#and I'd like to develop some of them more/collect more dynamics for them/just have some more fun with them

[byanyan]

what if... what if i did a starter call, but it's for all my verses except for main... 🤔

[prudentseer]

etho down bad on his knees for joel after initially rejecting him but pride-and-prejudice-enemies-to-lovers-period-drama style

sorry i had to find someone who might(?) share the vision

Hold my hand when I say this anon but never be afraid to drop your takes into my inbox, I love to hear them regardless of whether or not I see the vision.

Fortunately for you however. I SEE THE VISION, I UNDERSTAND YOU.

The "fell first--fell harder" dynamic for boat boys fits SO WELL in my mind because of double life. Etho being wary of Joel, kinda sad that he's teamed with him and by the end he's right there with Joel in chanting "The ship burns everything burns". Also their dynamic in limited life where they were "exes"...they are enemies your honour. I call that character development.

In fact, I see the vision so much that I actually wrote something in a more arranged marriage, period drama-esc style a long while back. It's unfinished (and a bit out of order for context purposes) because historical fiction is not my specialty and I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but it's what I had and I thought I'd share a snippet (it's 1.2k words I don't think I can exactly call it that anymore) of it.

It was odd, really, how much love could feel like an obsession.

He expressed it as quietly as he possibly could in forehead kisses and small gifts; just so it didn't collect in his chest to claw at the confines and suffocate him. And it was probably dramatic to say but with the lack of air he felt around Joel it truly did feel as though if he didn't let some of it out of his heart, he'd explode.

Or even worse, he'd tell Joel how he really felt.

He'd gotten dangerously close on occasion after too many drinks by the fireplace or Joel dancing a step too close. But he didn't.

Because Joel didn't love him back.

And why would he? Etho had all but forbidden him from doing so.

This day had felt equal parts fast and agonizingly slow. But he had a feeling that a marriage he didn't agree to, with someone he barely liked, for power he couldn't have might have something to do with that.

Joel rests on the edge of the bed, one leg up and crossed on the mattress while the other dangled loosely over the edge. His tie hung loose around his neck and his shoes long kicked off but his suit still on. Etho leaned against the dresser across from him, arms folded and mouth pressed into a firm line. The grandfather clock ticking beside them. It had been three minutes and 29 seconds since they've entered their shared room and neither of them had spoken.

It was much easier to watch as time passed silently than it was to look at the person in his bed, the matching ring on his finger.

A heavy sigh startles him from his thoughts. "Listen, could you at least pretend to tolerate me?"

Etho blinks slowly. "I--"

"Don't say you have because how you've been acting like there's been a knife at your throat the entire day." Joel interrupts, running a hand through his hair. A nervous tick, something Etho noticed in the time they've spent together. "I've sent you three letters since we last saw each other; none of which you replied to, you were barely there for any of the planning process and when I see you for our actual wedding, you can't even look me in the eye."

"That's because--"

"Of what? Because I told you that I loved you?" Joel rolls his eyes. "God, excuse me for putting an effort to make it work with the man I've been betrothed to for over a year."

He remembers the day. They'd been exchanging letters weekly for several months at this point but it was only their third official time meeting in person. It was a nice day so they took a walk through Joel's garden and I instead of the flowers Etho noticed that there was this look in Joel's eye, a smile on his face and a certain tone in his voice...Joel didn't even need to tell him. He just knew. It made it extremely uncomfortable to see him again, that they both knew.

He glances down at the ring on his own finger before shaking his head.

"I'm never going to love you like you want me to."

"That's fine." Joel states, a small twitch in his face betraying his words. "I'll...I'll get over it eventually if it means you'll work with me."

Etho tilts his head. "Work with you?"

"You don't have to love me. You don't even have to like me or be friends with me..."

"But...?"

"But we're going to be a team." Joel finishes, pulling off his tie in one swift movement as he does. "This means you're going to sit next to me at gatherings, you're going to dance with me at least once when we're invited to balls, you'll eat one meal a day with me, you'll share a room with me and please for the love of God, at the very least don't look like you're going to throw up when you see me."

A compromise. A reasonable one.

"I can do that." Etho replies, as level as he can, straightening his own tie as he does. "On one condition."

"What?"

"You won't ever expect anything more."

He's being bitter and he knows it. Taking out his anger out on someone who doesn't deserve it, someone who didn't ask for this either. It's unlike him really, that he can't bring himself to care.

"You're not exactly making it difficult lad."

"Joel--"

"You have a deal."

Etho nods. "Then I'll play the part."

"You'll play the part *well*."

"I promise."

Etho didn't remember exactly when it stopped being a show to him.

"Really interesting page?"

Etho blinks himself back into reality, Joel staring at him so intently from his side of the bed that he feels his chest tighten. "What?"

Joel chuckles, rubbing his eyes sleepily before shuffling close enough that Etho can wrap an arm around his shoulder. And he does, squeezing it lightly as his arm curls around.

"You've been staring at this page blankly for the past ten minutes." Etho glances at the grandfather clock in the corner. It's been longer. "You don't have to read the book if you don't like it."

This book was Joel's recommendation and Etho had to admit that it was good, he'd just been...very distracted lately.

"No I like it's just..."

"Yeah?" He smiles, head bumping Etho's shoulder. It burns. Every touch Joel gives him feels like fire has been set to his veins. "What's wrong?"

And his eyes are staring up at him so soft and kind and warm and understanding and it feels like he can tell him anything. Almost anything. The words feel heavy on his tongue, going down like oil as he swallows them.

"Nothing, you should go back to sleep."

He won't be able to resist forever but he buys himself one more day.

Joel's nose wrinkles. "You--"

And Etho is saved by the fact Joel's interrupted by his own yawn.

"You know I'm not stupid right Etho?" Joel states, settling further into Etho's arm as he does. Etho only pulls the sheet tighter. "You've been weirder than usual and if you won't tell me, I'll figure it out myself."

Theoretically, he could tell him but what then? He wouldn't leave, he wouldn't laugh but if Joel knew what Etho felt for him, he would never let him get this close to him again.

And it'd exactly what he deserved.

Karma for being an asshole to someone who just wanted to not be treated like dirt by his husband of circumstance and all he can do is accept it. Accept that he missed his chance.

Maybe one day his heart will catch up with his brain.

"Goodnight Joel."

"I'm serious." He yawns again, head tucked into the crook of Etho neck; breath tickling his clavicle. "I know you better than you like. Just wait."

It's true and it's even scary sometimes. Etho wonders how on earth he got so lucky to have someone that understands him like Joel. Someone who was willing to stick by his side through everything.

Etho waits until Joel is settled, snoring softly again before he places his book down gently on the nightstand, blowing out the table side candle. He tilts his head and presses a soft kiss to the top of Joel's head, waiting in case he stirs.

"I love you." He whispers into his hair, taking a breath when there's no response.

And the part of his chest settles just enough that he feels like he can sleep too.

[twocubes]

Back in middle/high school, I had this brief moment where I fixated on how chiptunes worked. I read a bunch of stuff but never actually made anything. During that time, I'd developed this theory that, at the end of the day, individual square- or triangle-wave channels were most similar to violins, due to their inability to play more than a note but relatively precise control over the dynamics of the note.

This idea ended up rattling in my brain for some years, until November 2023, when I finally decided to try and make something to test it. So, I fished out a book of compositions for string trios from my grandmother's collection (she played the fiddle all her life into her 80s, and left a large collection) and tried to transcribe this piece. I hadn't looked at sheet music in 20 years though. I thought maybe I'd post it here after.

Towards the end of the month, my mom came over, and we talked about how we'd gotten a bit estranged from each-other recently, and talked about meeting more often and sharing our lives more. Her mom had died about a year before (cancer) and I showed her this dumb project. She helped me correct some of the mistakes I'd made. I don't know if it's all of them.

A week and a half later, she was dead, (apparently) killed by her boyfriend. She was found a month later, having been left in a park to rot under a rock.

Anyways. It's like, a piece by Robert Mackintosh. I selected it randomly, it's on p.2 of the book titled "the Mackintosh Collections". It was just supposed to be a test.

[renard-dartigue]

Kaiju no 8 ch.117 Review

Bruh I'm so shook right now! Some of my previous predictions turned out to be true. But I never would have guessed in what way!

Spoilers Ahead:

(And possible deranged rambling)

So it appears that the phantom samurai isn't an entity that has once had the kaiju shifting ability, the samurai IS the kaiju itself. Which is, holy shit!

It takes Kafka back in time to witness how it was created. I wonder if what's happening is similar to Assassin's Creed where using your genetic code, you can experience events that happened to your ancestors.

This would provide an explanation as to how the kaiju found Kafka. It identified Kafka through his bloodline.

Also, the way I shouted "My boiiiii!" when I saw Hoshina's ancestor lmao. Those cyndaphil looking eyes will forever stay with the Hoshina bloodline.

And I don't know if it has been mentioned before, but it never occurred to me that they were using kaiju weaponry back then. I just assumed that was a more resent development. That's really cool.

But, as Kafka states, its difficult to draw out power from them and they take a huge toll on the body compared to modern weapons.

It's also pretty funny how we got a hoshikaf moment in a flash back. I'd like to think that if Kafka really is in the place of his ancestor, he and Hoshina's ancestor had the same dynamic they have in modern day to some degree.

I'd gush about it more but I have to set that aside for now because this chapter takes a turn for the gruesome.

The warriors are able to take down the kaiju and I'm just as shocked as Kafka. Because I remember when Hoshina was talking about the warriors of the past and how their weaponry was more suited for smaller kaiju. But these clearly aren't KDF squads. It's untold thousands of warriors with spears, swords, archery, and cannons. What they lack in strength, they make up in numbers. And it works at first.

But the phantom samurai states that something happened that wasn't in the norm. If I remember correctly, they are called "after beasts".

So call me crazy but isn't that the same creature that they are currently fighting in modern day? I don't mean 9. The creature that is within 9. I don't think it was given a name yet so for convenience, I'm going to call it no.0 for now.

Kafka either recognizes this being as no.0 or has a gut feeling that the warriors are in danger. Regardless, Kafka is fully immersed in the flash back, thinking he can change events. That or these are the words of his ancestor and Kafka is just a spectator.

And can I just say that this is the most amount of gore we've seen from this manga. It isn't as visceral as say Chainsaw Man or other seinens. But this is a first for this particular manga. It makes the events much more brutal.

Man, this moment of Kafka seeing Hoshina's ancestor die and get eaten seriously hurts my soul. He may not have been the man Kafka knows but the fact they look so much alike is probably traumatic for him.

Kafka is forced to watch and experience the pain and loss of the warriors, even getting cut up himself. Given Kafka's personality, it must be agonizing for him to see people die and not be able to help this time.

And apparently this is a sentiment that the warriors share. As the phantom explains how helpless they all felt, the words "Damn it" flood the page, the same thought as Kafka.

We get interesting, or macabre, panels of the warrior souls converging together into one.

Forming into the creature responsible for kaiju no.8 existence.

So the phantom samurai is saying that all the souls of the dead warriors merged with their kaiju based armor, their collective consciousness united in one goal. Killing kaiju.

That is FUCKING AWESOME!

God damn it I wish chapters were longer I can't take the suspense anymore! We get something new every chapter but it never feels like enough aaaaagh! Please Naoya Sensei, I can't stand it! Its killing me fdfhdzcgd!

Anyways, time for predictions.

Even though I implied at the beginning that there where no kaiju shifters before Kafka, that might not be true. We still don't know what no.8 was doing before finding Kafka. It could have latched itself to another descendant of the warriors before Kafka but it was at a time with poor documentation and secrecy was necessary for their survival. The next chapter might go into that.

I no longer believe the phantom samurai to be a previous kaiju shifter. He looks to be an amalgam of the collective minds of the deceased warriors will.

I wonder why it took until now for the phantom to appear to Kafka. In his previous near death experiences, Kafka only saw the tiny kaiju repeating "kill" over and over.

Could it be that Kafka's training with Narumi, willingly giving himself up to kaiju no.8's full power, drew him closer to the warriors will?

OR, did the resurgence of no.0 trigger the phantom to appear due to it being the reason they all perished.

God, so many more questions. And I know they will likely be answered in the next few chapter but the wait is agony, blarg!

If you came this far, thanks for reading. Hope I don't come off as too deranged lol. It's just so exciting finally getting answers to questions I've had for so long heh.

[nodutra19]

Rambling

Reading RGU analysis always makes me feel dumb as shit. I'm a heavy reader but outside some manga and videogames, I've pretty much neglected visual mediums, so watching RGU was a very strange experience. I love it, I just feel tiny in comparison to everyone else who seems to get it, unlike I.

Obviously, Ohtori Academy is a coffin, a trap, an arrest of development. From Sôji's fixation on Tokiko to Akio's obsession with becoming Dios, the rotten ideal in white, everyone has to disassemble what they've been taught. Juri has to let go of Shiori, and everyone has to let go of these stupid and harmful games and ideas. One thing I did struggle with understanding until now was how possible it was for Miki and Kozue, Nanami and Tôga to have healthy familial relationships after everything.

I realized I was thinking too rigidly, in spite of my planned no-contact with my own family. CLAMP once said "Family is other people too" (in xxxHolic). The main thread for all the characters in RGU is the fact they're holding onto something they need to let go of. After everything's that happened, the Kaoru and Kiryû siblings have unsalvagable bonds. That's how I see it anyway. They were already taught horrible things. It's just that on top of that, they've morphed their relationships into something incredibly foul and mephitic. A bit of separation anxiety isn't harmful in itself, but the four of them have festered it into one of the most twisted things I've ever seen. As Ikuhara said in episode 15's commentary, there's this idea that familial relationships are the deepest. "Blood is thicker than water."

The hell of it is, the original line is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." Meaning that what matters more in this world is the bonds you choose. You don't choose where or with whom you are born. But you do choose who you associate with. Obviously there's a lot of complexity about the interactions between the individual and the collective, the individual and the structures about the individual, but ultimately a choice is a choice.

Family bonds are just as fragile as any other. They're just as fleeting, just as prone to deterioration. They're not eternal as we're taught, hence the revolving, spiraling incest throughout the show. We're taught family is forever, and so it's no wonder the Kaoru, Kiryû, and Himemiya siblings have the dynamics they do. They represent different forms of what this sort of thinking leads to. Especially Akio. After all, a Prince is a member of Royalty, no? And we all know what Royalties throughout our histories commit in order to be "pure." This thinking is what traps so many into cycles of familial abuse. If we were to treat family as we treat "outsiders" (because that's how we're taught to think of anyone outside the family), if our lenses were shaped to this analysis, if our retinas were shaped to recognize these true colors, I'd say most of us would never like our families from the jump. It's much the same way adults justify beating their children and yet if anyone even their age beat on them whenever they made a mistake, you bet your fucking ass they'd fight back. But if it's family, it's suddenly different, when really it isn't.

Hell, this is part of why we say "bro," "homie," "twin," "brother," "sister" to people we're extremely close with. Even I do that. Found family is a wonderful thing, but if "Family is other people too," then how does "found family" factor into things? If we're so rebellious against things such as the nuclear family structure, if we understand that family doesn't determine anything, then what use is found family? If we so despise these structures, why do we mimic it? Are we like Utena who say "I'm completely different from you, Saionji/Tôga/Juri/Miki/Sôji/Akio" when we're mimicking said structure? Is what we seek in these relationships undefinable in the lexicon we're given? If family is as fleeting and prone to death as any other bond, then what's the worth of referring to these non-familial bonds in terms of family? Maybe that's part of why this show has so many fucking orphans and/or absent parents.

I'm not saying you should stop feeling sisterly or brotherly to that one friend who just seems to get you. Really, I'd be a massive hypocrite if I did. But it's still something to chew on, I think. I can't provide any answers though.

I hope this has been insightful in some way. I feel late as hell to the party. One of these days I'mma go through all of Empty Movement.

[konako]

are there any werewolf myths or tropes from other shows, books, or movies that you really love? And are there any you wish had been part of the werewolf lore in ouat? curious to hear your thoughts

I'm ashamed to say I'm not as knowledgeable of other works that incorporate the werewolf element. So I couldn't say which source exactly I'm pulling the tropes from; I'd rather say I'm absorbing the understanding of the myth from the collective memory and going from there. But I couldn't credit a specific work for the idea.

That said,

I'm not a fan of the Patriarchal Power Structure of most packs. (Toxic Alpha Male Leader and his many in-universe excuses for being so) I'm glad OUAT went the opposite route. But I wouldn't say I insist on a Matriarchal System, either (thought I prefer it, as a more captivating subversion). I like the idea of a pack as a Family, where you naturally see the more dominant people in leadership roles, and submissive people in supportive roles — keyword being: naturally. No "biological predisposition" or "cultural obligation", just the organic flow of things, of dynamics, of relationships, the way they fall in place free of outside forces... I don't discard the tension of tradition, however. I can enjoy, for example, someone like Red feeling the environmental pressure to take over Anita's place in the future, while knowing in her core she doesn't want to be a leader.

(I'll add it here that I wholeheartedly REJECT, PISS ON AND SPIT AT any and all blatantly transparent misogynistic motivations some authors use to justify their sexist interpretations of the myth. Rationalizing male violence, pushing male dominance, excusing abuse, romanticizing toxic behavior... Pure shit. No sympathy for that. Crap I despise with my whole being. Blargh, I know people have the right to create from their experience and world view, but fuck it, I have the right to throw them in the trash. I won't engage and I won't exercise empathy for that. I was SO pissed off by this scene from this show I can't even name, which justified the absence of female werewolves in their universe because, and I quote, "women aren't strong enough to survive the first transformation" then proceeded to play into every male power fantasy imaginable..... Wow. Dropped it immediately. Crap. Anyway. Back to my cheery self~)

I don't care for the Imprinting thing (looking at the Twilight saga...), but I can appreciate the narrative goldmine that it is. I personally think it's a cheap and easy way to generate romantic/sexual tension and justify the viability of a couple, so I wouldn't use it as a reason to get the blorbos to kiss. BUT I think the idea of a Primal Pull (in any level, for any purpose) is very interesting for the werewolf myth. I think giving the Animal Side & Instincts a considerable amount of power over the human mind is always important, however it manifests. I wouldn't want it to be Absolute, because I think a good Werewolf Story is about struggle, self-control and -ownership, and removing the Human Mind's power to resist just makes it boring. The Pull, though, that's compelling. It speaks to the Animalistic Nature of the self, and I always love that. In OUAT, that would look like Red's irresistible bond with Snow. Knowing her with every sense, finding comfort in her scent, finding safety in her presence. Things like that.

I'm guilty of enjoying the Vampire x Werewolf friction. I believe there's immense potential for lore and world-building, to accept that the two kinds have developed a centuries-long rivalry, opposition, animosity, resistance or simple cultural tension, not unlike what you see in the real world, with real groups of people. I like the richness of two very distinct kinds constantly resisting each other, despite the many things they have in common. I like the idea that younger generations could rebel against what they've been told is the "natural order", and bridge the gap between them. I like the thought that their cultures are similar and wildly diverse, and some of their biology clashes and compliment each other, making so that they could be each other natural enemies or perfect matches — and in the end, they're just people. Sadly, we don't have Vampires in OUAT to draw a comparison. So pretend Regina drinks blood for sustenance. And Red has blood to spare.

YKINMKATO: A.B.O. dynamics. Not a subscriber. But kudos on the lore, really interesting stuff.

I'm a Wolfs Bane/Aconite PUSHER. I think they're criminally underutilized, but I understand Silver is Sexier. Silver definitely takes first place in Werewolf's weaknesses, I won't question that, I love that. But may I convince you to give Aconite a try? Drink it, spray it, smell it, eat it, plant it, inject it! It's so versatile! Plant it around your property to keep the beasts at bay! What a powerful garden. And it's purple.

Born x Bitten. I like that there's a distinction. I can appreciate that the Werewolf condition can be like, idk, diabetes? Type 1 and type 2. Forgive me, I lack a better comparison, but you know what I mean. In one case, the werewolf was born with the genes, and the condition manifests a certain way. On the other case, it was acquired later in life, and consequently, it manifests differently. Quite similar, but not completely equal. That would lend itself to interesting storylines, exploring the differences, the prejudices, the communities formed around it. Even giving the antagonists motivations ranging from racism, eugenics, ableism, and so on. "The Mutant Cure" comes to mind.

Mating for Life tempts me, but only in the most humanly romantic way. Again, not something orchestrated by indifferent biology, but carved from human effort, connection, empathy and hard-working love. A Dog's Loyalty, perhaps. In the best of ways. OUAT gaves us Red's loyalty as a shining example of it. To Snow, and later, to Dorothy. I believe it.

I wouldn't mind a more painful transformation. Even a physical one. I really think pain plays a good part in the myth, and it's a shame OUAT played the "family show" card for that. (Don't mind the bloody corpses in scattered pieces, shhh).

Aaaand that's all I can think of for now, sorry! I hope it helped in any way~

[pigeon-dyke]

Feathers & Petals

Chapter 2: "Yep."

In which Esther is a mess.

(CW: social anxiety, trauma)

------

On colonies in the Accord, 3 story buildings were tall, right.

But here? Where everything was made to accommodate 9'+ plant folks?

It was absolutely gigantic.

A 70 foot tower of a building, somehow still in the shadows of even larger structures. Thick, tealish vines wrapped around the metal panels, some blooming with huge orange flowers. Moss speckled the windowsills.

The unit had a flat rooftop, and various birds were perched at the edge, chattering and cawing amongst themselves. I looked at them, and a few looked back down at me. I felt.. odd.

I made my way up to the top floor, and reached up to press the doorbell.

Before I could, the door swung open, to reveal my new "boss".

She was stunningly beautiful, 16 feet of vines, bark, and dark green leaves with brilliant veins of pink. Her face was round, soft and friendly, and her eyes were a bright shade of red that I'd never seen before.

She was giggling. I was staring.

"O-oh, uhm, hello!! I-I'm Esther, I'm here to work for the bird sanctuary! You must be Miss Albnis?"

She laughed, her voice was rich and deep and smoky.

"Yes I am. You may call me Falonia. Please, come in."

She lead me into a comfortable looking sitting room, with a large Affini-sized couch, and a much smaller terran seat next to it.

I took a seat, and instead of sitting on her couch, Falonia rested on the floor facing me. Once again, I appreciated an effort to accommodate our size difference.

I looked around, and saw shelves of neatly ordered knickknacks, small statues of alien creatures, gemstones, even a couple ancient terran artifacts.

This was a far cry from the clean, sterile administration spaces I'd been used to.

I was intimidated, yet flattered. Also, more than a little flustered. I needed to figure out something to say. I was getting anxious. She was cool and collected and beautiful and I absolutely did not want to ruin this by blurting something dumb like-

"Is this your house, Miss Albnis?"

Stars damn it.

"S-sorry, I mean, it just-"

She started giggling again, and I felt myself blush.

"You're fine, cutie! I don't mind if that's what you'd like to call me, I just know independents can be a bit... picky about power dynamics. You're not our pets, after all~"

I froze up even more.

"Well, i-it's a sign of respect on Terra! We're supposed to refer to our superiors by their last names! A-and you're my boss!"

Smooth.

"Ah yes, that makes sense. That's very kind of you, Esther."

"As for your question, yes it is! My home happens to make an excellent location for this particular research subject. If working in your 'superior's' home makes you uncomfortable I understand, and I'm sure the Assistance Center can find you another aviary to work at."

Don't answer too eagerly, don't answer too eagerly, don't answer too eagerly.

"No, it's ok! I don't mind at all!"

Y'know what? Good enough.

"Wonderful! I was hoping you'd say that~"

At this point in the conversation, I was starting to get used to being in the presence of essentially, a goddess. I used that minuscule amount of composure to attempt to act like a normal terran being.

"So, what all would you like me to do?"

-----

Miss Albnis led me up a staircase to the roof, where a large, blocky structure stood.

It was a roost, full of dozens of nesting boxes. Each little cubby held a different type of bird, sometimes nesting pairs.

I recognized a few; House Sparrows, European Starlings, Morning Doves, as well as some more exotic species, including a Blue-faced Honeyeater. There was a notable absence, but I couldn't quite place it.

"As you may have been told, I am the senior researcher at the Urban Fauna Research Center, and my primary responsibility is the development of care practices for the "wildlife" in this section of the ship."

I nodded. I still didn't quite understand how I was supposed to help a being who, not only was likely centuries older than me, but was also the head of her department.

"This is a new, personal project of mine. These birds have all, in some ways, become adapted to living in Terran cities.

However, living in said environments has also been detrimental to their natural life cycles.

I would like to develop a new set of standards for their care, which incorporates their adaptations into a more healthy setting."

I chimed in, finally finding a foothold in the interaction.

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense!! I can see how that would be an interesting challenge, for an ecosystem built from scratch."

She smiled warmly.

"Exactly! Oh, you'll be perfect for this!"

I knew I wasn't a pet, and that wasn't what was happening here. But praise felt so rotting good.

"Because, I need a terran who's seen them in their old environments, so I can know if I'm straying too far from what's "natural"."

Falonia kneeled down,  once again making eye contact.

"Would you like to assist in my research, Esther?"

I completely forgot to contain my excitement this time.

"Yes, please!! This sounds like it'll be a really good fit for me! Thank you, Miss Albnis! I won't let you down!"

I immediately cringed at myself. Apparently it must've shown, as the slightest hint of concern crossed her face.

"Oh, cutie, is something wrong?"

"N-no, ma'am! Sorry, I'll tone it down, just got excited."

The concern crystallized into something resembling pity, and it was finally too much for me. I started falling apart.

My eyes got misty. My vision blurred. I'd ruined it. Of course I'd ruined it.

"I'm, really sorry, I need to leave, I'll come back if you want, I'm so sorry, I just,"

I was already running back down the stairs. Falonia said something, I'm sure it was kind, but I didn't hear it.

I darted out her front door, and took the nearest, most private shelter, the building's elevator.

My brain was going a mile a minute. Running through everything I said in that interaction, every tiny mistake, replaying over and over and over.

The elevator doors closed, and the world around me dimmed. Colors muted. The soft, pleasant music went silent. I felt my legs give out.

------

The elevator for shaft 16D was as creaky as ever. 

Three Months Before Rescue

The harsh yellow lights made us all look like completely different people. The oxygen masks didn't help.

Maybe we were completely different down here. There was no humanity required in our actions, only pure labor. That does things to you after a while.

I liked to see how long I could think like a person for, until my mind numbed in automatic preparation.

I gazed at my reflection in the duraglass door windows.

My suit was a bit tight on me. Whoever the first Esther was, she was a larger woman, but not quite my width.

I didn't really mind. The discomfort was worth the shred of dignity it gave me.

I wasn't the only person with this tradition.

My coworkers were making small talk. Something about the war with the Compact. I was too tired to care. I was always too tired to care.

The desperate, gravelly conversation was interrupted by our shift leader's comm. It beeped four times, and he raised it to his ear.

All he said was "Yep." Before he pulled the emergency stop switch on the control panel.

He then pressed the button for the top floor, and we started going back up.

"What's going on?" Someone asked.

"16C just had a complete collapse. It's looking like 16D is going sometime soon. Not risking another crew to get the morning folks, and corporates' not gonna do hazard pay if we do."

Everyone else grumbled, and nodded in agreement. This sort of thing was becoming more and more common. The ground's structural integrity was weakened from the new shafts.

It could've been my new expensive hormone imbalance, it might've been been the sheer exhaustion, but emotion got the best of me. I said something this time.

"So, we're just letting them die?"

My supervisor turned to me. His eyes were unreadable, his expression was blank.

"Yep."

-------

Thanks for reading!!

The Kompania ship setting was created by Zoapie_621 and Ms0tterly over on Ao3, and I really appreciate them not only letting me use it, but also answering all of my annoying questions. Go read their stuff!!

Next part comes out when I'm done writing it!

- Pidge

[countlessofvoids]

Talking about/analyzing the warlords is pretty much meaningless since they're kind of a nothing characters but I'll do it anyways:

Firstly, I feel like three of them is too much. With Grimmel, that makes four antagonists in one movie. Of course it's not impossible to write all four well - but with other things the film focuses on such as The Hidden World and the fury romance - even with enough screentime, one of them is bound to be underdeveloped.

I've seen people say there's no reason for them to exist at all. I disagree, I think removing them is arguably worse. They are Drago's allies, him being defeated puts a dent in their plans and makes Hiccup a threat in need of elimination. They have a reason to be there. Defeating Drago should have consequences; building all this up then having no sign of it in the next installment - while the villain is a hunter with zero connection to anything - doesn't make sense for the worldbuilding and would be a backwards progression.

Another thing is the personalities given to these characters. I do like how even though with their limited screentime and depth, we can see they all have their own, unique personality rather than everyone being the same angry brutes. But do said characteristics make sense for their role?

Chaghatai Khan is who I consider the best fit for his job. He's smartest of the three, calm and collected. Unlike Griselda, he doesn't let his frustrations with Grimmel get to him. He seems to know when someone's useful and when they need elimination. All the attributes you need for a succesfull leader are present.

Griselda is what you'd expect from this character archetype. Quick to anger, doesn't respect failure, harsh and a ruthless fighter. I don't think Griselda's dumb, but with how easily irritated she gets, she'd probably start few extra conflicts on her own if it wasn't for Chaghatai stopping her. I kinda wish there was more of her interactions with Grimmel, the tiny bit of their dynamic that we did get sparked some interest in me.

Ragnar makes the absolute least sense to me. He's shown to be cheerful, a bit of a coward and even childish. Not the personality I'd write for this character trope. You're telling me he raided villages, possibly enslaved both people and dragons, build an army and went on a succesfull conquest so barbaric it earned him rank of a warlord? An explanation for this could be him being in a nepo baby situation. But we can't really speculate on that, since there are no canon implications for it.

Now I don't wanna sound like a snob who thinks they know better than THW's writers, because I definetly don't. So feel free to ignore this part. Personaly to avoid having characters who are/should be important to the plot then end up with no development or arc whatsoever, I'd either:

A) Get rid of one or two warlords, making the cast less bloated - which means there are less characters to focus on, allowing more exploration for the remaining antagonists.

B) Have one of them takes on a role akin to Drago. Whoever that would be stays a warlord and becomes the driving force of conflict, meanwhile the other two are reduced to generals. Grimmel has a role similiar to Eret, as in he's under the warlord's command. This way it's clearer that he works for them and is not a warlord himself. You know, instead of like in the movie where he just walks in and bosses everyone around like he's been their leader all along. Seriously, why were the supposed brutal conquerers letting him treat them like insignificant soldiers while they're just standing around pouting?

C) Remove the trio entirely and leave only Grimmel. Either he's a warlord who disguised himself as a hunter, or he used to be a hunter who then became a warlord. Why am I insisting on not keeping him just as a hunter? Like I mentioned above; to me, going from armies and wars to simpler dragon hunters feels backwards.

So in conclusion: The Warlords should've been given a lot more importance to the plot because they have connections to the previous film's antagonist and I believe both them being empty characters and not existing at all is a waste. Think of the possibilities that could've been done with them, like making them pararells to Hiccup's friends/family.

(Feel free to correct me if I got any information wrong!)

[someprettyname]

Whoses your favorite hq character so far?

OH MY (͡⁠°⁠‿⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)

*gets hysterical* OH NOOOOOOOO

Why must you ask me this questions when you very well know every character is written SO WELL???

.

.

.

Just kidding.

*rolls up sleeves* oh this is going to be long

I was waiting to finish S2 first before answering this so i could see all the seijoh players and my understanding of them mature a bit more before I go on and yap about them. I still haven't properly processed the vs Aoba Johsai match because. What. The. Hell. Wasthat? 🧍🏻‍♀️

ANYWAYSSSSSSSSS the point being, i really do like every character. Genuinely. It's not the "Ah. I don't think they are necessarily bad so i like them yeah 🤷🏻‍♀️." It's the "My goodness, even a side character is so well written, what? How am I supposed to forget you after I understood you and your story? 🥹" Kinda like.

Now that it's established that i adore every character and team that showed up on the screen we can now discuss the characters that have caught my attention so far :3 [keep in mind that I've only watched 2 seasons so far so there might not be enough kenma and shiratorizawa players :D]

Okay starting off with team karasuno ->

GUESS WHO WAS THE FIRST EVER CHARACTER TO CATCH MY EYE IN THIS WHOLE SERIES?

🥁

🥁

🥁

Ta-Da!

It was NISHINOYA!!!!

Oh my god WHAT A SWEETHEART.

WHAT WOULD I EVER DO WITHOUT HIM BEING IN THE MATCH/COURT? *Sniffles*

I saw that shine in his eyes and I was SOLD. HAVE ALL MY MONEY. I LOVE THIS CHARACTER ALREADY. AND HIS VOICE? MY GOODNESS. It's very specific but there's this huskiness in his voice that's absolutely divine to my ears. His dynamics with hinata and asahi is something i look forward to ALWAYS! I mean this adorable boy here is a sight to behold every time he shows up, so need i explain more? He's like a ball of sunshine, he has magical cheering up powers. I love him so MUCH. I'M IN TEARS.

*clears throat* *collects oneself*

Moving on, Daichi is an amazing character. He isn't the most flashy charcter but without him - the captain - it's empty and on the edge of falling apart. Captures the essence of his role quite accurately, nein? Pillar of maturity and calmness. That's how I see him and it's beautiful.

Then it's Asahi. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MWAH CHEF KISS. His character development is gorgeous. GORGEOUS.

Next up is Kageyama of course. My famous infamous opinion of him is that he's seriously a serious silly goober your honour 😌

When I was watching their second official match with seijoh for a moment i really thought "Ah. Kageyama is going to win but as a team isn't it? Oikawa would still be superior to him as a setter, isn't it? That's how it's going to balance out?" Guess I was wrong. My mind was ABSOLUTELY blown when their last set was the same as the one in their previous match with seijoh. And then he was standing in front of oikawa WHILE I WAS GOING CRAZY. DAMN IT.

His character development and him learning to move past being the "king of court" is amazing. I feel like a proud mom lol.

If I'm talking about kageyama i HAVE to talk about Hinata but I'll sleep on that for now because lol. It's quite obvious. Maybe i should yap about why I wanna pull his cheeks some other day. This is getting long as it is.

Coming to TEAM AOBA JOHSAI :

I'd really like to yap about oikawa but he's one character who gets me thinking. I have so many thoughts about him but it's quite a blur, he's a complex character. That much i have understood. I mean, everytime i see a character i have this immediate impression of them and everything they do afterwards usually builds up on that without contradicting my first impression. That's how it usually goes. But he was one character who keeps... surprising me? Somehow? Does that make sense? So yeah, i would like to re-watch stuff and form a stronger opinion before I yap. He's a complex and beautifully written character, i don't want to disrespect him with him half assed opinions lol.

He intrigues me, that's for sure :)

Then it's Iwaizumi i.e iwa-chan~ because WHY THE HELL NOT. I teared up over him afterall. Damn it. So yeah, i definitely like him.

honourable mention : shinji watari!

Then comes the honorable mention of Yuji Terushima from TEAM JOHZENJI. Whenever I think about that team and it's essence his face pops up in my mind, rightfully so. He has a cool character design, so that too.

That team to me personally is really memorable because my personality IS like them upto a lot extent LOL. So throughout the match I was secretly rooting for them a lot. And when they said "Ah. I was just getting started. I wanted to play more." I found myself thinking the same. And when that happens, you as a viewer know this match was well written. I also love how author captured their story and feelings in just an episode. Definitely a memorable match :D

HEHEHEHHEH NOW COMES THE CHARACTER FROM TOKYO POWERHOUSE PRACTICE ARC.

Ah. So many memorable characters ahaha xD

*sighs reminiscingly*

Anyways. Kuroo, Kenma, Lev, Bokuto. I'll hold yapping about them too much too simply because they haven't be explored too much yet. But my GOD. THESE 4 CHARACTERS? I'M SOOOOOOO SOOO CURIOUS ABOUT THEN. I wanna see how it all turns out and how they grow! Specially Lev!! If he gets better at other areas too he's going to be a challenge for Karasuno isn't it? That'd certainly be fun to watch.

Also i want to squish kenma, put him in a container and shake him violently then put him in a jar and GRIND him. Hahahahahakwiehhehehehehhh 😈

What? Don't look at me like that. He has a very squishy soft warm kinda character design. It's not my fault ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Lastly, I'd like to say i love Bokuto's energy 😌↕️😌↕️ and OF COURSE! HIS SILLINESS AHAHHAH XD

He's so dramatic oh my god 😂 but I also love how he taught hinata to be so much better 🥹 so far, as per my perception of him, he's a simple, optimistic and silly guy who wants good competition. And I'm all here for it 😌↕️😌↕️

OH MY GOD CAN KARASUNO HURRY UP AND PLAY FUKURODANI ALREADDYYYYYY 🥹

Ending this huge ass ted talk [which you probably didn't expect, and if you didn't, I'm sorry to put you through this] with the last honourable mention : Ushijima. Of course. First of all, why is built like a Hollywood character? Second of all, i wanna watch him play sooo bad oh my god. 🥹

....but I'll probably end up rewatching S2 before that. LOL 😂😭

[vel-jane]

hello, i'm pepper !!

i. she / her, 23, gmt - 4 / 5 ii. jane doe is concept i had a lot of fun coming up with, and i'm excited to share her with you all! you can find all of her information under her tabs; ( i ) is her askbox, ( ii ) is all about her, ( iii ) contains plots & connections && ( iv ) is where i keep mun info & track threads!

iii. below you'll find a list of ideas & connections i'm very intent to fill for jane before anything else, organized in degrees of involvement! this ranges from °1 ( bare mun involvement ) to °3 ( in-depth mun involvement ). i would love for everyone to 'collect' a piece of her, even if it's very small! please dm me if you'd like to snag something! some of these are locked just because i need to fill some pieces in before opening them, but i'm fine reserving them for someone! iv. not all of these are plots, some of these are just pieces your muse may have observed that can serve as little bites in world development for when they interact with jane later; for example, if your muse noticed the nuns, then they would have that in mind when interacting with jane, even if it's a plot entirely separate. i'm fine with just documenting that your muse likely saw it in canon, and leaving it at that until we pick up at another time! v. i've been reading through everyone's bios and will likely have notes on entry points for our muses if you dm me to plot otherwise, so feel free to cold dm also!

°1 + THREE people who either saw her get found, or heard about her.

( see: intro, tab ii ) these are people who may have been near the bay or in town when the news spread of what happened the day she was found. this is more something i'd love to see peeks of, but doesn't really require plotting. i would love someone who thinks she's a bad omen ( in light of the event going on )! this would be more of a °2 dynamic.

°1/2 + ONE person who gives her candy.

( see: intro ) in between jane doe being found and her finding the lighthouse ( pending a plot change where someone lets her stay with them ), she's close to the sheriff's station. somewhere, someone presses a piece of butterscotch candy into her hands. maybe they caught wind of her from the morning papers, or the gossip spreading through town. either way, they see her, thick hair covering her face as she sits like a wounded animal on a seat outside of the building. they press the candy into her trembling hands. she doesn't look up ( °1 ; hc ); or maybe she does ( °2 ; thread ).

°1/2 + THREE people who see her dragging a rotted cross from the forest into town.

( see: tab ii ) jane doe finds a rotted building in thistle forest. she recognizes its shape, somehow. can piece apart the rubble from the trees that have grown into it, covering it in thick, high hedge-like structures. the cross that she pulls from its depths feels like something that belongs inside of her, safe in her psyche. so she brings it home. your muse sees her from a distance, and wonders about the odd sights they see here in velgrove. ( °1 ; hc ) perhaps they approach her; perhaps they don't recognize her, and think she is lost ( °2 ; thread ).

°1/2 + THREE people who see the nuns.

( see: tab ii ) this is pretty self explanatory. either they see the nuns & that's just a little easter egg that ties our muses together, or eventually it gets brought up either with her, or with anyone who knows her at the °2/3 level! this is more something i'd love to see peeks of, but doesn't really require plotting. if jane knows your muse, and they bring it up to her, this would become a °3 dynamic since they're critical to her timeline/development!

°3 + ONE person who finds her, HAEIL takes her in.

( see: intro, tab ii ) this would be a pretty critical plot for jane doe, since your muse would find her on the bay shores, and then potentially ( my preference is for these two to be the same person or canonically familiar with one another ) let my muse stay with yours / have a friend or contact who can keep her. this would be a pretty in depth dynamic :'] but i pinky swear im cool & you won't regret it! here's what they can expect from her as a roomie: + bringing strange things to keep in her room. + stringing mirrors and spoons from the ceiling. + using her hands to rip bedsheets into a woven curtain, charmed throughout. + bees, buzzing around her window. chatting with her outside. + collecting loose change and little jacks to rattle in the middle of the night every now and then. + a makeshift windchime over her door. + a collection of scratched tongues. the ability to play the organ. a lovely little voice. + flowers, fresh on the table, then hung upside down when they begin to rot. + the odd premonition. the odd fit of hysterics. the odd episode of body horror.

°3 + SUMYEONG finds the dead body.

( reserved; ) locked for now, but i'm listing it because it's something i am looking for, so if you think your muse could fit this vibe, please bring it up to me!

°1/2 + person who finds the trunk.

( see: intro, tab ii ) locked for now until i can fill in whoever jane doe stays with, but i'm listing it because it's something i am looking for, so if you think your muse could fit this vibe, please bring it up to me!

°3 + person who befriends her.

( see: intro, tab ii ) locked for now, but i'm listing it because it's something i am looking for, so if you think your muse could fit this vibe, please bring it up to me!

[murmurmurl]

hiii pjsk oc ramble again :3

(this is super all over the place btw)

I feel like I should be developing Toshiro more, since he's the unit leader but I haven't come up with that much stuff about them compared to the others. BUT. I'm thinking about Seina. In the relationship thingy I mentioned that she works part-time at a café. I think it'd be funny if it's a café Ena and Akito go to somewhat regularly. then I'd have to change some stuff up though, because it wouldn't be just "met them once". Maybe I'd even make her friends with Ena. I did say I'll change a lot of stuff lol

Seina is very collected and pretty much knows how to deal with ppl, so I think she's pretty good at handling customers. It's still tiring for her though, more than you might expect, actually.

I think she deserves a break ngl (I say after being the one to make her need a break in the first place but uhm anyways)

I've also been thinking about their siblings... Seina and Toshiro both have siblings, actually. I haven't figured out their sibling dynamics as much yet. Like, I keep going back and forth on Seina's sibling especially, whether to make them older or younger. Because I have both options thought out, how they would have affected the relationship and in what way they contributed to how Seina acts. I know I'm gonna project with the sibling thing a lot, but uh. That's what OCs are for..? Kinda??? I guess?????

Fumi and Matsu are only children in their families, but I think with how they act with each other and their past connection, they act a little like siblings. I've also been thinking more about the period where Fumi wasn't as strong-willed and couldn't help or stand up for Matsu when he was bullied. Around that time, they had a bit of a falling out due to Fumi blaming herself too much and ending up isolating herself. They interact again for the first time since then already when the unit's story starts. Its awkward at first, and despite all this time working on being the best she could be to make sure nothing like that ever happens again, Fumi still blames themself and ends up avoiding Matsu at all costs. I can't say that he NEVER blamed her... of course, at first, back then, he felt hurt because no one would help, and when he needed his best friend more than ever, she ended up practically abandoning him. There is a little bit of that.. bitterness (??) left to this day, but overall, he doesn't really put them at fault. Fumi is extremely harsh on herself – that's actually something all of them have to a degree. Toshiro wanting to improve, be better at everything, be reliable because of his family problems, he wants to prove a certain person wrong. I now realize that this might sound kinda like the Shinonome dad situation, but it's still different. Seina blames herself terribly for accidentally hurting a dear friend in the past, she thinks of herself as unworthy of being forgiven and cared for, and tries her best caring for everyone around herself instead, devoting it so much time and effort that it leaves her exhausted and even puts a distance between her and the people she loves because she doesn't want to bother them with any of her personal struggles, even thoughts, she doesn't want to be a burden and upset them by having feelings. Fumi's case I already described here. With Matsu... I feel like it's less present in him, but it's still there. He tends to put a lot of pressure on himself about being good enough to be loved. Also because of stuff in the past, partially because of the bullying, partially because of how he as a child perceived Fumi distancing herself from him. He tries really hard to fit into the expectations others have of him, as well as be as independent as possible.

Of course, during the course of their story/ies I want to work through all of that. I think that coming to terms with things and starting to heal would take the longest for Seina. In part because she doesn't let anyone worry about herself as best she can.

ANYWAYS. Uhm. Stop the angst yapping, please, okay, thank you.

I like thinking through the sad and struggling parts of their characters, but I don't want to stop focusing on how they support each other and how much they care about each other. I also think I focused a little too much on their personalities and less so on the. Other necessary stuff... I've started thinking about their SEKAI. I think it should be something nostalgic in a way? With how much their stories seem to be dealing with the past so far, it'd make sense. I have a few ideas maybe, but I still need to flesh them out to even choose hehe

[worldunbent]

well my volunteer shift for tonight got cancelled so i'm starting my natsuyuu reread with volume 1... it's been years since i read the early volumes (and it's my first time reading the official translations) so this is basically a brand new experience.

getting used to the rather plot-heavy past 40 or so chapters and then just jumping back to the beginning is a bit of a trip. the pacing of the series has evolved so smoothly and slowly that you don't notice it in process, but the difference becomes way more obvious once you travel back 120+ chapters. that's not a knock on the early chapters at all, because i think they're all fantastic standalone stories. they're just so different from the current series!

but despite all that, the themes are extremely consistent and i kept getting surprised at how many moments in these first four chapters can be connected with a straight line all the way to the present.

chapter 1

i'm going to restrain myself and not laugh at every early nyanko. his design had charm! it's just so different from his current look!

Sensei: I've spent such a long time in that ceramic cat that my body's gotten used to it. My true form is very graceful and elegant, you know. Natsume: Oh yeah?

it’s soooo cute that it takes approximately 2 minutes for natsume to start treating nyanko like an actual cat.

Sensei: Reiko couldn't get along with humans. So she started to pick on yokai. She bullied them into duels and crushed them. She was born with substantial mystical powers. She made them promise that the winner would get power over the loser, and then had them write their names down to ensure their obedience. This book is the collection of those names. Natsume: So... why do you want it, Nyanko sensei?

reiko’s methods of defeating youkai are very… prosaic lol. this could be because this is essentially a pilot chapter and midorikawa hadn’t fully developed the worldbuilding rules, but i also wonder if we can justify this with her “substantial mystical powers.” she can accomplish with a baseball bat or her foot what exorcists need elaborate rituals to do. or it could just be the terms of her duels! also, the “kick me” panel cracks me up.

HMM... i started to write something up on this but i think i need to return to it later.

Sensei: It's easy to do, but many yokai are vicious. You won't last long. I'd advise against it. Natsume: I'll be fine. I have you, sensei. Sensei: Say what?! Natsume: I didn't want to get involved... but I kind of owe it to [text is cut off]. If I end up dying partway through, the Book of Friends will be yours. Please, sensei. Will you help me out?

natsume is super quick to propose a partnership with nyanko and begin relying on him. again, this about economical pilot writing, but it’s still interesting when you compare it to the pacing of other relationships.

Sensei: ....Are you sure? I can have the Book when your life ends? Natsume: Yeah, I'm sure...

the shoujo bubbles showing up here are. so

“I bet she was waiting… for the yokai to come find her, to get their names back. As many as she could find. And the yokai felt lonely being no more than one of many…” this reminds me of hinoe in the most recent reiko-centric chapter, but more generally, complicated bonds of loyalty and servitude, reciprocal and nonreciprocal, seem to be some of midorikawa's favorite dynamics to draw on. putting a pin in this.

chapter 2

this touko is so cute. shigeru is a nonentity in the first volume.

you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like

Sensei: Bad dream? Natsume: Because you were on me! Sensei: You must've left yourself vulnerable. Weakness lures demons. They take advantage of it. Be strong if you don't want to get eaten.

madara brings up survival of the fittest mentality for the first time, which is another consistent theme - the value of individual strength vs sharing your struggles with others. but the latter hasn’t really been addressed as an option yet! natsume kind of speedran thru part of this by enlisting nyanko as his bodyguard, but it will take him a lot longer to start learning to share burdens with other humans, or to allow the emotional vulnerability aspect to enter into it.

Natsume: I'll come to worship you. I can't promise to come every day, but I'll bring you offerings. Shrine god: You can't, Natsume. You're my friend.

this chapter hits very hard for me in general, but especially this exchange. the first volume of full of relationships with marked power dynamics, but now we finally get some friends. weh.

no specific screenshot for this, but i get a bit emotional reading midorikawa’s sidebar notes. i don’t know how old she was when she started writing natsuyuu, but it’s 20 years younger than she is now. i wonder if she still has the same editor she’s talking about in these notes!

WELL MAYBE. weh!!

chapter 3 natsume’s flashbacks to the various youkai he encountered as a child are way creepier than i remembered. screenshots not included due to image limit, but midorikawa has been good at conveying unease very quickly from the very beginning.

Natsume: Oh boy...

speaking of unease, panels like these are why i felt the need to use screenshots economically. tanuma bb you have come so far. i love the lighting in the center top panel.

another thing i love is midorikawa's assistants getting feature sidebar panels, which again i didn't screenshot because i was worried about running out of images for this post. but they're great.

Natsume: I'm sorry, can we do this later? Misuzu: Are you busy? Sensei: Exorcising humans. Natsume: Sensei! Misuzu: Oh? Then allow me, Misuzu, to help. It would be dull to never serve my master. And you saved one of my own servants earlier. Natsume: The frog... Sensei: No good deed goes unpunished. Natsume: You be quiet, Sensei.

misuzu’s introduction brings back the theme of servitude and mutual loyalty. i also completely forgot that misuzu’s introduction was tied to tanuma’s, something that will come back up like... 95 chapters from now. i am frequently surprised by basic narrative consistency.

natsume and tanuma are able to connect so quickly and again i wonder if midorikawa would have paced things differently if she’d known how long this series would last. but i’m not saying that as a criticism - the way they’re immediately drawn to each other is an important contrast to other dynamics that come up later.

chapter 4

Natsume (in narration): This might take a while... Natsume (speaking): Kitamoto, have you heard of Futaba village? Kitamoto: Hmm? My dad's from there. Natsume (in narration): What?! Kitamoto: Most of the people relocated around here. I've heard the name Taniozaki, so I'll ask my dad tonight.

another thing i forgot is that kitamoto and nishimura have always been here! for some reason i remembered them joining the cast later on, but they’ve been there from the start, even before they're named. kitamoto’s name does come up for what i think is the first time in this chapter, and i love how willing he is to help natsume, no questions asked.

i like this chapter a lot, but don't have much to say about it because it's such a standalone.

Youkai: We dance, drink, and gamble. There's a race where the prize is a yukata that allows the winner to take human form for one night. Natsume: What? Youkai: It's a whole night of carousing and frolicking. Natsume: What did you say?

the one thing i do want to point out is that's it's interesting that we have youkai getting agency over when they are seen! it's usually left up to the humans, regardless of whether the youkai would like to be seen or not.

[remyfire]

I recently finished Dear Sigmund and it just made me want even m o r e for Sidney to have more screen time! Seeing the 4077th through his eyes was such a fun little change of pace, as well as seeing the way he comes to them for comfort 🥺 Regardless of whether you view it as platonic or romantic, it's so obvious he loves everyone there! And while we're on the topic of characters who deserved more: Captain Sam Pak. I know he was only in two episodes, but he was wonderful in both of them! I loved the exchange between him and Sidney in Deal Me Out, just the easy "that's my wife!" "Interesting joke there, Sam" "Thanks for seeing me, Sidney". I wish we had more Sid, I wish we had more Sam, and I also wish we had more of them together.

And thanks so much for the rec! I've only recently been getting into the fic side of things, so I haven't come across their work yet, but I'm sure it would only have been a matter of time. (Aka I have Sidney's Ao3 tag open on my phone right now) I took a quick scroll through their collections, and read a short BJ/Hawkeye/Peg piece since I had a couple spare minutes, and I think the recommendation is right up my alley! I'm really not gonna have to search for fics for the rest of the week with all that you've provided me 😅

DEAR SIGMUND MY BELOVED!!!! AAAAAAA I love that one so MUCH, I go back to it often. Brilliant work from Alan all around, writing, directing, acting, all of it. God, the way he just saw the characters is so fascinating. I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much!! God, Sidney fits into the camp so well, really just matches their pace and rhythm as easily as he sinks into the background to observe them. He does love them, you're so right. You're gonna love some of his upcoming episodes, I think. War of Nerves in S6 is a lot, but it's wonderful.

Also Sam is the fucking love of my life. Canon also wrote a really interesting Hawkeye/Sam chapter for a multiauthor collab fic called The Famous 4077th Dog Tag Party, which I definitely recommend if you enjoy Sam to that degree, because my goodness, he's such a fucking delight as a POV character in it!! But even beyond that, Sam and Sidney give me such old married couple vibes, like, they're usually surrounded by all these 20- and 30-somethings, so I feel like they found each other as men in their mid-40s and were just like oh, thank GOD, and things went from there. I am yet again exposing myself as a shipper to the core, oops.

I am usually very shy about self-reccing fics, but since you've mentioned you loved Dear Sigmund and also a fondness for Sam and Sidney, I'm gonna give you a couple, if that's all right:

—I'd Give Up Forever to Touch You: This is BJ/Sidney-centric with BJ/Hawkeye developing in the background of the narrative, but I offer it specifically because "Dear Sigmund" plays a large role in how BJ and Sidney interact in it. It's a forced proximity romance that also selfishly lets me play on a favorite trope of mine—only one bed—and I loved writing it so much that I have so many thoughts about a potential sequel that might let me lean into more of those polyam feelings

—To Be Kissed Upon the Eyes: This is a Sam/Hawkeye/Sidney fic with an established Sam/Sidney relationship. I wrote it because, yes, I really love their dynamic even if we only get a single episode of it, but also because I wanted to dig into how I view my iteration of Hawkeye's complicated relationship with sex. Getting the excuse to make Hawk the center of very affectionate, fond attention and give him a little bit of healing was just exquisite for me to write

Again, no pressure to read either of those!! But you might enjoy them :) I hope you enjoy your continued watchthrough too!! I feel like I've been seeing a lot of people diving in for the first time recently

[dalishendure]

𝙶𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂.

01. THE BASICS. this blog is mutuals only, selective, divergent in some areas and medium - sporadic activity. if you are expecting a lot of replies then this might not be the blog for you! i also post a lot of ooc and headcanon posts, which i know isn't always everyone's cup of tea. you're more than welcome to not follow back or blacklist my ooc tag, which is OOC . ( very simple ). i am typically duplicate friendly and have a verse where lanaya is a companion, i love other inquisitors and lavellans and would love to figure out a way to write with them all, if you're also dupe friendly. but i won't follow first just in case you're uncomfortable. if you don't follow back within a few days i will unfollow. i understand some take time to follow back but i'd rather not accidentally interact with your blog when we're not mutuals and you're mutuals only, it's kinda embarrassing ngl. if you unfollow, please softblock or hardblock. i am also going to attempt to keep this blog low stress and keep the follower amount lower so if enough time passes with no interactions ( ic / ooc / reactions to posts ) i may unfollow. i am also not entitled to follow every blog my mutuals make and you also don't have to follow all of my blogs! especially if it's a fandom i don't know about or i just don't have a character that goes with them ( and vice versa ). if you have multiple blogs i'm also entitled to softblocking any of them and remaining mutuals on others, especially if as time goes by i don't see interactions happening.

02. PSA. many of my characters are strong and don't like to be backed into a corner. don't provoke them unless you want to deal with it ic. and please don't woobify lanaya. she IS naive at times and TRUSTING, but she's thirty+ in main verses. she's strong and capable and has a naive wonder about herself. both are true at the same time. she is not a child nor has she been one in a long time.

03. MAINS AND AFFILIATES. i mostly practice mains and affiliates but i don't do exclusives. affiliates is someone who's intertwined in my characters development and characterization but aren't exclusives. i'm not against having multiple mains of the same character, as i see every version and dynamic different since everyone may see said character in a different way! however, i don't get in the habit of " collecting " muses, since i also personally don't like the feeling of being " collected ".

04. STAR WARS + MARVEL PSA. i have been in and out of both rpc's for awhile and i'm really not here for drama. i just want to write. i am a bit more selective with star wars blogs, just due to swrpc. i will be picky about empire and first order muses and kylo ren blogs. i am very anti reylo as a romantic dynamic, just as a warning. i don't mind if i see it on the dash but i'd like for it to be tagged. mcu blogs i'll also be somewhat picky about but thats mostly in related to the fcs that make me uncomfortable. i am also very against whitewashed maximoffs, hydra and sabra blogs. if you don't explicitly state / make it clear your maximoff muses are romani then i might be a bit hesitant to follow first, since i've been surprised in the past to find what i thought was a comic-based but they used the mcu fcs.

05. PERSONAL BANNED FCS/FANDOMS/CHARACTERS. mcu!maximoffs, rdj!tony stark, rdj!doom, scarjo!black widow, chris pratt!peter quill, james marsden!scott summers, gina carrano!cara dune, rosario dawson!ahsoka tano. won't follow anyone who writes hp characters, multimuses will be on a case by case basis. any and all hydra muses ( as in WILLINGLY being part of hydra, this does not count people who were brainwashed and controlled, like the winter soldier for example ), hydra!cap, n*zi affiliated muses, billy hargrove, harry potter muses.

06. SHIPPING. i loooove shipping, i love ships !! and most of the time, it doesn't take much for me to ship something but i am usually a bit hesitant to message first, just due to normal anxieties and not being sure if someone is as interested as i am (i'm even kinda hesitant with shipping calls ... i just get nervous, okay!!). chances are if you ship it, i do too!! or the idea of it!! i just won't do any weird ships. i ship my lavellan with solas but i will never pressure someone into it!! ( i'm actually quite hesitant to even suggest it to people because i'm shy/anxious about being perceived as force shipping or pressuring someone into it without meaning to ) i'd rather build the dynamic and if we feel like they're better as friends or a " never happened but there's lots of tension " then that's okay too! i also ship lanaya with other inquisitor characters, like josephine and cullen. but she's such a lover girl that it's easy to imagine her with most of the characters. also super open to shipping with characters not in inquisition -- though by the time of veilguard, lanaya is in her forties, so said character would have to be in their thirties at the minimum. inquisition era is a bit different, so twenty-five is the minimum there. i'm also okay with shipping with multiple versions of a character. like i said above, there's so many different concepts and takes on a character that if i were to ship with more than one solas or (insert character name here) the dynamic may be completely different from the other one.

07. ACTIVITY. i am a neurodivergent person who deals with depression, anxiety, working full time, etc so i'm not always on. i don't even regularly do replies even though i want to, so sometimes it's just not going to happen. please me patient with me. if you genuinely need me to be consistently active this might not be the blog for you to follow and that's a-okay!! my reply lengths will also vary -- i absolutely can write a lot and used to write more novella but pre-indie i started cutting it down because my partners wrote less, but i'm looking to get back into writing longer replies. that being said, you never have to match length (of course don't reply with a one liner, but if i do multiple paragraphs i don't expect you to do the same or have the same energy).

08. NSFW AND TRIGGERS. i do not have triggers of my own but i will always try to tag them. my usual format is trigger cw or trigger //. i have a lot of mutuals so it's impossible for me to remember everyone's. if i ever forget just send a message on/off anon or dm me and i'll fix it asap!! nsfw content may also appear, including smut, but i am more selective about it. as a general rule, smut will never happen if a character is under 21 -- but given lanaya's age i won't ship with a character under 25 during DAI ( or write smut between them ) or 30s during DATV.

09. FREE PALESTINE. FREE GAZA. VERY ANTI-ZIONIST HERE. do not follow if you're pro-israel. free palestine!! also no homophobia, islamphobia, racists, tr*mp supporters, anti-semitism, transphobia, jkr supporters, etc etc. just don’t be weird.

note: I know a decent amount about dragon age but i've only been playing it since last year !! so i still don't know the entire world super well. i’ve also played through DA2, DAI and DATV at least once each. DAO refuses to work for me so i won't be playing it at this time (i also don't know much about the game aside for major plot points but i'm super open to learning about your characters/verses from that time frame and make a verse for lanaya there).

[moonf4llen]

𝙶𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂.

01. THE BASICS. this blog is mutuals only, selective, divergent in some areas and low - sporadic activity. if you are expecting a lot of replies then this might not be the blog for you! i also post a lot of ooc and headcanon posts, which i know isn't always everyone's cup of tea. you're more than welcome to not follow back or blacklist my ooc tag, which is MISC : OOC. i am typically duplicate friendly, but it depends as i lean more towards headcanons and alt fcs a lot of the time. if you don't follow back within a few days i will unfollow. i understand some take time to follow back but i'd rather not accidentally interact with your blog when we're not mutuals and you're mutuals only, it's kinda embarrassing ngl. if you unfollow, please softblock or hardblock. i am also going to attempt to keep this blog low stress and keep the follower amount lower so if enough time passes with no interractions ( ic / ooc / reactions to posts ) i may unfollow. i am also not entitled to follow every blog my mutuals make, especially if it's a fandom i don't know about or i just don't have a character that goes with them. if you have multiple blogs i'm also entitled to softblocking any of them and remaining mutuals on others, especially if as time goes by i don't see interactions happening.

02. PSA. many of my characters are strong and don't like to be backed into a corner. don't provoke them unless you want to deal with it ic. and please don't woobify my characters, some are heavily woobified in fandom spaces, which diminishes everything they've done and accomplished.

03. MAINS AND AFFILIATES. i mostly practice mains and affiliates but i don't do exclusives. affiliates is someone who's super intertwined in my characters development and characterization but aren't exclusives [ could be both, though ]. i won't have multiples of the same character as a main/affiliate, i also don't want to feel " collected " as a main / mutual.

04. STAR WARS + MARVEL. i have been in and out of both rpc's for awhile and i'm really not here for drama. i just want to write. i am a bit more selective with star wars blogs, just due to swrpc. i will be picky about empire and first order muses and kylo ren blogs. i am very anti reylo as a romantic dynamic, just as a warning. i don't mind if i see it on the dash but i'd like for it to be tagged. mcu blogs i'll also be somewhat picky about (i do have an mcu character so i'm not entirely against it). i also find it hard to put x-men / mutant muses in the mcu since they haven't been brought in yet and xmcu doesn't have a lot of room, esp regarding lorna's existence and the lack of genosha (a pivotal moment in her backstory). the timeline is just wack and i don't know how to put my characters in there, but if you're open to helping me out i'd love to write in mcu verses. i am also very against whitewashed maximoffs, hydra and sabra blogs. if you don't explicitly state / make it clear your maximoff muses are romani then i might be a bit hesitant to follow first, since i've been surprised in the past to find what i thought was a comic-based but they used the mcu fcs.

05. PERSONAL BANNED FCS/FANDOMS/CHARACTERS. mcu!maximoffs, rdj!tony stark, rdj!doom, scarjo!black widow, chris pratt!peter quill, james marsden!scott summers, gina carrano!cara dune, rosario dawson!ahsoka tano. won't follow anyone who writes hp characters, multimuses will be on a case by case basis. any and all hydra muses ( as in WILLINGLY being part of hydra, this does not count people who were brainwashed and controlled, like the winter soldier for example ), n*zi affiliated muses, billy hargrove.

06. SHIPPING. i loooove shipping, i love ships !! and most of the time, it doesn't take much for me to ship something but i am usually a bit hesitant to message first, just due to normal anxieties and not being sure if someone is as interested as i am (i'm even kinda hesitant with shipping calls ... i just get nervous, okay!!). chances are if you ship it, i do too!! or the idea of it!! i just won't do any weird ships -- incest, large age gaps (age gaps where both are adults and there isn't a weird power dynamic isn't weird for me!! at a certain point age gaps aren't weird or anything, esp with muses 30+, so i'm really talking about age gaps where one is 18 and the other is late 20s, stuff like that). it is also very UNLIKELY that i will ship r*ylo. it just isn't for me. however i do have a lot of thoughts on the dynamic in a platonic sense if anyone wants to talk to me about it, i love talking about their dynamic past the movies. i have a lot of favorite ships / crackships (rey/finn, jyn/cassian, solas/lavellan, etc) for each character but i will NEVER pressure someone into it. if you feel like i am please let me know and i will dial it back immediately. i get very excited about things especially my characters. i prefer developing through plotting and see if things work out. i also love platonic ships. so just because i ship a pairing doesn’t mean we can’t go a platonic route instead!

07. ACTIVITY. i am a neurodivergent person who deals with depression, anxiety, working full time, etc so i'm not always on. i don't even regularly do replies even though i want to, so sometimes it's just not going to happen. please me patient with me. if you genuinely need me to be consistently active this might not be the blog for you to follow and that's a-okay!! my reply lengths will also vary -- i absolutely can write a lot and used to write more novella but pre-indie i started cutting it down because my partners wrote less, but i'm looking to get back into writing longer replies. that being said, you never have to match length (of course don't reply with a one liner, but if i do multiple paragraphs i don't expect you to do the same or have the same energy).

08. NSFW AND TRIGGERS. i do not have triggers of my own but i will always try to tag them. my usual format is trigger cw or trigger //. i have a lot of mutuals so it's impossible for me to remember everyone's. if i ever forget just send a message on/off anon or dm me and i'll fix it asap!! nsfw content may also appear, including smut, but i am more selective about it. smut will never happen if a character is under 20/21.

09. FREE PALESTINE. FREE GAZA. VERY ANTI-ZIONIST HERE. do not follow if you're pro-israel. free palestine!! also no homophobia, islamphobia, racists, tr*mp supporters, anti-semitism, transphobia, jkr supporters, etc etc. just don’t be weird.

note: I know a decent amount about dragon age and know a lot of spoilers for DATV but I don’t know everything !! I don’t care about spoilers but there might be some gaps in my knowledge. I’ve also played through DA2 and DAI (DAO refuses to work for me so I haven’t done more than an hour or two in it).

[brooklyndadshow]

One step further for the white rabbit

I've gotten some reactions to the beginning of the white rabbit story from middle school so I thought I'd take one step further on at least writing the story. Not sure exactly where this will go - but let's go down the rabbit hole.

With my daughter going to middle school this fall it definitely has me thinking back on my own middle school experiences. Middle school was rough for me. I feel like I learned a bunch of life lessons that I've held on to, probably a few narratives that I should let go. It's funny how the mind works there are three mini stories from me starting middle school, two that stuck with me and one that I completely blocked out until my parents told me recently.

What I remember learning most is about popularity, cliques, and norms. I went to a small school and had been there for years so I had some middle school street cred. What I remember most is losing street cred for befriending kids that we're new and not in the in crowd. I remember saying the phase - "Why does Jamil think he can be friends with them and us? " I'm lucky - I have always have had the ability to fit in, but I hate that need for people who fit in to exclude others - with a passion. I've always believed in bringing people in - that in almost every situation, if people want to be part of the collective that is focused on common good and justice, we are stronger with every individual we can bring in - stronger in the sum of our parts. If I think back on my life, it's middle school where this part of myself developed and hardened in being a core part of who I am. Is it really this time, or more the collection of experiences - hard to say - and really does it matter - I know that's a core part of my personality.

The second story is the Alice in Wonderland musical. Frankly as awkward 10 and 11 year olds, the fact that we were in tights was a bigger deal than me being in white face. In fact, me being in white face was zero deal. It's just now looking back and telling other people and seeing their reactions, that I reflect on the dynamics of a white teacher putting a black child in white face - and I have pause.... I have this idea for a video sketch I might do for the show where I do this monologue or a promo for it while I paint my face white... I feel like it will make some people very uncomfortable and I like that... It's like an itch I want to scratch in my art - are you uncomfortable just reading about me slowly painting my face white? Instructed by an older white woman... why are you comfortable?

Also everyone should re-watch Bamboozled by Spike Lee.

I'm going to have paint my face a few times and remove the paint before I get to the bottom of the white rabbit rabbit hole...

Last story that I blocked out and had no memory of. The same teacher that put in me white face, also put me in the lower math class when I entered 5th grade. I was devasted. I had always been in the top level of math and all of a sudden I wasn't. My parents noticed that I was noticably upset. They inquired and discovered the reason. They went to the teacher to advocate for me and find out what was going on. Apparently there was no reason, I'd been put in the lower class and was moved back to be among my peers. I have zero recollection of any of this. I do remember always being in the highest math class, I do remember going on to Stuyvesant High School, the top math and science magnet school in New York City, I do remember scoring significantly scoring higher on my math SATs than my verbal SATs. I do remember going to Engineering school at Columbia and continuing to be in technology for the rest of my 25 year and going career...

So reflecting back on the white rabbit and his journey to this point.... What are my thoughts.... I remember singing "I'm late"... and having an awakening to my stage presence, my love of singing and performing - the memory itself is pure - later in life I begun to think of the minstrel show that black entertainers have to endure, wrote a show about it, still have more to say about it... Where does my original minstrel show performance fit into my journey? I think every person of color who entertains- especially with comedy - faces that moment. Are they laughing at me or with me? The disturbing truth is sometimes you never know. That's a creative minefield - am I the minstrel or the auteur... I guess I'm still figuring out. Guess it's time to go on Amazon and look for some white face paint.