#and i'd have to get over my BUT THE KiDs hurdle

[mo-ok]

WOOO rapid fire lets go! would I recommend this Sentai and what caveats would I apply?????

Jakq - No :) *if you enjoy sentai there is definitly something for you here, and it mercifully gets put down after 35 episodes, but i cannot in good faith recommend this one unless you are that special kind of brain rotted*

Battle Fever J - i mean it when i say yes. Theres a lot of good stuff here especially for people that are familiar with/appreciate the sentai formula

Denziman - eeeeeeh i am VERY soft on this show but it DOES struggle through the middle and that hurdle may be a little too big for some

Sun Vulcan - if you enjoy tokusatsu FOR the tokusatsu then yeah watch this one. The robots are beautiful and the fights are brilliant. However if you want literally anything else on your burger then this one is not for you lmao

Goggle V - if you're interested in watching an older sentai this is definitly one i would recommend. If you enjoy it you would probably also dig sun vulcan

Dynaman - this one is fun and easy from start to finish but if you are like my mother and need to audibly eyeroll every time there is ass then tread lightly i genuinly cannot tell if there actually was a heap of ass or if i'm telling on myself because all i remember is the ass LMAO

Bioman - yes watch this one. Watch bioman. You know you want to watch bioman. Be ready for period typical panty shots ig

Changeman - YES. WATCH THIS ONE. PLEASE. PLEASE WATCH CHANGEMAN.

Flashman - once again yes, this one is 100% worth your time. If you liked ToQger you'll dig this one. Inoue's first ever sentai ep is in this season if that means anything to you

Liveman - eeh, if you want that more """mature""" story telling there are others i'd recommend first, but the suits are good and the bad guys sure are a hoot so

Fiveman - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ its good and its enjoyable but imma be honest there isnt much here that you wont also find somewhere else

Dairanger - yeah watch this one, the characters are good the suits are pretty the music slaps, but be ready for it to kinda trip and fall at the end

Kakuranger - very good more comically focused season that according to that one poll is criminally under watched everyone go watch kakuranger right now thank you. For the sake of every friday in california.

Ohranger - watch this one if you like robots. Be prepared for it to be all over the place

Carranger - 100%, beautifully done parody from a place of love and appreciation. Zonette is here

Megaranger - sentai highschool au. If you watched power rangers as a kid this is probably my go to recommendation

Gingaman - yes watch gingaman but also be ready for a slower, generally more "quiet" story, if that makes sense

GoGoV - you gotta watch gogov. You gotta watch gogov. I'm assembling a team to go kill Mondo Tatsumi and i need you to join my cause

Gaoranger - should you watch it?? Yeah. Would i recommend it??? Fuck i dont know man every time i think about gao i take psychic damage

Hurricaneger - 2025 YEAR OF HURRICANEGER WE CAN MAKE THIS HAPPEN. WATCH HURRICANEGER its a bl but with ninjas and robots

Magiranger - very easy to recommend, lots to love and enjoy here, you should watch magiranger

Boukenger - please watch boukenger. For Chief. For Sakura. For Daibouken.

Gekiranger - YES watch gekiranger but be ready for the WORST knuckle cracking sounds you've ever heard

Go-Onger - this is literally the best sentai ever please watch it

Goseiger - you should watch this one. Its very good. Very easy to watch. If you enjoy this one you should also watch gingaman. PL EAS E

Kyoryuger - its not very high up for me but theres definitly stuff here to enjoy - personally i'd recommend dino charge instead but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ToQger - PLEASE WATCH TOQGER PLEASE WATCH TOQGER PLEASE WATCH TOQGER

Zyuohger - i enjoyed it but like, you dont have to watch zyuohger if you dont wanna

Kyuranger - very easy to recommend. The suits are beautiful i love the robots i love the music. The fact that there are 5 non-human suit characters in the main cast is 🤌🤌 be prepared for a few of the characters to get left behind tho

Kiramager - personally i think this one would be a great launching point if you're new to the franchise. You should watch kiramager. 🖊🍍🍎🖊

King Ohger - eeeh. Its VERY unique and hard to compare to other sentai. If you can get past the green screen then yeah give it a watch. It suffers a little from the stakes getting a bit too high for their own good but its largely enjoyable

Boonboomger - 100% you should watch boonboom. It was an absolute delight to watch. Pure sentai bliss.

[avengerscompound]

The Tower - College

The Tower: College - One Shot

Series Masterlist

Pairing:  Avengers x OFC, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 2867

Warnings:  none

Synopsis:  Riley and Pietro are both preparing for college. Their parents all have ideas about where they should go.

Author’s Note: This is not a request but rather the first co-written piece with @fanficwriter013 since The Queen of Asgard. I do still have some requests to write and you can still send in your requests.

College

Set between The Queen of Asgard and Family

Nothing ever really prepares you to parent a teenager.  You can have all the love and all the money in the world and you’ll still feel blindsided by the challenges thrown up.  You’ll need to comfort them through fights with friends, drive them to extracurricular activities you’d never even thought of, grit your teeth while they date people you don’t like, and try to keep it together as their hormones go wild.  We’d been learning on the job and sometimes we struggled, but we were blessed with loving and affectionate kids, and we all wanted the absolute best for them.

We crossed each hurdle as we came to them, sometimes stumbling but always getting up and always supporting each other and them as we did.

Riley and Pietro were about to start applying to colleges, and we were helping them decide which ones they’d most like to attend.

Of course, Tony wanted them both to attend M.I.T.  He was very vocal about it.  Neither was particularly techy, but they humored him when he organized a private tour for them.  Riley, Pietro, Tony, Clint, Nat, Bruce, and I went to Boston to look around campus.

We spent the morning looking at lecture theaters and labs.  This afternoon we’d talk to professors about courses, majors, and what they’d need to get in.  For now, we were taking a break at a taco place just off campus.

When we were all seated with our chips, guac, and drinks, (I’d gotten a Paloma which I’d never had before and was already really enjoying) Tony looked at the kids.

“So?  What do we think so far? It’s good, huh?” he said. “There’s a lot of great stuff. There’s a study space that gives out free bananas.  How can you complain about that?”

"Bananas aren't a selling point," Clint said, shaking his head.

"I don't know, Dad, bananas sound good," Pietro said. "They're a good brain food."

"I think I'd like to see some other schools. Don't want to put all my eggs in one basket" Riley said, picking at her order of tacos.

“I mean, I’d also say that we can afford to buy bananas if we wanted them,” I added.  “That is not a thing that is outside our budget.”

Riley smothered laughter and Pietro shook his head.

“It’s more the principle of the thing,” Tony said.  “They care about their students and provide them with a calm study area with free brain food.”

“I think the main thing here is if they can study what they want to study, Tony,” I said, taking his hand.  “We’ll speak to the professors and figure it out.”

Tony huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.  We’ll see other schools.”

“We’re taking it all in though, Dad,” Riley assured him. “We just want to know what all our options are.”

"Yeah, Tony. All the options." Clint said, wagging a taco around in front of him.

"It's okay Tony. They'll figure out what they want. I'm sure MIT is a top contender out of the schools so far," Bruce said.  "Maybe they'd like my alma mater,” he added quietly.

"It's on the list, Dad, don't worry," Riley said. "We've even got clown college on the list for Papa Clint," she joked.

“Maybe they’d like to go to school at UCLA,” I added.  “That’s where I went.”

Riley’s eyes lit up. “Living in LA would be amazing!”

“No!” Tony said, quickly. “No way.  Nope.  You’re not going all the way across the country for college when all the good ones are over this side anyway.”

“And here I was thinking that I’d apply for Oxford,” Riley teased.

“Wash your mouth out with soap,” Tony said, pointing a fork filled with sizzling beef at his daughter.

She broke down into hysterical giggles and choked on her taco.  I reached over and patted her on the back as she grabbed her drink and tried to wash the food down.

“Well, there’s always Columbia.  That’s where I got my first job and it’s where I met your mama,” I said.

"Yeah, Columbia is an acceptable school," Nat said. "There aren't many that I approve of."

"Hey, I'd be happy with clown school if that's what you wanted," Clint said around a mouthful of tacos.

"I mean, Pietro did go through a magic phase," Bruce said.

“Oh yeah, the guy who has nightmares of clowns would be happy if his kids became clowns,” I teased.  “But yes, I agree, the most important thing is that you guys are happy.  Right, Tony?”

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.  “Fine.  Yes.  The most important thing is that you’re both happy.”

“Gee thanks, Dad,” Riley teased.

“We are happy, mom.  And we’re happy to look at all your alma maters,” Pietro said.  “We’ll pick the best ones for us.  I promise.”

"Guess it's up to me to start planning all the visitations," Tony said, pulling out his phone. "All the alma maters, all the Ivy leagues. Anywhere else?" he asked.

Both Pietro and Riley had ideas of what they wanted to do with their lives.  In fact, what they really wanted to do was go to Asgard to learn about life there, as Riley was the heir to the throne.  There was plenty of time for that though.  They were both young even by mortal years, and Riley was no mortal.

Riley took after her biological father in a lot of ways.  She’d been offered athletic scholarships at several schools but there was a lot of debate about the ethicality of supers competing on sports teams.  Some schools had made leagues just for them.  She’d turned them down just to avoid the controversy.  She’d decided she wanted to learn political science.  She hoped it might help for her time as Queen.

Pietro, our little empath, was tossing up between art and psychology.  Much to Tony’s chagrin, that meant that Stanford was the top choice for both kids, and we did take a trip over to San Francisco to do a tour.  We also did Berkley while there, which was Pietro’s second choice and Riley’s fourth.  We did Harvard which Tony was a little more happy about due to being much closer.  Harvard was Riley’s number two, and Piet’s number three.  We did both Princeton and Yale, but both kids agreed that if they ended up at either of them, it was just because it was the only yes they got, and yeses weren’t as hard to get when you had money and brains, something the twins were both blessed with.  Finally, they checked out Grayburn College in Harlem because of Bruce, though everyone was a little worried about how Bruce’s legacy might end up affecting their time there, and Columbia for me.  Columbia was still fairly high up for both their subjects and had the benefit of being close to us.

We strolled along the campus, toward the library after having been taken around the law buildings and the psychology one.  Today it was me, Riley, Pietro, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Tommy.  Tommy had not wanted to miss out on whatever fun his oldest siblings were having, but it was pretty obvious that he had big regrets about coming.  He was hanging off Tony’s arm and whining quite a bit.

I stopped on the lawn in front of the library and looked at my assembled family. “We can go in in a second.  But this spot here is very important.  You know why?”

Natasha smirked and moved in close, wrapping her arm around my waist.  “This is where your mother ran straight into me and we both went flying.”

“Oh my god, Mom,” Riley groaned, hiding her face.

"Yeah, it was on that day that your Ma almost killed your mother," Clint joked.

"And obviously the rest is history," Steve said.

"Yeah that's how we got you guys," Tony said, ruffling Tommy's hair.

“Yuck, Dad,” Riley said. “He’s too young to hear things like that.”

“Hear what?” Tommy asked.

“About how moms and dads are always smooching and making babies,” Pietro teased.

Tommy dramatically threw his head back.  “Eww…” he groaned and we all burst out laughing.

“Do you want to check out the library?” I asked, pointing to the building.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Pietro agreed.

I led the way into the library.  I felt good.  The kids both seemed to like the University.  I wasn’t sure they’d pick Columbia, but it seemed like it was on the list.  Besides it was nice getting to be back on campus, it was a very special spot for me.

When the kids had checked out all the different university campuses and spoken to all kinds of people about the pros and cons of each school, they had put in their applications.  They both had their preferences.  Pietro wanted to stay close so even though Stanford was the better school for what he wanted to study, he picked Columbia as his first choice.  I was delighted to have one of the kids attending the school I’d worked at.  Especially given it was the place where I first met Natasha.  It felt like fate.

Riley was never going to be happy with just that though.  She wanted adventure more than she wanted an education.  I think if she’d thought about it in any real way, she might even push to go to college overseas and I was sure that if the option ever came up to do an exchange, she’d jump at it.  In the meantime, her top choice was Stanford - the top college for her chosen field and as far from us as she could get while still in the continental United States.

We weren’t too worried about them not getting in.  They were both smart kids and also - cards on the table - we were very rich.  An unfair privilege of being rich is that money can open doors that aren’t always open to everyone else.  It wasn’t an absolute definite, but with the two things together we were all confident they’d both be celebrating their acceptance into their chosen schools.

They had agreed to wait to log in and check their offers until we were all around.  It was killing them, especially Riley.  On the day, Tony had gotten out the champagne and had the cooks making their favorite meals. 

The twins sat at their laptops, fingers hovering over the enter keys as we gathered around them. 

“Are you all ready?” Pietro asked.  

"Oh my God. This is killing me!" Clint said, tapping his fingers against the side of his leg. 

"We know they're going to get in, you shouldn't be surprised," Nat said, patting Clint on the shoulder.

"But the suspense. You know I can't do the waiting," Clint whined. "Let's go."

The twins hit the buttons symultaneously, and for a moment the room was silent while they read the letters from their top choices.  At almost the exact same time, they jumped up.  Riley squealed with delight, a noise I don’t think I’d heard from her since she was little, while Pietro whooped and pumped his fist in the air.

“I’m going to Stanford!” Riley yelled.  “I’m going to Stanford!”

“I’m into Columbia!” Pietro added.

We all moved in, hugging them both.  “Yes!  Congratulations!” I said as I tried hugging both kids at once.

"One at a time, El," Nat said, hugging Riley.

"You both did it," Clint said.  “You got the schools you wanted. I'm so proud of you."

"This is great," Bruce said, nodding his head.

Tony got up and clapped his hands. “Mocktails,” he said.  “And food. It’s a party.”

I went with him to the bar and pulled out the mixers to make mocktails with.

“Can we get Ethiopian?” Riley called.

“No!  Pizza!” Pietro argued.

“We haven’t done a huge international feast for a while,” I said.  “We should do that.  Just order some of everything, like in the pre-kid days.”

“You used to have international feasts?”  Riley asked.

“Oh yeah,” Tony said. “We just ordered takeout from a dozen places.  We haven’t done that since we moved out to the compound.  We couldn’t get food delivered there, and when we moved back here, we just started eating the same thing.”

“Can we all pick what we want?” Billy asked.

“Yeah of course.  We’ll all order our favorite foods and then share them all,” Tony said.

The younger kids squealed excitedly and started jumping around.  “I’m gonna get pancakes,” Tommy yelled.  He ran over to Tony and slammed into him, hugging him around the waist and looking up at him.  “Can we get the choc-chip cheesecake pancakes from the Pancake Hut?”

Tony smoothed Tommy’s red hair back and squished his cheek.  “Of course you can.”

“Okay everyone,” Steve said.  “Let’s look at the apps and see what we can find.”

This was our biggest food order yet.  It took a lot to feed this family.  There were eighteen of us, and several had super-human appetites, but when we all ordered the same thing, we didn’t over-order.  This time we did.  It was like we were catering a party where we all wanted to share.  It would be eaten, Bruce alone could finish what the rest of us couldn’t, but it was still a shocking amount of food with an even more shocking bill.

Along with several stacks of various pancakes, a large platter of Ethiopian food, and a half dozen pizzas from Ray’s, we got eight different Indian Curries, a huge selection of Chinese dishes, sushi, fried chicken (Lousianna, Nashville, and Korean style), Korean toast, corn dogs, and tteokbokki, Brazilian, several dishes from the Cheese Cake Factory for some reason, a selection of things from Katz’s, several kinds of pasta including a three cheese gnocchi, fettuccine carbonara, and eggplant parmigiana, two different cheese fondues, two different hot pots, and a variety of dishes from an organic vegan place.

It was a lot and it didn’t fit on our table even in its fully extended state, and we had to bring up some tables and put them around the long table where we all sat.

The younger kids were so excited about all the different things they could try, and I was genuinely worried they would make themselves sick.  They couldn’t even sit still because if they were sitting, they weren’t trying anything new.  Tommy was a blur as he ran around and around the table nibbling at everything he could reach.

“Alright, alright,” Steve said.  “Let’s all take a seat.”

“This is a big special celebration,” Sam echoed.  “You’re gonna need to listen to a Steve dad speech.”

“No…” all the kids whined at once.

“Oh yes,” Natasha said.  “You know how it works.”

“Fine,” Riley said.  “Go on then, Dad.”

“Wow, thank you for the enthusiasm,” Steve joked.

“I love your speeches, Daddy,” Rose said, smiling at him.

“Suck up!” Sarah teased.

“Okay, okay, settle down everyone,” Steve said.

“Yeah, this is serious,” Clint teased.

Steve huffed and shook his head.  “Riley, Pietro, you two were such a blessing for us. I think we were all a little directionless before you came around.  We all had plenty of things we’d die for, but not so many to live for.  You give us that.  And I do realize that’s a lot to put on some kids, I hope you both haven’t felt that pressure growing up.  Suffice it to say, we all adore you and we have been thankful every day since you were both born.

“I know that us being your parents hasn’t always been easy.  You’ve had to grow up in the spotlight not just because we’re who we are, but because of how many of us there are.  I hope we did alright and didn’t mess you up too much.  I can tell you this for sure, we all love you so much and we are so proud of you,” he said.  “This is such a big turning point for you both.  You’re not our little kids anymore.  You’re adults.  You’re taking your first real steps into the world.  This is big.  You’re going to have the whole world's eyes on you.  And I can tell you that doesn’t matter.  It certainly doesn’t matter to us.  But I also know that that kind of pressure can affect you.  I want you both to know; you can never let us down, we always have your back, and we know you’ll do amazing.  We trust you.  We love you.  Congratulations.”

Riley and Pietro got up and came over to hug him, and Steve engulfed them both in his broad arms - quite the task considering they were both as tall as he was.

“Thank you, Dad,” Pietro said.

“See how much your kids love you,” Tony said. “They didn’t even say anything about how rambling you got on that one.”

Steve laughed. “Oh shush,” he said.  “You do better.”

Tony held up his hands in surrender.  “I would never,” he said.  “Come on everyone.  This is a party.  Let’s celebrate!”

With that, the lights dimmed and music started to play, and we spent the night celebrating the next big step in our oldest children’s lives.

~END~

[animeomegas]

Okay that other anon made me think and wonder. When would Neji most likely go to therapy, like how much pushing would it take and what age would his pup be when he broke and goes 'fine! I'll go to therapy... Not like I need it but okay'?

Cause if it's an age where they process things better so like age 3? 4? Would they know their alpha parent much? Because with how you write the alpha in that's scenario it makes me think that they'd be out of the house more so they didn't have to deal with Neji's... Nejiness... Like either at work, the support group, therapy anything like that but just not at home.

Also makes me wonder, how would the pup react to their alpha parent barely popping in or doing anything with them because anything they had previously done with the kid was judged by Neji or Neji took the kid from the alpha because they weren't doing it right. Cause I mentioned this before, but they would probably get really disheartened, I mean anyone would, and spend less time with their pup and any time they did spend at home begging Neji to go to therapy to try and get over this hurdle.

But how would Neji react to all that? Either before therapy Neji or after therapy Neji. All this just like interests me so I like to ramble and share my thoughts, whether or not said thoughts are wrong -3-

-🌹

Neji would be in therapy pretty fast imo. He's suffering from something that means he can't function at all, so he gives in pretty quickly, I'd say before the pup is six months old.

@omeganronpa brought up the idea of Kiba being the one to convince Neji into going to therapy and taking walks and stuff, and I love that headcanon.

Kiba is a friend and fellow omega, and therefore not a threat, but he's also likely to either be pregnant himself or carrying a newborn pup, so Neji doesn't read him as a threat to his baby, which means Kiba can get close to Neji and form a support system for him.

And Neji never stops his alpha from being around his pup, he more so forbids his pup from leaving his sight. Annoying, yes, and probably a hurtful lack of trust, but not quite the same thing as banning the alpha contact. His alpha is the only one allowed to watch the pup when Neji's body gives in and he's forced to sleep.

With therapy, Neji is originally resistant, but once Kiba starts helping him, once alpha convinces him that he'd be a better parent if he went, and once Neji is assured that he can bring his baby with him, then he caves. He eventually has medication too, which helps him a bunch.

So yeah, I hope that explains it more! And yeah, it's a super interesting thing to think about!

[pseudowho]

Your love story with Mr. Haitch is just sooo aaaaa🥰💕✨️ I could only hope to have something like that one day

Feel free to share more lovely moments you had with him (if you're comfortable!!)

I never think of it as some great love story I guess. I just think we got lucky. Neither of us are perfect and we've had hurdles to overcome over the years, but love stories are never as clean in real life as they are on paper.

Hummm...cute moments...

Travelling up and down the country to see each other for years while we were apart. I'd work hard one weekend, then use my wages to travel the next weekend, rinse and repeat for years.

Being told we had fundamental issues that meant we'd probably never have kids that were biologically ours after two years of trying, being devastated...and then falling pregnant the month after 💀 Three sons later...

Mr.Haitch's journals that seem to have something about me on every page.

My mum telling my step-dad that she didn't believe Mr.Haitch loved me because he's so reserved and not a PDA guy. My step-dad (also so reserved) laughing hard at her, wiping his eyes and saying "you're wrong, he's absolutely obsessed with her."

Mr.Haitch getting up at 5am to put the babies in a carrier before work, and going for a long walk so I can get some uninterrupted sleep.

Both of us working all hours around the babies and being like ships in the night.

Sending each other dirty messages at inappropriate times.

Being sexy best friends.

Being called "so fucking predictable" when I crushed hard on Nanami Kento 💀 It's true, I am so fucking predictable.

It's very fun. And tiring. And everything in between.

-- Haitch xxx

[tia-amorosa]

Sunset Died - Bachelor/Clavell/Wan

Nobody is left alone

While Pauline and Xander are slowly getting closer again, Michael and Peter went back to the farm store. As they needed a few more things anyway, they wanted to check on the cows again. "Man, she always holds still with you, how do you do that?"/ "hehe, maybe your hands are too cold for her sensitive udder"/ "I never have cold hands"/ "that's right, I can confirm that, hn"..

Fortunately, there wasn't just one cow. So Michael tried his luck again with the other one. And lo and behold, the young lady hero still so that he could milk from her in peace. "Oh man, and I thought i maybe was to rude"/ "No, it was probably the other lady, she likes me more than you, hehe".

"Thank you for coming with me, otherwise I wouldn't be able to carry everything on my own."/ "I'm literally glued to your butt, I won't let you shake me off that easily."/ "hnhn. when we've put the milk down at home… Will you go to the cemetery with me? I'd like to take Bella with me too"/ "Do you want…"/ "Yes, I don't want to celebrate this huge funeral with the others". Peter nodded sympathetically, because he knew that Michael wouldn't cope well with this huge stress. "OK, I'll come with you.".

later. Once he was back home, Michael told his little sister about his plans. "Is it okay for you if we only do it in a small group?"/ "mhm, I don't want so many people around. But… Can Xander come too? Then he can choose a nice place for his parents too"/ "hm, if he wants to, why not…"/ "I'll go and ask him quickly". The girl stood up and looked for Xander.

Bella ran around the outside of the house. Actually, she could have taken the other door, but children sometimes have a mind of their own. "oopsie, sorry!"/"Jesus, Bella! What the…?"/"I… I just wanted to ask if you'd go to the cemetery with us, we want to give mom and dad a nice place there…maybe you'd like that for your parents too"/ . He was silent for a moment…. "give me 2 minutes"…

.Shortly afterwards Peter and Michael came walked forward. "Hey, how's it looking, is he coming?"/ "Yes, he'll be here soon, he has to finish showering first… I've seen his bare bottom"/ "Hey Xander, pack your butt back in, we want to go now!" Peter shouted quite loudly. "hey, my two minutes aren't up yet, so shut up!"….

A little later, Xander came back dressed and a bit annoyed. "You've got a lot of nerve, kid! "/ "hehe, sorry . hey, you don't have to come if you don't want to"/ "I do… O.K., now let's go". Pauline joined in, but didn't want to be intrusive. "Perhaps you need a bit of support? I'll stay in the background too". Xander looked at her calmly, and then at Michael. "That's for him to decide".

Michael had of course heard the conversation and went to Pauline. However, she couldn't really interpret his look. "I… I don't want to interfere, of course, as this is something very personal for you." Michael nodded. "Yes… But you've always looked after us well so far. You've also become part of the family for us, so you can come with us.". Pauline was very touched by his words. "Is everything okay with you two now?" Michael wanted to know, looking at her and Xander alternately.

"Well…". Pauline didn't know how to respond, so Xander came over and answered instead. "We're working on our relationship… with the odd hurdle". Michael smiled with satisfaction. "Then I hope for your sake they're all overcome soon. And make out as much as you like, , I've got Peter now…". Xander was a little shocked now. "Uh, what?"/ "Yeah, we're snogging"/ "That's…". Pauline gently nudged Xander forward. "That's…quite wonderful, hihi. Let's go, shall we?"/ "O.K.“.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of this Part

@greenplumbboblover 😊

[thecarrionwitch]

Fellow witches!

I've done to you with another question. Of course I have my own answers to said question but I'd be a liar to say I don't enjoy coming to you as well to hear from others.

The deal is that my disability check came in. It came while I was sleep... I tried staying awake but after a while I had assumed that I'd come in tomorrow... The eldest brother who I've spoken on previously in post found it with his girlfriend.

Honestly I'm annoyed with myself over the fact because I was supposed to get it so they didn't hear about it... Now I know my mom is going to say something cause they at least know there's money here... To not help the case I kinda froze up as the asked what was on it and told em 🤦🏾

I can't stand this. I hate lying and I hate feeling like I HAVE to lie which is why I give in or freeze when people ask me things... I'm happy the money is here but ffs... I'm worried it's gonna be asked about consistently.

Then had the audacity to ask if I wanted to play the Wii with them. Of course realistically I would love to but it just feels like a way to butter me up.. and I don't like that. Like I'm not finna forget

The fact he said I was a liar about my SA abuse

The fact that before he left he blew up and broke many things in my room. Statues and offerings and whatever else. Just total disrespect.

Said that I wasn't his sister which honestly has its connotations because same mom different dads...

Etc.

Like my issue is that I can feel my anxiety beaming just being under the pressure. Definitely need to see if I can talk to my therapist again but I just hate having to jump hurdles and loops.

Acts of protection magick would be appreciated if anyone has any! Or things that would help with this case of mine. Anything is really free game.

Plus since his gf is pregnant I know that might come up but I didn't tell y'all to hunch in my bed and have a kid y'all ain't fully ready yet to support on your own... I don't wanna hear none of that shit. Imma definitely be looked at as the bad guy if anything pop off but it ain't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last.

People really believe they can play in your face if you allow them to.

[lacquerware]

Thunder Force IV Reflections

As a kid in the nineties, my experience with a lot of Genesis games (and NES games before them) was that I'd find the difficulty so insurmountable that the thought of ever getting very far seemed completely futile, and I'd inevitably stop playing after getting maybe two Game Overs in a single session. In fact, I'd say this was the norm for me, until the PS1 era. I think this was pretty common for kids at large, too. 

Although I always liked video games, I think the high hurdle prevented them from being as compelling during that era as they later became, because it's just not that enticing to play something you know you're only going to see the first fifteen minutes of over and over. Although there were some hard games that my brother and I liked enough to rent repeatedly despite never getting very far (Sunset Riders, Splatterhouse 2 and 3), the rare games that we could beat almost invariably became all-time favorites. Shinobi 3, Bionic Commando (NES), Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes. Granted, all of the above examples are exceptionally high-quality titles, but I do think the fairness and gentleness baked into their difficulty is a major part of their appeal. 

Things are a little different in my adult life: I have more patience, a greater capacity for critical thinking and strategizing, and simply more autonomy over when and how much time I can devote to slamming my head against a video game. In 2019 I forced myself through the agony of Ecco the Dolphin just because I wanted to see that gnarly xenomorph boss at the end. Last year I finally beat Comix Zone after 29 years. And so on. 

When it comes to shmups, I pretty much ignored the genre wholesale as a kid, since they were the epitome of the aforementioned high hurdle. But if you're still playing Genesis or Saturn in the 2020s, you're really doing yourself a disservice by not being into shmups, so I've forced myself to acquire a taste for them over the years. Which hasn't been all that hard, since they are often full of cool sights and sounds. 

Thunder Force IV's reputation as one of the best games on the Genesis and shmups of all time precedes it, but for my part, I found myself even in adulthood coming up against that same old chestnut, gaming over within the first fifteen minutes every single session. I could see that the visuals were incredible, the music incredible, the moment-to-moment gameplay satisfying and intense, but the game never got its hooks in me, because I just never seemed to get any better. I'd fire it up a couple times a year, wipe out before the end of stage 4, and say, "Guess I've seen all I'm gonna see." 

That all changed this past weekend when I discovered the hidden* options menu, which lets you toggle the difficulty to "Easy." 

(*The options menu might be mentioned in the manual I don't have, but it's locked behind a command input instead of just being selectable from the main menu like every other video game in history.)

Easy mode made all the difference. The balance felt close to perfect—not so easy as to trivialize the game, but easy enough to keep me continually invested, because I was improving significantly with each attempt. I still got about a dozen game overs before clearing the game, but they did nothing to demoralize me the way they had in every past session on Normal. 

The day after clearing the game on Easy for the first time, I played it again and managed a 2CC run. The degree to which I improved within a 48-hour span was astounding, especially after not showing any discernible improvement in Normal mode for several years! I now feel like I’m ready to take on Normal, and more importantly, I’m now a believer. Thunder Force IV is the masterpiece you’ve heard it to be. It also joins such titles as the aforementioned Shinobi 3 and Gunstar Heroes as a quintessential showpiece for the Sega Genesis. When someone asks what the Sega Genesis is all about, this is the answer. The Genesis set a bar for action gaming that remains in effect. It exudes an intensity and a cool factor through its graphics and sound you just don’t get elsewhere. 

With that all out of the way, I do have a couple points of critique, just for the sake of argument. Chiefly, I think the game has an issue with feedback that can be a tad severe at times. Action games live and die by their feedback—that is, the way the game tells you what effect your actions caused—not only because the feedback informs your actions, but because it’s what makes video games fun and satisfying. The general rule of thumb in TFIV is that if your shots burn orange when they impact a target, they’re doing damage; blue, and they’re not. There is no difference in sound, as far as I can tell. The problem is, some of your more bombastic weapons produce their own separate visual effects that seem to override this critical feedback. For example, the Blade, which is the upgraded version of your standard forward-shooting shot, seems to always burn orange, no matter what it hits. The Snake, which lobs twin streams of grenades above and below your ship, generates a persistent storm of orange explosions, so it can be impossible to discern if you’re hitting a target or not. Many bosses in this game require precise aiming at vulnerable spots surrounded by invulnerable casing or appendages, so this feedback issue can significantly impede progress, especially for newer players. I still don’t have a clear sense of how to hit the Stage 1 boss’s weak point with the Blade. For some reason, my DPS is always much higher when I just use the regular default shot. (You can see this in my playthrough video.) I also just found the damage feedback on bosses to be generally weak. Most bosses don’t actually offer any damage feedback apart from the color of your bullet impacts—no flashing sprites or juicy sound effect to indicate that you’re doing the right thing. This is particularly lame when you land a direct hit on the weak point with your Thunder Sword, a massive, chargeable energy sword, and there’s just no sign at all that it had any effect. Disappointing in a game this bombastic, especially when held up against the likes of Gunstar Heroes or Contra Hard Corps. Of course, it’s not too hard to forgive this issue when you consider how hard the game pushed the Genesis to run in the first place. 

My other critique is that the game is sometimes a tad overindulgent, to where you’re just watching a thing happen for a really long time without much to do. The airship sequences in Stage 1 are the prime example. They’re cool setpieces the first couple times, but after dozens of playthroughs, they’re among the most boring parts of the game. Especially since they betray the longstanding shmup precedent of giant airship bosses that you get to dismantle piece by piece. You never get to destroy this one!

But now we’re splitting hairs. This is still one of the finest action games I’ve ever played, and a great ambassador for the Genesis. If you’ve tried to get into it and it hasn’t clicked for you yet, I definitely recommend playing on Easy (hold A+Start from the main menu to access the options) and cranking up the life count. 

[plaguedocboi]

So I was terrified of leeches most of my life due to a kid's book, and then a few years ago I saw a vid of a pet leech exploring a bathtub with enrichment items and I fell in love. Gotta ask - is there a way to feed them without becoming a blood donor? Not sure if I could get over that last hurdle, but if it is possible and safe and healthy for them, I'd be delighted to welcome them into my home.

Some people feed them with store-bought blood, but that stuff can be hard to find unless you have access to a specialty store. It also can’t contain any preservatives or anticoagulants, it’s gotta just be straight blood served at body temperature.

In general, I’d advise against getting leeches if you absolutely can’t feed them off yourself, just because they can be unpredictable and might bite you without much warning. But there are definitely people who keep them and don’t regularly feed them off themselves! Just make sure you have access to a reliable source of fresh blood before you commit to them.

[cloud-somersault]

Pat pat pat. I don't understand your need for hard magic systems at all, but I feel your pain. Pat pat pat

Well. Hm. I don't think my reasoning is coming across well, so I'll try to explain.

The thing with a hard magic system is that yes, there's clearly defined rules that can't be broken that the audience also knows about and can understand when things don't go well or when characters try and break the rules, like. It's nice to have those boundaries and restrictions so that, when something wild happens, we know why.

That feeling of stability and thought is nice.

However, a light magic system is also fine. things can be loose and a little more whimsical, sure! They sure can. But then we're relying on character building to do the hard work for us.

Example.

Wukong is so old and everything, he knows all these spells and techniques that no one else does. MK doesn't know. No one does. Now, I can believe that because it's established (not just in the show, but in general) that Wukong is super old and has been around for a while. Did he just perform a spell we've never seen him perform before? Yup. Does it ruin my immersion and frustrate me? Nope, because it's been established that Wukong's been around for awhile and has definitely picked up on things.

Another example.

MK is considerably younger and is being taught by Wukong. He's learning spells and magic as he goes. We don't see this as much as we'd like because the plot has to happen, but MK will suddenly get powers like cloud-somersaulting and whatever else because it "looks cool" or "he had enough determination to do it"

But MK doesn't have years of experience and the show hasn't shown me Wukong teaching MK how to cloud-somersault. So i'm left to assume that some lessons happened on the back end or that MK taught himself. And that's well and fine, but then we run into a problem: then MK can teach himself to do anything.

Now, if MK can teach himself to do anything, then, whenever the plot demands, MK can get a new power or whatever. MK can get whatever magical spell is needed in the moment to overcome the bad guy and save the day. That might not seem like a big deal, but it does several things that lead to issues.

It lowers the stakes considerably because MK can get out of any situation that he's in. We have no fear of him being killed or whatever. He can learn whatever power or magic is needed.

There is no emotional story beats of MK needing to learn a specific spell or work hard or try again to beat someone. All we're waiting on is for him to learn the right spell in the moment in order to get over this hurdle. there is no contention. there is no tension. it'll be fine.

I am all here for light magic systems subsisting off of whimsy and fun and good times. Sure! I'd be much more happy if the light magic system only applied to characters who have the experience and knowledge to back it up. That's the difference. And since that isn't being followed, then yeah, I want a hard magic system. I guess.

And it doesn't have to be this big thing! It can be bare bones like Avatar the Last Airbender. Simple rules. Small things. just something to provide structure. Because we, the audience, have been with MK since the beginning of his journey as the Monkie Kid. And I don't know when this dude learned how to cloud-somersault and that bothers

the fuck

outta me.

[eomma-jpeg]

silly in the meadow info that was never explicitly mentioned in the fic (they may make an appearance later but they just never came up in the Big Boy)

Knives has 5 scars: 2 in his shoulders, one over his heart, and 2 in the center of his thighs. This is pulled directly from the fight in the anime !!! Vash shoots him 5 times

Milly and Knives don't have sex for..... a while after they start their relationship. I have always felt that Knives struggles with both emotional and physical intimacy and has made exceptions for Milly,,,, but sex is... its too much that early on. He almost feels unworthy or scared he'll ruin something or hurt her T-T

Pet names are always hard for me to write bc they seem so cheesy to me. I think Knives refers to Milly by her name for so long, but he does eventually start calling her "my love"

I think milly would use cute country pet names such as: pumpkin, sweetheart, honey, hon, babe. But more often than not she just calls him Nai

I'd like to think that Knives grows his hair out at least once... and Milly just... its almost too much for her. The waves and the black stripe and when he puts his hair up ? RIP Milly Thompson

So there's 5 boys and 5 girls in Milly's family, and they're named in a fun order

Girls in age order

Amy (Amelia)

Ellie (Eloise)

Penny (Penelope)

Jenny (Jennifer)

Milly (Millicent)

Boys

Arthur

Emerson

Phillip

Jonathan

Marcus

I did this bc im from Utah and big families almost always have silly naming conventions hehe

Penny works the farm mostly bc she likes doing it but also bc her husband passed away soon after their daughter was born. Secret little behind the scenes tragedy (his name was Hiro!)

I think Vash and Meryl leave soon after the ending of in the meadow. They probably stay for the next cycle and up until the market... but Meryl is getting anxious. She doesn't particularly like to stay in one spot (and Vash unsurprisingly is returning to his old habits of wanting to wander)

Milly and Knives leave too but idk how far in the future.

@veilder got me thinking about plant ethics because that is talked about in trimax but the squad never gets to truly talk about it in 98, so I love the idea of Meryl and Milly going into journalism and traveling around to report on the sentience and incredible partnership humans have with plants.

Veil also convinced and solidified the idea of the twins becoming plant engineers (?) And traveling with the girls to help their advocacy and show how to properly treat plants !!!

Roberto is Milly’s Mom's brother,,, so Melinda's maiden name is De Niro

Oh ! I have hc heights !

Knives and Vash - 6'2

Milly - 5'11 (nearly 6 feet)

Meryl - 4'11

Wolfwood - 6'1

Meryl knows that Knives' real name is Nai but ABSOLUTELY refuses to use it. She can recognize her privilege

One day, Knives says Meryl's first name quietly to her with this like stupid bratty grin on his face and Meryl is about to go screaming around the lot that Knives said her name, but then Knives says "whos gonna believe you" and Meryl just 💀💀💀 (please refer to this clip)

Knives is the little spoon (most of the time)

This will become evident with a one-shot I've written, but when Knives has night terrors or panic attacks he just crawls up on Milly and lays his head on her heart. It's a steady beat that calms his racing mind (and her body is soft....)

In accordance with recent Tristamp concept art and ideas... the twins are genderless, but are certainly masculine presenting. This means that genitalia is .... different. Please refer to @millionsknives for their sketches

This also means that I don't think bio children are plausible for either couple... and that might be a hurdle that milly has to jump. And perhaps !!! Because of this!!! They do adopt a few kids

It takes Knives a minute, but when he finally feels like Milly's family is his family,,,, all of those nieces and nephews are His Children and if anything happens to them you have Him to deal with.

I do have names, ages, and birthdays for all of the members of millys family lol

I doubt I'll ever write this, but I think one day Knives reveals some pieces of his plant nature to Milly, like wings and feathers and milly is just ENAMORED. He's so pretty already and with the added softness of feathers and wings????? Milly is done for

This is like.... a trigun hc (not just itm) that I have in my mind but the boys have 3 sets of wings. One main pair on their shoulder blades, another medium pair that sprout at their mid back and a small pair at the base of their spine. Some of Vashs wings are damaged bc of the scarring on his back.

I think if there's ever a proper marriage proposal, it'll be under the apple tree. And milly will be the one to propose

I won't reveal too much bc I would like to write this but.... but Knives is there when Milly dies. That is all I will say.

Thank you for indulging me and if I remember more I will be sure to add them lol.

Also ! If you wanna share your own hc with me plsssss do. Stick em in the tags, replies, or my inbox. I will graciously accept them 💖💖💖

[2n2n]

Thinking about escapism

I have been dwelling on Picture Perfect lately… it really is a lovely arc.

A lot of times… anti-escapism messages are very bleak and boring, and they don't really relay any kind of 'reason to stay in the real world'… they are either harsh, "you just have to grow up and accept reality, become a normal businessman" (I'd argue this is more common in anime/manga, though, with emphasis on childish phases, reluctance to engage in reality etc), or, more often (in American media), through contrivances, the world of 'fantasy', 'getting what you want' will simply be inexplicably more punishing and dangerous than the 'real world'… I would say both takes typically see & depict the escapist as childish and immature, refusing to accept simple hurdles in life (which they must learn to deal with).

continuing beneath the cut. Gonna ramble a lot.

Let's take Coraline as a western example of the latter category. Coraline is listless & neglected. Her friends are far away, her parents are inattentive, her mom is tired & catty, her new home is unfamiliar and scary. The lesson in the Other is simply one of, "you should be more GRATEFUL for what you HAVE, you'll be GRATEFUL if you were PUT INTO MORTAL PERIL HORROR MOVIE SCARY SITUATION" …. this is often ah, the way of … kids movies …! Not much actual chewing done on 'escapism', other than an almost conservative "just be glad you have a roof over your head, it's not that bad!" and in the worst case scenario, a kind of "don't bother fantasizing or dreaming of better; the world is hopeless by design". It Would Be Worse To Runaway To Be a Pirate, Actually. A lot of ah, more serious media, like an Oyasumi Punpun, or an Aku no Hana, on the former end, have a nihilistic view of reality being a harsh inevitability, and it being a childish thing, the wish for better, or the wish for love, or escape at all. There is often a letting go of passion/intensity, and an acceptance for mediocrity. The fantasies you have when young, are crushed into pulp by reality.

That is not to say I dislike those stories (I actually like them all!), but I think the least of what they are doing is trying to discuss fantasy or the purpose of it … or fantasy as something very layered.

it's kinda rare something goes into the actual limits of a fantasy! or the reasons for its occurrence...

As an artist… I spent my life making stories, fictions, other lives, embodied those. I did my best to imagine a kind of world, a kind of dynamic, what could happen between two people … and you know !!! what !!! IT WAS ALL VERY WEAK, VERY THREADBARE, COMPARED TO THE ACTUAL WONDER AND EUPHORIA OF FALLING IN LOVE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!! My fantasies-- SUCKED!!!! Because my mind SUCKED!!!! It was feeble, it couldn't imagine real adoration, acceptance, peace, serenity! I could not make up satisfaction, not really! Because I had never felt it, I couldn't simulate it with any depth!

There's such a cool thing about Picture Perfect, where, for Nene-chan, it's not the rejection of the world on the pure premise "it is fake" or "I do not like it" or "it is bad for me"-- the world will keep her safe, and it will tailor to her. The world is not evil. No giant spiders will come eat her skull suddenly. There will be no flying monkies throwing rocks at her…

but... she wants to see what will become of her real relationship. She likes the real Hanako, and, it is hope and aspiration, wishes for future experiences (naive as they can be) that make Nene-chan want to abandon the fantasy. The fantasy doesn't have to be bad … she can admit, it is nice. It can be beautiful, it can make her happy.

Hanako can make a lovely fantasy for her-- and, he wanted to … I can understand why Hanako takes it personally, as Nene-chan rejects his world. "I made this for you, to make you happy. Do you hate it?" … you can think of it as Hanako writing a story for Nene-chan, and writing his role in it. He thinks things like… "In the story I make, I'll be more polite to her. I won't make rude jokes. I'll be sociable, and have friends, and know all of her friends, too I'll be alive, and in her grade. I'll be charming, and, in my story, I'll just ask her out; I won't beat around the bush forever. I'll be athletic and a good student. I want her to have that kind of fantasy-life. I want to be that kind of fantasy-boy, for just a moment, for her."

It's coming from a sincere place… it's even coming from a place of self-hatred, for Hanako. Picture Perfect exposes that Hanako, for all his playfulness and sexual harassment, he doesn't actually think he's a good boyfriend. Obviously! He's a ghost. He tries to modify towards how he thinks Nene-chan's actual fantasy would go. It's not Hanako's dream world. It's the dream world he imagines Nene-chan wants.

If we want to put it in literal terms to relate to, you could think of Hanako as a writer, composing a story in which he is dreamy, and everything the girl he likes wants. Nene-chan sees this story, and says, "the boy I like isn't here."

She likes, HANAKO! the reality of him! Everything that he is! Jealous, possessive, sexually-harrassing, needy, cryptic, obtuse, condescending… that is, what she WANTS! REALLY! All of that!!

Nene-chan does not have to hate the world Amane made… she can admire that he made it for her. It's a sweet gesture, it is a sweet fantasy. But, she wants to live in the real world, with him. It's really true… that, if you love somebody, anything is fine-- all of those nasty thorns of reality, you want them, if it means you can be with the person you love. Hanako really can't imagine Nene-chan feeling something like that … but then she proves it, later, in the Far Shore, that she'd give up her entire life for Hanako, her every living luxury, her entire future...!

There was a period of time with my husband, before he was my husband, where, we didn't live in a great way, and, I knew it would be hard for both of us for a while, but … I would have lived in a cardboard box with him, I would eat nothing but beans and rice for weeks. I wouldn't want to be in a mansion with sashimi every day, if he wasn't there. I spent a long time not understanding that ... and I wanted him to be with people who could do more for him, financially, who could give him stability, running water haha, a secure roof. I had to come to understand how little any of that matters... love kind of makes the burdens of life un-burdenly.

Anyway... if we push the metaphor, the idea of being a writer composing romantic fantasies to please another-- then concept of escapism becomes both an obvious artistic beauty to admire and appreciate as a gesture, as part of their love, but ultimately, you don't want them to stow all of their feelings away into a fiction.

Furthermore... Hanako is comfortable finally pursuing romance with Nene-chan under the guise of false character, because it allows him to continue to hate himself, and believe loving him isn't a goal she meaningfully has. By creating a fake version of himself and making Nene-chan love it, he can rest well in his complexes, "ah, I was right, of course, she wants all of these things! These things I can't be, and can't do! ha-ha". In his mind, it must have been such a pleasant harsh reality, a good final note to end this relationship on (as he planned to abandon the world!)-- because in his mind, Nene-chan wouldn't miss the rude, dead, sexually harassing ghost. In his mind she'd be desperate for this normal boyfriend. You can see how convenient that is, as a final note.

Fantasies... you can use them to hurt yourself! You can make something contrary to your nature. You can make something laughably impossible to achieve, and that can be the point. Maybe you can make something too 'nice' for someone like yourself to have.

Rejection of his crafted Amane has layered pain for Hanako. Despite the point of this exercise, it still feels like rejection, when she doesn't fall head over heals for his presentation. If you wrote a romantic story for your friend, and, they rejected it ... it kind of wouldn't matter if you wrote it contrary to your heart, if you were only trying to please the idea of them with it. Don't you like it? I made it for you ...

It is beautiful that .... Nene-chan does still see Hanako in the obfuscating Amane, even as she is moving away from him. Of course... he's himself, and... as writers, as artists, we can't help but place ourselves in our work, we can't change our own voice so effectively. I like that aspect! I like how much distinction he wants there to be between Hanako and Amane. Himself, his character. I like how little there really is.

When we reach the crux of the arc, we get to the most complex layer:

The fictions we weave interpersonally, the selves we present for others to like. Hanako, he's so many layers deep. Poor Nene-chan takes the agonizing thought so gracefully.

We really don't entirely know the true Hanako, Yugi Amane, now, do we? What would he want? I don't believe any of this is his fantasy. It is a trap for Nene-chan.

I don't think what Hanako wants, would involve quite so many people, and so much normalcy. I don't think he'd be friends with Lemon and Akane. I don't think so much of this would be there. I don't think even Amane himself could tell you, what his ultimate fantasy world would be, if it was only to please himself.

Anyway....

As Shijima-san and Mei explore, art and fantasy can fuel our hope, and our desire to live. Shijima-san becomes bitter and resentful over how useless and meaningless fantasies were, as things that do not change reality. The manga doesn't feel that is true-- it's not pointless, it is not worthless, it is not meaningless, it's just also not all you should have. That's a far more sympathetic and nuanced view on fantasy than a lot of things offer .... but like, this is a fucking romance manga about being in love with a ghost, of course we can't demean the idea of a whimsical fantasy. We have to value it, to make such a story!! There is some part of ourselves in the fantasies we make, and we have to have them! It's not a nihilistic harsh reality story about needing to accept being a wagecuck. It is a story about how belief, wishes, and hope can shape things around us!!! Fantasies have a place in that... but they can't be used to confirm oblivion!!

Tsukasa has such an interesting role.... as someone who will allow you to access your present wish and actualize it, to confront if it's what you really want, or if you'll regret it. He's such the epitome of, seeking to get to the center of everyone. Sometimes wishes or fantasies come from a place of resentment, self hatred, hopelessness, agony....

sometimes a fantasy represents and upholds our helplessness, rather than our hopes. That's so interesting, isn't it? I think a lot of Picture Perfect represents Amane's present hopelessness towards his reality, but in the package of a sweet and beautiful fantasy-world.

We should just keep going until we can finally fantasize something better.

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 07

Yeah, me neither, kid. Kind of weird that we're seven episodes in and we still don't know anything. I'm a little concerned, honestly.

This is another Misato episode. Actually, this one might be even more of a Misato episode than the last one, which is fine by me. This show had some trouble getting out of the gate, but now we're cooking. Cooking toast, that is, because that's what Shinji and Misato have for breakfast every morning. Wait... I misread my notes. Shinji has toast. Misato gets toasted. On beer.

No, wait, she's having toast too! Good, that explains why she has that second beer after Shinji leaves for school. Gotta wash it down. Shinji expresses disapproval for her slovenly, beer-swilling lifestyle, which is a big change from when he just passively agreed with everything she said. Misato is pleased that he's gotten more comfortable expressing himself lately.

Shinji is also embarassed at the prospect of Misato going to his school for some parent-teacher conference thing. Misato is essentially his guardian at this point, even though his actual dad is Misato's boss. I guess he would have signed off on this, since it seems clear he doesn't care.

All the boys at school think she's the coolest thing ever. She's a sexy lady and she's the NERV Ops Director. Shinji acts like they'd see her differently if they knew what she was like at home, but they don't care. Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney are like "you keep the Earth safe, and we'll take care of Misato." Big Rigg Mahoney knows what's up. If I had me a freak like Misato, I think I could learn to live with empty beer cans. The penguin droppings might be a problem, but I think I'd get over it every night if you know what I mean.

We don't get a lot of information on the Evas in this one, but I'll go over what we do get. They're making more of them. Ritsuko and Misato talk in an elevator about the repairs on 00 and 01, and they speak of Unit 02 like it'll be along any day now. On a plane ride, Gendo Ikari speaks of Units 06 and 08, so there's plans to manufacture even more of them, though finding pilots seems to be the main hurdle.

Shinji also learns about Second Impact, the event that changed the world so much. First Impact was the hypothetical collision of the Earth with a protoplanet called Theia, which led to the formation of the Earth's Moon. Second Impact is widely known to be a meteor collision with Antarctica. According to the test in this screenshot, the meteor was only 4 inches wide, but it was traveling at 95% the speed of light, making the impact powerful enough to destroy Antarctica and cause upheavals that wiped out half of the world's population.

However, Misato tells Shinji that it wasn't actually a meteor at all, but the First Angel. It came to Earth on September 13, 2000, then exploded for some unknown reason, taking Antarctica with it.

NERV's mission, then, is to prevent a Third Impact. The Angels are still showing up on Earth, and if another one self-destructs in the same fashion, then it could cause even more devasation. So the only chance humanity has it to kill the things before they get the chance to explode.

Just to recap, we met the third Angel in Episode 1, and it self-destructed in Episode 2, but Shinji had nearly defeated it by that point, so maybe that's why it didn't produce the same destructive force as the first. And we met the fourth and fifth Angels in Episodes 3 and 5. No word yet on the second Angel, but it must have shown up in 2000, since everyone in Episode 1 talks about how there hadn't been an Angel sighting in fifteen years. It's also not clear how it was defeated, since Eva units weren't available for combat missions then.

My guess is that the second angel was susceptible to conventional weapons. That's my working theory on these things. Whatever they're up to, they seem to adapt and get more dangerous each time. The first one blew up shortly after it arrived on Earth, which might have been an accident, or some bad reaction to Earth's environment. The second one must have been killed by humans, which demonstrated that it could be done and it was a viable way to stop them from exploding.

The third angel was impervious to conventional weapons, requiring an Eva to defeat it. The fourth one... was basically the same deal, which is why Episode 3 kind of sucks. The fifth one targeted and disabled the Eva before it could get in range, requiring two Evas and a new-fangled weapon to defeat it. So the sixth one will probably be even harder to stop, which is why Gendo Ikari is trying to convince the U.N. to increase NERV's budget.

Meanwhile, Misato and Ritsuko are headed for Old Tokyo, where the Strategic Self-Defense Force are holding a demonstration. The SSDF are the guys who had that positron cannon Misato borrowed for her hail Mary play in Episode 6. Old Tokyo was destroyed in the chaos that followed Second Impact, but I guess someone decided to build a convention center out here on the remains.

I'm pretty sure the SSDF is just a continuation of the real-world Japanese Self Defense Force, but in this show they're mainly focused on finding ways to defend against the Angels, just like NERV. I mean, I guess that makes sense, given how the last three Angel attacks have been on Japanese soil. And their positron cannon did the trick, so they're not exactly bad at this sort of thing. This time, they're unveiling a new weapon, which is their own giant robot, Jet Alone.

NERV was invited to attend the ceremony, and Ritsuko takes the opportunity to question the premise of Jet Alone. It's powered by an on-board nuclear reactor, and it has no pilot. Everything is done by remote control, which seems like a really bad idea if they lose connection with the thing and the reactor melts down.

The SSDF guy laughs off her concerns, and attacks the Evangelion robots instead. They're powered by electrical cables, which is kind of impractical, and their pilots are subjected to intense stress and suffer mental instability. Also, the Evas are incredibly expensive, and every time the world increases NERV's budget, there's less money to care for the humanity they're trying to save.

So Jet Alone seems like a perfect solution. The tech is cheaper, there's no pilot to put in harm's way, and I guess they think it can hold its own in a fight, although that remains to be seen.

Misato keeps her cool at the dinner but gets furious afterward. By contrast...

Ritsuko calmly assures Misato that Jet Alone is nothing to worry about, as she burns one of the handouts they got at the dinner.

I'm pretty sure Ritsuko is awesome, but she really hasn't done a lot in this show other than provide exposition. She's practically the narrator in a lot of scenes, but damn. She can burn my papers anytime.

Soon enough, it's time to see Jet Alone in action. He looks a little primitive compared to the Evas, but I don't know, this thing kind of reminds me of Big O. I could see it getting its own show.

All they really do with it is have it walk forward, but for some reason they can't get it to stop, so it just keeps going and steps on the SSDF's control center.

And that's basically Jet Alone's whole deal. It just keeps walking in this same direction. Also its nuclear reactor is experiencing a pressure buildup, so yeah, this is turning out exactly like Ritsuko predicted at dinner. Maybe a little too exactly...

Anyway, the coolest thing about Jet Alone is its arms, which sort of dangle at its sides like tassels. I assume this is designed so it can wrap its arms around a hostile Angel like an octopus, but when it's just walking like this the arms flop back and forth and it looks adorable. He's just a struttin' and a strollin'.

Misato immediately takes charge, since the thing is headed for Atsugi and its reactor could go critical at any moment. She demands the SSDF give her an emergency shutdown password for the thing, but no one on-site has authorization to do that. So they call the authorities, but none of them want to take the responsibility without a written request. Disgusted, Misato decides to tackle the matter herself, and calls in Shinji and Eva 01.

Her plan is to just get inside JA and shut it down from the inside. For that, she needs a skintight suit to protect her from the radiation, and Eva 01 will get her close enough to the hatch to get inside. Once she's in, Shinji will have to try to hold Jet Alone so it can't move any closer to a populated area.

And Shinji seems to manage this pretty well, except he can't stop the reactor from exploding. That won't hurt Shinji, since the Eva can take it, but he's still worried about Misato, who will definitely be killed if she can't shut JA down.

Misato makes it inside, but the password to shut down the reactor (Hope), doesn't work. There's no time to figure out why that is, so instead she goes for broke and tries to shove the control rods into place manually. At least, I think that's what she's doing.

Fortunately, when she shoves one of them in, the others all retract with it. I'm not sure she knew that would happen, but it works. The red lights turn green, and Jet Alone stands down.

I'll go ahead and say it: This is actually really good fan service, as Misato promised in the preview for this episode. She said that a couple of times before, and never really delivered. I mean, she took a bath in Episode 2, but big deal. Most of the time she's wearing pretty normal clothing, and she's covered from neck to toe. Meanwhile, they keep showing Rei in various states of undress, or in her skintight pilot suit, which is the sort of thing you'd expect from fan service, except Rei's fourteen so that's creepy as hell.

But Misato wearing a skintight costume while she heroically dives into an exploding robot to shove its control rods into place? That's actually pretty sexy. YMMV, of course.

Shinji calls her success a miracle, but Misato is suspicious that it might not be as miraculous as it seems. Someone must have set all this up.

Later, Ritsuko reports on the incident to Gendo Ikari, and she says everything went exactly as planned, save for Misato's daring shutdown of the reactor. So it looks like NERV sabotaged Jet Alone, probably to discredit the SSDF and convince the UN that NERV deserves whatever funding they ask for. And since Misato's role in this was not part of the plan, it sounds like Ikari intended for Jet Alone to explode. That's why the password didn't work.

The only lingering question is whether Gendo intended for Jet Alone to explode in the middle of nowhere, or once it reached a populated area. That I feel the need to ask tells you everything you need to know about Gendo Ikari.

The next day, Suzuhara and Big Rigg Mahoney are still horny for Misato, and Shinji is still trying to convince them that she's not as cool as she seems. He tells them about how sloppy and silly she is at home, and they realize he doesn't know how lucky he is. Shinji's the only one who gets to see that side of her, and that's because Misato allows only him to see it. That means she thinks of him as family.

And there you have it. I guess this is a big eureka moment for Shinji, and maybe it helps him understand why Rei and his dad get along so well. Anyway, the next episode is supposed to have Asuka Langley in it, so maybe we'll finally find out what she's all about...

[onceuponalegendbg]

Alright, so. I've had some time. Let's see if I can gather my thoughts.

I always have this problem with series finales. This feeling that I wanted so much more than the show was able or willing to give. I think it's because I just don't like the idea that shows have to end, even if I know that they obviously should. I had that feeling with most shows I've watched that did end up reaching their natural conclusions. So trying to separate that knee-jerk response from my genuine feelings is a bit of a hassle.

I think a lot of my complaints really just boil down to the old tried and true 'we needed more time' honestly. Or things I'd rather have spent time on than what they did. I understand, for instance, that the hextech/arcane was central to the main plot, but honestly I was way more invested in the personal dramas than whatever was going on with that. And that's not really the shows fault, that's just my preference.

This one might be divisive but I think there were too many music video segments. Don't get me wrong, it was all great but... it also just felt like maybe we didn't need two in every episode. I think in the first season only eps 7 and 9 had more than one song (technically episode 1 as well if you count Powder singing at the beginning).

I still don't like Jayce. ....I couldn't tell you why I'm so apathetic to him, I just am. Every time he's on screen I can feel myself checking out. It's wild.

Let's see.... I think that's it....

Okay, so on to the good stuff. Honestly it's more of the same from season 1: The animation, the music, the characters, the story, the way each act was designed specifically to hurt me personally for some reason.

Jinx's arc especially was so fascinating to watch over these two seasons. They really took some turns with her I couldn't have called and I think they nailed it. She's not dead, by the way. I'm willing to bet money on that.

I love Vi and Cait, both together and as individuals. As someone with younger siblings, Vi's relationship with Jinx was enthralling. Imagining being put in any of those scenarios really just broke my heart and made me want to hug all of my siblings. Vi in a lot of ways was cursed like Jinx. Every good thing she tried to do, every attempt to fix something, to hold on to something, was usually violently torn from her. Vi has such a big heart, and watching it get stomped on over and over was not fun.

And Cait. Oh my girl Caitlyn. She is definitely an element of the story I think needed just a bit more time. I'm not gonna sit here and say that the writers handled her return from hell perfectly. There's definitely some hurdles we jumped two at a time, but I also think they left enough for the audience to pick up on that it's not entirely jarring. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, her having a few months to distance herself from the immediate fallout of Cass' death probably did help with perspective, and then it was just a matter of finding a way to break off from Ambessa without getting killed all while still wanting Jinx dead. There's a lot of complicated emotions and logistics that needed to be juggled with her storyline this season but overall... I think I'm okay with it. It's not my favorite storyline this season (despite being the one I was most looking forward to going in) but it's good. I see it. I get it.

Ekko, my underappreciated king and ultimate best boy. I love this kid so much. He's never done anything wrong in his life, ever, and I will die on this hill. ....No but for real, I love Ekko and I wish he could have been in the show more.

Mel was also a surprise hit for me. I liked her in season 1, no doubt, already in the first act of this season I could not wait to see how it was all going to play out with her mom. While her storyline was obviously setting up for future installments in this world, I got to say, seeing her go all out was fantastic.

You want to know who I genuinely did not expect to fall in love with so much this season? Sevika. My girl. Again, I liked her in season 1, but she really stepped up this season and every scene with her (and Jinx) had my rapt attention. Sneaky fav of the show goes to Sevika.

I don't really have many thoughts on Viktor. I'm not apathetic to him like Jayce but I also just... wasn't entirely interested in his plotline. Like I said earlier, the hextech/arcane stuff wasn't my focus and that's essentially a lot of what his story was. The visuals with him were gorgeous though.

So, yeah. I really loved this show. It's not perfect, not even season 1 was perfect, but with how much time and effort and ambition was put into this thing, I'd say the crew have something they can truly be proud of. I had a good time, and for me that's all that actually matters.

[butchreg]

personal venty post trying to word something that i cannot stop thinking about .. allusions to sui , no pressure at all 2 read just .. thinking i suppose

i feel scared every time i realize im NINETEEN now.. i think i will be forever trapped mentally at sixteen && it scares me that im physically getting older when i'm starting to worry i will mentally never get over the hurdle of sixteen. i feel so inexperienced with everything people my age are doing && have already done && i keep having to fix it when someone asks me my age because when im on autopilot or heavily dissociated which i am around 94% of the time i automatically go "sixteen" but i'm not actually a kid anymore. i'm really struggling with uni because i feel incapable of being an adult && making my own decisions i can't do anything without a real person helping me because i'm still stuck at the age i thought i'd die at. i didn't plan for or ever imagine myself getting to nineteen && im so horribly stunted emotionally && even physically in some ways because i never really got older than that. i feel utterly terrified that i'm getting closer && closer to being a Real adult when i feel younger && younger every day.

[gaybd1]

Tell us about your extensive list of injuries!

ok this is probably why my body is so shitty now lol

like idk if this is A Lot but also the doctor i had my whole time in America's philosophy was "give it time and your body will heal it" and idk if it was him or my shitty dad who just like didn't know about physical therapy lol but yeah

feel free to use any of this as fanfic inspo lmao

I don't think anything here is TOO graphic but, y'know, take care of yourselves

I was BORN with a broken collarbone because i was... 10.5 pounds as a baby? Couldn't fit through the hole lolol like i guess the DELIVERY took 2.5 hours

this isn't an injury but feels like it belongs here... i have a bleeding disorder so when i was a kid between like 3-5 years old i'd get these TERRIBLE nosebleeds that, no lie, would fill up a bath towel. so i had two nose cauterizations when i was 5 and 6. so. surgery.

Many many ankle sprains lol

In... Grade 8? I broke BOTH of my ankles at the same time bc i tried to jump hurdles in track AFTER having already pulled a muscle. so i landed terribly wrong... lol they had me doing shot put the rest of the season bc that was the only thing i didnt have to move my legs so much doing

somehow i think... i was mostly okay through high school... somehow? (maybe not i dont remember a lot of high school lol)

ok so in college i worked at this Religiously Traumatizing summer camp and i did all the like Carrying Heavy Stuff Around jobs but i slipped in the mud from standing height and slammed RIGHT down on my right knee and i swear i landed on a rock or something? yeahhhhh that's my most fucked up one still, it NEVER healed right and actually the way they had me using crutches for that one really messed up my OTHER knee too

about... 6 years ago right before i moved to asia i worked in construction sales (fucking loved that job, i was so buff driving forklifts and tossing around bags of cement) and i was lifting a 14-foot 4x6 WET pressure-treated beam, so we're talking like... idk that's gotta be 30kg, am i exaggerating? (on my own, as I probably shouldn't have done) over my head and DROPPED IT ON MY FACE. HUGE laceration and concussion

ANYWAY i was sleeping in my sister's top bunk at the time lmao and so the next morning I FELL OUT OF IT AND LANDED ON THE SAME DAMN LEFT COLLARBONE I BROKE AS A BABY. snapped the thing clean in half. waited a month for it to heal on its own, it didnt, and i needed surgery for them to break it again and fix it. I still have the plate and screws in there. but now that whole area is kind of fucked muscle-wise too

OH i almost forgot i got in a scooter accident a few months ago, major head injury there. like passed out for 10 minutes kind of head injury! but also i cut my finger like right down to the bone so that was... fun to heal...

so yeah... is it a lot? idk lol but that's all of them i think

[alterchaos]

Welcome to Alter Chaos!

click "keep reading" for the table of contents as well as an intro, about info, and a link to my side blog

Have you ever listened to a good song and imagined yourself in an epic fight scene? That is exactly how Alter Chaos was created! Music has been a huge form of escapism for me in my struggles as a teen and even now as a young adult. For over ten years, I slowly built up a Sonic au in my head with an attempt at connecting all the games, shows, comics, etc. I imagined myself as part of the action, using my daydreaming to cope and even work through many of the problems I faced in my daily life. For instance, if I got into a fight, I would pick a character who was similar and imagine how I'd work things out with them before addressing real life again. It was my safe space and one I had absolutely NO intention of sharing.

Well...we all know how that turned out, right?

In 2023, I finally caved and mentioned my little self-insert au to a group I was in at the time. With some encouragement, I drew a few concepts...then some more...then it sort of just...came together. When I became serious about it, I considered for a while if I should've replaced my oc with another character, not wanting to turn my story into a journey of self-aggrandizement. Ultimately though, I decided that I wanted to keep the self-insert element and use it as a way to self-reflect and allow others to insert themselves as well. It helped motivate me to be realistic about both my strengths and my flaws as a person, and I believe it's helped me grow as a result.

Despite the many hurdles this series has faced over the course of its lifetime from struggles in my confidence as a writer to finding my voice and identity, I'm proud of what it's become today. When I think about it, the ups and downs it's faced since the very first chapter are so reminiscent of what life is, and that's the exact kind of energy I wanted to capture. It's what makes life beautiful...meaningful...and I hope that this series can give out that same feeling to all of you.

Thank you all so much for reading Alter Chaos and giving me the chance to share stories and messages so near and dear to my heart.

Please enjoy the show!

A BIT OF CAUTION:

This series is rated PG-13. While individual chapters will have warnings, know that this series as a whole will involve some heavy content from blood and body horror to depictions of bullying and depression. The purpose of this kind of content is not to be as dark or angsty as possible, rather to show real struggles and ways they can be managed or overcome. That and...I'm a bit of a horror fan (especially in special effects and makeup).

Reader discretion is always advised.

Also for anyone worried, I don't do smut. I enjoy a good ship or romance but we're keeping it cute here. No unnecessary melodrama either. I'm a fan of healthy, loving partnerships, however that presents itself. And no, my oc is NOT shipped with Sonic...or any Mobians for that matter...that'd be weird (raises eyebrow at 06).

A BIT ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I'll make this short and sweet. Hi everyone! I'm Eve (the one and only haha). I'm only kidding. Writing these stories has actually been a very humbling experience for me. There's always a new technique to learn and incredible artists to be inspired by. Seriously, the Sonic Community has some TALENTED individuals! ♡

Let's see...I guess I should give some sort of list or blurb to help you all get to know me outside of my character. While she's accurate in as many ways as possible, she's more reflective of me as a kid and, believe me, I've changed a LOT since I was a kid...I think. Here's some basic rapid-fire facts to help:

Star Sign: Taurus (yup, I'm a stubborn one)

Favorite Color: a light, rosy pink

Personal Style: casual but cute

Favorite Food: mashed potatoes and mac n' cheese (so cozy...)

Favorite Movie: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Favorite Videogame: Sonic Unleashed/Kingdom Hearts 2

Favorite Sonic Character: Silver and Jason's Sonic

Sonic Character I'm Most Like: Tails. I'm a complete nerd who can ramble for hours and lose myself in a project.

Favorite Sonic Moment: the "Live Life" speech

What Got Me into Art: I wanted to be a Disney animator as a kid

Biggest Strengths: humor/perseverance/compassion (p.s. I am the self-proclaimed "pun queen". Challenge me if you dare.)

Biggest Struggles: self-doubt/difficulty trusting others/social anxiety

Weird Fact: I have a near-photographic memory. Between that and my love of chocolate, I'm basically just Chip if he, like, ate the camera or something.

You can follow my regular Tumblr here for content outside of Alter Chaos -> THE CHAO GARDEN

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

💎 BEGINNINGS 💎 💎🌌 THE SPIRIT'S REQUIEM SAGA 🌌💎 💎🏙 ALTER EARTH SAGA 🌆💎

💎🌎 ALTER EARTH ADVENTURES 🌎💎 💎🚀 METAREX SAGA 🌸💎 💎🎸 A HERO'S PURPOSE SAGA 🎻💎 💎🖤 SHADOW SAGA 💛💎

💎🌎 MOBIUS ADVENTURES ACT 1 🌎💎 💎🔥 SEVEN RINGS SAGA 🌟💎 💠🌕 THE MOONBEAST SAGA 🌙💎

STAY TUNED FOR MORE

FIRST CHAPTER: THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND

LATEST CHAPTER: TEARS