#also i kinda lied about not being able to recognize any of them because i can spot rm in a heartbeat

[theheightofdishonor]

my wife's trying to teach me what all the bts boys look like but i'm literally face blind and they all look the same to me 😭😭

[lurkingshan]

Things That Have My Attention in 4 Minutes Episode 4

Congrats to the Dome is Tonkla's brother truthers!

Let's talk timelines again. I still think we're working with two timelines, but I no longer think they're cleanly separated. Because if they were, you could not have some of these things happening concurrently. If we only had an Original timeline and a Redo timeline, then everything Great changes should be part of the Redo timeline. But in this episode Great saved Nan in the same timeline where Dome was dead, which we know because Great got Nan's location by getting Korn trashed after Korn fought with Tonkla over his abandonment in the aftermath of Dome's death. These things are all connected, so we can't cleanly sort events into one timeline or the other.

Which means it's most likely that the two timelines are bleeding together, making things unstable. This would explain Great's experience of overlapping moments last week, and Tonkla seeing Dome briefly before things went all weird and he disappeared at the end of today's episode.

By the way, it turns out those cold opens are not of the future--Tonkla has already done the murder in the same timeline where he's messing around with the cop. ETA: @my-rose-tinted-glasses pointed out that this is not necessarily true if the scene of Win getting the fingerprints and the phone call is also in the future. So back to square one on that!

Speaking of, what is up with Win? He is fully engaging in an affair with a murder suspect and doesn't seem to be investigating Tonkla at all. And I cannot let this pass without comment: why on earth did Win not put his pants back on during the long scene of him listening to Tonkla and Korn?! Was this really an appropriate situation to Winnie the Pooh it???

The flashback to Tonkla and Korn's beginning gave good context for why Tonkla thought he might be able to have more with Korn. I appreciated the details there: Korn was giving him money before they even had sex the first time and was lying to him about his intentions from the start, while Tonkla had zero experience when they met and didn't know how to recognize the signs of Korn's lies. Korn basically groomed this kid to be his sidepiece and has strung him along for years.

Tonkla definitely feels like a tragic character heading for a bad end, though perhaps he will also be saved eventually by the timeline shifts. In the timeline where Dome is dead and he's fucking Win, Tonkla is being incredibly reckless. I couldn't believe he just moved a new man into the home Korn pays for, he's gonna get caught.

I was grateful the show did not actually go all the way with Korn assaulting Tonkla, but it was clear he would have if Tonkla had not managed to distract him.

I continue to find the emotional tenor of Great and Tyme's scenes kinda weird. I don't understand why Great is so willing to betray Korn to help Tyme after just meeting him, I don't understand why Tyme revealed his face only to run away and then accused Great of being in on the conspiracy after already confirming he's not, and I don't understand why they were acting all blushy and awkward in that sex scene rather than leaning into the adrenaline high for a more sultry tone. They have been on one (1) date so the emotional investment is not really tracking for me for two experienced adults, but I can't tell if I am supposed to find this all weird and confusing or just go with it. It feels like the show just wants me to accept the shortcuts and buy into them as a serious romance, so okay I guess!

Speaking of betraying Korn, Great's plan was abysmal. He steals the information from Korn's phone (so considerate of him to spell out his criminal conspiracy including names and locations in one convenient text chain), tells Tyme everything without any knowledge of what his brother did, then walks right into an active hostage situation in his designer whites and shows his face to all Korn's goons. Korn is gonna know you did this, bro! Do you care?

It seems that Nan has a friend who was killed in a similar fashion to Tyme's parents, though I'm still curious how they connected and came up with this plan.

I still got nothing on this Lukwa connection. Why are she and Great the only two experiencing this phenomenon, and why did they see each other in this liminal space?

Also noting that there were several sex scenes this episode and no condoms or lube anywhere. I guess this show only depicts safe and realistic sex when they have a sponsor paying them.

[dearweirdme]

What is Jimin's obsession with being all over Jungkook in very obviously fanservice-type ways? Especially when 9 times out of 10, Jungkook looks annoyed or disinterested in him. It comes off as super strange and almost inappropriate. I actually am shocked JK and Jimin are still friends, with the way things have gone down over the years. It may be cute and genuine to Jikookers, but I truly don't understand that take.

Their recent show was even weirder to me, because neither of them looked like they really deep down gave a crap about doing the show. So many of the interactions seemed really fake. Idk I can never tell how much control the company has over them.

And tbh, I'm surprised they keep resigning with them. especially JK and Tae. I feel like BTS's popularity is slowly going down anyways and that they could probably easily leave the company and go do whatever they want. Is it just for the money that they're staying? I feel like all of us fans are more upset by the company's mistreatment then they are. Considering they resign every time.

It comes across as either Jungkook has no or very little control over what he can say and do (hence him rarely publicly supporting Tae's work, doing cheesy and fake reality shows soon before enlistment, etc etc) OR he does have control and he just let's the company spout their bullshit and continue doing sketchy things. Which I wouldn't understand.

Like, I obviously know that Taekook can't just openly be in a relationship, but I just wonder how the company keeps getting away with the Jikook fanservice crap and the mistreatment. Especially if Tae or Jungkook made issue of it.

Hi anon!

Your ask has been sitting in my inbox for quite some time now, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to respond, because I was kinda done with the amount of toxicity I was seeing. And I think your ask contains a lot of that. However, I cannot let go of this particular part.

‘I feel like all of us fans are more upset by the company’s mistreatment then they are.’ I feel this leads you to a path of resenting them for not responding to their own trauma and difficulties the way you would like them to. It’s their battle, not yours. Just because you choose to fight for them, doesn’t mean you get to expect a certain outcome.

Getting out of a contract is extremely difficult. If that weren’t the case we would know of many a case where a group or an artist left. We know the abuse that takes place within Kpop. More and more signs of it come out every day. Idols don’t take that just for the money. They take it because the contracts they signed when they were kids (without proper advisors) holds them there. Resigning is different though, but also still complicated probably.

Contract conversations are difficult. I believe they have the power to not resign and get out, but I also recognize that even not resigning will come with difficulties.. especially when it comes to their group contract. You have to consider the possibility of Hybe owning the rights to BTS’s name and stuff surrounding that. That means they are able to use it even when members don’t resign. I think Hybe intents to keep them all. Not only are they all still very popular and profitable, it would not look good on Hybe to lose them. That gives them leverage, and perhaps they’ll be able to negotiate great deals (budget, freedom, etc). It will tell us a whole lot if some of them decide to not sign on because of that.

I don’t expect Tae to sign his individual contract with Hybe, but if he were to do so, I would still support him. I’d think he has a reason for doing so and I trust his judgement when it comes to his life.

Jk has no real power within Hybe. No idol does. Hybe will have no problem throwing any one of their idols under the bus if it suits them.

I always feel that it’s so important for us fans to realize that we basically know nothing. We have thoughts, we have theories, we see certain things go wrong or be off, but we don’t know what lies beyond those things. It’s important to talk about the things that are wrong, nothing will change if we ignore the bad parts. But personally I always keep in mind that my knowledge of things means absolutely nothing in comparison to that of Tae, Jk and the others themselves.

[nixontumbler]

hey guys! I’m going for another ramble about fnaf so it’s probably just gonna be me switching topics? This will mainly be a GGY/Patient 46 ramble or beliefs

Or just me trying to cover Gregory’s possible backstories

So you know how Gregory is patient 46. And he leads his therapists to the pizzaplex(as it says in GGY tales from the pizzaplex.) to kill them?

I was thinking about how would he even kill them? I mean he’s short. And a child. I’m not saying he’s weak but what would you do if you see a kid walking around with a knife. (Wouldn’t be the best  disguise after-all. Him being a kid just makes the disguise perfect.) Maybe he used Vanny’s method or something?

I’m talking about this scene right here. Where she says “dissemble freddy.” And as in the ending where Gregory dissembles Vanny, we know it can harm humans too. Plus, one of the four therapists mentions how one of Gregory’s councilors was found dead.

She mentioned that the body was messed up by machinery, as we see later on in that scene, Vanny gets torn apart by the janitor robots

Since he is a hacker AND a child, it kinda makes sense. I mean, being a child and stabbing a lady with a knife? She would probably have time to run away before i could even stab her again. Plus, in the book he uses an play pass that was hacked into a security pass or something. That’s how he was even able to get in to drag those therapists to their death.

Also, Tony mentions Freddy’s strange behavior in the book. I was thinking about how Freddy wasn’t affected by the virus. Maybe it’s because he was programmed to protect Gregory from any people who might be onto him?

There’s also the part of how Gregory broke out of control (Many people believe it’s the balloon boy game.)

I also thought about why the virus needs gregory anyways? Maybe it’s because he has a resemblance to C.C Afton. Hence the “Let me bring you back to your family” Chica quote?

Also, in the therapists tapes, one of the therapists mentions and inkblot test and gregory takes it. It talks about how it reminds him of a mask.

And the therapists mentions a disguise, and how he likes the idea of running around and being invisible. Which is true, no one would suspect a child murderer. (I was in denial when he was revealed as patient 46.)

There’s also the tape where another therapist mentions Gregory’s childhood. So we know he MIGHT be an orphan but, the therapist did mention him having a good childhood that Greg lied about.

There’s also the fact that he PROBABLY erased his parent records(got this part where Vanessa mentions him) And how (we know he has been to the pizzaplex before but Freddy doesn’t recognize Gregory in the guest list.)

And here’s Vanessa talking about the records

His backstory and background is interesting to me, is he an orphan? Or did that virus made him kill his parents? I find it weird.

There’s also the fact where in the story that “Rab” changed is, “GGY was the wizard’s favorite apprentice” It makes me wonder, did the virus get overprotective or something ☠️ and made him kill his parents?

where i found the line from (Tales from the Pizzaplex: The Boddiedots Conclusion Pg. 64)

It also mentions him having control over the animatronics too. (More proof of my fact of him using the animatronics instead of doing the killing himself.)

Then there’s also the part where Tony explains how “Rab” looked like a child. His shortness helped with that too(No fr he was twelve how short is he ☠️) Most of the girls thought he looked cute due to his appearance. (They mean he looks adorable)

Which this is something i find funny since apparently “Ggy” takes two year in the past before the whole Security breach? (Which makes him 14? SHORT☠️‼️) STILL NOT SURE IF THIS IS TRUE BTW..

And there’s also the fact that when Cassie gets killed by freddy, the way how she dies is getting shoved into his stomach hatch(LITERALLY HOW SHORT IS HE)

I also believe he doesn’t remember anything? He just has the natural instinct to run from Vanny/Vanessa. And he also struggles to remember his name.

Then there’s that instinct of not trusting Vanessa since he just knows something is up with her

Other then that, that’s basically all I have for today I would love to explain more but, i’m tired💪

But my main idea on who he us is that maybe the glitch trap virus saw C.C in him? And decided “This is my son now because im grieving my family. ☠️” And then made the boy orphaned and decided “mm yes my favorite disguise”

Have a good day yall😭

[lucystark12]

what am i doing to cope with the byler drought? reading richard siken and pointing out all of the byler coded things, of course!

this is mike in reference to fighting with will- hence “it isn’t over.” i’d imagine this being a thought of his after they fight next season about halfway in between still being mad at will and realizing why he cares that will lied about the painting.

“green yellow, green blue” could this be more on the nose? hello? this is how their both always going to be tired together, and the line “it’s green. it’s still green” is the poetry equivalent of the classic wattpad “it’s you. it’s always been you.”

i’m sure if you are a literature queen who was on byler tiktok in 2022 you’d recognize this passage (aka the reason i bought this book in the first place). this might be the most “you’re the heart” scene coded thing i’ve ever seen. this could be interpreted from both of their perspectives-

mike: he’s listening to will confess his love to him under the pretense of it being el’s feelings. “he won’t tell you that he loves you, but he loves you.” it’s up to interpretation whether or not this confession from will elicited any kind of feeling from mike, but if it did, that next line about him feeling like he did something terrible is SO spot on. in the next line, it talks about choking down the feeling. SO mike coded. hello? the last line is mike kinda having an “oh” moment.

will: mike obviously won’t tell will that he loves him. then we have will giving this entire monologue about feeling like a mistake, aka having done something horrible like siken describes. will is quite literally trying not to tell mike he loves him by pretending to be speaking from el’s point of view.

also, the line “like a prayer for which no words exist” churchgate who?

in this one i see a bit of will in the upside down. the first bit of it draws comparison to the fantastical nature of their d&d campaigns, with the line about the princess “just getting to be a princess” reminiscent of el being able to love mike freely without having to worry about the scrutiny from the people around them. will is having to cope with the weight of his feeling towards mike while mike gets to be the hero- he gets to “have it all”- love and be loved freely.

below that is will in california, where he’s essentially having a tolerate it by taylor swift moment. we had this heartfelt goodbye, and now i haven’t heard from you for months? what happened? do you even care about me?

now, “inside your head, you hear a phone ringing, and when you open your eyes, only a clearing with a deer in it. hello deer.” obviously mike spent the better part of the time between season 3 and 4 trying to reach will via phone but wasn’t able to, likely because of vecna messing with time or even the phones themselves. mike in his head thinks he’s hearing a phone ring, aka will, but it turns out to just be “a deer” which i am going to take very out of context and use to say “a dear” aka a letter from el. “hello dear”- which serves to say- okay, you’re hear, cool, but you aren’t what i asked for.

below that is will and vecna presumably in season four as vecna is construing every memory will has with mike and will is forced to remind himself of how mike truly is and make a mock up of him to save himself from vecna.

this one literally has a margin note from the first time i read it in 2023 when i wasn’t even in a stranger things phase. this one is obviously mike arriving in california and seeing will- he’s frightened, he’s realizing “wait, maybe this is real now.” we even get will’s drawings mentioned.

“this doesn’t look that much different from home” is because will is there, and will is his home. “the black sky and all those lights” presumably references a movie set which i am interpreting as somewhere were everything is formulaic. mike having to use “the power of love” to save el in a literal formulaic movie trope, even though he DOESNT LOVE HER. this isn’t home, this isn’t where he can be himself with will, this is where society expects him to conform and put on an act.

“where we pulled the bodies out of the lake and dressed them in warm clothes again” feels very much like reviving a deceased person. and where was will’s body discovered? A LAKE. this is a young mike having a dream of finding will safe and happy and coping with will’s presumed death. “how it was late” it was nighttime.

“it’s not like a tree where the roots have to end somewhere” reads to me a bit like a person’s life, mike interpreting this “dream” of his where will comes home safely as a continuation to something. where there doesn’t have to be an end to his and will’s story.

“policeman’s radio” hopper mentioned

the bottom of that reads to me as will and mike during season for OR after their happy ending, with this whole poem being mike recounting his grief over losing will in a love confession type monologue.

anyways!! that was really fun

[pretty-idol-hell]

Idol Land PriPara Episode 04

It was really nice of them to just release it on YouTube after we haven't been able to access it on the app. Okay here we go!

How is Amari SO RELATABLE. I do this basically every other day (i.e. think someone's actually talking to me when it's someone else and have to play it off).

Anyone a lawyer here? What legal recourse do I have for being drawn into an anime without my permission I SWEAR TO G--

Also Amari is wearing a Pretty Rhythm recolor(?).

So the plot of this episode is basically: Amari hears about some other girls going to the beach and thinks about how she hasn't made her "beach debut", but that's fine by her since she doesn't have a real bathing suit, confidence, etc. She then goes to Idol Land PriPara and, despite her best efforts, promptly gets automatically thrown into a bathing suit and forced to compete in a promise event.

These are some oooooooooooold coords. Do they really deserve all the fanfare? Hahah. Well, they are the only bathing suit coords so far I recognize as being real coords anyway.

(Unless there's anything from PriMagi or late-stage PriChan. I wouldn't know. BTW, if we ever do get any PriMagi recolors in Idol Land PriPara let me know because that would be great.)

In order for Amari to compete, Yui not only names herself Amari's new manager, but she just straight up gives her My Dream as well.

And they even made it official! AWWWW! I wonder if this set up is something that will continue after this episode.

Are we ever getting new mic these toys btw or is the show just going to advertise toys that don't exist.

WAIT.

I just noticed Nino and Michiru are still using their Idol Time mics which have somehow been modified to take keys. So I guess these aren't new toys at all.

HUUUUH.

So what I think I gathered from before is that Yui is just a zombie in real life because her idol soul is trapped in the rice cooker in Idol Land? Or something like that? They made a point to show she's alive and well here but I don't know if that makes anything better. I mean, I wouldn't want her parents to worry but wouldn't it be more interesting if Shogo has to continually convince his parents Yui is at some kinda summer camp or something haha. IDK.

Oh, is this a cameo by one of those celebrity groups I keep getting asks about?

(I mean... I don't care in the slightest but at least it will make someone happy haha.)

So, let the games begin!

Sophy has a throwaway line here about how Non Sugar isn't participating because of "pool inspection". I guess they have to clean the pool at their school? OH REALLY? Is THAT where they are?

This may or may not be my new desktop background.

So, partway through watching this episode I became disappointed when I remembered that it was spoiled long before that Dressing Pafe would be performing in this episode.

Oh boo. Well that spoils who wins the competition then.

But then I realized

what a fool I was

Since when is Dressing Pafe allowed to win ANYTHING

But well. Anyway.

This was a very different song for Dressing Pafe.

AND I LOVED IT!!! Goosebumps!!

Too bad it was apparently only good enough to open for a SoLaMi Smile performance we have already seen before JUST WITH DIFFERENT COORDS THIS TIME.

Okay I lied. These bathing suits are real coords too. PriChan recolors actually! And I... like them? Well. I like them more than the originals anyway, they have more details. Also any PriChan nostalgia, good or bad, is hitting me right in the feels currently. Also it's just funny how things are coming full circle.

So Amari didn't win the competition and we didn't get enough kirakira to unlock the thing, but the episode ends with Amari thanking Yui for helping her make her "beach debut".

Also this.

There was a subplot about Gaarmageddon getting lost trying to find a shortcut to the beach event

REALLY lost.

OoooooooOOOOOOH!!

[tiredassmage]

You mentioned slugging Darmas (with enthusiasm!) on Tyr's playthrough as a post-Imp smuggler. Given that Darmas was part of Imperial Intelligence like Tyr, how did that whole dynamic between Tyr, the smuggler he worked for, and Darmas work?

This is DELICIOUS, thank you so, so much for finally giving me the nudge to go off about this on main, lol.

This is truly part of what made the Imperial Agent to Smuggler pipeline hit me like a speeding semi-truck on the interstate highway, for real. It was an incredibly cathartic experience, lol.

I'm still rotating an idea or two or three about the exact specifics because each of them have their own merits, but the universal beat is Cee lets Tyr make the choice here; Darmas and Dodonna used them both, ultimately, but she gets that it's far more personal for Tyr given his history with Intelligence.

(Also, I'd like to shake Bioware by the shoulders. Give me a consistent timeline on Intelligence challenge! Its in the process of being cut at the knees according to the Agent's trip to Corellia!!! But that's... for another time, lol).

There'd definitely be something very crunchy about keeping a lid on Tyr's history as an ex-Cipher for Darmas to let the cat out of the bag as a part of the bit to throw the Smuggler off, but since I've started to develop Cee as his Captain for want of a consistent trail of events to follow and they ultimately end up catching feelings for each other... and also partially because Dorne's deal with her defection during her companion quest series is also one of my favorites, I've been leaning towards it coming up beforehand - though, again, I haven't quite hammered out specifically how or when.

Being manipulated and sort of falling into things by circumstance is something Cee and him ultimately share experience in, so it's kind of important to me and to them that they're able to share that on their terms - or as much of their own terms as possible. It's still more by accident and situationally that his history comes up at all - I imagine its not even something the SIS readily passes around as part of operational security, but as of the moment, I imagine Tyr just figures it's easier (and better) to explain it himself rather than let her try to piece it together from whatever opinionated tales begin to unravel it in the first place. (She'd figure it out either way and he'd prefer someone he cares about not feel lied to, y'know?)

He comes to respect Cee a great deal rather quickly because she's trying her best to hold her own ground in the midst of... everything she's kinda stumbled into from the reputation chasing down Nok Drayen's treasure to a deal with the Republic, so it's quite important to him that he maintains open communication with her.

But, yes, Darmas, whether he recognizes the ex-Cipher or not, is an incredibly personal encounter for Tyr. While he's not Cipher Nine in this particular tale, his reasons for leaving Imperial Intelligence and the Empire behind are largely consistent with those he chooses as Nine: he's not interested in being a statistic, the battered instrument and disposable cog in some Sith's machinery. And beneath under all of that calculation, beneath the facade of realism tempered by an agent's experience and training, ideals are important to Tyr and they always have been, even if he hasn't exactly realized it. To find out he traded the Empire for the Republic (that was meant to be an improvement on the ideals front) and still fell into those trappings, that he was so close to the problem and didn't even see any warning signs, that this threatened the very real unexpected found family and belonging he found in Cee and the crew... It's a lot. And he knows Darmas's type too well to trust that the snake wouldn't slip away given half the chance.

I imagine he does take a swing first, emotions getting the better of him for a moment, at least, before he deferred to Cee's judgement. She was the one they really sent after the pair, after all. But, in the end, Cee left the decision up to him, so Darmas got no deals that day. xD Just a very angry swinging SIS operative and ultimately a blaster bolt to that pretty face of his.

For Cee's part, she was never particularly interested in Darmas's charms from the beginning, though I imagine she trusted him enough as an ally by the time this all comes out. Her main wound in all of this is having found out the opportunity to genuinely work for the greater good for once was all an orchestration to actually serve the enemy. In broad strokes, Cee ended up smuggling in an attempt to pay off inherited debts from her father, so very little of being a starship captain smuggling goods had ever been her choice, let alone her ideal choice. She's not particularly pleased that her wariness of the offer to privateer in the first place was perhaps not entirely misplaced given the company, but she doesn't hesitate to take the offer again from Sumalee. She's far more confident in the authenticity of the arrangement and its truly what she'd generally prefer to put her acquired talents to use for.

Truly though. This gave being able to clock Saresh a run for credits as far as satisfying decisions, lol! It's very important to me and my cause (this au) xD

[doublegrinch]

The Alleged Con Log

(This isn't gonna be a full recap in chronological order, like my first one, and like many of the wonderful and amazing logs I've read thus far. Part of that is because I didn't end up "doing" all that much. But the larger part is that what I want to do here is talk about what it meant to me, more than what happened.)

(I'm also going to omit any names out of precaution, because I don't want to publicize anything without consent.)

(But, if you recognize yourself, hi! I enjoyed our interactions at the con and I am okay with you interacting with this post!)

So. I went to Charmed.

Now, I'm fairly new to this community; or I should say, to being active in this community. I fully delurked somewhere around summer or autumn 2020 (I wonder how many of us took the panini as incentive to chase after a dream?) but I've been around some of the spaces for a much longer time. Like, an "I remember when the MCForum started requiring logins" time. And from the first time I heard about the con scene, I knew I wanted to get there someday.

I say get there, because it felt so far out of reach for me, back in the day. I was rocking a fun mix of social anxiety, common-or-garden anxiety and imposter syndrome that led to me convincing myself that 1) I would never tell anyone about this interest of mine, and 2) even if I did, I would never be brave enough to actually join the community "for real".

(Goes to show that your brain lies to you, huh? Something something "you are braver than you think" etcetera.)

Given all that, I knew this con was going to be a Moment for me, like a huge one. I had gone online the past two years, but it didn't feel like enough. I knew that I wanted to be there. I had almost ended up going in-person in 2022, but pulled out at the last second in the face of COVID numbers and general travel uneasiness.

I promised myself it wasn't going to happen this time. Even while going through a bout of depression over the holidays, I focused on the idea that I wasn't going to miss out this time. To paraphrase the Mountain Goats song, I was gonna make to this con if it killed me.

I did make it, and I am so, so glad that I did.

I would spend the next few days doing my best to balance between gently pushing myself and respecting my energy. I didn't end up hiding in my room too much of the weekend, a fact I'm honestly pretty proud of. And I talked to people! Actual, live people that exist in real life!

(Sidebar: that part was a trip for me, initially, as someone so used to online. On the day I arrived at the hotel, within ten seconds of getting in I spotted a Famous Community Person and audibly went "oh shit". Fortunately, I met them briefly later on and was able to apologize. They told me they hadn't noticed. Phew! 😅)

The classes I went to were uniformly great; I came away with a whole bunch of notes containing actual, applicable advice. But for me the difference in being there were the people. All those I met were friendly and very welcoming to little old newcomer me. I pushed myself to engage in conversation in the hallways when I had the energy for it, and was rewarded every time. I even managed to link up with a few people from back home (there are ones of us! literally ones of us!), and talk about the possibility of local events happening in the near future.

Other highlights, in no particular order (linear time is boring anyway!):

Going to an induction class and realizing "Hey, I understand this. I could do this. I can do this."

One particular class resonating with me on a personal level (kinda took me by surprise actually) and leaving me with a very interesting reading list

Being dropped in front of a class – for the first time in-person, actually – and the person who did it reassuring me that everything was Okay™ afterwards and I hadn't imposed on them. Thank you for helping reel in my brain goblins!

Being invited to a lowkey room hangout that was exactly what I needed after a long first day – and meeting lots of positively lovely folk there and also I bought the coolest cat pin

Nerdy conversations about the state of the MCU on the way to the Gallery

Meeting several people in the community who were and are sources of inspiration, and noticing that they're all absolutely lovely humans on top of that

By my standards, I burned brightly all weekend, and by the end I was pretty spent. But I did it.

In closing, here's the part where I reassure my spicy brain that I Did The Thing Correctly. Going into this, I had these goals written down:

Learn Things

Be Social

Say Hi To People I Know From Online (As Much As Possible)

Go To At Least One Evening Event

Participate In One (1) Activity Related To Writing

Write a con log afterwards and post it somewhere (hey that's this one!)

(Bonus) Do Some IRL Trancing

Of those modest goals, I accomplished checks notes all of them. Huh!

(Well, at least one person I know from online I didn't get to say hi to. They looked busy, I didn't want to intrude! Next time, Gadget…)

Of course, there's things I wish I could have done, people I wish I could have connected to. Of course, I feel like my fears got in my way, more than a few times. Of course, I wanna do more next year. Because there will be a next year for me. Many of them, if I have my way. Hell, I'm even thinking about this summer…

But for now, I just want to focus on gratitude. Just existing in this space is life-giving to me, and I hope to be able to do it so much more.

Ice, you are officially broken.

Thank you for reading!

[beecreeper]

Ask ya back 24, 41, 67, 76, 105

Yippee!! Answer under cut

24. How does your Tav feel about Mol and her friends?

Briar super doesn't care. She didn't meet Mol at the Grove because she just ignored all of the children entirely. She was too focused on "get this tadpole OUT" to talk to pretty much any of the tieflings because she just didn't care. For some reason (I think because she didn't stop Rolan from going to Baldur's Gate on his own?), none of the kids besides Mol made it to Last Light. When she does talk to Mol she lowkey likes how much spunk the kid has but overall has no strong feelings one way or the other.

Molli however LOVES the kids. She accidentally pissed Mol off at first by walking into the hideout (then Mol lied to guards and got Wyll arrested it was funny af), but Molli wins her over when she's nice to all the other kids and saves Arabella and Mirkon. Molli thinks Mol is a smart kid with a big heart who just needs to find a better outlet and to stay the FUCK away from Raphael. Kinda reminds her of her sister. She would die for those kids.

Ferox has no idea how to act around the kids. He doesn't trust himself around them. He's worried that Mol is going down a bad road that's gonna get her into a lot of trouble someday.

41. Which way did they take? Did they run into Elminster? What was their opinion of his news for Gale?

Briar took the underdark because OF COURSE she did. She didn't even go back and do the creche. Ran into Elminster without Gale in the party, which is very very funny because he uses nothing but $10 words and a solid 30 seconds to ask "Do you know Gale?". Briar hates Elminster so so so much for the same reasons she hates Gale and honestly would have tried to just walk on past but someone else let it slip that they do, in fact, know Gale. She spent the whole conversation between Gale and Elminster wishing she could kill both of them, if not herself. She super does not care about Mystra's order for Gale. Glad they won't have to feed him magic things anymore. Thinks he had better not detonate that thing at a time that's inconvenient to her. Briefly starts idly fantasizing if there's some way she can use this to murder a whole bunch of people at once.

Molli's path choice was a little more complicated. She and the party all agreed that the underdark sounded like the better bet, but she also needed to go do the creche first. After things at the creche fell through, she went back down through the underdark, hoping that it would have a path directly to Moonrise. Molli was star struck meeting Eliminster and didn't mind him mooching all that cheese because that's *Elminster* (and also because she would do the same thing). Soured on him a bit with the Mystra stuff though. Like she knows it's not *his* idea, but she thinks that he was too accepting of Mystra's command as reasonable. She refuses to accept that Gale blowing himself up is the only way. There's GOTTA be something else.

Ferox's gonna do the mountain pass and probably avoid the underdark entirely unless something compels him to backtrack. He'll think Elminster is a little pompous and presumptuos. He's gonna be more accepting of Mystra's order though. He thinks it's bullshit and that gods *shouldn't* be able to command that kinda thing, but also that she's not *wrong*. If a god says that they'll need to blow up the Absolute to beat it, it might end up being true. It's sad that Gale would be the price for that, but war and battle has its prices.

67. Does your Tav meet Tara? What's their opinion?

Pfffff Briar met Tara, immediately recognized her as Gale's cat he wouldn't shut up about, and then deliberately scared her off to be a bitch.

Molli hasn't met Tara yet, but even if she doesn't do it the official way in game, I want her to stumble across Tara somehow anyway. Molli likes Tara, thinks it's charming to see her treat Gale like she's his mother.

Ferox would honestly think that it's a little weird that a *cat* is acting like Gale's mom. He just can't get over the fact that she's a *cat*. But fine whatever he won't judge.

76. Does your Tav tell Dame Aylin about Lorroaken? Do they help her fight him?

Briar let Shadowheart kill Dame Aylin... she rolled up into Lorroaken's tower, told him "lol that relic you wanted so bad is super dead k bye" and then robbed him blind.

Molli is definitely gonna help kill that mother fucker.

I haven't decided for Ferox yet. It'll depend on which way Shadowheart ends up falling. If Dame Aylin survives Act 2, Ferox is definitely killing Lorroken though.

105. Anything you want to say about your Tav! Give a random headcanon, answer a random question, say whatever you want!

I am SHOCKED that I haven't gotten an opportunity to say favorite food anywhere so I'm gonna do that. Briar likes fried chicken hearts (or, you know, just hearts in general), Molli likes baked brie with jam, and Ferox likes grilled leeks and dwarf meat.

[aectpen]

STRAWBERRY ✯ 𝙕𝙃𝘼𝙉𝙂 𝙃𝘼𝙊!

m.list

synopsis: 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐥

pairing: Zhang Hao of ZB1 and fem!oc

status: ongoing

chapter 3: bracelet

rina's obsession with zb1 grew by the day. rina was spending her day off with haemin in her apartment and they came up with the idea to watch zb1 content.

every time zhang hao was on the screen a smile creeped up rina's face. she now declared him her favorite idol. she found everything about him endearing. she thanked god haemin introduced them to her.

"i want to be his alpha." rina said when zhang hao appeared on the screen.

"i should've never introduced them to you. he needs to file a restraining order against you."

"i know ms. jiwoong is my husband isn't talking about restraining orders." rina retorted. "anyways, i talked to strawberry yesterday."

"please tell me it was more than a hey."

"it was he even asked for my opinion on what snacks he should buy, and then bought it!" rina fawned over the interaction. "he also told me to call him z, so we're getting somewhere."

"i have to see him, cause he has to be really hot for you to be having heart of just from seeing his eyes."

"well i'm sure the lower half of his face is even prettier than his upper half. he kinda reminds me of zhang hao. they seem very similar to me. maybe i'm projecting my wants onto him."

"if he looks anything like him and you won't make a move tell him i'm available." rina snorted at the suggestion.

"i really need a strawberry. my love life is genuinely embarrassing." haemin wiped away fake tears. "zhang hao posted!" her demeanor immediately changed.

it was a photo from inside a convenience store. "rina isn't that your store? omg," rina took a closer look. you could see her apron hanging. "oh my god, it literally is?"

"wow, they go on your off day that's sick"

rina stared at the picture. it was like she was connecting the dots in her mind.

no it can't be

zhang hao was wearing the same bracelet she saw last night. z for zhang hao. he also had a black mask in his other hand.

"what's wrong? i mean it's fine you've met him already."

"no i'm fine was just thinking it'd be crazy if i actually was working." rina lied. she didn't want to admit what she thought since she might be wrong, or she might actually go insane.

when haemin went home, rina immediately began stalking all zb1 accounts for pictures of zhang hao, covering his lower face with her finger to see the similarities.

did he not put on a mask because i wasn't there?

rina above everything else felt stupid. how could she not see it at first. i mean it's like hannah montana putting on her wig and people being oblivious that she's miley stewart. she also felt embarrassed. she hoped he didn't recognize her at the fansign. she thought he thinks she's a dumb fan.

she stared at the ceiling in bed unable to sleep.

rina dreaded clocking in to work the next night. she hoped he wasn't going to make an appearance tonight or she would be a mess. his mask was the barrier between them. now the mask is transparent. she knows who he is. she won't be able to be normal around him anymore.

with only 15 minutes left in her shift, she sighed in relief.

ring

rina ducked behind a shelf and tried to salvage her appearance. not for strawberry anymore, but for zhang hao.

"uh, hello?" he walked around the store.

"hi.." rina approached him. she mustered up the courage to try to pretend like nothing is different.

"so we meet again." he mimicked her.

"stop, that's so embarrassing." rina covered her face. "it's cute." rina's heart almost beat out of her chest

thee zhang hao called me cute someone write this down

"well.. what are we buying today?" she asked looking away.

"i actually wanted to buy the strawberry ice cream again it was really good."

"m-my recommendations never fail." she shrugged.

it wasn't in the cooler, it must be in the back.

"um, i can go see if there is any in the back." rina practically ran before he could even respond. she felt her cheeks while looking in the ice cream section. even in the cold area, her cheeks were like the surface of the sun. "i'm literally going crazy," she whispered to herself.

she grabbed a few pints to put in the cooler. "there you go. anything else?" she handed it to him purposely avoiding brushing hands with him.

"thanks, that's all." they went over to the candy section and grabbed his favorite.

just as she finished ringing him up, jaejun came around the counter. "you guys must be best friends or something." he commented.

"something like that, right rina?" the cat got her tongue. every time he said her name she felt weak in the knees.

"bye jaejun."

she took a few steps away from the store before she heard her name being called.

"um, do you live around here?" rina nodded. wow is he really talking to me outside of the store.

"well i was wondering if you wanted to share this ice cream,  my friends don't really like it much." rina couldn't believe her ears. so she really wasn't delusional. who would she be to say no.

they walked over to the park and sat at a table under a street light. he handed her a mini spoon. rina looked away while he took of his mask. for some reason it felt illegal to see him without it. " you know you can look at me right?"

she slowly turned to see him. "i could tell that you know who i am now."

[ratchet-serperior]

I have some Thoughts. Yes this is related to current drama, no I will not give more context on what or why. I also wholly intend for this to stay to myself, so no tags today for all of my zero followers.

I don't use Twitter. This little hellsite and another, redder hellsite are the only social media platforms I use. I do not care about drama. In fact, I hate getting involved in drama. So, more often than not, I just ignore it until it goes away.

I used to be fully on board with the idea of socially ostracizing someone if they did something fucked up. Find out that JonTron is racist, yeah let's boycott his videos. Find out that JK Rowling is... JK Rowling... Yeah, we shouldn't accept that kind of behaviour. But, the more I see these things happening, the more I see calls to cancel someone (or more likely, see posts saying that someone has already been cancelled), the less I believe in the idea, for one simple reason.

The Twitter mobs are usually just wrong.

This has long been known about social media, but there's not a lot of room for nuance. On Twitter, you have only a certain number of characters to use. On other platforms, you see a post and can take it in isolation, not able to or simply not needing to understand the context surrounding them. This becomes a problem when a large group of people rush to cancel someone for doing a Bad Thing. Hell, all I know about the JonTron thing is that he said a racist thing at some point. I don't know what he said, in what context, or if he ever said anything like it again. But, for me several years ago, it was all I needed to instantly decide that he was a terrible person and I should hate him and all that he does.

Then, as more people I follow got cancelled, I was less and less involved in the effort. When the drama surrounding ProJared came out some years ago, I was on board at first, then kinda just stopped caring. Then, he came back after the flames had died down a bit, and explained what was going on. Some accusations were outright lies, and others were misunderstandings or exaggerations made through the social game of telephone online. Overall, maybe he did fuck up, but in a completely human, understandable way.

Another that I remember vividly was ZeRo. He had these accusations of sexting underage girls which essentially pushed him away from social media entirely. He even came out and admitted it, right? So cancelling him worked! Well, no. A long while later, he came back to YouTube and admitted that, after the mobs got to him, he decided to admit to it, and then kill himself. He thought it would be easier that way on everyone involved, because he knew that not only was he being cancelled, but everyone associated with him was feeling the backlash. He thought that if he took the fall, those around him would be spared from the negative association.

And, I mean... Can we talk about how massively fucked up that is? Even if the accusations were true (which they weren't), can we recognize that driving someone to suicide for that is a massively deranged thing to do? I can't imagine being in that situation. Because yeah, I've fucked up before. I've even had some major fuck ups that would have probably gotten me cancelled, if I were in any sort of public sphere. I know it, I learned from it, and I can move on from it.

So yeah, forgive me if I don't care about the latest youtuber drama, celebrity drama, whatever. Forgive me for not immediately raising pitchforks and torches to burn down their homes for supposedly doing a bad thing. And don't get me wrong here- BAD THINGS ARE STILL BAD. And they should be punished. But the mob justice of the internet and social media on these people is far too extreme, and in my experience, is usually wrong anyway.

[icharchivist]

@clockwork-shinobi​ 

my brain is still a bit fried from writing all of this so i'll prob need some time before being able to fully put thoughts into Dorian Gray but YEAH, 1) the supernatural shit? up their ally, 2) the homoerotic subtext will translate to them making out on stage, 3) on my god wait Azuma could do a very good Dorian i legit spent hours just writing about Dorian chosing self isolation over allowing the people he knew loved them enough to save him in into his life

wait nevermind i lied actually now i’m thinking about it,

So like i said, the thematic of self isolation, the obsession with beauty, the refusal to look at who you’re becoming, (unwillingly) hurting others as you’re pushing them away, the denial and the acknowledgement that any day you can stop the spiral but you don’t because you feel it’s already too late and the passage of time is scary to you fits Azuma PERFECTLY. Azuma would be a PERFECT Dorian Gray.

Meanwhile i’d actually see Tsumugi as Basil Halward on this one? the painter who genuinely loved Dorian and would act as an angel on his shoulder, so much so he was the first person Dorian shut away because as he mentioned, Basil was the person who could see right into his soul? I feel like for once we could actually use up Tsumugi’s angelic predisposition in order to have him play a positive role for once, and the whole “seeing right into his soul” can fit into Tsumugi’s psych analysis background.

My hot take: Hisoka as Henry Wotton. Hisoka is perfect to act out the role of the “bad influence” in general i think, considering how he is to start with, and considering Dorian and Wotton are birds of feathers, people who recognize each other in each other’s eyes, i would see Azuma and Hisoka play out a twisted version of their dynamic. Where in real life, their similarities, especially in the way they mishandled things, made them more able to see through it and get better, we could use the Dorian/Wotton’s dynamic to show the exact opposite. The What If, instead, they had worsened each other by pushing each other further into their bad coping mechanisms instead of calling them out. To also drive the subtext of the novel home, Hisoka would double playing the Devil Dorian made a deal with. 

HOT hot take: Tasuku as Sibyl Vane. A talented actress and singer whom Dorian fell in love with, until Sibyl fell so in love with Dorian she could no longer find pleasure to act because of how her true love for Dorian couldn’t compare to acting. Which eventually drove her to suicide when Dorian didn’t love her anymore. The Actor Addict thematic here and twisting it even further. If we take the thematic of how Azuma and Hisoka could have been a bad influence on each other, this would be taking the same twisted as to indulge in what would be Tasuku’s worst case scenario. 

Then i’d say Guy could make a very good James Vane, Sibyl’s brother, as he would be Sibyl’s keeper, looking out for her, devoted to protect her, and knowing Dorian would be a bad influence on Sibyl, so much so that when Sibyl kills herself, James swears to hunt Dorian down. I feel like the devotion aspect could fit Guy a lot, though it could also fit Homare.

Then honestly i’d feel like all the roles left in the novel could be expendable for a stage adaptation but i’d say eventually Alan Campbell could be the one on which the others storylines merges on, an old friend of Dorian who ends up unable to cope with how Dorian murdered Basil.  That being said i could see like, Tsuzuru fixing things around and making this role matter a little more in the grand scheme of things, but i’m going to put it on Homare for the fact most of the characters remaining being intellectuals who were directly into Dorian’s sphere and suffered from his existence. 

So yeah i kinda studied Dorian Gray a little too hard today and this is my casting of the day. That said, “yeah they’d slay a Dorian Gray adaptation” was thought of before i thought “wait hold on that’s actually unsalvageable, you cannot make a Dorian Gray adaptation that’s not incredibly depressing, no way they’d put that on stage, the themes only work as a mockery of a3′s themes”, but, hey. Here.

Take the juice from the last minute of my study brain I GUESS.

[bakugo-softski]

BKDK IS IRREFUTABLY CANON AND HERE'S WHY

There's a lot of different ships in the mha fandom and a lot of anti baukudekus out there but I'm here to tell you that they are wrong- and here's why:

The manga hasn't been finished yet so I can't say for sure that bkdk will become legitimately canon but I can say for absolutely certain that Horikoshi 100% ships them. And even better- he WANTS US TO SHIP THEM TOO. I don't know yet if he's setting us up for a Canon bkdk endgame but it's pretty damn obvious that there's some kind of romantic going on, and hori is doing it intentionally.

There's literally so much evidence so I'm just gonna run through some of this as quickly as possible

For obvious reasons- why is Katsuki on Deku's left ring finger? If we're going off of the generally accepted ochadeku then it would make sense to put her on his left ring finger, right? But who's there instead? That's fuckin right, dekus childhood best friend turned bully turned rival turned...not quite friend bc that doesn't really seem to fit their dynamic, does it? Whatever it is, however, Horikoshi thought making art with kacchan on Deku's marriage finger fit that dynamic when he could have chose literally any other finger.

And here's the thing, guys. Horikoshi knows what's up. He's not stupid. I refuse to believe that this is just a coincidence or whatever bc, look, if we weren't supposed to read into it, Horikoshi would have put mineta or someone on that finger. But he didn't, he put Katsuki there full well knowing that bkdk is the biggest ship in MHA. Full well knowing their history, the intensity they have with each other. Tell me he didn't do that shit on purpose, I dare you

Give me one single non gay reason for the entirety of this show focusing on deku and kacchan holding hands.

Deku unlocked blackwhip from sheer anger at monama for talking shit on Kacchan, and then later when asked how he was able to unlock it, he lied to All Might, and said it just happened, when he knew exactly what "just happened" and it embarrassed him enough to lie to freaking ALL MIGHT so he didn't have to explain how someone shit talking his childhood friend bothered him so much he went feral and unlocked a brand new power just to KO a classmate

Katsuki canonically bullied izuku because the thought of him doing things to put himself in danger when he was quirkless and unable to defend himself made Katsuki feel so uncomfortable that he chose to detach himself from his childhood friend in order to not be hurt by him. He cared about his nerd so damn much, that the thought of losing him hurt to the point that he would have rather lost him as a friend all together than continue caring about him and go through the pain of losing him someday when he wasn't prepared for it. If Katsuki didn't care for deku so intensely he wouldn't have even gone through the trouble. Kinda sounds like love, mate

This didn't need to happen but boy were we blessed anyway

Izuku is literally watching you every moment of the day and you want more???? Also your whole thing is supposed to be like being recognized as the best and whatever why in hell is only Deku's recognition important? You have other classmates and ppl watching u fruity bastard

He's gonna be the best and be better than all might but he'd rather die than let his childhood friend/rival be murdered in front of him. Better him then that stupid nerd...right?

I don't want this to be crazy long so I'm just gonna stop but THE POINT IS- regardless, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT BECOMES CANON IN THE MANGA/ANIME, Horikoshi obviously ships them and he WANTS us to ship them too! He wouldn't put out incredibly sus official art if he didn't, wouldn't let his assistant put out those crazy adorable sketches if he didn't, there just WOULD NOT BE SO MUCH EVIDENCE IF IT WASNT CANON IN THE CREATORS EYES

Add with that the fact that Ochako is obviously supposed to be Deku's love interest but the entire thing falls flat. I refuse to believe that that wasn't done on purpose. Hori's telling us something. He cannot be able to write deku and kacchans relationship so freaking well and then supposedly write in a love interest for the MC that seems stupidly insignificant and bland. Why even put the love interest In there in the first place? He did that shit on PURPOSE. He's showing us something. I feel it in my bones, damnit.

Please feel free to add onto this with ur own things, but I would honestly be surprised if at this point bkdk didn't become Canon in the end. But, even if it doesn't, we can at least sleep well knowing that it damn well is supposed to be, and we have the creator on our side so antis can fuck right off

[vampkomori]

i think with the information were given by the reports, we can figure out what Joshua may have been doing in the 3 years leading up to neo

i think the key lies in this specific part of neo’s reports

neo’s game resembles that of the game 3 years ago, though most specifically being point 2. The absence of the Composer

these are the circumstances of the game in the og reports. Notably, the only difference in circumstances being the mention of the Composers limitation of abilities (which is implied by his absence), and direct interference by the Executor.

As noted in both reports, Joshua is not allowed to interfere in the goings-on of the UG. To further prevent any potential meddling on his part, the Composer is required to leave the UG. As hes likely unable to/not allowed to tune into the frequency of the Higher Plane, and its specifically mentioned that he travels from the UG to the RG in the og reports, this means Joshua is residing in the RG while the Game is ongoing in neo.

Theres 3 points to address about this situation:

The limitation of his abilities, and what this might have to do with his appearance

The consequences his absence has on the UG

What he may have done in the 3 years the game was ongoing

 First we should brush up on what his abilities actually entail

Usually, he can at least somewhat see the future. This ability is entirely absent when in the RG, he can draw conclusions about what might happen based on observations, but he cant predict the exact outcome. Note that this ability is specifically limited when hes downtuned. So when he looks like a normal guy and not a glowing blur in the shape of a person. Meaning that when he actually appears in the UG at the end of neo, he still cant see the future, and doesnt know whats going to happen.

As for the matter of his appearance, Reapers dont age. As seen in the ntwewy official guidebook, the reapers in og twewy are the same age as they are in neo. Sho is still 18, kariya is still 19, uzuki is still 17, etc. it doesn’t make sense for Reapers, who are so far beneath the Composer, not to age, but the Composer for some reason does?

BUT Joshuas been physically in the RG for the past 3 years, so its possible that that is the reason he aged. Post-neo he can stay in the UG again, so its possible hes going to remain physically 18 when he downtunes now. Think of it as like, time passes and causes his body to age as anyone else in the RG, but time stops in the UG, because it’s the “dead zone”

the reason neku aged while in Shinjuku is because Shinjuku is neither in the UG or the RG, it is in its own plane of existence. That plane just so happened to have time that passes, which lets you age like the RG would. (this might also be partially the reason why Coco is 19 of all ages in neo, even though she looks middle school aged in A New Day, 3 years ago. With her occasionally popping in for who-knows-how-long into Shinjuku to visit neku, she aged the amount of time she spent there most likely)

Anyway, it does not make sense for joshua to be able to choose what age he appears as when he downtunes. The reports specifically say he looks younger when he downtunes, and that its fortunate this prevents him from being recognized by reapers. Meaning that this is more of a happy accident and not purposeful in the slightest.

i know that one guidebook comment by Nomura has him state Joshuas appearance was to match Neku in appearance, but this was likely a design choice and not a willful decision by Joshua himself. You can interpret it however you like, but nothing in-canon ever points to Joshua being able to control his appearance when he downtunes, ever

Next up are the consequences of joshuas absence in the UG.

The Composer is the one who writes and changes the rules of the UG. Considering that in neo, the rules of the game were very much rewritten to match those of Shinjuku, it seems theres uh. Something kinda unlawful going on there. Which ill touch on in a moment, but first, more importantly, with joshuas absence in the UG and residing in the RG instead, the UG has been functionally without a Composer for 3 years, and therefore his established rules made invalid.

This should mean the UG should collapse, i mean, in og twewy he was only able to be absent for 3 weeks before the UG started to get somewhat unstable already. So theres no way the UG would be able to hold up without a Composer for 3 years……. unless?

An emergency call.

With Uzuki being made temporary Conductor and Game Master (neo uses these two terms interchangeably, for some reason) post-og twewy, she likely upheld Joshuas UG rules until Shiba usurped her. With Shiba being directly influenced by Kubo, he likely seized control over the UG instantly by issuing an Emergency call, which suspended Joshuas rules and gave complete authority to Shiba. Thus Shiba was able to completely rewrite the UG’s rules as if he were the Composer.

Small things such as the new appearance of the walls put up by wall reapers (now black thorns, and not just transparent walls), the new decals being two sets of poorly scribbled skulls, and the new Reaper Skull and its pins, all point to having been designed by Shiba, and then made by Kubo.

With Joshua not being allowed to intervene in the UG while his game with Kubo was ongoing, he also cannot ask his Producer to make pins, decals, etc. (especially since Hanekoma is also forbidden from intervening). That means Shiba wasn’t able to contact him to do it, either (or even knows he exists).

Hanekoma notes that as an Angel, Kubo is able to prepare special pins at will, so its likely this also extends to more than just pins.

Funnily enough this also means Shiba never even met Joshua despite being Shibuyas Conductor.

Though Joshua most likely wouldnt be allowed to even interact with his opponent’s proxy in the first place, its also hilarious to think Kubo never told Shiba about a Conductors responsibility to the Composer, or that its unusual the Composer never contacted him to contact the Reapers.

So, Joshua wasn’t exactly able to interject to the changes to his rules. His authority was literally overwritten by an emergency call due to his mandatory absence because of his game. (crappy loophole if u ask me)

 Then what was Joshua doing for 3 years?

Staying in the RG in some way or form.

But most importantly, he mustve interacted with Beat, Rhyme, and Shiki for a significant amount of his stay.

the fact that Shiki refers to him as “Josh” points to her having gotten to know him well enough to refer to him as that nickname, especially since she never even met him in og twewy, and was only told about him by Neku.

in this same scene in jp, Beat calls him by his actual name “Joshua”, which is also notable for Beat, since he didnt even remember uzuki’s or kariya’s names after 3 years, and referred to joshua by a nickname when he was hounding him and neku during week 2 as a reaper in og twewy. which once again points to Beat having gotten to know him well enough to actually use his first name.

Theres also the matter of Beat, Rhyme and Shiki living outside of Shibuya.

we know that Beat and Rhyme must have lived near Miyashita Park in og twewy, because their accident happens by the Miyashita Park Underpass after Beat storms out after an argument with their parents. but in neo, Rhyme has to get to shibuya via train, and Beat tells her to go home and away from shibuya to stay safe, which means they mustve moved away from Shibuya sometime during these 3 years.

its likely Joshua may have a hand in them moving away (possibly because he mightve wanted to at least make sure Neku’s friends were safe from his game’s consequences after he returned Neku to the RG)

their move away from shibuya is significant because shiki is often away from shibuya as well. which notably means that all of nekus friends are safe from shibuyas potential destruction if joshua were to lose his game (again)

Shiki is often away from shibuya due to work, and while she does ardently pursue her dreams of becoming a fashion designer, this decision was likely encouraged by Joshua as well. though shiki does occasionally return to wait by hachiko for Neku, she might also have visited Joshua too. two birds one stone. or joshua bothered her whenever she was by hachiko, and eventually formed a friendship, which then extended to beat and rhyme.

this would also explain why Beat never suggests looking for the Composer in neo, because he knows Joshuas stuck in the RG and cant intervene.

as to why joshua doesnt intervene even though he was So eager to do so in og twewy... we dont know. in the reports, hanekoma suggests that it mightve been to teach shibuya a lesson about responsibility, but thats. kinda stupid honestly. i imagine the real reason might be tied to the Higher Plane and its politics, especially since Hanekoma mentions that the reason Hazuki intervened mightve been to bait Joshua into acting. which is weird on all accounts, since haz looks up to joshua as his senior and tells him he intervened to earn his forgiveness. so why hanekoma even got this impression might be related to him being in the Higher Plane and thus knowing more about the tension related to Joshua and his actions amongst the angels.

anyway, this concludes my case

[tobiosmilktea]

ahh omg requests are opened !! can i request atsumu, iwa, kenma, and tsukki angst to fluff kinda thing where they get into a big fight and the boys blow up on the reader but make up at the end? pls make me cry but also go “💘🥺”,, thank you so much !!!

- 🧋

kiss and make up with atsumu, iwaizumi, kenma, and tsukishima

— m. atsumu

being with atsumu,, it’s no surprise that you two occasionally get into a few arguments here and there

they honestly range from the tiniest little, insignificant things from what to get for dinner to whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza aka things most people probably wouldn’t even bat an eye at

you were used to it considering how atsumu is, but his personality is what you liked most about him with how he’s constantly having you on your feet —never knowing what he’ll do next

they’re quiet funny at the end of the day and that back and forth banter is just another way you two show how much you care about each other

with that being said, no matter what you two are arguing about, it’s always lighthearted and not so serious

that’s why it honestly took you by surprise how atsumu’s typically nonchalant and teasing nature whenever you guys “argue” over something was something you’ve never seen before

very rarely did you ever see this man get incredibly angry and you’ve even seen all of his games where things weren’t going right

and perhaps that’s where the root of this argument started in the first place

dating a famous division 1 volleyball player who is well loved and respected, it’s hard being able to spend the proper time with him when he’s constantly travelling or getting recognized whenever you two are out on a date

you weren’t exactly complaining about this problem to atsumu after he came back from a tiresome and strenuous day of practice as you knew that it was going to be like this when you two first met

if anything, it was just a concern you voiced out that you obviously weren’t expecting him to solve with a snap of his fingers

“and what the fuck do you want me to do about it, (y/n)?” he snapped at you, venom coated his words like tar

you looked at him with widened eyes as a mixture of confusion and utter offense melted upon your expression

atsumu was notorious for using foul language on a daily basis, but never had he ever swore at you and it’s safe to say you like to keep that same energy with him

you scoffed at him, still a bit dumbfounded, “i’m not expecting you to fix anything over night, i was just saying.”

“as if i already didn’t know how hard it is to find time to spend together.”

“so, are you just treating me like an idiot now?”

it was late, you were tired just as much as atsumu was and you certainly weren’t in the mood to argue with him anymore

before you could even let him answer, you walked away from him and entered your bedroom withy a slammed door

you hated going to bed angry, but there honestly wasn’t anymore moral within you to even continue whatever leftover conversation between you and atsumu

perhaps giving time for something this to simmer until the morning would be enough to make sure your fatigue wasn’t blurring your thoughts knowing how dangerous misunderstandings can be

a few minutes later, atsumu enters the room, eyes scanning over your figure beneath the sheets as your breathing subsided

he thought you were fast asleep, but your mind was still awake and racing with the worse case scenarios. it made it so much more difficult now that atsumu laid beside you

he would wrap his arms around you, “i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have yelled at you.” whispering in a hushed, muffled voice. you could feel the way his lips pecked at you shoulder then up to your temple

you weren’t sure if he knew you were awake or not as you swore he could’ve heard your heart pounding

without uttering another word, you turn towards him, burying your head into the crook of his neck

you were just glad his warmth was still here

— i. hajime

you believe one of your biggest flexes within your relationship with iwa is that you two rarely argue or get into childish fights

sure, there were disagreements here and there, but most of them were minuscule decisions on what outfit to where that day or what restaurant you two wanted to eat at. most of which would be decided with a harmless game of rock, paper, scissors or nose goes lmao

other than constantly bickering with oikawa, iwaizumi isn’t really the type to get into shouting contests with you unlike with his best friend (most of which is started by oikawa anyway)

because of this, you weren’t really expecting to get into a fight with your boyfriend, and yet, it wasn’t like you weren’t used to him doing so

at the end of the day, you always ended up being the moderator of iwaizumi and oikawa’s loud back and forth banter if things got too rowdy

so never in a million years were you expecting oikawa to be taking your place at this very moment

poor dude doesn’t know what to do

he’s used to third wheeling you and iwa being all lovey dovey, but now that you two were in the midst of a midafternoon shouting contest, he’s completely dumbfounded

oikawa couldn’t help but feel bad for you as technically the whole reason why you and iwaizumi were arguing in the first place was because of him

long story short, iwa was sick and tired of oikawa flirting with you all the time despite only doing it to tease him

you were well aware of this as well, playing along with oikawa’s flirts just to tease your boyfriend

you didn’t see any harm in it as you made it very clear the moment you confessed to iwaizumi that you liked him and not his best friend (who you more or less saw as a brother over anything)

“listen, i’m sorry i was only playing around.” you apologize, throat already aching from the amount of stress you had already put on it

“if you were only playing around, then you wouldn’t be flirting with him everyday!” spat iwaizumi as he flickering a harsh look to oikawa who backed a good six feet away from you two (social distancing king lmao)

you honestly didn’t know what to say as a lump formed in your throat, rendering you speechless. granted, he had a point, but how couldn’t he overlook the way you only had eyes for him? the way you would “flirt” with oikawa they always tended to be backhanded, the way you would always kiss iwa after each of oikawa’s attempts to flirt, or how you would constantly remind him how much you loved him

it hurt slightly knowing how it was all overlooked by harmless teases

regardless,, it had to stop

before you could  apologize once more and say you’ll stop, iwaizumi huffs, “just say that you wanted him the entire time and not me.” before walking away entirely

your eyes widened, turning over towards a distanced oikawa who had the same look of surprise before motioning a hand towards your boyfriend, “well, go after him!”

with missing a beat, you ran down the block to catch up to iwaizumi, spreading your arms and throwing it around him as you bury your face into his back

“i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have done that.” your voice muffled into his uniform shirt, “i only like you, iwa, you have to believe me.”

your hands that were firmly clasped together to prevent him from breaking out of your embrace was slowly pulled apart by iwaizumi, feeling his entire body turn to face towards you

“idiot,” he muses with that same embrace

— k. kenma

i don’t think argument are common between you and kenma

he’s probably too preoccupied with playing video games or sleeping to even bother starting a fight over mindless disagreements

you were glad that you didn’t have to deal with such burdens of fighting with your significant other, but at the same time, you believed that small disagreements in relationships showed just how much you cared for the other

it showed how they were looking out for you if you were to ever make a terrible decision, and yet kenma would only bat an eye at you and shrug whenever you ask him for advice

in the end, you’d end up fucking something up or get hurt

or whenever you’d ask your boyfriend what he thinks about a specific outfit, he barely spare your a glance before uttering the words, “yeah, looks great babe.”

it sounded almost crazy to say, but sometimes you wished for you and kenma to get into arguments sometimes

not ones so serious it would lead to a significant gap within your relationship, but rather the ones the led for you guys to communicate more

besides, it’s not like you guys communicate a lot in the first place

you first brought up this concern when you came over to his apartment to which he was (surprise surprise) still playing video games

you didn’t mind about his hobbies as that’s what he liked most, but sometimes you just wished he would give you the proper attention for once

“hey,” you’d call out to him in the dark room, shaking a plastic bag in your hand in the hopes it would capture his attention, “i bought takoyaki!”

and to your low expectations, kenma simply hums as he clicks rapidly at his keyboard

your brows furrow as you pondered to yourself, what will get his attention?

“i also brought my boyfriend with me!” you lied just to see if his expression would even change

and what do ya know, it doesn’t. it’s the same focused deadpan on his computer screen, “no you didn’t, your boyfriends right here?”

you were at the end of your rope

“then why doesn’t my boyfriend come over here and act like it?” you hissed, “last time i checked, boyfriends get excited whenever they see their significant other and not over genshin characters.”

now that was a bite to kenma’s ego as he finally pulled his eyes away from the screen and towards you. “what?” he says, confused.

“do you even like me anymore?”

kenma scoffs almost dumbfounded, “of course i do, how could you say that?”

“because i experience it everyday, kenma.” you confess, fighting to keep your heavy gaze onto your boyfriend as he approaches you. “every time i come by i always see you at your desk in front of your computer. you never greet me first and unless i verbally say something, you probably won’t even notice that i’m here.” you voice broke slightly

“i-i’m sorry, (y/n)—”

“do you ever stop and think of the fact that the only times we see each other if from me visiting you? if i were just to stop one day i’d figure we wouldn’t even have a relationship in the first place.” you sigh as you shook your head, “you probably wouldn’t even notice, anyway.”

almost immediately does kenma wrap his arms around you in a tight embrace, almost as if he feared that you would disappear if he were to let go in the slightest

he places a kiss on your forehead before resting his own against yours, “i don’t ever want to hear those words come from you every again, (y/n). i’m so so sorry, i’ll promise to be better.”

you melted within his embrace, feigning a smile from appearing as you quickly give him a peck before remembering that the bag of food you bought was still in your hand

“let’s start by eating before the food gets cold.”

— t. kei

unlike the rest of the previously mentioned boys, arguments are pretty common between you and tsukishima considering his nature

he’s constantly teasing and making fun of you, but all of which were just jokes not meant to be taken seriously and you were well aware of this too

it’s probably the main reason why tsuki found himself so enamored with you as you constantly matched his energy 

you two were shockingly similar with your humor and your smugness, but the main differences between the two of you was you academics

it’s not surprise how tsukishima is always at the top of his class while you’re always at the bottom of it

considering this, the majority of your dates during the week with him are usually study dates or normal dates that end with the two of  you either at the library or each other’s houses studying material for the following day’s test

it was clear that in order to date each other, you both had to have patience

you weren’t exactly the fastest learner and you easily got distracted with things around you that you’re honestly surprised that tsukishima’s nonexistent patience was still up and active

besides, he loved you. he had to understand your difficulties as most of the time you can’t help it, but at the same time his personality was like treading on broken glass

usually he had enough patience to last an entire two hour study session with you, but today was oddly different

nothing was going right with tsukishima’s day and he just got absolutely annoyed with every little thing from a person bumping into him in the halls to a stain on his uniform that you could barely even notice

right now, this was the tenth time he found you tuning him out and daydreaming

his knuckled turned alabaster from the pressure of squeezing his mechanical pencil. he huffed, trying to calm himself down as he rubbed his aching temples

“(y/n), were you even listening to what i was—”

“do you think giraffes know where other giraffes are from?” you interrupted him with another one of your mindless tangents, “like considering how the pattern of a giraffe’s fur depends on what regent they’re from, do you think a giraffe from southern africa could tell if another if from western africa—”

tsukishima was at his limit, “can’t you just shut the fuck up and focus for five minutes, (y/n)?” he shouts at you, “i swear, you wouldn’t be failing if you just listened for once.”

he huffs out in annoyance, completely ignoring the way the brightness in your expression fell into a frown

you weren’t mad as you honestly couldn’t blame him. having learning difficulties and a short attention span was burdening you boyfriend so much that he isn’t even obligated to be doing this for you

he was sacrificing his time tutoring you and you’re just wasting it

“i’m sorry i can’t learn as easily as you,” you mutter softly, picking up your things quickly

tsukishima gives you a look of confusion, “w-where are you going?”

“thanks for all your help, but i can’t keep wasting your time like this.” you say as you zipped up your backpack and left

the next day you walked to school alone. usually you would be walking with tsukishima and yamaguchi, but it seemed like even tadashi wasn’t there to wait outside your house either

you weren’t able to hide your melancholy as you entered your classroom, slightly glad that tsukishima and yamaguchi weren’t here yet to see your expression

it allowed you time to pull yourself together, and yet, that time alone was cut short as the two walked in

you briefly flicker them a look fast enough that they don’t notice, but long enough for you to see yamaguchi patting his best friend on the back with encouragement

tsukishima had something in his hands, but you were too far away to construe them

you looked back down to your desk, fiddling with you pencil and pretending as if you were thinking about what to write next

it was then did footsteps approach, arriving right next to you with a presence so unwavering

you gulped, hoping that it wasn’t who you thought it was as you looked it

of course it just had to be that one lanky boy with glasses and messy blond hair to be standing by your side

he was holding a stuffed giraffe and a small white box with string neatly tied around it

“i’m sorry for blowing up on you,” he bursts out his apology, “i know you have a hard time and i should’ve remembered that you can’t help it.”

he places the giraffe plushy and box onto your desk

“it’s an masai giraffe since i remembered you liking their unique fur pattern and i also got you strawberry short cake this morning before they ran out that’s why i wasn’t there to walk you to school.” tsukishima continues explaining, “i just hope you’re not angry with me.”

you felt a smile creeping up to your lips as you shook your head, “i could never.”

[xaharadesert]

Accidental Potion Drinking - Headcanon

Arcana Characters (Main 6) x MC

A/N: This is one of the super cute requests I’ve gotten from @firefly-child! It’s taken some time to get to it (as I’m currently working through older requests), but I’m super excited to write something light and fluffy :) the backstory provided was along the lines of MC and their LI having a little wine night when MC accidentally grabs the wrong bottle and they end up drinking a harmless potion instead, which is a really fun request! I don’t know anything about wine, so I’ll just casually skirt around that issue by leaving it to the reader’s imagination, but since the type of potion was left up to me I’ll definitely be having some fun describing the effects! Please let me know if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, and requests are open!

TW: drinking, consumption of alcohol, tipsy characters, mentions of alcohol, sorry I don’t really know how to tag for this kind of thing, but the alcohol bit is really only mentioned briefly to set up the scene

❤️Julian❤️

It didn’t take long to realize that you had grabbed the wrong bottle, considering that after the two of you had taken a few sips of what you had thought was wine you had both started slowly floating upward

There were a few moments where Julian thought to himself “wow, this stuff must be pretty strong, I kinda feel like I’m floating” before he realized that, oh, he was, in fact, floating

This was followed shortly after by only a second of panic, which quickly turned into delight when he remembered he was dating a magician and this sort of thing was probably normal for you

Honestly though, as endearing as it would be for him to simply trust that you were pulling a harmless prank, you would probably be panicking a bit more because oh my stars you grabbed the wrong bottle and which potion was this exactly?

But of course, Julian has an infectious laugh, and seeing as you were already a bit tipsy and nothing majorly bad was currently happening, you dissolved into a fit of giggles as well

By now the two of you were drifting near the ceiling (thank goodness you were inside), laughing at each other as you tried not to spin too far apart

The effects of the potion wore off a few minutes later, seeing as you had only had a few sips each, and you settled down peacefully, no harm done

🧡Portia🧡

The two of you had been having a rather peaceful evening, for once devoid of any sort of job or task that needed tending to

You were genuinely relaxing, drinking wine and telling bad jokes that would send you into full-bellied laughter— the kind that only seemed to grow whenever you tried to stop

With that being said, it wasn’t that surprisingly when the two of you developed a bad case of the hiccups after a while

What was surprising were the bubbles that floated from your mouth afterward

Although you were initially confused, Portia’s obvious delight at the magical turn of events quickly dissuaded your worries

She was always thrilled whenever you performed even the smallest bit of magic in your daily life, and this was no different, even if it was an accident on your part

Her hiccups only seemed to get worse as she laughed harder, tears of joy starting to spill from her eyes

The mood was infectious, and you would find yourself joining her in her pure delight

Small moments of joy such as this permeated your relationship, but this one in particular would always be a favourite of Portia’s, she was sure

💛Lucio💛

You know, even with Mercedes and Melchoir’s incessant barking, you two had been having a rather relaxing evening, sharing your favourite wines with each other as Lucio regaled you with endless stories of his epic past battles and parties

However, as always, things took a turn in the most unexpected way

The two of you had only taken a few sips of a bottle you had brought out when you noticed the dogs’ barks seemed to sound… different

You tuned out Lucio for a moment and came to the realization that you were, in fact, hearing actual genuine words coming from the dogs’ mouths as they yelled at Lucio, an endless chant of “Dad, dad, dad!”

Lucio seemed to have not noticed, so you gave him a gentle shove and motioned for him to be quiet and listen to the dogs, which promptly lead to his own eyes widening and his mouth hanging open as he processed what was happening

He was thrilled, obviously, to be able to communicate with his beloved dogs, and all thoughts of the story he was telling were forgotten

In all honesty, Mercedes and Melchior didn’t seem to have a lot to say other than “Dad!” and “Love!”, but Lucio’s eyes were brimming with tears anyway as he hugged his dogs close

Let’s be real, having the opportunity to tell a beloved pet that you love them and to have them understand it would be one of the greatest feelings of all time, and Lucio was determined to not waste a second

What may have been a small mistake on your part was one of the greatest moments of Lucio’s life, in his words

💚Muriel💚

It wasn’t noticeable at first— then again, Muriel’s voice was rather deep

But after a few more sips, you couldn’t deny it; his voice was definitely getting higher

He had been in the middle of telling you about something funny one of the chicken’s had done that day, and you had been quietly listening, but now you absolutely had to know

So, as politely as possible, you interrupted him, only to find that, oh, yeah, your voice was much higher than before

Both of you seemed pretty shocked, but let’s be honest, it’s hard not to laugh when it sounds like both of you had just inhaled helium, which, apparently, was the effect of the potion you had accidentally poured out for the two of you to drink

Muriel tried to stifle his laughter, but failed miserably as you embraced the situation and let out a long and loud sound of joy

There was no harm in drinking the potion, luckily, so the two of you decided to continue as you were, telling stories in the most serious voices you could while trying not to burst out laughing

💙Asra💙

Most evenings you spent alone with Asra were filled with quiet laughter and gentle light continuing to illuminate the room even after the sun had bid you goodnight, and today was no different

You had opened a new bottle of wine just a few minutes prior, despite both you and Asra having slightly rosy cheeks from being a bit tipsy already

The cozy light of the lantern above your head reflected off of him in a way that almost made him seem like he was glowing, although combined with the way he dressed it wasn’t very unusual

That was until you reached out to him to push aside a stray curl from his face and subsequently realized that relative to you, he really was very much actually glowing

You had been telling him about a particularly stubborn customer earlier, and as a result, hadn’t had as much to drink, so the difference was clear

He picked up on your surprise quickly, and reached up toward his own hair, thinking perhaps there was something stuck in it that startled you, only to also see his skin was glowing with a faint light

Of course, he knew as well as you did that potions were often misplaced in the shop when there was no real urgency to keep them sorted, so he knew right away what was happening, and, frankly, he found it hilarious

If you were at all apprehensive about drinking random potions while tipsy, Asra would have been pick to put those thoughts from your mind by quickly downing more of the potion and snuffing out the lantern

This on it’s own would have been a funny sight, but when he smiled widely at you and you noticed that even his teeth were glowing with a bright white light, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything but laugh, which, of course, had been his plan all along

He would encourage you to drink the potion as well so the two of you could wander around in the darkened Vesuvian streets and scare other citizens :)

💜Nadia💜

Wine nights with Nadia are pretty common— it’s one of her favourite ways to unwind after a long day of working to improve Vesuvia

However, she’s usually the one providing the wine (seeing as she’s a very wealthy Countess), so nights like this one, where you brought over some of your favourites to share, were rather uncommon

The two of you weren’t particularly tipsy when you accidentally poured a potion into her glass instead of wine— an accident that you immediately recognized when Nadia morphed into an entirely different person in front of your eyes

Nadia herself seemed a bit surprised as well, seeing as the effect of the potion usually left the user with a mild child down their spine

You were quick to point out the error and apologize, but to your confusion Nadia seemed thrilled with the mistake

Blending in with Vesuvia’s population to gain a better understanding of her people was something she had always struggled to do, but you had just handed her the perfect opportunity

Wine forgotten, she grabbed your hand and lead you toward what was sure to be one of the most adventurous nights you had ever had in Vesuvia