#My Goals Beyond

[guitarguitarworld]

Master John McLaughlin's Guitar Chord Techniques

Hi Guys, Today, a look at the late 60’s early 70’s John McLaughlin guitar chord/riff style of “My goals beyond” and “Extrapolation”. This is a great compositional vamp style that really brings out the resonance of the guitar. It has a sort of loose swing feel to it, that sort of gritty London soho jazz sound of the time. The vamp is based around the D6add9 guitar chord shape, with the open E…

[cashmere-caveman]

goodbye goodbye you were bigger than the whole sky

[penepoly]

'my life has one mission' athena and her champion 'i had only one goal in mind' odysseus. both of them go on to realize that ruthless single-minded determination isn't always a good thing, but only athena is able to learn and do better.

[idontmindifuforgetme]

I’ll be a doctor one day and all the pharmaceutical reps will be waiting in the lobby for hours begging for a chance to speak with me to push their samples to patients and I’ll have pharmaceutical companies buying free lunch for my employees every day just so they can sit w me at lunch and speak to me and I’ll also have a housewife/husband but instead it’ll be an office wife/husband and they’ll run the managerial aspects of my hospital for me . Among other things

[kayberrie]

new project, anyone?

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The fandom can't make up its mind on what's supposed to be a joke and what's supposed to be serious because the show can't either half the time. It's a tonally disjointed mess that wants to have absurd over-the-top humor as well as a plot and moments of drama, romance, and angst that demand you see the characters as people and feel for what they're going through. Except you can't do that without also treating the dumb bullshit in a somewhat grounded way. Like, you're still dealing with the same characters. You can't just go "Oh, that? Let's ignore that!" the moment it's no longer convenient to you. You've opened this can of worms and now you have to sleep in it. So, every character flip-flops between two different versions of themselves depending on what the writers need in any particular scene.

This is not to say surreal humor can't be used right alongside characters you're supposed to empathize with, Teen Titans (not Go) did that and it worked. It's just that the absurdity can only come from the setting (Mad Mod, Mother Mae-Eye, pretty much anything Control Freak is in) or from designated joke characters (Date With Destiny). Teen Titans never had the main characters acting in clearly absurd ways as the butt of a joke unless those characters were brainwashed somehow, because the writers knew that would ruin any of the more grounded moments they wanted to write. The writers of Miraculous missed the memo on that one.

I don't disagree. A perfect example is Derision where the show takes all of the bad jokes about Marinette's crush and decides to take them seriously as if you can possible take them seriously without making Marinette come across as unhinged and dangerous. You can't, which brings us to the topic at hand: how do you even begin to understand these characters when the show is constantly making character-breaking choices?

My approach - and the approach I recommend others take if they're going to keep watching the show - is to focus on the characters' cores and reject anything canon does to violate those cores. I don't argue for this stance because I love the characters so much that I only want the good things to count. I take this stance because, if you don't, then the characters fall apart. There is no way to make them work as fully realized characters while embracing every choice canon has made. Miraculous has massive characterization issues that go well beyond the humor.

For example, Adrien has multiple moments of terrible behavior that are played in a serious manner such as the moment in the episode Frozer where he tries to start a fight with Ladybug in the middle of an akuma attack because she wouldn't accept a rose from him earlier:

Setup

Ladybug: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. Cat Noir: I know, M'lady. But if he weren't here, would things be different between us? Ladybug: Well, you know, I can't even begin to imagine him not being here. I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I really gotta get going, and you better do the same. (Swings her yo-yo to head back home; Cat Noir is sad, looking downwards, with one petal of the rose falling.)

Payoff

Ladyice: Cat Noir. We need to set up a trap for whoever turned the city into a giant ice rink. (throws yo-yo) Icecat: (bitterly) My feline instincts prefer to track and observe before I attack. You go your way, I'll go mine. Ladyice: Please don't tell me you're mad at me about the rose. Icecat: There may be a certain chill now between us. Ladyice: I get it, but we should really focus on saving Paris right now. Icecat: We don't always have to do everything together, after all. It's not like we're a couple. (skates away)

There's no way to argue this off as a bad joke. While Adrien has every right to feel hurt, those feelings don't excuse him acting like a pouting child in the middle of an akuma fight. It doesn't excuse him acting like this at any point! Ladybug is not a villain for telling him no. She wasn't even mean about it!

I clearly fully agree that Adrien looks awful and selfish here, but I'd still argue that it's not something that should be used to define Adrien's character if your goal is to tell the "ideal" version of Miraculous. "Ideal" being the version that canon seems to be going for based on the overall picture we can sort of make out if we back way, way, way up and look at the extremely abstract picture canon is clumsily painting.

Unless canon is going to do something monumentally stupid, Adrien is Marinette's endgame romantic interest. It's also clear that there is no plan to cut him from the team. He's going to be Chat Noir for the rest of his life or at least well into his adulthood. This means that he is supposed to be a good hero who deserves his miraculous just like he's supposed to be a charming and cute romantic lead. These are the two things I keep in mind when trying to shift through canon to figure out what writing choices I should fully embrace and what writing choices I have to either ignore or treat as true flaws that get an actual character arc. In my book, either approach is fine because most of the characters are deeply flawed at this point and you can't give them all arcs without bloating the story to nonsense levels.

My goal with this approach is never to say, "oh, that moment shouldn't count in terms of how people feel about the character." It's more, "that moment goes so hard against who this character is very clearly supposed to be that I can't take it into account if I want to tell the kind of story that Miraculous is trying (and clearly failing) to tell."

As an example, let's list off Adrien's worst behaviors. The things that make him look terrible:

He sucks at communicating his needs and feelings, leading to multiple moments where he gets mad at Ladybug for things she's totally unaware of

He has quit or considered quitting without warning multiple times and only one of those was because of something he did "wrong" (NYC Special)

He puts his feelings before the safety of Paris on multiple occasions, even going so far to purposely miss akuma fights to see what happens

He is incredibly pushy about his crush, often ignoring Ladybug's feelings on the topic by continuing to bring it up even after she asked him to stop

There have been multiple instances where he almost cataclysmed multiple people in a fit of anger

His love for Ladynette isn't strong enough to let him break free of things like akumas and nightmare dust even when he's looking her in the eyes making him a pretty crappy romantic lead

People will argue that some of this behavior makes sense for his character because of the abuse that canon has technically introduced, but that the writers seem blissfully unaware of. I don't disagree with that argument, but that doesn't change the fact that none of this is acceptable behavior for a hero and Adrien is a hero who keeps doing these things. A sad backstory doesn't give you the right to behave poorly without consequences.

At the same time, if I fully embrace these elements of canon, what I get is an Adrien salt fic where he loses his miraculous for good while Marinette finds her real true love or even just a non-salty fic where Adrien leaves for his own meatal health and gets replaced by someone who can handle being a hero right now. Canon's not writing either of those, so the only way to engage with these flaws while enjoying canon or aiming for the same end goals as canon is to say, "I guess this doesn't count" or "I guess I need to tone this way down and work through it via a character arc" or even "I guess that was just a bad joke maybe?"

That is the essence of what I mean when I call myself a writing salt, character sugar blog. It comes from looking at canon and seeing that there's simply no way to embrace the worst moments and the best at the same time. We're not dealing with a coherent plot and/or complex characters. We're dealing with a nonsense plot that will warp the characters to bizarre shapes to make random ideas work even if those idea go wildly against canon's end goals.

As an example, Glaciator and Frozer should not exist in the same universe or, at the very least, something should explain why Chat Noir randomly changed his stance on Ladybug's crush from acceptance to pushiness. As is, the pieces don't fit together. The behavior is too contradictory. Remember, this is how Glaciator ends:

Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like, I love her. I have to believe. In the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all.

Where did this version of Adrien go? Why did he regress in Frozer? There's no in-universe reason. It happened because the writers weren't ready to let the love square date or grow close, but they also wanted the love square to cause drama, so Adrien ends up looking terrible just like Marinette ends up looking terrible when it's her turn to cause love square drama. Her terribleness takes a different flavor so it can be hard to realize that this is a systemic issue, but that's what it is. It's deeply frustrating, but it also clearly stems from cheap writing and not quality characterization.

This is also why my stance is that canon as a whole only supports my Doyalistic core-character analysis style of approach. The writing is too poor quality to do Watsonian analysis where you embrace the full picture and try to put it all together. The closest I'll get to Watsonian analysis is pointing out how much the writing botches a Watsonian take by showing you all the way the writing contradicts itself, twisting into a nonsense pretzel of frustration where the payoffs never satisfy! (See the season four rant for an example or anything where I talked about Chloe's supposed damnation arc.)

There are even characters where canon is such a total mess that you can Doyalistically argue for two separate takes! Gabriel is a perfect example. He is all over the place and his ending was so poorly handled that you can make strong arguments for writing him as a cold-hearted villain or a sympathetic villain without the end result feeling like it spits in the face of canon because both takes maintain his one core element: villain.

That's the big thing I keep in mind when I look at the characters and the lore and the plots and try to come up with versions that the average fan would like. I don't think that there's one true version of any of these things, but I do feel comfortable saying that there are versions that will very clearly only appeal to people who are salty about a specific thing that canon did poorly. That's not who I want to appeal to in my adaptions, so while I'm not going to argue that those takes have no backing in canon, I will argue that those takes are not supported by canon as a whole. Embracing them requires you to take the worst parts of canon at face value while ignoring what canon is clearly trying to do with the overall story.

I get the appeal of that, but it's not fun for me because that approach feels like rolling around in the mud with the pigs. I don't want to sink to canon's level! I want to have fun! That's why I talk about how to make canon into its best self, not its worst self. If you want its worst self, just go watch the actual show. I will be shocked it if disappoints you.

[fumifooms]

Makima, devils and self-fulfillment

Dumping some Makima and CSM thoughts after a part 1 binge bc I think about her forever and ever. I’m sure I’m forgetting some devil lore, feel free to correct what i get wrong/what’s been confirmed. On the table of contents there’s why & how Makima got fixated on Chainsaw, her revealing liking for the country mouse and discussion of her nature & emotions & desires. Was the scorpion doomed to be a scorpion?

The most of this post was thought of during a conversation with @saccharineomens and I don’t think it makes sense to jump into the spiral it sent me on without first laying down the interesting groundwork theorizing she did:

"Thinking about how makima herself wants to be deified. I wonder whether she recognizes the difference between Love As Worship and the love that Aki, Power, and Denji had. She says she wants to help humanity by having Chainsawman eat the “bad” devils, but why does she want to help humans? Because she was ordered to by the Prime Minister? No, her drive seems much more personal than that, it seems like she teamed up with the PM for contractual reasons. (In the most recent chapters we see governmental members wanting certain devils to be eaten, too. What was Makima’s relationship with them? She’s too independent to just follow THEIR orders, she’s Control.)

So is she wanting to better humanity for the accolades, or out of the goodness of her heart? She sees the big picture. She sees any small sacrifice as worth it for the end result, and she’s ruthless. Perhaps she thinks that a more sedate human race would be easier to control? But Makima doesn’t loathe humanity. She never acts like she sees all humans as lesser. She loves humanity’s creations, like good food and movies. She just wants Good Things all the time

She says she prefers the country mouse BUT adds a story where she helps exterminate country mice like vermin. She likes the simplicity yet rejects the idea of being simple. Makima the complex individual you are"

~

The story itself seems to prefr the country mouse. Well- it strikes a balance, shows that a risk to live good & fully can be very worth it, but still that stability over ambition is preferable, proning having a simple happy life over fame, a simple job instead of a dangerous one, etc etc. And I do find Makima’s answer on this so so interesting, she prefers the country mouse, but this preference isn’t out of affection or sympathy but because of how relaxing it feels to exterminate them when they cause problems.

Order satisfies her. Her order satisfies her. She likes the action of rooting out disorder. Maybe this is the devil part, like how Power especially wants blood and drinking it, I feel there’s an itch to every devil, and for Makima it’s a very rigid world view/morality/standards & making things follow her rules and submit to her order.

And maybe this is why she’s attached to humans too, why she felt it was worth it to stick with the government- because devils are chaotic by nature (it’s a whole plot point that hell is essentially a free-for-all battleground for example), meanwhile humans are the species that universally rule Earth with systems they invented and instilled. They made then enforced rules, complex and intricate webs of them. She feels alienated amongst devils but she understands the humans’ need for an orderly organised society, and now she wants to be part of it. Control and conquest require social dynamics after all, requires civilizations or groups. War is chaotic while peace is, well, peaceful— Makima resents her sisters for being death, famine and war, things that throw the world in such chaos. She wants a world of perfect order, no matter how much collateral damage there will be if the end result is control.

This is even more interesting if you consider that yes, Makima is untouchable of her own design, she deifies herself with her omnipresent amount of control and the sway over others that she seeks and encourages— There is this urge to dehumanize her for it, that yes, she is the devil of control and that means she was never going to be any different, have any more feeling be any less uncanny. And I love part 2 so much for this, because it shows us the war devil and the famine devil and we see how frankly uncharismatic with poor self-discipline they are, Nayuta too, and it helps us realize just how much Makima’s success was self-made.

She admires Chainsaw Devil, the Hero of Hell, because he had his own code and his own rules and he made Hell, the chaos pit, submit to them unfailingly. Wherever he goes he decides what he does and what happens to the people he encounters but does so consistently, he has his mechanism and his rules that he always obeys, and he fulfills them every time. It’s still a mystery the why of Chainsaw Devil’s behavior back then and how it works exactly, maybe Pochita left hell because he was tired of these rules he lived by like chains, but still, he was a servant to his code. Makima would have been glad being killed and eaten by Chainsaw Devil because it’d have been becoming part of his design, his conquest, his domination, she’d have been part of that —his— order. Through her death she would be shaping his world and be part of a conqueror’s making history. Like how she appreciates the country mice that die for the sake of order. Like how sacrifices must be made to herself, like listing the name of every person whose life was lost to the Gun Devil— All for the ~greater good~, for her vision for the world. Conquest always thinks its reasons are justified.

And she does mention with the country mice thing that she goes out to a friend’s farm every year! She has a human friend?? That she visits yearly and she genuinely likes it?? Ultimately she lives a busy city life because of her goal and drive and her urge & satisfaction with overseeing shaping the world herself, but part of her, like so many characters including Angel and Aki and Reze, wishes she could live a slow peaceful country life. Moviegoing and dogs and mice in a farm- Wouldn’t it be so much simpler if Makima could find fulfillment and happiness in being a farmer, in keeping control of her own farm, getting satisfaction from exterminating vermin and expertly getting everything right, the right crops grown at the right time on the right soil? Here, too, in a way it’s trying to have full control of an ecosystem, but her goals would be easier to achieve and better, without ceaseless sacrifice or much pressure. But Makima wants grandiosity and her goal does matter to her on a fundamental and moral level, she does think she knows what’s best for the world, and with the power to change it why wouldn’t she strive to? Visiting the farm is just a break, just something she does in fall to help out and just in time to see the vermin extermination. It calms her, then it’s back to actual work.

In capitalism, even the one at the very top of the ladder is ultimately alienated from others and often unsatisfied by their lifestyle, always wanting more and more power because surely that’s the extra edge they must be missing to be content— like how Makima thinks she wants to dominate Chainsaw Devil instead of being his equal. And she says it herself too, she likes humans the way humans like dogs…….. And she keeps so many dogs :( Makima prefers the country mice because they’re calming to root out, maybe because she usually mainly deals with city mice. It’s very easy to equate humans to the mice in this allegory because it’s pretty direct and she’s already likened humans to lesser animals compared to her. She’s self-isolating by design for her design but she still craves relationships and contentment, and the dogs are the embodiment or her want for bonds and occasional simplicity because there is no possible ulterior motive, no way they tie back into her wider plan. They’re her personal life— something that feels so alien when speaking about Makima. Personality and individuality and likes and preferences and friends they visit every year. She likes how easily she can train a dog and how they become putty in her hands, at her beck and call, how much they love her and how much she enjoys their love. How simple and straightforward and easy it is. She keeps them because she likes being loved by them and loving them, and she’s gotten and raised so many. A conqueror always wants more and more and more, is never satisfied.

Devils and agency

Like Power the blood devil wanting blood and having a fixation on drinking it like with Denji’s, or how it was shocking that the violence devil was pretty tame and nice and how he himself theorized it was because he was a fiend and possessing a human body… There’s something to be said about nature vs nurture with the devils. The way they reincarnate and always embody their fear makes it seem categorically like nature, that they always always end up fulfilling the role they were named after and born to fill… Outside influence they’re helpless but to conform with. Like the humans accepting their spot in the social ladder and the shittiness of their living conditions and job under capitalism. Makima craved being equals with someone despite being the control/conquest devil, Angel Devil despite claiming to be a devil who likes to see humans dying was haunted by their deaths and wanted to avoid ones like Aki’s. The Ghost Devil being ironically haunted by Himeno, seemingly helping Aki in her memory out of… Lasting affection? Or maybe it was less about being haunted itself and more about it recognizing how Himeno haunted Aki, and acknowledging that, with the memento, paying her respect to the ghost of her. It’s Angel Devil’s devil nature that makes him like human suffering, so then is it his angel nature too to still care about their deaths? Is there truth to this or is that just personality, just our confirmation bias haunting every part of their identity like it might in their own view of themselves too? We do know different reincarnations of devils do have different personalities after all.

Yoru, war devil, is the most interesting one when talking about the nature vs nurture debate with devils. There is how through her we see the perhaps the most the consequences of a devil stopping being feared— we see a horseman for a concept as universal and horrifying as war be reduced to some bird who needs a contract with a human to have any power even just on the situation when meeting Asa. And through the story we get to know her better, and it becomes clear that her goal is fueled in good part by simply wanting to be remembered and respected through fear. Liked, validated, seen a powerful. But what is more isolating than war? Or control? We also see Nayuta accepting others’ house rules. If part 1 shows perhaps the futility of running away from the truth, with Denji’s memory, with escapist coping mechanisms, with passivity and denial under a corrupt system and with abusive relationships- running away from your own feelings and from the reality of things and from all that you are, more complex than simply human or devil or both or neither— part 2 builds upon the theme of cult of personalities, the chainsaw church, etc. The apocalypse is coming, but this celebrity superhero might save us all, or doom us all uh, dunno. The hero of hell reliving the cycle of pressure from responsibilities and expectations, maybe the part will end with Denji running away like Pochita did~

But yes, on the reverse, I think Famine is a very interesting example of how a devil’s namesake may be more innate than coerced by circumstances. One would think that a famine devil would only like inflicting famine upon others, not being famished itself, but Famine has a bottomless stomach that can never, ever be satisfied, sated. I struggle to find a psychological explanation for this, except that maybe instead of her being hungry it’s her feeling empty when she’s not eating, tasting and having that high sensory experience that releases serotonin in humans, sort of like drugs? But I do take this as a step towards the compulsion theory overall, feels like a reach in the consistency otherwise. And compulsion does not mean it’s something that they like nor that it’s something that they fight against, pretty neutral, just a nature that nudges you towards one path. Maybe it’s even just their go-to for entertainment. Maybe it’s the only thing that makes them feel right and whole. But still the debate remains, what is it, a compulsion or an urge or an itch or an active desire or a conscious chosen want? Does it change anything in practice?

And because of all of this earlier, devils being self-fulfilling prophecies with their role is not in unsignificant part nurture, because doing their atrocities is how they stay remembered— feared, powerful, known— hell and devils are a very isolating place and breed after all, and we do see devils can want companionship. Existentially, it’s their purpose and how they justify their place in the world, in the terrifyingly vast and unknowable cosmos.

We still know so little of what makes Chainsaw Devil so special, why his carnage is so self-controlled. Despite a chainsaw maybe being possibly one of the most "nature" thing you can be— a tool to cut things, a human tool that can be helpful for many things, something to be wielding by another at their judgement on what they decide, but mainly something to cut, a tool suited for carnage, to hurt and to destroy. A blade with a toothed chain, spinning around and around and around endlessly on the same road at the same pace. Such a…. Innately circular concept. And yet the Chainsaw Devil is his own, not driven by an urge or by chaos but his very own brand of order, his own unique assigned purpose, a "if you call i’ll come running to help" policy equalizing everyone. He chooses to withhold his destruction and interference otherwise, and then he chooses to be used. If it’s a choice, of course.

Maybe this is what inspired Makima so much, that Chainsaw Devil could decide what to make of himself despite expectations or innate role. Because even Hell he decided & managed to subjugate under his will and whim, with a precise vision and process. When Chainsaw Devil acts like Denji or is defeated, Makima clicks her tongue and loses her admiration and respect. Makima admired and liked Chainsaw Devil, but only as long as he matched her great image of him in her mind, as long as he followed he rules for what she thinks he should be like. She admired him for his unrivaled self-made success, but once he stepped out of that to truly embody self-fulfillment and agency, disappearing from hell to live on his own road at the beat of his own drum… Well. Surely that was a mistake she has to correct. However their second battle ends, the better conqueror will have prevailed and she’s happy about that, all in the spirit of domination and subjugation.

Imo Makima’s biggest tool, similarly capitalism’s most helpful effect for its own purposes, is complacency. Resignation and passivity helps uphold the system and go along the flow of the will of the people in power. Aki and Reze go along with orders even when knowing their job is trash, etc. In Angel Devil especially we see him go along with the flow uncaring about anyhing, and we discover it was in part due to Makima taking away memories that motivated him. If every devil decides this is just how things are and how things should be that’s what they’ll continue to be and do mindlessly, not pursuing a better life like Chainsaw Devil and Denj and not seeking to change the world like Makima. I think even Makima veils herself to a lot of things, she doesn’t like to think deeply about some things, like her desire for connection, or how making bad movies disappear is strenuous and unsustainable and requiring sacrifices at best— how her judgement is as subjective as anyone else. How liking the country mouse and her friend back at the farm and her dogs could be not devoid of sentimality. Wanting bad movies erased is her one biggest show of selfishness, of pettiness and individuality, it’s about her tastes, simple as. About how she can have tastes, and cry seeing a scene of people hug, and want things that aren’t logical, her ideology and mind twisted into a pretzel to avoid acknowledging that she doesn’t live and breathe purely for the mission she’s made a single-minded robot out of herself to accomplish. Nayuta is assertive and selfish and loud, Makima is manipulative and strategically both for her goals and for coping hollow.

Everything in her plans and goals she says is for the greater good, necessary evil, manufactured happiness the way she’ll have decided for people— and that’s the thing isn’t it, like with War, it’s the crack that shows it was all truly about herself after all. Her self-made deification still had the flaw that a self made it. Makima is not omniscient, and it’s not Chainsaw Devil the not-so-fellow-kindred-soul conqueror who gets the best of her, but a city mouse, a dog, someone she would have never thought to respect, Denji.

[i-really-like-phrogs]

When someone else’s art is so good you physically can’t look at it because of artistic jealousy

[jt1674]

[chevelleneech]

Tweets like this

always sound so over the top, but Chan really has spoken about Felix being his other half, his second-self, and his soulmate. So being reminded that Felix felt not a single bit of caution around him when they met, is the sweetest thing.

He saw Chan as someone worth learning from. Someone he could befriend and debut with, and that’s what they ultimately got, and that’s wonderful, but I always find it kind of crazy that Chan seems well aware that Felix was his person the moment they met.

[transmechanicus]

This Place Will Become Your Tomb has strong themes of deep water and drowning, being entranced, drawn in, and absorbed by the object of your affection. Take Me Back To Eden is themed around the harsh nature of life, and its toll on you, ending with acceptance, abandonment of the idea of a paradise in the past, and reclaiming the future for yourself. The Teeth of God theme drives home the looser nature themes from Take Me Back To Eden, particularly with the growth of fungus and grass on Vessel’s mask and armor and the deer skull/scorpion icon. Generously extrapolating from the past two albums, im guessing the next sleep token album in 2025 will probably be themed around fire and a personal crusade in some way, in the vein of “Living for yourself and carving your own path is not without its costs, and it’s okay to mourn that, but you should still do it and the people who are worth keeping will accept it.”

[mirandaputsherbestbuttforward]

Well, I took a plunge and investment into a personal trainer today for the next 90 days upfront. Nervous but excited!

[headfullof-ideas]

Introducing more characters for my HTTYD/The Deep story! Only this time it’s supporting cast! I’ve decided there’s three overall casts in the story. The main cast (the dragon riders and their dragons, whose story and travels this lengthy project follows), the secondary cast (all their allies and enemies; Eret, Dagur, Heather, the Berkians, the Nektons, etc, etc.) who are there through most of the story, but not all of it. They’re pretty involved, but not every character is there for every episode. And then there’s the supporting cast. Minor characters. Characters a step up from background characters. They show up for a few episodes every once in a while, not near as often as everyone else, and they’re not as important to the overall story as the main and secondary casts, but they have names. They’re involved in certain arcs and episodes, but don’t repeatedly show up throughout the story like say, Dagur, Eret, Heather, the Berkian teens, and the Defenders and Wingmaidens.

But without further ado, here’s who I’ve got so far

And some closeups of each person, cause I like doing so

[glitchfang]

always sort of a shock to the system when i remember ppl know sonic 06’s plot more for the fandub than for itself. which is understandable given the og is a mess, but idk its kinda sad bc theres some good stuff there (shadow’s entire story arc)

[sokkawordbender]

Soowon x Lili

"Blissfully married"

Written by @sokawordbender

"Mommy, where's Daddy?" The little voice of their two and a half-year-old son, Prince Soohan, who was too smart for his own good, echoed through the vast chambers of the royal palace. Lili looked down at the toddler with a warm smile, her eyes sparkling with love. "Daddy's busy with the kingdom's work, my love. He'll come see us soon," she replied gently, trying to hide the hint of sadness in her voice.

"But it's been so long," Soohan whined, his tiny hands clutching at her royal gown. Lili nodded, her heart aching as she remembered the last time she saw her husband, King Soowon. He had kissed her goodbye, his eyes filled with a promise to visit soon, but weeks had turned into months, and now it had been over two since she had felt his embrace.

The halls of the palace buzzed with the whispers of servants and the clanging of armor as guards patrolled. It was a stark contrast to the quiet moments she and Soowon used to share in the early mornings before the chaos of the day began. She missed those moments, missed his comforting presence, and the way he made her feel like she was the most important person in the world.

As nightfall painted the sky, she decided it was time. Lili carefully placed Soohan in his crib, tucking him in with a kiss on the forehead. She picked out a dress made of the softest silk, a sea-green that mirrored the depths of her husband's eyes. Slipping it over her shoulders, she felt a rush of excitement and anticipation. The midnight-blue silk coat with gold threads woven through it was a gift from Soowon on their wedding day. It shimmered in the moonlight, casting a soft glow across the room that matched the hope in her heart.

In the quiet of their chambers, she took her time to freshen up, brushing her hair until it fell in soft waves down her back. The scent of her favorite jasmine perfume filled the air as she dabbed a bit behind her ears and along her neck, remembering the way Soowon used to nuzzle against her. She didn't need to wear makeup for him; his love for her was pure, but she wanted to look her best, to remind him of the beauty of their love amidst the dreariness of his daily duties.

Finally, she settled on the bed with a book that Soowon had once read to her, allowing its pages to absorb her thoughts as she waited. The flickering candles danced shadows across the walls, casting a warm glow on the rich tapestries that adorned the room. With each page she turned, she felt the weight of her loneliness lift, replaced by a growing anticipation of the moment when the heavy door would creak open and she would look up to find her king standing before her.

The time ticked away slowly, each minute feeling like an eternity. Her eyes grew heavier, the words on the page blurring together. Just as she was about to give in to sleep, the door finally opened, and there he was, silhouetted by the torchlight from the hall. King had arrived, his eyes searching the room for his queen. Lili's heart leaped in her chest, the book slipping from her grasp to the floor with a soft thud. She sat up, her heart fluttering with his closing steps, and she knew in that instant that the wait had been worth it.

But her eyes locked with his, he looked exhausted, his shoulders drooping under the weight of his heavy cloak. His eyes, once vibrant, were now shadowed with fatigue. Her stomach twisted at the sight of him, and she felt the sharpness of unshed tears. She had longed for this moment, for the feel of his arms around her, the warmth of his body beside hers. Yet, seeing him in such a state was like a blow she hadn't seen coming.

The smile he offered her was tired, but it reached his eyes, lighting them up briefly. "Lili," he murmured, his voice weary yet filled with affection. He stepped closer, and she could see the lines etched on his face, the dark circles under his eyes. He picked up the dropped book, placing it on the night stand. Her desire for a passionate reunion took a back seat as she took in the toll his responsibilities had taken on him.

With a gentle nod, she indicated the crib where Soohan slept peacefully. "The little one is safe," she said softly. Soowon's gaze followed hers, and a soft smile tugged at his lips. He approached the crib, his movements slow and deliberate, as if afraid to wake their son. Lili watched him, her love for him swelling in her chest despite the sadness that filled her heart.

The king leaned over to place a kiss on their son's forehead, and the baby stirred, his tiny fist waving in the air before settling back into slumber. Soowon straightened up, his eyes never leaving Soohan. "He's grown," he said, his voice filled with wonder and love. Lili nodded, unable to find the words to express her own feelings.

Finally, Soowon turned to her, his steps slow and deliberate. He sighed heavily, his body heavy with sleep. He moved to sleep on the bed only to find Lili opening her arms for him. The sight was welcoming, a beacon of warmth in the cold, vast space that had grown between them. He didn't notice the beautiful silk she wore, the effort she had put into looking perfect for him. It didn't matter anymore. He let himself be hugged, his arms wrapping around her slender frame with a desperation he hadn't realized he felt.

Her scent filled his nostrils, a comforting blend of jasmine and the essence of home. He buried his face in her neck, breathing her in like a man starved for air. The warmth of her embrace seeped into his bones, and he felt his muscles begin to relax, his eyes growing heavy with exhaustion. His breathing evened out, and he could feel sleep tugging at the edges of his consciousness.

Lili caressed his hairs slowly, her warm and gentle hands, a comfortable presence, making him go lax, a sign of trust. Soon, he was asleep, his chest rising and falling rhythmically against hers. Lili held him tightly, her heart racing with the intensity of the moment. The ache she felt was twofold: joy at having her husband back in her arms, and sorrow for the distance that had grown between them. Of course there was the pang of regret at being left unsatisfied, the regret of not able to get him to fuck her. She knew it was not his doing, that the kingdom had claimed him as its own, but she couldn't help the sting of loneliness that had become her constant companion.

With a gentle sigh, she leaned back, her eyes tracing the lines of his handsome face. She knew that she had to find a way to bridge the gap, to remind Soowon that she was there for him, that their love was a bastion in the storm of his duties. But for now, she would cherish the feel of him beside her, the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and the peace that settled over the room as the candles burned low. She gently pecked his nose, his unfairly beautiful nose, and his ridiculously long lashes that she loved to see flutter when he makes love to her, and the dark circles that she had come to adore and trace every time his eyes would close for sleep. Specially, that stupid tofu cheeks, she could poke them whenever she was angry just to so if it would provoke him. She sighed, her hands cradling his head in her arms and couldn't help but be a bit frustrated at that stupid sexy smart brain that was in that sturdy head of his that had lured her to him.

Their reunion was not the passionate embrace she had imagined, but it was no less beautiful. In the quiet of the night, with their son sleeping nearby, they found solace in each other's arms. It was a reminder that even in the darkest of times, love could be the brightest light. And she would give it to him, the comfort that he dare not ask, the love that he thinks he is undeserving of and the loyalty that he does not believe in. She would smother him with kisses and bites every time, that he would appear to shy away from, but deep down loved it, and her favorite of all, she would make sure to tease him to arousal when he is doing paperwork just to see how long could he control.

Her eyes grew heavy with sleep, thinking of the man in her ams that she so badly wanted to skin alive and at the same time want to cling to like a koala and pester his frayed threads of control. In the end, neither desire won and she drifted off to sleep, embracing him, accepting her fate, right in his arms.

[r4d14t3lov3]

Tranquility I

Kotallo let the icy water flow through his fingers. He hadn't been here in years.

As he crouched by the water's edge, listening to the bird song and the gentle rustling of the birch trees leaves, he couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like if he'd build that cabin, he had dreamed of as a young soldier. Over there by the trees, the water's soft sounds nearby, calming, and tranquil. 

But life had taken a different route, and now, everything had changed.

Kotallo looked over at Aloy, who was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chin in the soft grass, watching the clouds move lazily across the sky. How he loved her... perhaps that cabin away from everything, raising a family, was now a goal to pursue.