#all the characters are based on people they've met and known

[slayerkitty]

Let's Talk About Trust, Baby

I've seen a lot of posts where people are really confused about Mew and where his head might be at with regard to his relationship with Top. Why he hasn't given Top the boyfriend title back, why they haven't had sex yet, etc. That led me down a rabbit hole of thinking about the relationships between the characters and the one thing all relationships need to function - TRUST. If you don't trust your significant other or your friends/family, etc, what kind of relationship can you even have? I tried to break this down in groups/pairs and some of it might not be as thought out, so there may be more on this as the show goes on but here we go.

The Fab Four

So there's a lot of context we're missing about the relationships between our core four dysfunctional besties (Note: So far, Cheum doesn't seem that dysfunctional, you're doing amazing sweetie!) such as how they met, how long have they been friends (what the hell Ray and Mew got up to that one night... *ahem* I digress). Now, we don't have any real answers to these questions (yet) so I'm taking some educated guesses based on my own college experiences and what I've generally picked up from other university BLs typical story telling.

I feel like the four of them met during orientation (except maybe Ray and Mew, I'm waffling on thoughts that they've known each other since high school). Most university BLs set it up that the mains meet during orientation, bond during whatever torture the seniors are putting the freshman through and kind of build their friend groups based on that.

I also feel like they may have gravitated toward each other or remained a group because they're all queer. BLs can go either way on whether or not homophobia exists in their narrative and I think that Only Friends is going the more realistic route (and it's Jojo) so I think that I can definitely see them bonding over being queer. They find an LGBTQ bar and it becomes their thing to do together. Most friendship groups form because people just sort of fall in together due to circumstance and they seem no different.

But do they trust each other? Signs point to yes. (I was shocked too, lol)

Mew and Cheum: We haven't had much focus on her, but he seems to value her opinion and listen to her advice. (We also know that April likes him from the time they've spent together and he likes April, so I would say he and Cheum probably have pretty good trust built up.)

Mew and Boston: He believed without a single doubt when Boston said that Top had never had a lover longer than 3 months and that Top would probably, as Ray put it "nail and bail" once Mew and Top have sex. Cheum also believed Boston. Do I think Boston was lying here? No. But neither do they and that's important. Does Boston trust Mew? I think he does. His issues with Mew are not about trust.

Mew and Ray: These two vibe a little different than the rest of the group. They seem closer; they seem like they've talked about "the deep stuff" (vs maybe superficial topics with their other friends). Their first one on one scene has them talking about Ray's alcoholism seriously (even though Mew doesn't push about it as much as I would have liked) and you can tell there's an intimacy there that the other group members don't share. Whether that stems from whatever it is that happened that night in the video (I am salivating about this, it's delicious, I need more info) or because they've been friends for longer, I don't know.

Let's move on to the pairs:

Cheum and April: Do they trust each other? I assume so? Cheum goes out drinking with the boys at least once a week and April seems okay with that (we haven't heard otherwise), so I'll say yes? (Jojo, I NEED MORE OF THEM. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO EVEN ANALYZE. GIVE US MORE.)

Sand and Ray: I'm gonna call this one as Sand does not trust Ray, but Ray trusts Sand. Sand knows that Ray is a walking red flag and he's trying to resist but Ray is making it really hard. *ahem* Ray bailing mid-make out is not helping Sand's trust issue. If you look at how Sand has cared for Ray since episode one, however, Ray most likely trusts Sand. I mean, Ray talked about his mom to Sand. I think that's a biiiig deal.

Mew and Top: Thanks to Boston, neither of them trusts the other. And this, right here, is why Mew has not moved the relationship forward. HE DOESN'T TRUST TOP. He's still worried that Top will "nail and bail". Remember Mew's checklist from episode two? He only checks off "gets along with my friends" (HAH!) and "respects me" but not "doesn't lie to me". We can infer this means it hasn't been marked off since he doesn't mention it to anyone in this episode. Given that a lot of us clocked Mew potentially spotting Boston's trunks on the floor in the shower, along with him questioning if Top was telling the truth about the fire, it's clear this is the one thing holding him back.

If Mew agrees to be Top's boyfriend, then the expectation of sex becomes a lot higher (it shouldn't but that's a different discussion to be had). It's also implied in the narrative (and from Jojo) that Mew is a very structured person and he doesn't like to lose control (re-watch the counter scene from episode one. You know you want to. I'll wait). The moment that Mew realizes that he is way too into what they're doing, he panics because he doesn't have control over the situation.

Up until episode three, Top did trust Mew. He trusted him enough to get vulnerable and then Boston blew it up by fabricating a narrative backed with evidence of...something between Ray and Mew (I'm seriously dying for this scene, I need it).

Another thing I am having thoughts about is that in this episode, Top referred to himself as Mew's boyfriend and so did Cheum and Mew didn't deny it like he did in episode two. When Top's *ahem* "buddy" approached them at the silent disco, it was very clear that Mew expected Top to introduce Mew as his boyfriend and was visibly (if momentarily) upset that he didn't.

Boston and Nick: Yes and no, but also no and no, respectively. So Boston trusts Nick with some things but not everything which leads to him lying, gaslighting and manipulating (he's a triple threat). In turn, Nick lies right back, because what else can he do? (a lot of things actually, oh Nick, you are starting to spiral hard.) This leads Nick to rigging the CCTV video to show on his phone and to wiretap Boston's car, which just shows you his trust in Boston is non-existent.

In conclusion: Trust is another theme the show seems to be exploring: earning it, keeping it, and what you do after trust is broken. I think it can tie back into the ongoing ephemerality discussion as well: trust isn't permanent. You have to earn it, maintain it, and once broken, it's gone (and seldom can be repaired).

Also, everyone needs therapy.

Tagging the Ephemerality Squad: @waitmyturtles, @chickenstrangers, @lurkingshan, @twig-tea, @ranchthoughts, @clara-maybe-ontheroad

Hope I didn't forget anyone!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about opinions that Chloe’s development was ruined in season 3 finale because Thomas didn’t like that viewers like her more than Marinette? I Don’t think that it’s true, but it gave me idea that Thomas ruined Chloe’s already few character development because viewers liked her more than Gabriel.

I've heard this theory before and it seems like a massive stretch to me. It's always possible, but I don't feel comfortable making accusations like this without some hard evidence and I've yet to see any, though it's not like I follow this guy on Twitter or anything. My knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes is all based on random things that make their way to my Tumblr feed. So if someone has hard evidence, feel free to reblog and add it, but the most likely explanation is just bad writing. Why ascribe malice when incompetence makes just as much sense and requires a lot less motivation?

Think about what this accusation is actually saying. It's claiming that an adult man willfully ruined a major element of his passion project (or even just the show that he's known for, meaning that it will define his future career) because he was salty that people liked a character that he created. That seems like a conspiracy theory take to me.

It's also not like Thomas has full creative control of the show! Head writers have power, but they rarely have total power. They're still employees and a ton of things happen between an episode being written and the final version being aired. Producers, directors, censors, and many others usually okay a script prior to an episode being animated because that's the most expensive element. Plus it's not like he's the only one who wrote Chloe's story. Every season two and season three episode is credited to multiple writers. In other words, it seems like multiple people signed off on Chloe's story.

There's also the issue of the air dates. Queen Wasp and Miracle Queen first aired about twelve months apart (October 6 2018 vs October 15 2019). Production times for animated TV shows are about that long, which would mean that Miracle Queen was probably being written or was even already set in stone around the time that Queen Wasp aired. In other worlds, every element of Chloe's journey was probably at least sketched out before the audience ever saw it start. That would mean that nothing in that story was reactionary. It just doesn't fit the timeline.

While Chloe's season three ending was a total mess, it was hardly out of nowhere. It was glaringly obvious that Chloe couldn't stay Queen Bee from the moment that we met Queen Bee. You can't willfully out yourself to the world and expect to stay a hero (or, at least, that shouldn't be a thing Felix). I was honestly baffled when they gave her back the bee in Malediktator and relieved when Marinette finally acknowledged the problem in Miraculer:

Ladybug: I'm sorry, Chloé. I should've told you this a long time ago. I might never be able to let you be Queen Bee again.

Which was, of course, the setup for Miracle Queen, further complicating this theory because it looks like less than a year passed between the world premieres of Queen Wasp and Miraculer (October 6 2018 vs May 15 2019).

I don't know if this made it to your Tumblr feed, but the Miraculous writing team announced that the writing for season six was done back in late March. The show won't air until sometime this winter, well over half a year later, because that's just how animation works and they've supposedly done things to make the animation process faster this season. I just don't see how this Chloe theory works or why it needs to be a thing when her bad writing falls perfectly in line with things like the absolute disaster that was season five. She wasn't a fluke, she was a warning of things to come.

As best I can tell, the entire Queen Bee plot was just an incredibly awkward and forced way to show how dangerous identity reveals were. Which isn't a bad plot to have, but don't do that plot and then let a bunch of other temp heroes keep their miraculous post reveal! Writers, what are you even doing?

If you want my best guess answer to that, then I don't think that the writers planned to make their story feel massively hypocritical. I think that they just did a dumb writing mistake that I've seen multiple shows do: they wrote a really cool cliffhanger ending without planning how to make that ending work in the following season. And there was no way to really make the ending work, so they end up just kind of ignoring it.

The reason why this happens is pretty simple. Most shows try to end their seasons on cliffhangers so that fans will come back for the next season. It's extremely rare to have a solid happy ending that ties everything together. This can lead to writers making questionable calls because they're pressed for time and have to come up with something that will keep the fans wanting more even if that thing makes no sense. It can also lead to writers making questionable calls because they DO have a plan for how the cliffhanger will play out, but when it comes time to actually put that plan into action, it gets shut down and now they have to scramble to make the nonsense work.

Anyway, what I'm really trying to say is that, as much as I like the concept of a redeemed Chloe joining the team, it was pretty clearly never going to happen in canon. The writing only backed that read for a brief moment at the start of season two where we got a handful of episodes that made Chloe feel less like a cookie-cutter mean girl and more like a true character, but then the Chloe plot really got going and I was just waiting for the inevitable fiery end. I actually thought that Chloe was going to be treated as a tragic character and become a true villain in season four. Instead we got utter nonsense that tossed her character all over the place to the point where I have no idea what they're even trying to do with her.

[woman-of-many-fandoms]

Honestly though, it must be so weird to work with some people for a few years of your life and for years, decades, later people are shipping you with your co worker.

I'm obviously all for shipping fictional characters, but this is the actors job. Where they get a paycheck. They are literally being paid to act like found family.

Like imagine you worked in an office with some people for 3 years in 2004-2007 and in 2030 people are making clips of you and how in love you look while eating lunch with Carol or saying hi as you both arrived in the parking lot.

I've seen this in pretty much every fandom I've been in. Star Trek, good omens, X men, Marvel. I do not think RDJ has any emotional attachment to Chris Evens or that Shanter really cared about and enjoyed spending time with Nimoy. I'm positive for David Tennant, Good Omens is just his next job and Michael Sheen only likes it because it made him much more well known in the acting world and it'll be easier to get his next gig. Yes Pine and Quinto look like they are actual friends outside of the movies but that is an exception.

Anyway, just my thoughts since I just saw a post of some Trek actors in I'm assuming the late 80s or 90s and people were saying 'how could he not be bi saying stuff like this'. Money, the answer is always money.

edit: OK let me address some of what is in the comments. Do actors say they are friends, sure, and if you want to take that at face value then you are right, they are friends. I personally don't think it counts if you are being paid to do so. And before anyone says anything, no not directly. But they have a whole 'image' to uphold that their income is tied to.

I don't know much about the entertainment industry and don't know why people would want that life but it's .... well, different, is the nice way to say it. My sister's career is considered part of the entertainment industry though she is behind the scenes. (And, side note, even being behind the scenes I've still found photoshopped images someone made of her in her in sexy lingerie ... )

TBF we don't talk that often but I've heard some stories (apparently Bill Nye is more then a bit of a jerk behind closed doors) She's lived in Hollywood 12 years now and there is the face people put out in the public and who they truly are. Yes, we all have a self that we hide (I'm autistic so I know all about masking) but it seems that is pushed to extremes.

I've seen her act like many people's best friends (house parties and giving favors and gifts that I question) and promoting their good name in public then she'll tell me in private some horrible things that person has done to others and how it's just how it works. She house/cat sat for a guy (and sent me views from his balcony, my god it was nice) who I think a lot of people would recognize from TV but their relationship was built on respect for each other careers.

Sure, you can tell me not to base the examples off my sisters stories and, ok fair. But I'd also want to point out - the part of RDJ buying evens a car, I did some math. He has 300 million net worth according to google. I have a salary, not net worth (or a negative one cause of student loans I guess), but it is the equivalent of me buying my co worker a $32 gift assuming the car was 150k. I met a guy who performed in Vegas shows and told me how they've had dinner with (I honestly don't remember if it was Penn or Teller) at their house with their spouses. And private chats ... doesn't really tell me much.

I'm currently seeing a bunch of clips of the main actors for the new Wicked movie saying how each other changed each others lives and it just comes off as more acting to promote the movie to me.

And even with Pine and Quinto , I only gave that one a pass because they said knew each other and got along before being in Trek and even then, eh..

Again, just how I interpret things. I know friend can mean different things to different people and a lot of what I see I don't interpret as friend, I see it as networking. I would absolutely be 'friends' with someone if it helped me make and maintain my multi millions .

[elliespuns]

i would to love to hear your thoughts (if you have any) about cat and ellie's relationship! like obviously the game doesn't provide much insight on cats entire character but like she literally gave ellie her tattoo so like obviously ellie trusted or was in love with cat enough to let her permanently alter her body. i just wish we got to see their relationship more in depth :(

Oh, I'd love to dig into this. Ellie's relationship with Cat has always seemed a bit 'rushed' to me. But maybe it was because they didn't give us more details on how long they've known each other, how long they've been friends for, or any details on how their sympathies for each other started. Ellie talked about Cat a little bit in her diary, but it was still not that much.

All we know is that when Cat was finishing another session on her tattoo, she climbed on top of Ellie and kissed her. Ellie freaked out and threw her off because she didn't know whether her 'infection' could transfer or not. She was worried about infecting her and so asked her for a walk, and then they walked and talked; Ellie lied to her, telling her that she feaked out because she has never kissed anyone, and then they ended up at Ellie's place watching a movie (they only watched the movie, stop being dirty!!) and then after Cat fell asleep (I think it must have been in Ellie's bed because her TV was in front of it - now I'm getting dirty), Ellie spent the whole night watching her, worrying about her turning. So based on this, I count on them not making out or having sex that day. Ellie wouldn't let it happen when she was unsure of the consequences.

The next day, though, when Ellie found out that Cat didn't turn, she got so happy that she couldn't transfer her 'infection'; her happiness was literally felt through the pages. Then, I think, the dating started. Ellie found out from Jesse that Cat was referring to her as her 'girlfriend' in front of her friends (which Ellie found cute). Then she was talking about some lake and how Cat would hold her hand and kiss her in front of everybody, including Dina, who has been (apparently) jealous, avoiding Ellie, and lying about being busy just so she wouldn't have to spend her time with Ellie and her new girlfriend. Ellie was trying her best to stay in contact with Dina too, but Cat and Dina never clicked.

(That only supports my theory of Dina liking Ellie from the start, already being jealous of her in their younger years, even though she was with Jesse already.) I know that a lot of people think or say that Dina and Ellie happened suddenly and that they became a couple out of the blue. But Dina wasn't exactly someone she just met. I think Cat was more assertive and showed Ellie 'the way' so she snatched her up for herself even though they probably were less of friends than Ellie and Dina. I strongly believe that Ellie and Dina actually liked each other from the beginning, and there have been sparks all along that none of them had balls to act upon.

That's also why I think Ellie's getting together with Cat wasn't exactly out of love. Of course, Ellie liked her and cared about her. But from what we know, I don't think Ellie made herself believe that she was in love with Cat. I think she was always more mature about these things to know better. And it actually makes sense for Ellie to get into a random relationship just because she thinks she can't date the person she would like to date in the first place. I think she always knew she liked Dina more than she should, but she wouldn't speak up because—first, Dina was with Jesse—and second, she was scared of fucking their friendship. Who knows, maybe Dina being jealous of her and Cat made her heart skip a beat.

What we also know is that Ellie and Cat's relationship didn't last too long. I have no idea how long the girls have been together, but I'm guessing a few months. We never saw anything from the time Ellie was 18, so this could easily be a year full of discovering what it was with girls. Like, having her first time with a girl (I think she did have her first time with Cat because when she was about to sleep with Dina, she seemed to know what she was doing). Considering Cat's personality, I think she was probably the one to teach Ellie 'how'. Ellie has always been an adorable dork who probably needed a push here and there, especially in the beginnings of her sex life. (At least that's what I think.)

I also think that them ending their relationship must have had something to do with Dina (I dare to say it was Cat who ended it). Because I think that Cat knew all along that Ellie was already in love with Dina when she was with her. She must have noticed the way they've been looking at each other, etc. That's probably why their relationship ended on good terms, because not only did Cat always seem too cool to be a jealous pain in the ass, but she also must have felt from the start that Ellie was just 'experimenting', even though she (of course) liked her a lot too.

A side note: In the original game, there was a playable winter dance scene that never made it into the game where you could go around and interact with Cat, who would indeed flirt with Ellie. I once heard that someone was even doing a mo-capture for those scenes, all excited about flirting with Ashley (Ellie's actress). I hope, with all my heart, we get this in the Remastered version. I need to see Ellie accepting compliments like the lamest dork ever.

[project-sekai-facts]

do u know anything cool about the side characters i feel like they need more appreciation and more people to know about them.

my time has come (<- i really like the side characters)

because i don't own the fanbooks, and cannot find scans of them anywhere, this is all from memory or stuff written on the wiki or tvtropes. also characters who debuted physically in the last year (e.g Asahi, Mafuyu's mother, Arisa) won't have fanbook profiles yet, so i can only tell you what's mentioned in the story

so yeah some random trivia (a lot about favorite foods because all the side characters have that listed)

Leo/need

Iori and Mio are both 19 years old (currently)

Iori's favorite food is choco-banana crepes and she dislikes spicy food

Mio likes super spicy tantanmen ramen but dislikes fresh cream. She also collects teddy bears

neither Iori or Mio were ever given family names. This might mean that the names used in the story are stage names.

Youta is the same age as Leo/need (16). His younger sister Hanano is 14.

Saku is currently 16, the same age as the Leo/need members, and her family name is Kousaka

She's the singer and composer of her band, Anenome. They debuted professionally a few weeks prior to the Get Over It. event

When Shindou was younger, he was a bassist in a band with some school friends. He and the singer/guitarist were more skilled than the others, and were scouted for a different band. Shindou didn't want to quit because he wanted to be in a band with his friends, but the singer/guitarist quit and accepted the offer because his music would have more spread. In the end Shindou's band had to disband, and he doesn't know what happened to the guy that left.

MORE MORE JUMP!

Mai's favorite food is eclairs and she dislikes liver. She is also 15 years old currently

Yuina was the first side character to be shown with more than one outfit. Her live2D has a different outfit to the one in Minori's For "Your" Sake card

Yuina's hobby is handicraft, and she also plays basketball

Yuina's favorite food is potato croquette and she dislikes bok choy

Airi and Nanamin did a collab performance when they were both idols. They are the same age.

Nanamin has now retired as an idol and is currently a streamer with over 800 thousand subscribers. She likes fruit tarts and dislikes wasabi.

Riho is a high school first year (16) and is active as a song producer on the in-universe version of youtube

Riho's favorite food is pudding and she doesn't like hard and crumbly bread

Ayaka is 20 years old and attends college. She’s a big fan of Shizuku. She likes pork cutlets and doesn't like oysters.

Vivid BAD SQUAD

Ken likes meat dishes and dislikes umeboshi

He says he fell in love with his wife, Yuka, at first sight. They met in college and they've been married for over 20 years.

We don't know how old Yuka is but Ken is 43

Ken was a really good student and had good grades in both academics and sports. He also attended and graduated college.

Ken is very aware of An's feelings towards Kohane and is supportive of her. Go Ken-san

He was RADder's designated driver back in the day

Taiga dropped out of high school

Taiga likes whiskey but dislikes tsubuan

He is referref to as “partner” in the game data

Ken and Taiga have known each other since middle school. He thought Ken being an academic was boring and decided to get him into street music

Nagi had anemia. It's implied this is part of the reason she didn't realise she had cancer until it was too late, because she thought she felt bad because her anemia was playing up

Nagi's least favorite food was tomato, just like An. She liked coffee as well.

Arata's favorite foods are omelet rice and chocolate parfait, and his least favorite food is natto.

As pointed out by Taiga, Arata is one of the most talented performers on Vivid Street. Taiga seems to see himself in Arata, and relates to the feeling of losing a partner and can identify Arata’s weaknesses based on this

I’m not entirely sure if this is true, but based on observation Souma’s Live2D model has restricted movement. He doesn't lift his arms in any of his animations, only does small movements with them and his legs hardly move if at all. I'm assuming this is to convey that he was partially paralysed in the traffic accident

Both Souma and Arata are currently 19

Also their duo act nane was Gurney Flaps. Souma was the one who came up with that.

Souma and Arata were friends for an unknown amount of time before Rad Weekend. They may have been doing street music before the event I can't remember if this is ever mentioned.

Souma was involved in a traffic accident not long after he and Arata decided to surpass RW. He mentions that the accident was before Weekend Garage opened, and it's been open for a couple years at this point, because Ken decided to buy and open the cafe not long after the event.

Also they get a shoutout on KAITO’s costume from the Walk on and on event

Also I literally just learnt that the EN server localises Souma's name as Soma.

Even though he looks pretty old, Harumichi Aoyagi is only 53

Inferred based on his house, but he’s really rich as well. I think the Aoyagis might live in a penthouse, if you look at the window of their living room you can see the tops of trees.

Kotaro is called “cord nukio” in the game data, referring to him disconnecting the sound system during Vivids’ debut

He has a younger brother, and the reason he got into singing is because he wanted to be a cool big brother. He saw RW around the time his brother was born and the rest is history

Kotaro is 17, and presumably a high school second year (since first year side characters are 16). I’m guessing her doesn’t attend kamikou otherwise that probably would’ve been mentioned by now

His favorite food is strawberries. Ironically, he doesn’t like strawberry-flavored things.

Tatsuya is 22, making him the oldest NPC who isn’t a parent or mentor

He got into singing after being inspired by a senior in high school

WonderlandsxShowtime

Kigurumi-san is a rabbit. Please tell me how that is a rabbit costume.

According to Rui in Full Power! Wonder Halloween!, Kigurumi-san's hiding spot is a bush near the wonder stage. It is heavily implied that he is Emu's bodyguard.

Usa-chan (the bunny plushie) is the only NPC to have ever appeared in an area conversation

Usa-chan's name was picked by Saki. Tsukasa wanted to give her a weird name, but we don't know what this was.

Sakurako has been a fan of PXL since she was a kid, and getting to perform there has always been a dream of hers. Also she’s 17 (the same age as Rui and Tsukasa)

Sakurako is called “diva” in the game data

Her favorite food is roll cake and she dislikes konjac.

The Little Mermaid was Yuuka Kazamatsuri’s first ever leading role. She’s 31 now, so she was 21 at the time.

Yuuka's favorite food is deepfried horse mackerel. Her least favorite food is fish and chips, because she thought it would be horse mackerel. It was not.

Rakunosuke (Emu's grandpa)'s favorite food was taiyaki, the same as Emu. He disliked surströmming.

Rakunosuke died when he was 99 years old. Considering that Emu’s father is currently 55, that means he didn’t have kids until he was in his 40s (unless Emu has older aunts/uncles that aren’t mentioned).

Kounosuke's favorite food is candy apples and he doesn't like sugary candies

Keisuke and Shousuke are referred to as Little Keisuke and Little Shousuke in flashbacks to Emu’s childhood, even if they are probably university-aged in these flashbacks. I just think this is funny

Keisuke is 30. He likes dried horse mackerel and dislikes chocolate.

Emu mentions that one time when her family went on a beach holiday Keisuke took an encyclopedia about sea life with him. Maybe he has an interest in that?

Shousuke is 3 years younger than Keisuke. He likes corndogs and dislikes green peppers.

Hinata is 20 and is currently in college. Her favorite food is peaches. Like Emu, she doesn't have a least favorite food.

If it wasn't obvious at this point the Otoris all like theme park food. Except for Keisuke.

Jean Riley is the in-universe equivalent to Walt Disney. He's also still alive and only 54 years old.

25-ji, Nightcord de.

Mrs Asahina doesn’t appear physically until someone other than Mafuyu interacts with her (that being Kanade at the end of Immiscible Discord)

Also she frequently employs actual manipulation techniques - she is in complete control of her meeting with Kanade, she rarely disagrees with anyone and instead gives them suggestions (i.e “but wouldn’t X be better for you?” over “no i think you should do X”), and playing victim. Wonder how she learnt those.

Honestly we really don’t know that much about her

Mafuyu’s dad doesn’t show up that much but he can be seen in some family photos in the Asahina living room

Shin’ei Shinonome’s hobby is camping with his family

He has the same liked and disliked food as his children

Also he’s 48 years old

None of the photos in the Shinonome living room actually look like the family so god knows what Mrs Shinonome looks like

Mrs Shinonome puts carrots in the dinners she cooks to encourage her kids to try the things they don’t like

Futaba is 17 years old. Her favorite food is pancakes from a local shop, and she doesn’t like salty food

Mizuki’s sister studies fashion abroad. She gifted Mizuki one of her mannequins before she left, which can be seen in Mizuki’s room

Kanade’s mother died when she was 30 years old. Her favorite food was deepfried tofu, and she didn’t like goya.

Kanade’s mother liked gardening. She was fond of carnations and used to keep them around the house, which is why Kanade has a strong attachment to those flowers.

Kanade's dad is currently 46. We don't know how old Kanade was when her mother died but it still works out that he's a few years older than his wife.

Bonus: As the self-proclaimed #1 slash only Asahi fan here's my obligatory Asahi loredump

Sakurako and Asahi are friends, though they have never interacted on-screen

Asahi's not-Disneyland theme park actor career somehow managed to spin-off into him appearing in TV and film roles. It's also mentioned that he's worked at ArcLand for a long time

Asahi is a huge fan of WxS, and is very familiar with their work before he meets them. It's implied he became a fan through the show they perform in Wonder Magical Showtime!. His favorite character in that show was Tsukasa's character, Miles. Like, he really likes that character.

It’s implied that he likes Tsukasa. I have made two posts about this. I think this is a lot funnier than it actually is.

We don't have a confirmed age for him yet, but considering that he's friends with Sakurako and the way he interacts with Rui and Tsukasa, he's probably around the same age as those three (17). How young was he when he started working at ArcLand in that case?

Assuming he’s high school-aged, I think he straight up dropped out of school (high school is not compulsory in Japan). When he recruits Rui he says that since he’s good, they can get him up to a full-time job before the age of 18, and Rui realises this would require him to pull out of school. The way Asahi talks about this seems to imply that he already did this.

He keeps a notebook in his pocket when he practises. He notes down useful things about the performances he does and also notes about the people he performs with. He also people-watches because it helps him make characters act more like real people.

He's a huge fan of the director Tom Grey, one of Rui's major influences, and claims to have watched all of his works 100 times. Grey is the person who inspired Asahi to become an actor. The shared interest is a large part of why Asahi invites Rui to be the ArcLand director

Asahi grew up abroad because of his parents' work, but the country he lived in ended up getting involved in a war. The area he lived in was attacked and his family had to evacuate, but he got separated from his parents when they were running away. He didn't speak the country's language very well since he was very young, and couldn't communicate with the people at the evacuation centre to locate his family. Tom Grey happened to be volunteering there, since he lived in the neighbouring country, and met Asahi and helped cheer him up and find his parents.

He’ll be back. That'll be a fun event.

[scarredwoods]

I know I'm pretty late to the trend of making your own Rise version of this and that character, but if I may, I would like to introduce you to my Mona Lisa and Miyamoto Usagi.

At first, it was going to be Yuichi, but I'm too addicted to the comics and Usagi's silly behavior. He's not as much of a serious badass as most people think, trust me. As for Mona Lisa, well... I'm not sure how to not make it sound like a self insert, because it's not, but overall I really wanted to make her Hispanic for the sole purpose of her cussing people out in our native language. I know my language, I know my culture, and I like putting in references of what I see and hear in my day to day life with my family. Overall, the story I had planned I mostly centered around them.

After Usagi's master died, he was told to deliver an artifact and scrolls to a member of a "dead clan" out of respect because as it turned out, Mifune's clan was once allies with this other clan. The last place anyone remembers last seeing this last clan member moved to Hollywood, California. To fulfill his Lord Mifune's last wish, he leaves his country in Japan to go find this dead clan. The problem is that Usagi has only ever known about being a Samurai and nothing else, considering this is what he was raised to be. He doesn’t know how to function in a busy city or with other strangers. And he especially doesn't know about scammers.

This is when he first meets Mona Lisa. Usagi has just arrived in California, and the Yokais there immediately sniffed out the foreigner. Trying to get him to spend all his money at their store or over price his food, saying it's "authentic" only to be saved by the Salamander who puts the others in their place. After hearing that Usagi has never left his village before and that he needed to find a human with what minimal information he had, Mona saw that this guy was gonna be in serious trouble and become flat out broke in the next two days if she didn't help him.

That's all she was planning on doing, help him find the human and teach him how to survive properly in this new place. One thing led to another, and they find out that the human they're looking for is an action star actor who was last seen at the Battle nexus over a decade ago.

After both realizing that Usagi had to travel to the other side of the world in order to find him, Mona begrudgingly tells him that she's a bounty hunter for the Yokai police and that she travels everywhere to find who she needs to find and offered let him travel with her for a while up until there's a moment where they need to part ways.

But that didn't happen.

After sticking by eachothers side and going through all these adventures/near death experiences, they've basically adopted each other as siblings and Mona has promised him that she will get him to New York no matter what.

Unfortunately, through their travels, someone has been following them and has even placed a price on Usagi's head. With Mona being a Bounty Hunter, this person offered her a large sum of money in exchange for her travel partner. She refused and tried to get away as far as possible, not telling Usagi about her interactions with this strange Yokai.

The relationship that Mona and Usagi have is heavily based off of my own protective relationship with my little brothers. Including all the jokes and teasing and buying them ice-cream as a treat for being good.

I've seen a lot of duos and team ups of Usagi and Mona Lisa with other tmnt characters, but I've never seen anyone do one with them together (Understandable considering they've never met in anywhere, I think)

Please let me clarify that THIS IS NOT A SHIP. They have a sibling relationship in my AU, and I do hope you respect that.

I also want to clarify that this is NOT Yuichi Usagi, this is Miyamoto Usagi

Thank you for listening to my rant

[cattype]

I wanted to make a comic for International Asexual Day but I thought it was the 16 and not the 6th. orz

There's some stories that I keep meaning to make into comics for Ace Week or Pride Month but I keep putting it off or chickening out. They're stories that involve a lot of cringe and a lot of misunderstanding so they're hard to talk about. I practice retelling them to myself to better understand them and find the easiest way to tell them but the scars still run deep.

So for now, I just wanna share some of the morals of my stories without the stories.

-If you're struggling to find a "missing part of you" then maybe that part wasn't meant to be there in the first place.

-Some people are just preconditioned to interpret things as sexual or romantic even when you explain why they aren't.

-Don't take advice on your sexuality from people who don't think your sexuality exists.

-Just because you've finally convinced someone that you're not straight, doesn't mean they've totally grasped the concept of asexuality. Some things take time to sink in.

-There are people who might react badly to your sexuality. Often it's uncomfortable, in some cases it might be violent. But just because something MIGHT happen doesn't mean it WILL happen. You can't base the way you live your life on a maybe. You don't need to be scared.

-If someone doesn't believe asexuality exists or thinks they can "fix" you, then that's THEIR character flaw, not YOUR problem. You have a right to exist and be yourself.

-We're lucky enough to be living in a time when asexuality is becoming more accepted and better known. Things could be better but they're still getting better. Hell! Do you have any idea how lucky you are just to be reading posts like this? I'm talking to YOU tweenager who's just figuring themself out!!

Bonus: This is purely my personal experience so I can't guarantee you'll have the same luck as me. Almost all the times I've come out to someone I've known IRL it's been awful but with one exception all the times I've talked about my asexuality online have been positive. Not only that but apparently half the people I've known online have been asexual. Maybe it's because everyone I've met IRL I've only met through happenstance i.e. I only knew them because we were in the same class. The asexual internet friends are a little harder to explain but it might just because younger people are more open to more options. It's not just "gay or straight" any more. Kids can go online and say "oh, asexuality is a thing? I think I might be asexual" (Again, you kids have NO idea how lucky you are! I only had an alternative lifestyles story on 20/20 that I saw one time as a kid that I mostly forgot about!)

Now treat yourself to some cake.

[yuwumeniji]

Luxiem & Pokemon

WARNING: Please remember that I am writing about Luxiem based on their characters online and not of the people behind their vtuber avatars, thank you!

EXTRA NOTES: bruhh pokemon came out now i'm going to NOT post any more things because i'll be busy playing /hj..... pray for whatever drafts i have.....

SETTING THE STAGE

i'm not factoring in the pokemon teams/playstyle they've displayed on stream (assuming all members have played a pokemon game live), just vibes lmao

this is just silly and to make up for the fact i'll probably forget to post something this week because i was playing the newer pokemon game LMAO

the signature pokemon and the team types are two totally different things - team types are just a general thing whereas the signature pokemon is like the pikachu to his ash lmao

MORE UNDER THE CUT!

              ⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧ ─────┈⊰᯽⊱

IKE EVELAND

a trainer with a team filled with whimsical and cute water/fairy type pokemon, but don't be fooled by his soft exterior as something darker lies within. he hails from the aquatic region of Hoenn

by darker i mean i'm trying to make an eki reference while still keeping up with the pokemon theme ok

his partner pokemon, surprisingly enough, is a Mimikyu - with the cuteness of the fairy type and the darkness of well... a dark type pokemon, ike seems to vibe pretty well with the little fellow

the kind of trainer who seeks beauty within his region - he wants to document all the kinds of pokemon and study as a researcher

LUCA KANESHIRO

a wild card who isn't restricted to pokemon types, but very well known to be a friendly fellow who wants to befriend all kinds of people and pokemon. a sunny fellow from the island region of Alola

ok if we were to boil it down to two types... maybe dragon and steel

his signature pokemon is a Pyroar - strong, elegant and well... a lion. what more must i say?

either way, he hails from a long line of champions and he wishes to also claim the champion title for himself, however, he found himself having more fun battling without any regard to the champion title and befriending everyone he has met. he decided that befriending everyone and every pokemon in the world was more important to him than the champion title

MYSTA RIAS

a quirky detective whose team is filled with electric types and fighting types. he hails from Sinnoh, but is often seen region-jumping due to the nature of his job

electrifying on the battlefield and full of punch, mysta is often the target of regional bad guys due to his sleuthing nature, thankfully his quick-witted team is there to help.

he's very affectionate towards his Nickit - with that said, more often than not it appears as if the little fox pokemon is seen teasing the poor detective over most mundane situations

mysta dreams of a unified world and is on a journey to snuff out evil organizations each region faces.

SHU YAMINO

a trainer of the mystic arts... and of psychic/ghost pokemon. he's a guardian of a shrine residing in the Johto region

shu's signature pokemon is surprisingly enough, a Zoroark - both are mysterious and often behind some sort of illusion.

shu's been in and out of the psychic world for as long as he remembers and is often the target of malevolent souls of those with strong hatred, thankfully with the help of his pokemon, he has avoided trouble with such whisps.

as mentioned, shu is the guardian of a shrine somewhere in johto; he uses his skills as a pokemon trainer in order to protect said shrine - but he does often go out on field days to become even stronger as a guardian.

VOX AKUMA

a popular restaurant owner from the Unova region who has a passion for the culinary arts and for pokemon who are polar opposites - grass and fire.

he's got a Simisage by his side - with the help of his signature pokemon, vox is able to both harvest newly grown vegetables and cook at his restaurant!

he and his pokemon team are often seen running around a kitchen and restaurant floor in the Unova region, he's most popular for his home-style cooking and a lively restaurant.

he dreams of making his restaurant a big name in Castelia city and a dream he'll soon reach with the help of his pokemon team and loyal customers!

[spectrum-studios]

Tales of Torment au update logs!

If you don't want spoilers to the base game, then I recommend you go play the game!

Anyways all logs will be in order of their post! Past the read more line!

Log 1

Also the au name is Divine Torment/ Tales of Torment.

So it starts off like any normal story, but instead of the player [in this au they are addressed as Vona] (or however you wish to address them) being normal, they were cursed by what seemed to be angels, but they weren't later discovered by Cruel King who accompanies them as they share a very similar goal. they weild a white sword that's shackled to the dominant fighting arm! (Yes, it does hurt Vona/player if they let the blade go at all) and the only "assumed way to break the chains" is to aquire all the swords so they can be a regular mortal again and just recover. Vona/player does expirence episodes of torment from the curse.

And that's what I have for the time being

Have a great day/night!

Log 2

We got some updates to Tales of Torment au! Especially the one responsible for the divine curse!

But it's mainly character relationships for this one!

For a start, Cruel King and Vona/ player are allies with a shared goal also because Vona/player snapped CK out of the Ice dagger's hold and he wants to repay the kindess also because Vona, didn't kill a single knight.

Noobabor, Blue, and Red are friends after their second encounter on thy train. (They actually met when the 3 were on a mission to um oof someone but called it off after having a brief talk)

(I struggle with his name, correct me please if i spelled it wrong) Shelenski has been friends with Vona/player for some years way before the events of Block Tales. His goal is to break the divine curse!

Griefer is an uneasy ally... he kinda wittness the horrors of what Vona's Curse does and just immediately assumed the Venom Shank did the same.

Log 3

Tales of Torment au update time!!!!

First off, we have Divine rivalry. Aka Karen's yelling and even kicking each other's butt's. And we all have a new enemy opponent type known as Divine Champions! Aka people who succumb to the Divine curse and are lost under the Divine's influence (or propaganda).

The first one, Vona/player and CK fight, actually comes from the Blackrock calvary!

It also introduces a new attack pattern for both sides! It acts like the slingshots in base game, but the number of hits can vary in a big range of numbers. (Ex. 20 hits or 10 hits!) And theoretically, you can attack infinitely with this attack pattern if you had the energy!

Also, if you are curious, all battle areas/arenas for Divine Champions are like a crumbling version of the place they came from!

Heres a translation for different mechanics atm: Ticks! = health points!

Now, to plot stuff! Shelenski almost dies again but is saved in the nick of time! And Vona/player now has the first out of many cursed swords and an ally! And both CK and Vona/player got sent to the hospital after beating a Divine Champion, CK literally got impaled by a spear, and there are no plans for him to die, so don't worry! We also had the first possession episode for Vona/player in the story.

And finally, some very basic stats:

Vona/player has extremely high stats as they've won battles over the span of 5 years, but they don't have the ability to equip battle cards except for call cards. (self explanatory as allies tend to stick by them) most attacks they preform deal HEAVY amounts of damage which ends up one shotting most enemies anything at a boss level or mini boss will take 2 to 5 hits.

Cruel King was freed from his ice dagger curse and has gotten a very fast mental recovery! He deals the same amounts of damage like base game, but his health is beefer thanks to him wearing his old adventurer armor. He does now knows the new attack pattern and is slowly getting used to it! (He originally thought it was cheating because he's never even seen anything like it, lol)

--_--_--_--_--_--

And that's all for now! Have a great day or night!

[yourworsttotebag]

I want to hear everything about this arranged marriage AU!!

The first time I tried to figure out how Evie would interact with all the companions I thought: oh, if she and Wyll are both nobility from Baldur's Gate and almost the same age - wouldn't they have probably met before? Wouldn't they have spent some time at fancy balls trying to size each other up? Maybe even flirting before both being like, "Oof, actually no fucking way." And then since they're both nobility my mind immediately went to some abstract cloud that said "arranged marriage" on it and basically, I think they'd both kind of hate it at first.

Now a lot of this is vibes based. Like - a lot, a lot. Why do they have to get married? Um, I don't know - I imagine Duke Ravengard needs...something. Why did I write Orin pretending to be Wyll? So she would mess with Evie and make her think Wyll wanted to be intimate with her, a thing I needed someone to do. Why is Orin messing with them like this? Um...I have no idea, someone had to.

But! I wanted to write some of these scenes out so I wouldn't lose them and then I wrote sort of a lot of them.

Wyll and Evie would probably both take this arrangement sort of hard and getting them on friendly terms would be a tough putt. Evie is well known in their circle as a Mean Girl and Wyll, who had probably dreamt a lot about true love, is suddenly married to a woman he barely knows and who doesn't seem to really like him. The early days would be a lot of Wyll tentatively reaching out and getting cold, short answers. When Wyll tries to talk to Evie before the wedding she's like, "Phew, yeah, it's pretty wild. Anyway, see you at the ceremony, I got stuff to do."

We all agree Wyll is a stand up, kind hearted dude but I think there's potential for him to also kind of screw up the early days of their relationship. Not being horrible or mean to Evie, but perhaps saying some things he doesn't quite realize are unkind. And it makes sense that he wouldn't be perfect! His whole idea of love and romance is all out of whack now, he's upset. It's not even close to what he expected and the difference is disorienting.

And I think Evie could be pretty hurt by his reaction! She knows Wyll isn't happy either and how would you feel is your spouse saw your marriage as a break down of their entire world view and you as a villain? Evie also wants someone to love and care for her, not someone who feels like they've been trapped with her. Part of Evie's cold shoulder is her just being herself and part of it is trying to shut down all these big feelings she's struggling with.

I think they'd need a kind of blow up argument about it before they could acknowledge being a little careless with each other's feelings and deciding to see if they can be friends. And over time you open up all these tasty little tropes like forced proximity, sharing a bed, trembling touches of hands, falling in love after getting married, yada, yada, yada, lots of vibes and vapor waves here. Wyll becoming a warlock question mark, question mark?

[God bless Ed Greenwood for this tidbit about half elves passing a token of their affection from their mouth INTO their new spouse's mouth AT the ceremony. I got a few hundred words out of that one.]

Can I put a read more under a read more because I need space for the "Problems" section lmao.

Problem #1) I don't really know what fancy people in a fantasy world do all day. Like Wyll and Evie start to become friendly while doing....what? How many balls can they reasonably attend? Part of Evie's problem before adventuring is that she's so bored with her life and I don't want the audience to be bored reading about her being bored. But like, the "becoming friends" section is vital so you believe it when they become attracted to each other.

Problem #2) The other characters from the game wouldn't be there! Would I have to create a whole pantheon of characters for Wyll and Evie to hang out with so every scene isn't just them talking at each other? That doesn't sound fun. Could I include their families enough that it FEELS like there's a big world around them? I guess Astarion and Shadowheart live in Baldur's Gate but could they appear in a way that doesn't feel like an episode of Frasier where Ted Danson shows up? (Frasier hive rise up)

Problem #3) I was picturing Evie and Wyll at their in-game ages, mid 20s, instead of the age Wyll was banished which I believe is 17. I thought the marital relationship between two ~18 year olds would be way different than two ~25 year olds and bringing sex into it made it feel really weird for them to be so young. Does Wyll's character get altered too much if he's in Baldur's Gate for another few years? What does it mean that he's not the Blade of Frontiers yet?

Idk, man. This is all the reason that drafts exist in the first place and also why I don't know if I could actually complete this. But it's fun to try. Maybe I'll think of something shorter and more fun soon.

[homocidal-spider]

Okay so I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and honestly been kinda debating things the past couple of years and I've been starting to wonder if I'm somewhere on the aro or possibly even ace spectrum and I need some opinions from people who are and are not arospec and/or acespec to tell me if any of this sounds similar to your own experiences because no matter how much I debate this I can NOT figure out if I truly am or not and I don't want to use the label if I don't feel sure because then it feels like im lying

So uh, if you have time, please read my thoughts and explanations and tell me what you think, fellow queer people. I need thoughts and opinions (I'm 19 transmasc, very possibly have autism, and currently identify as bi if that affects any of your opinions here)

When it comes to romantic attraction, I've dated several people throughout my life. In fact I've rarely ever been single at any point throughout my life since the first grade. And yes I do mean that, even if you don't count elementary school or middle school relationships I was in relationships throughout elementary and middle school back to back almost (admittedly, even to the point of cheating on some of my partners in middle school out of feeling a need for a "backup" if my current relationship fell through). Right now is the longest I have been single throughout my life (5-6 months). I've always been the "boy crazy" friend (although openly bisexual since 6th so girl crazy too).

This is all to say, I've always been in a relationship and I've always felt like I need to be in a relationship. Any time I have been single I have been eager to hop into a relationship asap and give it another try. Whenever I've dealt with abusive relationships I've been quick to get over them as I never feared losing those people in my life and really have only ever struggled with losing the people I actually still enjoyed having in my life at that point in time. I've always felt like I need to be in a relationship or else I am going to die alone, romantic relationships have always felt more safe than platonic as a romantic relationship can potentially lead to marriage and staying together until death.

But they more I think about it, I've been wondering if I've ever really been romantically attracted to someone, what I've experienced has been romance to me because that's what I've known it as but what if what I've been feeling hasn't really been romantic attraction but instead really strong platonic attraction. It's made me start to think maybe if I didn't feel the pressure to be in a relationship, I wouldn't desire one.

Also, throughout my life, I've always felt like I've "picked" my crushes rather than them kinda just appearing out of nowhere. It's always been something I've felt bad about but something I've always been very analytical about. Several times throughout my life I have dated people for reasons (aside from just enjoying their company and caring about them) because I "think a relationship with them would work out well and last for a long time" or "I would like this person to remain in my life for as long as possible" or "the way I met this person would be a good story to tell people in the future" or sometimes just simply "this person has romantic feelings for me and finds me attractive". Which makes me wonder if I really truly do feel actual romantic love.

I've also always kind of felt weird when I saw or listened to people talk about their celebrity crushes as I have never had a crush on a celebrity, I've found a few attractive of course but I've never actually found myself crushing over a celebrity. With fictional crushes, I've also always felt weird as until very recently I never really experienced fictional crushes, and they've never been based on a character's appearance or seductiveness but rather their personality and their likablity. It's also (until very very recently) been very mellow to where it's like "yeah if this character were real and stuff I think I would be happy in a relationship with them" (the exception to this is Vivia Twilight from Rain Code he awoke something feral in my brain I wish I could kiss that man and cuddle him)

When it comes to sexuality it's a bit more of a complicated subject that would require me to delve into some more NSFW (in an informative way) topics that I don't exactly want to share with minors so I will include that part of the post in a google doc so I can explain things so I can get a proper perspective without any minors having to read all that.

Google doc explaining why I may or may not be asexual (MINORS DO NOT CLICK)

Another thing is, and this might be the stupidest reason for questioning whether I'm allo or aro/ace, I have a lot (most of my closest in fact) friends who are somewhere one the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum. Well, people tend to flock together subconsciously when they have those sorts of things in common even before they know it. It's definitely a fact that's contributed to my doubt.

With all of that out of the way, I would like to hear your thoughts and perhaps for you to share this with your aromantic or asexual mutuals so I can get as much of a perspective as possible on if any aro and/or ace people feel the same or if any allo people feel this way too and im overthinking things.

[knarme-art]

Talioang'ri villagers have stereotypes about stuff...

(Just wrote a little thing about common things Kxayltirey na'vi from the Talioang'ri village in the outskirts of the tribe's lands might say or believe about other parts of Kxayl society. Their perceptions vary based on how they view the Centre Plateau cultural hegemony, their age, how much contact they've had with people outside of their own village etc.)

Think of your own country or region!

Different regions will have their own situations going on, and their own stereotypes about each other. Many stereotypes are just over-generalizations over a few people someone met or just legends / rumours etc. but are common things people may joke about. In Finland two halves of my heritage, Savonians and Ostrobothnians, got their own stereotypes too and I figured I wanted to emulate that.

Savonians are known as talkative but having very riddles-packed, implicit and indirect way to word things. We are called twisted corckscrew people whose expression has so many layers of irony and playing shit for a joke in it that our real feelings are veeery hard to find out. ;)

Ostrobothnians are known for being.... Braggy about our achievements and liking to show off, and for being prone to knife fights lol. Also for being very spiritual and tbh there are two kinds of spirituality to us, some stuff that seems more like recycled animistic faith recycled through Christianity and that'll make you very compassionate to living beings, OR horrific bigoted authoritarian Christianity I see people get major religious trauma from... (I was lucky that this wasn't the case with my family, - but it was my Ostrobothnian mother that influenced my spirituality in a way that was non-judgemental and compassionate.)

See how interesting little detail like this is in real life? I want to feel deeply how my Kxayltirey people would feel about themselves and each other, what a chat with some drinks with a Plateau direhorseman would be like, what discussing society with him might be like... How I'd see his life approach and little gestures etc. of the unspoken. How he goes about his daily life, why I might love him and his family a lot. etc.

So I love to dig deep into this kinda part, drawing from real life social dynamics and experiences.

For my fanclan, I think it's fun to explore the variety of perspectives my characters will have themselves, and hear from others around them depending on who you're asking.

A Central Plateau direhorseman, Outskirts Direhorseman, Outskirts-dweller moving into the Txe'lan'mo city of the centre plateau, a family from the outskirts insecure about their status in Txe'lan'mo, remaining Ikran people of the distant mountain villages, Talioang'ri villagers with their mixed cultural heritage between Gorge Foresters and Plateau people (Kxasi), elderly Talioang'ri villagers, Talioang'ri youth, higher class Txe'lan'mo citizen, the Tsahik's close cultish follower groups, the traveling Trader Class....

...All formerly mentioned are possible Kxayltirey people you might meet while visiting their area.

All of them will have very varied perspectives and understandings of who themselves and other people are.

Talioang'ri is a village in the partially forested Lower Plateau, where Kxasi is from. Their cultural heritage is very visibly an admixture of Gorge Forester and Plateau cultures, making them kinda oddballs deep into the upper plateau villages.

Here are some stereotypes they often have about other regions or themselves...

- Gorge Foresters - unknown and taboo, confusion about who exactly are they anyways. Old spoken knowledge says many Talioang'ri have Gorge Forest ancestry. Some believe it, some think it's a joke. The hairstyles originating from Gorge Forest culture among Talioang'ri villagers are considered either beloved heritage or out-of-fashion and "not stylish" depending on who's talking. Many youth in Talioang'ri choose Plateau style hairstyles instead, especially when moving there. Long dreads from the whole head type of styles are most common in older folk, and young folk keeping them are considered either eccentric, rebellious or old-fashioned depending on who you ask.

On the Plateau Talioang'ri mixed ancestry is considered simply common knowledge, but many Talioang'ri folk deny it out of shame since they too want to feel like proud Kxayl and not be associated with negative Gorge Forester stereotypes. So Talioang'ri folk moving to the Plateau often get backhanded remarks about "having to unlearn those Gorge Forest ways" or have stereotypes assumed about them, like being "simple" or prone to fighting, which is quite humiliating to deal with.

- Talioang'ri villagers may either admire or resent Plateau folk. Many consider the direhorseman and craftsman classes of the Plateau their comrades, and often join their culture themselves. More prejudiced villagers, especially older folk, resent all Plateau folk for being "hegemonious" culturally (everyone wants to be them now) and how the Plateau ruling class drains the ecosystems of the Outskirts regions (including Talioang'ri)  and pushes Outskirts youth to move to the Centre, leaving many small villages dying out. Many Talioang'ri youth feel that their region is a dying backwater, and just want to go to the centre where most resources from the whole Kxayl region are taken...

- Some Talioang'ri villagers don't understand what's the difference between regular plateau folk and their ruling classes, or assume they're all basically one type of way. Some villagers who have visited the Txe'lan'mo city say that there is an obvious class difference going on in there and that the ruling class folk are oddly condescending and stuck-up, but the regular people are quite good comrades when you work with them and get to know them. Some of them will be prejudiced and insecure, though, and feel the need to put others down for being "new in the city".

- Many in Talioang'ri have never heard of the Ikran culture of the Floating Mountains, due to the systemic erasure of that identity by the plateau ruling class, and because the persevering ikra'vi villages are very far, far up and away from the centre hubs of Kxayl society.  Some older folk know about them and talk about them sometimes, but almost no one is interested or curious about that. Most Kxayl anywhere simply don't get educated on this topic ever because it's somewhat hidden information.

- Talioang'ri view of themselves, when positive, takes great pride in their innovations as crafters and hunters in the varied Lower Plateau terrain, where you find a mosaic of both forested and open plains biomes. Kxasi is an example of someone really proud of where he comes from. Some others just feel shame to be from "some dying backwater".

[castlebyersafterdark]

showmances are fun to think about but this imo would feel diff than a typical showmance if it happened only cause they’ve known each other almost their entire lives at this point???? they grew up together? that’s either a recipe for something legit and strong and real or it’s a recipe for oh ew no he’s like my brother???? lmao who knows. but if would def be diff. most showmances are ppl thrown together who kinda have this romance based on circumstance and proximity and they often end quickly when filming ends too or they hold on for a while and then fizzle out because it wasn’t based on anything too solid. ofc there are always exceptions and some showmances stand the test of time, some costars end up together forever, married etc, but most don’t. but i can’t think of any that would fit the foah mold lol. ofc the disclaimer this is probably not gonna happen outside of our delulu minds but it’s a fun fantasy! it’s very romantic

Ahhh I tend to call anything going on between actors while on set or when they met on set as a showmance, maybe that's a me thing and not a common terminology thing. Maybe it has connotations of reality tv? But it's so different for them, yeah. It's not some one off movie where they meet and maybe click. They've known each other since they were 10/12. Childhood friends. Like family at this point. Not all the cast is close in equal ways with each other, which is where it's fun speculating because we all see that the friendships are not all the same. N/F definitely have an aura about them. It's just as likely as not likely and I'm unbothered every way, but it's the romance of it all that really appeals. It is very romantic to think about both the characters in the show growing up together, best friends who fall in love and get together. I think that's the reason some people like the idea of Noah and Finn - because it mirrors the characters with enough difference to be really interesting if true. I don't think I'd have as much stock in any of this with the actors if Noah didn't say "I guess I'm more like Will than I thought" and all his chat about how he relates so much to the character. Honestly, that fuels about 75% of my speculation and fun little idea of them as a irl couple. It's all lighthearted!!

[brick-a-doodle-do]

I HAVE QUESTIONS FOR THE MER AU

Okay okay okay

So tell me. How do Mers communicate in this? We got human speech and mix of chirps and clicks or how we going?

In relation to this question can they speak under water or os it the clicks?

Mer types: we talking standard mer shape and different colours or are mers sizes and stuff based on seas creatures? Eg. Whale mer= big and salmon mer= small etc etc.

Mer aging: they age like normal people or do mer pups progress faster? GIVE ME AN IDEA!

And and and ages for our characters! What are they?

What’s Wilbur’s intentions for asking the questions and stuff? I’d he studying for school or personal reasons?

Is Wilbur alone or does he have a family that he’s been kidnapped from?

Annnnnnnd what are they gonna do with him in the deep? I NEED MORE OF A HINT BRICK!!!

Okay so as you can see I really like met fics so I hope these questions aren’t too much. Thank you for answering!!!!🍭🍭🍭🍭

I HAVE ANSWERS!!!!!

clicks, whistles, trills ,, all that fun stuff is definitely a default. it's a known way of communication, but sometimes if things are more chill and relaxed they'll use the languages that they've learned from nearby humans, and if it's more formal, or if they're in a rush, or some other scenarios they'll trill 'n click. so it's a mix of both of them!

they can speak underwater, but they have to have the technology to do so. i'm thinking of some kind of mask-like thing that lets them have the air to talk. which is used very sparingly cause yk the air is kind of limited fdbfjsc ,,, so they basically have snorkels if they really wanna talk.

mmm well there is the standard mer shape with just a normal mermaid tail, which is what tommy has, and what some of the other ones do, but say techno would have that and a mix of other tenticles and super sharp pieces that are kind of like a leviathan or some kind of sea monster. so i don't really have a good answer for this eueueu,,, i kinda want it to be like a fingerprint how every one is different and unique but that technically wouldn't make sense.....unless i just roll with 'it's just a magical world' 😔 tldr: it's not sea creature based but there are some features of them. also tbd.

i'd say like normal people! they go through juvenile states a little bit quicker but it's pretty similar. also mer's have long lifespans in this!

tommy would be like 16, which technically in mer years would be around 19-20 so the human againg to mer aging ratio isn't too drastic ,, wilbur is 23, phil is an ungodly age (/j, he's like 100-110), and techno is a little older than phil.

wilbur's intentions are more personal than anything, cause he really just has an interest in mermaids! funky guy :3 also he doesn't really do anything with his studies, but he would like to put his knowledge somewhere, although he doesn't want to reveal the species' lifestyle to preserve their privacy ,,

wilbur lives alone in the beachhouse, which is off of a relatively small town. he'd dropped out of high school, then never bothered with anything else. he occasionally meets with high school friends (i'm thinking jack and niki, maybe dream/dteam ? his family lives off in a big city pretty far away but they have not abandoned him!

I DON'T KNOW ! what will they do? :3 i will say that he eventually gets a makeshift tail made out of cloth, crab shells, normal shells, and other trinkets tho ,, so it's long-term. or maybe it's wilbur's choice. who knows! :3 (i'm saying this because i have no idea /hj)

thank you for the questions becky !!!!!!!!!!! mer aus are so fun. i love drawing tails because it lets me not draw legs :DDDD

[isekyaaa]

Kinda like the junk thing about stories about yandere and other characters that are generally charismatic but insane is that like... the stories usually go the same way. It's either that the other character are clueless or that the mc is hyperaware and tries avoiding them from the very start. But I mean I suppose that's how it's supoosed to go with horror/dark romance.

I kinda just want to read a story where the mc has an insanely high eq, but low sense of danger. They can tell there's something off about this dude. The mc has never met a serial killer before, but this charismatic dude everyone likes gives off massive serial killer vibes. But at the same time, the city they live is otherwise rather peaceful. There's nothing really happening at the uni in which they attend. So while they're receiving these vibes, they have nothing to base it off of.

While they don't seek this guy out, they don't avoid him either. He randomly got pulled into their friend group, so the mc sees him often enough. They don't act on guard, but they don't act overly friendly either. Honestly they don't even tip off the yandere's warning signals at all. They're practically an NPC in his life. He could really care less about them.

That is until he begins noticing little things here and there. The girl that had been ruthlessly pursuing him oddly gave up on him out of the blue. The classmate that'd consistently butter him up to copy off of his homework started bothering other people instead. Before he even realized it, people started treating him like a human being instead of putting him on a pedestal. He was losing his control over the group and he had no clue why.

It takes longer than he'd like to admit, but eventually he zeroes in on the mc. The mc is the only outlier in this equation. They're the only one that didn't become obsessed with him, either in infatuation or hate. Really, he should've realized it earlier. You were known as the older sibling of the group, after all. Everyone came to you when they needed to vent. And at the same time, you never treated him as something more. You never obsessed over him, not in infatuation and not in hate. Really, if anything, when you two were in the same room, you treated him as nothing more than an NP–

Hmm...

And then the obsession begins to start, on his part at least. For the first time, he begins to interact with the mc. He begins to pay attention to them. He begins to see them. And he is hooked. And the mc doesn't disappoint. With enough eq for days, they evade him with ease. They slip between his claws. They practically dance circles around him. And it only makes him want to capture them. To confine them. To swallow them whole. And the mc isnt an idiot. They know what he's doing as much as he knows what they're doing. They're not afraid either. They know the yandere. They know how low he's willing to go to get what he wants. They know him.

After going about it a bit, the yandere becomes shocked at the amount of control the mc has over this game of theirs. Because they know him so well, they've set the rules, the allowances, the limits. They did it without even trying. Even when he tries to catch them by surprise, the mc's handles it in stride. Even when he tries to play dirty, the mc doesn't bat an eye. The mc knows him. They know him so very well. He cant win this game no matter how hard he tries.

So he realizes he needs to change tactics.

He'll learn the mc so well he can exploit them as masterfully as they do him.

And the game continues.

[nerdby]

The Loki season two trailer dropped today. Judging from the trailer, the series seems to be leaning more into the series' horror elements. I'm basing that largely on the soundtrack because I have not met a single person that isn't creeped the fuck out by theremin music, myself included. That being said this is definitely your typical horror story. It falls into the social horror genre, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite subgenres.

Social horror is a newly emerging genre of horror that examines all of the fucked shit that we as a society allow to take place simply because the mainstream says that it's ok.

In the case of the Loki series that is allowing one person to take the fall for crimes that he didn't even do and also hunting down and murdering someone simply cause they're transgender. And I know that not everyone headcannons Sylvie as trans and for those of you who don't, I have a question for you:

If Sylvie isn't trans and was simply born female, then why didn't the TVA come for her as an infant? Why would they wait until she was a child capable of complex magic and, ya know, running away?

Just a little something to think about.

It does seem as though Sylvie's story is taking the back burner in season two. Or that's how it seems in this trailer. She didn't exactly turn out to be a fan favorite among stalkerish Hiddlestoners who can't stand to see Tom have a love life even if it's an imaginary one. Or among biphobic assholes who insist that being a straight-passing relationship negates a bisexual's queerness. So it would make sense if Sylvie got less screen time, but she was also a huge part of the season one story arc.

I, personally, thought it was nice that Loki had someone who didn't exist simply to remind him of what a terrible person he was simply for existing. But it's like I said their kiss didn't really eek me out as much as it did other people cause I guess I'm desensitized. Desensitization is what happens when you watch A LOT of horror movies over a long period of time. Or when you just live through so much fucked up shit that you just stop caring.

I do have a line, though, and I don't go out of my way to read about incest and shit like that. Like there's this book called All The Ugly & Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood that I absolutely refuse to read because the plot is basically that this girl's life is so fucked up that the only good thing she has is an incestous relationship with her brother or someone. That's just fucking torture porn, ok? It's disgusting. But the whole incest/self-cest trope also plays into the social horror thing cause that happens quite often in horror stories.

Cause usually when characters end up in a consensual incestous relationship it's because they've bonded over shared trauma and are kept so isolated both socially and psychically.....That I guess it starts to feel like it's impossible for someone other than this sibling or whoever to love and understand them.

It's not meant to be sexy or funny. It's meant to be tragic. And like you think you might be some desensitizing yourself I highly recommend--

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino

Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews

Bates Motel tv series

Vampire Knight also exists as an anime, but I don't think the complete series was ever put to film. So if you wanna know how it ends then you need to read the manga. Flowers In The Attic is also a movie and you definitely want the 1987 version if you decide to watch it. Here's the trailer--

The movie is (or was) available to stream for free on Tubi.

And Bates Motel is a TV series that depicts a prequel to Robert Bloch's classic horror novel Psycho. The novel was adapted as a movie by Alfred Hitchcock whose well-known for putting horror movies on the map with his film, The Birds. Bates Motel stars Freddie Highmore and my favorite scream queen, Vera Farmiga who you may know from the Conjuringverse movies that depict the work of famed paranormal investigators (and con-artists) Ed and Lorraine Warren. Here's the trailer for that, too--

If you guys think some of these are too much for you to handle or that they're too triggering, I recommend looking up reaction videos and embracing schadenfreude because I can promise you if the person watching is a first time viewer.......Well, the first time I watched Bates Motel I was pretty much making this face the entire time--

So yeah.