#WHICH IS GOOD but idk i gotta be thoughtful about what parts i'm choosing to gif since i want to finish this batch before 8/14

[nerdalmighty]

I won't be a pirate. I'm a Jedi.

[fiercynn]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

since there are both recent newcomers to bbs fandom and people like me who are new to bbs tumblr, i thought i'd create a getting-to-know-you meme for people to introduce themselves if they want! all questions are optional

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

hi i'm deepa! i'm indian-american, in my 30s, queer, and agender – please use my name (either deepa or fiercynn is fine) instead of pronouns when referring to me!

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

i watched the whole show in the course of about 36 hours just about two weeks after the finale had aired, in february 2022! i joined bbs fandom on twitter soon after and have been there ever since, but i’ve only really been interacting on tumblr in the last few months

favorite ship(s)

patpran and inkpa…i'm a traditionalist ig lol

favorite character(s)

it’s so hard to choose but i think it has to be pran! i love his pining and his cockiness and his anxiety and his kindness and his grumpy faces. really channeling pat right now aren’t i

favorite episode(s)

episode 5 for obvious reasons; my second-favorite is a tie between episode 3 and episode 8 i think

favorite scene(s)

rooftop kiss, episode 3 bus stop scene, episode 8 backstage apology scene, and episode 9 picnic bench hand-holding scene

one thing you would change about the show if you could

LET INKPA KISS GDI

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

ughhhhhh SO HARD TO CHOOSE and i think i'll do a longer rec list sometime but here are some of the earliest fanworks i engaged with that really set the stage for how i think about bbs

dynamic (fic, patpran) by riddles2 on ao3: one of the first fics i read in the fandom, it’s pat’s pov through episode 5 and it’s absolutely seminal imo

international love song (fanart/animation, patpran) by @architectxengineer: science is one of those incredibly multitalented people who writes, makes fanart, and animates?? among other things??? and this animation is sooooooo gorgeous and makes my heart absolutely melt

same page (vid, patpran) by dkyth73 on youtube: such a good fanvid of the show that p’aof himself tweeted about it!!!!

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

traffic was slow for the crash years (fic, patpran): gotta plug my baby, right? this is my patpran fake dating au which is 80k words and was so fun to create!

we both know you’re my only dream (fic, patpran): on the other end of the length spectrum, this 1k fic is one of my favorite things i've written ever

just being friendly (vid, patpran) co-vidded with @scribescribe: yes i know this is an msp song but we made the vid before msp aired!! i think it’s very cute hehe

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

since “just being friendly” is already obvious from me and scribe making a vid to it lol, i'm going to say “keeping tabs” by niki, which is extremely pran-coded. like. look at the lyrics. doesn't it seem like it was written to be about pran’s feelings at boarding school, where he misses pat desperately and hopes pat’s thinking of him but is also trying to convince himself that pat’s forgotten him and that everything pran wanted from him was just a delusion on his part. PRAN 😭 😭 😭

idk anything else you want us to know?

i have opinions about pran’s sweaters

okay i'm literally going to tag all of my tumblr mutuals that i think are still in the fandom (if i missed anyone sorry!!), but also if you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged! please don’t let this flop lol 🤞🏽

@citystoryscapes @nicolasechs @architectxengineer @mahuhumaling @manogirl @galauvant @miscellar @monamay @dancing-out-in-space @melto @incandescentflower @loveongsa @dimplesandfierceeyes @geonbaeeee @faillen @cinnamonseadragon @inkpaa @yourunwiththewolves @prany @pranpats @teesemomma @iathefurrr @inventedfangirling @sharingfandoms @lamonnaie @maychild @thegayneurodivergentagenda @mistergreaves @dudeyuri @nyttvera @thecriers @threezoz @wontbotherrn @not0nmain

[lillywhitefield]

Hey!

First, I just want to say that I am right there with you!! I watched season 3 with an equally obsessed Bridgerton friend (she’s a big Kanthony fan and I was honestly a general audience fan until like Tudum of July 2023, after which I became a huge Polin fan… they’d always been my fav in the show because I tend to gravitate toward that “side” couple if you will but I just hadn’t entered FULL Bridgerton obsession mode yet 💀). Anyways, we watched it together when it came out, did not check the onlines. And when I tell you we both cried multiple times throughout the season, I mean that we CRIED. There were soo many beautiful moments and while ofc it wasn’t perfect, it spoke to both of us in a way the other seasons didn’t. (My friend remains a Kanthony fan, happy for her bc they’re a lovely couple that I too enjoyed, but she turned to me at the end and just said “They (Polin) are so good together.”After we both had finished crying over the “How lucky I am to stand by your side and soak up even a little bit of your light” line.) idk. It just made us both feel seen in different ways and for different reasons, and we found so many lines/scenes about love and family beyond beautiful. So ofc we were both blindsided when we finally opened up the socials and hell was breaking loose lol. But to be completely honest with you, I think a lot of the hate is coming from the Francesca storyline (homophobia is a disease and some people need to touch grass 🤷‍♀️), the group think mindset that chronically online individuals tend to get into, and the fact that they wanted a little more Polin at the end (which, don’t we all? But as you said, this is Shonda. And I watched the other two seasons, no main couple got more than those 5 min of bliss at the very end which we gotta good amount of sweet scenes during their engagement period lol.) I’m at peace with it because I know they’re back next season and will likely get to be a fluff-fest, similar to Kanthony this time around. I thought it was more interesting for them to explore the JOURNEY to happiness.

All this to say, do what you need to do until the timeline calms down and people finally touch grass. But know there are some of us who also liked s3 ❤️

I think touching grass was VITAL to my enjoyment of season 3! I do feel for people who did not enjoy it, but I'm in fandom spaces to have fun, and I need to protect my own mental health so I just had to check out of a lot of the critical discourse. People are allowed to feel however they want, it's just for me that I am choosing to ignore a lot of it and focus on what I loved and what we *did* get from S3 😊

I'm glad to see that 10 days out from the part 2 premiere, more people seem to be doing the same! And I am SO EXCITED for married and happy Polin in season 4! If we get anything like what Kanthony got, I will be thrilled

[thinkingaboutbones]

Yellowjackets Characters Ranked from Most to Least Likely to be a Communist

The ghost of Karl Marx possessed me and made me write this.

Young Nat - I mean come on just look at her. Girlie hates the system!! My anarchist queen!! I love her.

Lisa - She's part of Lottie's intentional community, putting in the work to better herself and the community! You could tell me she's canonically a communist and I would not be surprised.

Adult Lottie - Now I don't think Lottie is a full communist. Like she's running an "intentional community," which is like basically a commune, but she also deliberately positions herself as a leader. You can even see it in the clothes she wears. Like put on the heliotrope comrade!!

Adult Van - Idk I know she criticizes Lottie's community but she just has comrade vibes to me. She's a small business owner (a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do under capitalism) keeping physical media alive!

Adult Nat - She's a bit more jaded than her younger self. Originally, she questions Lottie's community. But she does buy in when she sees and experiences the benefits!

Laura Lee - So I originally had Laura Lee pretty low because of the correlation between Christianity and conservative beliefs in our society. But our queen isn't like that!! She learned how to fly the plane for the good of the community! Helped Lottie cope when she ran out of her meds! And you know maybe neither of those things totally worked out but she was doing her best!!!!!

Crystal - If Crystal can get along with MISTY she can get along with anyone. And she was SHOOK when she learned that Misty had destroyed the black box, aka done something literally so selfish/bad for the group. I think she would do very well in a world where everyone worked together and shared resources for the good of the community.

Akilah - Idk man this is a long list they can't all be well thought out. @lottiesacolyte said she seems open to anything, so I'm just kind of putting her here. Sorry to the Akilah stans.

Young Lottie - Initially I had young Lottie super low on the list, since she's kind of a god/idol to the girlies in the woods. But upon further consideration, she doesn't actually Want that. She goes out of her way to try and Avoid becoming their leader. She just wants everyone to work together and survive. AND she said that if she died they shouldn't let her body go to waste.

Young Van - Young Van's vibes are very similar to her adult self's, but she does kind of buy in super hard to Lottie as leader. I think that under different circumstances she would be more of a communist.

Young Taissa - Young Taissa is a tricky one. Because she is soooo against the Lottie as leader stuff that everyone else is buying into. But at the same time, I feel like She wants to be the leader? Which tracks considering her adult life. I think that her and Van could have been happy living as communists together, but that's not the way life panned out for them.

Adult Shauna - Shauna is fed up with her boring suburban life. And you know what would make you happier, queen? Communism!

Randy - Okay this one is a little silly goofy. But he's just sooo down to help Jeff. Help him with blackmail, help him seem like Shauna is cheating on him. He's a real one. I don't think it's likely that Randy would be a communist but like if Jeff was doing it? Maybe!

Jeff - Very similar to Randy, I think that he would just kind of go with the flow with what everyone else is doing. He's pretty traditional, but if Shauna wanted to try communism he'd give it a whirl with her.

Javi - Javi is a child. He's an icon and I choose to believe he would adjust to communism, but let's be real he's gonna just go with the flow.

Sammy - Sammy is also a child, even more of a child than Javi. He'll do what his parents tell him to do.

Gen and Melissa - Okay I put them together because I don't know a single thing about either of them. They're side characters, they'll do whatever everyone else is doing LOL.

Mari - Mari is kind of a hater. And that's so relatable. She's kind of a go with the flow girlie. But also because of her hater energy I feel she would not immediately adjust well to communism.

Jackie - Jackie is a traditional girlie. She's used to being queen bee. She doesn' adjust well to living in the woods, and she wouldn't adjust well to communism. I think that she could if pressed! But she would be resistant, let's be honest.

Young Shauna - While Jackie's alive, Shauna will do whatever Jackie does, regardless of her own thoughts on the matter. After Jackie dies (rest in peace my girlfailure icon queen), Shauna's a little more ambitious. You think a girl who's mad she didn't get to be antler queen would be immediately down with communism? Absolutely not. I think she would adjust, but not easily.

Callie - Callie's in her edgelord, I'm cooler than everyone else era. Perhaps one day when she is older she will embrace the radical joy and love communism can provide, but for now she would Not be happy with a change in the status quo. She has big Jackie queen bee energy, and she doesn't want that to change.

Adult Travis - Travis' response to the trauma of the wilderness was to move to the middle of nowhere, so I don't think communism would quite be his vibe. But I do think that he'd be more open that his younger self, just due to life experience and Hopefully being less misogynistic now. But we don't really see a lot of him so who's to say!

Young Travis - Travis buys into so much heteronormativity and toxic masculinity nonsense that I think it would be really hard to shake it out of him.

Simone - She's married to Taissa, so she's clearly bought into the idea that a liberal government can somehow liberate us.

Adult Taissa - She's literally part of the system. Also she can eat dirt for free under capitalism, so why bother being a communist? She's a deadbeat dad, acting like providing for her family monetarily is the only thing that matters and not Love and Quality Time.

Adam - Adam would tell people he's a communist. He might even think it's true. But when push comes to shove? That man is not going to radically change his life. He's fake woke and I hate him, good riddance.

Adult Misty - She was NOT on board with Lottie's intentional community. She abuses the elderly. She murders people. Misty wants power and control, and communism wouldn't allow her to have that.

Walter - This man is RICH but instead of redistributing his wealth he bought a big fancy house and all he does is go on Reddit and be crusty and lame.

Coach Ben - They're literally stranded in the middle of nowhere and this man keeps trying to act like he's in charge? Like you only have one leg my dude, just let the girlies take care of you. And then instead of talking things out when he disagrees with the collective, he BURNS THE CABIN DOWN. Evil evil man.

Young Misty - I hate her. She's a creep. She broke the black box just because she liked feeling important. She killed Crystal to keep her secret, and doesn't even want anyone to eat Crystal's body even though everyone is starving. Keeping valuable resources from the community is NOT very communist of her.

Kevyn - ACAB!!

Jay - ACAB ACAB HE'S SO CRUSTY I HATE HIM HE'S A CREEP!!!!!!!!

[bunnyb34r]

So I finally went to the movies again and saw Blink Twice... and I have some Thoughts™️

I'll put spoilers under the cut but tw if you're at all interested in this movie, very very heavy graphic and sexual violence. They even do a TW for sexual assault at the very start of the film and a way for victims to get help. Which is good, but makes me wonder... would they give you a refund?? If you couldnt handle that subject and were like nope not for me! And leave? Bc no where in the trailers (that I've seen) is it indicated that the movie is about that... so...

That aside, I did enjoy pieces of the movie (but overall idk if I liked it. It left me with a sick feeling in my stomach (which is the point))

I liked the color scheme, the repetition of white and blue and the red both being there the whole time but also becoming more and more important as the plot progresses. I think that was cool.

The camerawork made me kinda ill im ngl... that might have been intentional idk.

It was a really interesting movie, one that you kinda gotta sit with after watching. It was a lot sadder than I expected. Funny in parts like the stupid fucking chair, but overall it left me sad. Idk I was expecting more... The Most Dangerous Game and not that™️

Oh and I think the acting and casting was really good too

Spoilers ⬇️

So the main twist honestly made my stomach sink. Idk what I was expecting but god it wasn't that even though I probably should have.

I honestly thought the perfume was made with blood and that thats why the snakes or that they were like draining the victims of blood and making perfume for the men that brought them there.

I really liked how literally everything tied back to some part of the movie, the opening shot making so much more sense, the scar, all of it. That was really clever. Heartbreaking, but clever. I wish they had subtitles or made the "red rabbit" part more clear bc I couldnt understand that until Frida repeated her. That part was so so heartbreaking and clever too. Like when it all makes sense it's like another punch to the gut.

"Theres a special place in hell for people who choose to do nothing" was a good line but also like rich coming from you Slater. Mr Morality over here!

At first I didnt get why she saved him, but nothing would have stopped anyone else who he had previously brought to the island if she killed him. Like they could just fly their themselves and do the same shit again. This way she stops it, but god I dont think I could sleep in the same bed as that man after all that. (And I'm sure that is also a message like trauma affects others differently, the best revenge is success/she's able to manipulate HIM now ect) but I cant help but wonder how the other girl felt (i cant remember her name) ab her MARRYING that man like... the whole girls helping girls speech ect

I do kinda think it's funny how Frida was telling him to "eat his steak" bc he said before he didnt eat red meat, so again she's able to manipulate him even in subtle ways now as revenge.

I think this movie is like either one you only see once or one you see at least twice to digest it all. Personally I could not watch it again knowing what I know now, but I could see someone wanting to see it multiple times to dissect it all.

Oh and I thought it was interesting how Stacy didnt WANT to remember and how "forgetting is a gift" and the reveal of what happened to Slater and his sister. That was sad but interesting, especially since victims of CSA tend to have complex relationships regarding their abusers and how some go on to do what was done to them bc of their trauma. That was sad but a very interesting plot point

I'll probably have more to tack on later but yeah that was... that was something.

[monstersinthecosmos]

so idk if you've talked about this before but i was thinking about how some of your sheith fics take place in the same sort of headcanon universe where keith and shiro first got together when shiro was actually kuron and ttsr! majorly diverges from that! i love the flavor of both possibilities LOL but i'm just wondering in what ways this timeline difference changes how you view/choose to portray their relationship in each scenario! and i don't think we'll get that far in ttsr! (I'M SCARED TBF) but just in your mind palace i also wonder how you think it plays out when shiro comes back as a clone! does kuron even know they're a thing? does keith notice any differences in how he acts? IS HE FREAKIER AND MEANER IN BED LOL? sorry i feel like i send you so many asks abouy ttsr! BUT I GENUINELY THINK ABOUT IT EVERY DAY LMAO. literally it's the sacred texts!!!!

Fgkjfdlg OMG I haven’t actually talked about this at length before because a lot of people don’t notice or don’t comment on it and I don't think anyone has ever asked! 😊

(This is going to contain some mild spoilers for my fics but THE CLUES ARE ALL THERE if you’ve read them before! Proceed with caution!)

SO YEAH LIKE. Not ALL of my Sheith fics fit these two timelines but I have a few versions of how Sheith hooked up that all live in harmony in my mind so sometimes I draw on these and it’s fun to play with them by adding more at different points in time or from different points of view.

One of them is STAR EATER timeline which started with Star Eater and includes Zero Hour and another fic called The Alternative that I wrote for a zine but I haven’t posted it on AO3 because tbh the zine process upset me so much that I don’t want to look at it anymore to make it AO3 ready lol.

The other is TONIGHT THE STARS REVOLT timeline which includes TTSR -> Minuit -> and the Femsheith fic as we circle the moon which is FEMSHEITH TTSR. (This is the order they were posted in, but chronologically it would be TTSR -> as we circle the moon -> Minuit).

And like, when I first started writing Sheith fic, I’d just spent like 2 years writing VC fic full time, and for the most part I try to keep all my VC fics in the same timeline. Mostly just for fun! It’s become like a creative challenge to me to like keep continuity between fics or hide Easter eggs. So I had written Star Eater as my first Sheith fic and then when I wrote Zero Hour I just thought it would be fun to keep it in the same timeline the way I do with VC. But idk I feel a lot freer writing Sheith than I do VC so it was also inspiring to branch out and not stick to the same formula every time.

Something about Sheith too is there’s SUCH a wealth of fic in the fandom and we’ve read so many hundreds of versions of them as a couple and how they got together and everything and like, you gotta understand that I have like 100 fic ideas on deck at all times and I know I don’t have time to write all of them, so I tend to like weed out ideas to prioritize and budget time for if I think I can say something interesting and maybe subvert some of the common fandom tropes. So yes sure, Sheith are soulmates, yada yada, but WHAT IF THEY WERE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS AND IT WAS AWKWARD ! Or WHAT IF SHIRO NEVER MADE A MOVE UNTIL IT WAS KURON DRIVING BECAUSE KURON WAS LESS INHIBITIED? Listen I’m a slut for angst, too, so like. I’m not really good at writing fluff and it’s not my first choice as a reader, either, so I wanna ask, like sure yada yada soulmates but what if it hurt, or what if it was messy? How can we make this dark and fucked up? Lol

So these two premises are like, places I’ve put a lot of thought, and I think a lot about how that affects their relationship long term and what it says about them. And I think they offer a different flavor, so when I have an idea or I’m in a certain mood, sometimes I think “this would be really nice in whichever timeline.” And a few of my fics they hook up after the war, too! So it really depends like what flavor I’m going for that day and how badly I want to traumatize Keith LOL

But for example, like, TTSR was born in my brain as like misc smut prompts but I thought “It would be subversive if they were FWB" because at the time I never saw canonverse fics where they were FWB, I’d only seen it in AUs. And then when I wrote Minuit it was for the prompt party and my prompt was about Keith nursing Shiro to health after he gets his body back, and I WANTED it to be crampy and uncomfortable and awkward, and I WANTED Shiro to feel guilty and self conscious, and so I thought setting it in TTSR timeline would add to it because it adds that element of like, IS THIS TOO INTIMATE? IS IT TOO SERIOUS? It also includes some flashbacks to when Kuron first shows up, and how he and Keith navigated being around each other, but his memory is sort of fuzzy and he’s disoriented.

I REALLY love thinking about the sort of like, dubcon aspects of Keith fucking Kuron, too, because neither of them are truuuuuuuly consenting. Keithisn't fucking the person he thinks he's fucking, and later on Shiro is bound to be kinda violated knowing that his identity was stolen for it. And would Kuron want to fuck Keith if the Galra wasn't telling him to? I also like the idea that Kuron is not a perfect copy, and maybe he’s bolder, maybe he’s more aggressive, etc. So maybe he did make moves that Shiro didn’t, and Shiro comes back and can’t believe what went on while he was gone. In Star Eater universe it’s sex and in TTSR universe it’s the ilu confession. It's quite violating to everyone involved!

And in both universes I’ve tried to float the idea that Keith could tell something was wrong, or different, but he just assumed it was The Trauma ™. Like Shiro comes back a little bit off, he’s getting migraines, and Keith GETS IT. Keith has also (canonically) made Shiro’s safety his own responsibility, so I wonder if he feels so guilty that he fucked up that he’s not going to push on it. In Zero Hour this takes the shape of Keith not wanting to talk about Kuron at all to real Shiro because he feels so fucking embarrassed that he didn’t notice, and in as we circle the moon (s)he’s struggling the entire time trying to figure out if Shiro needs space to get better or if this is going to be the new normal and how tough the love should be.

One of the reasons re: Kuron why I decided I wanted a clean slate after Zero Hour too is that I kind of regretted the way I interpreted the Kuron lore when I wrote Zero Hour; canon is a little bit unclear about how it works and whether or not Kuron is “dead” or gone from the body. I decided afterwards that I liked the idea of them having to share the space and sort of integrating with each other, which is why I wrote it differently in Minuit. In Star Eater timeline, Kuron’s entire personality is basically AI programmed on what the Galra could map of Shiro’s brain, and WITHOUT GETTING INTO JUNK SCIENCE EXCUSES FOR THE WHY, I just thought maybe it might leave sort of “impressions” in the body, which is why Shiro can sense residual, disjointed memories. I imagined these things like imprints or phantom sensation in his brain, perhaps in the vein of epigenetic trauma.

But in TTSR/Minuit timeline, Shiro is in there WITH HIM and it’s a matter of trying to cooperate who’s in the driver’s seat. I haven’t written this further but I imagine that Real Shiro will one day simply become New Shiro which is him and Kuron sort of integrated as one person; this is why I wrote the scene about him dreaming about a cherished childhood memory except that he’s inserted a twin into it. He will learn to share and accept that Kuron has all his same memories and his own soul, whatever that means.

AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS LOL SORRY FOR MEANDERING but I do imagine Kuron being freakier and meaner LOL. Is this grounded in canon or am I making excuses to be kinky? Reader’s choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can justify it by, again, asking if the Galra made an imperfect copy. Because like he IS different! The show communicates this to us by the subtle changes to his character design. And I think about like, the Galra designing him and programming him for a purpose, which is GET CLOSE TO THE RED PALADIN, and I wonder how that might push him in areas where Shiro would’ve been more reserved.

And like what might the Galra get wrong about human psychology and American culture? WHAT ARE GALRA MATING RITUALS? As the BIG BADDIES of canon they come off as being aggressors—even Lotor, who believed he was acting for a greater good, was committing atrocities LOL—so how does that change when they try to build a human personality and human intention? WHAT IF IT’S LIKE JURASSIC PARK WHERE THEY PATCH DNA GAPS WITH GALRA SO KURON IS LIKE AN ALPHA OR SOMETHING HAHA. But no really like what if he’s more virile, what if he’s more confident, what if everything he does is based on some soul-crushing subconscious instinct to BE CLOSE TO KEITH at any cost!!!

These ideas take many forms in my mind, which is why I need multiple versions with multiple answers LOL.

But TTSR Kuron knows they’re a thing, because I think the Galra were sort of downloading/studying Shiro’s consciousness through his arm the entire time he was alive, right? So up until the very end he’d have Shiro’s memories. He will know they hooked up, and he will know how Shiro felt about it. In as we circle the moon (s)he breaks the ILU to Keith in the pilot’s log because she thinks she’s dying and her entire soul is crushed that she never saw her relationship with Keith through, not just for the half of her that shares Shiro’s feelings but also the other half that exists solely to get to Keith.

Star Eater Kuron knows that Shiro has been pining for a while and is the one who is brave enough to make a move!

ANYWAY THIS WAS QUITE LONG AND RAMBLING but I hope I answered your questions LOL.

I think TTSR exists as a trilogy in my mind, and I hope that the huge gaps between updates don’t leave anyone DYING because I’m going to follow canon so there's not a huge mystery where it will go. You can also get an idea of where they’re going by stitching clues together from the other fics. I have no idea if or when I’ll find time to WRITE A WHOLE TRILOGY (please just let me finish TTSR first LMFAO) but I always imagined TTSR ending around when Shiro dies, the middle fic being about Kuron, and the third as the post-S7 story that I have to make up myself because I don’t accept S8 LOL.

MAKE OF THAT WHAT YOU WILL but that’s basically the questions I ask about these guys and how it informs where fics go and if I’m in one mood or another or think one timeline or the other will serve a story I want to tell, I’ll set it there!

and OMG don't apologize for sending Sheith asks, I think all this stuff is like bursting at the seams of my brain and I'm always happy to yell about it!!!

[captorcorp]

THE DREAM MACHINE GAME SPOILERS (post-game rambling)

if i had a nickel every time i experienced media with an AI trying to give birth to itself in a human baby form through the protagonist's wife - i'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

on a whole i'm really >:3 about this game though!!! i should've known from the title (which is why i got it ofc) but just wasn't sure if it'd live up to my expectations for either the dream aspects or the machine aspects, i think it did for both though

the dreams could've been more dream-like in logic at some times (though i feel like they usually did feel p dreamlike), though with how difficult the puzzles were already maybe it's a good thing they weren't lol i did like the environments though like the wife dreaming of being the captain of a ship where all of the workers are clones of her husband, the stressed nurse dreaming about a cool fantasy land where she's the village medic, the wfh guy dreaming having some weird cube-like dream land that nobody expected but most of it being manipulated by the machine controlling him...

decent amount of dream psychology mentioned, specifically jung's collective unconsciousness (is that a zero escape reference??? /j) and some freud mention iirc? the disk-shaped shared realm of dreams that people start from the center of and move towards the edge as they age while being able to traverse the plane between people's dreams as well is an interesting concept - feel like i haven't seen that many games come up with their own dream lore like that. at that part in the center with the prenatal barrier and baby dreams being raw potential energy and such, i hadn't heard as much about that irl so looked it up in case it was some obscure theory i hadn't heard of before but didn't find anything unfortunately ^^;

also love the ending in like chapter 5 where you can just. choose to start working with the machine instead after almost killing it, i didn't expect them to give us that option. sorry to my pregnant wife but you're saying i can inherit this dead guy's whole repertoire of dream research passed down for generations and explore the dreamscape as i wish with this cool sentient eldritch machine? fuck yeah let's start hiding the bodies /hj (jk I would go help my wife if i were victor. but i'm not i'm the player and i want to learn about dreams.)

also re: the machine itself i thought it was a neat character ^^ was a bit ??? at what it's goals were at first, bc obviously the mortons were using it to map the unconscious but then it wasn't clear if the machine also wanted to do that or had its own agenda, but self preservation of its sentience and trying to maintain its existence by leaching from the dreams of others was a good motive. and then also 🥺me when the ai is lonely and misses its friends (and accidentally kills them when they stop giving it unsuspecting residents to feed off of but dw about that)

very 👀at that bit in the 3rd floor neighbors' dreams where we found out it was trying to build itself a body in the dream world out of dream npc's organs so it could move around the dream world as it wished without the clunky tentacles that kinda just stay in one place and die. another one of those things that's like 'bro it's a dream you don't have to be that thorough about it to make it work' but i get it with the weird shared dreamscape lore this game has set up and it was a very 'bro wtf' reveal. gotta respect trying the frankenstein method

actually that makes me think. are dream npcs sentient in this universe??? i was just thinking about it like 'at least it was just stealing organs from npcs and not people' but idk how this fits with the collective unconscious lore.

also i do have to address the ending of the game besides just that 2 nickels joke (the other media was demon seed btw. was a pretty disturbing watch ^^;;). that one bit felt like the stanley parable hole ending and the other bit felt like the 2001 a space odyssey ending. the playing god part was very ??? i didn't know what to think of it at first (still not sure) and this is the only screenshot i took from that portion.

that whole final colorful shifting area with the victors of different ages reminded me of the denver meow wolf exhibit (i haven't been yet but from the pics i've seen of it on the site). then i saw the area with our mother giving birth to us and i was like. Ah. Unfortunately this game has given us a lot of experiences with climbing inside of small holes, even when they're inside other people...

was also surprised that we just took up the machine's offer to share our consciousness and stay stuck in the dream world. feel like it'd be more effective to give us some options there and have multiple endings, but i guess if it was us (machine loses too much power to survive outside of the dream) or our child (would grow up possessed by the machine irl) makes sense as a trade, our poor wife though... i do like dreams but being stuck in the dream world forever like that would be OTL i am glad the machine got to survive though

anyway my final review is. puzzles were pretty hard so thank you steam and yt walkthroughs. ending was weird, it was too metaphysical for me to fully wrap my head around but i do like the artistic vision. game on a whole is good especially when you're autistic about dreams and ai characters, played it for like 10 hours straight. dream machine is my favorite character (no surprise). why did the game make us unbirth ourselves.

misc screenshot dump:

normal teatime conversation topics

cool machine diagram

NOOO i forgot to get a picture of those fuckass pumpkins that make you lead a government. love those guys

[alitgblog]

vol vi thoughts bc fusebox keeps bringing me back

although we're in casa so ya know.... story is bound to get bad soon after casa

first of all, Hari. im so disappointed with his sprite because I'd so go for him for looks alone otherwise (his hair is nice and hes indian and hes got the rohan sort of physique albeit more muscle-y). but somethings up with his face and his eyes are a little red and his torso is doing the thing Vicki does, so he just feels like a leftover from S7 (and what a shame bc Tyler is drawn so well but barely gets time to impress us in the villa!)

OK anyway personality wise though hes giving nothing. Bombshells gotta cause more chaos and I think he'd be a fine and dandy OG in the real show but he's just kinda here. I mean idk maybe I tapped through his dialogue too quickly but in my head rn he's similar level to Elliot. Elliot I can at least make gamer jokes about and the girls had more to say about him than just: he's hot, and MC should go for him. that being said what I'm about to reveal i did in a few bullet points will not make sense.

The note was obviously gonna be from Jin (your LI), so them dragging it out was a little annoying. And I have personal opinion on what types of things should be gem choices and part of that is having a good enough excuse not to go through with it and I think not reading the note for no reason is not good enough. Anyway I did choose to read the note and it's sweet and references Jin's whole "funny guy but now I'm serious about you" shtick and I just wish they write that a little differently but it's still cute.

Then we get Bea's messages and it's odd bc I can't think of a reason or another season on the show that they dragged out the bombshells arrival like this. Like first of all, they might as well have given a message to Theo as well instead of just Oakley and Hari. But even more than that, why put the messages at all? just to have a cliffhanger at the end of the episode? I think just straight up during the sports day challenge, have someone read a text that a new couple is joining, and then bam it's Jin and Bea. maybe one text from her but the multiple was bugging me.

I also don't know why I got it in my head that Bea was gonna flirt with Theo/Claudia depending on who you flirted with, plus also your current LI but like that would've been a nice addition since I think Theo and Claudia should be done for but they don't make it clear???

Oakley messing with Emel about the drink was funny ngl, but I do miss the routes not merging because it just doesn't make sense to me having Oakley do that. Jack or Jin, maybe, but Oakley is the silent, serious type. Like in my head, he's more like Noah.

There is very briefly a few friendship moments between MC and Theo this volume and in my head they are besties and I wish that was canon/more explicit because I'm not going after him anyway. That way you get the friends who get closer and become lovers storyline from either Theo or Claudia and the other you still get to be friends with.

I'm surprised Claudia and Theo aren't just fully broken up because Claudia is asking for advice and I'm like, did yall not already get that sorted?? it's been so long. One of them should just go for the bombshells.

A chat with Claudia! finally! (albeit a gem scene) I thought we'd get to know more about her but it's mostly just a game of word association which is odd. I will say admitting that MC associates love with Jin made me laugh bc I'm cruel

The girls then say that MC needs to graft on Hari because they're both single and I get the support, but also MC is still getting over Jin lol.

Remember how I said the way I'm gonna play this doesn't make sense? Okay so I decided I needed to create my own mess, just to see if fusebox is gonna let my MC have consequences for her actions. So this is for science, in a way... Okay. So I may have let my MC flirt with Hari. And then maybe she got a sexy massage from him. And then maybe they kissed. What can I say? She's out of her mind without Jin. 🤣

okay no but seriously, in my head she does start to revert to her old ways, her old type, but she knows Hari isn't right for her. She misses Jin but she's not used to having a connection so fast with someone. And when he's gone she misses him but over the course of the day after putting on her brave face, she's convinced herself she's overthinking it. the letter was sweet but it scared her a little. she knows he was gonna ask her to be exclusive and she freaked a little. she just needs a little distraction....

I enjoy sports day but in my head it's usually a late in the show game. Like around in S2 when they have the bird thing happening or the S4 musical (OK maybe not that late, like probably pre baby challenge, but it's generally a challenge with very little drama is my point). still it was fun to have here.

and then of course return of the king, Jin comes back. and with the way I've been doing shit, yes, MC did kiss Hari when Jin entered and ohhhh he was upset.

Bea is cute but playful and still competitive and okay she goes for your couple, but also I get like Chelsea vibes from her (no canon reason why, I just think it's the hair) so love her.

Double date is so fun when your other partner is nearby, like it's almost enough to forget they did the same thing in season 5 because it's so much better this time around.

for fun and for angst I just imagine in the show, mid date they cut to a beach hut scene where MC is like "yeah I had a fun time with Hari but he when he was talking about all the things he wants in a life partner, I kept thinking about how I want that with Jin." 🥺

anyway yeah bring back beach hut

So I'm not a big fan of how they introduced the bombshells and LI return but it's not bad. I just think we could've gotten more time with Jin, Hari, and Bea. It's unclear but I think it's implied Jin, Hari, Bea, and MC are all single and I hope that's true because that way there will be little consequence (as in no sudden dumping) if you or another one of those characters brings someone from casa. because you're not in a couple anyway. (I mean I always hope there's no Dumping immediately after casa bc the arguments are more fun but this is how they've been doing it recently and i think part of that is bc of how they force the routes to merge)

it's also nice we don't get immediately stolen from our partner a la Tom/Cora entrance (or Elliot/Chloe) but it's sort of implied with how the sports day couples went? like I wish there was just a little more time before Casa so it's clear they're all single

or fuck it, give us a recoupling and post casa don't dump the other LI right away if you switch. Like you should be able to make up with your LI or not and it's boys choice and if they wanna keep the slow burn Theo picks last I guess and gets Bea just to also fix the Theo and Claudia together but not storyline. Maybe between your original LI and Hari, one of them picks Claudia (or give us another mlm couple if you're on a Claudia route and let him couple with Theo lmao)

[therealvikingstrash]

2022 End of the Year Fic Review

The wonderful @underragingwaves tagged me, thank you love! (I put the longest part under a cut)

1. What is your AO3 account? for the vikings fandom it's my pseud vikingstrash.

2. How many words did you write total in 2022? 117.233 *whistles* not too bad if one considers what a year it's been.

3. How many fics did you publish in 2022? How many multichapters vs oneshots? 39 one shots and 2 multichapter. All Hail the One-shots!

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic? Longest was Kings of Kattegat with 39,878 words and the shortest Story as old as Time with 119 words.

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular fic? Most popular (going by subscriptions, hits, comments, kudos and bookmarks) has to be my VBB entry Kings of Kattegat. Personally, the most self-indulgent fic I ever wrote.

Least popular is Sweat. I guess it would be a lot more popular if it wasn't hidden behind the AO3 log in. And also if it had full on smut and not just teasing, but oh well, I like it and in the end, that's all that matters xD

6. What fic didn’t perform as well as you thought it would? Huh, that's a weird thing to think of, I never really give it much thought if my writing is going to be popular or not so that thought of a fic not "perfoming well" is kinda...absurd to me. Anyway, if I had to take a guess, I'd say Greedy Gods? While it does have a lot of hits and a couple kudos, it's weird to me that for a fandom with so many people claiming they want more fic about the female characters and how much they love Aslaug, there was not as much love for it as I would assume. Must be a me-problem.

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would? Basically anything I wrote for D. P. - Deserter Pursuit. I didn't think there would be enough people in said fandom to read, kudo and comment, but was positively surprised.

8. What was your favorite fic you wrote from 2022? For Vikings: Valhalla, Daughter of the Fearless. I loved giving Altöra more background story and this glimpse of her relationship to Freydis. It was fun to write.

For Vikings, Strung up, Tongue-Tied. I mean....sub!Hvitserk restrained and dom!Amma playing with him? Ubbe observing, just being present without doing anything besides kissing Amma? Yeah, I loved that one. It's full of tension.

For D. P. - Deserter Pursuit, Pity. My dumb ass actually made it a published WIP because there was more to tell and I liked it a lot. Only the Gods know if I will actually write more though xD

9. What was your favorite fic that somebody else wrote in 2022? Well, for someone who couldn't be paid to read other people's fics, I managed to read quite a lot in 2022 for free. Mind boggling, I know. But here go my favs:

Gotta start with Not A Fairytale by underragingwaves, because...have you read that fic? It's really a fun read (for those who like crime stuff which is basically exactly what I love) and promising a bigger universe underneath that small treat she wrote.

Will totally never stop making hearteyes at Twice Now by ritual-unions. Love how Kara (heh) is so clumsy and unable to function in the real world and the way Ubbe basically just watches and smiles to himself, before his eye-roll moment that will make him intervene. I also love myself some good hurt and gosh, this is gonna hurt so damn bad at the end and I will love every second of it.

There were a couple to pick from and it was hard to choose, but when someone can make me read an Ivar fic, then it says a lot about that persons writing skill. The Mental Tyrant by grimeundglow deserves so much more love than it has been given.

Reactions Of Your Kind by Ulfrsmal was my fav of him in 2022, but only because I didn't really get to read the rest of his fics xD I'm sure there are more gems in his list, but this one stood out to me because...Hvitty and Ubbe 🥺

A Prize of Battle by Mercurygray, is absolute Emma/Canute goodness and Idk what else to say, because this womans writing skills are beyond anything I could muster, so hearteyes from afar will have to do for now.

For Mince Pie by emma-ofnormandy, another author that captures Emma and Canute's relationship so well and it's so fluffy, I wanna hold it really tightly against my chest.

And last but not least The Queen of Kattegat by northernxstories! I will remain deeply impressed by how effortlessly she managed to pull me into her story and made me read it in one go, even though it's 12k of words xD It was such a new way of approaching the characters and it's brilliantly written. An absolute treat in 2022.

10. Tag your friends to do this year-end fic review as well!

most have already been tagged, but perhaps one of you want to do this? But no pressure! @emma-ofnormandy @nothingtolosebutweight @author-morgan @lmillay @barnes-lothbrok @errruvande and anyone who feels like doing the fic review :D

[therk900]

💞August TC Challenge (Day 1-31) 💞

1. Name three words that always reminds you of your tc. B: the letter B, blue, english S: Italian, tall, gentle

2. Do you go to school at the moment (summer break)? Have you graduated? If not, when will you go to school again? Do you know when/whether you will see your tc again? I go to school at the moment, yes. I may see B today or tomorrow. I am not sure when I will see S again. Maybe tomorrow as well

3. What happened in the last dream with your tc in it? S: I Was sleeping with S, cuddling him while watching a movie. the next day, i was his teaching assistant B: Out for dinner at a fancy restaurant! We then went to his place and slept together!!

4. Would you describe him/her as a crush or love? maybe a crush

5. Finish the sentence “Having a tc is…” ...The best feeling ever

6. Do you remember when you first dreamed about him/her? (What happened in that dream?) It happened a long time ago so sadly no

7. Did he/she ever do something that made you think: “What? You are able to do this?” (I hope you understand what I mean ^^) Not yet

8. The colour that reminds you of your tc? How does this colour relate to him/her? Blue reminds me of B since he has this jumper that he wears that is blue Green for S because of a similar reason 

9. Please describe his/her character and if you want to, his/her teaching style. S is happy, full of energy and can hold a conversation with you for hours. B is humble about things and is here helpful! He is also very creative like S

10. When you think about him/her, do you think about *his/her first name* or about *Mr./Ms./Mrs. …*? Their nicknames I kind of made for them

11. Finish the sentence “My tc is my…” reason to go to school

12. Tell us about your weirdest dream you had with your tc in it. S and I were on a date, and we saw another teacher we knew run into the store that we were in. The teacher then yelled “WHERE ARE THEY?” And I said “there are these instead!” He then ran over to me, thanked me, and walked out like nothing happened

13. Name a line/lyric part from a song that just fits perfect to your tc situation. B: Powerful - Major Laser, Ellie Goulding and Tarrus Riley Line: “The stroke of your fingers The scent of your lingers My mind running wild The thoughts of your smile Oh, you gotta give me some” S: Forth of July - Sufjan Stevens  Line: “And I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best Though it never felt right”

14. Your favourite song/soundtrack when it comes up to your tc? Encanto??? Idk

15. If you were able to dress your tc, what would you let them wear? Suits for both of them!!! I’ve wanted to know what S would look like in a suit! I’ve already seen B in one and he looked good

16. What was the first thought you ever had about your tc? Can’t remember really, which is sad

17. How long does he/she now teach on your school? How long do you know him/her or have him/her in a class? S has taught for 2 years and 3/4 and I had 1 class with him during lockdown. B has taught for 1 year and 3/4 and I had 2 classes with him last year and 1 this year. 

18. Tell us one random thing that happened with your tc and that you’ll never forget. S witnessing me fall over and B complimenting my drawings!

19. Standard: What does he/she teach? Bonus: If it’s just one subject: What else do you think should he/she teach? If it are two subjects: Which one does he/she teach you? If you have to choose one, in which one would you rather like to get taught by him/her? S teaches Science and Italian. He taught me Italian. B teaches English and he looks like a teacher that would teach Humanities.

20. Did you like the subject that he/she teaches you before he/she began to teach you in this class? Or did he/she arouse interest for you in their class? I liked the subjects that they taught me! 

21. Would you say your tc is the hottest teacher in your school?  Definitely! They are both hot! B with messy hair just sends me flying each time!

22. If you were able to tell your tc about everything without getting into trouble with your school, would you do it? Would you tell him/her the whole truth? Maybe. It depends

23. Name an object that always reminds you of your tc. S: anything to do with science  B: a book about a play

24. Ever had a crush on a celebrity, older than you, before or beside your tc? (On who was it?) Yes. I currently like Booboo Stewart. Especially when he played Jay from Descendants! (My sister is a descendants fan so that's how i got to know about him)

25. Is there a teacher you love in a different way than your tc? Not really

26. Do you know his/her handwriting? Do you like it? (If you want to and if it’s okay for you, post a pic of something your tc has written, for example in your folder etc.) I know both of their handwriting! It’s both really good! i may post it here when this month is done

27. Tell us about one funny thing he/she has done while you were NOT in class! I am not sure if they did anything. 

28. Would you say your tc is a good teacher? Do you like his/her teaching style? Of corse!

29. Ever met your tc privately? Or saw him/her outside of school? Well, kind of in a sense. We have met both of them in their offices lots of times, if that counts

30. Does somebody around you know about your feelings for him/her? This isn’t surprising, but yes. my friend knows i like them

31. If your tc is/was teaching you, how long has it took you to realise you have feelings for him/her? If he/she is not, how long did you just saw him/her in the halls until you realised you have feelings for him/her? For B, It took me half a year, and for S, it took around a year and a half

[shadowonwater]

Pokemon Scarlet Playthrough part 13: Clive reveals his true identity (who could have guessed), classes and hanging with teachers, Penny stole that money (called it) [Starfall Street Complete]

Playthrough Masterlist

So I walk up to the school and I see "Clive" at the gate. Clavell finally admits that it was him who was Clive all along. What a real shocker, who could have guessed. Then he tries to claim to be the Big Boss as well, which he obviously is not and battles me.

To be honest I didn't expect to battle him, so that caught me off guard. He has a full team and they are level 60. Looks like I'm on level again! I still win of course, but he did knock out one of my Pokemon due to a miscalculation on my part.

Me who sees Abomasnow, ah yes, grass is weak to flying, and ice is weak to fighting, therefore it's a great idea to send out my Flamigo. I completely forgot to account for flying being weak to ice. *Embarrassed laughter*

Well Clavell admits that he isn't the Big Boss (duh) but he's now convinced I can handle a fight with Penny. He bows to me, and I'm like wow, gotta make him proud now.

I will say that I thought the entrance was a weird place to have a battle, what with all the people in the area and all. Guess it's against the rules to do that because Tyme showed up and yelled at Clavell. Saying his excuses stink like "a Skuntank's behind" I love it when people use metaphor's with Pokemon. Just some good worldbuilding.

So yeah I really like Clavell character, he's a delight. And to think I thought he's be a bad guy after watching the trailers. He's just a goofy old man.

I'm going to do the rest of the classes next, interact with teachers, and then I'm going to the schoolyard to fight Penny. But that's tomorrow, I'm going to bed.

Art 6: Hassel talks about Marks and Ribbons. Apparently I can get the Best Friends Ribbon at Cascarrafa, I think that was where the water gym was. Checking the map... yes! It's the water gym city.

Art Final: I got medium candies this time, nice!

Battle Studies 6: Learning about link battles, not much to say.

Battle Studies final: Easy but I lost a point for choosing "auto fights" instead of "auto battles" a very arbitrary difference.

Biology 6: Jacq talks about Pokemon forms. He brings up that Phone Rotoms are special and can't possess other technology, this fuels my headcannon about Rotoms and how these Rotom are specifically breed for this purpose. He got cut off by the bell when trying to talk about regional forms, seems like something a bit too important to cut off if you ask me.

Biology final: Easy. Anyway I like the questions Jacq puts on the ends of his tests, I don't know why the Clavell is against them. It's not like I haven't seen that sort of thing irl. Like as long as it doesn't affect the grades and it's an optional question, and also not inappropriate to ask, it should be fine.

Home Ec 6: He talks about customization pretty much, including Rotom Phones. It's fun that he himself doesn't know where to get phone cases so a student says where to get them. I really liked his speech at the end, it was very sweet.

Home Ec Final: Easy. Sort of off topic, but on topic, I like to imagine Saguaro having a Patrick Warburton like voice.

Languages 6: One last lesson in listening to Pikachu I must be honest in that I found guessing it's emotion based off its sounds very difficult. I may have sound on but that doesn't mean I pay attention to what cries happen when, besides I don't even have my own Pikachu to learn its cries from. Well I do have one but I don't use it.

Languages Final: Well I got one of the Pikachu cries wrong for the same reason I listed above. Also I think it's weird that one his question's is just asking what his name is, like what kind of test question is that?!

Math 6: Tyme explains STAB moves. Its very basic, idk why she didn't explain that early. I mean I already know it but if you asked me STAB should come before moves that increase stats in battle.

Math final: I had to redo the test because I don't remember how much certain things multiply.

History 6: So Tera Orbs have something to do with Area Zero. So Tera Pokemon were first discovered in Area Zero, but why is it now a common occurrence outside of Area Zero? Apparently only just 10 years ago (that's not long at all!), Sada figured out the Tera thing and she made Tera Orbs. But this still doesn't explain the Tera Pokemon in the wild outside Area Zero. Also Clavell was on her team, I suppose that's how they know each other?

History Final: Easy, but I am paying very close attention in this class, so no wonder it was easy. Unlike other tests where I usually already had the knowledge being asked about.

Oh and now I've passed everything I also get some large candies, cool!

Now it's time to talk to the teachers again!...But first I decided to use my additional candies to evolve some Pokemon for the Pokedex. I then tried a bit of grinding to level up a few more. I only bring this up because I found another shiny, and I actually caught it this time! So now I have a shiny Capsakid.

I also used a Thunderstone to evolve the free flying Pikachu. I bring this up because I'm happy I was was allowed to evolve it, I like Raichu more than Pikachu and I'm sick of all the special Pikachu that can't be evolved.

Talking to Raifort now! She conforms that the four Pokemon of ruin are real, which was quite clear as a player. She says she found it in a newspaper "of all places" newspapers are a great way to find info like that when researching. So the stakes, as I correctly figured out, are what is sealing the Pokemon. There are eight stakes for each in the areas "surrounding the shrine" not sure how true that is, I swear I've found yellow stakes all over the place.

Raifort has marked the spots where the shrines are on my map, I already found two on my own but I guess this can tell me where the other two are. It's too bad Raifort can't go adventuring with me, but I will say that could work as a potential fanfic, freeing the Pokemon from the shrines with your history teacher.

So I knew about the Groundblight Shrine and the Grasswither Shrine. But not the Icerend Shrine or the Firescourge Shrine. I wonder if I free the shrine Pokemon if I get more story with Raifort. I'm really eager to see what's hiding in those shrines. One thought that came to mind is that maybe instead of all those Yellow stakes maybe they were green and yellow but just a similar color? Would explain how I found so many yellow.

Talking to Hassel again. He tells off someone in his family for trying to drags him away from what he's passionate about. Also he implies that she may have been lying about his father's health to get him to come back to the family. Anyway he gave me 50 Dragon Tera shards! So if I wanted to I could change the Tera of one of my Pokemon to dragon if I wish. I wonder what rewards I get for getting to the end of the storyline with other teachers.

Considering Raifort still has the "!" but nothing happens when I talk to her I think that means that I indeed need to figure out what lies behind the gates to complete her storyline.

So Salvatore is keeping the Pawmi, just as I figured would happen. He's seems to have a preference towards electric Pokemon what with having a Pikachu and also a Raichu pin. Now he also has a Pawmi. Anyway I suppose the Pawmi might not be deaf or mute, per say, but more like selectively mute, like Red. He gave me a Galarian Meowth, a pretty cool prize, ngl.

Talking to Miriam now. She passed her exam! Good for her. She also gave me 10 Max Revives, nothing too exciting, but I'll take it.

Talking to Saguaro now. Apprently the sweet condiment he wanted is the sweet herba mystica. He asks me to share some if I ever found any. Considering the fact that you can only get the herba mystica in area zero I guess that means I need to wait a bit more I can finish his story line.

Talking to Dendra now. She's taking a break from sandwich making. But her goal is to payback Miriam. Oh yeah, I'm 100% to ship them lol. She gave me a bunch of protein.

I meant to talk to Tyme who was in the courtyard next but even though it was starting to look bright out it started the continuation of the Starfall story anyway. So yeah I guess I'm going to do that now.

So where to begin... of course I was right that Penny was both Cass and the Big Boss. She finally revealed herself and wanted to fight me as the Big Boss of Team Star. I wasn't sure what she would have been given her iconic Eevee backpack my best guess was that her team would be all Eeveelutions. Looks like I was correct! The fight went pretty easy.

But I must say! Penny's theme is an absolute banger! I gotta listen to it some more some time it is so good!

Clavall reveals his true identity to Penny and she is actually surprised. Penny are you face blind or something? It was obvious who Clive was. And he asked the question that I've been asking for a long time. Why Operation Starfall? If you're the Big Boss why didn't you just tell them to diband?

Well as it turned out she did tell them to stop, all the way back after the incident. They just choose not to listen to her and are surprised when she didn't show up again. So she thought if she told them now to stop, they would continue to not listen because technically she's not allowed to order them. Fair enough.

The incident in question. From the sounds of it they rolled up in their wild outfits and giant cars and basically threatened their bullies. The bullies were scared and told everybody about how scary Team Star was and dropped out of school to avoid them. So everyone thinks that Team Star is up to no good, hence the rumors.

The moment the Penny meet her Team Star friends face to face was really sweet. Really liked that bit where they all said Hasta la Vistar. I wonder who in the group came up with that catchphrase.

I'm glad those Team Star bases will go to good use. And that the Team Star raids will probably be seen as a fun challenge for trainers to take on. Hope they'll still hand out a commemorative badge to those who win, that'll be cool.

And my theory that Penny stole that money was correct! There was already that mention of hackers stealing LP from league servers, and what with Penny being a hacker and all... So yeah Penny is a thief! Be gay do crimes?

I haven't gotten Penny on the Team yet nor have a gotten a "Starfall Street Complete" message. So I'm guessing something else needs to happen? Not sure what though. But I am going to finally talk to Tyme again.

Now talking to Tyme. Ok so her stalker situation is now dealt with. A girl who's a fan of Tyme's time as a gym leader. Tyme said her sister now runs the gym. I thought the similarities between Tyme and Ryme were just a coincidence... but maybe not. She also gave me a bunch of Tera Rock shards.

So I went outside and there was Penny! So that was how the story continued. She now owes me one, she says, and this will be cashed in later to break into Area Zero.

I don't think I said this earlier but I figured Penny would be hired for cyber security by the League. Don't like someone hacking you? Try hiring them to stop others from hacking you. So it seems that that is indeed what happened.

Also apparently the six of them came up with the Team Star catchphrase together.

Anyway that'll be all for this post, next post I'm going to take on the Pokemon League. I'm going to see if I can find those two other gates now that I know where they should be. Hasta la vistar!

[marshmellowtea]

12-15 for the dr ask game?

12. Favourite Danganronpa 3 character?

as in the anime? i uhhh.....never finished it, lmao, and the parts i did watch i don't remember very well. i'm assuming this question is referring to characters specific to the anime so i'm gonna abstain from this one for now, i'll get back to you if i ever finish it XD ......actually, wait, i do remember liking chisa a lot. that'll be my answer for now, once again, i'll let you know if that changes lmao

13. What’s your opinion on the Danganronpa 3 anime?

well like i said i never finished it HGLKDSJF but i do remember thinking that it's not as bad as i thought it would be going into it? i do also remember thinking it was rushed, however, and i still think they could've spent far more time fleshing out plotlines referenced in sdr2 (you know, the things fans of the game would actually care about? it was weird how little they chose to expand on those given that that was kind of the point of the anime in the first place ghlkdjf). i do eventually wanna go back and finish it though, despite my criticisms here i do think there were some interesting ideas there, esp with the season focused on the future foundation, which i never even got to lmao. also, the title sequences BANG, and that alone makes me glad this thing exists hgkldjf

14. What do you think about Danganonpa 1 anime?

it's a good intro to the series, but, like.....not to be a pretentious fan here, if you really wanna appreciate the story as a whole, you really gotta play (or watch someone else play, let's plays are loved and appreciated in this household) the game, dude! you're missing out on so much if you ONLY watch the anime, which why i personally choose to see it as introductory/optional material rather than a proper part of the series.

15. Your absolute OTP?

tbh, as multishipper, i don't really believe in a one true pairing in a traditional sense, since there's a lot of ships in this series i really enjoy and a lot of them are polyships. that being said, however, i am coming out as a komahina enthusiast and i will never not be annoyed about their fandom mischaracterizations lmfaoooo (also idk if they do but if ot3s count here, make it komahinanami. they are literally the backbone of sdr2 imho and i Care Them)

[thejustmaiden]

So out of nowhere I was tagged and quoted by a SR shipper for a blog of mine posted in August of last year. Talk about throwback but, hey, gotta appreciate that level of snooping. 😉

Back in the day I actually used to encourage discourse amongst Inuyasha fans- both shippers and antis alike- but I've since realized that it's a lost cause. But for you, @feministmetalgreymon , I'll grant this exception. Just 'cause it's been a while so why the hell not. haha

I want to assure you, however, that nothing you say will ever convince me that Sesshomaru and Rin are meant to be together romantically or that the story intended it so. Nor will you find any validation here. You can ship them for all I care, but please for all that is good and holy while I have your attention try- I mean really try- to understand why it is so many of us Inuyasha fans are so against this pairing in the first place (newsflash: it's not about ship wars), and why we believe a romance between the two of them is completely and utterly out of character.

For those of you interested in reading this, the blog of mine in question that the above shipper mentions in their counter-argument is here for reference. It's titled "Jaken = Rin's Dad?" I'm going to try and keep this short, but I'm also making no such promises. After all, I'm not exactly known for my brevity. haha Now let's get crackin'!

Like you, feministmetalgreymon, did for your recent blog here where you took screenshots of mine to address certain parts, I will be doing the same and dissecting yours accordingly.

[Snippet 1]

I worked with kids for many years as a teacher, and many people in my family have too or still do. Two of them happen to be just over 5 feet which is quite short for the average adult woman living here. I've also worked alongside many a women of short stature, and never did I hear any of them complaining of issues with their students having difficulty differentiating them from their own peers just because they were short as well. I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. Kids are quite smart and pick up on a lot more than you seem to give them credit for. Height is not the only characteristic they look at to determine who's an adult and who's not, and it's foolish to suggest otherwise. So unless you're a babysitter who's still in their teens and/or who has very childlike features or behavior then I'm afraid what you're getting at is total hogwash. This is just another example of how you shippers offer nothing of real substance to your reasoning, it's only ever cherry-picking or strawmanning from you guys. Stop deflecting from the real issues please, because this certainly isn't one and only winds up being a complete waste of time for all parties involved.

[Snippet 2]

Okay, calm down now. I wasn't insinuating that relationships between parents and children can't change over time in terms of how they get along. Of course that's possible, as all families experience their fair share of estrangement and abuse. What I was speaking about was in reference to the overall dynamic between the two. Because a bad mother or father can still be viewed as a parental figure to their child even if say they're not in said child's life anymore. Since Sesshomaru and Rin share a healthy bond- and just a friendly reminder that in my blog I even said that he doesn't have to necessarily be labeled her father but that a romantic relationship later would still be inappropriate- I didn't deem it necessary to address what you brought up. Plus, it kinda, umm, misses the point?? Please, let's stay on topic. And it's not captured in the screenshot, but stop acting like there isn't a small part of them that idolizes their parents at some point during childhood. Just like you mention later on how it's normal for kids to have innocent crushes on adults that they eventually grow out of? Well, guess what, the same concept applies here. Kids eventually learn that their parents are far from perfect and make mistakes too. Rin is so damn young in the OG series though that we never even get to see her reach that maturity level.

[Snippet 3]

LOL! Alright, okay, so the "unbreakable bond" bit you're mentioning was actually me quoting you sessrinners. Did you not catch that? I literally spelled it out. *sigh* The whole point I was making is that shippers like yourself make hypocritical and contradictory statements all.the.goddamn.time. One moment you guys claim that Sesshomaru and Rin were essentially strangers and meant very little to each other, only to say in the same breath a few seconds later that they were destined to be together and their bond is like no other. I agree, their bond is special, but why must that mean they're going to fall in love?

That is the root of the matter here. Too many animes/mangas have romanticized this older adult man & young girl growing up falling in love trope that it's become way too normalized and widely accepted across the world- and yes, in some cultures more than others. Sadly, you lack the awareness to recognize how this all works. You know how we know that? When we see that you shippers are so desensitized to sexualized images of girls in the media that you share posts like this one below which *subtly* imply a future romance although one half of that pairing is still just a child in the pic and then try and pass it off as cute. That's like super fucking problematic and it scares me that you can't see that (or deny you do). 🤢

After all that's said and done, Sesshomaru leaving Rin in the village with Kaede is to me the strongest indicator more than pretty much anything else he's done for Rin that proves he is her adoptive father. It's so funny to me how you somehow see the exact opposite though. 🤔 What I think is happening is that you got yourself on some squeaky clean ass shipper goggles fresh out of your little echo chamber. Because I hate to tell you, but what you're fantasizing is what you want to see and not what's actually there on screen or was written into the story. I'm strictly talking about Inuyasha and the manga of course. [For the TL; DR version skip to the last paragraph.]

Parents looking after their kids is what parents are supposed to do. A good parent will do anything to keep their child safe and ensure they are cared for, so what he did for her by leaving her there was in her best interests clearly. Besides, as a babysitter, you more than most people should understand that parents aren't always able to be there for their kids so sometimes others gotta step in to help. Haven't you heard of the saying, "it takes a village to raise a child?" Which in Rin's case is literally true! 😂 Sometimes kids are even sent off to stay with grandparents and that's who raises them instead. Or maybe they have to temporarily live with an aunt or uncle because their single parent's job requires they work out of town 4-5 days of the week so they're hardly home. But that doesn't mean that the parents care or love their kids any less, and it's foolish to assume that Sesshomaru must have thought very little of Rin simply due to the fact that he made the decision to leave her in the village. Come on, y'all are acting like he abandoned her there!!

It's just given the circumstances Sesshomaru finally came to learn that Rin traveling with him was no longer safe. I also like to think it's because he wished for her to live a more normal life and to learn how to fully trust humans again. Plus, continuing to travel with him as young as she was would have proven dangerous and unwise. Now for you to know all this and still manage to turn his past actions towards her while she was just a child into a romantic gesture is what boggles my mind. Regardless of how you look at it, from my perspective or your own, Sesshomaru is in the wrong. Either he's a father figure who impregnates his daughter at the young age of approximately 14. OR he's this man she used to travel with who maybe isn't a father to her but who nonetheless basically rapes her since kids her age can't consent to sex with an adult. Idk about you but it sounds to me like nobody here wins with either scenario we're given. In other words, you should be just as mad as we are. If only one side didn't choose to forsake their morals they know we both have in common for the sake of a ship. Welp. 🤷‍♀️

I agree, incest is disgusting but that's not the only problem we have with this pairing. A romantic bond forming between Sesshomaru and Rin would also constitute as grooming.

You realize that over the years he visited her in the village that he brought her gifts too and essentially watched her grow up right before his very eyes, right? I mean, I know you do, but I really shouldn't have to explain further why pursuing a romantic/sexual relationship with each other is plain and simple wrong. And before you say it's not because he didn't have any malintent, please understand that considering their history and power dynamic up to then that yes this is still considered grooming even if Rin supposedly "wanted it" or "made the first move." Whether you consider him her father or not, as the adult who took on a role resembling that of a caretaker in her early life- a critical developmental time for a child- Sesshomaru is obligated to turn down any advances by Rin and most definitely should not initiate any himself. As the first close adult figure she's had in her life since her parents died, it's unfathomable to imagine how Sesshomaru could go through with taking advantage of this young girl who was under his care and supervision since they met. To think he could be capable of betraying that trust sickens me to the core.

This. Now THIS is how a parent/guardian or a similar adult caretaker (babysitter, teacher, etc.) talks to a child. And, in turn, this is how some young children talk to adults. You'd be insane and delusional to deny it! We see it in our everyday lives, do we not? From where else do you think our stories draw most of their inspiration? Yes, obviously these fictional universes have aspects of fantasy that don't exist in the real world, but so how then do you suppose we're able to relate to them? The reason for that being is because these stories are written by people for people, so naturally there are going to be real life aspects embedded throughout. Sure, a little escapism doesn't hurt as we don't need to take everything so seriously, but ultimately we all need to recognize that the messages in the stories we tell matter. Most stories possess a combination of both light and dark themes, but when it specifically comes to the latter we gotta be careful with how we tackle this in children's media since kids are far more impressionable.

So if at the center of a story we have two of the main protagonists whose mom is basically their same age and to top it off she knew their dad when she was just a girl and who just so happened to help raise her, wouldn't you say that's beyond fucked up or at the very least so fucking weird? Like why would we think it's even remotely okay for our children to watch this garbage?? Really think about it. Try and be objective for once and think about how it would sound explaining this storyline to an outsider who's never watched IY or HNY. Well, antis have tried this before many times and we always get the same reaction: Ewww!

Like I said earlier, if you wanna ship it then fine, but 1) please stop seeking our approval or trying to change our minds - your ship wish came true didn't it, so why do you need us to validate it? 2) even though it's not canon, respect that we don't support this sequel portraying pedophilia in a positive light. It's harmful af to not only allow but glorify the continuation of sexualized images of young girls everywhere. And I shouldn't have to say this, but just because this trope is popular as you say does not make it right. Lolicon themes in the media have been an issue forever and it needs to stop. Yes, even some people in Japan or "the East" would agree. Shocker!

We're pissed off and rightfully so because Yashahime's TV rating is 14, not to mention it airs at the prime time kids in Japan watch TV after getting home from school. That's Towa and Setsuna's age, true, but if Rin being the mom when she's like only a year older than them (please don't argue w/ me about the math- antis have so far been right every time with it) is straight-up disgusting and not something we should be supporting or endorsing. Rin's a whole ass child!! Please don't start with the "but times were different then so her having kids at 15 is acceptable" argument either, because we've already debunked that and every other single excuse you guys throw at us. Besides, how or why would you expect young viewers to know these historical "facts" anyway, especially if as you suggest fiction doesn't affect reality so what does it matter? Yet here we are, arguing over a fictional show in real life almost a year and a half into the "Sesshomaru fucks?" sequel being announced. My ass, your ass, hell all our asses fiction doesn't affect reality!

Look, I do apologize if the tone of this blog came off as snippy or condescending at times. I do not wish you any ill will, it's just I'm not really sure what you expected to get out of all this besides maybe getting on my nerves perhaps. haha A lot of you shippers have been desperately scrambling to interact with us, lurking in our tags, jumping onto our posts screaming canon and getting so defensive even though you sought us out first. We've been sticking to our tags, so how about you stay in your lane too. By the way since we're on the topic, have you seen Twitter or Reddit?! SR shippers there are the actual worst and many Inuyasha fans (not just antis) have complained of not feeling welcomed to engage in fandom spaces anymore. Shippers swarm them and scare them off simply because fans don't like your ship and refuse to accept it. It's pathetic, really. No one should ever be bullied or harassed just because they don't like something you might. We're all fans of Inuyasha, aren't we? So let's act like it. Yashahime on the other hand, you guys are welcome to that pungent heap of trash. Fans have a right to criticize it too, but if you like it then good for you, so keep on liking it and don't mind us.

I'm almost done, but real quick back to Jaken! Let's not forget about how the official Yashahime website- which came out after my blog, mind you- described Jaken. This translation isn't the best one available but it's the only version a fellow anti friend could track down. They do recall a better one done by a native Japanese speaker who was also an anti, and that member confirmed that Jaken is indeed called Rin's babysitter. So you see, I was right in my interpretation. In the original post I did compare Jaken to a brother, but after talking to others (some comments can be found under said post) I did acknowledge that he's more of a reluctant babysitter who's not related. And if he's not at least a brother to Rin, then he's definitely not her father.

At the end of the day, the creator Rumiko Takahashi has the final word. Which is guess what? Hogosha. 💖 Probably should've just started out with that and saved us all the trouble, huh? Good day/night to you.

Papamaru bids you adieu now. 🤞

[hexfloog]

Tonight we screm about... LIFELINES

Earlier today, I sent an... admittedly very poorly-phrased question about Gadgetless Conan to a DCMK server - you know, like someone who doesn't proofread.

(I know it was bad because nobody answered me... rightfully so, lmao)

There was a reason for it though!! What I was thinking about was E2, Company President's Daughter Kidnapping Case/The Kidnapped Debutante, and E129, The Girl from the Black Organization.

Rambling below the cut!!

In episode two, it's made horribly clear to us just how harrowing Shinichi's situation has become, even at surface-level. The point is obviously to contrast against the Shinichi we're shown in episode one, who is physically adept, well-liked by authority, and generally comfortable in life. In the span of a single episode, he becomes alienated by symbols of his former self-- his house, which he cannot enter; his clothes, which he cannot fit; his friends, who he cannot confide in; and his own name, which he cannot utter-- and we begin watching him struggle to acclimate to the life of someone who is infantilized at every turn (until he isn't, cough), the degree of which is illustrated most plainly in this first case solved as "Conan."

You only get one shot to establish the floor of a setup like this, and I think they did a pretty good job of it. I'm biased in favor of the Funimation dub, of course:

"You've gotta be kidding me!! I can't even kick a soccer ball anymore!

Aaaaaugh, the panic in his voice.

Anyway, I bring this up in conjunction with The Girl from the Black Organization because, before Shinichi realizes he's being played, Ai taunts him with some dialogue which I found-- among pretty much everything else she says in these two minutes-- pretty chilling:

And she's right - Shinichi flounders so much in episode two because... he really is helpless! He's completely gadgetless for the duration of the case, completely stolen from his former physical prowess (and the familiarity that comes with it), and just to add insult to injury he doesn't even know how to properly masquerade as a child yet, which is arguably the only trick he has when naked (so to speak). As Haibara says... without Agasa, Shinichi has no liberation from the physical weakness of his child body.

So... that got me thinking... Shinichi has a support system that is already loosely established even by this point, composed of people who know his secret, lifelines which bring him back to himself when it seems like there is no escape from his false identity. What are they?

Agasa is, as established above, Shinichi's lifeline to his physical strength and, arguably, his authority. His gadgets allow the young detective to arm himself-- both in the conventional sense, and with a reliable wealth of trickery to skirt the dismissiveness often invited by his child appearance... whether that means simple antics or straight-up mimicking the voices of dead people to scare culprits into confessing WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS--

His parents are, obviously, his connection to family. They are also his general safety net, in the event he chooses to give up... or is forced to.

Heiji is Shinichi's lifeline to companionship. As I mentioned earlier, once he becomes Conan, Shinichi is put in a place where he can no longer confide in his friends (namely, Ran). Heiji, after learning his secret-- and in his ostensibly wholesome habit of seeing right through the veil of Conan every single time-- offers Shinichi a chance to just... be himself without the smoke and mirrors. When the circumstances of his life force him to wear the skin of someone else at every waking moment, I feel Shinichi could very well forget what genuine camaraderie feels like. Also he's the first one to offer Shinichi any semblance of hope for the end of his predicament (albeit unknowingly), how could he not have a place here omg

Haibara is something of an enigma. Admittedly, I have not seen enough of her to be able to say anything (with confidence) on her apparent role in Shinichi's system, but every time she speaks I swear this girl has something PATENTLY 10/10 to contribute asddgfhj. For me, and for all I've seen so far, she represents his value system (and by extension, retribution?) and is the closest I've seen this show come to gray morality. In this very episode Agasa has to hold Shinichi back when their conversation quite clearly turns to challenging who he thinks deserves to be called a victim and I-- mmmmMMMM

More on that in another post about this ep because there's no WAY I'm going to be able to cover everything I wanna say about it in this one aaaaa. Also I do not know at this point whether Vermouth would also fit into this role, I haven't gotten there yet

(Now for this last one... I realize Movie Canon is technically its own thing, but tbh I want the movie and show canon(s) to overlap so much in my mind that I don't even care sorry not sorry--)

...Kaito Kid.* Honestly this boy is such a wildcard, his relationship with Shinichi is so unique and multifaceted that he most definitely plays more than one part in this support system I've interpreted for him in my head. At the very least, being The Foil, it stands to reason he would play a very similar role to Agasa, but rather than bringing him back to the familiarity of his physical body, he keeps him on his toes by pushing his ambition and testing his deductive prowess, which... is especially interesting to me, given that Shinichi never loses that part of him post-transformation. Passion, then, is perhaps his role (or at least one of them): to remind Shinichi of his purpose, of what gives him life... away from the grim backdrop of his circumstance, and removed from the shadow of the Organization... because even in the body of little Conan, that fire could not be stolen from him. Kaito may or may not be doing this consciously (for all intents and purposes, most likely not) but it's still an intriguing thought to entertain, I think...

(*Yusaku could technically overlap with this also, but imo both Shinichi's parents are far too aware of the threat of the Black Organization, I think-- as they should be, being his parents and all.)

(*Heiji could also be the one who stokes this fire, but there's a markedly distinct difference between sharing a passion, and weaponizing it)

Wow uhhHHH idk how to cap off this post uhmm... that's all I've got for now, next time I screm about... YOU CAN'T SAVE EVERYONE (still this ep, bc 129 is SUCH a treasure trove of ideas)

if you've gotten this far tysm for reading much love <333

[suckishima]

okay for the character asks, gotta ask about tsukishima!!

Hahaaa thank you! I was gonna be disappointed tbh if no one asked about Tsukki considering my over-analysis of him knows no bounds, you all know me so well 😆

First impression: tbh i was pretty neutral. the first time we see him and he's all rude i was just like "okay he's the mean one." and then he says the bit about not liking over enthusiasm that comes from no basis and i was like "hm wonder if that'll get explained," but tbh i didn't give it or him much thought. he was just there lol

Impression now: god idk if i can even sum it up lol. i've never related to a character like i relate to tsukishima and his character growth is one of the most cathartic things i've ever watched/read and it really hit home for me on a personal level. he's scared and insecure, which manifests as apathy, but despite that a large part of him still urges to strive for more—and that scares him too. he's scared to want anything at all, and yet he learns to try anyway. he's quick witted, always thinking, skeptical, oftentimes too harsh on himself and others, but still tries to do everything with careful thought and intention to produce the best results. i really love the way he's written, feels very human

Favorite moment: the end of the shiratorizawa match! yes yes i can talk about The Block for days and his scream put tears in my eyes, but what really hit home for me is how immediately after his finger gets dislocated, he's not even off the court yet and he's already thinking about what he'll do when he gets back out. he never stops thinking, his hand is in pain, he's pissed about it, and even confused at himself for wanting to keep playing. but want he does! the inner conflict of not fully understanding why he's doing it but doing it anyway and enjoying himself is so so beautiful, i honestly will cry if i think about it too long lol.

Idea for a story: dear lord i have so many. but! pretty sure next fic i'm gonna start working on is gonna be focused on his time at the miyagi prefecture first years camp! really wanna explore more about his drive and motivations during that time and how he functions in a non-Karasuno team environment

Unpopular opinion: (most of my unpopular opinions are probably gonna be about fanon stuff lol, i like canon too much) but uhh, i don't like the "salt-shaker" moniker. mostly it's just a pet peeve, but i feel like too often people who use the phrase boil his personality down to nothing more than "snark" and like yes, he does have that, and he is mean but i sort of don't like the way the idea of that just being "salty" is kind downplaying 1 the actuality of how rude tsukki can be, and 2 how that rudeness is coming from a lot of deep-seated insecurities. it's just more nuanced than that, ya know. (not saying everyone who calls him that thinks that, it's just the vibe i get in certain contexts)

Favorite relationship: this was actually really hard for me to choose between akiteru and yamaguchi, but ultimately i think it's yamaguchi. the way they both grow together throughout the series is really well done. i've surely said this before, but they're integral to each other's growth, without the other neither of them would end up how they do and the way the series shows that and the way it culminates is seriously so fucking good. watching the way they both fall (back) in love with volleyball by pushing each other almost solely through their actions is one of my favorite things in the entire series, it's so satisfying

Favorite headcanon: he wears his headphones/listens to music not to block out other people's noise but to block out his own! he's more comfortable when he isn't aware of how loud his existence is.

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

..."STAR-CROSSED LOVERS"??? YES.

Thank you so much @cheri-translates for translating Victor's SAND AND SEA DATE. You're an angel. 🥺🥺🥺

Now I'm gonna start blabbering since I've many feels about this date LOL~ 🙃

⚠️Warning: There are some spoilers regarding Victor storyline from the main story chapters that haven't been released in EN yet.

🌹

From "I won't save you a second time" [CH 1] to "I don’t need you to save me a second time." [The date in discussion]-- LOL as hilarious as this is, the irony.💯

Ngl this date felt like, the writers thinking since, under the context of the theme, the physical pain of time travel & crossing countless of dimensions & timelines is not possible-- let's just nearly kill him by spilling blood & dehydration but still we gotta nearly kill this man cause he wants to be in love.🙃

Idk why I'm getting so emotional LOL but there are so many call-backs I can remember on top of my head right now--

[The lines & moments from the date are indented & in bold letters.]

MC: "Victor, I’m helping you look for a water source. Let go!"

🌹 The sad broken cup scene from [CH 18-16], MC urging Victor to let go & him stubbornly refusing, until she gives in.

MC sacrificing herself to revive the river, part of it is to save Victor- other part of it is also for the greater good of the people in the city.

🌹 [CH 18-18] MC's monologue- "This time, put everything on my shoulder & let me be your hero one last time."

& sacrificing herself for the peace of the world even though it only made more chaos.

Victor releasing the hand that supported him at the edge & deciding to sacrifice himself with her. & the vow- "No matter what awaits you, I’ll be with you."

MC's monologue: "It turns out that no matter what the ending is, he’s willing to be with me."

[CH 18-28] Victor deciding to use the sundial watch one last time despite knowing that'd kill him for sure & might lead the world to perish as well. Dummy & Selfish in that moment. His final vow before MC disappeared, "No matter where you are, I'll always find you."

[CH 19-6 Dream World Victor route]

MC: "What if this really is a dream. Then what?"

Victor: "Then I'll turn it into reality."

[CH 25 phone call- In the Hospital]

"No matter what you are facing in other space-times...Wait for me."

[CH 36-10, after Victor returns from his 10K years time travel]

Victor: I thought you are never going to be afraid again?

His warm breath moistens my eyes. I inhale through my sore nose. Resisting the urge to bury my face in his chest, I look up, staring straight into his eyes-

MC: I will never be afraid again. Because you really came back. Victor is standing here before me like a treasure once lost and now found. What do I have to be afraid of?

Victor is stunned for a moment. The corners of his lips loosens a bit, while the contours of his face softened a lot. He raises his hand to wipe the wetness from the corner of my eyes.

Victor: It seems that this dummy has grown up a lot during this period. Listen carefully, I will never return to a world where you are not.

[CH 37 PV line]

"Whatever choice you make, I'll always be here."

[CH 37 karma by-line]

"I will accompany you on the road leading to the future."--

Basically the eternal insistence of him having an internal MC GPS tracker LOL ALWAYS being by her side.

Kidnapping incident.

🌹...[CH 30-7 to 30-10] Agio Street underground gambling den mission- wants to say a hello.🙋‍♀️

Abandoning the honor & glory of leading a comfortable life as a feudal lord to restore the river & to find the fateful couple, probably hoping to find his love too, but won't admit cause even if it's AU, he be like- "I'm still Victor" LOL

[CH 11 karma by-line]

"I won't let go of you & the world."

The physically-mentally painful exhausting wait & time travelling of 10K years, walking through endless dimensions & timelines, only to start from the very beginning every single time- hoping to find a way to save the world & protect the girl-- wants to say a hello too 🙋‍♀️

MC's monologue: Still, I want to have one more look at Victor… before leaving.

🌹 This specifically reminded me of a [CH 37-5 Victor split route] monologue from MC--

"It didn't matter what was waiting for me. I would face it with my head held high. Even so, I still wanted one last second...just one second. Let me call his name one more time...let me take a good look at him...just one last time..."

Victor: In that case, stay here. Stay by my side.

🌹 He has said the same sentence in different ways under various circumstances but one I can remember right now,

[CH 24-12 Black Cabin reunion]-- "But right now...Just stay by my side."

MC noting down how she always finds herself in his arms whenever she's fainting or getting in trouble. How Victor has been quietly taking care of her & protecting her. How the person before her walks in steady steps with forceful heartbeats.

When she was in her most depressing state [CH 18], he was there like the steady pillar of support, helping her in every way he could. He was pretty much the glue that kept her in one piece.

Again, in winter world, he stood by her side even as a stranger.

Not just these two incident, throughout the entire game, especially in the latter part of the story, they work together like partners, she learns to trust him with pretty much everything & they work through everything they can together.

Those few mentions in the date-- could be referred to how Victor has always been the constant source of warmth, encouragement, strength, support, protection in her life. No matter what world or when, he never really changes. He is still the same man. & His constant state IS choosing MC every single time.

Victor lies on the sand quietly, and it’s as though everything has returned to the beginning when we first met.

🌹 Indication towards how their storyline ALWAYS goes back to square one or comes in a full circle-- from Victor saving her from the car crash as a kid [& this being repeated many times afterwards, even in winter world], to the lightning incident [MC jumping in front of Victor both as a child & an adult], to both being in coma for week, staying in the hospital & taking care the entire time [MC in CH 11, Victor in CH 32], to stabbing each other countless times. [CH 18, CH 36-- & every other times Victor has seen those incidents happening before his eyes while time traveling.] *que tears*

🌹▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️🌹

I could possibly make a full blown essay which I already kinda have out of some other specific call-backs I can remember right now. Specifically the theme of the date being star-crossed lovers-

Legend tells of two lovers. Because of the pressures of their nations, they could not be together, and decided to drown themselves in a river for love.

Because of this, the River Goddess was enraged, and she cursed the land nourished by the river which was under her control. Since that day, the Socya River gradually dried up.

The Goddess left an exhortation-when the fateful couple reappears on this land, the river will be surge once again...

& This perfectly echoes the canon theme of Victor x MC storyline--

🌹 As in, Victor being someone who, objectively speaking, seemingly has everything & yet sacrificing practically everything--

[giving up over-seas university offers, staying in the city instead of moving abroad even though his business could be expanded more, relentless search of 17 years, appointing private detective for 6 years, building up Souvenir etc.]

--- to find MC & then in the mission of keeping her safe, even at the cost of his own existence. Trying everything beyond his limits to prevent the destined deaths of MC he has foreseen- from happening & it being doomed to no end every single time.

🌹 Every single time he had to give up the ONE thing he wanted to protect the most or wanted the most.

🌹 Both of them being so willing to put each other in the front line just to give each other happiness.

🌹 Another running theme of their storyline-- both of them keep losing each other countless times & then find each other again.

• Victor losing MC as a kid, finding her as an adult. Victor nearly losing her in CH 10.

• MC losing Victor due to the time rift in CH 14 & finding a way to contact each other through the sundial watch.

• Victor losing MC in CH 18 first-hand. MC leaving Victor behind in CH 19- dream world.

• CH 24 Black Cabin reunion & CH 27 OG timeline reunion

• MC nearly losing Victor in CH 32, due to him going to coma

• MC losing Victor in CH 34 due to Victor going on the time-travel journey of 10K years

• Final reunion in CH 36 [Then we have the journey to S2. But that's a whole new discussion.]

🌹So...both of them being able to truly be with each other is actually-- defying fate & writing their own destiny. *SOBS*

🌹I wanna end my blabbering with two precious moments from [CH 36- Victor split route] that echoes this theme even more.

MC: "I've always chased after your silhouette and I was never afraid. Because I know you'll always be there waiting for me. Victor, if you really disappear... I will be with you, and we will both be forgotten by the world."

MC's monologue: "Victor, once we have crossed countless dimensions and futures, and returned to each other’s embrace. If everything has to disappear with time, as dust into the wind... Then, I'm glad that we have our final promise."

[She's referring to the promise she made of being forgotten by the world to be with him & the promise Victor made earlier to never leave her again.]