#although the paper kingdom stuff is cool and super exciting

[fearandregret]

please tell me there is a my chem show tonight because i DEEPLY miss the horrors

[klainebrittana]

Chapter 1 of seperated!

Enjoy!

Chapter 1!!

August’s pov

We ran around the table, giggling like the little children we were. That was all we had to worry about then, one tagging one another. We were 7 what more did you expect from us. She was my best friend. We were brought into the orphanage at the same time you see. Both abandoned like the others. We understood the pain the other was going through, we always had, always will. We both wondered the same questions, why would anyone ever give me up? Why did they do it? Didn’t they love me? We kept each other going, made each other laugh when we were sad. Kept each other alive. What I would do without her I don’t know. But in that moment life was good we had not a care in the world. No consequences, no troubles, now all I want is to go back to that. I want it so badly. I would do anything.

“I’m going to catch you.” I giggled.

“Not on my watch.” She replied before squealing as I pushed her down to the ground and tickled her senseless.

“Stop, stop.” She chuckled. I stood up and layed beside her. “Let’s be besties forever.” I whispered. “Forever.” She echoed. Then the matron came in. “Time for bed girls.” She smiled warmly. She was always so kind to us. She said we were her favorites. Now I know what a lie that was. She wouldn’t have done it if we were. She wouldn’t have forced us to make that decision. She wouldn’t have ruined our lives like that. She wouldn’t have ruined everything. I hate her for that and I will never forgive her.

We had our own dorm together. We had begged and begged and eventually we were allowed to. Together we made a sign out of paper that was stuck on the door with sellotape. It read May and August’s room, we found it hilarious that we both had names named after months. My name is August and hers is May by the way. The sign was rainbow striped and our handwriting wasn’t the best and it was all wobbly. We also hardly coloured inside the lines. I remember it vividly, like it was yesterday, even though it’s been years. We would talk late into the night; a lot later than we were supposed to. I have no idea how we always found something without fail to talk about. We spent every day together, what thing happened to us that the other couldn’t possibly know?

That night we stayed up until 1:00 AM in the morning. We created a fairytale together. I scribbled it down in my notebook as May helped me think of all the words I didn’t know. She was super smart for her age, way smarter than I was. I remember wishing and wishing I could be as smart and as pretty as her. It never happened though. She was always the better, prettier, less troublesome, version of me. I admired her so much for that. She inspired me to be a better, although not perfect person.

We sat there whispering, with a torch that I had bought a few days ago for this very reason. We were lucky we didn't get caught. Especially when we both started howling because I fell out of my bed. It didn't hurt, it was just hilarious. When that happened, we heard matron stir and we just had a moment where we stared at each other, eyes wide, I saw tears brim in Mays eyes, she was never told off, I slowly reached out and wiped her eyes, she gave me a small smile. Luckily Matron never came in but, in that moment, we were both so terrified. She never told us off, never raised her voice, excluding a few times at me. When there was silence again, we both let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close." She whispered and I replied with a quiet yeah. Then we carried on writing our fairytale, of which we had only written a paragraph of because we got distracted very easily.

I've kept the notebook ever since then, too many memories are contained in the pages for it to have been thrown away. I'll attach the story here. Later on in life I wrote messy notes all over it, which I will also include here.

Once upon a time there was a pretty princess called May. My idea as I was trying to tell her in a discrete way how beautiful I thought she was. She lived in a massive castle and had servants to help her do whatever she wanted. All she had to do was snap her fingers and they would come running. May said she had seen this in movies and books. They had to do whatever she said or she was allowed to send them to be executed. May had to explain to me what this meant. But one day an evil witch came to the castle. She kidnapped the beautiful princess! Now they needed someone to save her or her kingdom may go into chaos. In the end they sent her best friend. A poor servant called August. Although even though she was poor she was beautiful as well. Again, May's idea. August found her very easily and had to fight off the evil witch to save her. She did it quickly and then ran to get May. May thanked her and they were best friends for forever more. The end.

It's very short and not great but we enjoyed creating it and that was all that mattered.

May’s pov

I woke up at 6:30 AM and like I promised woke up August as soon as possible by jumping on her bed. It was my birthday! I was so excited as all young children are when that time of the year comes around.

"Happy birthday May!!" August screamed and I looked down at my feet embarrassed from all the attention. Even though it was coming from August. Then we both looked across to the door. One by one all of the other children in the orphanage walked through the door singing happy birthday. They were being quite rowdy and their voices were raspy and completely out of tune, it was sweet that they tried though. I chuckled. "Thaaannkk yoouuu" Then matron walked in rubbing her eyes, she was in a nightgown and I fought the urge to burst out laughing. I could see the others were in the same situation. Her cheeks were rosy red and her hot pink nightie dragged across the grubby floor.

"Why are you already awake?" She groaned.

"It's Mays Birthday!" Peter piped up and the rest of the group nodded animatedly. She sighed.

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot about that. Let me get ready then I've got a suprise for you all." All our faces lit up.

"What kind of suprise." I said.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Matron replied and winked as she spun and walked briskly out of the door.

I wonder what the suprise is." I said to August.

"Me too!!!" She replied. She was super excited. She was always so cute when she was excited. She would jump up and down or dance around. Or she would be grinning from ear to ear and speak really fast. She would also grab my hand and drag me everywhere with her. She would be clingy and on the verge of whiny. I didn't mind though. I was nearly always excited as well. And if I, wasn't I didn't mind entertaining it because she was my best friend, my sister. I could never stay angry at her for long.

The room was noisy. Thunderous almost. It was chock full of about 30 chattering children. It was so claustrophobic as well. Most people were pushed against walls or stuck in a group of people since it was only a small dorm room. I dreaded having to actually get out of the room. "Shall we go to our secret hiding spot?" I yelled to August. "Yeah, it's too noisy in here." She said, she'd grabbed my earmuffs and had clamped them on top of her ears. I had shaken my head giggling quietly. That silly girl.

We pushed through the crowd. No one even noticed we had gone. I guess they were all too intrigued by what Matron said. I looked at August behind me. She was giving dirty looks to the room. She hates loud noises and was very claustrophobic. I burst into laughing just looking at her. I remember it clearly now, like it was yesterday. August said “what” huffily. She had put on a fake scowl only so she wouldn’t laugh as well. It was still showing a bit though. I half laugh, half sigh at the thought of it. “You!” I replied. We could say stuff like that to each other because we were such great friends. “Have you seen what you look like? Giving dirty looks at the door and holding bright pink ear muffs against your ears, in summer, and holding on like you’ll die if you let go.” She let out a snigger.

“Ok fine that is pretty funny.” Then we both doubled over laughing.

We had about an hour to ourselves before Matron came in breathing heavily. “There you are girls; I’ve been looking for you for ages.” She said. “Sorry Matron.” We chorused. “Right,” she said sighing. She was still out of breath? “We need to go into the other room so we can leave. We are going to the theme park.” Me and August squealed and grinned at each other. Jumping up and down. The theme park! We have never been there before!

“Oh, my goodness May, the theme park!” August said to me. I don’t think I had ever seen her smile so much. This made me grin too. Seeing her happy, it made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. “I can’t believe it, its really happening, after years of begging!” She punched the air in triumph. Then tried to shake her fringe out of her eyes. She had really short hair, a pixie cut. It suited her quite well. She had cut it herself. Matron refused to do it as it was too ‘boyish’ but August was having none of that. She stole the kitchen scissors that same night and cut it as well as she could.

August really was a tomboy though. I wasn’t apart from the fact I love to play video games. Me and August would sit for hours on end playing them. Our favorite one to play at that point was Minecraft. August though. She wore trousers, never skirts or dresses, plain black things or stuff to do with our favorite tv shows. We loved anime. Especially my hero academia and my promised Neverland. August also was very casual she would stand leaning against the wall with her hands in her pocket. She thought she looked ‘cool’ and at the time I thought she did as well. Looking back now is another story though. I’ll just say it did not look cool.

As we walked in the room, I noticed an increasingly worried look was appearing on August’s face. Her palms were getting clammy and she was trembling slightly. I squeezed her hand tighter and whispered in her ear “Don’t worry, the crowds won’t be too big, I promise, it will be fine.” August relaxed her posture and she gave me a small smile. “Now that’s the August I know.” I whispered and we carried on walking into the other room where everyone was standing.

“About time!” Alexa, the oldest, said. She wasn’t being horrible though she had a big grin on her head. “Now come her my little monkey.” She said and I had run into her arms as she gave me a massive bear hug. She squeezed me tight and I could smell her perfume. After approximately a minute I went back to August.

“Right get your shoes on everyone and we can go!” Matron shouted.

“Ok!!” We screamed back. Then everyone scrambled to get the shoes from the box. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, I had got Augusts for her. The room was actually quite big but as we all had to go to the same part it was chaos. When at last everyone had their shoes on, we left to go to the theme park. What we didn’t know though was how that trip would be the start of the horrific events to come.

[recurring-polynya]

Hello! I have forgotten my tumblr login, but I am shai from AO3 and I just want to say that the Abhorsen books are very dear to my heart and I am THRILLED at idly wandering tumblr and seeing you're writing a Bleach AU set in that world. (Are the Kuchikis the Abhorsens? Is there a Mogget equivalent and is it Yoruichi? Is Karakura in Ancelstierre? I can't map the two settings together at alllll in my head on first glance but I'm super curious how you will!)

First of all, I am beyond excited that anyone actually cares about this project. I was going to try to explain it, but honestly, it’s not that long and, uh, maybe I should just post it. So, here’s the shorty version, where I cut it off at the Dramatic Drabble Point. I have more, but it starts to meander into an actual plot, where the plot is just the final confrontation at the end of Sabriel. I honestly just wanted to write Renji as part of the Crossing Guard Scouts?? I might expand this (how much? as much as I feel like?) after I re-read Sabriel. My husband has been reading the books to my son, and I catch snatches of it and it’s got me In the Mood, but I found myself forgetting way too much. 

Dear everyone else: I refuse to explain any of this. The Abhorsen books are the shit, just go read them. If you love Rukia as a character, you will love Sabriel. The two of them, along with Susan Sto Helit and Death of the Endless are the fictional pragmatic death girls of my heart, if I *ever* write an actual book, it will almost surely be about a pragmatic death girl.

Anyway, here it is, The Worst Charter Mage in Ancelstierre.

“All that stuff Colonel Zaraki said… about a soldier’s intuition an’ stuff… that was just made up, right? To scare us? Us, uh, new guys, I mean, you never get scared, right Renji?” 

Captain Abarai Renji of the Northern Perimeter Reconnaissance Unit, or the Crossing Point Scouts, as they were often known, stared out into the foggy dusk. His skin itched. His ears strained to hear the unearthly whistling of the wind flutes, which as far as he knew, none of the other scouts could hear. He could usually hear them, but not tonight. “Stop cleaning that damn firearm Yuki,” he grumbled without turning around. “Check your sword fittings instead.”

Lance Corporal Yuki Rikichi, having been stationed on the Perimeter for all of two months, very slowly started reassembling his pistol. “I’m not great with swords,” he admitted.

“Wind’s from the north,” Renji grunted. “Guns ain’t much good.”

“That’s just stories, though, right?”

“Nope,” Renji replied, squinting at a dark shape winging through the sky. It looked a bit like the airplanes he had seen when we went South for officer training, but it was too small, too silent, and besides, shit like that didn’t work past the Wall. He groped for his spyglass. “You think you can do that protection charm I been teaching you?”

“Yeah, I’ve practiced and practiced!” Rikichi bubbled eagerly.

Renji frowned, trying to focus the spyglass. If tonight was going to go as badly as his skin was crawling, that protection charm was going to do about as much good against the Dead as Rikichi hurling his useless gun at them. “Fuck,” he muttered. “That’s a someone.” 

“A what?” Rikichi echoed. 

“We got visitors,” Renji repeated, standing and checking the sword strapped his hip. “You go tell the Colonel, I’ll give ‘em the ol’ Crossing Scout welcome.”

“I can’t leave you alone!” Rikichi yelped. “Look, I’ll just radio him.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Renji shrugged, making his way down the stone staircase of the watchtower, knowing that piece of Ancelstierran junk would give nothing but static until the wind changed.

As Renji watched the strange craft circle down toward the ground, he tried to pull together the Charter Marks for a Major Blessing. It wasn’t a hard spell, and it would protect him from the Lesser Dead, maybe even a weak Free Magic Creature. As usual, the marks weren’t behaving, and he finally gave up. He didn’t know why he had such a hard time casting spells. None of the books he read ever described Charter Marks as elusive or mischievous. Was it like this for all Charter Mages? Maybe if he ever met another one, he could ask them. He was going to have to rely on his sword arm instead. Fortunately, his sword arm was pretty fucking reliable. 

The craft had settled in the tall grass, and two figures were getting out. It looked remarkably like an airplane, except that it appeared to be made of paper, painted in cheerful blue and silver. It was powered by Charter Magic, Renji had heard the pilot whistling Charter Marks as they brought the thing to the ground. Pretty nifty trick, to be honest. Must be from deep in the Old Kingdom, where they still taught the old magic. Renji himself had been born just a few miles from the Wall, lived in that shitty border town until he was sixteen. He’d come south thinking he never wanted to see a Charter Stone again, but somehow, he’d never made it much further south than the Perimeter, not for long anyway. It was fine. He was useful here. 

Renji gripped his sword with one hand. They looked and felt like people, but Free Magic Creatures could be tricksy. “Halt!” he shouted. “Who goes there? This is not a legal crossing point! What is your name? What is your business?”

The taller of the two figures, clad in a red and gold helmet and a red cloak, leaned down and said something to the much smaller figure, the pilot, who was dressed in blue and silver. The pilot elbowed the other in the ribs and then announced in a voice that rang with authority, “I am the Abhorsen and if you don’t help me, this gate is going to fall before dawn!”

Renji drew his sword. “I’ve met the Abhorsen!” he shouted. “You sure don’t look like that tall, pretty bastard to me!”

The pilot, who had been slowly approaching him, froze in her tracks. “That… was my brother-in-law,” she bit off. “How did you know him? He never came this far south.” She was silent for a moment before adding tentatively, “Also, he wasn’t the Abhorsen, although sometimes he let people believe he was.”

Renji’s fingers twitched on his sword grip. No. It couldn’t be. It was impossible. The voice was different, huskier, more mature, but then, it had been twelve years, she wasn’t a girl anymore. Not that she’d grown much. “I am simply returning her to her family,” that pale, flash prat had said, as he pulled her up onto the horse behind him, and rode away with the one person who gave Renji’s life any meaning or purpose. “Not one step further,” he shouted, since he didn’t think he could keep his voice steady any other way. “I don’t care if you’re the bloody Queen of the Old Kingdom herself!”

Something was happening with the taller of two visitors. Dark red energy, nearly black was crackling around his fists, the ozone smell of Free Magic permeating the air. Renji tried again to pull a Mark from the Charter, and this time one came easily, and he felt an invisible barrier thrum into place before him. It was no diamond of protection, but it should be enough to fend of some upstart teen.

“Cool it, you moron!” the pilot yelled at the youth. “The Scouts are good people, they just get hung up on procedure. Also… I… might know this guy.” She reached up and hooked a finger over the scarf wrapped over her face and pulled it down, tucking it under her chin. “Abarai Renji? ‘Zat you?”

“Rukia…” Renji murmured just as there was a clatter of boots on bitumen behind him. 

“WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?” a familiar voice bellowed. “Abarai, you got your sword out and there ain’t no blood on it, what’s going on?”

“Says she’s the Abhorsen, sir,” Renji reported, adjusting his sword stance but not relaxing. “Don’t look like the Abhorsen I remember.”

Colonel Zaraki strode through the company of men who had accompanied him, towering, helmetless, his hawklike nose catching the setting sun. He surveyed the young woman standing before.

“The wall is going to be attacked, tonight!” she shouted. “A massive army of the Dead, led by a necromancer who is himself one of the Greater Undead!  Are you the commanding officer of this garrison?”

“Abhorsen came through here in ‘87,” Zaraki grunted. “Clever woman. After the fuckers down south stopped letting us move the gate every few months, all the deaths at the crossing point would build up, cause spontaneous risings. She carved us those wind flutes to keep the Dead down.” He surveyed the woman, dressed in a blue and silver tabard over silver chain. Her dark, short-cropped hair, the stunning indigo eyes Renji would never, ever forget. “Looked a lot like you. Your mother?”

“Sister,” Rukia corrected. It was Rukia, Renji was sure of it now. Of course she hadn’t been taken away to be a noble, she’d been taken away to be the fucking Abhorsen. Of course she had.

“If you’re the Abhorsen now, that means–”

“She went into Death four days ago. She’s holding out, but she’s been there too long, she can’t come back. At the full of the moon, the wind flutes will fail.”

“That the new Abhorsen-in-Waiting, then?”

Rukia’s eyes darted to the youth at her side and back again. “Maybe. This is Kurosaki. He is what he is.”

“Yo,” Kurosaki waved, seemingly unconcerned by any of this.

Zaraki jerked his chin at Renji. “Stand down, Captain. You been on the Wall too long to be this twitchy.”

“Don’t trust people who ‘are what they are’,” Renji replied. “Sounds to me like something a Free Magic Construct would say.” He sheathed his sword, but didn’t release the Charter Mark.

“He’s a lot of things, but he’s not a Free Magic Construct,” Rukia rolled her eyes.

“I’m standin’ right here, y’know!” Kurosaki protested.

“What do you need, Abhorsen?” Zaraki asked.

Renji glanced at him, surprised. He’d served under the man for over a decade, and he’d never seen him act this respectfully to anyone, including his own COs.

“I need every Charter Mage you’ve got,” Rukia barked. “Aizen has hidden his body in Ancelstierre, a few miles from here. We need to destroy it, but it’s going to take a ton of power to destroy something that powerful.”

Zaraki scratched his ass thoughtfully. “You may not realize, ma’am, but we don’t get a whole lot of Charter Mages this far south. My boys, though, have got swords like you’ve never seen. Zaraki’s Company can cut through anything, living, Dead, or in-between.”

“That’s very nice,” Rukia bit off, “because they are going to have an awful lot of things to stab in just a few hours. But I need Charter Mages. I don’t care if there aren’t many. Please. Give me what you have.”

Zaraki took a deep, resigned breath through his nose. “Well. You heard the lady, Abarai. Take that fucking apprentice the boys down south sent you, too. You managed to teach him anything yet?”

“Not… much…” Renji admitted, stunned.

“What, what?” Kurosaki exploded. “You’ve only got a single Charter Mage?”

“He’s terrible, also,” Zaraki added. “Worst Charter Mage I’ve ever seen, aside from the apprentice. Good with a sword, though, one of the best in the company to be honest.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, sir,” Renji grouched. Suddenly, he realized that Rukia was looking at him, and he felt like he was eleven years old again, meeting her for the first time, being judged by those eyes and, inexplicably, being found worthy. “I’ll go. At your service. Abhorsen.”

[thegunlady]

Hi, can you give me some romance novels suggestions? I'm cravingggggggg a good romance, but I dont really like sad books

YES I ABSOLUTELY CAN!  My time has come! Everyone buckle up. 

I’m just going to include a couple of favorites from each of the biggest romance subgenres, in no particular order, so you can pick what sounds good to you. I promise they are (mostly) light and fun, and all of them have happy endings.

(Also just making sure I include fair warning up front that these books contain explicit sex scenes.)

Contemporary Romance:

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: A romantic comedy about two rival executive assistants who are forced to share an office after their respective companies merge, and make it their mission to annoy the shit out of each other. 

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: A romantic comedy(ish) about a night worker and a day worker who agree to share an apartment (and a bed) but never actually meet, and start developing a relationship by leaving post-its around and just seeing each other’s stuff and habits. (cw for sexual and emotional abuse). 

Managed by Kristen Callihan: A romance about the super uptight and stoic manager of a famous rock band and the the band’s wild and adventurous new photographer, stuck together on tour. 

Historical Romance:

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare: A historical beauty-and-the-beast romance about the whimsical daughter of a famous fantasy novelist who dreams of living in a castle and meeting a prince, and is thrilled to inherit her own castle, until she finds out it’s a shitty, crumbling castle, and a cranky prince who’s pretending to be dead is already squatting in it and they both refuse to leave. 

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare: A hilarious historical romance about a duke who really needs a wife/heir but doesn’t want them, and a poor seamstress who really needs a title/money but hates dukes, who agree to get married ONLY to have a child and fix their social status but live separate lives. Until they Fall In Love For Real™. I wish I could explain this one better because on paper, the basic plot sounds kinda meh but trust me it’s very cute and really funny. 

Paranormal Romance: 

Firelight by Kristen Callihan: A Victorian fantasy/supernatural romance about a girl who can start fires with her mind, whose father marries her off to a mysterious masked duke that all of London is terrified of, but it turns out he’s pretty cool and he thinks she’s pretty cool and they take down her shitty dad and the duke’s shitty former friends together. This one is a bit more dark and angsty but still fun.

The Guardians Trilogy by Nora Roberts: This is a 3-part romantic, found family, supernatural epic about 6 people with various magical powers, on an adventure to save a hidden kingdom. Each book focuses on a different pairing and takes place in a different part of Europe. (cw(?) for mermaid/human sex in the third book I’m just warning you now).

Romantic Suspense:

Hold Your Breath by Katie Ruggle: An action/thriller romance about a funny and gregarious woman who escapes her shitty and controlling ex by moving to rural Colorado and joining the search and rescue team, where she meets the super grumpy and quiet search and rescue team leader who does Not Know what to do with her. This one is a bit of a murder mystery vibe and has some violence (also mild cw for verbal and emotional abuse) but it’s still exciting and funny and overall happy. 

The Witness by Nora Roberts: I’m not sure if this one really holds up tbh (and major cw for violence and abuse, although it’s mostly background), but I was FASCINATED by it when I first read it so I’ll toss it out there. It’s about a super-intelligent woman who witnessed a horrible mob crime as a teen, and has escaped into the Ozarks where she’s living in hiding and running a security company under a false identity. She’s very closed off and private and scared, but slowly becomes friends and then lovers with the small town’s goofy and charming sheriff. 

Anyway! I feel like those are a good place to start. I hope at least one of them is close to what you were looking for! And if you do end up reading any, let me know your thoughts! 

[romelle]

hello!!! i'm for sure forgetting some stuff, but here u go anon <3

books

her royal highness by rachel hawkins: a super fun novel about a girl who goes to a scottish boarding school and rooms with an actual princess. it has a great enemies to friends to lovers plotline and it's just overall the cutest!

the raven and the reindeer by t. kingfisher: a wlw retelling of the snow queen. very very beautifully written and imaginative! there are also cool animal companions, which is always a huge plus :-)

these feathered flames by alexandra overy: enemies to lovers trope in a fantasy inspired by russian folktales? ft. sister dynamics and cute bears? precisely my niche. i might be a little bit biased bc this has slavic wlws, but whatever. i love it lots.

not your sidekick by c. m. lee: superheros & a cool plot!!! all the characters are extra lovable- which is a good thing, bc this is the first part of a series, and each book focuses on someone else!

of stars and fire by audrey coulthurst: i read this some time ago so i don't remember much, but i know that i liked it! it's a fantasy where a princess has an arranged marriage to a prince, but falls for his rebellious sister instead

fingersmith by sarah waters: the book handmaiden was based on! the imagery is wonderful and the whole story is very intriguing! + it has one of my favourite plot twists ever

girls of paper and fire by natasha ngan: this book deals with some heavy topics so i'd recommend checking that out before you pick it up, but overall an incredible read!

leah on the offbeat by becky arbetalli: i'm usually not a huge fan of her writing, but i thought this book was adorable! there were for sure some cringe moments, but also..... it’s sweet

everything leads to you by nina lacour: i didn't really vibe with the character dynamics & the pacing, but look it up if you want! it might just be your thing

hot dog girl by jennifer dugan: again- it wasn't my cup of tea, but i can totally see how someone else might enjoy it!

it’s not like it’s a secret by misa sugiura: same as the previous two, although i did like some aspects of it that weren’t related to the romance

crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo: the wlw romance has only been hinted at for now, but nina (the mc) is known to be bisexual and the author has written a main mlm relationship in this series before!! might be a little confusing if you haven't read the previous grishaverse books, though

the henna wars by adiba jaigirdar: i haven't read this one yet, but i ordered it a week ago and i'm really excited abt it!!

you should see me in a crown by leah johnson: another one that i just ordered. the blurb seems fantastic, though! 

shows & movies

the half of it: made me tear up. the wlws are nice, but the himbo jock & lesbian nerd friendship is what really got to me

dickinson: much whackier than you'd probably expect, but also really touching! i haven't seen season two yet, but all the sue and emily scenes in season one were wonderful

the haunting of bly manor: no words only dani's little gay run that pisses off the ghosts

san junipero: a classic, and for a reason

the owl house: no relationship is canon yet, but i think there's a pretty obvious wlw romance planned for the main character and her enemy turned friend! the crushing is also quite clear already

rafiki: been a while since i saw this one but!! rlly good movie that i would recommend & now kinda want to see again

distant lands (obsidian): ok ok i know bubblegum and marceline had their thing going through the entire show, but that's a whole bucketload of episodes to go through for a few scenes so! i'm just putting this one

skam españa (season two): you can obviously watch all the seasons, but i've only seen this one lol. also i know that druck has a wlw season too (i think? or at least a wlw mc), which i'm excited to watch soon since that's also my fav version of skam!!

the bold type: i haven't seen past season one but! one of the main characters has a wlw romance. she also has the cutest face you'll ever see in your life

imagine me and you: alright honestly i'm just putting this here bc it's the first wlw movie i ever watched... a bride falls in love with the florist at her wedding and then stuff i don't remember happens

anne with an e: ok listen!!! this is the only thing here where the wlw character isn't the focus, but the episodes that she's in are some of my absolute favourites. also i just really want everyone to watch awae.

that's all i think!!! might remember some more though :-D

hey kenzie this isnt klance related but do u have some wlw representation in media that u like? im a baby bi and i'd love to check out some good wlw reps

hello anon! off the top of my head:

but i’m a cheerleader (classic, fun, old school)

atomic blonde (very actiony, been forever since i saw it but it had a pretty good wlw subplot from what i remember?)

booksmart (one of the plot lines is wlw!)

portrait of a lady on fire (have not seen it but i’ve heard it’s good!)

the handmaiden (also haven’t seen it but i’ve heard it’s good! i rlly need to watch these two)

uhhhh if ur down for tv shows i know she ra had canon wlw! i never watched it but ! it seemed good!

also technically legend of korra did as well but it’s more implied

that’s all i got off the top of my head god (there’s so many more mlm movies than wlw) but if anyone else has any good ones feel free to reply/rb with them for anon!!!!

[theclarkystuff-blog]

E3 opinions ( Nintendo)

Not the last show of E3 but possibly the last big one of the event, Nintendo strut into E3 with their usual pre recorded segment although I have seen people either dead excited for what a future Switch line up or seem to have no faith in Nintendo at all with only a half hour slot, so let’s review and see how it fares.

Opening the show is what appears to new a new advertising campaign maybe for the Switch but indie sensation Rocket League appears to take the opening slot and even showing off Fifa, neither games necessarily interest me but it seems to show a change in Nintendo, where they would usually promote one of their own works first usually it is nice to see them throw a bone to third parties. While Nintendo may not be able to boast having the kinds of support Sony and Microsoft receive at least Nintendo looks like they are trying to garner support now. 

Xenoblade 2 gets a re-introduction with a new trailer in English which showcased some story elements including game-play which shows that it will play similar to the last two entries in the series and also include some incredible looking worlds to explore once again, although it looks like someone turned up the anime inspiration to the max, mind you. The biggest surprise for me being that Nintendo are still aiming to release this Fall, despite earlier rumors stating that it had slipped into early 2018 so that is cool. 

Kirby comes crashing back with his Switch debut looking like follow up on his 2D adventures in the style of the ever classic Kirby’s Dreamland. While I don’t expect this to be a blockbuster seller, Kirby plat-formers are usually a solid experience and with Switch’s multiplayer possibilities which could allow you to play co-op on a single Switch or maybe even over multiple Switch’s via wireless

Yoshi also makes a Switch debut in a new game which appears to be continuing with the Wooly World theme with worlds that appear to be made of cardboard and moving away from the 2D plat-former mold by allowing Yoshi to move in the back and foreground. One of the biggest surprises about this game is that it will be built on the Unreal engine as confirmed by Epic Games spokesperson, Dana Cowley.

Fire Emblem Warriors while looking nice i felt a little disappointed in as the trailer appeared to mostly show cut-scenes over game-play as I would have liked to have seen how the game preformed in action , with the Switch specs in mind and being able to handle hundreds of enemies and big maps and also wondering how the N3DS port will handle, I expect similar results as seen in Hyrule Warriors on Wii U and N3DS respectively but with the game aiming to release this year I get the feeling we may see a dedicated Direct for this later in the year. 

Breath Of The Wild’s DLC was revealed showing some visual for the previously talked about and upcoming content, the first of which is dubbed The Master Trials will add a hard mode and new quest which will enable players to power up the Master Sword to deal out double damage, this DLC will also include some new costumes based on previous entries into the The Legend Of Zelda series such as Tingle’s costume and the infamous Majora’s Mask. This first expansion reminds me a little bit of Dark Souls in some respects but I guess we will get to find out in a matter of weeks The second DLC being dubbed The Champions’ Ballad focuses on the Champions in BOTW which makes me wonder if they have unfinished business after the game concluded or if this is set 1000 years before Calamity Ganon’s appearance or something? 

The big close out of the show was given to Super Mario Odyssey, opening with perhaps the oddest trailer involving a dinosaur but in this short trailer we get to see many of the game-play elements which displayed massive worlds to explore, going into walls playing as an 8 bit Mario in a similar style to The Legend of Zelda : A Link Between Worlds and what appears to be Mario’s gimmick in this game, being able to take control of enemies and NPC like citizens found in New Donk City or a tyrannosaurus-rex by throwing Mario’s hat at them. This game sent me over the top and into hype mode, this game looks fantastic, looks to be amazing fun, looks like it runs at a solid 60fps and oozes a confidence that it isn’t afraid to embrace with its big band styled title song delivered with some beautiful vocals. Super Mario Odyssey looks like it will be the successor that Super Mario Galaxy 2 deserved, having everything you could hope for packed into a Mario game alongside a October release, coming sooner than I expected, this may well be my game of E3.

The other big talking points and announcements I feel I have to address for most part seem to come about after the presentation into the Tree-house broadcasts so let’s address them, Nintendo listened to the uproar over Metroid in recent years and not only talked about giving us one new Metroid game, but 2 of them. Nintendo confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 is in development but having nothing to show for it, not even any concept art or a teaser trailer. While this is a little disappointing I am sure the announcement of the game will bring many tears of joy to fans of Retro Studios trilogy it appears that Retro Studios themselves will not be returning to the series, that ponders the question of who is making it? and what the hell has Retro been working on then for the past 3 years? The other reveal being Metroid : Samus Returns for 3DS, a modern remake of the Game Boy sequel to Metroid being made by Mercury Studios, famous for Castlevania : Lord of Shadow. This reveal looked cool in concept although I felt like it was missing polish despite its launching within months, hopefully the next time we see this game it will be looking better.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle which had its official unveiling at Ubisoft’s event on Monday already looks like one of the strangest concepts with these 2 big franchises coming together for a game which plays like X-Com. The game looks like it could be some massive fun although I may hold out until I see some reviews to help decide if and when i will buy into this.

Mario and Luigi - Super Star Saga DX was another remade gem for the 3DS which looks to be running on the modern M&L engine as seen in Dream Team and Paper Jam, this remake will include a new mode based around a trio of Bowsers Minions which I guess will add a humorous alternative view of the story that many maybe familiar with. Being a big fan of the original Game Boy Advance version I look forward to trying this remake out soon.

I guess I should address Skyrim coming to Switch as well despite it only having a small segment in the presentation but it is cool to see Nintendo willing to allow Bethesda to include BOTW costumes, shields and armors. Despite Skyrim feeling like it is getting ported to anything and everything, including a VR version, the idea of being able to play a grand expansive adventure like Skyrim in a portable form without hopefully getting an entry as bad in performance as the infamous PS3 port, the motion controls looks like they could add some fun interesting ways to play this game but I imagine many will probably default to the regular controls.

I was overall impressed with Nintendo’s presentation despite the short presentation, although they did not waste much time promoting games releasing within the next few months like Arms or Splatoon 2 but they are being given special competition events at E3 to act as promotion there, it is nice to see we wasn’t bogged down with more info about it at the presentation. While I am confident Yoshi and Kirby will be good games they hardly seemed like big announcements I was expecting for the Switch at its first E3 but with Metroid Pime 4 and a new RPG Pokemon being confirmed in development I would only wish Nintendo had more to show really, many have been hoping for ports of Mario Maker, Super Smash Bros 4 or Bayonetta 2 to Switch or even talk of the Virtual Console service coming to Switch but it feels like we are getting small servings for this year. While Nintendo has it’s Directs to spread awareness of upcoming titles which they can use any time of the year I can see why Nintendo maybe holding back some announcements for a later date, similar to how I feel Sony may have been holding back on announcing new stuff for its PSX expo later this year but overall I was happy with what I saw Nintendo seem to employ an unusual method of unveiling games as a few were presented through the Tree-house segments instead of the presentation which strikes me as weird as some of these would have been more than welcome during this brief conference.

This years E3 I felt was only mediocre for most part this year, while we got some interesting updates to games announced in previous years I felt like there was a lack of anything really new or fresh at least for most part throughout the whole show. I feel Microsoft while having an impressive new console had a serious lack of impressive software to make it stand out like BOTW did for Switch or Uncharted 4 did for the PS4, Forza 7 could well be that game for all I know, but I get the feeling it won’t be. Sony and Nintendo had good presentations but neither really felt like they ignited a fuse, while not every E3 can be an amazing one, this one certainly wasn’t a bad one, until next year I guess, have fun.

[bikwin5]

PAPER MARIO COLOR SPLASH REVIEW (NO SPOILERS)

I LIED WHEN I SAID MY NEXT REVIEW WOULD BE OF ZELDA

Paper Mario Color Splash is the next entry of the semi-critically acclaimed Paper Mario series, which is the series where Mario is Paper and he does some wacky things. This game has gained somewhat of a notorious reputation for being kind of a lot like its predecessor, Sticker Star, which gained some rather mixed reception. Considering both that and the fact that Color Splash is launching at the end of the Wii U’s life with the Switch on the horizon, it’s very easy to take potshots at this game. But does it really hold up to its name???

Color Splash’s storyline is not particularly deep, as one would expect from a Mario game. After receiving a letter made out of a toad’s corpse, Mario, Peach and Toad travel to Europe Prism Island to find out everything is ruined and much of the color has been drained from the world. A paint bucket named Huey emerges from the fountain in the center of Port Prisma to help Mario and his friends make the world a more colorful place by collecting the six big paint stars that have been stolen from the fountain. Also Bowser is there, that’s not a spoiler he was in a pre-release trailer anyway.

Like its namesake, Color Splash is all about painting things and restoring colour to Prisma Island. Mario has a new feature to his hammer that lets him paint stuff in the overworld, which is used for puzzles and repainting spots which will drop items like coins and battle cards. Huey also gives him the ability to cut out parts of the world, which is similar to Sticker Star’s power that let you stick and unstick pieces to solve puzzles. Paint is also used in battle, which is where the real meta of the game starts to unfold. lmao get it

The battle system in this game has many similarities to Sticker Star, this game’s predecessor. The general gist of it is that you choose one or more cards from your deck, paint them, and play them. Unpainted cards don’t do a whole lot of damage, so you’re almost always using up paint. Fortunately paint is acquired almost everywhere in the overworld and is dropped by enemies in battle. Mario’s turn is always first, so if you literally play your cards right most normal battles can be cleared in a single turn or two. Unlike Sticker Star, the number of cards Mario can play in one turn is increased by upgrades obtained by progressing through the story. This alone fixes a huge issue I had with the aforementioned game, where extra turns had to be acquired through a silly roulette. Another gripe most people had with Sticker Star is that battles are “pointless”, as enemies dropped nothing of value apart from coins and stickers. In Color Splash, enemies will now drop a number of hammer scraps, which are used to upgrade your paint capacity. As you progress you’ll get more card slots and stronger cards, which makes more paint capacity necessary in the long run. This time around, Mario’s health is upgraded solely from getting big paint stars. Big paint stars also upgrade your preemptive attacks, which can skip battles against weaker enemies.

This game’s battle system has recieved some critcism, and even I have a few gripes with it. One such new addition to the system are enemy cards, which summons an enemy to deal damage and acts as a shield. However, enemy cards can’t be used in boss fights or other important battles, which makes them worthless when a lot of the time you could be dealing more damage with something like a big jump instead. If anything it feels like they exist to make the museum sidequest harder, yes that is a thing in this game too. Things are also back, which are real world objects which mostly serve as visual humor and are kind of too cumbersome to be used in regular fights. New to this game are Thing replicas which can’t be used in puzzles to progress but can be used in battle, which at least gives some justification for using them.

Another big ass complaint I have is to do with visual feedback. Enemies in this game do not have a health bar but rather their health is shown by how much color is drained from them, which fits fairly well with the theme of the game. The problem I have with this is that Mario himself doesn’t show any numbers when doing damage, only enemies do. This isn’t a big issue in the earlier parts of the game when a single jump or hammer will take care of most enemies, but later on it gets harder to approximate by cards alone. Given that there are multiple tiers of cards (worn out, big, etc) and that cards can be painted or unpainted you can’t really figure out the numbers purely from looking at the “health” of enemies. Also the list of cards is a pain to scroll through, why even give me the option to sort them if you’re just going to start on the right side of the list every time!!!!

Now that I’m done whining we can get on to other stuff. The world of Prisma Island is connected via a world map, similar to Sticker Star’s. Unlike SS, the world map is not made of connected “worlds” but rather sections that are similar in color. Paths to new levels are opened by collecting mini paint stars, which denote the “end” of a level. This map is more akin to say, Super Mario World’s. A big downside to this is that levels may have “secret exits” that aren’t hidden at all and simply exist to make you replay a level again. The game honestly could have been done without the need for mini paint stars, but at least the map provides an easy way for fast travel.

The environments on Prisma Island range from sky blue beaches to sunny mountains and violet islands. The environments are nicely detailed and are full of little things along the way, whether it’s an unpainted spot that holds a secret or a toad who has some witty remark to say. Along the way you’ll need to solve many puzzles, some which include cutting out parts of the world and pasting in the notorious Thing cards. A lot of the puzzles in this game are honestly some of the most clever things I have seen in a Paper Mario game, some of them are even reminiscent of more traditional adventure games. They occasionally require some backtracking, but the game is kind enough to give you hints if you need them. Not all of the puzzles are great but it’s a very big step up from Sticker Star, whose puzzles were honestly a load of complete ass. Also I must say the graphics are super duper nice, they’re pretty much exactly what I would have wanted out of a HD Paper Mario game. Everything is so crispy and papery.

A big complaint that I hear a LOT is the lack of diverse characters in this game and I have to agree it’s a strange choice when the rest of the game definitely isn’t lacking in creativity. Huey, the only real new character, isn’t exactly great and his personality feels like a copied and pasted Kersti from Sticker Star. Many other toads, apart from the rescue squads, have no real distinct features apart from the occasional hat or glasses. I don’t know what caused so much segregation in the mushroom kingdom between the events of Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star but the game could stand to give some more significant characters a fresh coat of paint. get it???? get it??????

The game’s soundtrack is much more varied than I expected. Haters of Sticker Star’s jazzy tracks will be only somewhat disappointed, as there are plenty of areas that take on different genres of music, some which even sound like they could be from older Paper Mario games. The unique themes for each boss are especially cool, which is a shame considering how you won’t hear them for long.

Speaking of which, the boss fights in this game are not especially special. Despite some of them having a really cool premise they’re more like Thing puzzles than actual battles, requiring you to figure out the exact strategy to use by using the right Thing at the right time. Boss fights become impossible without the right Things, and otherwise they’re usually too straightforward and easy, making for an uninteresting fight. Fortunately, a friendly toad in Port Prisma can give you a hint on what Thing you need for an upcoming fight or puzzle.

Overall I feel like I can safely say Color Splash felt like a wild ride from beginning to end. Almost every level introduces something new and exciting whether it be a new gameplay mechanic or just something nice and funny. The humour in this game is top notch at some points although those who dislike “silly” dialogue may not be as pleased. There is not a huge amount of side content, the only big things are filling the museum and beating a rock paper scissors minigame a bunch of times. However the levels are full of little secrets here and there and there’s a lot of attention to detail.

Back when Color Splash was announced I seriously had my doubts because of how little of the game they showed. I went into this fearing that it would be just an “ok” game that was kind of boring with only a few good moments, but instead it surpassed my expectations and instead made for an experience that was really enjoyable throughout. I am sorry to the 3 Sticker Star fans out there for frequently bashing that game throughout this review but Color Splash really is a great improvement over its predecessor. There are still a few things holding it back from becoming a truly great game but I would recommend it if you like fun and you are one of the 6 Wii U owners left on earth.