#also i suppose you got the impression I don't ship them from the fact I don't draw them a whole lot?

[maxlovespigeons]

Hey, you like COTL, right? Could you help me figure something out?

Why do people ship Narinder and the Lamb?

YOU ARE ONE OF TWO PEOPLE IVE MET ON THIS SITE THAT HAS ANY FORM OF RELATION TO THE GAME THAT SEEMS TO NOT SHIP NARILAMB!

And I'm not even sure about the other one

Oh I do ship them! I suppose from what I've seen it started out as like a very common joke? How most of the players that spared Narinder after defeating him ended up marrying him

Plus there's the whole mini quest series you get from him in post game where it seems he warms up to the Lamb and even ends up thanking them, I think that's pretty cute :] even if you don't ship them you could probably see them as unlikely friends at the end of it.

Then there's the domino effect of the ship being popular: people enter the fandom, see the ship is popular, then start shipping it as well because why not? Shipping is one of the biggest fandom fuels, so it's rather not surprising that the fandom latched onto something like that!

And, in the end, the creators seem to encourage the ship on Twitter a whole lot! They retweet art and interact with the community a lot in that regard, even having made some jokey official art with the two in a position where they'd be seen as a couple (as Mary and Joseph in a parody artwork for Christmas).

Nothing wrong if you don't enjoy the ship in the end, as long as you're respectful to the people that do! (Which goes both ways, of course.) The game has a lot to offer and the relationship between the Lamb and the One Who Waits is the one we get most of, so I don't think it's overall very surprising people choose to focus on them a whole lot!

[vicvinegarandhughhoney]

Dennis Reynolds is AUTISTIC!!!!

(At least, I headcanon him as such).

Here's why:

Sensory issues:

If you've watched the show, you probably already know what I mean, but Dennis really struggles to deal with sensory input. When there's a loud noise, he often covers his ears- like in Family Fight:

or he gets frustrated, lashing out at diners for being too loud (The Gang Dines Out), getting annoyed at Frank for chewing gum too loud.

It's worth noting that later on in this episode, Dennis can hear Frank chewing gum from the other room. He's clearly hypersensitive, and perhaps this even goes to explaining a little bit why his room is soundproofed? Could it be that rather than not wanting people to hear what's going on inside, he's desperate to block the noise coming from outside?? (this was suggested by @kod-lyoko , and I LOVE IT).

There are SO many examples of Dennis plugging his ears (often when the others don't react in such a strong way):

There are way too many examples to list here, and too many images I could give (the above were taken from @dennisboobs ' gif set) but hopefully you get the impression.

Social issues:

I feel like this one is pretty self-evident, but I find deconstructing the things Dennis does super fun, so I'm going to explain anyway: Dennis does NOT know how relationships work. There are a great deal of factors at play to cause this (I would argue that his early experiences in life definitely moulded his view in an unhelpful way) but the systematic way he looks at interactions REEKS of autism to me.

The DENNIS system is hardly peak autism representation (it's certainly not the bright and bubbly stuff people often talk about), but the fact that he has a system for romantic/sexual interactions, both for men AND women, feels super autistic-coded. He quite literally has a script which he follows to make interactions easier, one which he sticks to rigidly. And if anybody tries to implement this carefully thought out system incorrectly? Well, he'll let you know (e.g in The Dennis System episode where he blows up at Mac and Charlie for not getting it right at the fair).

He masks his social deficits well, but sometimes things don't go to plan. Sometimes, the girl on the cruise ship runs away, and Dennis announces that 'that's not supposed to happen'.

He comes off as creepy, but that's not his intention. He doesn't understand the way he's perceived by others in general- he thinks he's the King of St Joseph's, not realising he was actually an outcast all along. Just like a lot of autistic people, he didn't understand that he was on the fringes of society until it was thrust in his face, and that hurt.

Speech:

While Dennis often appears to speak pretty normally, there are a few occasions where his frustration causes this mask of normality to slip.

In The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby, Dennis is caught off guard by the hipster's reading of him, and immediately goes back to Frank and Charlie, parroting almost the same words he heard right back to them, despite not seeming to understand them at all (perhaps a form of echolalia?).

"I'm out here trying to make a difference, and you're over here rummaging around in the trash like a couple of narcs! Okay, you can't just come down here with your mainline cashmere, mousse... quaff... hairspray, and start being like, a suburban tool!"

It's also worth noting that even the poetic way he speaks when he's angry could be a trait ?? As a recently diagnosed autistic person, in my report they spoke about how I used 'idiosyncratic' language (basically, peculiar language lol), and listed terms like 'connoisseur', which I guess were deemed pretty formal for casual conversation.

And it got me thinking, who else do we know who uses VERY idiosyncratic language? Dennis. Reynolds.

"The thunder of my vengeance will echo through these halls, like the gust of a thousand winds"

"Begone, vile man, begone from me!... I am untethered and my rage knows no bounds!"

"You didn't tell me there was to be pollen!"

Etc... etc...

The way he repeats 'savages, idiots!' during his rage at the frat bros feels very autism coded to me. Repetition of certain words and phrases is common!

Heightened emotions:

Again, something that I didn't know until I myself was diagnosed is that for a lot of autistic people, we spend most of the time at a pretty 'flat' emotional state, but when we do experience emotions, we experience them intensely. Frustration turns into anger, sadness turns into despair, happiness turns into ecstasy- it's why some autistic people might be misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder!

This, of course, fits well with the way Dennis experiences emotions. He spends a lot of the time believing he doesn't have any at all, and when he does feel something, it's overwhelming.

"And I have feelings! Of course I have feelings, I have big feelings, okay? And it hurts."

These lines hit hard regardless of the extra weight you put on them, but when you see them through the lens of autism, through the lens of a lifetime of misunderstanding and overstimulation, it makes them hit even harder.

It hurts him to feel. His emotions are so strong that they're painful, and he's never been taught how to deal with them, because nobody even knew he had them in the first place.

Stimming:

Finally, I think Dennis stims. A lot. If you search up 'Dennis Reynolds autistic' on this very site, you'll find gifsets and videos illustrating this.

He has a few very common ones, like tugging on his earlobe when he's anxious, playing with his fingers, etc, but if you pay attention to him even when he's in the background of scenes, you'll pick up on a lot. Dennis is constantly moving, and while you could suggest this is simply a result of Glenn's ADHD, I'd argue that some of these stims happen so frequently in Sunny specifically, that there's no way they're coincidental.

Glenn makes a lot of very specific acting and directorial choices in Sunny, so why dismiss these as choices too?

That's all I can be bothered to type up now, but here's my case for Autistic!Dennis ! Of course, he's a complex character so there's always room for different interpretations...

but as an autistic person, I hereby claim him as One Of Us™.

[katyspersonal]

Hmm... How about Izzy for Character ask meme? There isnt really any thing about them but if I am not wrong you liked them a lot.

You are NOT wrong :>

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

Favorite thing about them:

I was already intrigued by the fact that this character tapped upon the thing of "the best way to fight the beasts is to become a beast yourself"! Just.. look at this:

Izzy gave me an impression of someone thinking too ahead of their time. But then, my FAVORITE favorite thing came with discovery of Bloodborne retranslations! They were said to be apostate, not 'irreverent'! So, straight up rebel to a Church, maybe even one once serving it but detracting, and I can see why! Izzy is the PUUUUNK.

Least favorite thing about them:

How easy it is to brush this character off with the assumption that they're just Suspicious Beggar т.т Not something I personally agree with, of course!

Favorite line:

Lol. Lmao, even. xD It is okay, though, I am writing a lot of her, so I'll grab a quote from my writing!

"When ya' sentence someone to die in the darkness... make goddamn sure they won't learn to SEE in it!"! That's her way to say "I lived, bitch" basically dfshhfsd After she got chased down into Loran Dungeons as a "beast and a heretic" when she snapped at Vicar Ashton! (My timeline of 'generation of Vicars' is: Laurence - Ashton - Norbert & Laura - Amelia, all names taken from cut content for Bloodborne).

Ashton is a PIECE OF SHIT and everyone knows he deserved it, and how he incurred it, but it was a good chance for him to... misjudge Izzy, to say the least. Healing Church has been waiting for a good excuse to kick Izzy out of the Hunters because of her uncontrollable nature and "dangerous" thoughts. Not only she lived, despite still having been not so experienced hunter, but also had quite a change of heart from simply misunderstood person with impulse issues to someone seeing succumbing into beasthood as "humanity regaining their true form again". 🙄 Having met Fauna was also a big factor.

....the worst part is that I wrote her before I touched Dark Souls with ten yards stick, but @val-of-the-north said that coincidences like this just prove that my creativity is on the same wavelength so I don't need to scrap and rewrite everything XD

brOTP:

Izzy and Archibald, without question! Yes, they both studied the Darkbeasts and were heretics for the Healing Church for trying to use beasthood powers for advantage! They think outside of the box!

But they also balance each other well! Archibald is very pragmatic and calculating man, and Izzy is open-minded and accepting. Both are slow to anger unless the right strings are pulled, and when one of them is ready to murder, it is another who can stop them! However, whereas Izzy falls into extreme about "forsaken civilisation and let the animal impulses guide us!", Archibald argues that there must be civilisation in beasthood as well, lest in this "future" everyone just eats each other into extinction. At the same time, Archibald can appear not daring enough, and Izzy helps the shared research progress with risky methods! Archibald can't step into the water without knowing its depth, Izzy jumps straight in it!

OTP:

Damn, I wish I knew which ship with Izzy is 1) more preferred than others and 2) is not on the hatefuck territory dshfdhfd Izzy's significant connections are either just friends, or people like Laurence or Ludwig who meet their match in him in the end and maybe at some point you just get tired of battling? -_-

I suppose Valtr, then! In my story, Izzy deceives him to join the League, especially with how they grew hostile to the Healing Church too! He wanted Valtr's secret of envisioning the human dregs, except... well, instead of destroying them, she studied them to benefit from this power and submerge stronger into it. 🙄 ���‍♂️ But, they were rather passionate with each other while it lasted. As wrong and deceitful it was on Izzy's side. They have that awful bitter EXes energy where they still have tension between each other when they meet. xD

Izzy x Suspicious Beggar is "healthier", on the other hand! When Izzy learned of Loran curse still manifesting in him, he got jealous, true... but also, fascinated! Izzy gave him acceptance no matter what, telling him that dark impulses within him were not to be suppressed and uprooted, but divine? :p They'd play fight like actual animals often, Beggar would revel in the luxury of confessing a murder to someone and not be hunter, and she was giving him belly rubs!

^^^ (no face distortion slider jumpscare) Also, since Suspicious Beggar and Henryk 1) share the absolutely identical slider for that mole on the nose 2) both are connected with Loran and 3) just fucking Look At Them, my monkey brain started to headcanon them as brothers XD So, if Beggar and Izzy became a couple, Henryk would basically do this:

sdjfhdsgfgds Also, before I considered the obvious implication that the beast Yamamura chased from not-Japan was result of Cainhurst doing trade with not-Japan, I came up with the story that the beast he chases IS Izzy's beast form.... This is not a shipping matter, I just think it is funny how I ended up inserting her in League's story so much!

nOTP:

This character is basically an OC with a prompt! Ships with Izzy depend on how character is interpreted beyond studying beasthood and being an apostate to the Healing Church! How can I tell!

Random headcanon:

Yamamura's hat comes from being still attached to Izzy's spikes even when she became a giant beast! It used to be her hat. He was not able to murder her with the weapon that he had, just stabbing and stabbing frantically, until Valtr walked towards and casually lended him his Whirligig Saw to be able to finish the job. He then put the hat on still shocked Yamamura's head, as sort of a trophy, that Yamamura later cleaned and fixed from the damage to his best ability! Izzy wanted to make sure that the curse of beasthood could never die down, so... yeah, even if entire Yharnam got nuked, there is still a large ticking bomb in Yamamura's village now... :^)

Unpopular opinion:

There is a whole type of hostile NPCs, known as 'Successor of Izzy', or 'Izzy's Admirer', roaming Loran! Josef is simply a summon variant of these enemies, which respawn! So, my unpopular opinion: if there is a bunch of people who followed Izzy's footsteps into Loran to find whatever insight Izzy found, then Izzy must have been a significant person for the setting! Legendary Hunter, not just another Hunter!

Song I associate with them:

I will share two? They kind of contradict one another in what Izzy vibe they make me think of, but hey, associations with songs are very vague thing! :p One made me focus on the "sad" look at her story, as if she was corrupted there in Loran, as well as her previously grappling with her impulses. Another is..... well, the most punk shit I've ever seen. xD However, both will probably make you age at least 20 years fsdhfdh

Favorite picture of them:

Okay, by now I figured that this question doesn't specifically refer to fanart... but there are NO images of Izzy from the source material! So I have to share art of her that I like the most anyways:

[chipthekeeper]

Ranking Velcinta moments by how insane they make me feel, a(n overly) comprehensive list

As promised, here's my way too detailed ranking of all 18-ish of their moments. This (predictably) got obnoxiously long toward the end, so venture under the cut if you actually care and/or don't mind a lot of scrolling.

18. Valley One (Ep. 6)

I'm relatively sane about this. Except when I think about how they probably slept in that little hut the night before. Also when I think about how this is one of the very few shots in which they're both visible and (relatively) in focus.

17. "No farewells tonight." (Ep. 5)

Mostly was insane about this when the episode first came out and I was SO. FUCKING. WORRIED. that they were gonna die in the next one.

16. "What are they doing?" (Ep. 5)

Girlfriends who scowl together stay together (please Tony Gilroy I'm begging you).

15. Feeding the dray (Ep. 5)

The fact that Cinta is smiling here is what makes me most crazy. Also I just adore this flash of simple domesticity with them. Ahh, what could have been....

14. "Have you heard from Cinta?" (Ep. 7)

Vel not being able to look Kleya in the eye when she asks about Cinta makes me crazy mostly for the whole "Vel/Kleya exes" plot but of course this whole part had me jumping out of my seat on first watch.

13. "The rebellion comes first. We take what's left." (Ep. 9)

VEL FINDING STRENGTH IN CINTA'S WORDS AND USING THEM TO HELP MON WITH HER DOUBTS TOO I'M !!!!!

(went all-caps way before I thought I would, maybe this one should be higher....)

12. Into the smoke (Ep. 12)

She looks so worried when Cinta isn't where she's supposed to be and then she sprints INTO the melee while everyone else is running AWAY. I'M NOT FINE!!!!

11. At the campfire (Ep. 4)

I swear to y'all that the first time I watched this episode and saw them sitting so close I was like "oh. hey" fully intending to ship them even if that was literally all we got. And then holy fucking shit we got everything I was too afraid to ask for. So this moment always has a special place in my heart.

10. "What's she doing?" (Ep. 4)

It. Makes. Me. CRAZY. That the first time they share a scene together, they're literally always in the same frame.

CRAZY.

Like....they've been connected from the VERY beginning, even if the show revealed them being together rather slowly. Also it's everything to me that the first time we see Cinta it's Taramyn asking her what Vel is up to bringing a new guy in. Because if anyone would know, it would be her.

9. "Stay focused, Clem." (Ep. 5)

All of the territorial Vel stuff is great to me but I especially love this moment. First of all Cinta's little smirk. And also it's just so....idk it's a quiet moment of contemplation and probably anxiety but we can't not take a second to tell Clem to back off.

I'm combining this with the "you can dress yourself" bit too because that moment just makes me laugh with how Vel's always in the background watching and then immediately jumps up to give Clem the business and use his scuffle with Skeen as an excuse to mark her territory.

8. "Closet?" "Empty." (Ep. 12)

That bit of dialogue made my gay little self so happy and then they went and did the whole "that's blood" "it's not mine" thing and I'll never recover. Vel being so concerned that she won't even let Cinta keep packing, but then at the very end she's a little impressed/turned on??? 10/10 no notes. (okay I have one note and that's "you're really just going to leave me hanging like that for two years?????" but that's a different post)

7. "Get down!" (Ep. 6)

Truly one of my favorite scenes in the whole show is when Vel almost loses her shit at the top of the dam. The tension is insane, her fear is PALPABLE, and I absolutely love that it's Cinta just calling her out for stalling and then yelling at her that breaks her out of it.

But the thing that makes me feel most crazy about this scene is this:

Someone please explain to me WHY Cinta makes the jump while looking directly at Vel. EXPLAIN IT TO ME. Or else I will just continue to believe it's because part of her is scared up there too and looking at Vel is what helps her take the leap. That is a crazy thought -- I'm pretty sure she's fine -- but if it's not that then I don't get why she's even facing that way??

6. This (Ep. 8)

THE MUSIC. THE FADE. THE SORROW. I like literally can't even talk about this one. But it does make me feel a lot how obvious it is that Vel's thoughts are soooooooooo far from the fight here:

While at the same time there's not a thought in Cinta's head about her:

Breaks my fucking heart.

5. "No. She didn't tell me." (Ep. 5)

Whew. This moment. For a while I was mostly happy about this moment because it was just one more piece of evidence that they were together before that was fully confirmed.

But then my headcanon brain took over while I was writing my multichapter fic and it has been fucking me up ever since. Because I'm always going to wonder if all their drama was always going to happen the way it did or if Vel betraying Cinta's trust as a partner was some kind of breaking point.

Is that probably just me? Yes. Does it matter? Not to this ranking.

4. "She's already sharin' a blanket if that's what you're wonderin'." (Ep. 5)

I was!!! I was wonderin'!!!!! And I will forever use this phrase as a euphemism for being a lesbian.

What I would not give........to experience this line and this shot for the first time again. Or at least know what I sounded like giving a joyous shout.

3. "Tell me you'll be alright." (Ep. 6)

This is the one that I would probably sound the most insane trying to talk about out loud. It would be a lot of me like verbally keysmashing and somehow going "!!!!!!" out loud.

The hand-hold that saved my life? The EMOTION in their eyes when they look at each other??? Vel starting to go in for the goodbye kiss right in front of the hostages' salad but then just not????????

Fuck.

FUCK!!!!!!!

2. "Come away from the window." (Ep. 12)

I have to start by talking about Vel's cute little sad grin in this scene when she's like "nice to see you too" and Cinta like glares back at her. That made me feel crazy enough but then this whole scene that I want to say I can't even put into words even though I have in fact already done it.

The desperation on Vel's part is what kills me. Not that she's desperate for attention or love or whatever people always try to pin on her here (and of course it is that to some degree) but that she's desperate to keep Cinta from losing herself. She's so desperate but all she can do is ask. All she can do is hope Cinta will turn around and take a break. And she does.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENS AFTER THAT TONY GILROY?!

I have never screamed so loud about a scene just ending.

Whatever, it gave me something to write and I enjoyed doing that.

1. "You love me because I show you what you need to see." (Ep. 8)

And here we are. The scene that has taken up space in my brain more than any other single thing since I saw it. I've been over it so many times. Watching and taking notes, staring at the gifs, studying the screencaps, trying to wrap my head around every little line and gesture and movement and emotion. I've spent hours on it, and I still find myself coming back to think about it and wondering if I've truly understood it all.

Just getting them reunited after Aldhani was such a relief (even though it was jarring at first to just see Cinta and be like "how the fuck did you get here?"). But then the conversation just knocked me on my ass.

"Haven't we been apart long enough?" YES YOU HAVE!!

"We take what's left." NOOOO TAKE IT ALL

"That's cold...even for you." Stabbing me in the face would be less painful.

And then...hearing the words "you love me" from one woman to another woman in a Star Wars show....not a book, not a comic...a show. Truly meant everything to me. I was so fucking happy to hear those words that I couldn't even process how goddamn sad the rest of it was until later. Once I did I had a stomachache for an entire week. I have one again right now.

And then it ends with the most fucking beautiful hand-hold and yet another tiny look that makes me feel crazy in and of itself (which I've done a whole post on by itself), and despite my broken heart I have hope.

If I am ever able to watch this scene and not feel seventeen emotions at once, it's over for me.

Easy number one.

[just-antithings]

For a popular ship in my fandom (the closest thing to an OTP I'll ever have prob) there's a discord which has the rules, "nothing illegal here such as incest, pedophilia, or rape." The other rule was "no arguing about the rules."

They're obviously free to moderate the space however they want. They're the ones running the server. If I don't like it, I'm free to bounce, which is exactly what I promptly did lol.

However, the more I sat with this, the more it occurred to me just what a ridiculous case of bad faith anti virtue signaling this was.

With my blog for that fandom, on my mutual list alone, there are fellow fic writers from Scandanavia, Brazil, the UK, Mexico, and France. The source material is from Japan. Should people in the discord be obeying one of *those* counties' laws or the source material's?

The fact that I can assume the answer is no and that we're defaulting to U.S. law is actually outrageously ethnocentric, even moreso than it might be in other fandoms given how small it is these days. If you're in a chat with 50 people, 25 of whom aren't residents from your country, and you say "oh and of course don't be a filthy, disgusting law-breaker and bad citizen uwu" that's about half the group you've just been a pretty big asshole to 😬 "Me, me, me."

Even if we are defaulting to U.S. law, it's a ludicrous request. Take the rules literally and we shouldn't even be talking about canon because "break the law and damn the consequences" is the biggest running bit in the story lmao. Again, they're asking us to assume--this time that they're only talking about the REALLY bad stuff, sex, which is uniquely bad and evil and dirty and wrong even more than murder or torture (both of which also happen in the show) of course.

I can think of ten classic fics in this fandom which technically wouldn't/dubiously pass their rules. Wildly popular high school AUs and stuff that I suspect they wouldn't think counted, but how are the members of the discord supposed to know that? If we're all in a room, and you say "alright, I'm running this meeting! Also I'm laying my Christian Gun on the table, just to have it out for any FILTHY, HELL-BOUND PERVERTS taking refuge here, kay? What? Nuh-uh NO arguing about the gun you unruly children!" ....people with good ideas are going to leave, or not share them out of fear. Way to speed up the death of our fandom.

Finally, that example leads me to something even more fundamental that bothered me a lot about this: are they seriously under the impression that people are going to plug their filthy copefics/darkfics in a public space about a general popular ship of two characters who canonically haven't even kissed? It's inherently accusatory and condescending and noxious.

Anyways, sorry this got long. Thanks for having this inbox open so people like me can share stuff like this that's hard to talk about in small fandoms.

.

[calamitaswrath]

Cal Lucia plays Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Chapter 13

Not much of a lead-in for this chapter, huh? I'm just plopped right into my pre-chapter preparations. But then again, since in previous cases that was always accompanied by a change in location, and we're still very much on a boat, I suppose that makes sense. Let's start with Jill!

"Why are you still here?" - Blunt, Ike. Blunt. And calling soldiers stupid, too! Reminds me of that one post that's like "everyone who died for their country is a clown". It does make me wonder why exactly Jill really is still with us, though. The basic interesting is obvious, but where does it come from, and why is it enough?

Conversation with Daniel, about the best means to defend on a ship map. Very subtle, game. And they're playing an in-universe war game? Fire Emblem-ception?

Aimee continues to simp for Ike. The game really does make a running gag out of him not caring for women romantically or sexually, huh?

Sibling interactions between Oscar, Boyd and Rolf!! Those are always fun. Judging by the fact that it was a three star one, I thought that it would actually lead to something, but I haven't noticed anything yet. Do they get their own triangle attack now, or. . .?

Right, time to start the actual chapter. And we get more worldbuilding! Begnion's got an empress, Crimea and Daein used to be part of it, and we seriously gotta wonder why they want to see Elincia in the first place

Tanith. . . woag. . .

Hmm, we got a high priestess? The only context in which I've heard of priestesses in the context of PoR/RD is with Micaiah's classes, but I really don't think that she's going to make an actual appearance here yet

Heyy, Gatrie's back! And he got himself a new job. Have to wonder about that other character, though. . . her name in the German version is Stella, but I don't think that's gonna be the same in English. And after looking that up, her English name is Astrid. . . okay? Seems to be another instance of the German version carrying over the Japanese name.

Ohoho, defend map! And one with a lot of chests, too. Gimme gimme gimme!

Ah, there's Nasaela. Based on these early vibes, I can already somewhat understand my friend's obsession. I am curious though why the king of an entire nation is out here making deals with rather lowly soldiers for money like this. Is his country not doing well financially speaking?

Ergh, as I'm playing through this map, I'm beginning to realize that I really don't have the turns to actually get all the items with just Sothe. I think I'll need to restart and hand everyone chest keys. . . lovely.

Well, that second attempt went a lot better in general. I got all the enemies on the upper ship, including the boss, by just turn five! Let's see what else is gonna happen on this map.

Ah, so that other character flying near Nasaela is. . . well, a character. Kinda funny to see an old winged man like that. And pfft, he Nasaela doesn't like being called. . . what would it be in English? Hatchling?

Tibarn and Janaff. I would say these two have the look of playable characters to them.

Hold on, Tibarn's a king as well? Do the bird Laguz have multiple kingdoms? So far, I was under the impression that they only got the one. . .

This lot really was just there to show that they're there, huh?

. . .And I left the defend point unguarded on accident. I thought the enemy ravens would make a beeline for the treasure, NOT that point. Guess that's my first game over!

Jesus fucking christ, my luck on this second attempt was terrible. Astrid missed a ~90% to hit twice, Rolf also missed one, I took longer to beat the boss. . . but at least I managed to still turn things around in the end. Still just absolutely stucks about Astrid though, because she did get a lot more kills, and by proxy, exp, the first time around.

Sigrun! I heard the name before, but I don't have any associations. With Sanaki however, there are some half-remembered tidbits there. I think she's related to Micaiah somehow?

Ah. So the high priestess is the empress as well. Then why even make a distinction in introducing her?

Ike and Soren having a little heart-to-heart! That's nice.

Sanaki's found, and Ike really can be rather thick at times. . . let's see where that leads him

It gets him invited to court, is what it does. Fair enough.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Priory School pts 2-4

So, I was away and then I was sick, so this has taken a while to get around to. Sorry! In case you've ever been curious, going on a plane with a cold is an utterly miserable experience and 0/10 would not recommend. Don't do it. My ears still have not recovered. They should not be crackling like this.

Last time, a young boy whose parents had separated (leaving him with apparently the parent he liked less as primary caregiver) was shipped off to boarding school, from which he disappeared after receiving a letter allegedly from his father. A school teacher disappeared the same night along with a bicycle. The father of the child didn't want scandal so he's not telling anyone that his child is missing - I guess he really wasn't interesting in that father of the year award - and he and his secretary came to tell Holmes to back off.

Lots of people seem to suspect the teacher in spite of the fact he appears to have left in somewhat of a hurry and only one bicycle was missing. I find the secretary suspicious mainly because he's become such a fixture in the narrative (and because he's the one who's providing a lot of the information for the case and also the guy who posts the Earl's letters for him... was it an earl? My heart says it's an earl. Personally I think marquises are criminally underused, but it's more likely to have been an earl.)

Did I remember it all?

Part 2

"He had obtained a large ordnance map of the neighbourhood, and this he brought into my room, where he laid it out on the bed, and, having balanced the lamp in the middle of it, he began to smoke over it, and occasionally to point out objects of interest with the reeking amber of his pipe."

I assume that this means objects of interest to the case, but considering it's Holmes it could mean anything at all. Which is a far more charming image. Just Holmes poring over the map and occasionally saying 'oh, look here, Watson, the contour lines are very circular here abouts.' 'How does that pertain to the boy, Holmes?' 'What? Oh, not at all, but it does suggest some kind of ancient burial mound might be concealed there.'

"...there is no side road for a mile either way."

Excellent. It does make things easier.

Oooh, a map. A map. I do love a map.

Although, that inn is definitely called the Fighting Cock Inn, not the Fighting Clock Inn (there's one with a similar name nearish where I grew up).

Yep, that's Fighting Cock Inn.

Wait a sec... Heidegger's Body? Is Heidegger the German Teacher? Is he dead? Did I miss him dying? Oh... RIP Heidegger. I'm not sure your body has been discovered yet in the text, but apparently it's out there.

“In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor. They left on Tuesday. To-day the police traced them down and examined their caravan. This was found.”

Well it's not them, unless they're someone else in disguise. I suppose they could be working for his mother. But thank you for the reminder of the racism, I guess?? I had almost forgotten about that in my eagerness to read the story.

"Now, Watson, there is cocoa ready in the next room. I must beg you to hurry, for we have a great day before us.”

Well, at least Watson got cocoa this time? Last time I don't think he got anything until after a long train journey, so this is better?

“I am familiar with forty-two different impressions left by tyres. This, as you perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover. Heidegger's tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the mathematical master, was sure upon the point. Therefore, it is not Heidegger's track.”

OK, Holmes knowing 42 types of tyre track, fine. Makes sense. THe Maths teacher knowing what the German teacher's bike tyres looked like? Weird. Unless he also has bike tyres as a special interest.

"The more deeply sunk impression is, of course, the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests. You perceive several places where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the front one. It was undoubtedly heading away from the school."

I don't... understand how that works. Surely it would have crossed over the front tyre track no matter which way it was going?

“But we have a long way still to go. Kindly walk clear of the path. Now let us follow the trail. I fear that it will not lead very far.”

Hey, Holmes looked at the map too! I joke, I joke. But yeah, sorry Heidegger. You seemed like a good guy.

"That he could have gone on after receiving such an injury said much for the vitality and courage of the man. He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat disclosed a night-shirt beneath it. It was undoubtedly the German master."

And thus to part 3. Poor Heidegger did not deserve to die. He was doing his best.

Part 3

As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan and clutched me by the shoulder to save himself from falling. He had had one of those violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless.

Part 3 starting out strong at the Fighting Cock Inn. And please, Watson... like we believe Holmes has twisted his ankle. Please tell me that by this time in your association you did not believe Holmes had actually twisted his ankle? The man once pretended he was dying. He once pretended he was dead. You cannot tell me you honestly believed he had twisted his ankle.

“Look here, my man,” said he. “This is really rather an awkward fix for me. I don't mind how I get on.” “Neither do I,” said the morose landlord.

Look, I know he's a dick and he's the landlord of a pub named after animal cruelty, but still... I kind of like Mr Hayes. His level of fucks given is very Life Goals.

“Pals of the Dook, I suppose?” said the landlord, surveying our mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.

Ah. he's a duke. Well, I remembered the rest. Marquises are still underutilised.

“Because we bring him news of his lost son.”The landlord gave a very visible start.

And that's not suspicious at all.

Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face. His manner was suddenly genial.

Oh my god... maybe try not to react? I take it back, this guy gives far too many fucks. All his idgafuckery is an illusion. He's a fraud.

“Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line, but never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?”

Oh bloody hell, the cows were horses all along. I can't believe I didn't think of that. I trusted Holmes to know the difference between cow and horse tracks, but I guess hes taken up too much brain space with tyre tracks and tobacco ash for animal tracks to be in there as well.

"By George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought out such a blind as that!"

Classist.

“The Duke's secretary!” cried Holmes.

Vindication! cried I.

Holmes keeps 'crying' things when they are trying to be stealthy.

Wilder doesn't seem like the type to cave someone's head in with a blunt object. Presumably he was on the dunlop tyred bicycle and someone else (the innkeeper, perhaps) was on the horse cow with the boy.

I know a lot of children say they want their teachers to die, but if this kid watched that happen and was unaffected then he's severely lacking in empathy and I in turn will be severely lacking in empathy for him.

“I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table,” said he. “I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six thousand pounds. It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents.”

Holmes is being exceedingly mercenary in this one. He does not like this guy, it seems. Perhaps the man he saw in that window was the Duke himself and he had his own son kidnapped in order to... idk? Incriminate his wife so that he could divorce her properly or something? I imagine kidnapping would be grounds for a divorce even in Victorian times.

“I accuse you,” said he. “And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you for that cheque.”

J'ACCUSE!

And so to part 4.

I'm pretty sure in the first part I said the guy either knew exactly where his son was or he was the worst father ever. I mean, those two things were never mutually exclusive, were they?

Part 4

“I hardly understand your Grace.” “I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes. If only you two know of this incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther. I think twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?”

We gonna indulge in a little bribery, huh? As a treat? Going to throw some money around and pretend like a man wasn't murdered because of our petty family squabbles?

Heidegger was worth more than £12k.

(That's about £1.2mill today btw)

“I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily. There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for.” “But James knew nothing of that. You cannot hold him responsible for that. It was the work of this brutal ruffian whom he had the misfortune to employ.”

Pretty sure that's still a crime... that resulted in a man's death... for literally trying to save your son.

With all due respect, your grace (and that is none) Fuck. You.

"He lost not an hour in breaking entirely with the murderer. Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him—you must save him! I tell you that you must save him!”

My dudes, is the duke fucking his secretary? Kinda seems like the duke is fucking his secretary. This is the first time he's shown concern or emotion for anyone other than himself this entire time. Sure he knew where his son was the whole time, but still...

"I am right glad to hear it, if it will not react upon the fate of James.” “Your secretary?” “No, sir; my son.”

Oh... they not fucking. Nope... well that... let's draw a line under that shall we and back away from that entire line of thought.

Mmhm

God the duke is a dickhead.

"When I was a very young man, Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes only once in a lifetime."

Oh fuck off with that shit.

"...I gave him the best of educations, and since he came to manhood I have kept him near my person."

You couldn't have helped him get a job that... wasn't connected to you. So he could be his own person and not basically his own father's servant for his entire life?

So , let me get this straight. You didn't acknowledge him - even just to himself - you arranged and controlled his life and then when he found out he threatened to expose you? Honestly... fair.

And understandable that he hates the legitimate kid, too. He really shouldn't be taking it out on the child, obviously, and he's an arsehole, but it's absolutely understandable.

"All her pretty ways, too—there was not one of them which he could not suggest and bring back to my memory."

There comes a time when this stops being sweet and starts being creepy.

Why send him to school and not to his mother, which is.... further away from your jealous illegitimate child?

"I answer that there was a great deal which was unreasoning and fanatical in the hatred which he bore my heir. In his view he should himself have been heir of all my estates, and he deeply resented those social laws which made it impossible."

He may be a terrible person, but he does make some good points.

"I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression by the dreadful deed he had witnessed."

So Arthur's the best guy in this family, huh? Poor kid.

“This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You leave him in this den for three days.” “Under solemn promises—”

Yeah, because people always keep their promises. Particularly when there's the chance of blackmail involved.

Worst Dad of the Year?

"What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have no doubt that your Grace could make him understand that it is to his interest to be silent."

Not sure what he can offer a guy who's literally going to die either way? A quicker, more painless death perhaps. He doesn't seem like the type who would care about other people.

“In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that any unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence, I would suggest that you make such amends as you can to the Duchess, and that you try to resume those relations which have been so unhappily interrupted.”

I don't know the woman, but I know she does not deserve that. Holmes, you have got to stop trying to play matchmaker between rich dickheads and the women they have hurt. It's not a good look for you.

“These shoes,” it ran, “were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse Hall. They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below with a cloven foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the track."

That explains Holmes' confusion.

Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book. “I am a poor man,” said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust it into the depths of his inner pocket.

Well that's only true relatively, Holmes. I think almost everybody is poor compared to him. And you're being a right little shit about this, aren't you? Not that he doesn't deserve it, but still.

So that was the case. The duke at the time of initially talking to Holmes didn't know where his son was so he really was just a terrible father in so many ways.

I hope the Duchess tells him where to get lost and keeps living in France on his dime, tbh. And that Arthur goes and lives with her because clearly his father doesn't actually care about him at all.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

What is with zutara obsession and making the south pole seem less progressive and super sexist so that it seems like zuko is "saving" her? Aside from sokka being sexist, there's 0 evidence, and the fact katara is shocked women can't fight in the North pole and in hamas flashback we see women fighting, it implies the opposite. Also, in traditional inuit tribes jobs were often separated by gender roles anyway, each gender could do the other job but would often only do certain ones. It's just a weird fire nation fantasy they've got

It's part of two big trends they love in fanfics: Cinderella Katara and Prince Zuko saving her from her terrible life, AND the obsession with "the Fire Nation had a point/wasn't so bad actually" (that last one in particular gets really racist really fast).

It's also their desperate attempt to pretend they are the "feminist ship" to justify the neverending harrassment towards anyone who dislikes Zutara for whatever reason - after all, if they are the "feminist ship" OBVIOUSLY the only motive anyone could have to not be into that pairing is that they hate women, and thus they deserve to be treated like shit as "punishment for being sexist."

And like you pointed out, not only there's zero evidence that the Fire Nation was less sexist than Katara's tribe (which was NOT the Northern Water Tribe and actually allowed women to fight - something Zutarians conveniently "misremember"), let alone be this super progressive naton where women have the same rights as men. Hell, considering it was based on Imperial Japan, the idea of it being a "feminist nation" is just laughable.

We see women as prison guards in the Fire Nation, sure, but every single time we see a Fire Nation fleet, air-force, or regular army walking around enemy territory EVERY CHARACTER is male (except for Azula and her friends). Look at the council meetings Zuko went in "The Storm" and "Nightmares And Daydreams" - there are literally no women there... except for his sister, and only in the last one.

Since I mentioned her, let me remind you: Azula is the literal princess and a prodigy, and Mai and Ty Lee are her two high-born friends that also happen to be shockingly more competent than most of the adults we've seen... yet it was only after the humiliating, disastrous defeat in the North Pole that Ozai decided to send his daughter to accomplish the mission everyone else was failing at, and at first her friends were not even supposed to be involved in it at all.

And once again, even after their insane accomplishments in just a few months, only Azula was present in the council meeting to discuss how to deal with the Earth Kingdom, like the other two didn't help her literally the city that was impossible to conquer. To make matters worse, only Zuko's experience in dealing with the people of Earth Kingdom was discussed, and sure he had spent the most time there because of his banishment, but considering the girls literally infiltrated the goddamn goverment and destroyed it from the inside out, you'd think all four of them would be people Ozai and the others would want to listen to, instead of focusing solely on Zuko.

To me, that just screams that being a warrior/strategist is generally not seen as a "woman's role" in the Fire Nation - and while women CAN achieve that kind of status with the right conections and A LOT of impressive accomplishments, they are still the exception to the rule. They can be a back up plan that leads to victory and gain some respect, but they are never the first option.

There's also things like Mai saying her parents would let her do and have whatever she wanted as long as she behaved, or the fact that in the original plans for book 3 Azula was supposed to have an arranged marriage much like Yue, and the obvious fact that Azula's whole life was all about how much she desperately wanted to please her father at all cost - to the point that she's completely emotionally destroyed in the finale when he decides "Sorry, you don't get to actually share the glory of taking down the Fire Nation's biggest enemy. You can have the title of Fire Lord as a consolation prize. But since I'm going to be Phoenix King now, it basically just means that I'm giving you an empty title that means nothing so you'll shut up."

For fuck's sake, we see Ozai spew the most obviously made up bullshit ever with that "I totally am only leaving you behind so because some one needs to protect our nation and I can only trust you, my perfect child, to do that", like that is in anyway the role of someone with Azula's level of ability and not the role of the hundreds of armed men she would eventually banish.

As a final detail, even though Ozai mentions BOTH of his children as potential heirs when he is trying to get his father to give him Iroh's crown, we were told in plenty of descriptions about Azula's coronation as Fire Lord that she would be the FIRST woman to have that title. It is very unlikely that, in all of Fire Nation history, not once has there been a case of a Fire Lord's first child being a girl/only having daughters and no sons, meaning that, at the very least, there's once again a system of women being perfectly acceptable back-up plans, but never the first choice.

Now, compare that to the Southern Water Tribe - literally the only hint of any kind of inequality is the factSokka made some sexist comments that he obviously heard from someone else, and half the time he says that shit with the explicit intention of getting on his younger sister's nerves. That's it. Doesn't sound anywhere as serious as Pakku throwing a tantrum over Aang daring to teach Katara, and deciding "You know what? I'm not gonna teach the Avatar at all just to show how I much I don't like it when women do something I don't want to do. Everyone can just fucking die for all I care" - something we KNOW would never have happened in the South Pole, since we saw Hama and other women fighting Fire Nation raids.

Everything we know points to Katara's tribe being far less sexist than it's sister tribe, and being either on the same page as the Fire Nation when it comes to women's rights OR potentially having been a more egalitarian place before being nearly wipped out of the map.

There's also another aspect to this conversation that Zutara fans often deliberately ignore: even if this infamously imperialist and racist country DID give women the same rights it gives to men, that would only naturally only apply to women of the Fire Nation and surely not to the foreign girl that came from the tribe they commited genocide against. Surely not the girl that saved the Avatar's life, and thus led to their eventual defeat in a war that everyone assumed had already been won.

I'm not saying NO ONE would see Katara as in no way inferior to Fire Nation women, but let's not kid ourselves here and pretend there's any chance of this super racist culture suddenly changing overnight just because the Fire Lord said "you guys have to be cool with other races now."

So yeah, anyone who genuinely tries to tell me "Katara HAS to marry Zuko! It's her one chance for happiness! She would totally be better off in the Fire Nation because they treat women fairly, unlike her awful, backwards tribe of misogynistic savages" can kiss my ass.

[blackbutlerfandomnerddomain]

So I just had a though process of the fact Black Butler basically revealed several bloodtypes that characters have and the personality types they may have

Examples

Lizzie, being a Canopus, is pretty dead on with what I assume many people's first impression of Lizzie in the beginning before we all had a unison cry over her bad-assness in the ship ark

Ciels(both OCiel and RCiel)

Being Sirius is also pretty on the nose with the whole genius bit and even the two-face side of character which he does do naturally

And thanks to this from both @midnight-in-town and @abybweisse we were able to come up with certain bloodtypes these two would tie into

Those with "Sirius" as their guardian are most likely Type AB while those who are protected by "Canopus" are Type B Which fun fact those who are Type B can donate blood to those who are Type AB

Now, lets check bloodtype personalities or Ketsueki-gata that Blavat is kind of basing it off of

WARNING: None of these traits are set in stone, they are just little things like Zodiac signs, if you belong to these blood types and don't think it's correct, I apologize

Blood Type A:

People with type A blood have been linked to positive traits such as creativity, cleverness, and cooperativeness, whereas their supposed negative traits include stubbornness and uptightness.

So those who are Type A are creative and stubborn, an imminent thought of Doll until the reveal. In a way, I can lowkey see Soma being Type A just off this alone

Blood Type B:

Individuals with type B blood are supposed to be strong, passionate, empathetic, and decisive, but they have also been associated with selfishness and erratic behavior. People with this blood type are said to clash with those with type A blood.

Very interesting that erratic behavior are part of this with from what we've seen of Lizzie and later on Doll. The empathy and passionate sides already check out with them both with how trusting they both are and in a way, the "selfish" part also makes sense somehow

Blood Type AB:

The purported strengths of those with type AB blood include rationality and adaptability, but their weaknesses are said to be indecision, criticalness, and forgetfulness. This blood type is largely viewed as having the characteristics of both type A and type B individuals.

. . . Somehow the idea of forgetful Ciels are funny as shit-

And finally, Blood Type O:

Type O people have been linked to characteristics such as confidence, determination, resilience, and intuition, but they are also supposedly self-centered and unstable. They are said to especially appear selfish to individuals with Type A blood.

If he had blood, this feels like Sebastian's Blood Type

Big thanks to verywellmind.com for helping with the stuff for this little post

And, as I've mentioned a lot so far, we also recently got confirms of Doll's blood type also being B as she's "protected by Canopus" like Lizzie!

And as I've mentioned, they're both rather similar, something I believe was something we all lowkey-ed ship them over before all of this.

They are both passionate:

Lizzie is very passionate in her skills and being the perfect fiancée for either Ciels while Doll is very clearly very passionate of her own skills of being a perfect family member

They're both empathetic:

They both follow and lead through life and their decisions with their emotions, they're both emotional and open bleeding hearts, the smallest story of a sobbing tale wins them over than basic knowledge of "that seems a lil sus"

They are both strong:

This is both physically and emotionally. These two take in a lot just being connected to the Phantomhives, they were in different forms of darkness due to that family alone and the stuff that happened to said family

And not to mention, according to this Blood Type Personality thing, THEY'RE THE MOST COMPATIBLE RELATIONSHIP WISE!

So yeah, CielLizzie, CielDoll, LizzieDoll shippers, go nuts!

But wait, there's more!

Cause we have four more blood type reveals baby!

And if you need help on who's who:

Sirius = Gregory Violet

Canopus = Lawrence Bluewear

Vega = Herman Greenhill

Polaris = Edgar Redmond

P.S., I'm not fully convinced on Canopus and Polaris mainly cause with hoods up it's hard to tell besides special features aka Violet's lipstick and heigh aka Greenhill, I just assume Polaris is Redmond due to his mouth being more open than Canopus which makes me think of him as he would be the most obvious choice of public speaking out of all of them especially Bluewear

It's safe to assume they represent their actual Blood Types, which is furthered evidence when Violet is nearly killed due to giving blood, which let's review knowing them:

Sirius/Blood Type AB: The purported strengths of those with type AB blood include rationality and adaptability, but their weaknesses are said to be indecision, criticalness, and forgetfulness. This blood type is largely viewed as having the characteristics of both type A and type B individuals. Very Violet, especially when it's any scene of him doing any form of arts a.k.a....

Vega/Blood Type O: Type O people have been linked to characteristics such as confidence, determination, resilience, and intuition, but they are also supposedly self-centered and unstable. They are said to especially appear selfish to individuals with Type A blood. Which is rather on the nail with Greenhill as we've seen in the panels I've shared and that moment he accidentally almost crushed OCiel in the head with his cricket swing

As for Polaris and Canopus, they're left alone for now since I'm still switching on who Redmond and Bluewear are, but it's very clear Yana planned these characters well with this whole thing in mind!

But what do you guys think? Based off the info alone do you think you can think of would fit which blood type?

[shoujomangathoughts]

Shoujo Thoughts - Hana Kimi

So for my first post outside of Chihayafuru, I thought I'd talk about Hana Kimi (aka Hanazakari no Kimitachi e), which I believe is considered a classic shoujo (quickly looking at the sales I'd assume it was). Even though there's several live action adaptations (as a fan of SHINee and f(x) it surprised me that the drama Minho and Sulli were in was based on this manga), my experience is solely the manga. I finished reading this a couple months ago so if I remember something wrong, I apologize in advance. I won't really talk about any spoilers until the character section.

For these posts, I'll just go over some impressions I had (very casually "review") and talk about my favorite arc and/or character.

Hana Kimi's premise is pretty interesting; Ashiya transfers to an all-boys school in Japan because she looks up to Sano and his ability in the high jump. So we've got this setup of a girl infiltrating an all boys school and the manga essentially focuses on the shenanigans that come about because of that, as well as some more coming of age and some familial themes. I specifically thought Sano's issues with his family were handled pretty well and tied into his character and the overall narrative in a satisfying way (I also liked his brother's character). This series doesn't go super deep into more serious topics or handle them with the most nuance, but that's probably because at its core, this series is more lighthearted. It has a lot of scenarios typical of a high school series (sports events, school dances, etc.).

Of course, there's also romance. The romance in this series, or at least the acknowledgement of it, moves very slow. There are moments where it's very clear something is going on, but it's played off as characters being dense/misunderstanding/etc. It's a series that's tagged with "love polygon", but there's never any doubt about who the romantic conclusion lies with, so if that sways you one way or another, there's that. The romantic plots are pretty typical of the high school series you may have read or watched before but the cast is still enjoyable enough to continue (for me at least).

Overall, I actually really enjoyed this series. The cast has a large amount of different personalities and they lend themselves to a variety of situations. Some of my favorites were Dr. Umeda, Kayashima and Nanba. I've seen the art of this series be described as dated but I really like it for the most part (I enjoy a lot of the art from series from this time). It's a solid slice of life rom-com series even if some of the little arcs felt unnecessary (the arc with the boy from America and the ghost/spirit boy are scenarios that come to mind) and the ending felt a bit abrupt. I suppose some of the comedy might have aged, but I don't remember anything glaring (Akiha was a bit weird when it came to Umeda though if I recall). I haven't read a lot of slice of life series like this, let alone many from this far back, so I'm not sure how it stacks up to other series but I'd still recommend giving it a look.

Favorite character : Nakatsu

I don't think I really have second lead syndrome, but sometimes I find the character that won't "win" ship-wise to be more interesting. Nakatsu here is the one in the group with a sunny disposition and generally is upbeat. He has an interesting personal arc where he mulls over the fact that he's into Ashiya (despite believing her to be a guy) and he eventually decides that he'd rather accept his feelings than worry about sexuality. The manga has a weird way of "justifying" this (I believe that Umeda said something about Nakatsu being able to tell she wasn't a guy because of pheromones or something), but I liked the conclusion that he came to and how he freely expressed his interest in her. The arcs centered around Nakatsu were also entertaining to me because they focused on more serious situations that forced his upbeat personality to be broken down a bit. This was also interesting, as the group could typically tell when something was wrong with him because he was a pillar of the group's energy. I also appreciated his conversations with Sano and Ashiya about his feelings, the fact that Ashiya actually gave him a rejection instead of brushing him off, and just the general friendship dynamic. However it was really clear that Ashiya wasn't into him romantically (she's only at this school because of Sano and the way she gets involved with him is sometimes borderline obsessive, but hey, it's fiction). He was a character that suited both lighthearted and more serious situations in the series well which probably contributed to why he stuck out to me. I did feel for him when he was hurting about his one sided love but I also knew he lowkey never had a chance.

Well, if you read all this, thanks! I haven't done any posts about other series until now and this is a lot more casual since I'm not analyzing anything, but I've got a couple other series that I read somewhat recently or am currently reading that I'd like to do this with. Give Hana Kimi a shot if you haven't read or heard of it before!

[gcldfanged]

[Continued from HERE.]

@monstersmade:

Veld breathes out, low and slow through his nose. He's not opposed to honesty - even though it was rare in this line of work - but it was always preferred on his own terms. On the other hand, he's always proud of his Turks taking advantage of a situation. "Can't it be a mix?" There's a teasing in his tone, somewhere between cruelty and actual amusement. "A gutter trash kid that I find to be quite useful? People with happy lives don't make good Turks, and Turks who have too many connections, to many people that care about them, aren't gonna last. You are... Mouldable. Shapeable. The potential was there before me, I used it to my advantage - you'd be stupid if you didn't know that already. It's not a matter of feeling sorry for you or not, I'm not a charity." "All of that is true. Also true that I care about you. That I want you safe, and strong and happy. It's supposed to be that all Turks have are each other - just because I fucked up on that doesn't mean that I don't love you. Just not enough, I guess."

Jae circles the pad of his index finger around the rim of his shot glass. He tried to steady the way his breathing made his chest rise and fall, slowing the natural responses to his own mounting frustration and self-directed anger. The insinuation managed to sting in a way he hadn’t anticipated, but the fact that Veld had even gone there to begin with gave rise to another surge of emotions he’d rather not deal with, at present. He’d managed (or so he thought) to finally let that past wound scab over, learned a hard lesson that he carried with him for the following years, only to have some vague airs of sentimentality rip it open anew- and he got the distinct impression that he was being jabbed right where it hurt most for allowing that to happen.

"Well, you of all people should know how greedy I can be- Give me an inch, I'll try to take a mile," he drawls easily enough, feigning a neutral mask of amused indifference. "I think that's actually a real thing headshrinks and vets talk about, kinda like... what's the word. Like food insecurity, but apply it to everything else."

Jae was being a little self-effacing. He'd talked big when he was a fourteen year old, snot-nosed and probably mentally impaired from one too many beatings and whatever baiju did to a child's developing braincells- Nothing good, obviously. But maybe deep down he always knew he'd never be able to fill those sizable shoes, no matter how badly he'd wanted to mold and shape himself into Verdot's shadow.

"I'm not gonna sit here and sound ungrateful and act like you weren't exactly what I needed when I needed it, but..." he trails off, unsure of what he's even digging around for. He thought he'd let that ship sail, stopped barking up that tree, now here he was feeling like a total asshole.

He tilts his head to the side, looking thoughtful while pouring out another shot for the elder man.

"If we're gonna use each other, then let's use each other. We're both consenting adults- No harm, no foul, right?"

[mobolanz]

🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

Okay let's seeeee that's an interesting question! Since ultimately all three of my main ocs are in a gray area being more associated (and shipped. 🪨💛🤍💎💜🌫️) with the antagonist pov.

With that in mind I don't think I'm capable of imagining any of them betraying someone's trust (intentionally at least) considering it already happened to each of them individually and because that'd mess them up in a way I personally don't really fuck with. I WOULD tho with them misinterpreting that they do or being conflicted about the fact that this idea even came to them to begin with be it from a third party or their own thoughts (ah complexes and delicious angst :3), but ultimately not if that makes sense.

So let's get on the kill count because we're in for women's actually correct wrongs xD ♥️

Evelyn: for such a gentle and sheltered soul, I figure the very moment it happened and she had to, albeit in self defense, would initially leave her calm that at least it got them to leave her alone. I suppose it also wasn't just to her but at least one more person with her. But gradually in a matter of hours the deed truly catches up to her mind, that's already set on finding herself to be bad and lesser from young age (it's harsh and entails emotional abuse amd neglect) , so to actually have the extreme nerve to go ahead and kill someone who probably "deserved" to return home and be with their loved ones "more" than her? Prove the claims that got her disowned and undeserving of even natural needs right in the worst way possible? It leaves her isolated in a dark corner with a struggle to breathe.

Actually beyond that, in the matter of other displays of violence, she'd be more overwhelmed and shaken than the person who got smacked, whoever it is. Like how did you blindly loose your cool, how did you resort to shutting them up selfishly as that, they're not confronting you over nothing. Girl's really, really harsh on herself with it

Mia/amethyst: Had she been an actual character within the canon afraid she'd fall to the trope of "villain makes a great point on the world's condition but is dismissed because the narrative and MC keeps bringing up and making them hurt a bunch of background characters we as viewers aren't as attached to and the status quo remains" so good thing she isn't and I allow her scott free, the things we do for love. 😆

Surprisingly or not, she's the one of the three with the highest count.

Cecille/night lilly : She pretty much never is the starter, so not (yes) to be villain apologist™ but... It's kinda on them thinking it'd impress anyone that they took her down. :v , you don't provoke an endangered wildcat in it's natural habitat on the run!!! She's also on to be quick about it.

Oc asks

[saiyanandproud]

Don't mind Ketch just sidling up to Mariko and sliding over a piece of paper to her, a devious grin over his scarlet features. Especially do not mind Isa's glowering look, not at all tinged with jealousy. Plum is wisely staying out of this, eating his breakfast and keeping his head down.

your name: Lord Ketch of the planet Brench

your age: I think 25 by human years? (in Brench years it's 50).

your perfect date: Looking into your eyes on a nice dinner date. I can see my reflection in them. I am handsome.  

make out in private or in public?: There's a roomy supply closet nearby if you're up for it. 

do you like to cuddle?: Maybe after the first date. 

tell me something about you: I know 37 different languages.

why do you want to be my valentine?: This Valentine's day sounds like a fun festivity, I'm sure you want celebrate it with the best looking soldier on the ship. Also, Isa said no.

"I know Lord Cooler is your crush, but he's a real stick-in-the-mud and doesn't appreciate the attention of a pretty girl. You should move on to the next best thing, which is definitely me."

"Oh, please," Isa muttered, rolling her quartz-rose eyes. "Mariko, don't listen to this idiot."

Undeterred by Isa's insults, Ketch's smile only widened as he chuckled. "Now, now, Isa, you missed your chance. No need to be jealous of Mariko here!"

"Ugh, you're incorrigible!" The Arcosian huffed, turning away with her nose in the air. "You're the one whose jealous of Lord Cooler. You're not even half as handsome or clever as he is!"

"We'll let Mariko decide that! What'd you say, Mariko? Would you prefer me or Lord Cooler as your Valentine?"

A Valentine's Application

Mariko read the piece of paper with a curious look. She was just at the third point when her cheeks reddened, whether in embarrassment or amusement she wasn't sure, and her lips curled into a grin. She had to clasp them tight as she kept reading, to stay in character and deliver a proper answer to that bold offer. This guy really was something.

Outright ignoring her comrade's comment on her supposed crush on their leader -- there were too many gossips around already, and she had decided not to feed any -- she leaned against her chair and folded her arms, observing Ketch and Isa bickering with an amused, wide smirk. Next to her, Plum loudly slurped on his drink, doing everything to pretend he wasn't there.

She wasn't an idiot. She knew this was a move to make Isa jealous. The scribbled 'Also, Isa said no' was a clear request for help there. And the improbable yet growing friendship she had with Ketch was enough to make him believe he could trust in her support with that. Mariko didn't know what got them that close and made them read each other so easily. Maybe the fact that both came from prominent families that just couldn't find the will be proud of them.

"I didn't know you knew so many languages, Ketch", she said casually. "Impressive. You got the brains, on top of the looks," she joked, giving him a wink.

It seemed to work. Isa's eyes snapped back at her with a baffled look, confusion clear on her pearly face. Ketch grinned, catching Mariko's drift, and theatrically ran a hand through his hair.

"What can I say. I'm full of surprises," he bragged.

Mariko's smirk grew larger. "Indeed."

Mariko sighed, looking back down at the paper. Her finger tapped on her arm as she put up a pondering pout.

"I mean... I am a bit homesick, so a Valentine's day date would be fun, I suppose. And hey, we do get along," she pointed out with a casual shrug. "Who knows, you might even be my type. I mean, you're good looking, brave, fun... And bold to the point of asking me out," she listed, staring at Ketch while making sure Isa wouldn't miss any of the qualities she was enumerating. "What's not to like? A girl can't help but give a chance to a daring guy like you, am I right?" And with that she looked at Isa, as if asking for her opinion. "I mean, didn't Lord Cooler say he had been fighting bravely on our last mission, or something?"

Isa glanced away while Ketch couldn't keep himself from turning to study her reaction, the largest shit-eating grin on his face. The female Arcosian let out something similar to a hiss.

"Something like that," she muttered sourly.

"He fought half of the soldiers on his own," Plum quietly recalled, implicitly not stating that he took on the other half. Mariko grinned. Clearly, he was on board with the plan, too.

"Exactly." She agreed, then rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh and glanced up at the ceiling. "Plus, all these stupid gossips on my crush on Lord Cooler... I wish there was a way to stop them. So, who knows," she pondered, tapping a gloved finger on her lips. "Maybe going on a date with someone else would work. I think Neiz, Dore and Salza have been starting to place bets on my crush," she frowned. "That would get them to stop, hopefully."

"They have," Ketch confirmed with a nod, as if it was a well-known fact on the spaceship. He leaned over, resting a hand on the back of Mariko's chair, and offered her a dashing smile. "So? What do you say, gorgeous?"

Mariko laughed. Isa, behind Ketch, was fuming.

"Showoff," Mariko grinned, keeping up with the farce as she stared at Ketch with an amused look. "Sure, why not. After all, as you said, a pretty girl like me is wasted on someone who doesn't appreciate her... And while I'm not sure about checking the supplies closet, dinner does sounds nice. We should land on the next planet to get some more fuel in a couple of days, so... Why don't you start checking on nice places to eat, gorgeous?" She suggested, narrowing her eyes at him with a suave smile. "Of course, you're paying."

With that, she took her tray, stretched her legs with a measured slow movement, and stood up with a studied curve to arch her back, which neither Ketch nor Isa missed, the former with a interested look, the latter with an outraged one. Plum let out a patient sigh, as if he could see that coming.

"I'll meet you at the spaceship doors at sunset in two days, Lord Ketch of the planet Brench" Mariko told Ketch with a mellow voice, brushing his shoulder with a light touch of her hand as she left. "And I'll make sure to wear something nicer than this flashy armor, for once," she added with a wink.

Ketch nodded, this time less boldly than before -- in fact, his cheeks seemed redder than usual, while Isa's face was a fluorescent pink, her white lips distorted in a grimace. Mariko smiled and walked away lightly rolling her hips, back towards the counter where Neiz and Dore had been enjoying the whole scene from. She put the empty tray down, gave the two soldiers an annoyed frown, and quickly dissimulated it while walking out of the cafeteria in slow, long steps, arms lightly oscillating at the same rhythm.

"Sounds like you got a date," Isa commented coldly between her teeth.

Ketch, who was still staring at the door Mariko walked out from, nodded faintly.

"Yeah... I mean, yeah," he cleared his throat, shook his head, and flashed Isa a grin. "Aren't you happy for me?"

Isa wheeled her head away with a snort. Her pink eyes fell on Plum, who was still busy finishing his breakfast and praying to be out of there as soon as possible.

But not on her watch.

"Plum," she called peremptory, slamming a hand on the table and making the poor Durian jump on his seat. "Do you have plans for Valentine's day?"

"What?!" Ketch screeched.

"Oh boy," Plum groaned.

[chodzacaparodia]

kazufuyu (tr), tsukikage(hq) and reinagi(bl)

Thank you for the ships to the ask game ♡

Kazufuyu - Ship It

What made you ship it? I have no idea what started it. Probably from these beautiful fanarts I came across on Pinterest (at that time I didn't know what was happening in the manga, so I didn't understand why this ship existed, but I quickly fell in love with it). Man, Kazutora and Chifuyu look so good together! And when I started reading fics (which are on a completely different level), I couldn't imagine not shipping these two. Kazufuyu is one of my favorite Chifuyu ships

What are your favorite things about the ship? Second changes!!! That Chifuyu of all people helped Kazutora start over. Together they learn to forgive and be forgiven. I love how they heal each other together. The bond formed in this way is unique.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Ahh I don't know. Maybe that I think Chifuyu doesn't see Kazutore as a replacement for Baji? Yes, Kazutora reminds him about Baji, but not of Baji (e.g. because of the long hair, like when Takemichi mistook them). Chifuyu sees Kazutora as Kazutora. I have the impression that he is often only shown as a substitute, but maybe that's just my impression. But I'm not sure if it's an unpopular opinion haha

Tsukikage - Don't Ship it

Why don't you ship it? I just can't ship Tsukki with anyone other than Yamaguchi. Tsukkiyama is just too strong for me.

What would have made you like it? Seriously, it's all Yamaguchi's fault! If he wasn't Tsukki's childhood friend and they didn't have such a close relationship, I wouldn't have a problem shipping Tsukki and Kageyama.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? Of course! I have a weakness for this kind of dynamic between characters. I just love their bickering. The way they get on each other's nerves is brilliant. These two really make me laugh.

Reinagi (?) - Ship it

When I saw this, I first thought it was a typo and was supposed to be Reonagi (I swear, I see these two everywhere), but then I remembered Reiji Hiiragi from the new chapter of Episode Nagi, so I assume it's about his ship with Nagi

What made you ship it? I like different Nagi ships, so whatever, I can ship it! You know, when one character randomly shows up at another person's place and says "You must be <name and surname>" and then, after a really odd conversation, confesses that he will crush that person, these shipping senses are somehow triggered hahaha

What are your favorite things about the ship?

What I mentioned earlier - guy appears randomly, shows interest and threatens about crushing another guy. Additionally, he invites him on a date... I mean challenges him to a match using tarot cards. It was... creative.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? This ship even exist and there are ANY opinion about it? Hahaha

But if it's really a typo and it was supposed to be Reonagi, then also Ship It, it's my top ship in Blue Lock. It was the appearance of these two in the anime that got me fully invested in Blue Lock. In my eyes, this ship is practically canon - I love their bond and the fact that they constantly break my heart. As for unpopular opinions, idk. I can't think of anything now. I'm honestly not sure what is considered an unpopular opinion about this ship :')

Thank you again and have a nice day! ♡

[dojae-huh]

https://x.com/sijakz_archive/status/1740693531050836257?s=46&t=rTl1nDzicm9BJ7P539UIhw

Mark grabbing Jae’s pc from Doyoung’s hand and it flying back into Doyoung is one of the funniest and most fated things I’ve ever seen lol.

Before I discovered your blog and even now I think I always felt this way also about DoTae; it’s simple things like Doyoung picking the gift that was Tae’s, them ending up as trip mates to Japan I think? Like you know that feeling when two people are meant to be either way or another in each other’s life,sort of destined/fated?

Anyways,since I found your blog (about one month ago maybe?) and I’ve began reading,I’ve also seen this little patterns in JaeDo and it’s so lovely. At first I was like well maybe there was a crush but I don’t know about dating; but since knowing this blog I’ve began rewatching content,especially DJJ content to be more specific (keep in mind I’m a new nctzen,my first 127 comeback was fact check lol) and watching from this POV is just wow,there’s really things that are inexplicable unless they’re dating,if it makes sense? I don’t know how I didn’t notice before but they only make sense or make you begin to question if you go in with this mindset,even if it seems far-fetched at first.

You start to notice their little reactions to e/o,the looks,EVERYTHING. It kinda hits you like a truck lol.

So yeah,I’ve been meaning to send this message for a while now,thank you for your dedication to our JaeDo! (For what it’s worth I was the anon that asked a while back about the JonhDo fight and assumed Dy was going to be relying on Jn during Ty enlistment)

Link

Fans follow the group for years and still don't see JaeDo or TaeDo as even close friends, and with the shipping culture in fandoms and fanservice in k-pop it's natural to be apprehensive of the claims of dating. That's why I always say don't believe me as a stranger on the internet, read what I write and check where I'm pointing at for yourself. Some take years to start to see, you took just a few weeks. Although DJJ was a breath of fresh air after several years.

Individual moments are confusing, it's when you start to see the patterns, how it really is becomes clear.

First impressions are often wrong because we make them having limited information (and because people wear masks). Like with JohnDo, you came in at the time when they finally patched their friendship and was fed the fandom's overly favourable opinion about them.

Both Jaehyun and Doyoung are into soulmates and meeting by destiny.

Jaehyun wanted to act in a re-make of a movie about soulmates. He was casted, but the project was cancelled. He was supposed to play the reincarnation (high school student) of the protagonist's (male, teacher) true love (female, arts college student). The student retained his past-life memories and fell in love with the teacher despite being same-sex. They eloped.

And Doyoung always says how 127 meeting each other was a destiny.

JaeDo story is worthy of ecranisation. When Jae was a child his family moved to US for work, but cameback to Korea. Jae didn't plan to become an idol, but was street casted. Do was going to send his audition tape to multiple idol agencies when he got a confirmation call from SM. They were chosen among all trainess for ShowChamp. Then they were chosen for Tende, despite Jae initially practicing rapping, and t7s unit. Do was supposed to be a part of another unit (not confirmed, but highly speculated), so he didn't debut with 127 at fisrt. Circumstances changed, he was added to 127. There happened to be no homophobes in 127, so JaeDo could start dating without damaging their group. Both are popular members, got BA deals, acting roles, etc. ahead of others, can match each others' success. SM is not a homophobic company, let them even debut in DJJ together.

These pictures were cherry-picked, of course, but enough of them exist to highlight the pattern of third-wheeling. JaeDo tend to stand closer to each other, Jungwoo often does a different gesture, looks in a different direction (he is on his own, not in the bubble), more often than not Woo doesn't put his hand on Jae.

[ya-girl-static]

Hornet Ball, Chapter 2: Call the Ball

Up on AO3 now! Random bits of extra context and fun facts in "as they, or the thing they remind me of, come up in the fic" order below.

This fic isn't set with an exact date in mind beyond "90s-ish," because I was smart enough to go "it's a modern Etheria/90s USA mashup" instead of worrying about period slang and which aircraft upgrades when and all that shit. The IFLOLS was first tested in 1997, but given that's what the ship in DCS has and also it's like 2-3 times as precise and that sounds more impressive... IFLOLS it is!

I actually originally was writing this with Catra having basically NVG levels of night vision, but it turns out irl cats can see about 10 times better than humans at night, and iirc NVGs are like. 1,000.

Waveoff: Navy version of a go-around. So called because the LSO back in WWII had two sets of paddles (this is also why they're nicknamed "paddles"!), and they would physically wave a pilot off with the paddles. Idk all the hand signals, but I do know that was one of them!

It's a common misconception that pilots just fly the jet with their name on the side. Not true! In most instances, actually, they'll fly a completely random jet. The flight schedulers don't care about names for the most part, so they'll usually just have whichever jet is most convenient at the time. There are a few exceptions to this which I'm happy to get into if anybody wants, but your typical flight is not one of them.

On the topic of overstressing: The Hornet has a digital flight control system that will actually limit how much the control surfaces deflect at speed. You can pull the stick all the way back and it'll only ever give you 7.5 gees, unless you hit the G override switch (the "paddle switch" at the base of the stick, also used to disconnect the autopilot and the nosewheel steering, depending on what's going on when you hit it). Also have a fun story about that if anybody wants it but I don't want this post getting TOO long.

DLC is A) short for Direct Lift Control, and B) only on when the flaps are down, though even I have to admit clarifying that in the fic itself is going too far into the weeds. She won't be using it until 10 miles or so when flaps/gear/etc all come out.

"Your signal is tank" is stupid phrasing IMO. "Your signal is (the thing that you need to go do)"? Just say "hit the tanker." It is, however, apparently what the 90s Navy said, according to the book Raven One, which if you've actually read, you'll recognize a decent amount of the events in this chapter from (a lot of the rest being from the "F-14 Barricade" episode of the F-14 Tomcast).

"The number" is the minimum amount of fuel a jet can have before it's supposed to be barricaded. They don't really barricade jets any more, more in favor of a controlled ejection alongside the ship if they can't trap, but it used to be as soon as you got low enough on fuel with no tanker available, up goes the barricade.

"Bullseye" refers to the ICLS needles. "Needles" refers to the little circle in ACLS that goes inside a bigger circle. Don't ask me why, this fact drives me nuts.

See you next time!