#actual genuine delight. woo

[nightseeye]

My reaction after the fnaf movie

[llamagoddessofficial]

Hey llama, I was thinking about the p&p servant au, and I was wondering how would mc react to all of the guys attending a party she's serving at? Would it upset her to see Sans being haughty with other humans?

HOHOHOHO... I would assume at this point she's not yet one of Skull's servants. She belongs to someone else, someone who doesn't appreciate her like they do.

Sans: As much as he wants to immediately seek her out and take up all of her time, to talk to only her... he understands that it's a very busy party, and she's working. He steals her for a little bit of polite conversation, but he doesn't trap her- he doesn't want her to get in trouble. He's very kind to her, as he always is... admiring her from afar, catching her in quiet corners whenever he can, and openly scowling at anyone who comments about her. She enjoys finding ways to sneak a few hushed words with him in passing, and she loves the genuine delight on his face when he sees her in the crowd.

Would she be upset by Sans being haughty? No, not at all. Sans is only like that with people of his station or higher, never with servants. For her, there's honestly something really enjoyable about watching Sans be shitty to the kinds of people who are often the cruellest to her. He gets to say and do the things she wishes she could.

Red: She loves when Red shows up. All the staff do. Even before she knew him personally, she enjoyed when he appeared at events- Red is the life of the party, and often ends up causing some kind of scene that becomes talk of the town. Excessive drinking, ruinously beating someone at cards, pitting two idiots against each other until they get into a fight... all the servants knew that if Red was there, it was going to be a delightfully gossip-filled night in the staff quarters. Especially since Red was absolutely the type to woo any of the particularly eye-catching servants.

She likes him even more after meeting him. Because Red is excellent at distracting the other party members- most importantly, he distracts the host, usually immediately after shooting her a wink. Without her employer breathing down her neck she can get some rest in the middle of an otherwise completely action-packed night.

Skull: If Skull showed up to a party, that's a huge win for the host, and a ridiculous amount of social clout for them. So if Skull appears at the house, and expresses any open interest in Mc (which of course he will)... her employer will basically command her to be Lord Skull's personal entertainer for the evening. "Do whatever is necessary to keep our guest happy. Understand?"

If Red is there to third wheel and keep the conversations going, Mc and Skull would both probably actually have a lot of fun. Red knows his friend very well, and he can quickly and easily 'translate' for him to keep her engaged and relaxed. She likes getting to chat and eat, and Skull is just absolutely delighted that she's sat close enough for him to see her eyes.

If, for some reason, Red isn't there... it might be a bit more awkward. Skull will follow her around like an overly affectionate cat, but he gets overcome with shyness the moment she tries to start anything resembling a conversation. She'd still enjoy it, though- sitting with a silent guy who likes to stare still beats working.

[a-most-beloved-fool]

What do you think about the AOS Kirk x Old Spock ship? I would have liked to see a deleted scene in AOS2 or AOS3 or at least a hint that Aos Kirk visited old spock, not for something romantic or sexual but simply because they had a friendship, old spock seems to be so lonely….

I can totally see the appeal of this ship for doomed romance reasons! It could be very compelling, if done well. (I think I've seen a few fics like that, but I haven't read them, in part because I like happy endings, and in part because I do prefer it when they're with the one from their Own universe, but there's a hell of a lot of potential. actually, there was one that i read because it was mistagged, but it was also. like. character assassination of the aos guys To The Extreme, like holy hell wtf NONE OF THEM WOULD ACT LIKE THAT. i get that aos kirk is apparently your little pooky but WHY did you decide that Every Other AOS character is apparently the devil incarnate? why are spock and uhura like that?? what did SULU do??? god, even bones??? wtf.)

I personally don't really ship it because I do kind of think that Prime wouldn't want to take Kirk away from his own Spock. (I know Spock is technically with Uhura, but. I'm a gay Spock truther, I'm afraid.)

I also kinda think that Prime would still miss his own Kirk and wouldn't actually be able to just. move on to a Kirk from a different universe. This wasn't the same Kirk he'd lived his life with, after all. He was still Kirk, but he didn't have the memories and experiences. (I think Prime would feel irrationally guilty about this - he'd remember his own Kirk still accepting him after the Fal Tor Pan, when he didn't remember their life together, and he'd ask himself why he couldn't bring himself to do the same for this Kirk.)

I could easily see early-aos Kirk crushing hard on him, though, (at least with how I've seen him written in fics) just because, well, Prime is kind to him, and genuinely cares. Like, if you've had a bit of a messed up life, and no good parental figures or support systems, I can see how the sort of blatant adoration Prime would direct towards Kirk would just. instantly win him over. Prime smiles at him and tells him 'good job' very sincerely and Kirk starts experiencing shrimp emotions. (Though he's been introduced to a bit of kindness by then, mostly from Bones and Pike, but still. I think it would hit hard.)

Of course, then his Spock would warm to him, and they'd just kinda connect and many of the ooey good feelings caused by Prime might snap onto Spock, and Kirk would very suddenly go from "haha i want this old man to pat me on the head please what who said that" to "oh fuck oh shit i'm in love with this guy and really want him to like me as much as his old man self does".

I do love the idea of them having a friendship, though. Prime does seem lonely, and I can't imagine ANY Kirk being. just. okay, with letting any version Spock be alone. I feel like Kirk would randomly show up at Prime's house, hotdish* in tow, and be like, "I brought dinner, get in here, we're socializing!" or call him up out of the blue to complain about Spock or paperwork or just to talk.

Prime, I expect, is delighted by this. And, just like Kirk would get protective over Prime, I think Prime would be really protective of both Kirk and his younger counterpart. Kirk could call him at literally any time of day or night, and Prime would answer without question.

(Personally, my favorite dynamic is Kirk adopting Prime as his penpal and friend, and then Spock getting. confusedly jealous, while really most of what Kirk is doing is talking to Prime about his totally hopeless crush on Spock and ask for wooing advice (which Prime only occasionally gives. he can't change the universe too much after all). Prime, of course, is absolutely delighted to be able to watch this younger kirk and spock fall in love. idk, he's a sappy old man. it's an excuse to be unbearably sentimental about his own past. he watches them court and his heart aches, but it's sweet, y'know? it's a sweet pain.)

(and of course the real best case scenario involves kirk and spock pulling kirk prime out of the nexus and depositing him on spock prime's doorstep. let prime have a happy ending, dammit! give him his kirk back! and then all four of them have supremely awkward double dates lmao. kirk and spock prime are Besties while spock and kirk prime are. uncomfortable.)

also do bare in mind that i haven't actually seen all the aos movies whoopsie so take this. with salt.

*kirk is a midwesterner, so you know it's hotdish and not casserole. he has very strong feelings about this.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

It's Enough, It's Enough - final chapter

Fandom: My Lady Jane Pairing: Jane x Guildford Rating: E Chapter: 6 / 6

Summary: Five times Jane and Guildford pretend to have sex, and one time it’s for real.

read on tumblr: one | two | three | four | five

It isn’t the sex that makes them different. In Guildford’s opinion, it’s everything after. It’s walking into her chambers as she’s getting ready and witnessing her before the mirror—she is gilded, dazzling—and feeling as if he’s seeing the sun with human eyes for the first time in many, many years. It’s that she notices the moment he enters the room. It’s the high, sweet “Hi” in response to his greeting that is at once perfectly innocent and all-knowing. She’s a kind of god to him, Jane. Does she know? Can she feel him gazing wonderingly up at her from his knees, even while they stand?

His hands squeeze around the shape of the gift he brought her, pearls pressing his palms. The fact of their arranged marriage was probably supposed to be the main exchange between them, since his family’s not actually rich and Jane has (rightly, in his opinion) refused to elevate him above Consort. It gives Guildford a particular pleasure to offer something so small, and valuable primarily for sentimental reasons. There’s no motive behind the gift, no expectation, no trade, no angle. There’s only this difference between them, a new closeness he didn’t see coming. It makes him silly and soft and achingly desperate to woo her—the woman who’s already his wife.

He’s had the earrings for years, kept them safe from the items his father has spoiled and sold. They’ve sat in a small box. Because of this, Guildford remembered the pearls as somewhat dull, but when he thought of them for Jane, when he retrieved them, he discovered he’d been utterly wrong. When he opens his hands to reveal them to Jane, the pearls look as they did to him earlier. They are unlike diamonds or jewels, their milkiness blurring the glow of the candles rather than brilliantly scattering it. It’s as though the pearls capture the light, allowing Guildford to offer this too to Jane: the intangible, the ephemeral. After the way she made him feel in the stables last night, it seems appropriate.

The thing is that Guildford believed he knew all the selves he could be. He knew the one he hates and avoids until dawn forces it upon him, and he knew the mordant and tetchy self prone to habitual drunkenness. The truth is he believed the whole of himself ugly, in one way and another. He thought his past had disfigured any genuine goodness in him beyond recognition or repair. He thought there was no longer anything more to see, and certainly nothing to want, and certainly nothing to love.

Jane loves him.

He has a self that can be loved.

And when he’s complete, it will be as that self. When Jane finds the cure to the intolerability he can’t control, he’ll cure the rest himself, and no longer be sarcastic and chippy and bad-mannered and wine-soaked. He’ll be free of the ugliness piled atop ugliness. It will be like being born a second time. Carefully, Guildford slips the earrings into Jane’s ears. They suit her. As they suited his mother.

He's never felt prouder and braver than he does entering her coronation banquet by her side. Someone rains white rose petals down upon them, upon her, and her eyes lift, full of gentle awe. Should he tell her who is responsible for this detail? That it wasn’t her mother or sisters or a member of the palace staff? That he saw the roses in the garden himself on his way up from the stables this evening. He’s seen them before, but tonight, with the equally white pearls tucked in his fist, Guildford came to a full stop and stared at them. He walked inside and told someone, “Queen Jane has to have rose petals. They will delight her.” It delights him that they do, that it worked, that he has already made her happy twice tonight—the pearls and the roses.

It's fortunate that there’s so much at the banquet to distract him from thoughts of showering Jane in rose petals while she lies in his bed. Otherwise, Guildford might kidnap the Queen from her own celebration and try out those fantasies immediately. As it is, he only manages to keep his eyes off her for a minute at a time at most before casting his gaze about the room to locate her. The dignitaries probably find him rude, the nobles a bore. The Ethians, if they knew he was one of them, would likely make jokes about a tamed animal in their midst. His best chance at not appearing a complete, full-time fool for his wife is to enter into a conversation that actually engages him. He knows who he needs to talk to.

“Anyone made an attempt on your life lately?” Susannah inquires dryly when he finds her by the wall.

“Good evening,” he replies, as though she said something normal and polite. “Welcome. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Oh, was I meant to do that part first? The lying bit?”

Guildford sighs while Susannah watches him with sharp eyes.

“It’s court,” he says. “The lying bit’s the whole bit.” He frowns. “But I wasn’t lying. It is good to see you, Susannah.”

She lifts her eyebrows in obvious incredulity.

“You know what, Guildford? It’s good to see you too. Good to see you not pointing a knife at me like you were the last time we met.”

He scoffs.

“That was only at the beginning.”

“Well, excuse me. That was the part that made an impression.” She gives him a sideways look like she’s sizing him up. “Even if I doubt you coulda done much with it.”

“I’ll have you know I—”

“Have you ever bested Jane with a blade? Talk to me when you’ve bested Jane.”

Guildford sulks. She didn’t even give him a chance to answer. Even if her assumption is correct. Then again, Susannah doesn’t know that Jane fights dirty—though Guildford doesn’t plan to share how every thought fled his mind the moment Jane pinned him beneath her on the forest floor, her warm weight astride his hips, the steel of his own knife scraping along hers as she brought them both to his throat. He probably shouldn’t savour the memory of his defeat this much, but he does.

“You’re inviting me to talk to you again?” Guildford questions wryly. “I thought you were rather unsure of me.”

Susannah shrugs and says, “Jane seems happy,” as though in explanation. It’s a good one, as far as Guildford is concerned. “As happy as she can be with the world on her shoulders.”

“Not the world. Just England. Well, and Ireland, but—”

Her warning look makes Guildford swallow back the dismissive remark he was about to make about the country which, yes, judging by her accent, is the one from which Susannah hails. Oops.

“As I was sayin’,” Susannah continues, “I’d talk to you again because my friend’s happy, and because I’m somehow standin’ in this room. You didn’t try to talk her out of invitin’ Ethians?”

“No.”

“Even though I tricked her and got a load of your silver candlesticks?”

Guildford doesn’t love being reminded of that, but he can tell Susannah’s just testing him, seeing if she can provoke him. It won’t work. Guildford happens to be pretty happy too.

“I admire her,” he says plainly. Not I helped her or even I agree with her, but his words are still the truth. He wants to live the way he chooses and believes others should be allowed to do the same, even if he can’t understand how they embrace what he can’t bear.

“So do I,” Susannah affirms. There isn’t the smallest hint of teasing confrontation in her tone now.

They were so sincere that it begins to grow awkward. He should circulate, speak with other guests, but he can’t abruptly abandon Susannah to do that. He came over to her in the first place because he wanted to better their relationship. If he leaves her, it isn’t like she can easily find someone else to talk to; there’s plenty of prejudice in this room. Plenty of it lives inside Guildford’s own ribcage, but it stays there, turned inward. Anyway, it’s muted just now, thanks to Jane and the hope she gives him. Hey! Maybe he could catch Jane’s eye and bring her over here. That’ll give Susannah someone else to talk to, and Guildford can be near his wife. Possibly place his hand on her back or twine his fingers through hers.

“Could’ve given the wine dispensers a bit more thought,” Susannah observes.

Guildford’s prepared to be grateful for anything she says to break the silence, but as he follows her gaze to the wine dispensers in question, he realizes she’s swung away from earnestness and back to humour—and this time, not at his expense.

Red wine flows from golden spouts in the shape of lion heads. The longer Guildford watches the liquid pour from their mouths, the more he finds himself agreeing with Susannah’s assessment.

“It does sort of look like blood,” he admits.

“Blood streaming from the mouth of an animal. Not the most sensitive touch when you’ve got Ethian guests.”

“I’ve no idea whose idea that was.”

“Is it meant to be literal, do you think?” Susannah wonders. They both tilt their heads as they consider the lions. “You know, a blatant ‘death to Ethians’ message? Or is it more symbolic, with the lion representing England?”

“And Ireland,” Guildford adds to be facetious.

Susannah glances at him.

“You little shite.”

But he turns to her and sees she’s smiling.

Just as he feels they’re really beginning to get along, some asshole who thinks they’re somebody interrupts them, demanding his attention, expecting him to throw over the Ethian who’s monopolizing his time without a second thought. Guildford’s annoyed enough at being cornered that he’s about to correct the intruder’s assumption, but Susannah slips away before he can waylay her.

Guildford does his best First Husband after that, smiling and shaking hands as he navigates the room. He isn’t especially keen to speak with any of the other Ethians, until he starts to think about it, how this might be his chance to help Jane help him. Asking one of them about a cure directly should save his wife some time, surely. A quick, simple conversation instead of hours pouring over a text requiring scrutiny and translation. At last, he can contribute. It will no longer be the project he tricked her into, that he foisted upon her when they married. They can do this together.

Only it doesn’t go as he hopes. Asking after a cure insults the Ethians, and Guildford extracts himself awkwardly. Saying the wrong thing isn’t just uncomfortable—it might have political ramifications. But maybe they were just fucking with him, like the redheaded man implied. Guildford isn’t impressed by the thought, but he’s ready to look the idiot in order to preserve calm at the banquet. It could be that the Ethians he spoke to were uncommonly sensitive, or uncommonly uncouth. He could ask someone else. He could ask their leader, Archer, if he knows of a cure. Guildford is not yet out of options.

He’s deciding when to approach Archer, how exactly to ask this time, when Jane surprises him, leading him from the room. He watches her earrings swing, the pearls silken in the light.

—

The hurt is enormous. It’s as if a void as deep and dark as the night sky above them is opening in Guildford’s chest. Not even opening: reopening. A sewn-up wound is unstitched.

She just told him there is no cure.

Being near Jane is impossible. Staying is impossible. She wasn’t supposed to hurt him. Not her, not now that he loves her and made love to her. It’s almost religious, the fervour in her face when she speaks of healing England. Guildford shouts at her, and it rips the look from her features as if she wore a mask. But it’s himself he feels he’s exposed—himself, ugly and frightened and alone.

They stand beneath the lattice, down below the courtyard where the guests who’ve spilled out of the banquet stroll and converse. For a moment, he watches their legs. And then he goes.

He can hardly tell he’s moving except Jane’s voice is getting more frantic, calling his name. All he wants is to break into a run. The fire flares up in one of the braziers lining the walkway, and he experiences a second flash, inside his mind: he imagines being a horse, how much more swiftly he could flee. Guildford grits his teeth and tries to shake off the impulse, but it only makes him think of gnashing a bit and tossing his mane. His behaviour suddenly seems so equine to him that he starts to panic, terrified that the other self will invade and his humanity will be lost. He’ll be gone, down this path, galloping alongside this stone wall until he outstrips it and races into the darkness, and Jane will be here, still calling his name.

Guildford stops because it feels worse to leave her. He’s furious with her—or maybe just with himself for his failings. For being one of Jane’s.

He doesn’t turn, but she catches up; in her beautiful gown with her twinkling Medici collar, the crafted crown atop her head spired like a cathedral. She is delicately and powerfully adorned, and Guildford was hoping this night would end with the chance to undo it all. There’s an itch that makes his fingers curl in towards his palms, an itch to take her all apart again, piece by piece, lay every golden thing by and hold her in his arms like he did last night. Just last night. When they believed in one another.

He glances briefly at her face.

“Are you crying because you’re sorry, or only because you’re worried I’ll ruin your party?” he asks cruelly. Hating himself, hating himself, loving her.

Jane doesn’t try to stop the tears, to brush them into her eyes, to roll that which rolls down back up again like a length of carpet. She just cries in silence. He feels as if she cries for them both; somehow, his heart breaks, but it’s her eyes that overflow.

“There’s nothing I can do,” she says despairingly, her voice thick and wet. “I can read books about natural philosophy, but I can’t change how the world works. I can no more prevent metamorphosis than I can walk to the sun! It’s—”

“That’s enough,” he interrupts. He doesn’t let himself speak as loudly as he did before—there are people, just up there, enjoying the courtyard—but his tone is colder than any he’s ever used with her.

Before they can figure out what more to say to each other, if there are any words for this in any language, they hear their names from above. The guests are speculating about what Queen Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley are doing down there by themselves. They must have heard raised voices before Guildford mastered himself and spoke more softly. At least their eavesdropping hasn’t been overly successful. It can’t have been, or they’d know he’s Ethian and it’d be guards shouting their names, not merely speaking them with curiosity.

“Please, Guildford,” Jane begs. In her panic, her tears no longer flow, but he can still see the shiny tracks on her cheeks. “The assumption will be that we’ve had a fight about Division Laws, that we aren’t united. Please. There’s so much at risk.”

“You’re selfish.” He speaks the accusation like a fact.

“I need you,” she says simply, neither challenging nor agreeing with him.

Guildford tells himself it’s manipulation that draws him towards her, that a consort is no better than a pawn in this chess match his wife and her adversaries are playing. Think he never had a prayer against her self-serving machinations is what Guildford must do to permit himself to get close to her instead of running.

“So, then,” he says, gaze hard as he looks down on Jane’s upturned face, “we stole away because we couldn’t help ourselves.”

Her eyes search his, but he won’t let her in.

“Yes,” she whispers.

“Because we put each other first.”

“Yes.”

“Because,” Guildford concludes, “we are very much in love.”

Jane’s eyes fill with tears, but before he’s forced to watch them spill, he kisses her. When her body sways into his grasp, he holds her, and they stumble towards the wall.

The foliage above them provides a partial screen—probably enough of a screen that they could just pretend to kiss, but Guildford doesn’t say this. He barely breaks away from her mouth enough to breathe. The rest is fake: what they imply when they lift the sumptuous fabric of her overskirt and the hoop skirt beneath, when he presses her to the wall and exaggerates the thrust of his hips. Their guests will believe what seems obvious—that Jane and Guildford, in their newlywed ardour, fled into semi-privacy to engage in the marital act.

It’s a performance of their shadows even more than their bodies. The brazier fires stretch their shapes up and along the wall. Guildford catches some of the performance when his eyes flicker open slightly, pining for a glimpse of his wife. He envies them; their shadows can’t feel distrust, or anguish, or betrayal. They can’t really love any more than they can really fuck. His eyes close again because the shadows can’t hold his attention like Jane does, like she actually, truly holds him, clutching his face so he won’t stop kissing her. Oh. He's scared her too.

Guildford argues through the kiss. You can survive without me, his lips insist. I can’t, without you. He keeps trying to separate them—not their mouths, but their lives. Stubbornly, Jane holds them together. The more adamantly she kisses him, the harder he tries to reconcile it with how he feels she abandoned him. She did, didn’t she? She basically told him she was going to stop trying, that she’s given up on a cure. But if she has, there can be nothing else about him to want! So why does she still want him?! Her fingers grip his jaw.

What if he’s only this, this mess who does things like distrust her and yell at her? What if he’s going to keep becoming a horse, every single day until the day of his death—which the horse thing will only serve to speed the approach of? What if he can fix every other part of himself, but not his transformation? Will he be a man worth having? Or did she fall in love with the cured man of their joint imagining? Does Guildford lose, after everything, to a fantasy, a fiction, a shadow?

Impulsively, Guildford shoves away from Jane. Her desperate panting is loud behind him as he strides to the nearest brazier and kicks the pole supporting it. She doesn’t call him back this time, and he kicks and kicks until the pole, which has been sunk firmly into the earth, comes loose and tilts at a wild angle. Chunked charcoal tumbles out, and fire spills like water across the grass, scorching it. But the lawn is damp tonight, preventing the fire from spreading. Either no one up above notices, or it’s all just part of the spectacle: the impassioned Guildford Dudley, showing off for his wife.

Quickly, the flames die, and Guildford and Jane stand in a darkened gap between the remaining braziers. He breathes hard in the aftermath of his destruction. They’re more hidden from their audience, but that hardly matters. He’s realized he has no performance left in him. Just himself.

Guildford goes to Jane. In the shelter of the wall, it smells like smoke and greenery and the wine on his breath. She looks concerned for him, for what he just did, but that was nothing, means nothing; there are hotter things than charcoal rattling around within him, burning him slowly from the inside out.

“You might not care,” he says quietly, “but I do. I care who I am. What I am.”

“I care that you’re unhappy,” Jane replies. Her speech is quick and her eyes pleading as if she’s worried he’ll storm off.

“I have every right to be! How can I be otherwise when you tell me I’m doomed? And you’ve already moved on! All of England is first in your heart!”

“That will never be true.”

Maybe because she’s afraid he would jerk his hand from her grasp, Jane grabs the front of his doublet instead.

“All the world comes before me,” he insists, and he can hear that it’s he who is the selfish one, not Jane like he accused.

“No one does,” she murmurs. Her hand relaxes as she flattens her palm over his heart.

“They should,” Guildford retorts. His heart pounds painfully. Can she feel? “It would be simpler.”

“But it would be a lie.”

Jane gazes steadily up at him. He knows she wouldn’t lie—for him maybe, but not to him. Nor he to her. And yet it suddenly feels as if he has been, that he’s been lying every moment he hasn’t told her aloud that he loves her. But, gods, how can he if she can’t heal him and he can’t forgive her?

“I’m sorry,” she says unexpectedly, lowering her gaze. Her hand slips from his chest to hang at her side. “I guess I’m no good to you now. You only wanted one thing, and I can’t give it to you.”

Guildford is taken aback. It feels as though her words compose the lines he was meant to say. He’s sorry. He’s no good to her. She only wanted one thing, a divorce, but a divorce—especially a royal divorce—means attention, and they cannot be scrutinized while he remains a horse. He’ll be discovered, and then they’ll both die, and it won’t fucking matter who Jane, in all her optimism, hoped to heal. She has never been the problem. It’s him, always him.

He does his best to say all this, but Jane gently places a hand across his lips. He stills. He quiets. When she takes her hand away, he leans forward and kisses her without a second thought. She returns his kiss uncertainly, he can feel it: her doubt and self-flagellation. Guildford pulls his mouth away and takes Jane by her upper arms.

“I wanted that one thing,” he agrees, “but you are what I need.”

“I let you down.”

“I asked for something impossible. And”—Guildford swallows nervously—“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to do it again.”

“What are you asking?” Jane’s hands find his on her arms and pull them down to clasp between their bodies.

“I’m asking you to love me,” he astounds himself by saying. He has to blink a few times. “Because I love you. I love you, Jane.”

He repeats it because his wife appears staggered by the declaration, and because he’s not actually sure he can stop, after guarding his feelings for her so closely.

“I love you whatever my form,” Guildford goes on. “I’m sorry I appointed you my saviour. I know you never asked me to.”

“You’ll love me even if I’m not?” she asks, eyes full of emotion.

“Of course. I’d love you if you were only the girl in the tavern and not queen.”

“Sometimes I wish I were,” Jane admits with a half-smile.

“No one’s ever looked at me the way you did across the room that night. I think I’ll always see that girl, that expression you wore. You’ll live in the corner of my eye.”

“Don’t speak like you’re leaving me.”

Guildford sighs and touches his forehead to Jane’s. He closes his eyes.

“I tried. I can’t.”

Their arms go around each other.

“But you’re angry with me,” she says.

“I wanted a miracle. I’m mostly angry with myself.”

Calm and soft and simple, Jane says, “I love you,” and Guildford opens his eyes, lifting his head.

“You do?”

“I love you more than the whole kingdom can contain. I still love you if you’re angry with me.” She smiles knowingly.

“The anger won’t last,” he promises.

“Good, because I hate it, and I’m no good at being stoic.”

“Shut up, you’re amazing at it.”

“Did you just tell me to shut up?” Jane demands, bristling, but Guildford kisses her with a smile on his face.

“Lovingly,” he insists between kisses.

He feels her smile back, then he kisses her deeply. He has to remind himself to keep his hands low; he wants to run one up the back of her neck, burrow his fingers into her done-up hair, but there’s the crown to worry about, and the fanning collar, and part of him can’t bear to dishevel the beautiful arrangement of her.

Though Jane might long to be the girl she was, lust-struck in a tavern, he finds her a thoroughly convincing queen. What does a queen do but strive for harmony amongst the disparate parts of her country? Guildford recognizes in Jane a similar striving to reconcile the two selves she’s named. There could be more, selves she hasn’t even articulated to herself. He understands. Gods, how he understands. It can be exhausting—except when he has her in his arms, in the dark. He chances skimming fingertips up the side of Jane’s neck when her head tilts as they kiss. He feels the blood jump beneath her skin, touching her below her jaw, then following the line of her jaw up to her ear. He feels the smooth, round pearls. Jane hugs him close to her, inviting his mouth down to hers again and again.

When they come away from the wall, Guildford has Jane on his arm. They look like they’ve been kissing. Sometimes, looks do not deceive.

[pajamas-lipstick]

The last 4 episodes have been such a rollercoaster and full of so many great moments - comedic and beautiful and heartbreaking.

The thing i can't get over in both the original version of events around Sol's attack and the current one she's working to prevent is how damn brave Sun Jae is. In both scenarios he has an unrequited crush on someone who barely notices him and yet he fiercely and courageously not only saves Sol but is determined to bring the perpetrator to justice. His witness statement was so clear and just and calm - he was unflinching in the face of danger. We see this echoed in his statement to Sol that he's ok with getting hurt if he can protect her - he loves her yes, but he's also a fundamentally brave and heroic person, who trusts his heart - just as Sol is. As so many others have said, they are both reaching out through time, space and fate to rescue each other. Sol also trusts her heart and is similarly unflinching in her pursuit of a happy ending for Sun Jae, no matter what it costs her. I would bet on her too, if I were in Sun Jae's place. I believe our cute little bulldozer can do anything!

Going backwards, episode 8 was a blinder in so many ways - the meeting on the bridge after so many near misses the previous episode, the echoes from the beginning of their story, the umbrella! Then watching Sun Jae slowly morph from a cool, unruffled superstar to his sweet, awkward teen self the longer he was around Sol was just lovely. Her presence allowed him to be himself, truly.

I haven't even got to Im Sol's confession in the present - my goodness, what a breathtaking declaration of love. The acting from both was just gorgeous here - you could feel the release and relief of all that pain and longing. And after Sun Jae repeatedly made himself vulnerable it was time for her to do the same. I especially loved Kim Hye Yoon's startled reaction in the lift after actually telling him how she felt and Byeon Woo Seok's delirious, overwhelmed delight in his car after. And that kiss!! One for the ages and I love so much that she initiated it and crossed the last divide between them. I think I saw that was Woo Seok's suggestion when they were blocking the scene? which...makes me swoon even more, honestly (as if that was possible).

I love Detective Kim's doggedness in pursuit - he feels like a man who can get the bad guy. Indeed, all the 'adult' characters here are reassuring in the best ways and I agree with all the theories about a bit of magic around Halmeoni, too. Taesung was Ep 10's MVP for me and he's definitely got more of a role to play in changing fate. There's still six episodes to go after all (how on earth am i going to cope with the stress?!?!)

I am absolutely convinced it will be a happy ending. The lightness of touch and genuine laugh out loud moments every episode are setting the tone for a happy conclusion. Plus, there's no pre-determined feeling here (looking at you, Moon in the Day), rather the opposite. We are being shown over and over that a kind and unselfish heart can work miracles. They're not going through it for nothing, i just know it.

[elitadream]

your post about Luigi being more asexual is unique; even if you don't draw alot of Luaisy art, it still sets up a unique journey for Luigi and Daisy's relationship, and to eventually falling in love.

It's a nice coincidence that you've mentioned Daisy, because I've recently been toying with the idea that she and Lou would basically become ace besties in my version! 😁✨️

Hear me out: what if both Daisy and Peach had felt the same sense of social pressure when it comes to romance and courting growing up, and it had impacted them differently? For that specific concept, I've imagined that it would make Peach long for a sweet and genuine man as opposed to some vain and self-centered royal, whereas Daisy would eventually come to the realization that she's just- not feeling it. That she's completely indifferent to all that mushy stuff and would actually much prefer to rule alone like the confident and self-assured badass that she is. x3 💪

Like Peach, she would have no care nor interest towards a man seeking to woo her for clearly political reasons (or even trying to gain her attention at all 😝), so when she would meet this meek and unassuming man who's minding his own business and is just trying to exist in peace, she would take a sudden and amused interest in him. Feeling instantly at ease in his presence, with Luigi being SO very unlike those flirty and nauseatingly smug bachelors who would always send her ridiculous gifts and portraits of themselves. When they would end up talking about it at some point and he would timidly admit to her that he isn't feeling inclined to pursue a romantic relationship with anyone, Daisy would be absolutely delighted and very relieved by this, feeling an even stronger affinity towards the man than before. 😊🧡

If I were to draw them again in my art, it would be as platonic friends, but very close and affectionate ones. 😌💫 But of course, you're entirely free to ship them if that's what you prefer! A lot of people view them as a romantic pairing, and I can definitely see why: on some level, they are indeed quite compatible. 🤭

[all-pacas]

if that's how you write fluff, i wonder how you'd write pathetic pining, maybe this one is from chases pov?

anon you're just daring me to actually write angst aren't you

--

The night before she broke up with him, Cameron had stayed over. She seemed to like Chase's apartment, and he tried not to let that feel personal: his place was bigger, he had the nicer shower by far. But it did feel personal, dangerous even: they ordered pizza and watched TV and she'd curled up against him, not just a casual lean but fully tucked against his side, comfortable and warm and nice smelling and it had to mean something, it had to. Not only that his apartment had hardwood floors.

Cameron slept like a log. Sex knocked her right out: she'd get drowsy and lazy and cuddly after, sweet and sleepy. Stretch and settle and close her eyes. Chase had been a restless sleeper his whole life, waking at the slightest disturbance or unexpected sound. That she was so at ease in his bed must mean something too. One night he'd woken for no reason, gotten out of bed to drink some water for something to do. As soon as he'd crawled back under the blankets she'd sighed, still asleep, drawn closer and curled herself against his back. It meant something. It did. It must.

His father had, occasionally, delighted in bringing Robert to black tie fundraisers, dinners with donors and conferences with other giants in the field. And this is my son, he'd say proudly, presenting Robert to heads of hospitals, the Lord Mayor, to billionaire donors. Robert's role was to affirm his dream of becoming a doctor and to ask polite and flattering questions. When he was nine, Robert had liked these events. His father's hand on his shoulder, the way his father would praise him and his grades and his talents. By the time he was twelve, he'd realized his father had no idea what his grades or talents were. By the time he was fourteen, the only time he ever saw his father was at one of these events, but whenever he was asked he'd go anyway, certain that eventually he'd hit on the right formula, that one of these days, the praise would be genuine.

It was several more years before he learned. In the end, all that his years of playing the admiring son had gotten him was a comprehensive knowledge of cocktail party etiquette, and an acquaintanceship with nearly all of his future med school professors.

Both were surprisingly useful. The networking paid off once he was in med school, struggling to catch up to his peers after a year of seminary. The former was even more handy. Chase could manage a wine list, a formal dinner, and any manner of forks. Girls, he'd soon found, were often impressed by that sort of thing. He wasn't sure if Cameron would be, but he had his suspicions: he remembered her one date with House.

At first their thing had been about making House jealous. Sure. Chase knew that. But now House knew and didn't care, and Cameron kept coming over to Chase's apartment anyway. So it couldn't be that. She kept spending her nights with him. Looking at him, grinning dangerous and bright, tempting him into storage closets or on call rooms or the backseat of her car. Their boss knew, Cuddy knew, Foreman knew. Why shouldn't they make it official? Give up the pretense and just —

He'd take her on a real date, he thought. Not a sandwich shop or out grabbing takeaway. A place with waiters and wine lists. Cameron liked that sort of thing, and he thought he might be able to impress her. She'd tease him sometimes — they all did — about being a rich kid, being careless with his money. He imagined their first real date. How she'd roll her eyes and make fun of him, but be pleased all the same. Smiling the way she did: indulgent, embarrassed. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could make her happy. He wanted that. For her to be happy. To be the one to make her so.

He'd had his arguments ready: he knew Cameron well enough to suspect she'd demand them, that she wants to be convinced or wooed. One date, that's what he'd ask her. One real date. She'd let herself be convinced because she wanted it too. He'd buy her flowers. She'd tease him for trying too hard and it was strange how much he wanted that.

How do you want to celebrate? she asks, and he knows he's got her, that everything will be just as he'd planned. She likes him, he knows it. Maybe even more, maybe —

I want more, he says, and her face falls.

After her date with House, Cameron had come into work red-eyed and exhausted, and they had teased her for crying and her obvious denials and care.

The morning after she dumps Chase, she comes into work looking great, and he feels sick. Her smile is ice cold when she tells him good morning and she and Foreman have a long cheerful conversation about the clinic, and he thinks maybe he never learned his lesson after all.

[a-libra-writes]

Hi! I loved your fic about niko with the widow reader with three kids. I was wondering how do you think Rocky would be if he was in that position?(I can already imagine the chaos)

I just had to get these brain bunnies out bc I love Rocky and I love kiddo HC's!!! This is a long one bc yall know me.

It's very possible that someone mentioned your children to Rocky, at some point. Probably? He gets a start when you mention you have children at home, but it only deters him for maybe twenty seconds. If anything, he has an even higher opinion basically, he sees you as needing help and greatly sympathizes with you, similar to how he sees Mitzi as a "damsel in distress" ... Though he's not all aware of these feelings.

He's surprisingly good with children for a variety of reasons - he's willing to play their games and pretend, he can think of new ones on the fly, he speaks to them like people, and he's good at making each one feel included. He's still kind of a kid himself so he doesn't mind all the chattering and questions during the first few visits. Even if you apologize for your kittens' curiosity, he's charmed by them. Actually, Rocky can't remember the last time he interacted with children this much ... Hmm, probably back when he was a circus barker and they threw food at him. That wasn't so pleasant.

They call him "Mister Rocky" at your insistence, though the politeness kind if goes out the window when they're clawing up his leg or dragging him off for a game. Rocky is kind of delighted by it though, whenever he walks through the door the outgoing ones are already running toward him and tackling.

Often when you're in a rush to wash up and get ready for a date, Rocky will come by earlier to keep the kids occupied. Though ... usually he ends up getting dirty because they want to play outside. When it comes to more hyperactive children, he has a lot more patience because they're kind of on the same wavelength as him. He probably "gets" a neuroatypical child better than most adults would, or at least, he's more willing to be patient and indulge them, especially considering the time period.

If you have a more shy child, it's very likely that his big grin and gregarious personality will frighten them. They'll watch him nervously from behind your legs, or want to hold your hand while he gets on his knees to talk to them. Rocky starts tucking candies and pennies in his pockets for such an occasion, and eventually the nervous kiddo will start to give him smiles. Progress!

While most prospective beaus would be put-off by all this activity, Rocky adapts to it quickly. He's already high energy, and besides, he wants to please you. Being so indulgent to your children, rather than ignoring them or being put off, definitely sets him apart from other men who may try to woo you. And it's not like he's doing it just to impress you, he genuinely has a good time with them. The first time you invited him to a family dinner? The memory is going to be seared into his brain forever. Sitting at a table with a good meal and lots of happy faces, then helping you with the dishes while the kids get ready for bed, then helping you tuck them in? And they ask him for the bedtime story? It almost doesn't feel real. This is some kind of strange dream-world he's dropped into, and when he leaves your house and goes back to his car, it's like he stepped out of that dream into cold reality.

(If he was ever wounded or was beginning to feel anxious and down, and he's alone in the car or at the bar, I think Rocky would really fixate on how warm and safe your home is and wanting to just. Show up there. Obviously he can't just waltz up in the middle of the night when he's covered in blood or shivering from cold, but he very, very much wants to. He wants you to 'keep' him, in a way, and has worries about you leaving once you figure out his real job.)

It both gives him intense feelings of sentiment, and also a weird longing for something that could have been. I feel Rocky would have an intense sympathy if the children's father walked out on them, like his did, especially if the older children still remember him and wonder when he'll come back. When they tell him, it brings sharp pains that Rocky thought he'd "gotten over". True to his nature, he'll want to change the subject and distract them with something cheerier. Honestly, the kid's father being a deadbeat probably affects him harder than if the man died. Rocky wouldn't bring it up with you, but the children would confide in him now and again. Oh, and if the husband died doing the same line of work he was doing ... well ... that's some layers of complication.

(Also most men would be aghast at the innocent question 'are you marrying mommy now?' but Rocky's immediate response is 'why has she said anything ....')

You might have rules on showing too much affection in front of the children. You don't want to confuse them or think you're "replacing" their father, and Rocky respects this, even if he's very clingy. Though eventually you two start to hear giggling whenever you kiss or hug in the house (little spying rascals), and when you're both out with the kiddos, obviously you want to hold hands or hold his arm. So that rule just kind of gets forgotten, which doesn't bother Rocky a bit. He's also the type to pat the kittens on the head and can't refuse a hug if they ask with big, pleading eyes.

Mentioned in my previous HC's, he wants to be useful and you can direct that energy to something simple like errands and grocery shopping. With all the kittens dressed and in tow, you all set off to main street. Rocky takes the older ones, while you take the younger. And yes, they'll get into all sorts of mischief. He probably loses one of them at some point, and they may have been chased out of a store or two, and somehow there's a missing shoe but lots of candy because he couldn't say no - don't worry about it!

(Many a stranger has complimented him on his 'lovely children', and he doesn't have the heart to correct them, especially if the kids don't.)

Though when you and Rocky are standing next to each other, trying to figure where a store is while three or four kiddos are clinging off you and a stroller, you can't blame them for assuming. Sometimes it hits Rocky how you all appear to the public and he just beams. His face is gonna get stuck like that one day.

This also means that instead of traditional two-person dates, you two will end up doing things that lets you take the kids along, like picnics and a baseball game. When strangers stop to coo about what a cute family you are, and isn't it nice that their father is here too, and you don't correct the person - Rocky notices immediately!! It only has to happen ONCE and he's just delighted, he's in so deep. Even if you're flustered and afterward explain it's just easier to accept a compliment than correct a stranger, he's still buzzing with happiness.

There's a good chance that your extended family (if you still speak with them) disapprove a lot, especially your former husband's side. Even some well-meaning friends might have doubts. Whose this beanpole hanging around your house lately? He looks strange, doesn't he? What did you say he does for a living? Why does a musician have bullet holes in his car? Isn't he too young for you? And so on. Even if you don't explicitly tell Rocky about this, he picks up on the animosity when you drop off the children or pick them up from a relative's. Lord forbid he offers to do it; that relative will make it very clear they don't approve and he isn't a "good influence" on the children.

Rocky takes it in stride. He's had that sort of dislike aimed at him his whole life, and it's hard to take it seriously when the kids are shrieking and jumping on him.

Now, as far as the Lackadaisy staff goes, they weren't so sure this girlfriend of his was real, anyway. She's older, too? And has kids? Come on - more likely Rocky is just bothering some poor woman. That all gets blown out of the water when he has to bring the kiddos to the cafe - you suddenly had to cover a coworker's shift, and you were so distraught that Rocky just had to step in and offer to watch them. He really didn't think it through. But hey! The cafe has pancakes, and the bar is a big cave! Kids like those things!

Ivy is cooing about how adorable they are, Mitzi really doesn't want them down in the bar but well it's not like anyone else is here and it's midday so I suppose it's fine, Zib can't believe the older girlfriend story was true and there's suddenly kids running around, Freckle is shocked but pleasantly surprised his cousin is doing such a good job with tem. Well, wait, the children shouldn't climb on the bar, no no don't let them bang the pots and cups together, Rocky no do NOT toss them around--

The kids endear themselves to (most) of the staff by the end of it, full of pancakes and syrup and milk and very sleepy. When you get home after a long shift, Rocky's passed out on the floor with them.

He'd probably be in near tears if you asked him to spend a holiday with your little family. Like Christmas? Just having a nice modest Christmas dinner, then all the kids piling in the living room to open presents. They hand him a lumpy one they insisted on wrapping themselves, and it's something so simple like a new tie or a notebook to write music in, and it comes with a little Christmas card they made and signed themselves ... It's just. So many feelings at once. He's having a lot of them.

(And yes he will keep every single drawing and card the kids give him, he'll fold them up and tuck them in his violin case or in the car's glovebox so they stay safe).

Rocky never ever pictured himself in this situation - he never thought ahead that far, the idea of parenthood being so far away and serious that it was basically an impossibility. If anyone floated the idea, he'd probably think he wasn't deserving or capable of such a role. Rocky's father left when he was young, then his mother died shortly after, and while he had normalcy and stability with his aunt and cousin, that wasn't forever either. Being with you and your small family and getting to be a part of that just makes him so happy and content, he will do absolutely anything to keep it safe. Literally nothing will hurt these children or their mama as long as he's still breathing, Rocky will go absolutely postal.

[jasper-the-menace]

Hey, since you're interested in scorpion biology, I thought you'd be interested in the idea of... intersex Chima scorpions! Well, sort of.

There's a specific character that's been bugging me a bit. Scutter is kind of the scorpion equivalent of a centaur; he has two torsos, one anthropomorphic, and another of the scorpion body. With scorpion anatomy in mind, it's easy to reach the conclusion that Scutter's reproductive organ would be heavily altered because of his body, making him intersex to a certain extent.

I hope this makes sense. I'm trying to look for possible trans rep in Chima characters (like in this example). What do you think of this idea?

Oh friend, you don't know the essay you just inspired.

You Opened This Can Of Worms, Now Lie In It

Some important bulletpoints before I get going, just to get all of my followers on the same page:

Disclaimer: I am a transgender nonbinary perisex individual. This means I am not intersexed (to my knowledge), I don't identify with the gender I was assigned at birth, and I don't identify as male or female. The closest thing to describing my gender is literally "no".

I am a strong advocate for making as many characters transgender as possible, regardless of "realism". That's why, in my own writing, half of the Scorpions are retroactively transgender (though they don't understand gender on the whole and most of them would probably be nonbinary if someone took fifteen minutes to explain gender, variable social constructs, and the concept of genitalia tying to gender roles) and also Razar is too on account of I said so.

Being intersexed does not inherently mean being transgender. There is a lot of discussion and individual choice between intersexed people about whether or not they're part of the queer community. It's a very individual thing, and I am not part of those discussions on account of not being intersex myself.

When it comes to humans and other beings with a level of sentience and sapience, the term "hermaphrodite" and its derivates are considered slurs. When talking about animals, hermaphrodite and its derivates are scientific terms. So in something like the Legends of Chima series and other humanoid-animal media, the proper term is "intersexed". (I noticed you used the term "intersex" in your ask, and I appreciate it!)

I know too much about scorpion mating and birth.

We're talking way too much about genitalia and gender tonight in regards to fictional characters.

I am genuinely delighted that you decided to drop in here to discuss this, because boy howdy do I have a lot of thoughts about transgender headcanons/representation and scorpions specifically! Scorpions are just. So damn cool.

Note for my fellow arachnophobes: There are no images attached to this post, but it's really easy to find videos of scorpions doing various things on YouTube, which is actually how I've been studying them.

Scorpion Sex, Mating, and Genitalia

Scorpions of both "genders" have genital opercula (singular: genital operculum), and their asses run up into their tails. In order to mate, they don't just do like horses. No no, buddy, they have a really weird, specific method!

In order to start wooing his potential mate, the male scorpion will lock chelae (pincers) with the female scorpion, and they will start to "dance". The male scorpion will drop a sperm packet onto the ground and lead the female scorpion over it. If the female scorpion is down, she'll basically squat and absorb the sperm packet into her body, which is then followed by a "mating plug" to keep it in while it does the fertilization thing.

(It's important to note that the courting process also contains "juddering", aka the male scorpion doing the dance that the stickbug meme did, and may also contain clerchical "kisses". Honestly, pretty romantic for an arachnid. And possibly tail-rubbing and sexual stinging. Scorpions are very kinky!)

(It's also important to note that some species of scorpions have been reported, though not reliably, to reproduce through parthogenesis.)

Post-coitus cannibalism has not been scientifically seen in scorpions, so the male scorpion is generally safe as long as he scadoodles.

Gestation in some scorpion species can last over a year, and different species can have anywhere from 2 to 100 little scorplings - the physical size of the scorpion is not necessarily tied to how many babies they'll have.

Also, scorpions give live birth!

The baby scorpion is essentially folded like a Fedex package and launched out of the womb. It will then unfold and climb on top of the mother to make way for its next sibling. These will hang onto the mother until their first molt, which happens as a group and launches them into the juvenile stage. After this, they will still stay with their mothers until their carapace finishes hardening and gaining color, at which point they hunt prey on their own and will wander off on their own terms.

Hey, Jasper, That's Pretty Fucked Up, But How Does This Tie Into Chima?

I'm getting there, hold your centaur scorpions!

This is where we get into the worldbuilding of the Legends of Chima series, the Character Encyclopedia, and our poor boy Scutter.

See, the Legends of Chima as a series is very much a product of its time. There is some rife ableism and questionable word choices in regards to the Crawlers (and Sir Fangar, but this isn't about him). According to the Character Encyclopedia, Scutter is "less evolved". There's a looong history of racism in using phrases like "evolution" in regards to other humans, so taking that and applying it to an animal world leaves us with some very strange dissonance, because it's used in Chima to mean animals turned into a more humanoid form by the Chi.

Because really, what is the Chi? It's a magical substance that, depending on how you read it, could be the animist spirit of the land (I say, as an animist myself), or it could be drugs. Or it could be any number of other things! I know one person who writes Chi as the blood of dead gods, which is metal as fuck!

Ultimately, it depends on how one is writing the Chi that makes the usage of phrases like "less evolved" more or less questionable than it was intended. We're all dragging around the corpse of a Lego theme across our writing desks anyway. And the way I go about answering the question of "what is Chi" is definitely different from others. (Again, see the dead god blood part.)

The question of whether or not the Scorpion Tribe, namely Scutter, would count as intersexed relies on 1) defining intersexuality in regards to genitalia arrangement (scorpions don't have penises and vaginas by default; and the Wikipedia article on scorpions just uses "genital orfice" or "genital opercula"); 2) determining if the Chi has magically changed how genitalia works for Scorpions (admittedly, I do this because I didn't want to have to use the term "genital opercula" over and over); 3) determining the humanization extent of the Scorpion Tribe as you write them (I lean more towards human than you do, just from what I've seen of your work); and 4) deciding if such terminology even exists in Chima.

But looking at Scutter and going with the assumption that the back end is fully scorpion... No, I wouldn't count him as intersex by default. Intersex implies landing between the two human biological extremes (which, as we all know, is not as cut-and-dry as high school biology taught us), when really he's kind of a secret third thing (a Scorpion who probably doesn't have either a penis or a vagina).

(Of course, there's also what you said, paraphrased to my own wording: the Chi may have just decided to fuck up this poor man's genital situation and do a half-ass job.)

That's not to say he can't be trans. I mean, I made Scorm and about half of the Scorpion Tribe trans already. That's also not to say they're not all trans by default, considering scorpions without the ability to think wouldn't have the concepts of genders anyway.

Okay Jasper, So How Do You Write Him?

So, here's the thing. I'm aromantic-asexual, and I also write smut and, to a lesser extent, romance, which means I think about fictional character genitalia too much. But thinking about Scutter has left me utterly baffled.

On one hand, I usually write the Chi as a magical animist force of the land of Chima on the whole, and part of that is that the Chi tries to get everyone on the same playing field, physically speaking, which is how we get retroactive transgender man Scorm in my Tales of Chima series.

On the other hand, look at him. Look at him. He's a centaur arachnid. I know he can pass the Harkness Test, but I still feel weird thinking about his genitalia. If I go with my theory of the Chi giving everyone penises and vaginas at random, then I don't want to think about how much that would get in the way for the poor boy! On the other hand, his lower body is still mostly scorpion instead of, well, Scorpion, so who's to say he doesn't have a genital operculum?

Too Long, Don't Want Details About Scorpion Sex

Alright, spoilsport. Here's your TLDR:

It genuinely depends on what the Chi does in your version of the story and how bad it fucks up. It depends on how dedicated you are to scientific accuracy. It depends on how much you want to think about scorpion genitals.

And being intersex is not necessarily trans rep, unless it is, unless it isn't. I'm not intersexed, so I'm not going to say what that falls on myself. There is an intersex pride flag that was created by Morgan Carpenter in 2013.

Trans characters can exist outside of being intersexed, you don't have to conflate the two in order to have transgender representation. Just hit the characters with the Transgenderinator 5000 Beam. Fuck realism, this is a series about walking talking animal people. Who's going to stop you? The fun police? Transphobes? Eat them.

Further Reading

Start at Wikipedia and go from there through its sources for anything of particular interest:

Intersex flag (in case you're curious about it and its history, which can also launch you into further reading about humans being intersex)

Scorpion (morphology section)

Scorpion (mating subsection)

Scorpion (birth and development subsection)

So, uh, yeah! Thanks for coming to me with these questions, it's really touching that you value my thoughts this much, and I love talking about my boys and scorpions and the complicated web! I apologize for any errors or too-crass sections, because I wrote most of this in one sitting after playing wayyy too much Skyrim today.

~Jasper

[justinelark]

"Identity Porn"

Identity porn is a trope where character A doesn't know who character B really is. One example is that Lois Lane knows both Clark Kent and Superman and doesn't realize they are the same person. Another example is in the movies "The Shop Around the Corner" and "You've Got Mail," where the characters are corresponding anonymously with someone who they know and don't like in real life. I love the dramatic irony of it all. Eventually the characters will find out, and then what??

SidClaude: I Know Everything You Don't Want Me To by whimsicalmerkeet, E, 10660 words The NHL decides the players need anonymous pen pals to deal with the quarantine. Nobody likes the idea, but Claude Giroux finds more in his partner than he expected.

My comments: At first neither of them knows who he's writing to, but Claude figures it out. open up your plans, and damn, you're free by vaguelyfamiliar, T, 14392 words No, Sid doesn’t genuinely think it’s his childhood celebrity crush Steve Yzerman making him mixtapes and leaving chocolates on his desk, but he has no idea who it could actually be. Hilary knows he’s gay, Claude hates him, and everyone else hardly talks to him. My comments: AU in which Sid and Claude are both interns for the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings learn not to look at you with scorn by ologist, M, 4559 words Claude Giroux has a ridiculous crush on Sidney Crosby. Clearly, the only way to resolve this is to woo him anonymously. SidGeno: I thought SidGeno would be very tricky to do because of Geno's English but these brilliant writers have figured out a way!

Academic Dishonesty by iBear, T, 10437 words For years now, Geno has managed to keep his two lives separate. Academics and hockey rarely intersect, and with his very specific interest in Russian military leadership in World War II, he doesn't expect the streams to cross. Ever.

Sidney Crosby always does break expectations.

there is a lake in me by hauntologie, E, 21812 words In retrospect, Flower can totally understand why Geno didn't tell Sid who he actually was. Sid is incredibly persuasive when he wants to get laid. My comments: Geno unexpectedly wakes up in the body of a woman. This story features Sid keeping a logbook of stats on his sexual encounters. Someone New by getoffmyhead, E, 25233 words Zhenya knew he’d messed up when Sid’s eyes darted over to him, and his face didn’t brighten with fondness. Sid always seemed pleased to see him and responded with the most sincere smile.

Instead, Sid’s eyes found Zhenya with a puzzled squint, and Zhenya’s blood ran cold. He knew what Sid was looking at—a total stranger. Sid didn’t know why the stranger was speaking to him.

Zhenya had been around Sid long enough to know how this would go. Once he figured out he definitely did not know this guy, Sid would nod with a tight, fake smile at the stranger. He would never break his stride, politely but firmly indicating that he had somewhere to be. He would exit the stranger’s presence as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.

Except that wasn’t what happened. Sid’s steps slowed, feet turning to approach Zhenya directly. “Hey,” he said with a smile—not the profoundly fond one that brightened his whole face in an unmistakable expression of delight at seeing Zhenya. This smile was something sharper, more focused.

[thelostgirl21]

The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again / The Witcher Mashup no one asked for but you're still getting, apparently!

So, I finally took the time to check out Hugh Skinner's performances in "Les Misérables" and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again"...

And, not only does he have a lovely singing voice (Radovid was so shy and quiet singing Jaskier's song, that we didn't get a good grasp of his abilities on the show)...

But apparently, Hugh Skinner has a rather unique talent for playing adorably awkward men experiencing intense crushes, and then attempting to woo the object of their affections by performing a song cover!

So, now there is an actual mashup of those two roles on the internet and I regret nothing, it was amazing!

(Seriously, I've rarely had so much fun putting a video together...)

I highly suggest checking out the original, too, so you can admire Hugh's full performance in all its glory.

He's just... I don't know how to describe it exactly, but there's something so delightfully awkward about this man (I think Joey called it a wonderful strangeness) that is deeply appealing, and at the same time makes the idea of Radovid finding Jaskier to be the epitome of coolness and suaveness even more credible.

Like you can genuinely believe that, if Jaskier ever was inspired to tell him that he's got the most amazing slender yet strong legs, like a sexy ostrich, he'd be delighted by the compliment.

I'd expect him to be that one person in the universe that would not be rolling his eyes, but freaking swoon upon hearing it!

Because first time they met, Jaskier was just there, holding his hand while awkwardly bouncing around - having no clue what he was supposed to do - and Radovid was totally smitten and probably mentally composing his wedding vows already!

And somehow, it makes sense that he should?

Like they don't just have chemistry together, they have quantum physics or something... It's too complex for me to fully understand, much less explain, but it works and fits perfectly in the rules of the universe!

[hils79]

Hils Watches Kiseki: Dear to Me - Ep 12

Look, I'm delighted that Bai Zongyi and Fan Zerui are back together but the last episode ended with someone holding a knife to Chen Yi's throat. IS HE OKAY???

Aww you'll be fine. They love Bai Zongyi, and Bai Zongyi loves you

Oh my god Chen Yi is wooing Ai Di with gift wrapped guns and Ai Di is genuinely delighted by this. They are both so ridiculous and I adore them.

Argh, he was so close. As much as Ai Di loves guns I think he's happy to be out of that life, mostly because of what happened to him in prison. Just let him run his bar. You can still be boyfriends without him being in your gang!

I actually really love the narrative structure of this drama and the way they just casually toss in a bit of missing story in the middle of a scene

AHHHHHHHHH! Finally they spend a birthday together and Ai Di is in prison. MY HEART 😭

Are those all birthday presents Ai Di got for Chen Yi and then never gave him? 🥺

OH SHIT HE LIED ABOUT HIS LIFE BEING IN DANGER? DUDE!

Okay, so maybe it was Ai Di holding a knife to Chen Yi's throat at the end of the previous episode. He is MAD and I don't blame him!

Aww! See they're a family now.

Ah, it was Ai Di with the knife. And here we are again with the spicy food torture. These two are such idiots (affectionate)

Chen Yi just thinks his imminent torture is cute

Oh my god! Has he built up an immunity to spicy food while Ai Di has been gone?

I love the ways in which Chen Yi picks Ai Di up and carries him are varied

Look at Chen Yi finally using his words. I'm so proud of him.

Yeah, you idiot, that's exactly what he was doing

God, Louis is such a good actor. The way in the birthday montage he's just visibly a little sadder each year until he's actually crying in the one he celebrated just before he went to prison. This is legit making me tear up.

And they say romance is dead

YAAAAAAAAAY! Finally no one is drunk or denying their feelings!

Aww, no, are we really introducing a jealous girl storyline one episode from the end?

Aww it's the other two boys from Plus & Minus

Because you were there to protect him

Of course Bai Zongyi wants to propose with cake. He opened his bakery purely because he hoped an amnesiac Fan Zerui might come in some time

I don't use the word babygirl very often but...

OH SHIT WTF DID CHEN YI JUST GET SHOT???

[queenbol-of-baldurs-gate]

Feed my BG3 hunger.

I wanna know for those playing with CustomTavs that will romance someone in the game, who are they wooing? And why? How do you imagine their dynamic? In tags or reblogs are fine! I'll start;

Delight- Warlock, Tiefling, Criminal

I literally cannot unsee her romancing Astarion.

Their pasts just line up and mirror so well, as do their current situations, and while she's not outright cruel she's definitely not a Good Guy. She finds him funny and over the top, and is entertained by his poor lying but drawn in by his vulnerability. He finds her contradictory but also funny (laughing together about the walking undead husband was a sweet moment between them lmao) and is starting to find her smartass comments and teasing endearing. They don't just become good lovers, they become good friends, and they will be wonderfully morally grey and chaotic together.

Briallen- Half-Orc, Sorceror, Folk Hero

This bitch can fit so much Survivor's Guilt inside her!! I think she will really fit well with Halsin all things considered. She is, down to her core, a genuinely good person who wants to protect and help, even if she sees her heroism as a selfish act to punish herself. I can see her being drawn to Halsin's strength, confidence and wisdom and I can see him drawn to her bravery, selflessness and serenity. But hopefully he will be able to curb her extremely low sense of self-preservation and she will show him that she will accept him in his entirety with no strings. Two folks who really admire each other slowly falling head over heels for each other!

Iker- Human, Ranger, Soldier

Gale. Not just because he's a magebreaker and I love the whole enemies/rivals to lovers, but because Gale is a wonderfully complicated person and turns out Iker finds complicated hot. I can see Gale intially finding his standoffish and straight up cunty behaviour annoying/vaguely amusing at first, but become increasingly curious about the person he used to be before everything. Iker looks at Gale and they think "Fuck. He's hot. Damn mage." and becomes fascinated with the fractured man beneath the perfect veneer. Idk about Gale, but Iker is actually the devoted type and in the future won't care what he does as long as he lets them stay by his side. Unhealthy obsessions all round let's get on it cunts.

Rowan- Half-Elf, Wizard, Scholar/Sage

I am truly a bit stumped with them BUT I can see them making poor decisions and falling for Wyll. He's got secrets and they're a curious sort who naturally wants to uncover them, for good or ill. They trigger Wyll's protective instinct, as they are particularly a bit naive about the wider world beyond their studies and dig sites and he's as soon to find them crouching down in the middle of a battle protecting a suspected artifact as he is to find them completely closed off to the world with her nose in a tome. He would find their completely objective opinion about his situation surprisingly refreshing and they want to study him under a microscope (oh and he has a very nice smile they can't seem to say no to). They'll make him better, he'll make them worse lol.

Zlatan- Githyanki, Cleric, Outlander

Oh Shadowheart for sure. Not only does he find her beautiful, he's intrigued with the fact that such a kind person (objectively) worships such an evil goddess. He's always been fascinated with outlier cultures and beliefs, like the drow. She would obviously be wary of him at first, but will be pleasantly surprised by his easygoing and cheerful nature yet shocked by his daredevilry and adventurousness. When she finally lets down her guard and they get closer, I can see them having actually quite a romantic dynamic between them.

Delshad [Name WIP]- Dragonborn, Fighter, Noble

I'll be honest, I was inspired by the Panel to make a hot af dragonborn to sweep Karlach off her feet. I'm weak. He is literally Just Some Guy. He's polite, he's softspoken, he likes embroidery and he will Fuck You Up when pressed. He would find Karlach very, very cute once she trusts him with her more romantic side and he can withstand her sparky tendencies with all his scales. She would appreciate the fact that he's pretty non-conforming in terms of his status and his gender stereotype and that he's only a gentleman with her FOR her. Very sweet, very soft relationship ahoy!!

Tav [Name Undecided]- Gnome/Deep Gnome, Rogue, Urchin or Charlatan?

Now this Tav is very much a recent and underdeveloped idea, because I saw The Prettiest gnome Tav the other day and I had this image of a cute gnome lady Absolutely Down Bad for Lae'zel because she loves big strong hot mean women. I imagine a very messy, horny dynamic since this Tav despises any authority on principle and Lae'zel comes from a society very much built upon obeying authority, but I can see Lae'zel finding Tav's dedication to chaos and getting things done her way or no way quite attractive.

[katenepveu]

Museum for Art in Wood (Part 5)

The last of my posts about the Museum for Art in Wood! This is the set of things that made me or my companion say, This ought to be a SFF book cover, or a story prompt, or some other speculative fiction type-thing.

For instance, every single thing on this shelf is a SFF story. By Fabrice Micha: 370, Sculpture and 632, Castle. By Michael Mode: 636, Akbar's Delight. By Michael Mocho, 505, Satinwood Hollow Form; 635, Box; and 467, Sentinel.

These two ought to be Yuletide fandoms: A Collection of Goblets, Chalices, and Spirit Vessels from the Seventeen Peoples of the Eight Inner Worlds by Stephen Mark Paulsen, which is incredibly hard to photograph but the official photo is hardly any better??

And Desert Winter on Marquard IV, and Twelve Sacred Objects Exposed by the Storm by the same artist; fortunately the official photo is pretty decent because mine is not worth looking at.

Self Portrait by Michelle Holzapfel. This one feels very like a book cover (and actually has an artist statement at the link!).

I was going to put this one in "Sculpture" and then I saw the title: Post Nuclear Vessel by Ron Kent.

Ditto except that it's The Shedding Skin of Evelyn Mind by Jay Heryet.

I was so enamored of the spiky nature of the one on the front left that I didn't notice it was matches until my companion pointed it out; I was thinking mouths or viruses. (It's called Art Object to be Destroyed by Hilary Pfeifer, Dennis Carr, and Neil Scobie.) And I think the one on the right is a spaceship, though the artist Rolly Munro calls it Oceanic Angel. (I don't know what the one in the back left is.)

Interactive by Andrew Potocnik made me think of if n-tailed foxes shed all their tails at once. (The components are arranged differently in the website picture, basically parallel.)

That sure is a Space Burger, by Hap Sakwa.

I'm delighted to say that my companion pointed out the picture on the left below as something from Star Wars. And it is actually titled Vader Box #3, by Stephen Hughes. (Just visible to the right is the gas giant it's flying around, Strata by Grant Vaughan.)

This is a Great Fairy Fountain, was my first thought. But it genuinely belongs in this section: it's titled Grapefruit to the Moon, by Steve Madsen, and it does open up (pictures at link).

This is somewhere between War of the Worlds and a beetle. (Dancing Tryclops by Michael Brolly.)

Finally, this is incredibly charming and I'm glad the website picture is decent because there wasn't room for me to get one: Time Standing Still by Po Shun Leong and Bob Stocksdale.

And now I'm finally done, woo!

[nerdnag]

Wooed by Wooloo

For @wherefore-whinnies 💕

-------------------------------------------------

Constance squeezed the round, fluffy Wooloo plushie between her hands, studying the animal's innocent expression with a frown on her face. "I must confess I fail to understand the appeal of this... creature," she said, holding the plushie at an arm's length as she turned it around in confusion. "What could possibly be so fascinating about this overly round bundle of fluff? It looks like a ball of wool with a face."

With a fond smile, Yuri reached out to give the Wooloo plushie an affectionate pat on the head. “Yeah. That’s the point.”

“The point… is the fluff?”

“Exactly.”

Constance blinked in disbelief, her eyes narrowing as she contemplated Yuri's explanation. "You mean to tell me that people are genuinely enthralled by this... this... spherical sheep, solely due to its fluffiness?"

Yuri nodded, his grin widening. "It's a simple pleasure, Constance. Sometimes, it's the little things in life that bring us joy."

Constance let out a huff, still not quite convinced. "Very well, let me test this supposed allure of fluff," she announced, hesitantly pulling the plushie close to her chest. As she wrapped her arms around it, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh! It is... rather soft, I must admit."

Yuri watched Constance's expression shift from suspicion to curiosity with a gleam of amusement in his eyes. "See? It's not so bad, is it?"

"No, I suppose not," Constance admitted as she continued to squeeze the plushie. "But it still baffles me that such a mundane object could elicit such a fervent following."

Yuri shrugged. "I mean, look at it. Its roundness, its adorableness, the way it stares at you with those big, innocent eyes... It's hard not to love."

Just as Constance was about to retort, Hapi—who had been silently munching on a muffin by a table nearby—chimed in. "Hey, Coco," she said around her baked good, "did you know Yuri-bird owns a Wooloo pajamas?"

Constance's eyes widened in disbelief, and she shot a glance at Yuri, who looked slightly embarrassed but unapologetic. "Wooloo pajamas, you say? Such a thing exists?"

Hapi nodded, her tone impassive as she continued to munch on her muffin. "I’ve seen him wear them."

Yuri cleared his throat, trying to recover his composure. "Well, yeah, I do own a pair. They're quite comfortable, actually."

Constance chuckled at Yuri's reaction, delighted to see him caught off guard for once. However, she supposed she could see the appeal of owning such a garment. With a content smile, she turned her attention back to the plushie in her arms.

"Alright, I concede. There is a certain charm to this little fluffball," she said, her voice softening.

Yuri raised an eyebrow, a hint of triumph in his voice. "So, do I sense a new Wooloo enthusiast in our midst?"

"Well, let's not get carried away," Constance replied, feigning nonchalance. "I simply acknowledge that it possesses a degree of appeal. That's all."

"Ah, of course. You merely appreciate the fluff, nothing more."

"Yes, precisely. The fluff. That is all." She glanced around the room, her eyes lingering on the door. "Speaking of which," she said, trying her best to sound casual, "I just remembered that I have... an errand to run. Yes, that's it. An errand."

Yuri's smirk grew as he watched Constance fidget. "An errand? And what might that be?"

Constance huffed, crossing her arms. "It is of no concern to you! Besides, a lady does not reveal all her secrets."

"Of course not," Yuri said. "Well, I do hope your errand goes smoothly, whatever it may be."

With a nod, Constance stood up, still clutching the Wooloo plushie tightly to her chest. "Thank you, Yuri. I shall return shortly."

She hurriedly made her way to the door, trying her best to maintain an air of dignity. As she left the room, Hapi—still casually munching on her muffin—looked at Yuri with a knowing smile. "You think she's off to buy Wooloo pajamas?"

Yuri's laughter filled the room as he nodded. "I have no doubt, Hapi. No doubt at all."

[llycaons]

I may have watched only five new movies this year, but I started or finished at least ten new shows. what can I say, I'm a TV gal*

SHOWS I've watched in 2022 (scored but unranked)

Breaking Bad: 9/10

everyone was obsessed with this show in 2012 or whatever and my older brother still raves about it so I thought, what the hell. and what do you know, it was really good! it was funny! I watched in fascination as a story about an egotistical, immature maniac destroying his own life and the lives of the people around him continued to be a comedy for much of its run

definitely not perfect (treats its Latino characters horribly, kills off too many women, and it got a bit clumsy by the end plotwise) but overall writing is absolutely incredible. I may or may not ever rewatch

Better Call Saul : 6/10

this was a very well-written, critically acclaimed show that for various reasons, I didn’t like as much as I had hoped to. I found the main character whiny and insufferable, some of the scenes were incredibly boring and drawn-out, and some of the acting for minor characters was so bad as to genuinely disrupt the experience (looking at you, stacy). and somehow it took characters I really enjoyed from brba (saul/jimmy and mike) and made them so unlikeable as to be unwatchable

despite my personal tastes not really gelling with the show, I really loved seeing more gus, and new characters like kim, lalo, and nacho were a delight. rather mixed on this one, but I’m ending it with higher than a 5 because I think the ending was pulled off really well

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: 7/10

I’m only halfway through this show because I haven’t had time to go to the gym, which is where I watch it, but it’s a very beautiful story with a strong aesthetic and I’m enchanted by the main character

I‘ve hit a very slow series of episodes with cases I do not care about at all (the railroad through the town) and I’m finding it hard to get the motivation to continue. I’m neutral on most of the side characters. I do really like the love interest, though. and I think I’ll cry when I hit the ending....I saw some gifs and 🥺 I love you woo young-woo

I will have a more complete review when I finish it, but I think the fact that it’s scored higher than bcs is very funny

The Bear: 6/10

this show could have been so much better than it ended up being. ah, what potential! the concept was interesting, the acting and chemistry was great, the stress and misery of a kitchen disaster was very well-executed, the core cast was (mostly) engaging, the humor was (mostly) on point, and the plots were genuinely very compelling

what let the bear down was 1. having an extremely shitty guy in the main cast but not really dealing with how shitty he was beyond well, he sucks but he’s a good dad and he’s one of the guys! he gets it! 2. the ending. instead of an earned, bittersweet, realistic finale appropriate to the story of a man losing his brother and feeling tremendous guilt and responsibility over it, and struggling with both substance use and keeping a small business afloat, there’s this....fairytale wish-fulfillment at play in which all problems are solved through an implausible discovery of hidden treasure. like....what? there’s also  some minor character elements that I found were done clumsily, but these were the big two flaws for me

Interview with the Vampire: 10/10

ohhhh WHAT a show. yes, I’m ranking it higher than breaking bad. I think I actually personally enjoyed this one a little less than brba because I don’t love the storytelling structure or the themes of unreliable narration/storytelling/memory. also I was let down by the armand bait-and-switch and I don’t know why the show kept in louis’s family’s history of owning a plantation at all, but in this case I think that the rest of the show was good enough to make up for it

what can I say that hasn’t already been said? the bold reimagining of a racist old book series into a contemplation on race and identity centered on the experiences of a Black man in 20th century New Orleans, the explicit and very well-executed sexual and romantic relationship between the leads, the lighting, costuming, and set design, the research into the setting, the chemistry between the leads, the dialogue, the incredible acting of all cast members, especially JA and SR, the drama, the gore, the horror, the tragedy, the ending, the perspective from the future - wow! wow!

the best possible type of adaptation from a series with compelling aspects but many issues - I feel grateful to everyone involved that that this show was created and I cannot wait for season 2

Our Flag Means Death: 0.5/10

yeah, I did watch this show, and hated almost every minute of it. followers may remember me forcing myself to just get to the next episode because it was so popular and beloved, I figured there must be SOMETHING there and I felt bad for being a killjoy. TW’s comedy really doesn’t do it for me (I didn’t love WWDITS movie and never watched the tv show), I disliked the acting, the romantic dialogue was overrated and clumsy, and I hated the lead character very deeply

I ended up liking some things about it, but by the end some things were coming to light about the character that TW based the show off of and the most important consideration here is that it’s a rosy, ahistorical view of literal plantation owners and slave traders, and I hope it falls into obscurity as fast as possible. also TW is antiblack so I’m not going to be supporting any of his projects in the future anyway

Kinnporsche: 0.5/10

dear reader, do not watch this show

Can Lan Jue (Love Between Fairy and Devil): ?/10

ohhhh boy. this one is a challenge for me. the main character is a marvel. the humor is phenomenal. the set designs are rich and indulgent, and the costumes are varied and interesting - a feast for the eyes. in many ways, it’s a lovely and relaxing show to go to sleep to, and I have a lot of fondness for it

this current plot I’m in (shenanigans in the mortal world) has plenty of twists to keep it interesting, and surprisingly heartfelt dramatic performances from mainly comical characters

where I really struggle is the plot and character interactions. it had a decently paced beginning, but it slowed down afterwards, and at 23 (of 38) episodes, the plot is finally picking up again. I only watch this show once every few days, so the pacing probably isn’t as glacial as it feels, but it’s still slower than I usually like

the romance has had a very rough start, which I’m looking forward to improving, but which upset me so much that I quit the show more than once, because I find it difficult to be comfortable with couples who have such a history between them

also I want the leads not to date each other and instead get into gay relationships with the mortals they’re trying to set up. but alas. this romcom scenario will end in het marriage (or death? remains to be seen)

final ranking: we’ll see

Mó dào Zǔ shī: 7/10

I cannot remember when I watched this and my search function is failing me, but it’s going here

edit: I watched this in 2021 but fuck it, it was december so close enough

this is also a mixed bag because the first and third season were very strong, but the second season was so bad that there must have been some kind of production issue so I’m not going to hold it against the creators even if it was really comedic in how poor the quality was

right off the bat - I know the characters look like that and I don’t like it either, but you stop noticing after a while. I am much more bothered by the animal designs. like those rabbits??? kind of freaky. the in-show ads for cornetto ice cream were honestly quite funny so I don't mind them. they added to the character of the show

anyway, the donghua was mostly quite good and a fun experience. it captured a lot of the powerful moments from the novel while maintaining more of the original plot than cql did, which made it arguably more coherent than the drama. the animation allowed it to really go ham on the effects like glowing red eyes and flocks of green crows without looking incredibly silly like it would in a live action, which would have marred some of the dramatic tension

the music was absolutely stunning, the backgrounds were meticulously painted, it was well-paced (with exceptions), and the character dynamics were organic and engaging. although censored, there was palpable romantic and sexual chemistry between the leads, and it gave them a sweet ending with a slight twist on the novel. many of the choices for lwj surprised and pleased me (like smiling instead of getting jealous in that one scene). I enjoyed the characterization choices for myu and jc, and the added details for wwx, which were often quite charming (like when he welcomes little apple back with open arms saying how much he missed her, aww)

on the other hand, due to the faithfulness to the novel, some of the scenes come off as confusing or downright silly without proper context, and there are still several homophobic jokes and uncomfortable scenes. jyl is barely a presence, I feel neutral on wen qing’s different personality, and for the most part the characters outside the core cast where pretty blah. and as I said before, the second season is such a disaster that it really hampers the entire story. I don’t know how much sense the plot would make to someone not familiar with the story because so much was cut out and the rest was so rushed and clumsy. but it’s something I would watch again for sure (though it is unknown how much I’d like it)

The Great: 9/10

this one is wild. you really need to be prepared for a LOT (animal cruelty, burning people alive, gore, eye horror, abuse). it’s very good, and I enjoy the acting, costuming, plot, and humor quite a lot. but I haven’t finished it so this ranking is premature, and I feel strangely reluctant to do so now that catherine has actually gained power. it’s emotionally quite draining.

Hunter x Hunter: 8/10

please don’t ask me to talk about this show anymore. I’ve been doing it for over a year now. it was good and I liked it but it had some flaws. I will likely not watch it again. read the manga. that is all <3

*gender-neutral