a life. I can't relate to Namjoon at all... Anyway, him saying "bitches" is not cool. I see Army praising him for hitting back at those who criticize idols for smoking, but, no man - unless he's explicitly queer and saying it and a fun manner, maybe, can use the word "bitch" imo. I fucking hate that word. I also felt like Namjoon was trying to copy black rappers in this song, but I'm probably too white to comment. Can't say I enjoyed the track. I feel really basic, but I'm too straight-laced, boring white girl to appreciate this album, sorry.

Domodachi: Eh... I was expecting the woman to be an amazing rapper, since I saw Army hype her up, but she's... alright? Lyrically, she's pretty basic - in this track at least. Also, it's so weird listening to Brits rap lmao. There's no translation of this track yet, so I don't really know the lyrics.

? (Interlude): I like classical music (won't include XXI classical music in this statement, which I know nothing about and is a lot different from what we traditionally think of as classical music), but I don't like jazz that much in general... Both are considered "intelectual music", but jazz isn't for me... I like structure and a certain repetitiveness in music. Improvisation is just confusing to me and, like, I'm so type A, I just can't vibe with it.

Groin: Joon's cursing is a bit too much in this album. The way he curses is a bit... aggressive?, yet at the same time giving Jungkook in Seven vibes. I guess that's the point. We have "bitch" here again. It's pretty disappointing... I thought he'd learned better. I read the lyrics translation from an account on X and on Genius, and they were quite different... The first was very anti establishment, the second less so. "Not a fucking diplomat" is great though. But I hate the chorus... "Get your ass out the trunk?"...

Heaven: Didn't particularly stand out. This song also doesn't have a translation yet (or I couldn't find one. It's been hours though. If this was an ot7, maknae line, or Yoongi track, 100% sure there would be multiple translations already).

LOST!: The woman singing in the beginning sounds so familiar... The song has a fun rhythm, and of all the RPWP tracks (aside from Come Back to Me), it's the easiest listening song. It actually represents the album very well, unlike Come Back to Me which is a clear outlier (feel kind of deceived, really) and easily the most GP friendly track (hence it being the pre-release). The song is fun but the English lyrics are just bad. The album's full of poorly written English lyrics. I guess it's on purpose? Don't like it, don't get it.

Around the world in a day: Another count for "bitch". The song's okay, butthe lyrics are... Honestly, it feels like the whole album is just vibes. What is he even saying? Heartbreak, anger, etc., but in terms of message, it's very repetitive. It's all so vague too? Don't know what he means because I like things spelled out to me - maybe that's my bad.

Credit Roll: Well, no use commenting haha.

Come Back to Me is the only relatable and truly enjoyable track to me. Sorry, I don't know how to appreciate this album and can't stand a lot of the English. I feel like RPWP highlights everything I like least about RM as an artist... While, I didn't enjoy the album on my first listen, it's cool how experimental it is and that it sounds nothing like idol music. BTS are so diverse musically. If you play this album to anyone and tell them it's BTS, they'll be in absolute disbelief lmao.

Second listen through and review here!

[theenemyod]

I said I was moving the angst to ao3 but it's way easier to write here so I lied. I'm coping 100%

This probably switches a lot between past and present tense deal with it.

Tw self harm

Constantine stares at the knife in his hand for a few minutes. Hed expected this to be more scary. He'd expected to feel tears in his eyes or his hands shaking. But no. The only thought in his head was a weird, cold curiosity.

In the last few months he'd become at least slightly obsessive over the thought of something like this. Self harm was an interesting concept to him. A lot of the symptoms he knew related to depression were. The idea of someone being so bad and hurt that they'd willingly end their own life, or that they could just give up on everything. It made no sense but was completely fascinating to him.

Looking at the knife against his wrist, he felt more like a scientist observing a specimen than a boy in full control of his body and threatening to cut himself. There's supposed to be more emotion here, he knows. Normal people wouldn't hold a knife against their wrist then treat it like an experiment.

Well. May as well try it.

He would want to say he did this without thinking, considering how stupid it was, but that would be a lie. Full thought and consideration went into this discussion, somehow.

The knife dug into his wrist and he made a large, deep cut. Blood immediately started flowing down his arm, making him roll up his uniform sleeve even further. It would be extremely obvious if he got blood on his green uniform. Though that might be on him for wearing uniform still at past one in the morning.

There's definitely supposed to be more emotions in this. Where are the tears? The shaking? This didn't satisfy the curiosity at all. Not when he couldn't replicate the emotions. He could copy actions all he wanted but it wouldn't change how he feels.

This might need medical attention. He's not going to the infirmary for something as stupid as this. It'd be easier to go to one of his friends. Alastair has a pretty messed up sleep schedule and would probably be awake now, but Constantine didn't really want to go to him. He's close with Alastair, but doesn't really trust him enough to let him see Constantine being stupid or weird like this. Or he could wake Jericho up but that'd probably anger him.

Maybe that's worth it. Jericho will be the best option for Constantine.

He unlocks his bedroom door, covering his wrist with his hand in case someone else decides to leave their room now as well, and quickly turns to Jericho's and knocks on the door.

No response. Asleep, probably. Constantine holds his wristband against the door, it makes a loud clicking sound that Constantine doesn't like, especially compared to the silence all around them. Jericho will be exhausted from the experiments, as always. Constantine really couldn't care less about that though, not when he's actively bleeding.

"Jericho?" He whispers into the dark room.

"Hmmm... Five more minutes?" Jericho mumbles

"I cut myself." Constantine says simply. No emotions in his world. Jericho will understand him without them.

That does seem to wake Jericho up quickly. "You what?!" There's more emotion in those two words than Constantine could ever make himself sound, even with energy. He's probably not faking. Constantine wonders how that feels. "Why?!"

Constantine shrugs. "I got curious."

"What?" Jericho immediately gets out of bed and throws a fireball at the candles on the ceiling to light the room. "You– why would you cut yourself?!"

"I got curious and wanted to know what it felt like. I don't think it's supposed to feel like this though?"

"What do you mean?" Jericho picks up Constantine's blood soaked arm and starts to examine it curiously.

"I mean... Isn't there supposed to be like crying and being sad about it and hating yourself and shaking and stuff. Why doesn't that happen?" Constantine still isn't showing much attention at all.

"Con..." Jericho seems to not know what to say. He just froze for a few minutes then pulled his brother into his arms. "Please don't do this again. Please. This looks really deep ... That's not good."

Constantine nods. "Can you help me wash and heal it?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course I can." Jericho locks his fingers with Constantine's and leads him into the kitchen area, putting his wrist under the sink. "This might sting."

Constantine stares straight into Jericho's eyes. Jericho turns on the tap and runs Constantine's wrist under it, the mixture of blood and water making it look like he's bleeding more than he is.

"I'm going to try to wash it with soap now, okay?"

"Okay." Constantine nods. Jericho wipes over the cut with a wet soapy towel, Constantine occasionally makes a small noise of pain.

It felt stupid. Here he was, the great and powerful Makar being taken care of by his brother like a stupid child. He shouldn't be in pain. That's not how it's supposed to work.

Jericho doesn't judge though. He just keeps gently washing the blood off him, then rinsing the soap out. He looks like he doesn't really know what to do with the cut after that, so just moves Constantine's wristband to cover it.

He wants to ask why. Why does he cover it? Why did he act like this? Did he actually care about him.

Constantine cares about Jericho. He would definitely do this for him. He would do more than this for him. But he'd never thought of it happening this way around.

"I think back to bed now." Jericho mumbles. He's obviously exhausted and the adrenaline from seeing Constantine hurt and bleeding has worn out.

"Can I stay in your room tonight?" Constantine asks. He doesn't know why. He just doesn't want to be alone.

"Sure."

Constantine feels even more stupid trailing Jericho to his room. He doesn't try to lay down until Jericho seems to have gotten comfy then curls up next to him.

Human touch is nice, he decides. His brothers arms are better than Master Joseph's, no matter what.

Jericho almost instantly falls asleep. Constantine lays awake for much longer, but eventually also falls asleep, still trying to make sense of what just happened.

[chaifootsteps]

Reading Viv's callout post for DollCreep is kinda frustrating tbh. I wasn't there and none of us know exactly what the dynamic was like but that's why evidence is provided in these callout posts. To convince us that DollCreep is really bad. but.. the evidence provided isn't really on her side?

DC doesn't seem nice, exactly, but I'm not really feeling a lot of malicious intent? Not in the messages where they have normal-ish conversations and when their friendship still kinda existed? I'm not feeling much actual intent on abuse? I've been through some pretty nasty abusive relationships and I can understand being sensitive sometimes and needing a little more assurance but I don't think I'm comfortable calling DC totally abusive? Not without more evidence.

DC has an obsession with copying which isn't healthy. I dunno if I agree with him that the Viv ocs are copies but that also is more of an issue on his part rather than an intent on abusing Viv. I feel like there's gotta be more to that story.

Some of the messages seems more like critique than anything. The whole "those teeth look weird in your style" posts are more critique than abuse. It's not a nice way of phrasing it but DC doesn't seem delicate in general? His language is casual-harsh from the messages. Not horribly cruel? Maybe?

DC seems kind of exhausted with Viv saying the relationship wasn't healthy. To be honest it's probably not a healthy relationship and these two should've just stopped talking a long time ago. When DC does cut Viv off it seemed like it had been a long time coming. I've had to do something similar in my own life. Just sometimes on a certain day you chose to do it. It's not always because of a big blowout it can just be exhaustion. and if panic attacks were happening on the regular then it's not a bad thing they cut each other out.

DC gave Jiji to Viv as something of a peace offering. and in that message in particular (not underlined by Viv) Doll mentions that the copying obsession and character credit issue IS a personal problem that they're trying to work through. Something that isn't acknowledged in the rest of the callout. Viv obviously knows he has an issue with this subject and I feel like she could've spared a little more grace in acknowledging this is a personal problem for him. It's wrong for him to feel that way but it's clearly not just a 'DC is an asshole' situation. It's a mental issue. A hangup. A really nasty and unhealthy mental hangup.

His Afkinz stuff about Viv saying 'It's my story' in her underlined bits.. She bought Afkinz from DC. It seems like he's offering his own thoughts based on the character concept he created. He's not demanding anything just saying what he would've done with the character concept he created? Again, not in a NICE way but still.

I understand why Viv would remove part of DC's credit in Die Young but I still think she shouldn't have. She was angry at him but it doesn't change that it was a bad decision. In the art world credit is more highly valued than it is anywhere else and 'special thanks' doesn't mean much in comparison to a design credit.

Some of the parts towards the end are a bit.. weird. I dunno why she put up the original Jiji art mixed with rp logs to.. make fun of Jiji? The character made by DC was obviously a parody of scene girls.. not a real serious character. So it seems strange to say "wow so smart and original". She wasn't a character used in a real project so..

She's calling DC a stalker for just.. visiting her blog? I don't think that's terribly unusual? and Viv rants and talks about DC about as much as he did her? So.. I think they were both being annoying about all of this.

He made a crappy drawing of Viv.. but Viv made Jojo. So.. According to the writing under the drawing this was made AFTER Viv made Jojo. So.. I don't understand why she's shocked when she did the same thing first? and the 'dislikes' part is pretty.. concerning.

I really feel uncomfortable with Viv pointing out DC's characters that do 'extremely disturbing' things. Why even put this here? It adds nothing to the allegations and serves to shame DC. Especially when Viv does the same thing in romanticizing abusive relationships. Which.. I personally don't think is always wrong in every circumstance. and I know Viv doesn't see that as wrong either considering her OWN characters. So the only reason she put it there is to shame DC.

All in all. Pretty wild? I do think DC was a bad friend and they had a very toxic relationship but.. This is also something that should've been handled privately? Callouts really only need to happen if there's a clear and present danger to the general public. Nothing DC did was a danger to anyone but him and Viv. They should've went their separate ways and never spoken about each other again.

Instead this happened. Making it public was such a horrible idea and did nothing positive at all. It COULD NOT have had a positive outcome.

I think that's my takeaway from the whole thing too. DollCreep was no saint and they seem like they were both bad for each other, but from what we've heard of DollCreep, they seem to have disappeared, grown up, and become a better person. Vivzie hasn't.

Also, Dollcreep made a crappy drawing of Viv. Viv made a transphobic caricature of Dollcreep. Viv, you don't get a checkmark on that one.

[kapi-tanka]

what do you think about arcade gannons father? do you have any headcanons or just thoughts in general? i've seen your posts about his mother so yk just curious

sorry it took so long to answer! actually i had a similar conversation with my mutual not so long ago so i'll just copy my discord messages if it's okay with you lol... i don't know what else to add. at first i wanted to write a separate answer to your question but i guess there's no point in repeating myself in slightly different words also sorry to any marxists who get to read this. my understanding of politics is still far from confident but i try to educate myself as much as i can. TEXT VERSION UNDER THE CUT

omg i'm by no means an authority but i really appreciate it!! hmm but what are you interested in exactly? i think i've covered my headcanons on arcade's mom pretty well in one of my comics but his dad's still a bit mystical figure to me. but i have a couple of headcanons based on info from the ttrpg fallout game where arcade was josh sawyer's player character. like, i headcanon his name as mark because it was his name in the ttrpg (and i feel like some people do that too) and it seems that he knew some latin or at least a couple of latin phrases (and maybe mark even was the reason why arcade learned latin later, that and his medical education). and since cannibal johnson says that arcade reminds him of gannon sr. i feel like he was a pretty educated person too. and it may be a bit weird/hard to explain/very post-soviet of me and i'm not sure if it's even a thing in other countries/regions but i've always read gannons (or at least mrs gannon) as "intelligentsia" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligentsia). basically, a social class of the "minds" of the state who were privileged enough to get good education and, therefore, important positions in the state, primarily in science/arts/education (it's not a separate class actually, they mostly were bourgeoisie/petite bourgeoisie or on the border with the working class). education was almost inherited in such families because "intelligents" gravitated towards each other and subconsciously taught their kids the same ideals/automatically gave them some of their cultural capital. so yeah, it was pretty elitist in its core but intelligentsia was generally very politically conscious (because they had opportunities to learn in-depth theoretical politics and not only the propaganda for the working class). i obviously oversimplify it and all of this was much much more nuanced and complex, but i hope it still makes some sense and we have very tragic associations with intelligentsia here because when the soviet regime started to shoot itself in the leg intelligentsia was the first to leave the country/be imprisoned/executed/repressed in many other ways. because, again, they were educated enough to critique the state in "dangerous" ways (and many intellectuals helped to shape the communist revolution in the beginning so their importance was originally in this ability to provide state criticism). i know that the enclave is nothing like the ussr in terms of their politics and roots but i feel like similar social classes form in other secluded states too (and something similar even happened to veronica in the brotherhood so. yeah). and i feel like the enclave went through the same process of staling within itself due to lack of contact with the outside world soooo its policies became more and more right-wing with time. and gannons were somewhat oppositional even before mark's death and mrs gannon's parting with the enclave. like, we know that cannibal johnson was openly anti-enclave and even sabotaged his missions. and also cannibal johnson says the nicest things about arcade's father so i think that they had to share political views at least in some way. but mark gannon has to be much more complex than this, not all sugar and candy of course. i feel like he went through a "going anti-state" arc and was much more right-wing in the beginning of his military career and before meeting his wife (also i headcanon her name as daniela because "daniel" was originally arcade's middle name) sorry for the wall of text!!! i can elaborate on anything (also lol. it reads as very anti-communist but i didn't intend it that way. i'm an anarcho-communist myself but i think it's important to talk about war crimes of any failed regime, especially the one you want to work properly in the future)

yes same!! honestly i don't think arcade remembers him well. because everything arcade says sounds more like something other people told arcade?? and in my headcanon he internalized his mother's and other remnants' sentiments and opinions to a point of having fake memories about his dad (but i think it was mostly the remnants who formed this conflict, i see his mother as a silent and a bit avoidant type because she never told him what happened to mr gannon). i still can't figure out my own timeline for arcade's childhood but i thiiiink they left navarro when he was around 5-6 years old cuz arcade says in one of his quotes that he had to hide his association with the enclave for 30 years. plus i believe that he said something about moreno living half of his life on the wastelands already but still grieving the enclave

i think mark was mostly busy with missions to spend any time with arcade. but i don't see him as a particularly bad father, just a busy kind

like, maybe they've had so little time together that arcade remembered some moments very vividly but overthinked them? sometimes memories become foggy because you spin them in your head for too long. for some reason i feel like this happened to almost every arcade's memory of mark

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

1, 3, 6, 10, 13, 16

Thanks for the ask! I’m not sure whether to answer for the Silmarillion or LOTR, so maybe I’ll do both?

The character everyone gets wrong:

For LOTR, I answered this one way here, but there are a lot of other ways to answer it! I also think people get Elladan and Elrohir wrong. This may be a weird hill to die on because they’re small characters in the book, but I HATE how they’re represented in fanon. They’re made into carbon copies of the Harry Potter twins, who I already don’t like (ugh, I hate even mentioning Harry Potter here). I’m a twin myself, and I’m sick of twin characters being shoehorned into the goofy prankster role. It feels like a cheap attempt at comic relief because people don’t know how to write anything else. Especially when it’s just not how Elladan and Elrohir are represented in the book.

For the Silmarillion, I answered this one way here. I think the Weasley twin treatment also gets applied to Amrod and Amras, which is particularly nonsensical because the lives of all the Fëanorians are all extremely dark and tragic (the whole Silmarillion is tragic!). I get that sometimes people want to write happy, funny fanfiction, but can we please let go of the twins-as-wacky-pranksters trope?

Description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr:

For LOTR, I answered this another way here. But I wasn’t even thinking of another worst take, which is so bad that I’d erased it from my mind… the idea that the LOTR movies were an improvement on the books. "But nobody thinks this!" you will say. They do, and I’ve seen this take here on tumblr. WE HATES IT! There are good things about the movies (music, sets, acting, costumes, etc.) but literally nothing can come close to the beauty of the books. And besides, the movies deviated from them in many inexcusable ways—it would take to long to even list them all.

For the Silmarillion, one of the worst takes I’ve seen is the idea that Maeglin was really an innocent victim all along who was unfairly slandered by a supposedly biased history. I understand that sometimes it’s interesting to deconstruct the story, but at a certain point you’re just throwing it out the window. I’m not saying you can’t sympathize with him to a degree—he was clearly abused by his father as a child. But then he internalized those lessons—of his father’s possessiveness and violence towards women—and that was how he treated Idril.

I also know there’s a discussion among fans about Maeglin’s race, because earlier drafts described him as swarthy—and it’s certainly problematic for the dark-skinned male character to be the creepy one—but Tolkien’s later drafts described him as pale. So do with that what you will.

Which ships are the most annoying?

I don’t like the prevalence of Thorin/Bilbo. That’s partly because I hate the Hobbit movies, where the pairing mostly comes from, and it’s just not my cup of tea. People should write what they want, of course. I just don’t see the appeal.

For the Silmarillion, Sauron/Celebrimbor. It’s just everywhere, and I’m tired of it. Also, I get that some people are into darker relationships, but a lot of what I’ve seen of the pairing (even though I actively avoid it) is bizarrely romanticized. Like you guys do realize Sauron is evil, right? Even if he literally seduced Celebrimbor, I don’t think he’d be wracked with guilt about anything. People say they like this pairing because it’s dark, but then they turn Sauron into a poor little meow meow full of romantic longing and riddled with guilt because he tortures and kills his lover, and it’s just weird. I don’t think Sauron had romantic feelings for anyone, and I really don’t think he felt bad about torture and murder.

Worst part of fanon:

LOTR: I’m not even sure what LOTR fanon is anymore, probably because I try to ignore it. I guess I don’t like how the movie versions of characters and events have taken over. You know who also gets Weasleyified? Merry and Pippin, and it’s the movies’ fault. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them in the movies to a degree—but some of their best moments in the books were cut out.

The Silmarillion: I don’t even know if I could choose the worst part of fanon. I find Silmarillion fanon particularly frustrating, because in a fanbase where a lot of people don’t know the Silmarillion well, fan interpretations often get passed off as canon. People absorb fanon thinking that it’s canon, and that’s why you get so many posts that say things like, “Wait, I just realized Maglor ISN’T the nice Fëanorian.” (To be clear, I’m not judging people who say this. They’re unlearning fanon, which is good. It’s just a sign that fanon interpretations are taking over too much when you end up with a lot of people having to revise these big misconceptions.)

Ultimately, it’s just frustrating to me that fanon is so prevalent in either the LOTR or the Silmarillion fandom, because the source material is WAY more interesting. I might be swinging a bat at a hornet’s nest by saying all of this—but the asks were meant to be controversial!

You can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc):

For both LOTR and the Silmarillion, I don’t understand why people think Sauron can mind-read. That’s not a thing, but it’s astonishingly prevalent in fan interpretations. The worst part is, I don’t think people realize that mind-reading Sauron is a fan-invented concept.

[wandringaesthetic]

Let's try to talk about Baten Kaitos some more (i think I'm near the end of it):

I'm tempted to say the plot is bad, or simple, or that it feels like it would have been brilliant in the 16 bit era but is made ridiculous with a lot more text and voice acting than it can support (and the fact the voice acting is Notably Bad doesn't help).

And I guess that's true.

But there is also some Really Interesting Stuff here. Take Magnus, the gameplay concept, the cards. When you are attacking a monster you are not hitting them with a sword but with a copy of the core idea of a sword, do you understand? (It's okay if you don't, I don't really)

We could leave this as a gameplay abstraction and it might be best to do so and not worry how or if this idea interacts with the universe of the game. But we don't. It turns out the protagonist's parental figure, his grandfather, was a researcher of these Magnus. It was thought that one couldn't capture the Magnus of a person (though you can apparently do it with an animal. one of your cards is a chicken don't think about it too hard), but he was trying to find a way. He didn't manage it, but he did create a Magnus, and from one of those Magnus he created the protagonist. Kalas was born from the idea of a person. He was supposed to be An Ideal, but he kind of sucks, actually. He's emotional and immature and impulsive. He sells his soul to the evil god for revenge or something. For a little bit he leaves your party and you have to kick his ass and save his soul with a magic mirror. In a world where people have two wings that are supposed to be some kind of reflection of their soul, he's just got one. (WE'LL COME BACK TO THIS) He was Too Much. Too Human. But grandpa took care of his little Frankenstein's monster accidental son anyway, until his past with the empire came back to bite him.

I can't talk about this game too much without talking about Chrono Cross. Masato Kato directed that game and wrote this one. (He also worked on Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII--this is about to be relevant) The games share some other personnel, but without going down a rabbit hole of interviews and game credits and writing some fanfiction about Squeenix and tri crescendo and MonolithSoft in the early oughts I'm not going to know who else to lay all this at the feet of, so Kato is going to be the assigned face.

Both games are both nearly perfect in presentation. Colorful and evocative in setting and music. They both have gameplay that is Probably Good But Weird Ideas that needed a few more iterations of refinement. They both have Very Lofty ambitions that they Do Not attain most of but still attain a pretty impressive number of.

Must a game be good? Can it not be a series of beautiful and evocative locations?

Both games also make a plot point of their gameplay abstractions. Chrono Cross in terms of FATE/records of FATE, i.e. save points (Xenogears does a similar thing), Baten Kaitos in the form of the aforementioned Magnus and the fact that you, yes YOU, the person playing the game, are a character in it, a sort of spirit that is accompanying the heroes on their journey and whispering in Kalas' ear.

And about those wings. Xenogears has IIRC an in universe creation myth where mankind originally had wings, but only one each, so that in order to fly they had to cling to one another. And then there's Final Fantasy fucking Seven, where, idk whether to lay "One Winged Angel" at the feet of Kato or not, (that probably has more to do with Nobuo Uematsu and Tetsuya Nomura). But Kato was probably in the room where Angel Wings But Just One happened at least three times now. That has to mean something. That has to be significant.

When it comes to boss design of the antagonist's super-powered monstrous form, much has been said and extrapolated about Safer Sephiroth and maybe it would be better to say less. Both "try to create a perfect being with imperfect hands and imperfect ideas of perfection and you create something useless and monstrous," and "we are made cracked and flawed and that's where the love gets in."

Just like this game! (Just like this transition!) Both this game and Chrono Cross have a sense of the unattainable about them. Chrono Cross deals with alternate timelines and the things that happen in some future or past that will never be. Beyond that it seems somehow yearning for something it can't depict. Gorgeous as it is it doesn't look like that opening FMV attract reel. Nothing in its story reaches the heights of "Time's Scar." With Baten Kaitos it's mostly in the strangeness and beauty of its world. People have soul wings that look like a peacock's or a dragonfly's or a hawk's. They live in islands in the sky. One of your characters is a simple fisherman--of a river that flows out of a pocket dimension and through the clouds. Another of your characters attacks with what looks like a futuristic gun, but are actually Magnus of brass instruments, and the structures of the imperial city he hails from recall the tubes and valves of the same. Villages look like storybook pages, or ice cream. But the lofty settings are pinned down by a pedestrian plot. The evil emperor is resurrecting the evil god with five macguffins because of.... Reasons. You must take revenge on your evil half brother.

But again. Must a game be good? Don't we need flaws for the light to get in? Maybe Kalas is perfect with his one mechanical wing and his mangled soul. Maybe that's the point.