#and honest to god i'm excited for this new season and it makes me really wanna develop her t100 verse

[charlie-lec-stories]

Everything happens for a reason // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Stroll!Sister

Summary: After a whole life of following her father's orders, Y/N's tired of being the good girl and when she finally stood up for herself with the help of her best friend, all hell broke loose.

Warnings: Sexual comments and scenarios, cheating, strong vocabulary.

Author’s Note: Well guys, gals and non-binary pals, you know I love messy stories, this is no exception. Rate: +18 (adult content)

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"UGHHHHHH". Y/N couldn't help but laugh out loud when her brother, Lance, sat down beside her, grunting as if it was the hardest thing his body had done in 20 years.

"Really, Lance, was it really that hard? Are you that old?". She rolled her eyes as the boy fixed his position on the roof, making sure that he wouldn't fall off. They had the tradition of sitting on the roof of their mansion after dinner and before bed time. They had an hour before the staff would start looking for them, the only time they could be normal and not billionaires.

"I'm not old, it was that hard, some of us train, you know. Not everyone is naturally gifted at driving cars". She laughed again. Even though her brother tried to act annoyed with her great driving, he was actually proud of her.

"I'm not that good". She lied, but he shook his head, then let it rest on her shoulder, getting comfortable next to her under the blanket she had. Her hand went to his hair, lovingly running her fingers through the locks.

"Don't lie. Gees, I'm not ever sure who you got that from, because dad sucks". She felt his body shake as he giggled at his own comment. "That old man may love racing but God knows he should never touch a steering wheel".

"Hey, don't be like that, he's an average driver...". Lance moved his head up to give her a pointed look. "He is!... When it comes to tennis karts he is". They stayed silent for a moment before bursting out laughing so hard that they got worried someone might have heard.

"Okay, okay, enough with roasting the old man". Lance said once they calmed down. He resumed his position close to her and changed the subject. "Are you excited for the new season? I mean, you have a real chance this time, sis".

"Carlos said the same". She said, sighing and looking into the horizon. The sun was setting and the sky had that perfect shade between pink and purple, it was lovely, it made her feel at peace.

"Well, we are right. I'm always right, as you obviously know, and Carlos is your best friend, he could never lie to you, that's illegal". Y/N smile, that was true, her best friend was the most honest person she had ever met, and if there were two people in the world she trusted with her life, those were Lance and Carlos.

"Speaking of Carlos, I have something to tell you about this season". Lance could feel the tension in her voice so he fixed his position again, showing her that he was giving her his full attention. "Nelson, you know, the PR guy, he told me that I have to get into a PR relationship. He gave me two options: Carlos or Leclerc. Of course, I chose Carlos. I'd rather fake-date my best friend than Charles-stupid-Leclerc".

"You should let go of that anger, your beef with Charles was years ago, he's a nice guy". Lance rolled his eyes at his sister. Y/N and Charles fought after a karting race when they were 16 and never got along after that. He was unnecessarily mean to her and she always over-reacted. But to be fair to Charles, she did say to him that he had a small penis in front of the whole grid, and that can be really harmful for a teenage boy. The fact that everyone knew that they had hooked up once only made the accusation seem more reliable, humiliating Charles even more in front of their peers. To add to the feud, Y/N called him "Peanut" and he called her "Matagot", which is basically a south-french mythology monster that only treats you well if you keep it well-fed, otherwise it can be your biggest nightmare. It was Charles' way of calling her a spoiled brat, that only cares for others when she can get something in return.

"He's not nice. But I don't want to talk about him, I want advice. I have never been in a PR relationship before and you have. It's pretty uncomfortable to have to do this with Carlos, but I have to make it work".

Lance and Y/N spent their hour talking, he gave her advice on what to do and how to keep the friendship strong after having to be all over each other in public. It was going to be awkward, but her contract said that there were things she had to do to get a better public image and Carlos was a great way to keep things interesting. Drive to Survive, the Netflix series about the sport needed something to talk about, and a relationship between two drivers from different teams was perfect, and that's how she ended up trapped with a PR relationship. Around 10 pm, they got down the roof and made their way to their rooms. Before bed, Y/N checked her phone and found a text from her best friend.

Chili-man: Hey kiddo! I know that this is going to be awkward, but remember that we're best friends first, if you ever feel uncomfortable, you let me know and I'll do everything to help out. Okay?

Y/N: Thanks Chili-man. I love to know that you're always on my corner. You're the best. And the same goes for you. It's gonna be weird, but at least I'm not fake-dating Peanut.

Chili-man: Don't be mean, he's a nice guy.

Y/N: You and my brother need to stop being such Leclerc's advocates, I'm sure he can pay his own defense lawyers, you guys don't need to do it for free. Anyways, good night and I'll see you tomorrow for the first day!

Chili-man: I promise he's not that bad. But whatever. Sleep tight kiddo. I'll see you tomorrow.

The next morning, Y/N woke up to the sound of her father shouting and her mother begging him to lower his voice. Still half asleep, she walked to the door and cracked it open. Outside, she saw Lance peeking out of his own room and after sharing a puzzled look, they moved their attention to their father. He was at the end of the hall, at the door of his room, their mother was pulling at his arm, trying to pull him into the room without success. It was strange to say the least, that their mother interfered with their father's affairs, she had her own business to worry about, but she seemed actually worried about the discussion their father was taking part in over the phone.

"I SAID NO. I don't care about the numbers, I don't care about the stupid show. She's not dating Carlos Sainz Jr. She'll do that over my dead body!". Both Lance and her looked at each other. Why was he so upset? He loved the Sainz; he had been friends with Carlos Sainz Sr. for as long as they could remember. "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S FAKE".

"Honey, please, they'll hear you". Their mother tried to calm him down, but he was furious.

"THEN USE LECLERC, BUT SHE'S NOT DATING CARLOS AND THAT'S MY FINAL WORD". She definitely didn't like that last statement. Her father hung up and stormed into his room. It was her turn to be upset, she didn't want to date Charles Leclerc, fake or for real, it was a nightmare both ways. A little later that morning she tried to convince her father in her favor, but he was so angry that it was impossible to make his change his mind. Carlos texted her mid-day, while she was on the jet on her way towards Bahrain, asking her what happened and why his PR team told him that he was replaced by Charles. She didn't want Carlos to feel bad or inadequate in the eyes of her father, so she lied and said that she had no idea and that as soon as she had an answer for that, she would tell him. When she made it to Sakhir, she was told to leave her luggage at her room and then go back to the lobby so she could wait for a car there with Nelson. They had to meet with Charles and his team to discuss the details of the arrangement. It was a quiet car ride, Nelson was aware of what she thought of Charles and that the change had not been her decision, so he let her off the hook for a few minutes.

"Welcome, Miss Stroll, please have a seat". Kathy, Charles' PR head of the department greeted her when they made it to the hotel where Ferrari was staying. The room they used for the meeting was a last time arrangement, but it had space and it made her feel better, considering how bad things could get once Charles arrived.

"Thank you". She sat down on the couch and Kathy handed her a glass of water. They didn't have to wait much before Charles walked through the door. If it wasn't for her being completely aware of how much of a prick he was, she was sure that she could fall at his feet over and over again every time she saw him. He was the most handsome man on Earth, she knew that, but he was also aware of that so it posed a problem for her.

"Sorry I'm late, I wanted to shower after the flight". He sat on the bed of the room and looked at Y/N when she scoffed.

"Thank you for that! Now the only thing that stinks in this room is your shitty personality". Charles growled. They spent less than two minutes together, 2 meters apart, and they were already at each other's throats.

"I told you this was not gonna work". He told Kathy. "She's a spoiled little shit and I can't stand her close to me. The feeling is obviously mutual, why force this?".

"Because you're the perfect marketing option and it's our job-". Kathy pointed between her and Nelson. "- to make you both a selling machine. So you'll both make it work or your teams will reduce money from your salaries for breaching your contracts".

"That's not fair. I need my money and this Matagot doesn't give two shits about her contract, her Daddy is a billionaire, you're giving her all the power in the world over me!". Charles complained. He knew that she didn't need the money, she could make his life a living hell without a problem and he would have to take it all like a good boy not to lower his income.

"Suck it up, Peanut. Compensate that small pecker of yours by being the bigger person!". She was enjoying the moment.

"The itinerary is long. Read it, learn it and follow it". Nelson explained to ease up the tension. "Remember to be caring and loving, but do not overdo it. Kiss once in a while, hold hands while you walk together. We'll take care of the interviews and the press. Act the part for Netflix and we'll help you with the conflict for the show-".

"We don't need help with conflict". Charles interrupted.

"We need conflict, not first degree murder, Charles". Kathy sent them a stern look as she let the comment out and both drivers looked at their laps.

"Okay, I got it all. Can I go now?". She wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

That night she texted Carlos, and he told her something interesting: His PR team and his father told him to put some distance with her. They were both surprised, since when did their parents dislike the idea of them being friends? They had been friends their whole lives, close since they remembered. They were like siblings, why couldn't they be friends anymore? They understood the whole PR thing, that she needed to sell and that there was drama that had to occur between her and her fake boyfriend, but why did it all have to happen with Carlos at an arms' length? It was weird and she needed to know. It was hard enough that her father had controlled her whole life, she was already old enough to make her own decision. Why did he care so much about her friends? It wasn't like she was going to date Carlos for real. Carlos had his own questions, he was almost 30, his father was stepping over a line trying to control his life like that, but he respected his old man and he was going to listen, as long as the decision didn't prove to be hurtful for his best friend.

"I'm not kissing you". She said as soon as she met Charles at the lobby of her hotel. They were supposed to show up together for the first day at the paddock. Of course, she wanted to make it difficult for him. "I'm not doing the same stupid shit twice".

"You don't have to do me this time, Matagot". Charles hissed at her. "Plus, it's not like I will enjoy it so shut up and make this easy for everyone".

"I said-". But he cut her off with his lips over hers. As fast as he did it, he pulled away and before she could say anything, he was practically dragging her to his car.

The day went by incredibly slowly, but at some point she became numb to holding hands and kissing with Charles. They would kiss and she would instantly start talking about something racing related, like Lance suggested she do to get rid of the awkwardness. Charles seemed okay with that. What was actually bothering her more was the fact that she spent the whole day without talking to Carlos. Charles noticed her looking for his teammate a few times but decided to ignore the raging fire it started inside his veins. He hated the idea that he had to date her, but he dated more the idea of her dating Carlos. He wasn't surprised when Carlos told him that he was going to date Y/N as a PR stunt, what surprised Charles was that they weren't actually dating for real. He could never understand why the Spaniard would refuse to date a woman like her. Charles found Y/N the most amazing woman, when she was nice, and she was definitely nice to Carlos. The older man explained that he never felt like that about her and it never made sense to Charles, after all, he did feel that way about her when she used to be nice to him. But that was a decade ago, and she had never been nice once to him since that time. Still, he felt pleased that Carlos wasn't a threat. She may have looked around for him, and liked him over Charles, but he didn't reciprocate her feelings, so Charles was safe. He was torn between a need for her to love him and constant reaction of disgust to everything she said.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Peanut? There are no cameras here". She said when he appeared at her room door.

"We need to talk". He made his way inside the room and she sighed, already too tired to complain.

"What do you want to talk about?". He sat on her bed and she went to the couch, not wanting to be near him.

"Do you like Carlos?". He decided that dancing around the question was pointless and she was kind of thankful that he cut to the chase.

"That's none of your business, Charles"

"Well, but we are fake dating, and he's my teammate, so I need to know". Lie, that wasn't the real reason, and she knew, but she let it slide.

"I don't like Carlos that way". She saw the accusatory look on his face and explained further. "We're best friends. Something happened. I don't know what. I think our fathers may have something to do with it. He told me that we can't hang out much for now. It's weird".

"Does this have anything to do with us getting together?". 'Failed act', Freud would say.

"We're not together Charles, we can't stand each other". He could pick up on her tired tone, maybe it was the right time to finally get her out of her shell.

"We used to. I remember that time. We had a great moment". But what he thought was going to be a comment that made her happy, completely backlashes at him.

"A great moment?! That's what it was for you? Just a great time?". She stood up, tears at the corners of her eyes and Charles suddenly felt the need to get up and hold her. He didn't, though. "That's why you just simply walked out and ignored me then? Because I was just another good time for you?"

"What? No, how did you even get there?! I never said that!". Now he was the one in a defensive mood.

"Your actions speak better than your words. You ignored me, after everything we did together, after how vulnerable I was with you. I gave you my virginity and you simply threw me away!". She was fully on crying and Charles just could take it anymore, he got up and pulled her to his body, hugging her as tightly as he could.

"I was embarrassed. I felt like I did it like shit. I was stupid and had zero experience. I came so fast because I liked you so much. I thought I let you down". He wasn't sure if she heard him, his words muffed by her hair and his sobs. "I thought you had not enjoyed that moment as much as I did and it was embarrassing, because I loved every second of it. I wanted to talk to you but your parents kind of scared me off from the house the next morning. It felt like I had done everything wrong. Then we saw each other at the race and you were so cold that I believed I was right. You then said those things... I- I just didn't know what to do".

"I shouldn't have said that. I was hurt and felt humiliated, I was wrong". She was grabbing at him as tightly as he was at her.

"We both were". He kissed her head and they broke apart. "I never stopped thinking about you. I always wondered what we could have been...". He let that linger in the air, the possibility. She took his hand and led him to the bed. Her actions spoke better than her words.

They woke up the next morning to someone pounding on the door. Charles quickly fell asleep again, but Y/N got up to tell the person at the other side to get lost. She was surprised when she found Carlos on the other side. The man didn't even say hi, he walked into the room, pushing her inside with him and slamming the door shut. The noise woke Charles up again, this time he did get up, furious when he noticed that his teammate was grabbing his girlfriend's arms with a python's grip. Carlos looked worried, but it was mixed with a bit of anger and something else Charles couldn't decipher. It wasn't until he spoke up that Carlos actually noticed his presence.

"What the fuck are you doing?!". The monegasque walked towards him, and Carlos noticed the lack of clothing, the black Calvin Klein's hanging from Charles' hips were the only thing keeping him decent.

"You two...". He suddenly smiled. "It was about time. A decade. Never met two people this slow".

"You're on thin ice, mate". Charles said, sternly.

"Then you're not going to like what I'm going to say next". Carlos took a deep breath. "I need us to fake-date, Y/N. I want to pressure my father. I think he's planning on setting me up with someone. But if he thinks we're dating even though he said no, he'll leave me alone". She looked at Charles, he didn't seem happy with the idea, but she also wanted to find out why her father was so against Carlos so suddenly.

"If- IF I do it, do you think we can make it happen sometime when both our parents are there?". Charles looked down at her frowning. "Remember last night, when I told you that I didn't know what happened? I want to find out".

"I don't know, mon Ange". She took his hand and his face relaxed a bit. He used to call her that, when they were younger, it felt right.

"I need to know, something feels off. This is the reason why we are together now. Over ten years of history fixed by one phone call by my father". He let out the breath he was holding, she was right. "Please, everything happens for a reason, Charlie".

"Okay, let's do this".

They had to wait until after the race. Carlos Sr. and Lawrence, Lance and Y/N’s father, were sitting at the hotel restaurant, chatting with frowns on their faces. Carlos and Y/N held hands and walked towards them, Charles following them close behind. He had a part in the plan, and he was ready to execute it perfectly, even if it was harder for him to act mad at Y/N now that they had made up. The older men looked up at their children when the three drivers approached them. To say that they looked horrified would be an understatement. Carlos Sr. seemed about to throw up, while Lawrence was simply shocked. The first part of the plan was done, keeping the element of surprise. Now to phase two: the lie itself. They sat at the table, Carlos in the middle of Charles and Y/N, his hand interlocked with hers resting on the table so their fathers could see them. It took the older men a moment to get the color back to their faces, but when they did, Lawrence went from white to red in a second.

"What the hell is this?". He asked, trying to keep the little cool he had left.

"We're dating, Mr. Stroll. We wanted you both to know". Carlos was the oldest, he took the lead.

"You can't". Carlos Sr. said with his voice rough thanks to the lump in his throat.

"That's not your decision, Dad". Everything was going as expected, but they had to admit that their fathers did look more disturbed than they had foreseen.

"It is. You won't date Carlos, you will date Charles as it was planned by the PR team and I don't want to hear anything else about it". That was Charles’ cue.

"I won't date her if she's in love with my teammate. We can barely stand each other, I won't get stuck into this mess for her". It hurt, but he had to say it like that. The other two didn't budge, and they had to pull out the last resort they had to press their fathers' buttons. Y/N saw their mothers walking to the table, so she took Carlos by the chin and started to get closer to him, ready to kiss him. Before they could make contact, Carlos Sr. was pushing them away.

"You can't do that, don't do that". He was almost losing it.

"Why?". She whispered, her eyes looking into his and a chill ran down her spine.

"You're half-siblings". It was Lawrence who said it. There was a long list of options that Carlos and Y/N had made of what could have happened, being siblings was not on the list.

"What?". Charles was as stunned as them. Lawrence and Carlos Sr. sighed and rested against the backs of the seat. Their wives, paralyzed behind them, were still unnoticed by the rest of the table.

"I had an affair with Lawrence's assistant. Of course your mother didn't know about it". Carlos Jr. had an expression impossible to read as his hand gripped Y/N tightly. "She got pregnant, asked me to leave your mother. I refused. She had the baby, Y/N. But then she got postpartum depression. She killed herself three weeks after giving birth".

"Y/N, you mother had just lost a pregnancy, no one knew, I found you in that house, alone, crying. It was the chance to give your mother a baby after the one she lost". Lawrence continued.

"You had the power and money to make it happen". Charles was officially angry, and it wasn't even his identity on the line. "What did you do with her mother? Where is she buried?".

"She was cremated. I took care of everything. I gave her the best there is". Carlos Sr.'s wife was looking at Lawrence's with pain in her eyes. She knew, all this time she knew that they were raising her husband's offspring and she hid it from her.

"Why did you let us become friends?". It was Carlos Jr.'s time to ask. 

"I wanted to keep in contact with her, watch her grow. You two got along so well, she ended up liking racing too. Everything led to you two in my life". Carlos Sr. let a few tears free. "Ten years ago, we considered letting you know the truth".

"Your mother and I discussed it, but then we saw that Charles was in the house, we kind of got rid of him to talk to you, but then you looked so upset. You got disqualified from the race for fighting with Charles. We understood that you were going through a lot, so we desisted". Lawrence added.

Carlos Jr.'s mother made her presence known and the three drivers took the chance to run away from the situation, knowing that the argument the two couples had was going to be too much to witness. The three ran to Y/N's room, crossing paths with Lance on their way there. Telling Lance that his sister was not his biological sister was one of the worst conversations they had. But they were all victims of so much, they found solace in sharing the tears together. They refused their parents' calls for the night, sending a text explaining that they needed time and that they would reach out when they felt like it. The four of them stayed in the room, chatting and calming themselves down. The irony of it all struck Y/N like a lighting and she couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny, mon Ange?". Charles asked and then kissed the back of her hand.

"If my parents hadn't scared you off that morning, we would have never discovered the truth". She explained, but her brothers didn't follow. "Charles walking out on me that morning is the reason why we fought that day in the race. Because of the fight in the race, we started hating each other. Because of the rivalry, I choose to fake-date Carlos instead of Charles. Because of my choice, Dad made the call and everything else followed".

"So, if you and Charles had made up that day...". Carlos started.

"We would have probably been together today, no need for PR, no need for your fathers to say anything".  Charles finished. All four laughed softly. "I was so sad that things didn't work out back then".

"Everything happens for a reason".

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Okay, this is a LONG ASS STORY, sorry guys for not posting in months, I've been so caught up with work I literally thought I could get fired, but I had some time to edit this one. I hope you liked it. Remember to like, comment, reblog and all those beautiful things you do.

[mysteryanimator]

What music would you believe would represent Mizrak? I was thinking his theme song would be, ✨"Unholy" by Sam Smith.✨

Because he is doing something unholy with that pretty face dragon vampire.👀👀😉

You've opened Pandora's box here. To tell you I have MULTIPLE playlists for both Mizrak and Olrox (and multiple playlists for their dynamic) is an understatement. Right now they're a mess/all over the place, but Unholy by Sam Smith is definitely on a couple of them. It's super hard for me to pick like ONE SONG, so I'm giving you multiple HAHAHAHA.

Here are a few songs I personally think fit Mizrak, categorised by general Mizrak and spicy-core Mizrak. Also, you're getting explanations for each song because I think too hard about my music choices. BTW, all thoughts are my own, I'm just being really silly since season 2 news is coming soon and I'm excited.

pspspspsps when nocturne s2 comes out make sure to watch it and give the crew the recognition they deserve coz they worked their asses off.

General:

Hell's Comin with Me - Poor Man's Posion This describes about bringing justice to those who have wronged him (and in this case others). Also, there's a line about "paying twice as much for the devil to keep your soul", which I feel like is a reference to indulgences but flipped on its head. Indulgences were an actual thing people paid for so they could secure a place in Heaven. So flipping it on its head to double it so they can be ensured they stay in hell is a very cool way of looking at it. Also, Providence, Feed the Machine and Give and Take get honorary mentions because they also fit well but this will get hella long if I also give them explanations LOL.

Foreigner's God - Hozier A song about uncertainty and isolation from the catholic church. To feel alienated by its ideas and values since Mizrak has been doubting about what Abbott is doing before the events of Nocturne take place.

Icarus & Apollo - Ripto Now this also can be a Mizrak/Olrox dynamic song, but also this can be seen as Mizrak's own self-discovery which is his conflict of the Abbott's path on 'protecting' the church and its people, versus how Mizrak personally thinks/wants to protect people. Collaborating with vampires and using night creatures, DEAD PEOPLE is not a path I think he wants but he's stuck unsure of where God is calling him to, and it's a path he has to figure out himself.

Wine and Wheat - Madds Buckley NOW, this is another Mizrak/Olrox dynamic song, but this leans more into Mizrak's POV along with the fact he's again, conflicted about his place amongst his fellow monks/Abbott since he has to conspire with vampires to keep their place against the revolution. COUPLED WITH THE FACT, he's sleeping with a vampire, it's a very confusing time for him, and all he can say in the face of it "Pray with me, pray with me for this madness to end" while he does the best he can to keep the people he cares about alive.

Father Finlee - Spencer Hood, Justin Ray Stringer I will admit a lot of this is for vibes, BUT, also this song is about a man who defies an almost impossible situation and escapes out alive, with Mizrak's perseverance, the burning passion to live, and the potential to die while trying to save others, is a very him thing.

Spicy-core:

side note from me, I feel like we moved far too quickly from this one shot LIKE WHAT THE FUCK /pos

His Hands - Blegh This is actually one of my favourites I'll be so honest HAHAHHA. (Also just the whole album of It Was a Religion by Blegh mostly fits if you think about it). This one steers more into Olrox/Mizrak dynamics because the song starts off very similar to how Mizrak and Olrox get to know each other. They 'do it again somewhere more comfortable' HAHASDJDS. But after that is all exalted from their bodies, there is something between them that they can't place and the tension is THICK. Also the gradual build of the lyrics "And you know you love him, And you might be in love with him, And you know you love him, And you're falling in love with him" IS CRAZY.

A Night to Remember - Beabadoobee, Laufey This one is super self-indulgent, this reminds me of them a lot HAHHA

Take Me Back to Eden - Sleep Token DOOMED YAOI. Not only do we have religious metaphors to describe a relationship here, is a doomed relationship.

The Summoning - Sleep Token "Did I mistake you for a sign from God?" HELLO? Like I know this is a song very much associated with Astarion, but ik this song works for Mizrak POV and Mizrak/Olrox dynamics. In my mind, I think Mizrak IS looking for a sign from God, anything that comes by his way to confirm his doubts, and Olrox just so happens to be a soft nudge that he should be doubting the system he grew up in.

Salvation - Christabelle Marbun I don't need to elaborate further if you look at the lyrics, let alone the title itself HAHHA. Also, this song is super self-indulgent, like there's no way I can't include this in a spice-core Mizrak thing.

Whisper - Burn the Ballroom Simply the lyrics "Come in, sit down, sweet angel, leave me all your tears." Biting the walls over it.

Whoops that was long but uh I have a lot more and its super hard to condense down to a few LOLOLOL, ty for the ask!

[perseruna]

Pre Season Four press thread with Freya talking about Ciri and Liam.

Freya's been on a press tour for the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes for the past few months, and she'd sometimes share a morsel of information about S4 of The Witcher, so I thought I'd put all the quotes on it together to tide us over during the hiatus and bring in some more positivity!

Allan reveals that Ciri goes to "quite a dark place within herself… She's trying to pretend to be someone else and is becoming that," she explains. "It's a darker place for her but there's many moments of joy and freedom in many ways that she hasn't had. So it's this double-edged sword." To not succumb the story to the fantastical elements and magical powers Ciri has, Allan strives to still make Ciri relatable and as humane as possible. “I’m always fighting to prioritize and keep the story and character building to try to make it as real as possible. Because otherwise, it would just be soul-sucking.” Allan heavily relies on the books in which The Witcher is based for the upcoming season, more than in years past. "It's been exciting because I've been able to have creative input about things I like in the book, and I'll ask to put those elements from the book in the show," she smiles. She sees her journey with Ciri as one that both mirrors and seeps into her own life in its own strange way. "What I go through as Freya in some ways is what she's going through," she says. "We have kind of become those characters and the line has crossed over a bit. She was never particularly dissimilar to me. She's formed quite a lot of me." (via Flaunt Magazine)

"I don't want to speak for [Liam], but from what I've understood, I feel like he's really wanting to try and bring the heart. He's been training. I feel sorry for him, honestly, because, number one, that fan base can be very attack-y, and it's not an ideal situation to be in taking up someone else's role. But I'm really excited to see what he does. And he's such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?" (via Collider)

"[Liam]'s so sweet and just such a normal guy and so willing to connect," Allan says. "And I feel bad for him because he's had so much weight and pressure on his shoulders, joining a new cast as one of the leads and replacing someone else who's already done three seasons. It's a lot. It's been important for the rest of us to really make him feel that he's a part of the family." (via Inverse)

"[Ciri]'s experiencing a very complicated romantic relationship for the first time and really falls into a very dark and brutal side of herself but also a very free one in some ways," Allan says, calling it liberating "to be able to do something different than before and surprising, hopefully." (via Variety)

“[Liam]’s lovely. Really, really sweet, a really, you know, grounded person. And I was dreading it for a while if I’m being honest, but now I’m on it, and we have, thank god, a great director starting us off which has made it so much fun. My storyline is… there’s so much great stuff to play. I’m actually quite happy, yeah.” (via Comicbook)

“I haven’t… I haven't necessarily really wanted to do [Season Four]. But now I really want to. Now I’m loving it. And let me tell you why. Because our director (Sergio Mimica-Gezzan) for block one is brilliant. You don’t always get directors that actually direct you, and give you ideas that you haven't thought of that are intelligent. And he is that. And it’s so lovely to have that. But I struggled at the idea of going back before shooting. Just because it’s been such a long journey, and it’s been very tough at times, for everyone. But now that I’m on it, and I’m with this amazing group of new actors who are just such fun people. And like I said we’ve got this great director, and so I feel suddenly very lucky to be doing it, and I’m glad that I am, having been kind of dreading it for the past year. Was it because it was just so intense to shoot? Yeah. I mean there’s lots of various factors, I think everyone found it difficult last season. And you know, sometimes there can be creative struggles, and that’s why it’s so lovely to have Sergio, our current director, to have someone lead us through it and have someone who's on the same page. And also, just like, you know, you hear this often with people that have been in something that long, and you played a character that long so it really does feel like… I feel like I’m about 100 on that show. I feel like the old women of the set, even tough I’m still the youngest. Still the bloody youngest, but I feel like I’m bloody ancient. Ciri, this season, is so dark. It’s so dark. I mean, this is really exciting, and this is why, now, I’m really getting into it, and happy that I’m doing it because she has such a great storyline, it really goes to a dark place.” (via Reign)

Allan teases that Ciri's storyline in The Witcher's next chapter will take "the biggest shift we've seen. It's so unbelievably different from anything that I've ever played with her," she says. "She has her first experience with romance, if you can even call it that, because it's not a good relationship. She goes into a very dark part of herself that I think is going to be terrifying to look at."  Some fans weren’t thrilled when the transition was first announced, but Allan dismisses the vitriol. Fans “just love to hate on something,” she says. “We’ve made it clear that we’re welcoming [Liam] with open arms.” (via Elle)

There's no relationship this season. Ciri's off on her own path and [Geralt]'s off on his own, and so it's, "Forget about Geralt". That's what Ciri's in the zone of. "Let's try and block that out. That never happened. Now I'm Falka; I'm not Ciri." But as you can see, I sort of haven't left it behind. I'm sort of still in it now. But Liam's lovely; he's a really nice guy. I haven't seen anything he's done because we don't really have scenes together, but he's so sweet. I've heard that he's smashing it, so I can't wait to see what he's doing. (via Screen Rant)

The other day I was fighting a monster [in the Witcher Season Four]. Spoiler. Yeah, no way! Who would've thought! [laughter] And they actually got those VR goggles, so I could see on the set where the monster would be, and how it looked like. It was kinda crazy. They’ve not done that before, but it was great. It meant that I really understood what it is that I’m actually fighting. (via HighVoltageLive)

"You actually also haven't seen that [Ciri] gets new hair and makeup, as well, which I think when you see that, it's a lot of paralleling the game. So, I think that will tie it all together, as well. But I think it was basically about getting a mixture between the books and the game. I was very heavily involved with the costume, and I really wanted it to be a bit of a mixture of both, just so that fans had that. The minute I'm in that costume and the new hair and makeup, it feels like a different Ciri. It's so much fun. We've just never seen her like this, and so I'm really excited for people to see what happens. It's fun." (via Collider)

[On when Season Four will come out.] Listen maybe 2025, maybe… I don't know. That’s me guessing, I’m just guessing. Because I actually don’t know. But I hope so! Because I want people to see it, because it’s actually really cool. So, please watch it. Please, okay. Because Liam’s gonna rock it, so. (via The Direct Extras)

[rustingcat]

Season

Nature can't be controlled. Kara did try on several occasions, but time and the passing of the seasons can't be stopped. She tried that as well.

The babies' growth was nearly complete, and Kara felt like no time had passed while also feeling like it's been ages. Everything was ready for them, and now with a new room available for them in the house, they even made sure that the new home office doubled as a play room if needed. Of course there was the reason for the addition, the reason being Kara officially moving into Lena's room, their room. 

Their new relationship status sure changed some things, she could wake up next to Lena each morning, kiss her whenever she liked, not feel guilty appreciating her – an act she did not even realise she was doing until she stopped – and just got to be open with her, fully open with her, in ways she couldn't before. But then on many fronts nothing had changed at all, their talks, dates, movie nights, their day to day life felt oddly the same, as if they were part way there and just needed the last little shove, which was probably true if Kara was honest with herself.

There were no major life threatening enemies, no major scandal, no political turmoil – all good things of course, but as the editor-in-chief of a major news company, Kara was bored. She was leaning against the office balcony hoping for something interesting to happen when her special alert went off.

The pods!

Kara was so excited about it that she managed to drop her phone twice while trying to unlock it. Opening the special app they made for the matrix, she saw the notification letting her know that pod number two was ready to be opened.

"Nia! You're gonna be a mum!" Kara may have run slightly faster than humanly possible to get to Nia's desk.

"Um, I know?" She replied in a confused tone.

"No, like right now!" Kara emphasised.

"Oh! Shit let's go!" Nia jumped to her feet, collecting things into her bag in a quick succession.

"Want a lift?"

"Yes, get me there as fast as you can! Oh wait, I need the baby bag."

"Brainy left it in the lab 5 days ago."

"God, I love this man. Okay, take me to my baby Kara!"

"Ahhh! Let's go!" She was practically jumping with pure glee.

Kara really tried to make Nia's flight as comfortable as possible, but she may have gone a bit faster than intended out of sheer excitement. Nia didn't seem to mind. 

The pod was indeed flashing green, both Lena and Brainy were already typing away on the console.

"How…?" 

"Teleporter," Lena answered before Kara could even ask.

"Anything we can do?" Nia asked in a plea.

"Kara, get the baby cart and beds, Nia, blankets." Lena quickly took control of the situation. "Brainy, how are we doing on starts?"

"First Apgar seems to be clean. Blood work is perfect and shots administered and I see no negative reactions. She's perfect."

"Alright, get ready for the drain."

Kara nodded, taking a quick x-ray look at the pipes to see they are properly connected before taking her place. They prepared for that in advance, practicing the events several times just in case. They even made sure the room temperature would be slightly higher than normal so it wouldn't contrast too much from the temperature in the pod. The water got drained slowly, revealing a tiny little light green skinned baby with a shaggy brown patch of hair. Kara collected the infant with the soft towel to drain away the remaining liquid and moved her to the blanket Lena had prepared in advance.

Kara passed the baby to her new mother who was already crying before she even held her. Brainy was not faring better, drying away his own tears on his sleeve as he stood behind his wife and admired his new daughter.

Kara shared a look with Lena. They smiled at each other, both relieved everything went alright, and just very thrilled for their friends. Friends who probably deserved a moment alone.

"I'm gonna make some calls to start your maternity leave," Kara announced as she headed to the door.

"I'll call the national city hospital to register her." Lena lifted her own phone from across the lab door." Just before I go, does she have a name yet?" Lena asked still in a professional tone just as she approached the door.

Nia and Brainy shared a joyful look.

"Nellie. Nellie Nal." Brainy announced. 

Lena exited the room with her just as Kara finished sending the mail to HR. She already had hers prepare in advance as well, along with a temporary replacement she was training.

"I can't believe she's here." Lena dropped her professional in control act the moment she met Kara's gaze.

"I know," Kara nodded, her eyes becoming blurry as she pulled Lena for a hug.

She held her girlfriend tightly, focusing herself on Lena's smell and touch to ground herself. They noticed Nellie's faster development early on, they hypothesised it was due to her Coluan genes, so they knew she would probably be born before the twins, but Kara couldn't help but be a little bit jealous she was here before them.

"Alright," Lena wiped away a small tear as they pulled away from the hug. "I should probably notify the hospital," she gestured to the phone and data pad in her hand.

Kara nodded, and put a small curl behind Lena’s ear.

Lena smiled and kissed her softly before walking away to make the call.

Kara filled out a couple of glasses with water and walked back in the lab, hoping the young couple had enough alone time with their daughter. Nellie was laying on top of her mother as her father prepared a bottle for her. Kara melted a bit at the sight.

Nia noticed her first, smiling as she whispered to her daughter. "Hey Nellie, do you want to meet your aunt Kara?"

And there were the tears again. Nellie was perfect indeed. Eyes closed, the little infant waved her little hand with her even tinier fingers and Kara's heart skipped a bit.

She looked at Nia dead in the eye and announced, "she is the cutest little thing ever."

Nia chuckled and agreed.

When Lena returned they did another set of small tests and sent the happy family home.

Lena pulled her closer that night and promised that they'll meet them soon. Kara couldn't wait.

Read everything in order on AO3

[captainimfangirling]

The Boys Season 4 Episode 6

I love that they're acting like a team again but very sad Frencie and Butcher wasn't a part of it.

Hughie & Starlight

Poor Hughie. That was so f*cked up but at least they didn't just make a joke about it at the end. The person he wanted was his daddy after being sexually harassed! Poor thing. I love how protective Starlight is of Hughie and comforted him when he told her what happened. I was hoping for another beat down of Firecracker but I can see they're trying to make Annie a better person.

Ashley, Tek Knight, and Laddio

I knew she was a freak but didn't know she was a f*cking nasty freak! I'm kind of sad Tek Knight died because I thought he was very funny in Gen V but in The Boys he scared the crap out of me especially at the end when he tried to cut a hole in Hughie so he can f*ck it. How the f*ck did they make a sub in a red leather bodysuit so wholesome?! Like he tried to save Hughie when Tek was about to cut him and helped them figure out a way torture Tek. That little wave when they left?! LMAO

Mother's Milk

M.M. is struggling with the job even though I think he's doing good. Don't hate me but I see a parallel of him and Homelander. Both have a high position as leader but deep down they don't really know how to handle it. I also think the reason he's stressed out all the time because he doesn't think he's gonna live long enough to be there for his daughter.

Frenchie & Kimiko

Like I said last episode he did the right thing but I hate that he wasn't with them when they actually felt like a team again. I think he wants to confess what he's done to The Boys but he's too scared of their reaction especially Kimiko. I love Kimiko she's so smart and doesn't give up on the people she loves.

Black Noir & The Deep

New Black Noir can fly?! Anyway I think The Deep is making the story up about the real Black Noir getting turned on by violence or maybe he thought they were bros and assumed things about the real Black Noir. Either way he's giving the new Black Noir false information so I'm pretty sure he's going to turn into The Deep's version of Black Noir and probably start thinking he's the "real" Black Noir.

Sage and Victoria

I feel like Sage and Victoria had horrible experiences with humans therefore they both hate them deep down. At first I thought they were going to turn on Homelander but now I don't think they will. Sage was hilarious in this episode! She was like a toddler when Homelander saw her with cake all over her face! lol

Homelander & Firecracker

To be honest I'm wasn't too amused by that breast feedings scene. I mean it would've been funny a few seasons ago but after Homelander basically transformed himself into a "god" I thought he was gonna become even more scary and evil. That scene just made Homelander look like he still wants a mommy and human love. I thought he was passed this?! Also how the hell did Firecracker know about his milk fetish? Did she sneak into his room and saw all the baby bottles? I thought Homelander would be pissed that she knew but he was so excited about the breast milk that he didn't care. I really hope Firecracker only did that as a way to control Homelander and not because she's actually grateful for him. That would be more interesting because it might be her way of getting Sage's position.

Billy Butcher

Yeah I was right about Kessler being in Butcher's head (we all were). I though it was a good reveal when he "spoke" to Becca. Becca is for sure the angel on Butcher's shoulder and Kessler is the demon. I still think Kessler is basically the comic book version of Butcher. Anyway Kessler and Butcher are giving me Joe and Rhys vibe from the Netflix series YOU.

A-Train

I actually starting to like him. This is how you redeem a character! It was so cute when the little girl smiled at him and he smiled back because he got a taste if how it feels like to be a real super hero. I hope he doesn't die like other fans think because I HATE it when they want to redeem a character they have them die to save others. Like not every redemption arc has to be that way!

Internment Camp

Is that where the characters from Gen V went to? Because I remember Emma drinking a slurpee and Homelander giving Marie sh*t for basically attacking her own kind. So maybe Homelander doesn't want to kill other supes anymore but will put them in internment camps. Other fans think it's meant for the humans but why would they put humans in internment camps when Homelander can simply kill them? He wouldn't be killing his own kind if he kills humans.

[iraprince]

I adore all your art with cookie and was interested in Sapphicworld- but I’m curious (so plz don’t take this as a negative-) what exactly in your opinion sets it apart from other Queer PBTA hacks like Thirsty Sword Lesbians?

I’d just really like to hear your thoughts about it as a system and world especially given you are a indie developer yourself?

hi!! thank you!!

so, a few caveats before i start off — one, i actually haven't played many other pbta games (like for example i know Of thirsty sword lesbians + own a copy that i've poked around in but im not very familiar w it), so i honestly can't provide much in the way of comparing/contrasting it w other pbta stuff in the same vein, and my impressions of sapphicworld are pretty much just contained to the game as its own thing, not so much sapphicworld as a Type Of Game

and two, while i am a dev myself, i'm a huge novice! like, i'm proud of the stuff i put out and i love doing it, but i personally feel like my lack of experience is such that like, i don't think my opinions in this case are particularly informed by my own work as a dev or anything. all this to say im happy to answer this question, i think i just gotta tackle it from a different frame than what ur specifically asking!

BUT ANYWAY. i can still talk abt why im so excited abt sapphicworld in a way that has kind of outstripped other stuff in general, and for me it's about the world 100%. like i honestly spend close to no time thinking abt the fact that sw is even pbta to be honest. not that the mechanics + gameplay aren't important, bc they are thoughtfully crafted and well done and fun, and i'm saying that from the perspective of someone who playtested earlier versions that have now been reworked! it's just like, not what comes to mind first for me — what's exciting and fresh and irreplaceable abt the game in my mind is like. it is fully committed to immersing you in an extremely lush, strange, richly fleshed out world, one with a long history and folklore/mythology and a TON of really fun npcs who all have different subcultures and its own calendar with seasonal holidays and regional terrain with specific fleshed out dungeons/towns/etc to discover and even like, specific FOODS typical to each different region and and and and —

and maybe at first that seems kind of overwhelming, and tbh it is. when i first got into it and i was going thru the playtest document (which if im remembering right was like. ~300 pages shorter at the time than the current playtest doc) i DO remember anxiously thinking to myself "god this is a LOT and idk if i'll be able to retain enough of this to rp convincingly" etc etc. but like... it's just really compelling, and it does an incredible job of mixing humor and gravity and horniness in a perfect ratio that always comes across as intensely earnest and makes it equally easy to have a fun goofy time or a really emotional time, which i think is REALLY hard to do.

and while normally it's hard for me to get thru something that dense and long all i can really say is that i just straight up like it enough and was charmed by it enough to pick away at it until i grasped it and felt like i understood a bunch about the world, which also has a curve to it bc in structure and tone its very different from any of your... idk more Standard fantasy or sci fi worldbuilding, so it's not like u can immediately slot in ur expectations from other settings and just learn some new vocab words, it's a world that from my perspective also Functions differently than a lot of other fictional settings in a way that's a little hard to describe succinctly. (none of this is succinct to begin with but ykwim). it makes me want to gm my own campaign, really really bad, when usually i have always been absolutely Terrified of the idea of gming! idk man. it has a Flavor. it's full of Vapors. u get transported somewhere else reading it and playing it in a way i haven't experienced in a while and a lot of times after a playtest session i felt like my brain stayed behind in sapphicworld for a pretty long time.

i feel like i am sounding a little melodramatic and incoherent but like. genuinely sapphicworld is just a fictional world that i am really bone-deep charmed by and interested in and when i WAS reading thru the rulebook for those first days it did not take me long at all to find myself constantly thinking "i want to play in this world, i want to play in this world, i can't wait to play in this world," and i just think that's really special. and like — just as your curiosity abt comparing sw to tsl was not intended as a diss or a negative, what im abt to say is similarly neutral — im a person who sometimes finds it a little difficult to click with or feel excited abt a lot of the Queer Indie Stuff that i see get popular with other people, bc it just doesn't connect w my specific lesbian + trans experience; not that it feels inauthentic but that im like, oh, idk, i think these guys are just. not My Zone, ykwim. on the flip side so much of the humor and heart and transness and sex in sapphicworld is something that really resonates w me and just Clicks in a way that i have also found really special.

rounding myself off before i ramble for like five more paragraphs but just as one more morsel of something i like abt sapphicworld that is a little more concrete than me spinning around the room yelling "I JUST LIKE IT OKAY": one of the most fun parts of character creation is getting to mix and match your kind (sort of like ancestry/species, the form ur physical body takes) with a subculture. so u get things like a werewolf babe (cookie! babe being a subculture that focuses on being Like, Totally Hot), or a centaur knight, or a minotaur debaucher, or a vampire cowboy, or an organist (cthulu-y tentacle guy) scenester, or a skeleton wizard, etc etc etc etc — there are SO MANY to pick from that when i was trying to bait my friends into playing w me i couldn't find a convenient way to list them all so ppl could start thinking abt their characters. and every possible combination basically is interesting and amusing and fun and practically THROWS a great oc into your lap and i literally think i could amuse myself endlessly just Making Characters in sapphicworld and never actually playing w them.

[panting, disheveled] so tldr. i like it. uh. what sets sapphicworld apart from other ttrpgs to me is that i have fallen balls to the wall in love with the very soul of it to the point where i don't even really think about it in comparison to other games at all and it has just become an Experience to me and i suppose i cannot guarantee anyone else will fall into insane homosexual hysteria in the same way but here we are. HOPE THAT HELPS

(ALSO PSSST. idk if this is just perfect timing or if ur curiosity was specifically prompted by this but the @sapphicworldttrpg patreon DID just launch and if any of this has been intriguing u should check it out. okay mwah bye)

[kyouka-supremacy]

Any predictions on what is going to happen in and after this arc?

I don't think I'm very good at predictions (╥﹏╥) I really can't guess what's Dostoyevsky's deal, but if else, that makes following the current manga events all the more exciting! Again, by the looks of it we're going to find out the backstory of a character that was first introduced in 2013, so reading the last chapter was a real “whoa” moment for me. As for the guesses I can take, it really doesn't go much further than:

Whatever is going on in the last chapter between Dostoyevsky and Bram is probably going to lead to Bram's demise as it was shown in chapter 102.

I think there's likely some connection between the scars (?) on Bram's face and the way medieval Dostoyevsky displayed an analogous one in the last chapter, because they're too similar to be put there randomly.

Something I haven't seen being brought up is the possibility of Dostoyevsky being able to time travel rather than be eternal, which even though doesn't feel like the most convincing explanation, I feel like it's too soon to fully exclude either?

Jokes aside, I don't think Akutagawa has any real chance to play a role in this, because it's evidently something that's happened in the past. And though the author looves time traveling shenanigans, that feels a bit of a stretch. Although the last attire we saw Akutagawa in did resemble a medieval aesthetic, so who knows if he doesn't have some other kind of connection to the events…

But I DO feel like the change in appearance must be telling of some new alliance. Likely something from Europe. We know the author is probably going to move the focus to European authors next, they already seemed to suggest so in an interview, and if God allows it it's finally going to be time for Agatha and the Order of the Clock Tower.

I. Idk. Have been growing an underlying suspicion that the 2-hours-later sskk scene is going to be a spinoff movie to come some time in the future. It's going to feature time traveling shenanigans (see the very limited timeframe skip) and Fukuchi coming back in a new weird form and sskk getting their rematch with him I have been saying they narratively deserve. Overall it's something that won't be covered by the manga à la Dead Apple, standalone and that can be skipped past. It does make sense marketing wise because it'll be years before the manga will have released enough content for another anime season, and given that the bsd franchise is comparatively very popular right now, I highly doubt they'll let the hype slowly die– that's also why I'm waiting for the announcement of a new Wan anime season any day now. I've said before it doesn't look like we're getting the cool sskk scene in the manga soon, and that it most likely solved the purpose of a teaser for the next arc for various reasons; the last chapter seemingly skipping past it seems now to confirm that. The very high quality of the animation of that scene in the anime might be a further hint in the movie direction, to be honest. (I'm only now realizing that if that's true, it means that we are not getting that scene in Harukawa's art style, and am suddenly hating everything and not want it to become true). That said, a Stormbringer movie seems likely too, so who knows.

Back to chapter 113. The jokes about Dazai not being included in the ada family picture are hilarious, and I do personally believe Dazai is more distant to the rest of the ada than other members; that said, I doubt it has anything to do with the panel itself, and as of now I don't think it's that deep ahah. In general, I find it very hard to believe that Dazai is the one that's going to be transferred to the pm: that feels to me a quite lazy direction to take storytelling wise. We already saw what it's like to have Dazai in the pm, no need to relapse to that. That's why, regretfully, I doubt Atsushi is going to be taken in either, because we already know what pm Atsushi is like (VERY very regretfully for me. Because I'd love more Atsushi screentime and because my brain quite automatically makes a jump from “Atsushi joins the pm” to “sskk canonly live together”. Also all the “sskk are Double Black 2.0” that has been tormenting sskk shippers since the start of time, might as well make them the New Double Black for real this time.). Tanizaki sounds like a good bet to be honest: because, on top of being the only ada member with a completely unexplored backstory, we already saw him interact with the pm a lot over the course of the whole manga, which can be taken as a slow build-up for the moment he ends up joining their ranks; from the pm perspective, since he showed to be a challenge for them in more than one occasion (he even intruded the boss' chambers once), it would make sense to try and get him on their side. And Tanizaki having already volunteered to join them in chapter 65. Honestly, everything seems to point in that direction right now.

I hope the following chapters also explain why taking the sword off Bram didn't kill him as previously established because as of now the seemingly plot hole is bothering me a lot.

That's all that comes to my mind right now, excited to see what the manga will be up to next!

[bookinit02]

HI HELLO GOOD EVENING

I'm dead tired bc I got barely any sleep last night + braindead because I've spent the past several hours binging through your Stranger Things Byler retelling and I'm a bit out of words, HOWEVER. It finally clicked in my head that you have a tumblr and I, also having a tumblr, can use said tumblr to throw my appreciation upon you in a more direct manner.

On that note... the retelling is AMAZING and I love it so very very much!!! (I've also been leaving a whole stream of comments on the fic itself, so a lot of my feelings have already been described in detail there XD). It makes me feel so very many emotions, both good AND bad, and for a fic to trigger THAT MUCH of an emotional reaction in me is really an achievement. It's so beautifully sad and tender and joyous and realistic, and all the more painful for it—and all the more beautiful IN that pain. I haven't actually been a big active part of the Stranger Things Fandom (TM) for several years, but I still often return to Byler fics, sort of like a comfort blanket in story form—and yours are some of the BEST (I think it was also you that wrote one of my favorite ever painting scene fix-its; I'll have to go back and re-read that as well!!)

I started reading season 4 last night (which is in part to blame for my lack of sleep) and finished up the rest of it today. I'm so extremely excited for season 5 and to see what you've done with it—I already started reading the script for episode one and it looks amazing (god, I bet that Mike having a panic attack/Vecna episode hurts WAY more in prose)!!! I can't decide between reading all the script first, then reading the fic; or reading the script episodes and then reading the according fic chapters; or just barreling on ahead in the fic and coming back to the script if it strikes my fancy later (which is, if I'm being honest, the most likely outcome). All will have to wait til tomorrow, however, as I have dinner and a warm bed to get to. All the love to you and your fic!!

(Love how I said "I'm so braindead I've run out of words" and then proceeded to give evidence to the EXACT OPPOSITE claim. I'm really a bit like Mike lmao, even if I'm struggling to actually describe my specific emotions or feelings about something, I can run my mouth about any old thing for ages XD)

hi hello good morning!!! i have been watching ur comments come in with so much joy and happiness—hopefully i get time to respond to all of them within the next few days! i hope that you have gotten so much rest and that you are all refreshed for the next day🫂💗

thank you so much for all your kind words, in this ask and otherwise! the rewrite is really a labor of love that has been sustaining me for over a year now, and it is always so impressive and awe-worthy to me when new people discover it and start from the very beginning. that is SO much to read!! several novels worth!

as for the script, read it in whatever order you would like! my recommended order was originally to read the script first, then the fic chapters—but i know that some people want to experience the plot twists and developments as they happen, so really any way you decide to read it is completely fine! the byler scenes are all the same (with a bit extra in the fic), it’s really just the other characters and plot lines that are expanded.

thank you for “running your mouth,” as you’ve called it—but i prefer to think that we’re just chatting🥳 i really love interacting with people through both comments and asks, so feel free to do both (and to talk as long as you’d like)! i am super grateful and honored that you’ve chosen to read my story, and i hope that you enjoy what i have so far of season 5!!💗🫂

[egg-emperor]

[Hefty sigh]

How does one get into sonic prime, I mean I adore where they're going for the story but I'm still struggling to get through s1 because the voice are just not clicking with me. Don't get me wrong here props to the Canadian VA's and the crew as a whole but the fact that I don't really vibe well with the chaos council as a concept [since they aren't really as menacing as the actual egg but I get what they're going for..... kinda.... ] This is like the one sonic media I can't personally click into, and I honest to God adored Underground/Boom so it's probably just a me-squick....

I have literally been a sonic fan since birth reading the comics so it's just tonal whiplash trying to get used to it- I'm lost in my own confusion that they already produced 3 seasons @_@;;; I just feel like I'm alone in feeling this or something idk I'm just merely screaming into the sonic-fandom wondering if anyone else felt this way hsbshbsshv ////

I'm just as clueless as you on that unfortunately lol. Respectfully I'm not a fan personally, I think the ideas had potential to be interesting if done right but I just don't find the execution appealing. I hate to say it and don't wanna be overly negative but I was honestly bored watching the first eight episodes, they were hard to get through and it was a bit of a letdown for me.

It feels underwhelming and repetitive because practically the same cycle of events happens each episode and it's not very interesting at that. I haven't watched any episodes past those, I watched nothing but the Eggman prismatic titan thing in the last batch and don't plan on watching the rest. I just decided it wasn't for me, not what I'm looking for in a Sonic show.

I'm sad I didn't end up liking it after being interested in where they could take it, especially with how much potential I feel New Yoke City had because it was conceptually right up my alley but execution is just not to my tastes and I've accepted it. I shouldn't be surprised as I'm not into most of the non game media ^^; I was just hoping for a modern show like X again

If they had more regular Eggman they could've changed my opinion a lot not gonna lie because the small 5 mins of him was great. Characterization was good, he was funny, his model and animation were gorgeous, voice was okayyy just needed some improvements, and I was interested in what he would've done with the prism had Sonic not shattered it and erased him from existence. When he practically died my interest went along with it sorry dhfjsbfksbfks

The Chaos Council just don't interest me personally because each are missing all the parts of Eggman combined that make him his lovable whole to me. And when you just want the real deal to still have his place like he seemed he was going to initially in the concept art, only for him to not be there at all, it's hard to get into it when you're thinking about what could've been. Also yeah they're just not menacing and don't bring the same exciting world shattering chaos and action the real deal does

And oh no they're really still only on the first season, eight episodes isn't a season. Netflix is just being weird about how they have it realized in batches and how it separates them but no way is eight episodes a whole season. They only had the first season made and released with huge gaps but maybe they'll order for a second one to be made.

But yeah you're not alone. It's very popular and I'm glad people can enjoy it but yeah it didn't click with me either and I can relate on feeling like the odd one out. But that makes two of us! and I do know others who just don't like it either and I don't think we should feel a pressure to try to get into it, if we don't like it and it's just not for us then it's fine

[allthefujoshiunite]

Have you watched Buddy Daddies? If you have do you like it?

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think?

P.s Love your latest meta, it really made my day and when I read them, I also found answers to my internal questions my self...Thanks for sharing them...( I'm not the anon who asked that)...

💐🌷🥰🤩

Hello! Today's great coincidence that made me chuckle into my morning tea was getting asked about my opinion on queerbaiting by two different people, 1-hour apart 🤣 Thanks a lot, both of you! I'll put my two cents down about queerbaiting discourse in anime and I know it's silly to mention but just to be sure, these are all opinions, and my opinions only. 

Before I start rambling about gays, no I haven't seen Buddy Daddies yet. I've been very excited about it ever since I've seen the PV but as you may know, I decided to review every first episode of the Winter 2023 season so I'm pretty much swamped... I'm saving Buddy Daddies to savor it! If you wait a bit, you'll be reading my first impressions of it soon. 

So. Okay. Queerbait. First of all, definitions because for the love of BL gods, people have been throwing words around without knowing what they mean. 

According to this interesting book that's been sitting on my TBR pile, Queerbating and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities, the definition of queerbaiting is as follows: 

Queerbaiting describes an industry tactic where “those officially associated with a media text court viewers interested in LGBT narratives... without the text ever definitely confirming the nonheterosexuality of the relevant characters.” For this reason, the term is seen as exploitative, and when fans use it to describe a series, its marketing, or the actions of producers, they are engaging in a “form of queer activism.”

There are other terms coined by the scholars such as "covert courting" (i.e. targeting gay consumers using subtle elements not intended to be picked up by heterosexual audiences) etc. but in my opinion, these terms are built upon the presupposition that there is a queer audience to bait into consuming your media. And I'm not sure whether there's a group of audience that is acknowledged as queer in the minds of producers and/or creators in Japan. 

What they want to tap into according to yours truly, however, is FujoMoney. No, it's not a new currency, although now I kind of wish it was. There's an interesting video on it that delves deeper into the topic but in short, they are after the buying and creating potential of shippers. Creating fan content is, in itself, a grey area legally but it's overlooked because the franchise profits from it immensely. A similar practice, if you're or have been into K-pop at some point, is the fansites. Normally, they shouldn't be allowed to make merchandise off of the artists and gain profit from it. However, they attend concerts out of their own pockets, take these photographs using their own cameras, and contribute greatly to the group or the individual artist's popularity. Tl;dr: it's free real estate for the companies. 

So I guess the term we're looking for is fujobait, rather than queerbait. What the higher-ups want to attract are shippers who are buyers and/or fancreators. Look at any sports anime and you'll see. There have been multiple times when I got into a series because I've seen a shippy fanart or a video edit of a character. And to be honest, if I was more fortunate economically, they'd be making that kind of monetary profit through merch off of me as well. xD

While queerbait and fujobait might seem like they mean the same thing, they eventually are not because the former capitalizes on real-life stigmatized identity while the latter relies on a consumer's practice of queering the content at hand. I'm personally not as interested in putting the label of "right" or "wrong" on these terms, so I'll leave it at this for now. 

Moving on to the series you mentioned, they can't all be put into the same box, but can be divided into two groups where Free and Sk8 rely more on fanservice and the intricacies of the relationships are left to the shippers' imaginations while Jeweler Richard and Yuuri!!! on ICE are entirely different. Especially, Yuuri!!! on ICE because there's no room left for discussion or different readings that Yuuri and Victor are a couple. They literally get married, and the only reason some people still to this day question whether they are canon or not is because of eurocentrism/racism. I come across reels of real-life women taking a ring out and putting it on the ring finger of another woman with people cheering in the background and no one is asking to see their marriage registration in the comments. On the contrary, they congratulate them! The exact same scene is there in animated form, so why do we even question its validity? 

In the case of Jeweler Richard, sadly light novels aren't my thing. I have only seen the anime and have read the first volume of the manga. However, I've read an extensive blog post on the light novels comparing them to the anime adaptation. From the blog post, their relationship is evident even though to an anime-only it might come off as implied. I personally didn't think it was implied even in the anime, but if anyone else did, we have our answers in the source material. 

All of this then begs the question: does having things spelled out on screen matter? If yes, to what extent it matters? I mentioned in the previous meta post that the consumers of Asian media are already lucky when it comes to the existence and variety of such content. I'm personally someone who's in favor of having media to consume at hand instead of waiting for the Perfect Representation. I don't even want representation, because what is representation anyway for a non-monolithic community with a deep, rich history? I want portrayal, and while having things openly said is cathartic and something I want to have, I won't discredit the works I enjoy and find meaning in just for the sake of it. Especially content that come from countries with heavy censorship or a high possibility of GP backlash.

Plus, while I'm not in any Chinese BL or BL-adjacent work fandoms, I watched dramas here or there and have a lot of mutuals who are actively in the fandoms of certain series, so through osmosis, I learn a couple of things as well. I've seen people talking about the cultural significance of certain choices in these works that someone who's not well-versed in the codes of the Chinese culture won't be able to pick up, i.e. characters wearing red can be an insinuation on marriage because red is a color worn in weddings. Or there's no way I would pick up that Chinese BL dramas are dubbed over just so they can pass censorship. Would it be better if China were to be supportive of LGBTQA+? 100%. Should people there push for the content they'd like to see or portrayals that they see themselves in? Without a doubt. Should it mean that they should get nothing until they get exactly what they want? A hard no. There must be still works that portray such relationships even if they are implied because I see this attempt as getting a foot in the door. 

To sum everything up: what I want is to enjoy what I read/watch and share it with others while trying to keep a critical eye on as much as I can. My background is in STEM and I'm not formally educated in humanities anyway. What I try to do is to read and discuss questions I have in mind, and writing helps me order and expand my thoughts. I find value in trying to keep an open mind instead of gatekeeping and micro-analyzing every little thing, or at least, I try not to let them take the fun out of it. To quote the great Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts:

I am not interested in hermeneutics, or erotics, or metaphorics, of my anus. I am interested in ass-fucking.

Easily one of the best books I've read in 2022. Pure brilliance.

[primal-slayer]

Drew Fuller joins Charmed/S6 interview

Drew Fuller OMG interview

New Bat time. Same Bat channel.After a brief stint on The WB's ill-fated martial-arts drama "Black Sash," 22-year-old Los Angeles native Drew Fuller has landed on another, more successful, WB show, the magical "Charmed.""Today, I'm in heaven," he says, calling in from the "Charmed" set. "I go to heaven."Fuller makes his debut in the two-hour, fifth-season finale, "Oh My Goddess," airing Sunday, May 11, at 8 p.m. ET., in which the ancient Titans are released from their prisons beneath Arctic ice and seek vengeance on their jailers, the oft-mentioned but seldom seen Elders. The Greek gods nearly defeat good witches Phoebe and Paige Halliwell (Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan), but they are saved by Chris (Fuller), a mysterious Whitelighter from the future. In the "Charmed" universe, Whitelighters are departed souls who serve the Elders and act as the immortal guardians of good witches. But in Chris' case, he is not exactly all about sweetness and light. "I take a look at my character," he says, "and the first thing that comes to mind is Puck. I'm very mischievous. When I'm asked a question, I never am able to give a straight answer. I dance around the question and answer a completely different question." "So I start a little fire here, a little fire there -- but in a sweet way, which is what makes me still likeable. You're not going to hate my character." After Chris saves Charmed Ones Phoebe and Paige, Leo (Brian Krause), the Whitelighter husband of eldest sister Piper (Holly Marie Combs), decides to give the witches the power to defeat the Titans by transforming them into Greek goddesses. But this silver lining has a definite cloud, as Leo accepts the call to become the new leader of the Elders, which means abandoning Piper and their baby son, Wyatt. Beyond the finale, Fuller has signed on for at least two episodes next year. Despite his sadness at the cancellation of "Black Sash," he says, "Shed no tears for anyone in regards to this. I have the best life." But that life is not without challenges. "The hardest thing about coming to 'Charmed' is the dialogue," Fuller says. "It's about warlocks and witches and saving the planet, and 'This is what happened in the future on my world.'" "You're talking about things that are not everyday conversation, and you've got to make it sound very believable without taking yourself too seriously. That's why the show is so successful, because the girls have such fun with it." And while he's the youngest of a very small group of male characters on a female-dominated show, Fuller has no complaints. "I'm in the best position possible. I work with three amazingly beautiful women who are all really smart. Conversations are amazing." The scenery isn't bad, either. "I'm sitting in this office right now," Fuller says, "and there's a picture of Alyssa dressed as this Egyptian mummy, goddess type of thing, staring at me. Then right next to her is Rose, dressed as a nymph. Then the third poster is Alyssa dressed as a mermaid." As the May sweeps continue in the fantasy-TV world, The WB's "Angel" has already averted one apocalypse, UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" faces yet another in its series finale on May 20, while "Charmed" tries to keep Greek gods from destroying the world."Of course," Fuller says, "it's the season finale. Everyone has to save the world. The world needs saving. Please, if I've said anything remotely true and honest today, it's that the world needs saving. "https://www.antoniogenna.net/streghe/stampa/estera/zap2it-fuller.htm

Season 6 Interview

Asked what he thought when he read the end of last season's finale, Fuller laughs. "I was excited. I'm like, 'Yes!' First thought, swear to God, 'I'm the only guy on the show. Yes!' Is that bad? When I read that, I was, 'Right on, I'm the new guy, and I'm the only guy, so there are going to be no misconceptions whatsoever about who the guy on the show is.' I'm the new Whitelighter; he's the old Whitelighter." One can't blame Leo for being upset, since Chris was trying to weasel his way into the sisters' affections. "Whoa!" Fuller says. "That's a horrible word, 'weasel.' Let's rephrase that. I'm a Cheshire cat, or Puck, very mischievous and very fun. It's not like I'm doing anything really wrong to the point where anyone will hate me. "I'm always doing something. I might start a fire here, but I'll put one out over there. I'm always redeeming myself in some form or another. I promise!" At this point, Chris' true motives -- and some fans are speculating that he's the grown-up Wyatt -- remain hidden from viewers. "I just finished episode five, just more of the same thing," Fuller says. "It's going to be a slow reveal to the audience in regards to what I'm about, who I am, what my goals are, and why I'm really here. I'm playing it like I know. I have certain ideas. I've built a story in my head. "As long as I'm keeping the audience and the girls and everyone in suspense, I don't want anyone to know what I'm doing. The only one who knows what I'm doing is me, and possibly Brad. I like being the Cheshire Cat. I love being mischievous. It's so boring to play straight-up. "I love the fact of toying with the audience. That's the best type of television, that's the best type of movies, the ones that keep you really guessing and thinking to the end." https://www.antoniogenna.net/streghe/stampa/estera/zap2it-6stag.htm

[ay-chuu]

Congratulations on 300 followers!! It's really quite a feat, and honestly, you deserve it))

It's my first time participating in a matching event, so I'm kind of nervous and intrigued, but here we go:

I'm an INFP - libra - I like to draw/write/casually watching shows and playing games - I'm really scared of snails and slugs and medical needles- I love the celestial/whimsical night sky aesthetic, fluffy things, glittery and transparent things(like figurines,etc), foods with cheese and quiet places - I hate soggy vegetables and celery, fluffy foods, cinnamon and mean people - visually, I would like someone bigger and stronger than me(which isn't hard since I'm 5'3), also those who can take care of themselves. Characterwise I like people who can take care of others from time to time, stay honest, somewhat affectionate and loyal. Also like someone who could be serious but also silly in the right time. - my pronouns are they/he)

And for the drabble could you please do first kiss?

Thank you so much for the event and once again CONGRATULATIONS ON 300 FOLLOWERS!!

I certainly look forward to your new works!

Hello love, thanks a lot for your nice words <3

I match you with... (っ＾▿＾)💨

JACK HOWL!

The biggest reason I matched you and Jack together is that Jack wants to be with someone who doesn't hide himself when he's together, and you want to be with someone who makes every move you make with freedom when you're together. Do you know the phrase ”I can fight, wear whatever you want"? This is the summary of your relationship with him. There's nothing you're ever afraid to do when you're together.

The first moments you got to know Jack, you were afraid of him because... I mean, who wouldn't be afraid of a teenager who was a 1.95 height werewolf? Yet especially 3.after the events of the season, you started getting quite close and you discovered that there was a big softie hiding himself behind a secret shell. You don't know when you both started liking each other, because it's as if the relationship between you has always existed and was just waiting for the right time &lt;3

The fact that both of you are under the Libra makes you partners in many things. Sudden pucks, different fads and an exotic personality... that's why you don't make each other strange to a fool, and on the contrary, you become more attached to each other. What I can say about INFP and ISFP is that ISFP is more realistic and less imaginative compared to INFP. So you have a complete “lalala” and “okokok” relationship! When you are too harmful to yourself, you take care of each other &lt;3

Some of the moments I've dreamed of for you two: Jack who is buying you tiny glass spheres while you were visiting gift shops together and being shy of it, acting like just a tsundere; daily weather checks to watch the stars together, and romantic kisses shared under the stars &lt;3

The first kiss

There was only 15 minutes to new year when he pushed you from behind and took you to a “surprise” place.

You chose not to question as you walk while freezing through the freezing weather towards the end of the forest with your lover Jack. Jack, he didn't always pull you into a place like that, you knew that, but my god, did he have to do it in this weather?

Still, deep down, you were very excited, because Jack has always been someone who prefers behavior to words. That's why you were sure that the surprise he would make you, the cold he made you feel and experience would change with the warmth that comes with happiness.

Because Jack has always been like this, a veteran and a gentleman. Before you fell in love with him, you always thought he was a rude and burly bully. Because God forbid, the cold you felt when you walked past Jack couldn't match what you're feeling right now.

“We have arrived.” You tried to adapt to where you came from while taking your head away from thoughts with your voice. “I'm taking the bandage off your eye, okay?”

After shaking your head, you felt your lover's hands slowly open the bandage. Blinking your eyes while looking at the air. First of all, even if you thought that the stars were spinning in your head because of the long time you closed your eyes, everything you felt and saw was real.

You have always loved the celestial weather very much, which is covered with the light of hope given by the stars that surround the pitch darkness. Because he used to tell you that no matter how rude and cruel this world is, there is always hope everywhere. Maybe a dream, maybe another universe, maybe a person…

You filled your lungs with a breath of excitement as your eyes examined the stars in the air, one by one, down to every detail. "Jack...”

“Did you like it?”

You felt the warm arms tied around your waist and your eyes filling as you rested your head on the warm chest resting on your back. “Liked it? I fell in love with it...”

While Jack gave a little smile at your reaction, he said, “I hope you haven't been as much in love with it than me”

You wink at him while looking at him sarcastically “Oh, what if I do?”

Jack frowned, pulling his hands away from you while he was embarrassed and blushing. God, he was so cute when he was angry. You turned to him with a smile and hugged him. “Thank you, my love. You're so romantic.”

At that moment, while you are just appreciating the weather and admiring the view, you get out of the magic of the moment with the notification from your phone. 2 minutes. The last 2 minutes of New Year's Eve.

“Sometimes I think I don't deserve you.” Said Jack quietly in a whisper. While looking at him incredulously, for no reason you found yourself whispering too. "Baby, what are you saying...”

Jack was a man who liked to express what he felt through his actions. You were aware that sometimes you did this with strange results, strange rude behavior, quick rejection after praise sentences, and many other examples.

He continued to look at you and your lips with a shrug. "Coldness, rudeness, behavior that a person like you does not deserve...”

But Jack was someone who always communicated what he really wanted to convey, he was always very loyal and honest about his actions in this regard. that's why you loved him.

”But,“ unable to endure even one second of his words as you talk, "These are the characteristics that make you who you are, my dear.” You said, completing your sentence. You licked your lips and looked at Jack's. “And I love you just the way you are, Jack. If the meaning of your actions makes them metaphorical, you don't have to feel sorry for them at all. You are awesome.” You finished talking while also completing your feelings.

After receiving approval with your eyes after your sentences, Jack pressed his lips to you without hesitation.

Because Jack has already relayed the most important thing that could happen to him in the world to you as the first feeling and message to be transmitted in the new year.

His love for you <3

[death-at-a-low-price]

Hey! I’m a big fan from back in the V1 days (I ran the incorrect quotes blog) (I also made the eat rice edit but that’s less impressive) and I stumbled back upon this blog today wondering happened to Herbarium and all. I’m so excited to see that you’re coming back to the concept! I hope things last this time! I really cared about this show and it’s characters and I hope that other people get to experience that. Anyway I’m rambling but it’s just nice to see you’re still here and writing. I’m eagerly awaiting more news as the revamp develops 🩵

I DONT MIND THE RAMBLING! Hi! I do indeed remember you. I'm so glad you're excited! I am as well. Things have been a bit slow- I'm a bit more of a perfectionist than the first go-around, much to my own detriment -but it is encouraging to see old fans coming back and being excited for things. It honest-to-god warms my heart.

I'm hoping things last too! That's another reason its taking so long: I'm trying to get the scripts for the first season together before gathering the voice actors, just to make it easier on everyone.

Now I'm rambling. Whoops! The long and short of it is I'm so excited to be revamping, and I'm excited other people are excited! Insert me flapping my hands around wildly here.

[your-bigender-big-brother]

I'm stuck on anything to ask really. What's been your fave music release of the year? Fave movie? Fave show?

You're one of the first channels I found when seeking out Demiboy channels to help me understand my identity so thanks for that, it definitely helped:)

I'm glad my videos helped in some way! It seems a lot of people found my channel when looking for demiboy content, so I'm glad I made the step to get my story out there and talk about the experience. It's nice to be helpful to people looking for answers.

I'll be honest, I don't pay attention to a lot of new music. I'm very out of the loop on a lot of things. However, Korn's new album was a weird little birthday surprise for me. The only other thing I was excited for was the Chromatica album drop in 2020 lol. Normally I'm listening to older stuff or stuff that's mostly on YouTube (like Pentatonix and Voice Play and other acapella artists, or cover artists like Nick Pitera.)

Ahh. Movies this year. My partner always has to make me watch movies because I never watch them on my own and there are so many I haven't seen. Disenchanted was a pleasant surprise. Oh God, and the Bob's Burgers movie was awesome and I hope I can get caught up with the show because I'm a fairly new fan. Mostly this year was watching older movies for the first time. To Wong Foo (amazing), Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (amazing-er), Down with Love (meh), the first Doctor Strange (only because my partner is into it), uhhhh the weird romance movie with Ryan Gosling having to marry his boss so she doesn't get deported. Betty White's in it. Oh, and Turning Red! The one really really good one! (I could go on forever but the representation of Chinese-Canadian culture made me feel really good. It was interesting to see Cantonese being spoken instead of Mandarin because I'm a nerd for languages.)

Fave show was definitely Westworld before they took it away from me and made me super sad - unforgivable if you ask me. Trying to get caught up on the final season of The Walking Dead but I definitely saw everything up until that point. Station Eleven was an amazing super new show that was a fun watch despite how short it was. You can see I like post-apocalypse kind of stuff. I've seen exactly two episodes of Gentleman Jack which I liked and might go back to. I also rewatched all of Breaking Bad.

That turned into a rant.

I wish I could remember more but I haven't been journaling as much nowadays, which means I won't remember a lot of this stuff. - 💙💚

[unicornhazel]

Hello Hazel! o/ NEW TRAFFIC SEASON HYPEEEE

I wanted to ask what qualities of each season did you like? It could be the plot, game mechanics, anything! :D

Always a pleasure to see you :)

OH MY GOD I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THIS AAAAAAA I'M SO SORRY ARAH

I had a crazy October and then I was Violently Ill and Lurking on this hellsite BUT I'M BACK (until I feel awkward and go back to lurking again)!!!

I'M SO EXCITED FOR NEW SEASON. So I've been watching traffic series since Third Life and I've been so completely obsessed with it that it ends up consuming my entire being for a while.

I loved the simplicity of Third Life tbh, seeing how the factions formed, alliances formed and broken, all of them playing with their three lives. Honestly though, just the desertduo brainrot. It's so real. I'll be going about my day and suddenly BOOM! Desertduo brainrot.

Last Life, I'll be honest, the thing i loved the most was Joel going absolutely INSANE. He is so pathetic but dangerous I love him to bits. Also Mumbo Jumbo. No I will not elaborate. (yes i will, THAT ENDER CRYSTAL. HE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN SO MANY KILLS FOR THAT. Mumbo Jumbo deserved better). And Cleo. GOD. I am so completely obsessed with Cleo in every series she's a part of. AND ALSO ETHO AND BDUBS. The boogeyman system was really fun, going in to each episode and not knowing who was going to be Inflicted with the Curse, reading chat to see who kills who, keeping track of number of lives and deaths of every character, god i could go on. I've watched every pov from Last Life (no I did not touch grass but I see no correlation) and. Every single one of them was amazing. I loved it all to bits.

Also watched every pov of Double Life but PEARL. Pearl was hands down my favourite that season. I was slightly sad about having fewer episodes but i did love the soulmate system! Anything that gives me Joel and Etho together in my books is S tier so. No complaints. It was so cool because it made sure that people who hadn't necessarily interacted before had to adapt and play together in order to survive and it's just. So cool. How do they come up with these. How do they manage to live in our brains after all these months/years. I Do Not Understand. Incomprehensible. But I'm so glad they do because it is so fun to watch.

Every Friday evening (Tuesday before), I'd settle in with some snacks and watch every pov, make a playlist for each week and just. Get lost in their world for a little bit. I love them all so much.

[to-be-a-hiccup]

4, 5, 6, 11 :)

Heeeey! Thanks for asking! 👍🏻

4. Favorite Non-Turtle Character

Oooh, that's tough. I wanna say one character, but in all honesty, my favorite non-turtle character changes depending on the iteration.

'87: I think it's a tie between Irma and Shredder, mainly because they were both just so funny to watch. I especially loved the episode where Irma was, like... interested in Shredder? God, that show was wild...

'03: I really liked Karai. I'm always a fan of "oh, they're the bad guy, but are they really?" kinda characters. Buuuut then her characterization became so unbearable stagnant in the least couple seasons and yeah. :( Still liked her vibe though.

2012: CASEY JONES. I walked into that show knowing I was gonna love Casey Jones and boooy, was I right. He's such a dumb teenage boy who thinks he's sooo cool, but he's actually soooo dumb, and he's insufferable and I fucking love that for him. <3

Rise: April, hands down. I usually like April okay, but I think Rise did a great job keeping her true to what the other April's were all about, while also giving her her own✨flair.✨Such an icon.

MM: I wanna also say April. Like Rise April, they did a good job making her clearly an April, but also gave her her own unique vibe. I'm super excited to learn more about her in the new show too!!

And I could continue with doing all the movies and the IDW comics, buuuuut this is already getting kinda long, so I'll spare you guys.

5. Coolest mutant/alien design in your opinion?

I'll be honest. I'm not generally a fan of a lot of the mutant designs in TMNT. I like simple stuff, and lot of them really... aren't that. The only one I can remember standing out to me is IDW's Alopex. Her design is nice and simply and very effective. I also just love her in general, so that definitely helps. 10/10.

6. An unpopular opinion of yours?

I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that I'd prefer if Splinter wasn't a rat, for reasons I touch on in this ask. I wouldn't mind if he was some other animal, but I dunno. In my iteration, he's just kinda a human and that's worked for me just fine. But everyone's got their own preference, I guess.

11. What is one head canon you believe so strongly, you sometimes forget it's technically not canon?

Oooooh, this is a good one! I have a couple, but the one I constantly have to remind myself isn't canon is that Rise Leo and Donnie aren't twins. I was kinda eigh about the whole idea when I first started watching Rise, but then I read some fics that really sold it for me, and now I can't not see them as twins.