#also with one in particular whos just been sending me pick up lines

[oifaaa]

If you had to choose to go on a date with Lois lane, poison ivy, Harley Quinn, or catwoman. Who would you choose

Lois Lane tho sadly I don't think she'd enjoy it much considering she has superman at home and how the fuck am I meant to compete with that

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi! Do you think Alastor and Lucifer are foils?

Hi!

Yes, of course they are!

Alastor and Lucifer's foiling starts in Dad Beats Dad (obviously), where they fight over Charlie's affection. They might seem as opposites throughout the episode, but they are actually the same, as they both try to impress Charlie with their powers:

[ALASTOR:] They say, when you're looking for assistance It's smart to pick the path of least resistance [LUCIFER:] Others say, that in your needy hour There's no substitute for pure angelic power!

Still, Charlie doesn't care and all she wants is for her parental figures to support her:

Charlie: How come he can have faith in me, but my own father can't?

In short, Alastor and Lucifer find pride in their abilities, but need to let go of it, in order to show their love for Charlie. By the end of the episode, they both accomplish this. However, they succeed in slightly different ways, that fit their shared motif of shadow and light. In particular:

Alastor is linked to shadows, as his abilities let him manipulate shadows

Lucifer is linked to light, as his name means morningstar and his powers manifest in light-beams

As a result:

Alastor's development happens in the shadows, whereas Lucifer's in the light - This is true also on a meta-level, as Alastor's arc is the secondary plot-line of the episode, whereas Lucifer's is the main one

Alastor acts as Lucifer's jungian shadow and becomes a catalyst for him to change. Similarly, Alastor himself is challenged to grow by his own jungian shadow, aka Husk

What is the jungian shadow? It is the repressed part of a person. In stories, a character might meet another one, who embodies this hidden part of the self. By integrating with the shadow, the character evolves. In other words, Alastor represents a repressed part of Lucifer and Husk a repressed part of Alastor. Let's see how it all plays out.

ALASTOR, HUSK AND MIMZY

Alastor and Mimzy's bond is unhealthy, as they both enable negative sides of the other. On the one hand Alastor keeps covering for Mimzy, no matter what she does. On the other hand Mimzy feeds Alastor's ego by praising his power and abilities.

So, Mimzy never faces the consequences of her actions:

Mimzy: Thanks for helpin' lil' old me out of a though spot. You're always such a pal.

And Alastor feels respected and appreciated:

Alastor: It's nothing I can't handle. Don't worry Husker. Who in their right mind would cross me?

However, the reality is that Mimzy is using Alastor and Husk points this out:

Husk: You and I both know Mimzy only shows up, when she needs something. That bitch is trouble and who knows what kinda demon she fucked with to come running to you this time?

Not only that, but he openly calls Alastor out on his pride:

Husk: Big talk for someone, who's also on a leash.

Which results in Alastor reacting in anger:

That said, Husk is proven right. It turns out Mimzy has willingly brought chaos to the hotel, so that Alastor could solve things for her. Because of this, Alastor finally cuts ties with her:

Alastor: You deliberately brought danger to this place just to have me clean up your mess. I can't have that here.

This choice is important and it shows how the people around him are slowly impacting Alastor. On the one hand the Radio Demon listens to one of his subjects' advice. On the other hand he acts to protect the hotel. As a matter of fact the moment Alastor steps up as the Host of the Hotel isn't when he sings to Charlie in Hell's Greatest Dad nor when he transforms into a giant and fights. It is when he sends Mimzy away and sacrifices a little bit of his pride to do so. interestingly, this happens as nobody is looking at him, so he isn't really trying to impress nor to trick the others. He acts selflessly in the shadows.

LUCIFER, ALASTOR AND CHARLIE

Lucifer and Charlie's bond is strained:

Charlie: We just have never been close. After he and mom split, he never really wanted to see me. He calls... sometimes, but only if he's bored or like, needs me to do something.

At the root of this conflict there is Lucifer's inability to show his daughter how much he cares. He struggles to express his feelings and hides them behind a prideful persona:

Charlie: I told you when you called me five months ago. Or did you not listen? Lucifer: No, no, no, no. Just, you know, I just forgot. I've just been really busy, ya know with um... important things.

Instead of openly admitting his depression and sadness he prefers to look cold and uninterested. Even dismissive and condescending, like when he arrives at the Hazbin Hotel:

Lucifer: Wow, this place sure looks, uh... Uh-uh. Yeah. Uh-uh. It's got a lot of character!

Lucifer is initially too focused on what he cares about - meeting his daughter - rather than on what Charlie wants - for him to help her with the hotel. He happily hugs Charlie and then immediately moves on to pet Keekee, Razzle and Dazzle, who are his own creations. Only later he considers the welcome Charlie and the others have prepared for him. Even then, he still misses the point and tries to buy Charlie's love by showing off his magical powers:

Haha, looks like you could use some help From the big boss of Hell himself

Except that what Charlie wants from him aren't champaigne fountains or caviar mountains, but an appointment with Heaven, which he negates her. Not only that, but instead of being honest about his fears, he deflects everything on Charlie herself, by dismissing her plan:

Lucifer: Alright, listen, I love that you want to see the best in people, but these sinners... You know, they're just the worst. I, I don't know how much you can realistically expect from them in Heaven.

Luckily, the Radio Demon is closeby, as he forces Lucifer to show his true self.

On the one hand Alastor brings out Lucifer's insecurity and fears:

I'm truly honored that we've built such a bond You're like the child that I wish that I had I care for you, just like a daughter I spawned It's a little funny, you could almost call me dad

He juxtaposes moments of everyday life and affirmations of affection to Lucifer's materialistic and fancy promises. In this way Alastor highlights the faults of Lucifer, as a father. He points out that Lucifer is never there for Charlie.

On the other hand Alastor embodies the kind of sinner Lucifer despises:

Lucifer: Ya see? What I tell ya? Charlie, sinners are violent psychopaths, hell bent on causing as much pain and destruction as they can. There's really no point in trying.

And yet, such a violent psychopath is more willing to help Charlie than Lucifer himself:

Charlie: Dad, stop! He's defending this hotel. It may be a bit more sadistic than I'd hoped. But he's doing it for me!

This realization leads to a confrontation between father and daughter and to an admission on Lucifer's part:

Lucifer: I just don't want you to be crushed by them like... like I was.

The problem isn't Charlie, but Lucifer himself. It is not that Charlie's dream is silly, but that Lucifer's one has been destroyed. This revelation is important because Lucifer's mask comes off and he shows Charlie his weakest and most broken self. He swallows his pride and has Charlie see who her father really his. In all his mistakes and his hurt. And to his surprise Charlie accepts him. Not only that, but she admires him:

So in the end, it's the view I had of you That showed me dreams can be worth fighting for

Symbolically the song More than Anything starts with Lucifer and Charlie in the shadows:

They are repressing a lot and have no idea who the other is. Still, as the song goes on, they get to understand each other:

All that I'm hopin', now that my eyes are open Is that we can start again, not be pulled apart again 'Cause in the end, you are part of who I am

And they end the song surrounded by light:

What is initially in the shadow comes to light in three different ways:

Lucifer shows Charlie his true self

Lucifer sees Charlie for who she is

Lucifer exhibits his weakness in front of the whole Hazbin Hotel. He lets the sinners he dislikes so much witness the mess that he is.

His fragility is in full display. It is in the light for everyone to see.

PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! ITTY BITTY LIVING SPACE!

Another similarity Alastor and Lucifer share is that they are two powerful beings that give much importance to free will:

Alastor: You should know better than anyone what a soul can accomplish when they take charge of their own fate.

Charlie: Together, they wished to share the magic of free will with humanity.

And yet, they are both trapped:

Alastor: I'm hungry for freedom like never before The constraints of my deal surely have a backdoor Once I figure out how to unclip my wings Guess who will be pulling all the strings?

Charlie: As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity, only the cruel and the wicked.

On the one hand Alastor controls many souls, but his own is owned by someone else. On the other hand Lucifer is the strongest being in all of Hell, but he is regarded as a disgrace by other angels.

Moreover, they both project their unhappiness on others. Specifically, Lucifer blames sinners like Alastor:

Lucifer: Our "people", Charlie, are awful! They got gifted free will and look what they did with it! Everything's terrible!

While Alastor lashes out on his prisoners, like Husk:

Alastor: If you ever say that again, I will tear your soul apart and broadcast your screams for every other disrespectful wretch who dares to question me.

Still, the point is that Lucifer is exactly like Alastor. He is a gifted creature, who messed up royally and cursed humanity. Alastor instead is exactly like Husk, a powerful overlord, who still finds himself chained. Lucifer is the most hated being in all of creation and Alastor is on a leash. They are both lonely and desperate, but too proud to admit it. In other words, they are both losers:

Husk: There was a time I thought no one could relate To the gruesome ways in which I'm damaged But lettin' walls down, it can sometimes set you straight! We're all livin' in the same shit-sandwich

Just like everyone in Hell. And yet, this is not bad per se. Even if you hit rock bottom, you can still climb back up, as long as you let go of self-importance and start to earnestly empathize with others. As a matter of fact it is only through community and bonds that a person can be redeemed and heal:

Out for love Love Think of who you care about Protect them and be out For love Love You're gonna fight without gloves Long as you're out for love

This is what Alastor and Lucifer are learning through Charlie.

TWO DADS, ONE DAUGHTER

Season 1 sets up Alastor and Lucifer as two mentor figures to Charlie. They share this role in a way, which makes them almost perfect mirrors. Some examples:

Lucifer gives Charlie the hotel building and Alastor calls it Hazbin Hotel

Alastor helps repair the Hotel in the beginning, while Lucifer assists Charlie in building it anew by the end

Lucifer guides Charlie to Heaven, as he sets up her meeting with Sera and Emily. Alastor instead guides Charlie in Hell as he introduces her to Rosie and helps her inspire the cannibals

Both Alastor and Lucifer believe in Charlie, when she is at her lowest. Alastor does so before the final battle, whereas Lucifer after the fight

Alastor and Lucifer fight Adam (another foil of theirs) in the final episode. Moreover, both belittle his abilities and highlight how he is strong, but unskilled:

Alastor: You lack discipline, control and worst, you are sloppy!

Lucifer: So, this is what you've been up to since Eden? Gotta say, you really let yourself go buddy.

In particular, Alastor is the one supposed to take Adam down, but fails and Lucifer steps in by the end. This is just like in the beginning Lucifer is supposed to support and help Charlie with her project. Still, he is absent and Alastor fills the spot.

In other words, Alastor and Lucifer are unwillingly complementary and so far one has appeared when the other has been incapacitated. We'll see if this pattern continues. As for now, they are clearly framed as key to Charlie's development, so it is possible they will come to embody different sides of her:

Alastor represents the sinners Charlie wants to reach and all their pain and complexity. He is also linked to fear and the unknown. He is the ally she finds by herself. He is the found family Charlie chooses.

Lucifer represents the angels Charlie wants to communicate with. He is also linked to dreams and ideals. He is the legacy she inherits. He is the biological family Charlie wants to re-connect with.

In short, they are both parts of who Charlie is and she needs them to grow into herself. Just like they need her to mature and find redemption and happiness.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

"I've mended all my ways, repented, seen the light, and made a switch."

The fact that Rollo has a voice line where he genuinely expresses an interest in visiting the Mostro Lounge KILLS me 😂 This fan art in particular makes me laugh a lot!

It's also at this point that I realize I thought the Heartslabyul headcanons with Rollo would be super long (because of there being 5 members in that dorm), but the Savanaclaw and Octavinelle headcanons ended up being even longer...

A Big Octavinelle Welcome to Rollo!

Rollo's interest was piqued when he first heard about the on-campus eatery that Azul runs. However, he keeps flip-flopping on whether or not he should go. On one hand, he’s curious about what it’s like—but on the other hand, does he really want to give that smug octopus his business??

… Eventually, Rollo gives into the temptation. He settles on an excuse to go while still protecting his ego and guilty conscience: I must survey his cafe to ensure that there are no misdeeds being committed… Who knows what sort of shading things may be happening without a watchful eye and regulations?

He goes through the mirror and emerges in the world wet and full of wonder. Down a corridor with glass walls, Rollo peers at the passing marine life with caution (as if they, too, were in on some scheme). For as peaceful as the bottom of the sea may be, he’s wary of the monsters that also lurk in its depths.

He follows the faint sound of smooth jazz to the lounge. Upon entering, Rollo finds it packed with mob students at every table, stuffing their mouths with food and filling the air with noisy chatter. He reluctantly wades over to the front desk, handkerchief to his face to keep himself strong in this dense den of depravity.

The suited host greets Rollo with a bow and a smile that feels a little too familiar. That immediately sends alarm bells ringing in his head. “Welcome to the Mostro Lounge, Rollo-san. Azul has been anticipating your arrival for quite some time.” (“… Has he now?” How positively shady!)

“We have a table specially reserved for you. Please, right this way.” He follows the host, not letting his eyes wander off his back for one second. To Rollo’s shock, he’s seated and handed a menu without any issues, then is left on his own to peruse. Odd. Given his other experiences at NRC, he was expecting some sort of unnecessary ruckus—

CRASH!! Right on cue, a mob student goes flying across the room and smacks right into a wall. A waiter with a face nearly identical to the host’s is the assailant. “C’mere!!” Floyd says coyly. His grin isn’t quite as coy—it’s maniacal. “I’ll squeeze the rest of the tip right outta you! That’ll teach ya to cheap out on us!”

Floyd advances on the frightened mob student, who is scrambling away on his hands and feet. Rollo blinks and rubs at his eyes, wondering if what he just saw was real or a figment of his imagination.

Jade is suddenly blocking his field of vision, wearing that same suspicious smile again. “Would you care for recommendations?" he asks, gesturing to the menu. "If you'll direct your attention here, this is our limited-time autumn menu. It features an assortment of freshly picked mushrooms..."

Rollo tries to get up or to crane his neck—anything to get a better look at whatever the pandemonium that Jade is trying to conceal is. Alas, the eel follows him like a shadow and expertly blocks all of his attempts (all while reciting the recommendations as he had promised earlier).

“Please keep your eyes on the menu, Rollo-san,” Jade advises patiently. “It will be difficult for you to decide which items you would like if your eyes are wandering to places they shouldn’t be. You must believe me when I say there is nothing of importance in this lounge but your own leisure.” (There’s a light chuckle that accompanies those words, and he doesn’t like it one bit.)

Rollo is forced to browse the menu (and forced to listen to Jade drone on and on about mushrooms). He’s appalled by the absurd pricing on the items (did the devil set them?)—even the simplest ones have huge markups!! But ultimately, he has to concede and opt for the overpriced plain dishes to appease his sensible palate. No indulgent dishes for him, no sir!

Jade doesn’t move until the conflict is settled; when he finally clears away with Rollo’s order for the kitchen, Floyd has finished “cleaning up” after the public nuisance. He casts a nonchalant look around the room and goes, “Hah? What’cha gawking at? Everybody go back to eating unless you wanna be next.”

“… That man just now, what happened to him?” Rollo speaks up—not that he would ever defend the scum of NRC, but he has a thing or two to say about the way the problem was handled. At least air the dirty laundry in private.

“Ehhh, who’s askin’? I don’t have to answer to anyone!” Oh no, Floyd’s eyes have lit up like those of a cat that has spotted new prey. “Hehehe, I know exaaactly who you are! Azul’s special guest guppy…!” (“Everyone and their brother seems to know,” Rollo grumbles.)

He’s unnerved by the way Floyd’s grinning—as though he knows something that Rollo doesn’t—so he quickly drops the question and shoos the eel off. Unfortunately, Floyd keeps returning to his table to annoy him with little disturbances: offering a refill on water (which sloshes all over the table), asking if he wants straws or napkins (then chucking a handful of them at him), calling him by the wrong name (which Rollo makes sure to correct), etc.

… Rollo’s starting to believe Floyd is doing all of this to purposefully annoy him. (He has to resort to taking deep breathing exercises and mutter various peaceful mantras to keep himself from lashing out at the waiter.)

Rollo never thought he’d be thinking this, but the other twin is his savior from the hell that is dealing with Floyd. In comes Jade with his order, which contains many more items than Rollo recalls ordering. Many of them are extravagant and arranged on ornate china platters. “On the house from the manager,” Jade explains, setting the heavy tray down. “I will leave you to enjoy your meal. Come along, Floyd.”

The twins skitter off, leaving Rollo to his own devices. He takes a second to decompress from the stressful encounter with the Leeches—and when Rollo thinks about it, he doesn’t mind the atmosphere of this place. It’s quiet and calming, with a classy yet understated look to the lounge itself and its staff. Maybe it’s not so bad after all.

He places a napkin in his lap before beginning on the feast, taking care to carve everything into more digestible chunks before nibbling at them. Of course, Rollo doesn't plan on gorging himself (there's no way he could finish all of this!), but he doesn't want to be wasteful either. Perhaps a healthy compromise would be to take the rest to-go and eat the leftovers over the course of a week.

As he's in the middle of mentally plotting out his next meals, the entire lounge unexpectedly darkens. Gasps and cries of surprise ring out from the mob students. Then a blinding spotlight appears in the middle of the room, and Rollo almost chokes on his buttered bread roll.

Azul is illuminated by the spotlight. He throws his arms out in a friendly gesture, beaming out to his captive audience. “Gentlemen! It is with great pride and pleasure that we of the Mostro Lounge welcome you to this special evening. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy your meals and conversations set against a calming backdrop of the sea’s melody.”

Their performance begins: Azul on the grand piano, Jade on contrabass, and Floyd on drums. Rollo wants to detest it, but he can’t bring himself to. If he closes his eyes and wills his mind elsewhere, the opening notes envelop him and soothe his weariness, like waves washing away his fatigue and stress.

“I’d like to dedicate this song to a very special guest,” Azul announces, “to our visitor from the City of Flowers, Student Council President of Noble Bell College, and, of course, our dearest friend, Rollo Flamme-san! May the bond between us and our schools be ever stronger.”

His eyes fly wide open. The spotlight drastically swivels, the bright, hot lights suddenly on him. This time, Rollo really does choke on his bread.

He downs what he can of his meal as quickly as he can, wanting to slap some money on the table and to be out before Azul can embarrass him further. That crafty octopus has planned for this though—none of the mob students stop by to give his check, locking Rollo in a social circumstance where he has to stay put (or else be labelled as a dine-and-dasher, a criminal).

He sits there quietly coping and seething for the entirety of the performance. The calm waters the music once provided has suddenly turned scalding. Rollo’s gaze seemingly burns holes in the Octatrio as they finally (FINALLY!) wrap up and bow for their audience.

Azul and the twins then make their way to Rollo. Were it not for the booth itself, there was no doubt in Rollo’s mind that they would be circling him like sharks. Jade and Leech stand on either side of them while Azul clasps Rollo’s shoulders in an overly familiar way (it makes his skin crawl).

Before he get a word out edge-wise or demand for the check, Azul declares, “Our dear Rollo-san just so happens to be Mostro Lounge’s 10,000th customer!! As such, he has won himself a most generous prize: one free consultation with yours truly! A round of applause for him, everyone.”

The applause kicks up, and Rollo’s head is spinning from confusion at Azul’s ludicrous statement. He doesn’t have the luxury of fully processing what it could mean or what his true intentions are—Jade has looped one arm under his, and Floyd has seized the other.

What is the matter with these two?! When I said I was interested in a visit to the on-campus cafe, never did imagine I would be accosted by thuggish men during it!!

“Release me!! Unhand me!!” Rollo roars, flailing his limbs uselessly as the twins drag him off to one of the back rooms. The mob students avert their gazes, pretending as if they don’t see him—they’re unwilling to get involved themselves. “IS THIS HOW NIGHT RAVEN COLLEGE OPERATES?!”

Into Azul’s office he’s ushered, seated before the proverbial mob boss himself. Crossing his legs and lacing his fingers together, Azul calls for Jade to fetch tea. Floyd lazily flops onto an adjacent seat and drapes his limbs all over it.

“Rollo-san, it’s been so long! We must catch up before getting down to business,” Azul croons. His voice is disgustingly sweet and slimy, caked on thick. “Tell me, how have you been? How are you finding our fair school? I’m all ears.”

“Don’t act as though we are friendly. Nothing could be further from the truth.” Rollo makes a face, concealing his grimace of disapproval with his handkerchief—Azul spots it and his eyes glimmer with recognition. “I’ve seen through your ruse, you miscreants. I won’t be deceived by the likes of you and your minions.”

“Oh? And what, pray tell, are the misdeeds you suspect on our part?” Azul asks innocently.

Jade places a fresh cup of tea in front of their guest, then Azul. The steam rising from the cups shrouds their faces in a curtain of faint white, obscuring both truth and lies. Floyd is on the edge of his seat, waiting for a good brawl to break out. Jade joins him, matching his deranged grin. (All they’re missing is the popcorn.)

“… I thought it odd that you would be ‘anticipating’ my arrival and that you would go to the trouble of preparing to receive me. Trying to win my favor with free food and a show, it’s clear you were trying to butter me up for something.”

“Me? Butter you up? Never,” Azul insists, but his smile is a little too wide. “I only wish to help you, to deepen the relationship between ourselves and of our respective schools. Networking and making useful—oh, excuse me, I mean deep—connections is important for young adults.”

Azul bows elegantly. “… I offer you my services, Rollo-san. Speak your heart’s desire, and I shall see if I can make it a reality. In return, I expect a favor, should I happen to call upon you. We will also serve as each other’s contacts for our own schools. You see? It is a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

Rollo instantly sees what he is: the devil looking to make a deal. The twins with their razor sharp teeth, his hellish imps seeking free amusement.

He stands, fists clenched, expression enraged, and lets nasty words torrent out. “You’re sorely mistaken if you think I’m open to negotiating any sort of terms with you. You’d be better off propositioning someone with fewer brain cells. Maybe start with your dopey-eyed classmates before you attempt at seducing something out of me.”

The thing he wished for more than anything else… that was something no one could make a reality. The best he could hope for was some form of retribution—retribution that Rollo sought to bring about with his own hands. He would never be able to live it down if he entrusted his ambitions to someone else, let alone a nefarious mage. Soon, brother. Soon, I will bring about a fairer world in your name—a world without magic, without sin, without suffering…!!

“I understand.” Azul nods, accepting Rollo’s decision, but doesn’t totally back down. He offers a rectangular angluar cut of paper. “My card. If you ever wish to have your woes be heard, you know how to reach me.”

Rollo snatches it out of his hand and crushes it. He storms out without another word, crumpled business card still in his grasp.

“How unfortunate that Rollo-san did not take the bait,” Jade sighs. (“It was funny watching his face twist though,” Floyd cackles, flopping over in his chair.)

“No matter.” Azul says with a shrug. “I foresaw this from the very beginning—which is exactly why we took precautionary measures to ensure that we still earned something from his appearance at all. Isn’t that right, boys?”

They smirked at each other knowingly. Everything had been carefully calculated from the moment Rollo had stepped onto campus. The big show they had put on, the loud declaration to the lounge and its customers… “Our dear Rollo-san just so happens to be Mostro Lounge’s 10,000th customer!! As such, he has won himself a most generous prize: one free consultation with yours truly!” (That had been a convenient lie, made up for the whole publicity stunt.)

All of it was an elaborate pretense for one explicit purpose: to plant a seed of suggestion in the other customers’ heads. A free consultation for the 10,000th customer? Then perhaps they could be the next lucky man to be the 20,000th one. More incentive to return, more lines skewered with tasty bait, cast out into the sea of waiting customers.

“Fufufu, another excellent job well done, if I do say so myself.”

While Azul and the twins are gloating in private, Rollo has made his way to the first fireplace he can find. He furiously casts Azul’s accursed business cards into the flames, relishing the moment it turns entirely black and ashen. No, Rollo swears to himself. He won’t be swayed by the devil. He was made stronger than that.

[mintharabaenrelore]

Minthara's Handwriting

"Drow's Letter", carried by the Dissected Drow (Ned Cir'annis) in the Enclave Library:

Track the druid, find whatever burrow he runs to, and report back to me. Remember, you are only a scout. Do not engage. Do not kill anyone. Simply observe and return. I shall decide what we do next. - M.

The description is as follows: Orders taken from the body of a drow scout. They're written in an elegant, if angry, hand.

"War Map", on Minthara's desk in the Shattered Sanctum:

[Elegant pen-strokes trace out a map of the local area. The goblins' den is indelibly marked in greenish ink; the word 'Chionthar' waves across the bottom, where the largest river flowed.

Three additional locations are annotated.

'Caravan - GOBLINS' is scrawled to the northwest of the camp.

'Toll House - GNOLLS' marks the far north territory.

'FOREST - SUPPLIES' hovers over an arrow pointing to the forest just to the camp's east. Beneath, in small letters: 'Between the laurel.']

The description is as follows: Barely-visible lines and numbers trace a plan of attack across the map's surface.

I quite like the War Map, because it gives us a glimpse into Minthara's time in the cult of the Absolute, conducting her "reckless raids" and perhaps even before that, as a "soldier" in Lolth's service.

Another paper- "Letter from 'M'"- can be found on a table in the Sunlit Wetlands, in Auntie Ethel's Teahouse.

[The letter begins in an elegant cursive but ends in a harsh sloping scrawl.] Ethel, Forces are at work in Baldur's Gate. The mewling wretches are trying to edge me out of my own territory. I've killed at least four of their agents. None have talked. Not yet, at least. I doubt you hear anything beyond the bleating of your ridiculous sheep, but if you catch even a whisper, send word. Immediately. M

The description is as follows: This letter begins in an elegant hand but soon descends into a furious scrawl.

Another is found in Auntie Ethel's Acrid Workshop.

[This letter is written in elegant cursive.] Ethel, I've heard business has been slow. Rest assured, I have a job for you. A client fled Baldur's Gate without payment. My agents picked up his trail along the Chionthar and have ensured he will pass through your territory. Do as you wish to him. In exchange, I have a girl who suits your particular appetites. Her mother's mind is failing. My contact has assured her you can help. I'll have her sent by the usual route. M

The mention of it being elegant, and, of course, the fact that it was written by 'M' and Minthara signed a letter 'M' made me think of her, but it's safe to say this is not Minthara's work and is likely one of Auntie Ethel's hag "sisters", a member of her coven.

Minthara likes reading, as shown by her idle animations.

I scoured Moonrise Towers for text by Minthara and although I found text related to her ("Note to Self" on the goblin Racha, "Attracting Drow Exiles" in Ketheric's room) I couldn't find anything by her.

The takeaway is that she has elegant handwriting and knows how to do cartography. This also leads me to believe she made the map that she looks at it in her idle animations herself. Perhaps this knowledge is a product of her upbringing or her time in the cult for her raids.

The images above are by @lutethebodies!

[judesmoonbeauty]

Jude's Leg Strength & A Coal Mine?

Forgive this post as it is impromptu, but please humor me for a minute......I was driving home and thinking about Jude's legs (because that IS normal), and in particular about how much Cybird emphasizes their strength. Jude's always on the run, and everyone talks about how strong they are. Under the cut for minor spoilers.

Initially, I chocked it up to something along the lines of, "Well, in Dark IF he was on the run from people who were after him as a little kid, so it may be a hint for his main story as a little kid always on the run." And this may very well be the case.

But then I thought, well that's one possibility, what are some other ways he could've gotten such strong legs that would have to be developed over time. This is how my brain works:

Jude ➡ Strong legs ➡ He's a runner ➡ Running ➡ Running ➡ Running for work ➡ Work ➡ Work ➡ What kind of work? ➡ Courier? ➡ Nah ➡ Servant? ➡ Nope ➡ Chimney Sweep ➡ Chimney Sweep??? WTF? ➡ Ah, Fire ➡ Fire needs coal ➡ Jude's Coal mine ➡ Coal mine ➡ Coal mine ➡

JUDE WORKED IN A COAL MINE?

I got home and looked up 'coal workers in Victorian times' and found this (if you want to read it yourself).

Turns out that children were often employed to work in coal mines as:

Hurriers and Thrusters.

Young children tended to work in pairs pushing and pulling carts of coal together in narrow roadways, the hurrier would pull it, while the thruster pushed it. Older children and women did this task alone.

The tubs could weigh about 600 kg or 1,377 lbs. The height of the tunnels could be between 60-120 cm or 1.9-3.9 ft.

There were also other positions:

Trapper: Reserved for the youngest child in the family, they'd be responsible the entire shift to open and close the door to the mine.

Getter: Usually, this was for the strongest youth in the family or for males. They sat at the coal face with a pick axe and chipped away the coal bits.

The entire family would usually work together so they could make enough money. Typically, a child was eight years old when they started to work in the mines, but could be as young as five. From the photos, it looks like sheer backbreaking, eye-straining hell.

Ah, a law was put into place in 1842 that stated children under the age of 10 couldn't work in the mines, but what if the owner of the coal mine kept it a secret that he had children under that age working, or Jude may have been about 10 years of age (presuming upon Dark IF).

The Theory: Jude may have worked in the coal mines as a hurrier or thruster. It would definitely explain the incredible strength that he's built up in his legs, and consequently crushes people's jaws with so easily. Hmm, and it could explain why Jude has a coal mine or at least has the authority to send someone to a coal mine.

In the switch up story, Jude tells the thieves that he can either sell them or send them to slave away in a coal mine until they die.

Hahaha, wouldn't it be just like Jude to purchase the coal mine that he and his family may have been forced to work in when they were little, and then force the task masters and/or the owner of the mine to work in darkness until they were dead. That is not a stretch to me.

I mean, his family could've likely developed CWP or Black Lung Disease. True, asthma may have run in his family, but inhaling the dust over time would not only aggravate their pre-existing condition, but it would cause them to develop that illness as well. Couple that with weak and tired bodies, with no money for medicine......you get the picture.

Of course, this is just for fun and I could be totally wrong, but it was fun to think more about his past and how he developed such strength in his legs.

Okay, good chat everyone! Now, I'll go translate.

[everythingwasalreadypicked]

Anyways, speaking of war prize Al I also have to get this random scene that popped in my head out before I forget. I'd imagine this takes place sometime during the Visit To Epirus

"Heel!" Lou Ellen shouted out, lifting her fur-lined overcoat as she ran after the hound, "Gale, heel!"

The dog backed away from the person she pinned to the dull, lifeless moss of the ground, padding behind Lou to hide. Lou scratched between her ears, sighing, "Good girl."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Prince Perseus and Princess Annabeth help the attacked person up, steadying them in between their bodies.

She blinked.

Was that Alabaster?

But Gale would never— Alabaster had handfed her since she was a mere pup, always spoiling the dog when he came to take a few of the more grownup hounds on hunting trips inside the woods.

Gale would surely still recognise him, it had only been a year—

But then again, she too had troubles noticing who he was in first glance.

With a tightness in her throat, she gave a faux apologetic smile, "My apologies, she has been acting out recently."

They were guests, a little whisper reminded her, it would be unbecoming and an act of war to sic the hounds on Sthenias and Atlantis's heirs.

"Lou," Alabaster breathed out, eyes shining wet; at the same time as Perseus chuckled, a hand annoyingly resting on her brother's back. "No worries, I know it all too well. One time my horse—"

He paused, Annabeth whispering something in his ear. He leaned his head towards his wife, murmuring an answer Lou couldn't hear. "Your Majesty."

"Again, my apologies for Gale's behaviour," Lou dug her nails into her coat, pointing her chin vaguely toward the table set a few steps away, "I do hope you were enjoying the tea?"

"Yes, thank you for your generosity." Pleasantries, pleasantries. Lou would much rather Princess Annabeth stopped gripping Alabaster's elbow. "Besides, we were just off to back inside."

"Wonderful," Lou choked out. She wanted to scream, to pull Alabaster away and hide together like they used to from their tutors, until all the 'guests' went away. Hide from Lady Palas, from the people, from the newly appointed royal guards until they were forgotten and it was just the two of them again.

"She didn't recognise me..." Alabaster mumbled, hugging himself while he stared at Gale.

Annabeth and Perseus shared a glance.

"Don't be late, jewel." Annabeth kissed Alabaster's cheek, taking her husband by arm as they walked back to the palace and Lou's stomach did a sick flip.

Jewel. Lou had begged, pleaded, practically poured her soul out and had to sneak behind Palas to send the letter in which she asked them to treat her brother properly. Was this their understanding of kind? The least they could do was actually use his name.

They were left alone, save for the guards.

"Lou."

"Alabaster." Lou swallowed down a sob, pointedly glancing at the guards stationed away but still far too close. They weren't the ones under the charge of Captain Nemesis. "Interesting jewellery you got there. Do you pick them our yourself?"

Alabaster followed her gaze, rubbing at his arms. Atlantis did not made fabric suited for Epirus's cold weather. Pearls and corals adorned his shoulders and neck, though thankfully he did not have the heavy ornaments pinned to his hair this time. "Thank you. The maids are of great help."

So. That was a no. She figured, Alabaster had a particular sense of style that clashed with the trends of Atlantis.

Lou wanted nothing more than to hug him once again.

"I think there's still tea yet," Alabaster said with a shaking voice, "won't you join me?"

[inkblackorchid]

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 3)

Trying my absolute damnedest to finish this one and part four sooner now that I've finally covered the Pearson backstory. *Ehem* Hello again! I hope you're ready for more yelling about a certain spiky-haired Blackbird aficionado, because I sure am.

To get some things out of the way first, though, here come the usual disclaimers:

This is part three of a series of posts about hpw Crow's character was handled during 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here and part two here. Reading them technically isn't required, but things sure will make a whole lot more sense if you do. (Bring snacks, they're long.)

This post isn't meant as a Crow hate post, nor is it meant to convince people who didn't vibe with his character to change their mind. This is my very long winded-attempt to analyse the writing decisions surrounding his character as best I can, without too much bias. That said, full disclosure, I do personally like Crow, so there's a good chance that will shine through whether I want it to or not. But also, I'm trying to have fun here, so please cut me some slack.

In case you haven't read my previous Crow posts (no shade there) and/or still believe the many, many production rumours that have been haunting the 5Ds fandom since the show's original run, please let me burst your bubble(s) with some insanely comprehensive research by someone over on Reddit (thanks again to @mbg159, who's also here on tumblr): No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, or the final boss of season 1, and his spike in screentime has nothing to do with his cards. And also, No, Aki didn't get less presence in the narrative because her VA got pregnant. What if you don't have the time to read either of those long posts? In that case, please take away this simple, very easy rebuttal of why the above theories are bullshit: Their would-be "key points" don't line up with the 5Ds production timeline. At all. Not even vaguely. So please, ditch them, let them die, seeing them still talked about makes me feel like I'm gonna break out in hives. And for the love of god, don't use this post or in fact anything else I post to pit Aki and Crow against each other. Both characters have their strengths and their reasons to love them. I am not the least bit interested in starting any character discourse. So please, spare my sanity. Ok? Thank you.

And now, we can get to the good part at last. In my previous post in this series, I stopped my analysis at episode 95, a.k.a. part two of the Pearson backstory. In this post, I will thus be picking up right after, at the very start of the WRGP—with the Team Unicorn match. The goal for this post is to analyse Crow's part in this particular arc, then provide some food for thought/ideas on how things that rubbed some people the wrong way could have been improved.

More below the readmore, and I give you not just my usual warning, but an extra warning, too: The universe will not let me write short things, so tread with caution, stay hydrated, and expect a veritable dissertation below, because this post feels long even to me, who has long since lost her sense of length when it comes to text. (But I'm well aware this is the result of me refusing to split the WRGP part into two separate posts, so I take full responsibility for that.)

Since we left off right after I chewed through all the issues with Crow's rather belated backstory and especially Black-Winged Dragon last time, we jump right into the thick of things now, with episodes 96 and 97, which serve as the preamble to Team 5Ds' first WRGP duel against Team Unicorn. Crow only gets two major things to do during this short stretch of episodes, the first being that he's Team Unicorn's gateway into roping Yusei into a duel during practice, which helps them set up a ruse that baits the 5Ds gang into sending Jack as their first wheeler because they think Jack's deck is best suited to countering Andre's—which, as it later turns out, it is not.

(Arguably the screenshot where Crow gives off the strongest Youngest Sibling Vibes during the entire show. Look at him, all chastised.)

Crow's second role is an odd one that I argue only he out of the main three guys could fulfill at this point: He's the one to get injured right before the Team Unicorn match, rendering him unable to compete, which leads to Aki offering to take his place for that particular match.

(Pictured: Bird Boy regretting all his life choices up until that point simultaneously.)

Here's the first moment I have to talk about in greater detail. See, the thing is, I don't know what the fandom consensus on Crow getting injured here is, but I argue that this moment was a (rare) strategic decision made by the writers at this point. Crow's injury accomplished several things: 1. It sets up the mystery of why his back wheel locked up out of nowhere, which is later paid off through Team Catastrophe's shenanigans. 2. It organically allows Aki to take his spot without introducing any argument about which of them is "worthier" of having that third spot. 3. Through this, it also allows him to actually bounce off Aki for once (a point I will come back to below, during the Team Catastrophe section). And 4. It allows the show to (TECHNICALLY) pay off the setup they did in letting Aki get her turbo duelling license and train with the boys. (Generally, Crow's and Aki's character writing intersects a bit during the pre-Diablo incident WRGP section, something I'll touch on below.)

Moreover, I think this is also the only match where they could have done something like this, and the reason for it is very simple: Team Unicorn are one-off opponents whose presence in the narrative is only relevant as far as it concerns the WRGP, and they are also one of the first teams the 5Ds gang faces. If we think about the opponents Team 5Ds has after this, it becomes very obvious why Crow could only be injured during this duel: If they had tried pulling this stunt later, it would have forced the writers to pull Aki centre stage during a much more plot-relevant duel than this one (which they were apparently allergic to, but let's not go there), not to speak of the fact that it would have forced them to sideline someone they were definitely trying to sell as the third portion of their protagonist trifecta, which would have probably been awkward. (If not for the fact that they literally did this to Crow later in the show, but I'll get there. Yes, I know there's a lot already that I'll still be "getting to".)

The thing is, whether or not it feels like an awkward writing choice to make so early in the big tournament of this arc (you be the judge of that), Crow's injury finally allows him to have a few interesting character moments for once. For one, there is his immediate disappointment about being forced to stay on the sidelines. Aside from the fact that this is a human and relatable reaction to his injury, it stings even more for the character than it does for us as the audience, because Crow got a moment where the Satellite orphans he previously took care of cheer him on for the tournament literally within the same two Team Unicorn preamble episodes.

(Say what you will, this is just stupid cute.)

So when Aki eventually offers to take his place during the match, he's understandably apprehensive—and again, this is human. It may seem mean in the moment, but from a character writing standpoint, it's a natural response. Plus, it's certainly more interesting to watch the group have a bit of conflict among themselves, rather than everyone immediately jumping straight to acceptance. It introduces tension, and, for however brief a moment, raises the question of whether Crow might refuse to let Aki take his spot. This is also the point where Aki and Crow's character writing officially intertwines, at least for the stretch of episodes between the Team Unicorn duel and the Team Catastrophe duel. And you know what? Say what you will, but I think it does a world of good for both of them. The 5Ds cast, as lovely as it is, doesn't get a lot of room to bounce off one another where it concerns personal matters anymore, once the WRGP starts. Arguably, they get little time to bounce off one another outside of plot-related discussions at all once this portion of the show comes around. The characters are treated as "fully developed", and thus, the writing largely doesn't take the time to show us how the group naturally interacts with one another anymore, especially not with how many side characters (chiefly Bruno and Sherry), antagonists, and duels the show now has to juggle. So Aki and Crow getting even a smidgen of personal conflict here is honestly a breath of fresh air. The interaction kicked off by Crow's injury isn't completely plot-irrelevant, like most character interactions during the pre-WRGP were, but it's not something that feels like it's only there to explain the machinations of the antagonists to the audience, either.

Let me go through this in a little more detail to illustrate my point.

So, episode 97. Crow storms off after Aki offers to take his spot, while Aki heads out to prepare her runner, intent on helping her team. The personal motivations here are already very nice and reflective of these characters as we've gotten to know them up until this point: Crow's angry and disappointed (mostly at himself, which is noteworthy!) because he can't compete. And specifically, he's angry because not being able to compete in the first match means he can't show the kids his duelling like he wanted to. Then there's Aki, whose offer to take Crow's place is every bit as much of a strategic suggestion as it is a bid for acceptance from her. Acceptance, which is the thing she's been all about ever since she was introduced, basically. So she pleads with her friends to accept her, see her as an equal, and allow her to duel for the team, which they do. And Crow initially throws a fit, but then...

(Listen. You have no idea how much Crow and Aki getting to actually be friends means to me.)

He comes around to the idea and not only gives Aki his express permission to take his spot, he even coaches her a bit right before the match. Moreover, as his text states above, he literally entrusts her with the kids' hopes, as well as his own. This quickly brings both of them full circle: Crow, who already has a theme of legacy attached to him, passes the torch to Aki for this match, and in so doing, offers her the acceptance she asked her teammates for. (Frankly, stuff like this makes me wonder why on earth people were so eager to pit these two against each other, when their shared moments are actually some of the best-written during the often rocky WRGP arc.) So, though this injury pulls Crow out of the duel, it, funnily enough, ties him better into the story and to the other characters.

From there, we then dive into the Team Unicorn match proper. And well, being injured as he is, Crow doesn't exactly get a whole lot to do there. However, since we're in the portion where his and Aki's writing overlaps a bit, I do need to go on a quick tangent about what Aki's portion of this duel means for Crow.

(Sigh. Okay, buckle up for a quick and rough detour.)

First, something I need to get out of the way and off my chest: I have made no secret out of the fact that I hate Aki's portion of this duel, save for the moment where she summons Stardust. Hell, this duel segment is pretty much universally hated by anone who has even a smidgen of sympathy for Aki. It's regarded by many as the very moment the writers axed Aki's character, and for good reason: After all the buildup surrounding her getting her turbo duelling license, the supposed "payoff" of it all is that she gets to duel against Andre for a depressing four turns before being defeated immediately, which leads into Yusei's frustrating portion of this duel, which, to my knowledge, isn't regarded any more kindly by fans than Aki's segment. It's a massive let-down, simply put. But the thing is, it's not just a let-down for Aki. After all, the brief character conflict she had with Crow about taking his spot here can and should be regarded as part of the setup for this moment, and as such, it can also be considered to be wasted the second Aki leaves the track after barely making an impact whatsoever.

However, I do need to mention that I have a theory on why this segment was handled the way it was, mostly because I feel like Crow's later interaction with Aki, shortly after she's out of the duel, underlines it (mind that this is just my personal theory, though, after having watched the show perhaps more times than can be considered sane): I think there is a cultural aspect to this duel. See, the word ganbaru, which anime subtitles often like to translate with "do your best" or something along the lines, has a greater significance than the translation implies. Though it's not inaccurate per se, there's more than just the idea of doing your best behind ganbaru, because it's something like an umbrella term not just for doing your best and succeeding, it's also the idea that you have to keep trying, even if you don't succeed. It's related to tenacity, to persistence, even in the face of terrible odds. And make no mistake, I don't mean the Japanese equivalent of "if at first you don't succeed, try again" here. I genuinely do mean "you have to keep trying, even if you fail". There is no guarantee of success here. And for that reason, the idea behind ganbaru is also that it's not simply the success that has value, but the effort made in the attempt to attain it, regardless of the result. (Side note: I tried to scrounge up a resource I could link to that nicely explains this concept, but unfortunately, all the promising articles were paywalled and the ones I learned it from require institutional access to lecture materials.) And this is where I will posit the tentative theory that this is exactly what the 5Ds writers were going for with Aki's segment of the duel—it was very much meant to be the payoff for her turbo duelling license setup and her plea to take Crow's place, but it wasn't so much her success that was meant to be valued, as the effort she (and by extension, Crow) made for and during this duel. And this is where Crow's little pep-talk with Aki after she's out of the duel comes in, because it feels like it supports exactly this interpretation:

(This is essentially the whole sequence. Note how Crow, despite so fervently entrusting Aki with his and his kids' hopes prior, doesn't admonish her for making a bad showing in the slightest.)

I don't think it gets any clearer than it is here. During this sequence, Aki is painfully aware of how poor her performance was against Andre, especially after she was so insistent on duelling at first, and despite having been entrusted with Stardust by Yusei, to boot. Yet, Crow doesn't have a single word of criticism to offer her. Instead, he even tells her she did well and that nobody's perfect. It very much reads as valuing Aki's effort over the result she achieved to me, and thus seems perfectly in line with the idea behind ganbaru.

However, if we assume I'm correct about the intentions behind this writing choice, we come back to why Aki's segment of the duel is so hotly debated and why it may have arguably been a disservice not just to her, but to Crow, too, character-wise. Because the majority of non-Japanese watchers of the show culturally don't have a 1:1 applicable concept like ganbaru, this writing choice was more likely to fall flat for them, because to someone who wasn't raised to understand the idea behind it, Aki's portion of the duel doesn't register as a payoff; it registers as a massive disappointment, because it feels like the writers, who had so much setup already done for her, let her fail on purpose, just to later let Yusei attain his arguably dumbest victory of the entire show. Thus, they also essentially waste the conflict she had with Crow about whether she would be allowed to take his spot in the first place, because with how little she achieved during the duel, she may as well not have gotten on the track. (Figuratively speaking. Please Do Not take this to mean I would prefer a version where Aki hadn't duelled at all. That would be worse. It would be infinitely worse.)

(Also, side note: If this post reaches anyone who's actually Japanese and still remembers this duel, I would genuinely love your input on whether my interpretation is feasible or just wishful thinking. Did you interpret Aki's part of the duel the way I did here? Or did it fall flat for you, too? If what I'm saying here feels like an absolute reach, please tell me. I'm honestly just trying my best to make things make sense here and remembered this concept from some classes I took in Japanese studies at uni.)

With all that in mind, it doesn't come as a surprise that some people were just as frustrated with the way Crow was barred from duelling here as they were with Aki's segment or Yusei's later victory. But it is what it is—the Unicorn duel concludes the way we all know it to, and with that, the show begins setting up the following duel with Team Catastrophe.

The only other, non duel-related, noteworthy thing that happens between the Unicorn and the Catastrophe match is a brief appearance at the Poppo Time by Sherry, who admonishes the signers for celebrating their victory early and warns them about Iliaster. Why do I bring this up? Because it's one of less than five times that Crow is in the same room with Sherry. Remember, Sherry. The girl he later, during the finale, talks out of working for the big bad evil guy because he suddenly seems to have such a deep understanding of her motivations and character that he can accurately deduce what argument will make her understand that working with Z-ONE won't give her what she's looking for. So, does Crow get a meaningful interaction with her during this scene, then? Nope. Not even in the slightest. Crow says exactly one sentence that is aimed at Sherry during her appearance, and that sentence is this:

(What a meaningful conversation!)

And yes, I will come back to Crow and Sherry's dynamic in particular. But we'll save that for the Ark Cradle arc post. For now, just keep it in mind as we move along to the other WRGP duels.

So. Team Catasrophe.

During the duel against this team, which was previously only hinted at ominously, the writing for Crow and Aki overlaps again, and this starts with the writers essentially doing a complete switcheroo of what came before: Instead of Crow getting injured and being unable to compete, it's Aki who crashes, ends up in the hospital, and is thus forced to give up her spot during the duel. (This also goes hand in hand with her suddenly losing her powers, which we are given absolutely zero explanation for, but let's not talk about that clusterfuck here. If you're interested in my opinions about that particular trainwreck, I have a rant for you.) Additionally, it's during this stretch of episodes (103-105, which is a whopping four episodes less than Team Unicorn got) that we find out that not only Aki's crash, but Crow's previous one, too, were both sabotage, caused by the rather unscrupulous Team Catastrophe by way of a special card that can cause real damage even when there is no psychic duellist present. (A card we also find out was given to them by Placido/Primo, but this is irrelevant for both Aki and Crow.) Crow's reaction to this piece of information, particularly once Aki gets injured due to the same thing, is where things get interesting for him again, because he gets pissed, to say the least.

(A moment I imagine firebirdshippers must have been positively delighted about.)

Here, I have to reiterate an earlier point: Think what you will of Team Catastrophe, of Aki's crash, and of the sequence where her powers suddenly don't work, but this moment here, where Crow gets angry on her behalf and swears to duel Team Catastrophe into submission—not because he wants his kids to cheer for him, or because he wants to prove himself, but as revenge for his friend—is one of sadly only a handful of moments the writers use to show the strengthened relationships between the individual members of Team 5Ds after the dark signers arc. It's one of the precious few scenes that actually shows, rather than tells us or lets us search for scraps in the subtext, that the signers, and the members of Team 5Ds as a whole, care for each other outside of revolving around Yusei like planets around the sun. Even if it's laughably small, it's at least a hint that there are individual friendships between the other signers, too, that they all stick around one another for reasons beyond gravitating towards Yusei for one reason or another. And for that alone, I'm grateful that they put this here, even if Team Catastrophe was otherwise so ridiculous and made such a bad showing at their actual match that they could barely be taken seriously as antagonists at all.

Speaking of which. The actual meat of the matter. The Team Catastrophe match. What does Crow do here? Well, he duels! Even though he wasn't supposed to, for injury-related reasons. What both his participation as well as the actual duel accomplish, though, are that they not only showcase previously established character traits of Crow's again, but they also make a (possibly unintended) callback to a previous, major duel Crow took part in: His dark signer duel against Bommer/Greiger. Where and how? Let's see.

Firstly, Crow's participation. The reactions of the other characters to this make it very evident that Team 5Ds did not plan for this, with Yusei and Jack even going as far as to say they "had no choice" but to let Crow duel, because he insisted. This is perfectly in line with the stubbornness we already know from him at this point—a stubbornness that was also a major reason for why he took Bommer on and later continued his duel with said man, despite Yusei showing up and telling him he shouldn't be duelling a dark signer.

Secondly, there's the manoeuvring thing, and here's where I can call attention to a fun tidbit: The WRGP isn't what introduces the concept of manual mode during turbo duels to the audience. It's Crow. During his duel with Bommer. Being crafty and a bit shrewd as he is, Crow, during said duel in the DS arc, purposefully switches to manual mode when he duels Bommer, because he figures that attacks that can deal real damage can probably be evaded if you actually have control over your runner and aren't stuck in autopilot.

(Don't believe me? Here it is. And frankly, it is somewhat hilarious, yet also very fitting that Crow is the only one who thinks to do this during a duel with a dark signer.)

The reason this particular bit is relevant during the Team Catastrophe duel is because Crow essentially repeats this trick here. Of course, it's a bit less impactful now, given that manual mode is standard for WRGP duels, but still: Due to Hook, the Hidden Knight, Crow is forced to pay attention to the track and manually evade the monster's attempts to make his back wheel lock up during the duel, mirroring how he thought to manually evade Bommer's attacks during the DS arc.

Thirdly, there's the revenge angle, and this one is a particularly juicy callback. Remember, Crow's major reason for taking on Team Catastrophe, despite being injured, is that he wants to get revenge for Aki. This directly parallels how his major reason for duelling Bommer during the DS arc was that he wanted revenge for his kids, whom he believed to be dead at that point in time. (It also, interestingly, establishes a bit of a connection to his deck, which boasts a fair amount of revenge effects, but I'll not get into that here, seeing as I've talked about Crow's cards a bit before.)

Keep in mind, despite all the things listed above that this duel accomplishes, it's also by far the shortest WRGP duel. It lasts a whole six turns, total, which is ludicrous compared to the likes of 27-turn Team Unicorn, 26-turn Team Taiyou, or 25-turn Team Ragnarok. And I don't think it's controversial to say that the Catastrophe guys are probably the most forgettable WRGP Team, too. Yet, somehow, despite all its shortcomings in terms of memorable antagonists and plot relevance, this is one of the best duels of the WRGP where Crow's character writing is concerned. Now, I'll be perfectly candid: Coming into this post, I did not expect the Team Catastrophe duel, of all things, to end up being as good at actually showcasing Crow's character and his ties to other characters (who aren't Yusei) as it was, but here we are. And we had better hold on to the good the Team Unicorn - Catastrophe segment did for Crow, because the next thing that's coming up is a harsh break from the WRGP, starting with the sudden appearance of Placido's home-engineered army of killer duel robots. And what does Crow get to do during this part?

Uh. Well.

(Pictured: Bird Boy being demoted to benchwarmer while the city's being ransacked by murder duel robots.)

Nothing. A whole lot of nothing, is what.

During the duel robot invasion, we only ever flash back to Crow to ascertain that he is, in fact, useless during this part of the show, something he shares in common with Ruka, Rua, and Aki here, because all of them get pretty much nothing to do while Yusei finally gets the hang of accel synchro. Granted, Aki gets to save a little girl at the hospital, but in comparison to Yusei's lengthy, plot-heavy duel with Placido, this feels like a consolation prize. And for once, Jack is only marginally better off, too, because sure, he gets to beat up a couple of robots, but that's it, really.

Where Crow is concerned, his plot relevance doesn't actually resume once the Placido duel finishes, though. (And neither does Rua's, Ruka's, or Aki's, while we're at it.) Because wouldn't you know it, the next big thing directly after the duel robot invasion are the Red Nova episodes, where three out of five signers (Crow, Aki, and Ruka, unsurprisingly) are removed from the screen almost in their entirety again while Jack gets his much-needed dragon upgrade so he can keep up with Yusei, in order to uphold his status as a classic, almost-evenly-matched yugioh rival.

Speaking of upgrades and dragons, let's make a quick detour while our protag and rival duo take their express vacation to the Nazca plains. It is, of course, no secret that no signer outside of Yusei and Jack ever got a dragon upgrade within the anime. (No, I'm not forgetting about Life Stream Dragon. But that one, unlike Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon, was a.) teased all the way back in the DS arc and b.) didn't have a unique summoning method or some other gimmick that made it an "elevated" synchro. So I'm discounting Life Stream as a "proper" dragon upgrade on purpose.) Is this the point where I start arguing that Crow should have gotten one, then? Well, not quite. Not with the writing the show canonically gave us, at least—after all, with how late Black-Winged Dragon was introduced, it would have been bonkers to upgrade him here already, if even at all. However, I do argue that the way the show hands only Yusei and Jack upgrades seems a bit... off. Now, I know why only those two get upgrades, or at least I think I do. After all, they're the central protag/rival duo, and within the framework of the character archetypes the larger yugioh canon has created for itself, this would have always made them the first, if not the only candidates for dragon upgrades. What feels a bit off to me, though, is that specifically the 5Ds cast feels like it... chafes a bit against those character archetypes, for lack of a better word. The problem is this: The signers, as far as the first two arcs are concerned, are sold to us as equals who all have very powerful ace monsters. Yes, Jack and Yusei are still undoubtedly the best duellists among them, but not on account of having uber-powerful extra special monsters that were acquired through supernatural means that are categorically inaccessible to the other signers. However, with the appearance of Shooting Star and Red Nova, this changes. While Yusei and Jack were previously and would have always been the two guys who had a Special dynamic with a capital "S" on account of their character archetypes, their acquisition of the dragon upgrades—and even more so, the lack of upgrades their fellow signers receive—now decidedly puts them in a different power bracket and skews the balance between previous, supposedly "equal" characters. (Which, unfortunately, is yet another thing that makes everyone else easier to sideline.)

Why do I bring all this up in a post dedicated to Crow? Because this new power imbalance arguably impacts him more than the other signers—because he's Team 5Ds' second wheeler and doesn't miss another WRGP match from here on out. Thus, that power imbalance is felt in the upcoming duels, where Yusei and Jack bust out Shooting Star and Red Nova like it's nothing, while Crow is left manoeuvring with the somewhat underpowered Black-Winged Dragon and whatever else he can come up with. This is also why I claimed that the show did sideline Crow in some aspects further above. Because while some parts of his writing go to great pains to establish him as part of a protagonist trifecta that is now supposed to take centre stage before the other characters, he also permanently lives in Jack and Yusei's shadow, ultimately barred not just from reaching equal status as a signer (due to his late and rocky introduction and dragon acquisition), but also barred from becoming the equal of his foster brothers as a duellist. Frankly, I'm surprised the show didn't make this a plot point, because the first thing my mind jumps to when I think about this is whether Crow felt left behind after his brothers acquired such immensely powerful, special cards. But more on my personal writing ideas later. For now, let's just put a pin in the power-imbalance thing.

So, when is Crow back on screen in any meaningful role, then? (Note that I mean this as literally as possible. As per my discussion about "screentime" and my gripes about it in part two, I gloss over the parts where Crow is on screen, but could be traded for any other signer or even a lamppost without affecting the scene at all.)

Well, the next thing Crow gets to do isn't exactly glorious, but it sure is funny.

(I want you all to remember that he has to wear this costume and play this part in Team 5Ds' absurd plan to capture Yaeger/Lazar because he lost at rock-paper-scissors. This will never not be funny to me.)

Ignoring the hilarious outfit and Crow playing the bait at a fabricated cup ramen promo event meant to lure Yaeger in, bird boy does actually get something that's not just for funsies to do during the two episodes where Team 5Ds is trying to get more information about Iliaster: He gets to have a duel revanche against Yaeger, who, if we remember the DS arc, ditched him the last time they squared off. Much like the Team Catastrophe duel, this one, too, calls back to previous duels Crow has had: For one, it's the obvious conclusion to his unfinished, first duel with Yaeger. And for two, Crow repeats a "trick" (for lack of a better term) here that is also unique to him: losing on purpose, which we remember from his duel with Lyndon.

(Identical-looking clown family jumpscare be upon ye.)

And again, much like getting injured for the Team Unicorn duel, I argue that this story beat here is something that could also only have been accomplished with Crow. Because he's the only one who has previously duelled Yaeger, firstly, because not wanting to make a child cry by beating their dad in a duel makes sense for him as a character due to him being a family-oriented person who loves children, secondly, and because losing on purpose in this scenario is a tactic that would seem out of character from anyone else, thirdly. (We recall, the only times Jack and Yusei, respectively, ever consider/offer to lose on purpose is when the lives of people close to them are on the line, in the shape of Carly/Rally. As for the others, aside from not being present, Aki, Rua, and Ruka are so heavily sidelined at this point that they would have never been an option for this. And if his writing is anything to go by, Bruno is mostly purposefully forbidden from accomplishing Plot Things, especially through duels, while he's Bruno.) But hey, due to the way this episode is set up, losing on purpose works out for Crow, because it convinces Yaeger to stop hiding and actually share his knowledge about Iliaster. This, by the way, is the second scene where Crow gets to be in a room with Sherry for a longer stretch of time. And look, him joking that Sherry might kill Yaeger if he doesn't spill the beans about Iliaster soon is fun and all, but in light of the Ark Cradle duel later, I have to point out that he, again, doesn't get to have so much as a shred of a meaningful conversation with Sherry here. Again. But moving on. The scene with Yaeger at the Poppo Time then leads us first to the small sequence in the arcade where the gang has to win a simulated duel to get Yaeger's encoded intel, then to episode 116—the Moment Express episode, where, due to this being a Yusei, Sherry, and Bruno-focussed episode, Crow gets nothing to do again. (And also doesn't get to interact with Sherry again.)

Congrats! We've survived the WRGP break. This leaves us with three more WRGP duels before shit hits the fan and the Ark Cradle arc commences. And full disclosure, I'll be doing a bit of a quick-fire round of those three duels. Why? Because despite them all having their merits in their own rights (they're the better liked duels of the WRGP for a reason), there honestly isn't that much focus on Crow during them. He duels, yes, and I've seen people point this out over and over again as the supposed smoking gun that shows how Crow had so much more relevance and screentime than Aki and yadda, yadda. We've been there. And it's not that I can't see where this argument is coming from—I'll be the first to tell you that it's a travesty that Aki never got to duel in the WRGP again outside of the Unicorn match. But I want to use the final three matches to dig into how the way these matches—and especially the opponents to go with them—were set up made it nearly impossible for Aki to replace Crow again during any point of the WRGP finals.

First, episode 118. This is the only preamble episode we get for the first two WRGP finals teams, and here, our group is split in two: Yusei, Bruno, and Rua introduce us to Team Taiyou, while Jack, Aki, and Crow introduce us to Team Ragnarok. There isn't much to say here, because the only thing this episode does for Crow is a shallow repeat of what the Team Catastrophe duel did: By putting him in a group with Aki and Jack, and letting them decide among themselves, independently, to check out the exhibition match, it implies that he voluntarily spends time with signers who aren't Yusei. Thumbs up. Gold star. You made an effort (I guess). Then, the real fun starts.

Round one. Team Taiyou.

(Pictured: The sweetest country bumpkins to ever grace this earth. Yes, I'm biased.)

So here's the deal with Team Taiyou, from a narrative standpoint, as best as I can grasp it: They are a callback to Team 5Ds' roots. Specifically, to the boys' Satellite roots. The Taiyou boys come from humble origins, have only one, mostly home-engineered duel runner, and play using old cards that are widely considered shitty, as 5Ds canon tells us. They are essentially the non-signer, countryside version of what Jack, Crow, and Yusei once were, which is why this is the first duel where the duellist constellation on Team 5Ds' end couldn't possibly have been altered. Team Taiyou is there to remind us where our boys started, so it has to be our boys duelling them. This also goes for Crow, even though this duel otherwise doesn't accomplish much for him, character-wise. Instead, it's more of a narrative wink at the audience, as well as providing a breather between otherwise extremely tense, plot-focussed duels. But yeah, Crow's part in this match isn't much to write home about; he doesn't get any verbal interactions that are very meaningful to his character, can't get so much as a scratch in on Zushin, even with Black-Winged Dragon, and is defeated so Yusei can take out the legendary giant.

Round two. Team Ragnarok.

(Behold the pizzazz of at least two contenders for Haircuts With The Most Spikes in the show.)

Though this duel is framed as being even more so aimed towards bolstering Jack's character writing than Crow's, given the inclusion of Dragan's personal history with Jack, Team Ragnarok gets significantly more interesting for Crow again than Team Taiyou did. This is, of course, mainly because of Brave/Broder. Where Team Taiyou were a callback to the 5Ds boys' roots, Team Ragnarok are their narrative foils. Dragan is the duellist who lost his pride to contrast Jack, who's brimming with pride at all times, and Harald/Halldor is essentially the rich, "destiny isn't bullshit, actually" version of Yusei. Meanwhile, unlike the first two, who highlight our 5Ds boys' characteristics by contrasting them, Brave acts as Crow's mirror. Through Team Ragnarok's flashbacks, we see that he gets almost exactly the same, lovable-rogue-type backstory that Crow did during the DS arc, just in a different setting. The only, major difference between them is that while Crow is more down-to-earth, Brave likes to be pretty flashy.

(Keep in mind that he's doing this on a runner. Is there such a thing as courses on how to do acrobatics on your runner? Like there are courses for vaulting on horseback irl? I'm overthinking this again.)

Unsurprisingly, the duel thus ends up addressing the similarities between Crow and Brave, mostly through two things: One, the duel essentially becomes a contest of who can out-trickster who, culminating in the famous, ridiculous-in-the-good-way sequence where Crow activates a trap from his graveyard, to the shock of pretty much everyone present. And two, despite being on opposite sides, the two bond over their concern for the children they took care of and their concern for children in general, which is expressed most clearly in the scene where Crow's kids, in an attempt to hold the poster they made for him higher, very nearly fall over the barricade in the WRGP stands. Despite the hefty length of the full duel, these are pretty much the only things actually related to Crow's character that come up, though. They're good, don't get me wrong, but in a duel that is otherwise this dense with plot, Aesir shenanigans, and Iliaster foreshadowing, it's no surprise that the duel doesn't add that much to Crow's character, outside of giving him someone he can bounce off very well and relate to. Again, though, we are faced with the same situation as with Team Taiyou: Due to the way the members of Team Ragnarok are written, meant to contrast/parallel one male duellist each from Team 5Ds, nobody other than Crow could have taken the third spot here, either. It would have felt awkward from a narrative standpoint (as much as I would have loved to see Aki duel more).

Now, finally. Round three. Team New World.

(Welp. Here come the robots.)

I had to check to make sure I wasn't misremembering this, but due to the way this duel was set up so José/Jakob could bust out Meklord Emperor Granel with a ridiculous amount of attack points, Crow gets a resounding four turns total in this duel. (Gee, I wonder which other character got this treatment during a WRGP duel.) During those four turns, there are only two things he accomplishes: One, leaving behind two combo pieces Yusei later uses, and two, showcasing the shrewd tactics that earned him the label of "trickster" during the Ragnarok duel by bringing out a non-synchro monster that can take advantage of a synchro monster's attack points and effects—Aurora the Northern Lights. And arguably, this is a very smart play, moreover, it's the only time anyone in the show has the bright idea to not use synchro monsters against the known and feared synchro-killer Meklords. Unfortunately, as smart as it is, the narrative doesn't reward Crow for this play—José all but shrugs what could have been a turning point in the duel off, then proceeds to steamroll Crow the next turn, leaving Yusei to score the win, as usual. To get back to the "Crow got so much more screentime than Aki during the WRGP" thing for a second, of all the duels in the WRGP finals, this is arguably the one where Aki could still most easily have taken Crow's spot again, because here, it doesn't matter whether it's him or someone else, as this duel isn't tied to his character in any way. Unfortunately, due to the Granel-steamroller-strategy, this is also the duel where letting Aki take his spot again would have been the biggest shot in the foot, because unless they had changed Team New World's strategy, Aki would have gotten brutally guillotined here, same as Crow—something I can't imagine anyone, not even people who hate Crow, being happy about.

With that, though, we've finally made it through the WRGP. So, what's the bottom line here? Frankly, speaking from my own interpretation, Crow occupies an... odd spot during this tournament, to say the least. Though he does get to duel the majority of the time, few of the duels actually cater to his character in any way. Moreover, he only gets to be the star of the show in a WRGP duel once, during the by far most forgettable match against Team Catastrophe. And mind that I use the term "star of the show" very loosely here, because the problem the WRGP arc as a whole has, in my opinion, is that the rather lame Team Catastrophe duel is the only one in the whole tournament that isn't won by Yusei, which categorically means that any of the other character's big moments are usually undermined by the fact that they ultimately still need him to save the day. Thus, moments like Aki summoning Stardust Dragon and Crow using an anti-synchro-killer strategy that for once actually forgoes synchros are somewhat cheapened by the fact that they're not actually the turning-point moments they're initially painted as, because ultimately, Yusei always has to be the one to save the day. What's worse is that this almost feels like a bit of a non-issue that could have easily been fixed—given that the show tells us that teams can shuffle around their line-up for a match any time. But unfortunately, the writing never interacts with this as a possible strategic element, nor does it ever seem to consider letting Yusei lose, or forcing him to give up his spot for a match. I feel the need to say that I don't put the blame at Yusei's feet here, though: This strongly feels like an oversight by the writers, and perhaps a disproportionate need to have a nigh-infallible protagonist (on the duelling side of things) that their audience would never run the risk of calling "lame". For Crow, though, this chiefly means one thing: In any duel other than the Catastrophe one, it was always clear that even if he partook, he would never finish the match. And yes, this is technically an issue Jack has, too. But this is where the character writing outside of the duels comes into play, too.

Unlike Jack, who actually gets to do something during the Diablo invasion (albeit very little), who gets his very own dragon upgrade and who gets a very personal, pre-duel plot with Dragan, the show's writing doesn't bother giving Crow a lot of plot- or character-relevant things to do, once the WRGP starts. This is also why I was so surprised at how much the Unicorn and Catastrophe duels embrace his interactions with Aki—compared to the later duels in the finals, this portion still makes Crow feel genuinely relevant and interwoven with the other characters. Meanwhile, out of the three final duels, only the Ragnarok one actually tries to establish a connection to his characterisation, through Brave. The Taiyou duel only sets itself up in such a way that Aki partaking instead of him would have been awkward. Meanwhile, the New World duel just has him being treated like a floormat in a sad parallel to Aki during the Unicorn duel, seeing as they both get a nice moment where it looks like they might turn the duel around (Aki summoning Stardust Dragon and Black Rose Dragon onto the field at the same time; Crow summoning Aurora the Northern Lights, which couldn't be absorbed by the Meklords), only to have their hopes dashed as they're mercilessly cleared off the track. Outside of the duels, many scenes sadly give the impression that they may as well not have included Crow, though—he often gets so little to contribute to a moment or even to say at all that substituting him with a cardboard box seems like it would not have impacted the scene in any way. And that's without addressing his non-existent connection to Sherry, which feels extra glaring, given his later interactions with her on the Ark Cradle.

All in all, the WRGP feels like a very mixed bag, where Crow's character writing is concerned. His belated backstory, which I talked about in part two, is front-loaded and asks as many questions as it answers. Then the tournament commences, gives him some actually decent character interplay with Aki for once (at the cost of letting her succeed in the tournament, it seems), only for him to be basically irrelevant during the WRGP pause again. And once the whole thing resumes, it becomes this hot-and-cold thing where some duel aspects seem tailored to him, while others treat him as completely expendable. The end result is an arc where I'm left wondering why exactly the writers felt the need to make it seem like Crow made up one portion of a protagonist trifecta, if they never actually bothered treating him as equal to the other two. (The answer, I believe, lies somewhere between the fumbled setup they did for him during the Fortune Cup and DS arc, and the way yugioh in general treats its character archetypes. But that's just speculation on my part.) The one, saving grace the WRGP (outside of the Pearson backstory) has for Crow is that it at least doesn't introduce any new character- and/or timeline inconsistencies. In fact, his character stays remarkably true to form once the tournament begins.

Okay, onto the final bit, then. As I've done in both previous posts, let me delve into completely subjective territory and offer some ideas on how this arc could have been handled to make it seem a little less all over the place with Crow. And since his writing here canonically intersects with Aki's several times, let me try to do it while offering the best of both worlds to both characters, if I can.

As far as Crow's backstory is concerned, I've already offered my solutions to that in part two. Now, to stay consistent with my own suggestions, I'll try to branch off what I wrote in the last post. This means that, as per my previous two analyses, we're dealing with two scenarios again: One, Crow stays a signer and we try to touch canon as little as possible. Two, Crow isn't a signer and we adjust canon in whatever way we need to to make him feel interesting and necessary despite/because of that.

First, though, let's get two adjustments I personally would have made in both versions out of the way:

The way the WRGP is structured puts every character that isn't Yusei at a massive disadvantage, where character moments in duels are concerned. Thus, I propose an overhaul. Among the changes I think could have benefitted the characters (yes, all of them) are: One - Aki actually getting to accomplish something during the Unicorn duel (she can and should still have her moments with Crow, but maybe let her portion of the duel end in her thanking him for coaching her, creating a more upbeat scene that strengthens their friendship, which could double as good setup for their later double-duel against Sherry). Two - letting the Team Catastrophe duel actually play out properly (as in, they become more meaningful as opponents by having a better strategy, for example, and Crow could stick it out longer against them, in order to make this more so his win than Jack's. Also, why not let Aki actually see him get back at Team Catastrophe for her?). Three - giving Crow an actual character moment during the Taiyou duel (what if one of the country boys had played a card or two of the ones he learned to read from? It could have helped drive the parallel between the two teams home.) Four - letting Crow's anti-Meklord strategy get at least a little payoff, if only for two turns (show us at least proof of concept, damn it!). Yes, the Ragnarok duel is the only one I wouldn't rewrite (unless special circumstances are introduced, see below). Additionally, let Team 5Ds alter their line-up more than once, damn it. Let them actually strategise about the duels, let them take into consideration who should go first when and whose deck might be better suited to which scenario. Also, remove Yusei from at least one duel. Doesn't matter how, just let him not partake once. Perfect setup to let Aki duel again, and would also allow for spicy character interactions. (Arguably the best duels where this could have been done would have been any of the final duels, though it would have also required rewriting the antagonists somewhat in any case.)

For the love of god, give Sherry and Crow some setup. Let them actually interact, let them introduce their philosophies to one another, just do something, anything to make Crow understanding and talking sense into her during the finale seem earned. A few chance meetings, or maybe even a tiny side-plot could have done so much here. And if you can't let them interact outright, at least let Aki and Crow talk about Sherry! Double whammy! The two characters who end up duelling against her are made to seem even more like a team, and Crow actually gets to find out what Sherry's deal is on-screen. Just. Set. it. up. I beg you.

There we go. Now, onto the two branches.

Option A: Crow stays a signer and obtained Black-Winged Dragon.

Seeing as Crow's signer status, funnily enough, isn't all that relevant during the tournament itself (save for two notable exceptions), there aren't that many fixes to be made here. Crow can still get injured, miss out on the Unicorn duel and be the star of the Catastrophe duel. But giving him something to do during the duel robot invasion that isn't standing around and hoping Yusei will fix everything would also be nice. It's fine if he can't drive out there and duel, but why not let him do something else? He's a crafty guy, why not let him find, say, a way to fry the Diablos' runners, taking a few of them out even from a semi-stationary position without duelling them? He could at least get as much of a consolation prize scene as Aki got with her saving that child. Then there's Team Taiyou, which, save for what I proposed above, is a duel that doesn't feel like it needs changes. Crow does his thing here. That's it. The same goes for Team Ragnarok, especially given that they're specifically written to oppose an all-signers Team 5Ds. Finally, there's Team New World, which, if I'm being completely candid, I would personally overhaul to change the cyborgs' strategy entirely in order to actually let all three members of Team 5Ds shine. But this is the version where I touch canon as little as possible, so... Aside from what I wrote above, no changes needed. Just make Crow seem a little more relevant, make his strategy have at least a little payoff, even if Granel's back out and menacing literally two turns later.

Option B: Crow, as per my previous posts, isn't a signer and doesn't have Black-Winged Dragon.

This is the version that would categorically require heavier changes, though they honestly don't arrive until the break in the tournament. Unicorn and Catastrophe stay the same, I would still propose that Crow gets to be a little more useful during the Diablo invasion. But! In this version, seeing as he never acquired BWD, the break in the WRGP would be an excellent spot to let Crow acquire an upgrade for his beefy Blackwing ace monster of choice. Give him a little side-plot, too, something to do, something where he proves himself. Maybe let him run into Iliaster here, or maybe call back to Pearson again and introduce the new Blackwing upgrade as a treasure Pearson stashed away before he died (maybe this could have even been the card Bolger was actually after; the world is our oyster here). Then he's beefed up, too, and actually feels a little more on the same level as Jack and Yusei. The tournament recommences and again, the Taiyou duel could stay mostly the same, I think. Ragnarok and New World are where it gets really interesting, though. The way I see it, Ragnarok could go two ways with Crow not being a signer: Either he partakes as he did in canon and his non-signer status is called out as a peculiarity by our Swedish boys who happen to be obsessed with fate (which would make his performance against Brave seem all the more impressive), or, due to this being a duel all about destiny and celestial pissing contests, Crow's spot is given to Aki again for this duel due to her signer status (this would, obviously, require rewriting Brave, perhaps even switching him out for a Ragnarok lady instead). As for Team New World, this duel would honestly be a lot more juicy with a non-signer Crow, because much like he was for the dark signers, a non-signer Crow would essentially be an unknown in their plan for the cyborgs. He would be the guy who's Not Supposed To Be Here. Granted, he would still be beaten, but he could still get an excellent moment where his out-of-left-field anti-Meklord strategy genuinely seems to turn the tables for a bit, angering José and providing even stronger setup for Yusei to win later.

Aaaaand that's that. Somehow, I get the feeling the WRGP had the least things that needed fixing because it also had the least actual character writing. But that might just be me. It's late and I have been writing for A While. But hey, I got out part three faster than part two! I consider that an achievement.

Now, while I get my talking points in order for part four, I hope you'll have fun chewing on this one. See you in the grand finale to my Bird Boy dissertation.

[ennard-is-near]

17, 18, 22?

Omg you picked the coolest ones! Yippee!!!

17. There should be more of this type of fic/art?

Okay this is super specific but Time Travel Fix-It fics where the Michael specifically goes back in time and makes the wackest decision possible right off the bat. Like ones where instead of vowing to be better he immediately gets a gun and kills William. Or he just breaks the window to his bedroom and runs away from his house without even packing or anything. I’ve seen both of these and I really enjoyed them a lot.

I also loveeeeee when a character who isn’t the narrator is the time-traveler. So for example a story where Michael is very obviously a time-traveler but Henry is narrating. So from Henry’s point of view this kid is now an entirely new person. Bonus points if Michael makes the most insane decisions imaginable. More Bonus points if Henry is trying to figure out what the fuck is going on but is obviously wrong because how would he know.

18. It's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...?

Ennard. I know, I talk about them so much that some people click on this blog assuming it’s an Ennard roleplay account, but I think their voice mimicking thing in particular is so cool. I recently made a post about Ennard failing to do Michael’s voice around his neighbors because they’ve never heard it, which I think is awesome. But also just the idea of this weird, angry and desperate soul amalgamation trying to pretend to be a guy is fascinating. I feel like a lot of portrayals of it tend to fall short of the mark in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. But Ennard is absolutely slept on for the abilities that make them super cool.

Also Springtrap in the room!!! What was he up to?? I feel like he would go so insane and get so weird and lonely. I feel like depictions of the animatronics (and Michael if you’re feeling silly) as more weird and scared is slept on a little. To be fair, it’s not exactly canon, but I think it’s a neat depiction of them that isn’t utilized all that often.

Another one that slept on is the nightmares, because they only appear when the FNaF four kid is sleeping. 👍

22. Your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores?

The Sister Location secret night. I talk about this all the time but that one line “I know it was an accident.” At 5am in Elizabeth’s voice SENDS ME absolutely spiraling and yelling. I think that Ennard slowly pulling out all the stops and saying and doing things that are more personal to Michael. It not only tells me that Elizabeth/Baby at least was lying about not recognizing Michael but is also willing to absolutely traumatize him. Oh my word imagine being Michael in that situation!!!!!

[gaslysainz]

Lost (PG10) pt4

Summary: The world is utterly unfair. He was her most prized possession, her life, her first ever commitment of love. But to him, she was just a mere person lost in his big world.

warnings: ; unrequited feelings; Pierre is a douche , arrange marriage, angst, explicit scenes and languages.

Author's Note~ Heya guys! I present to you the 4th part of my fanfic. I'm overwhelmed by the response ❤️ Really Thanks a lot to everyone who had liked the story so far. Something's have started to cook. Hope you look forward to it. Love You All 😘 Here's my first ever story for you guys. As soon as I finish this one, I'll start taking requests maybe! Till then please show your love and support for "LOST".

This one's a filler chapter, so please bear with me.

Something completely different happened today. A knock at my door woke me up from my 1 hour nap which has unfortunately turned into a 3 hour nap. I stood up from the bed and opened the door only to find my husband standing there and running a hand through his curls. Oh! What a sight! He looks like a Greek God.

"Hey! Did you need something? I'm sorry I fell asleep, also you can come inside"

He thanked me and entered my room, this is completely new. But nonetheless, I had to take a chance. He was looking around the room and the pictures hanging on the walls. His eyes stuck to one picture in particular. A picture captured by Pierre's mom of Isaac, Pierre and myself. It was Halloween and Isaac wanted to be a Vampire and on the other hand Pierre and Me were Romeo and Juliet. He was 6 and I was 4! We did not even know who Romeo and Juliet were! It was because of the elders who had insisted on these costumes! Oh! What I'd give to have those days back.

"You need something?"

"Ah! No, um actually yes, I have to attend an event with the rest of grid tomorrow. And you have to come with me. So be ready by 7pm tomorrow, will you? Wear something nice. I'll send someone with dresses for you to choose today in the evening. Just pick something from there."

There it is! Like I've mentioned before, he only remembers me when he needs something or needs to go somewhere to show off the world our so called amazing married life. *Scoff* But I'm not mad, at least I'll be able to meet HIM after so many days. The only person who happens to care even a little bit for me. Who always greets me with a beautiful smile on his face. A friend? Nope, he's like an angel for me.

I really hope everyone gets a friend like him!

" *Cough* *cough* You there?"

" Oh yea! I'm sorry, I was a bit distracted. Umm, Why don't you take Julia with you? I'm sure she would love to accompany you and also I'm sure she has several dresses in her wardrobe already. Won't even have to buy a dress last minute"

The look Pierre gave me after I mentioned Julia simply yelled 'ARE YOU CRAZY'. I mean I knew why he wouldn't take Julia, but I just find a different kind of satisfaction by reminding it to him.

"Um, I'll be ready tomorrow. Don't worry. By the way, where's Julia?"

"I sent her home, no need for her to stay here for these two days, either way we'd be busy. It'll only distract us."

Oh well! That was odd! Distract us from what exactly? Sometimes this man leaves no tables unturned to confuse me to no end. Anyways. I know better now than to crack my brain over these things. It's actually useless cause I won't get anymore clear answers from him than this.

"Any specific colour that I need to keep in mind while choosing the dress?"

"Not that I'm aware of, just keep it a bit formal. I'll get going. If Julia calls or comes asking for me, just tell her I've been out for a meeting since morning."

And then he rushed out the door, not before checking our childhood photo once again. Okay! That was highly confusing! I mean why was he avoiding Julia? Or am I reading too much between the lines? No one knows. I better go eat something until then.

But still, I'm a bit lost here.

LOST in confusion.

PS - Please lemme know what do you think about LOST and also let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list ❤️

@peachiicherries @crimeshowjunkie @oblomovissad @torossosebs @janeholt3

[miscfandomwrites]

Pairing: Wanda maximoff x reader

Warnings: Smut

Words: 1621

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

~~~~

After standing in the middle of the room for awhile, I decided to head to the shower clean up a bit. It was hot at hell in my room, so I made sure to flip on the fan. 

Not caring to even get clothes, I shedded them and jumped into the shower. After awhile of humming and trying not to get soap in my eyes, I got out.

Wrapped in nothing but a towel, I started going through my clothes. I wanted something nice to wear tonight. It’s been awhile since I’ve been with someone, and I wanted to put some effort into it. 

After decided on a lace set of lingerie, I checked my phone. 

There was a series of photos, both of her in and out of clothes. 

Fuck. 

She was still texting them, and I decided to send one back, which got me a long line of compliments along with ‘I can’t wait to take that off of you.’ from her, making me blush and sending more heat straight to my core. 

I put on a tshirt and a pair of shorts and started to pick up my room. Suddenly my phone pinged again, with another text that read ‘I’m in a meeting, but when I’m out you’d better be on my floor or there will be punishment.’

Holy fuck. 

Then another: “My tongue would do a better job teasing you then my words can” 

Was it just me or was the room suddenly getting really hot?

“FRIDAY what time does Wanda get out of the meeting?” I asked.

“Five minutes, according to Mr. Stark” it replied back to me. 

As much as I’d love to be punished by her, I was wanting to be nice for once. 

And five minutes! 

I grabbed my phone and sprinted to the elevator, calling it. The doors opened and I saw her, Sam, and Bucky. 

Well shit. 

I smiled and got in. 

“Any floor in particular?” asked Sam. 

I smirked. “None, just here for the conversation.” I replied back. 

I leaned against the back next to Wanda, and she leaned over and whispered in my ear. 

“You’re in trouble.” 

I was blushing again, but I kept calm and decided to think about the next mission we were on. 

Sam and Bucky kept looking at us, whispering. I noticed that Wanda had changed into her leather jacket with a black t-shirt, jeans and boots. She also still definitely had marks on her neck. 

“You two….ah,.....are together?” Asked Sam, looking at the two of us.

I looked to Wanda, who smiled and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me in for a heated kiss. 

“I guess that answers that.” Bucky said. The elevator stopped and the boys got off, and Wanda broke the kiss, telling FRIDAY to take us up to her room.

“You’re in for a hell of a night” she said as she smirked at me. 

“I hope so.” I replied, smiling back at her. 

She pulled me closer by my hips, and I bared my neck to her. She started with small kisses behind my earlobe, and then traveled to where my neck met my shoulder. She nipped the skin there, soothing it over with her tongue before doing that to my shoulder as she moved my shirt away. 

The elevator stopped and we got off, and she grabbed my hand and tugged me to the bedroom. 

She pushed me onto the bed, straddling me. She grabbed my face and gently held it in her hands, kissing me softly. I was sure I was melting, not grabbing her hips and pushing her more into me. 

She got up off of me and stood at the foot of the bed. 

Strip. A command sent to me mentally, which I took my time with. Carefully slipping my shirt off, showing off my (favorite color) lace lingerie. I bent over, showing her my ass as I slowly took my shorts off. After finishing my little show, she nodded towards the bed.

I layed on it, holding my torso up with my elbows as I watched her strip into a simple set of undergarments that I knew I wanted on the floor. She crawled up to me, smirking. She kissed me again, taking my bottom lip between her teeth and tugged on it. I opened my mouth to her and tilted my head. With one hand supporting her, she used the other to skin along the fabric on my chest, running her fingers over my nipples. 

She started kissing my jaw, then my chest. She looked up to me and smiled “You look really pretty.” she spoke softly between kisses. I smiled back and her, a soft ‘thank you’ coming out as I leaned back. I loosely put my hand in her hair. 

She unhooked the lace portion from the bottom and behind my back, groaning at the sight of my chest. She tossed the top somewhere in the room. A warm, wet feeling that I knew was her mouth covered my left breast; she sucked on it as she rubbed the other between her fingers. I whimpered, moving my hips to try and get some friction between them. She chuckled as she switched over to my right, doing the same thing. 

This felt amazing. She moved one of her thighs, pressing it between mine. She kissed down my chest and stomach, stopping at the hem of the underwear long enough to pull them off. 

After tossing those aside, she kissed and nipped at my thighs leaving little red marks. She kissed the top of my mound before licking a long strip. 

“Fuck!” I hissed as she repeated it. She took her time, sucking my lips into her mouth before licking back up, finding my clit. 

“Damn, I made you this wet?” she asked me. I lifted my torso up, meeting her eyes. I didn’t need to see her mouth to know she was smiling. She moved her hands over my hips, rubbing them as she sent me a wink.

She flicked my clit with her tounge, my breath hitching as I fell back on the bed. She did this a total of eight more times, in between kissing and nipping my thighs. She took my clit in her mouth, gently sucking on it as I bucked my hips. I could feel my essence coating my thighs, and I wanted more. 

She traced the entrance of my hole with her finger, not yet entering. 

“Please!” I whimpered. She then entered it, soon joining it with a second. She sucked on my clit and her fingers curled, causing me to scream as I came. After licking off my entrance and fingers, she got up. 

She walked over to the side of the bed, where I watched her pull out a strap and a dildo that I knew would definitely leave me feeling it tomorrow. 

I was still trying to catch my breath after my first orgasm, and I watched her stab it on herself. She looked over at me, smirking. 

Think you can take all of it? She mentally asked me. I wasn’t sure, but I sure as hell would try. I nodded, closing my eyes. 

She was between my legs, and she reached and gently took my face in her hands. I swear, this was the softest thing about her. She kissed me gently, lining up the toy to my entrance. She broke the kiss, kissing my neck as she started to push in. Little by little, spurred on by my moans and whimpers, she kept pushing in. She marked my neck and chest until she was in to the hilt. I was surprised at this, I didn’t know I could take that much. 

A small groan came from her and she got back up. One of her hands ran over my chest and stomach. 

“Good girl. Taking this all in.” She told me. I whimpered. 

She carefully rocked out, before pushing in again. She repeat it, keeping a hand on my stomach and the other on my hip. 

“Fuck, please Wanda…...harder.” I told her, groaning at the full feeling. She nodded, moving faster and harder causing me to moan louder. 

The hand on my hip moved to my clit, rubbing circles. My thighs started to shake and I gripped the bedsheets and I felt it starting to hit my g-spot. 

I was starting to peak, I could feel the tightness spooling in my core. Suddenly it snapped, causing me to scream her name as I came around the toy, 

She kept thrusting through my organsum, the overstimulation causing me to cum again shortly after again. 

She pulled out, moaning at the sight my cum dripping from the toy and me. 

She pulled the strap off, taking it to the bathroom to clean it off. As I tried to catch my breath, she came back with a warm wash cloth, wiping me gently with it. 

I smiled. “Do you do this with all your lays?” I asked. 

She smiled back at me. “Only with the ones I really like.” she replied. I chucked, happy that she remembered what I’d said earlier.

I got up and shakely started to pull my clothes on, until her hand grabbed my arm. 

She looked at me. “Stay with me? Please?” She gently asked. I nodded and got back into the bed with her, pulling up the blankets around us. She tugged me closer to her, wrapping an arm around my waist. I kissed her softly and smiled. “That was fun.” I said. She laughed, squeezing me into her harder. She kissed my forehead before replying. 

“We can have more fun than that.”

[scarlettaagni]

I'm assuming you reblogged the 'send me a character' thing with intent, so I will ask about. Cyclonus! please : 3

ye ye! I guess I'll refer to G1 (cartoon) Cyclonus by large

favorite thing about them: the most nuanced bitch this side of the cartoon! Decepticons constantly pull themselves down by only looking out for themselves and being conniving little shits to each other instead of only their enemies (and that's the point) but here you have a complete inversion, a Decepticon (second-in-command, no less) who is LOYAL. not only loyal, but selfless, by their standards?? nothing matters to Cyclonus beyond Galvatron, the Decepticon cause, and combat. he should be a force of nature but is rendered inert by an incapable leader because he just wants to follow. He's a warrior first and foremost but he gets to basically be in charge and isn't dumb muscle, e.g. he knows psychology (or at least how to work a crowd). Cyclonus is one year old and yet feels like he personally met Roman gladiators or something, he's great. A character of visible, textual multitudes in the G1 cartoon, which was notoriously allergic to nuance

least favorite thing about them: bro, the character assassination, like in Headmasters anime or the comics. I know by and large the Decepticons are dumb as hell, but I get like personally offended when chars are just dumbed the hell down for the sake of a joke or to facilitate the plot. If you have to do that, just pick more-fitting character or come up with a justification, fr. you'd think watching G1 five times in a row would inoculate me to this, but no. (for the record, his weird amplified cowardice I'm counting as stupidity) This doesn't apply to like, gag manga, that's the whole point of them

least favorite thing about them pt 2: that last answer felt like cheating so I guess while I like both demon and final designs, I hate how held back his final design is! I joke about the Unicronian legs being fine af, but he had curvier legs and they took them away. His neck is blank and featureless, so is his face. He looks fine this way, but there were so many interesting details they could have kept even when making him look more uniform with previous character designs. I guess I can thank AKOM for once, for letting us see his old design in motion lol

favorite (serious) line: damn. if I gotta pick? I guess for characterization: [out of breath] "It has been too long since I had an opponent that was worthy of my FULL attention..." or alternatively, "Galvatron...!" said like Roger C. Carmel is crying in the sound booth purely just for the line delivery

favorite (silly) line: "Everybody's gotta be somewhere..." [casually waltzes past a guy Scourge just roundhoused through a screen]

brOTP: I used to joke that Cyclonus and Scourge are at most drinking buddies to me, and I learned that's literally how they met in IDW

OTP: G1? CycMags. The rituals are intricate. It's about the symmetry. Two second-in-commands, more competent than their not-up-to-the-task leaders, the Soldier and the Warrior. They pointedly unname each other. They get petty when they're in the same space together. Cyclonus saved Ultra Magnus' life so that he could end it himself. He's sure he'll win but is perfectly open to Magnus ending him. Cyclonus views him as an equal, and despite the attempts on each other's lives, that is what makes it healthier than...

NOTP: Cyclonus/Galvatron. he's down so bad but it's obviously one-sided. he can do MUCH better, he just doesn't want to. Cyclonus won't consider any other options...... unless

random headcanon: he's prone to parroting. if someone uses a particular word or phrase, he'll use it in a sentence soon after, and phrased exactly the same way too. then it just becomes part of Cyclonus' vocabulary forever. which is how you get a guy who uses words like "vanquish" and "insolent" also saying things like "wimps" and "losers"

unpopular opinion: I'm so not with the silly ear interpretation of his horns. It's cute, and I'll make some jokey references to it, or have characters refer to them as such (derisively) but I'm insistent that they're horns. He's based off a demon, the Unicronians are clearly made in Unicron's image, they're horns. I'm a bigger fan of the wings swiveling up and down

song i associate with them: this is more of a song for all the Unicronians as a group, but I just like this one

favorite picture of them: there's some silly ones I already shared but I might as well pick one he looks really good in

in short: I like the him a normal, healthy amount

[i-write-sin-not-tragedy]

Huskerclouddust thoughts? I will enable you, yes, release the ideas :3

Hello so the reason this took me a WHILE was bc i had so many things bouncing around my brain, and i had to like. Sit down and come up with cohesive thoughts and not just fake episodes that play out in my head. LOL

But ill just!! Do a quick list of ideas and if theres one anyone wants a more detailed rundown of, please just send an ask and i will HAPPILY elaborate

Nsfw/mdni below the cut♡

huskcloud fucking while watching one of Angels live streams (in which he is doing a solo show and has specifically picked toys that allude to huskcloud. They're the only ones that know ofc)

I have this wholeass rundown of how Husk and Cloud even START dating. Its more like the situation of them both dating Angel and the awkward dance around each other that features a little flirting but Husk starts to get a bit bolder with the flirts and Cloud is a mega over thinker who keeps convincing himself its nothing. Until they end up making out on the bar, and it only stops bc Charlie interrupts it (bless her heart she has no idea what was happening either jekfje) There's a whole sweet thing of Husk inviting Cloud to his room later to like actually talk about it. Cloud again is an overthinker and has no idea if this is like. A date or Husk wanting to tell him to stop (honey HE started the makeout but okay kekfkdk) This one in particular makes me so stupidly soft that i could SCREAM. Its nothing too intense, it does go into my hcs of Husk being demisexual, and has some very soft makingout/dry humping but they don't fuck. *yet*.

extremely silly and slightly vaugely dubcon-y setting of Angel and Cloud messing with the whole "spider and fly" / "predator/prey" kink. Angel had the brilliant idea to use a real web (note. Angel is a jumping spider. They dont build traditional webs. Angel has no idea what the fuck hes doing and zero insticts to work with) Thus they both get stuck/tangled up in it. They don't,,,,,stop though. Like no no this isn't exactly what they were going for but it works. They do have to call Husk to cut them loose after a while when they realize they literally can't pull away from each other (and are both too oversensitive to do much about it) Insert here Husks exhausted sigh. (And maybe messing with them just a little for being horny idiots)

Cloud has a tongue/mouth kink. I literally do not know how to summarize this one more than Angel and Husk give him oral at the same time, lol

flipside of the above (or could be the same fic hmmm) Cloud giving them both blowjobs.

a really silly idea of their first like. Early morning 3way. Like its should be all soft and sweet everyone kinda sleepy and just wanting to be cozy and feel each other only they've been under blankets all night and Husk and Angel are both covered in *fur*. Cloud passes out from overheating LMFAO cue both boyfriends panicking

Angel is helping Cloud pick out lingerie that he's actually comfortable in. It's not full on smut, so much as touching and teasing, but it's also cute and soft. I like them being as supportive as they can and assuring Cloud that they love his body the way it is, the way Cloud want its, and it doesn't change how they see him and they want him to feel comfortable in his own skin. It can be a challenge for him to walk the line of "do i feel like a cute boy in this or does it just make me feel like a girl" but Angel is absolutely thrilled to give suggestions. Husk appreciates from the side.

i might. Have an intox kink. And maybe have projected that onto cloud. But i also understand that's a bit of a heavier kink for many people, so i won't say much on that unless someone specifically asks for it, and i can tag the post properly♡

[callie-ariane]

Good Omens giveaway - mistysblueboxstuff's/Andrea C White's latest artwork book

Time for another giveaway!  With the publication of mistysblueboxstuff’s/Andrea C White's Good Omens season 2 artwork books (more pictures here), and having had her prior approval, I’d like to buy some of the books for a few fans.  (The number of books will depend on my bank balance at the time.)

There are two versions of the book: an A4 hard cover and an A5 soft cover.  Depending on the number of people who apply, I'll probably buy mostly the A5 softcover but if I can afford it I might buy a few A4 hardcover copies.

Please note: I’m only giving away the Season 2 book (We Could Have Been Us); I’m not giving away the book of artwork from both seasons (Group of the Two of Us).

I’ll pick some people at random (I’m not going to use any fancy algorithm; it’ll just be a random selection, probably choosing people from different countries) and then will order the appropriate book and have it sent direct to each person.  There are a few provisions around this, so if you’re interested in applying, read the blather under the Keep Reading below. 

Deadline for application: midnight (BST) on Thursday 28 September 2023.

To apply for the giveaway, send an email to the following address (which I’m not doing as a hyperlink for obvious reasons): billandteeb at hotmail dot com.

(It’s an old email which I barely ever use, so if it gets spammed to death it doesn’t matter.)

Put “We Could Have Been Us” in the subject line, and give me the following details:

Your Tumblr/general online name and the country to which the book will need to be sent (I don’t need a full address at this point, just the country).

You can check whether Peecho will ship to your country by clicking here, clicking on ‘Continue to Shipping,’ then click on ‘Search country’ and scroll down to see a list of the countries.

I don’t need any further details from you at this point, but if you would only like to be considered for the hard cover or for the soft cover, tell me. It’s up to you if you want to tell me why I should pick you in particular, or generally try to butter me up, but it really will be a random selection!  Though I should mention that in past giveaways, if someone has just put their name and country and not even a ‘thank you,’ they’ve rarely been chosen ...

If you’re one of the chosen recipients, I’ll email you on Friday 29 September to ask for your name and postal address.  If you apply, you might want to keep an eye on your Junk mail in case my email goes there.

I promise to try and email the unsuccessful applicants after the deadline, but if there are more applications than I can cope with, I might have to do a general notice here on Tumblr after I’ve picked the lucky winners.

I also reserve the right to withdraw the offer if my personal circumstances change and I suddenly can’t afford to do this any more.

In the meantime, good luck if you do decide to apply.  NOTE: you must apply by email to billandteeb at hotmail dot com; I won’t take applications over Tumblr’s Personal Message/Ask/Email system.

Love and hugs, Ariane x

Deadline for application: midnight (BST) on Thursday 28 September 2023.

[expectiations]

If I may, I would like to send you the quote "Penny in the air - Penny drops." which wasn't on the list. ("It's mine.....-ish." is also such a good one and so fitting for her btw so feel free to pick that instead). I just think it'd be interesting to pick a Mels quote and interpret it for older River, Idk. If you prefer the list, I would most like to see you do something with either “I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him” or "Why would a diary be sad?"

Hope you are having a beautiful day, love!

Elle! I am so so embarrassed this took so long to post. I swear I'd written an entire fic months ago but it's disappeared from my docs and I couldn't remember exactly where else I'd placed it so then I made another one. But honestly, I love this version better. Will post the entire fic on ao3 later!! I hope you love it. I tweaked it about here and there to include all the quotes you mentioned.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he gently ran his hand over the cover, his fingers tracing the familiar lines of the intricate illustrations. “Why would a diary be sad?” he murmured softly, speaking to no one in particular.

From the corner of the room, a quiet voice responded, breaking the stillness: “Penny in the air…”

The Doctor blinked, suddenly aware that he wasn’t alone with Kate and Christofer. His attention had been so entirely consumed by the book that he had failed to notice the presence of another figure in the room. He looked up, his eyes widening slightly as his mind tried to process the situation.

“Who—how did you come by this, Kate?” he asked, his voice distant, almost as though he wasn’t fully present in the conversation, still too immersed in the emotions the book had stirred within him.

Before Kate could respond, another voice cut through the air—one that was achingly familiar. “It’s mine... ish.”

The Doctor’s entire world stopped. His hearts pounded in his chest as he turned toward the voice. His brilliant, ever-working mind felt like it had hit a wall, halting as it struggled to comprehend what his eyes were seeing.

She was sitting on the sofa, watching him with a soft smile. The Doctor's breath hitched in his throat as he took in her appearance. She looked older—far older than he had ever seen her. There were streaks of grey in her hair, and laugh lines framed her eyes, adding a new kind of beauty to her features.

River.

His mind stuttered. Beautiful, it whispered. Beautiful, even now.

For reference, I kept this picture of Alex in my mind when writing this post-Library version of River (which is the version I just LOVE writing cause like we have a whole array of pre-Library River already. I want more post-Library River!!)

Also Alex in this role is so fucking beautiful!!!

Also the part "She looked older—far older than he had ever seen her." I wanted it to reflect their meeting in the Library where tells 10 he's so young. Hehe 10River you will always be so angstily special to me<3

divider by @cafekitsune

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

it's not love but i still want you: a toxic chrima playlist

Tracklist + thoughts under the cut

1. L.A. LOOKS - HEALTH

I want another life (Don't hold your breath) I want to try again (But you can't swim) But it's not love It's not love It's not love, but I still want you It's not love, it's not love It's not love, but I still want you (It's still us)

2. Suffer - Hurts

Touch me and make me feel your misery And play me like you play your twisted little symphony 'Cause I'm just addicted to you, I'm just addicted to you I'm just addicted to the way you get the worst of me

3. Fight for Me -AlicebanD

I'll make you cry for me and lie for me (I'll make you cry for me) And bleed for me and die for me (And die for me) But most I'll make you right for me I'm sure I'm right for you

4. Follow You - Bring Me The Horizon

Show me what I can't see when the spark in my eyes is gone You got me on my knees, I'm your one-man cult Cross my heart and hope to die Promise you I'll never leave your side

5. Hate That You Know Me - Bleachers

Sometimes I, I hate that you know me so well Some days I, I wish that I wasn't myself No luck! And I hate that you know me so well

6. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys - Taylor Swift

My boy (My boy), only breaks his favorite toys, toys, oh I'm queen (I'm queen), of sand castles he destroys, oh, oh 'Cause I knew too much, there was danger in the heat of my touch He saw forever, so he smashed it up, oh, oh

7. Shadows - Red

There's a hate inside of me like some kind of master I tried to save you but I can't find the answer I'm holding onto you, I'll never let go I need you with me as I enter the shadows

8. Get Away - CHVRCHES

I'll be your guide so you can see The other side and I will never let you get away Never let you get away

And so they continued on eternally, partners never to be parted.

So yeah, I'm back with another mini playlist curated from my main one, this one focused on toxic chrima inspired by Fell Exalt Chrom and his Forging Bonds, but not staying 100% true to that canon because that Grima is able to send Chrom away to have a better time in Askr, and we're not having any of that nonsense in THIS playlist, oh no. The invisible ties that bind them have been dyed red in blood, and there is no escaping fate when they'd both choose ruin over breaking that bond.

The songs I used here aren't necessarily in a particular order in a narrative sense, though they are grouped in pairs corresponding to Grima's POV followed by Chrom's POV. I did take care to make sure that My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys was paired with Hate That You Know Me because of the "I knew too much" line—in my mind, this ties into Grima trying to harshly distance himself from the past he shared with Chrom, insisting that the Robin Chrom knew is dead and that Chrom will never be reunited with him, because he thinks that it would be less painful for Chrom to believe there is nothing human in him left than to be constantly looking for signs that his partner is still himself... even though the signs are all there and not too hard to pick up on for someone who knows Grima well.

I also deliberately ended the playlist with Get Away because it's a sort of... lighter note than the rest. It also pairs particularly well with Shadows just before it because "I'll be your guide so you can see" is a perfect response to "Caught in the darkness, I go blind/Can you help me find my way out?" Even though this is toxic chrima, there's still relief from their despair to be found in each other. This also plays nicely with Follow You from earlier in the playlist, "Crossing your heart and hoping to never let you get away" serving as a callback to "Cross your heart and hope to die/Promise me you'll never leave my side" and "Cross my heart and hope to die/Promise you I'll never leave your side." I really like the way that worked out. Grima, you are never getting away from your other half, and that is both a threat and a promise.

[thedroneranger]

The Drone Ranger's Be Kind Rewind ⏪ SometimesAnAlice Edition!

A rec reblog series dedicated to the fics that we love so much, we've re-read them!

@sometimesanalice's Rewind has landed! I have to give kudos for the commentary; I enjoyed reading it immensely! Plus, this peak hype person energy, and I am here for it!

While we continue to churn out amazing new content, let's be kind and rewind to look at some of the OG content we love! And don't forget to reblog when you re-read! Continue to show your comfort fics and favorite creators some love. It helps keep the fresh content coming :)

Let's keep this going throughout the summer, so if you're interested in participating in the Be Kind Rewind, message me. The more, the merrier!

If you want to know when a new Rewind drops, join the tag list, and check out previous Rewinds!

fics below the cut (listed in alphabetical order by title)

baby, i’m high octane, Jake Seresin, @laracrofted I could write papers and sing songs about how much I love this series. I refuse to remain calm about it because it is so devastatingly good. Ames has such a stunning way with words, I am always so immersed and transported and blown away by her work. There are lines in her stories that just stick with me for days and parts that I think about endlessly. (I’m also delicate about Delicate, do not get me started!) But BIHO is in a league of its own. Nora is an OC who you instantly love and root for right from the very first chapter. There is something so special about the way Jake is written in this story, the layer of depth he has is so compelling to me. And it has been such a treat going on the journey with them as they find their way to each other in the dreamiest of slowburns. Add this to the top of your TBR pile, you won’t be sorry!

can't unfeel that, Jake Seresin, @theharddeck I think about this fic A LOT. The yearning and pining and emotional intimacy is so deliciously angsty as these friends-with-benefits fight the deeper feelings they’re developing without knowing the other person is feeling the exact same way. Sana does an incredible job building the tension and exploring the dynamics between these two as they try (and fail) to keep it casual. It’s bittersweet, it’s juicy, it’s unforgettable. And fair warning, the smut in this will send you into a tizzy. 

Government Issued, Bradley Bradshaw, @bradshawsbaby I love this trope so much, I get such a kick out of the idea that people are out there getting fined for “defacing Naval property”, but this one in particular is so much fun! There is a lovely sense of domesticity that makes this such a cozy, fluffy story to read. However, it’s the build up and the banter that never ceases to amuse me! I love to revisit when I need a good laugh.

Jealousy, Bradley Bradshaw, @gretagerwigsmuse I am the self appointed president of the Smart Aleck and Bradley fan club. These two have had me in a chokehold since the moment I read them and they haven’t let go of me since. I had such a hard time picking which to highlight for this because I love and reread so many (sending all my love to skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight). No one breaks my heart and puts it back together or makes me yearn and pine or giggle and blush like these two. They are my favorites and I’m so thankful for them because their story is so special. The care and attention to detail that Jordan puts into her fics is just unmatched. But there is something about Coach Dadley Dadshaw that just warms my heart in the best way. I love getting to see the sweet glimpses into the future and lovely life that these two get to build together, I’m truly so soft over it. This story in particular gets me with Dadley!Bradley, Jealous!Bradley, and all the witty banter that Jordan writes so well! It has got it all: fluffy feels, humor, and a dash of smutty goodness!

Mighty Fine, Bradley Bradshaw, @thebirdandthebee The way this fic gets me grinning and buzzing every time I read it! The fluffy, smutty adrenaline rush of it all! I have so much love for the smitten Rooster in this story! He is so gone and so soft for the OC Caroline, who is an absolute firecracker. The build up is such a fun one that you can’t help but cheer for him when he finally gets his girl!

No Sex with the Ex, Bradley Bradshaw, @tongue-like-a-razor  Lena has so many stories on her masterlist that I go back to again and again and again (shout out to The Zipper Incident and Faking It and Less Talk). She is the QUEEN of tension and electric, witty banter. They always read so effortlessly and I am constantly left in awe at the finesse of her storytelling! I always find myself swooning, and laughing, and yearning when I read her stories! There are so many things I love about this in particular from the Hangster bromance to the jealous!bradley to the pining of it all! No matter how many times I read it, I still get a little thrill from it!

Red Flags, Green Flags, Bradley Bradshaw, @roosterforme There’s a reason this story has 4K+ notes on it: it’s fun, it’s flirty, it’s perfect! "Are you asking me on a date while I'm technically still on a date with Jake?" you asked him with a grin.//"Oh, your date with Jake ended a good thirty minutes ago," he informed you with a very serious look. "Now you're on a first date with me. You having fun?"-- NEED I SAY MORE? Your honor, I rest my case.

Tuesday Night (prequel to Not A Coincidence), Bradley Bradshaw, @sehnsuchts-trunken There is nothing more that I love than a slow burn and some good old fashioned mutual pining, and this little duology has it in spades! Mary’s Reader is so quippy and sarcastic, the banter always gets me laughing. The tension and chemistry is so palpable in these fics, you can’t help but be greedy about wanting to read more! And it doesn’t hurt that Rooster is just so swoon worthy. 

Untitled childhood Bradley series, Bradley Bradshaw, @the-ace-with-spades I have read a lot of angsty stories that hit me in the feels, but nothing has quite ruined me emotionally like this series has. This universe where after Carole’s death Bradley goes to live with Mav and Ice, as he tries to figure out where he fits in this new family is absolutely gut wrenching in the best way. There have been times where it was so hard to read because I was blinded by the tears in my eyes. The way it makes my heart ache! It’s still a work in progress, but I am so hopeful for a soft landing. 

You Don’t Get to Taste the Honey Without the Sting of the Bee, Bradley Bradshaw, @notroosterbradshaw No list is complete without something from Cass! There are so many that I debated picking (g.u.y, the boyfriend experience, the 1%), but the angst in this one just sticks to my ribs and I think about it often. When Cass leans into the angst, she really LEANS into it and this one hurts so good. Bradley is so realistically flawed in a way that makes you want to shake him for being so blasé to his partner’s feelings. I love the way Reader sticks up for herself and I ache for her in the way her partner is the source of her pain. It’s complicated and messy and real and I love it. Hit me in the feels and I will come back for more, and Cass keeps me coming back for more!

Creator's Own

Give Me Your Hand {Here is My Heart} (2-part Series) The ‘Like I Can’ series is something that took on a life of its own. What was supposed to be a little one shot turned into a three part series that turned into a universe of its own that takes up half of my masterlist. I love writing for these two, but I am really partial to this little mini-series that explores their relationship and builds up to their first time together. I think there are some fun moments, but also some tender and emotional ones as they take that final step from being just friends to being something more. Next from me will be Vol. 2 to Leave a Light On!

Tag list and friends: @petcr3 @desert-fern @Sagittarius-Lovewitch @mygyn @sweetwhispersofchaos @horseshoegirl @the-annoying-fan @dingochef @moon42flight @thecitysgraveyard @ereardon @roosterforme @cherrycola27 @galaxy-of-stories @taytaylala12 @malindacath @violyn20 @awildewit @potato-girl99981 @shanimallina87 @blue-aconite @djs8891 @linkpk88 @furiousladyking @daggerspare-standingby @princess76179 @jstarr86 @hecate-steps-on-me @darkheartcherry @soulmates8 @roosters-girl @dempy @roosterisdaddy36 @hangmanscoming @s-u-t @mavrellover91 @chicomonks @averyhotchner 

A kind reminder, this is a 18+ blog. While not all stories in the recommendation list are 18+, please respect boundaries and do not interact unless you are 18 years of age or older.