#and so they stay feeling fresh imo

[crehador]

the new reverse 1999 event story is SO good!! i'm still blown away by the storytelling in this game, it's rare for me to keep reading everything after the first few... days (lol) of picking up a gacha but from day one to now i've been reading all the things

i think while the stories aren't necessarily super special/original/revolutionary or anything like that, they're nice and comfortable executions of familiar tropes (especially well done in this event where it's clearly deliberately tropey) that i really enjoy

and imo the translation has improved again, especially in the early chapters of the story. the first i think... two chapters? were like nearly perfect and a pleasure to read

there were still typos and errors littered throughout, but i feel like they've grown much more scarce. so really kudos to the team for making improvements on that front, and hopefully they keep it up!

(eta: unfortunately the tooth fairy side story still seems quite bad in terms of translation... fingers crossed these don't get neglected in the future because they seem pretty important for character lore)

[myusuchaa]

ikemen villains: my recs and route/suitor rankings ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

disclaimer: these are my opinions based on the current released routes in both ENG and JP. i tend to love dark psych thrillers, lots of angst and pining, great banter between characters/lively convos, and a captivating plot, so that's what influences my ranks~ will update with future releases

figured I’d post my thoughts here!! in case anyone is a bit newer to ikevil and is curious OR if anyone has similar interests as me I’d love to squeal about them with you!! ♡

₊˚ପ⊹ROUTE RANKINGS

rank is based on: written flow, plot, descriptive language and emotional pull, uniqueness

1. Elbert

2. Alfons

3. Roger

4. Ellis

5. William

6. Liam

7. Harrison

₊˚ପ⊹SUITOR RANKINGS

rank is based on: how much I fell for them, their likability, personality traits, inner monologues from his side stories, overall character story, their interactions with others

1. Elbert

2. Alfons

3. Ellis

4. Liam

5. Roger

6. Harrison

7. William

₊˚ପ⊹ROUTE RELEASE TIMELINE

Beginning trio (JP/ENG): William, Liam, Harrison

Aug. 1st (JP/ENG): Elbert

Nov. 14th (JP): Alfons

Mar. 19th (JP): Ellis

Jul. 23rd (JP): Roger

my thoughts & recs on each suitor's route (no spoilers)

William: such an interesting take on love. maybe because of his curse but his route is up there with feeling the most historical, period-piece fantasy like (along with elbie and roger imo). he's a very unique LI i honestly felt like his route would do well as a 3 episode anime OVA ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ i recommend him if you like a more undefined approach to love, contractual partnership, mature and refined guys and not-so-innocent MC's

Liam: a precious bb ahh, and his VA is so amazing at emotional inflections! liam really shines in being attentive to kate and to the other crown members, i loved how he treated her in his route. i recommend if you don't mind self-deprecating guys, if you like drama and whirlwind romance, and if you enjoy a relationship built on assurance.

Harrison: the best soft opening to ikevil imo. quite a tame route with very real world problems as opposed to dark fantasy. if anyone stays true to his self, it's harry! he has some funny one liners too lol. i recommend him if you like intelligent sarcastic LIs, you like noir crime vibes, and if you don't want a heavy read.

Elbert: i mean he is my oshi for a reason! every time i read his route i fall more in deep love.. the localization team did an amazing job w the translation. i think his POV stories are the best. they add so much to his qualities and i feel really boosts his story. i recommend his route if you love yearning, emotional understanding, tragedy, dark psych thrillers, and slow (but dramatic) burn stories

Alfons: i used to hate him with a passion... until i loved him. his route truly is the definition of "fuck around and find out" keeping you on your toes. i loved the depth he has and how dubious they made him. i recommend his route if you like word/roleplay, morally grey characters, if you like having to guess at things without ever being told the answer, and a "we shouldn't be doing this but.." kinda feeling

Ellis: this man had me doing mental gymnastics to understand his true motives and i looooved that. visuals are also top tier. what i noticed is his route really focuses on his time with kate and has a bit more of a mundane (as mundane can be in ikevil) plot compared to other routes. this let his interactions with kate shine. i recommend ellis if you like hidden duality in a suitor, puppy boys that will do anything for you, a love that feels like a warm blanket, and you're ok with no real character growth (conditional love)

Roger: honestly i put off his route cus i wasn't interested at first but by the third chapter i was like WOW this is a breath of fresh air. the writers showed UP for part 2, i love the new plot points introduced, and his interactions with kate are sooo good. i loved his letters too! i ended up finding him extremely supporting and with a slight gap moe which kept me interested. i recommend this route if you like stories that are plot AND character driven, back and forth banter between MC and LI, and a shojou traditional charismatic love!

[notmyprey]

Annon sent me an ask with a lot of Ninjagº sfw vore prompts, and this one caught my eye specifically, and I want to dedicate a post to it.

I dont have time to draw much, but yall can have a short story-

(Also, wanna preface this with: no, I dont ship Lloyd and Kai. They have a sibling bond imo, and idk it'd be kinda weird with the age gap for a lot of the show. But I'm not gonna send hate to those who do see it like that. Just know this is written with a sibling bond in mind.

Also, this is written abt Lloyd after he grew up and matured a bit. So like- season 5+ Lloyd)

Click

The sound was faint, yet Lloyd knew exactly what it meant. Drop, cover, and prey to the gods it wasn't aimed towards you. Not even a moment after he dove behind the nearest bolder did he hear the thundering boom followed by the bright flash. Wind rushed past him, throwing ash and debris his way. The deafening sound echoed through his very core. It never seemed to end, his body left still shaking minutes after it was done. The cavern bounced the noise, rolling it off one wall and onto the next. It felt like it lasted ages within the few minutes it actually occurred.

The fighting, the punching, the swords, and the guns, all of these never fazed him. But explosions? Those were his weaknesses. His mind would always race back to his past and, consequently, his father. Lloyd didnt know exactly why it reminded him of his dad, but the fact that, like his father, an explosion would hurt anyone, even those on its own side, seemed to be a part of it.

The cavern soon quieted down, but his fear did not. The images of his father still fresh in his mind. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of the haze he was in.

Him and Kai had gone into a cavern alone since there were 3 diverging paths. Up until now, we had only encountered arrow traps and small pits. But this? This was a new threat.

Was it over, the blast? He wondered, slowly inching towards the edge of the rock. He turned his head, looking for the brightness that would signal it was not over, yet all he was met with was dark.

He peered his head around the bolder, scanning for any sight of Kai. The smoke and ash coated his vision, making it ever more difficult to locate him. After a moment, though, he spotted Kai's fiery red suit. No matter how quickly he wanted to rush over to him, he needed to keep low as to breathe in the least amount of smoke, and he needed to scan for any more explosive traps. So, as such, he slowly inched his way along the cave floor.

By the time he made it to Kai, he could see Kai was in bad condition. His breathing was uneven, meaning he probably breathed in a lot of smoke and ash, and although he didn't seem to have any burns, he still had a lot of cuts and bruises from flying rocks.

Lloyd turned his gaze upward once more, showing the smoke had mostly cleared now. Normally, he would call Cole, Zane, or even Kai over, and one of them would be able to swallow whoever was hurt down. But now, there was no one else but him and the now injured Kai.

He forced his head back towards Kai, who had now opened his eyes. "Hey," Lloyd started, unsure of how to even approach this, "uh... how are you feeling."

A small smile tugged at Kai's lips, even through the pain. "I-", he devolved into a short coughing fit but slowly gained his ability to speak once more, "I have been better." He had to stop to take a breath after every word, something that worried Lloyd further.

Lloyd nodded and continued to fumble over his words. "I... I think it's maybe best... maybe if I..."

"It's ok, do what you have to do, kid." Kai gave a weak but reassuring smile, which gave Lloyd that little extra confidence he needed to continue. Kai knew what had to happen, and Lloyd did too. Kai couldn't stay on the ground here, and Lloyd couldn't carry him either for fear of hurting him further.

Taking a deep breath in, Lloyd stretched his arms out above Kai, holding his palms down, and his fingers stretched out as well. He softly recited the words taught to him. He himself had only done this twice before, but both times were in a controlled setting, and neither times had he actually been the one to eat the person that was shrunken down. Green light fluttered down from his palms, brushing downward with grace. As he finished, he saw Kai quickly start to shrink down.

Soon, Kai was a bit shorter than Lloyds hand from top to bottom. It was strange, seeing Kai so small and fragile. In his mind, Kai was his stronger older brother, the one who had always taken care of him. And now, Lloyd had to be the one to take care of Kai.

He pried Kai off the ground, gently rolling him into his hands and carefully curling his fingers a bit to create a barrier so Kai wouldn't roll immediately off his hands. He lifted Kai to his face, prompting a small groan to come from Kai, who was probably in a lot of pain now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

Now that he was face to face with Kai, Lloyd felt the need to say something. Cole and Jay normally said some sort of joke before eating someone, and Zane normally comforted them, but Kai, he would say something motivational. Perhaps that's why Lloyd always gave so many motivational speeches before missions.

Right now, though, as he thought on what to say, he found that he couldn't really say anything. He was speechless. He couldn't find the words to say to make Kai more comfortable. So he didn't. Instead, he gently brought Kai to his chest, giving him a sort of hug, and held him there for a moment. Kai's breathing slowed, and just for a moment, it felt as though everything was alright again.

Lloyd brought Kai back up to his face, smiling once more before gathering up the courage to open his mouth.

He maneuvered his hands, allowing him to slowly slide Kai onto his tongue. Immediately, Lloyd tasted blood and ashes on Kai's suit. He had to stop himself from gagging. Fighting every instinct that told Lloyd not to eat Kai, he slid him further into his mouth. Finally, only Kai's feet remained outside his lips, but due to how small his mouth is, he couldn't slip them inside without beginning to swallow Kai first. No matter what he did, Lloyd couldn't seem to get any saliva on Kai, his mouth joining in on telling him not to eat what his body must think is poison.

Regaurdless, he took a loud, thick swallow. Although it didn't do much, it did succeed in sending Kai's head into his throat and Kai's feet into his mouth. He promptly clamped his mouth shut behind him and desperately tried to get any amount of saliva in his dry mouth to coat Kai with.

It was horriblely uncomfortable having just a small portion of Kai in his throat. It kept triggering his need to swallow, but he couldn't yet. He knew he needed Kai to be at least lightly coated in drool to get him down, as learned from Jay not doing that once and nearly choking. Finally, after what seemed like too long, his mouth decided to cooperate, drenching Kai in thick goopy saliva.

He gave in to the instinct to swallow, almost happy to get rid of the unpleasant feeling of having someone on the edge of his throat. Kai slipped deeper into Lloyds throat, his muscles idly helping him along. With each gulp, Kai slipped further out of his mouth until finally he was gone. Now, a great lump sat in the middle of his throat. As he continued swallowing, Kai drifted deeper and deeper within him. When Kai went past his heart, he couldn't help but stop breathing for a moment.

After a bit longer, Kai drifted even further down and now was nearing his stomach. Lloyd braced himself. All of his brothers had told him this was the strangest part, but what he felt no amount of his brothers describing could ever replicate. At first, the feeling was sickening. A sudden bout of pressure built up inside his stomach, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. But after that initial sickness came the feeling similar to a hug.

He could feel Kai pressing against his stomach much more than he had originally thought he would have been able to feel. His stomach stretched a bit to accommodate for Kai's presence, and it didn't feel unnatural. As the last of Kai finally slipped into his stomach, Lloyd brought his hand up to his middle.

Gently, he pressed where he felt Kai, and to his surprise, Kai, although weakly, pressed back. This small pressure sent a strange shiver up his spine. He was able to keep Kai safe, ever so so safe. Nothing could get to Kai without going through him first. All those years of Kai helping him, he was finally able to start to pay him back.

Not being able to help the small smile that tugged at his lips, Lloyd got up, continuing on down the cave in search of their mission.

So yah, sorry I kinda took the turn of, whether Lloyd wants to or not- but yeah I still loved this prompt and idk I may make more stories based off of this prompt alone lol.

[raes-writing-space]

Tadashi Hamada x Reader *Academic Burnout Comfort*

Warnings: Academic burnout, mentions of self-doubt and stress. Not beta read.

Summary: After doing your best in your academics, you still feel like you're falling behind or just on the wrong academic path in general. Tadashi helps comfort reader that if they want to take a break and rethink things, it's totally okay.

Word Count: 1, 729

A/N: I haven't written for Tadashi in so long, but this was very therapeutic for me. Also Oz Pizza is an actual pizza place in San Francisco, I don't own the rights to the name or anything. However, they do have great pizza imo. Since this one was a bit longer I put it under the "keep reading" line below.

You were only a year away from graduation, that's what you kept trying to tell yourself. All you needed was to get through two more semesters after this one, and you were already half way through this semester. Still, as you're trying to study for one of your class midterms for this semester, you couldn't help but start to psych yourself out by your own motivative words. You only had one more year, and yet this semester has already felt like it's been a year already. You finally got to the heart of what your major was all about, and while you enjoyed it at first, now it's been giving you nothing but stress. The things you were learning about for your major weren't exactly what you had imagined when you first wanted to go into this major. Still, you decided to keep with it, hoping that your passion that you had for it before would simply come back. But now, you were looking towards your midterm, and felt as if you didn't know anything. Were your grades going to survive this exam? Or even this semester? This was a prerequisite class after all, if you couldn't pass this class, you wouldn't be able to go onto the next class you actually wanted to do. You'd end up staying here for longer than the year if that was the case, or would have to take on more classes next semester to catch up… Was this what you even wanted to do with your life? That question really started to get to you, if you were this stressed out now, what would it be like when you started a job that would be doing exactly this? You finally pushed your notes and textbooks away from you, as you leaned back against your chair. You were lucky that you at least had a window in your office space. You always thought that San Fransokyo was gorgeous at night. The Sakura trees they planted right outside of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology were finally starting to bloom, coating the campus in soft pink petals. Maybe a walk would help you to think, or at least the fresh air might help. Just as the thought came to you, your door was suddenly opened. You looked to see Tadashi Hamada, your long time friend. He also happened to be a long time crush of yours too, but as time went by, you two feel into a comfortable dynamic with each other that made you too worried to even ask him out on a date.

"Oh! I saw the light was still on, but I didn't know of you were here or not." Tadashi spoke up, explaining why he had suddenly opened the door.

"It's alright, I don't know if I want to be here right now anyway…" You let out a breath, standing up and grabbing your personal belongings.

"Hey, are you okay? Is there something I can do to help?" Tadashi asked, noticing how stressed out to looked.

You shrugged, not even sure what to say at first. He stayed just in the doorway, always being patient enough to wait until you were ready to speak your mind. He could tell that the thing on your mind this time must have been really important, you eyes seemed downcast, shoulders slumped, as if you were ready to give up on something.

"I was going to take a walk… Do you want to come with? I kinda feel like crying into a pizza…" You half-joked towards the end, you hadn't eaten much yet, too consumed with studying and time constraints.

"Uh oh, I've been there before… Yeah, of course I'll come with." Tadashi tried to sympathize with you, making you smile as he quickly went back to his own workspace to grab his things.

When the two of you make it outside, your gaze couldn't help but be brought up to the trees again, something about focusing on the way the branches swayed and moved with the wind helping ground you into the present moment. It was better than losing yourself in the "what if's" that seemed to be plaguing you. The fresh air did seem to help a bit, you assumed that at some point the air in your room became a bit stale, which only added to your fatigue. Beside you, Tadashi still waited patiently, as he at least recognized that you were at least taking the first steps to clearing your thoughts.

"There's this great pizza place called Oz Pizza just a block down from here, they give some pretty big slices, great for catching tears." Tadashi joked, making you let out a small chuckle.

"That sounds like a plan then." You spoke, as he lead the way to the pizza place.

It took a couple of deep breaths, and a minute in comfortable silence for you to finally feel comfortable enough to speak about what's been on your mind.

"I don't think I'm cut out for all of this, Tadashi…" You trailed off at first, convinced that there wasn't exactly an easy way to lead into the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Tadashi asked, not wanting to make assumptions and say the wrong thing.

"My major… School… Just, I don't know… I have a mid term in two days, and I keep looking at my textbook and notes and just can't help but think… this isn't what I wanna do." You started to vent at first, further explaining your mindset.

You told him about how things started off really good, but within this year you just suddenly can't help but feel as if you had a change of heart somewhere along the way. How that you feel so close to the finish line that you just want to get it done with, but also hate the idea of having to go for another year just to even do that. How you've spent so much time on this major and your classes already, that you don't want it to all be for nothing, but what's the point if it's not even what makes you happy? Tadashi simply took all of this in at first, letting you get it off of your chest before you both went inside the little pizza joint. He considered your words for a moment, and when you finally felt as if you were done saying all that you needed to say, he lead you inside to order. The two of you ordered, and went back outside, since the place was really only big enough for the ordering counter and the kitchen in the back, most of the seating was outside.

"Do you want my advice, to distract you and think about thing else, or do you want me to just listen?" Tadashi then asked you once you two were in a more private setting again.

"I think it would be nice to know what you think… see it from a different perspective maybe." You answered, as he simply nodded with a smile at first. He always did encourage others to see things in a different way.

"I think after this semester, you could take a break. You've been working hard for a long time now, and it can be a lot on your brain to process. If you don't want to take a semester off, you could always see what classes you've finished and if there's another major that brings you closer to graduation, or just something that just makes you happy again." Tadashi advised, trying to cover all of the "what if's" and "But's" that could be brought up.

"I can help you look up the different majors the school offers. You're at least almost done with all the general education classes, right?" Tadashi asked, trying not to stress you out more, but genuinely curious.

"Yeah, I'll actually finish my last class for it this semester… Then it's just more major requirements…" You answered, trying not to linger on the idea too much.

"Okay, when we back I could help you look into it, and study, if you want it. It might just be good to at least not feel alone while you're studying." Tadashi reached across to gently put his hand on yours in encouragement.

You tried not to think about the gesture too much, but you failed to hide the smile on your face when he did it, giving you away a bit. Soon enough, the man who took your order placed the slices of pizza in front of the two of you.

"Are you still planning on crying into a pizza?" Tadashi asked, changing the subject away from school, but his hand never left yours.

"Maybe. You're always welcome to join me, if you want." You joked in return, making him laugh a bit.

The two of you ate and decided to talk about things that didn't involve school for the moment. Instead the two of you decided to talk about any movies that were coming out soon, or plans over the weekend, or how Tadashi's family was doing. When the two of you finally finished up your respective pizza slices, you weren't feeling a 100% but at least you were a bit better than you were before. You had started to think about your major again when the two of you began your walk back to the school.

"Hey, (Y/N)?" Tadashi called out to you, snapping you out of your thoughts before they could get worse.

"Yeah, Tadashi?" You asked, taking a deep breath to try and calm you.

"If you do decide that school isn't for you anymore, that's okay. I just wanted you to know that I'll still be here for you no matter what you decide on." Tadashi reassured you with a warm smile, as you couldn't help but nod and feel yourself start to tear up a little bit.

He was always the type of encouragement you needed, that even if you decided to change your path, or not go to school at all, that he'd always still be there. The last thing you wanted was to somehow lose him in the process.

"Come on, we'll figure this all out. We're in this together." He further reassured you.

You were starting to feel a bit more confident that the two of you would figure it out together.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

So I actually really enjoyed the little HB short with Millie and Sallie Mae.

I thought it was cute and it was breath of fresh spring air to get some scenes with JUST woman characters interacting and talking about their relationship.

That said, after watching, it just made me realize how much I want an ACTUAL episode exploring Millie and her background.

At the end of the short we get that brief conversation about Sallie Mae seeming to feel left behind when Millie moved to the city, and that honestly should have been the plot of the harvest moon festival imo.

Little reimagining of how Harvest Moon Festival could have used the basic premise/conflict in Hell’s Belles to develope Millie more and give us a better insight into her character. (Also after typing all of this out I realized I misspelled Sallie May’s name, and I’m too tired to go back and fix it please do not bully me rip 😭🪦)

So, Instead of having Moxxie compete with striker, what if we’d learned that Millie left home because she had an inferiority complex due to constantly being compared to Sally Mae, who could be the “golden child” of the family.

Maybe Sally Mae and Millie have always had a really fierce sibling rivalry, and Millie has struggled a lot with measuring up to her sister.

Striker could be not only the new farmhand, but Sally Mae’s new boyfriend. Instead of the conflict being Moxxie’s feelings of inferiority to Striker, further tension could come from Millie being upset that her parents are so accepting of Sally Mae’s partner while not approving of her’s.

Millie could be the one to find Striker’s assassin gear, and Striker manages to knock her out like he did Moxxie. Instead of Moxxie stabbing Striker like Millie did in the actual episode, it’s Sally Mae who catches Striker and stabs him to try and save her sister. The way this could be set up could also be a nice establishing character moment for Sally Mae—she’s dating Striker, but the moment she sees her sister in danger she doesn’t hesitate to try and save her sister.

Striker throws Sallie Mae and Millie into the basement, and Sallie Mae is the one to get her leg in the bear trap.

They have a sister heart to heart, where Millie expresses her frustration for not being able to take Striker out on her own and feeling like she’s always been in Sallie Mae’s shadow.

Sallie Mae could then reveal that she’s always been jealous of Millie for being her own person and going against their parent’s wishes by striking out on her own moving to Imp City. Maybe Sally Mae has always been afraid of disappointing their parents, but wishes she could also leave the farm. Or Idk, maybe she’s always been the “golden child” because she’s been trying to impress Millie, and not their parents, because she admires her sister. There’s a lot of different sibling rivalry/insecurity conflicts and dynamics that could be used here.

The main point is that they come to an understanding in the basement, Sallie Mae gives Millie a pep talk and lets her know that she can do this and take down Striker.

Millie escapes the basement and the episode plays out like it does in the actual show. Instead of Millie getting talked down to her parents at the end, it’s Sally Mae, and when they criticize Sally Mae for getting hurt and try to praise Millie for getting out of the basement and chasing Striker away with Blitzø, Millie stands up for herself and her sister, stopping her parents from pitting the siblings against each other like they did in the past.

The sisters leave on good terms and the day is saved or whatever. They hug goodbye, and promise to stay in touch more and visit soon.

This could potentially help set up the idea of Millie having an inferiority complex and struggling with not believing she’s important that, in my opinion, comes out of absolutely nowhere in “Unhappy Campers”. If it’s established early that Millie has always struggled with feeling less-than in comparison to Sallie Mae and her siblings, it makes a lot more sense that she’d be so excited with the attention she receives in Unhappy Campers. And that she’d be extra upset by Moxxie’s lack of support.

Also for anyone asking “what about moxxie” idk. helluva boss loves their b and c plots so maybe there could be a slapstick bit where Millie’s brothers keep trying to wrestle Moxxie, so Moxxie is always hiding from them or getting tackled by them. Or maybe Moxxie could be really excited to try and bond with Millie’s family and get to know them more, so he keeps trying to connect with them in different awkward ways. Whatever. This is Millie’s episode now, I don’t care what moxxie does.

This is a very very basic re-imagining, and it’s definitely been done before and can be cliche. I want to make it really really clear that I’m NOT writing this out as a “fix-it”.

More of just a “what-if” and wishing about what may have been in terms of Millie getting more character development in the show proper, instead of getting a tiny bit of development and background info in a 5 minute short.

It’s just a shame because I’d love to have more concrete development for Millie. The short gave us a LITTLE insight into her and Sallie May’s characters, but it feels like we’re still being given crumbs about who Millie is as a character after a season and a half.

We should know more about her by now other than “likes violence/is good at fighting” and “is cheerful”. And also feels unimportant sometimes even thought she’d never given any indication that she’d ever struggled with that before.

Also I don’t think the voice direction for Sally Mae was done well. I liked her voice in “Harvest Moon” but it felt like the voice actress was struggling with keeping the southern accent in tact + sounding natural.

Overall, I did really like the short, but it also made me kind of sad for what could have been in terms of giving Millie more of the spotlight.

[sparring-spirals]

I got to say I really liked the episode (despite only having watched exu calamity of the exu series) and I think maybe Matt needed a breather after so many fast paced, lore filled episodes.

however, I am kinda bummed that the fcg processing has been put on hold for (at least) two weeks now and that means that, despite them being great actors that truly merge with their characters at the table, their reactions will be much less raw and there’s a chance some of them will forget tidbits of information, emotions they felt when it happened because they (as role players) will have had time to process it out of the game and it might create a dissonance in the game. tbf I kind of felt the difference even between the end of ep 91 and the beginning of 92 but it made sense because technically they were still running and couldn’t afford to process. idk. I have hope that we’ll still see that raw emotion, but I fear it won’t be as impactful as it could’ve been, especially if they’ll have to put the “reporting for duty” hat on immediately when they get to the camp

I think being a little bummed about the sort of unexpected hiatus on the Bell's Hells/Post F.C.G processing is super understandable! As someone who also really did enjoy the Crownskeepers return (hello im still yelling about Opal internally), I'm kind of in the same camp of being kind of thrown/disappointed about not getting to really dig into/sit with the Bell's Hells post-F.C.G loss. Like, LOVED the Crownkeepers, fascinating second half, kind of meh on the specific timing.

I'm holding my reservations about whether they're going to have to keep running/moving once we return to their portion of the story, since hey, until it happens (or doesn't!), we don't know, so I don't feel like getting too in my head about it until then.

That said! I do think that in general the cast puts characterization and staying true to the emotions of the character/story as a very high priority within the campaign. I think you're right that it won't be the exact same as if they had done a big emotional blowup/goodbye/processing scene in the same ep where they lost F.C.G, or immediately after. I don't think that means it has to be less impactful, just that- yeah, they'll have had more time to actually think/process it.

But they're also all professional voice actors who have, IMO, thus far shown how much they think about the inner lives of their characters and enjoy really digging deep into the emotional/interpersonal aspects of roleplay.

My assumption (my hope?) is that with additional time to think about + process a devastating/deeply emotional loss for their character(s), they'd choose to lean into that more, and not less. It wont be the same as the immediate raw reactions, thats true! But i dont think that means it has to be less impactful, even if they (as people) have had more time to process, and will be choosing how their characters, fresh off the loss, react. I dont think thats a guarantee it will be less impactful/emotional (maybe the additional thinking would actually enhance the reactions being true/insightful to the characters vs gut reactions from cast), but it will be different.

But if the cast chooses to lean into the heartbreak/emotions, and the circumstances of the BH in the upcoming ep enable it, I'm sure they can still kick my ass (emotionally), timeskip or not.

In general, I'm cautiously optimistic about what could happen next! Even if I don't love the timing thus far. I think there's still plenty of ways for me to get what I'm hoping for wrt F.C.G/BH. :] There are plenty of ways for me to get let down too, probably, but until it happens, or doesn't, I'm opting to not get too doomery about it. We'll see.

I uh. Hope that helps? A bit? Being bummed about specific things you were hoping for being off the table is totally reasonable. just hoping to lend an alternate way of viewing it, if desired.

(i wrote the sentence: "don't be lamenting your chickens before they hatch" and then went "what the fuck" out loud. i spent 4 hours at work today just doing systems diagramming and my brain is fried. clearly. keeping this here for my own entertainment.)

[juniette13]

Can you explain your reasons for not liking Scaramouche's redemption? I'm also not a huge fan of how he was written.

Of course!

One of my biggest reasons is it comes off to me as if Genshin is too scared to make characters who are blatantly evil and against the traveler playable

Which to me…honestly I don’t understand their mentality with it

IMO I think it’s perfectly fine to have characters who are evil and/or against the traveler to be playable! It brings a contrast, a flavor of sorts to the playable cast of characters

I was hesitant at first to say Genshin was too scared to make morally questionable/wrong characters playable, but considering La Signora’s dead, Ei’s EGREGIOUS redemption arc, and Scara’s redemption arc, I’m seeing a very blatant trend here, one I’m not a fan of

Now I know Arlecchino got released and is playable, I, however, stopped playing the game awhile back, I honestly don’t even feel like returning to it because all the content is wearing me out, along with the writing decisions and how I personally think the writing is just getting extremely convoluted, so I can’t really speak on Arlecchino’s matter because honestly I don’t know if her personality was watered down or not

My biggest issue is I feel like the redemption arc not only butchers what could’ve been a great character, I remember the days of when Scaramouche was just an asshole and that’s all he was, just an evil person, and not when he was some uwu little guy who does nothing wrong, but the arc also honestly ignores all the things Scaramouche has done and would rather pin the blame on other characters Like traveler why on Earth are you teaming up with the guy who killed Teppei??? You know, the NPC that died in the Inazuma arc, the NPC who’s death enraged the traveler so much that the traveler just ran headfirst into a dangerous situation without a second thoug-Ohhhhh right his death was just for shock value and doesn’t really hold any weight on the traveler! Right!

Scaramouche was also responsible for getting La Signora killed, however this is never addressed and just swept under the rug It’s writing decisions like that that just makes me so frustrated

I think it would’ve been fun if Scaramouche was just some blatantly evil guy, not every character needs some sob story, a whole plot point where they just whine and whine, and then some half-baked redemption arc where now he’s completely woobified and just an entirely diff character, minus the sass

Like he’s just sassy now, he’s not even mean anymore 💀

It disappoints me because there was so much potential to him and I would’ve been perfectly fine with him just being plain evil, I’m at that point where Dottore, a character who is just straight up evil, has no reason behind it, has no remorse for his actions, is a breath of fresh air and the only harbinger I enjoy because of that I do hope Pantalone also just ends up being a blatantly evil character, albeit not as extra as Dottore, and it would be fun if he monologued like Bedman from Guilty Gear XRD (I might even draw him to some of the monologues LOL)

But anyway yeah, just to sum everything all up in short bullet points

-Characters doing heinous things and then turning around, spewing a sob story, and becoming completely watered down woobified versions of themselves is overdone and tired in Genshin

-Scaramouche would’ve been great if he just stayed as an evil character, not every character needs to be morally in the right or on the traveler’s side, let the traveler have more significant enemies instead of nameless NPC #928291 ISTG 😭

-Scaramouche’s redemption was not earned

I know people are going to disagree with me, that’s fine, just make sure to keep it civil if/when interacting with my post

Anyways thanks for the ask! I can also do a post on Ei’s botched arc if needed or anything of the sorts, I like ranting about this stuff!

[wlwaerith]

wheres the essay u coward

@veshialles @margaritalaux-antille since u both asked as well :3c

so, a big part of why the mage origin will always be my favourite is because of how creepy kinloch hold is, and the fact that it’s the only opportunity you get (excluding witch hunt) to explore the lowest recesses of the tower, which is imo the creepiest part of it.

i think a big part of this creepy factor is the way that the tower is kind of deceptive. on the surface level, yeah, it’s bad — there are no windows until you get to the very top, it’s quite cramped, you get this feeling of being packed in like cattle — but that’s not really the worst of it. you have a huge library spanning two floors! you are surrounded by people who seem friendly! (mages. this refers to mages.)

but then you look a little closer and see the piles of dirt in the corner, the squalor the mages live in (because the dorms that the apprentices in particular stay in are disgusting). the way that the harrowed enchanters’ quarters do not afford you any privacy. you have ,, maybe a wall to separate yourself from the open door (iirc some rooms where mages sleep don’t even have doors) and your roommates. it’s this absence of privacy, or perhaps denial is a better word, that makes you start to realise that oh. okay. these people aren’t treated or even seen as people, are they.

then this factors in with the location of the tower. the conditions are bad. you have essentially the magic police leering over you at all times. you aren’t allowed outside unless you have unique privileges and exceptions (fresh air is a privilege. a privilege.) and the only windows are so high up that to attempt to climb or jump from them is suicide. and then there is the fact that you’re on the middle of the lake and the only way back is a boat (which is always on the other side. you are not taught how to swim), and the boat is guarded by a templar — the ones who are always looking for an excuse to put you down like the animals they think you are. and it dawns on you how utterly cut off and isolated you are. and that’s still not the worst of it.

enter the lower levels, specifically the roundabout back way you have to take to get to the repository. there are discarded garments rotting away in cells and i’m pretty sure one cell has a bloodstain on the floor or the wall, if memory serves. there are sectioned-off rooms full of deepstalkers that look alarmingly like makeshift laboratories. which makes you wonder what the hell they’re getting up to down there. this is where your eyes get ripped open if you weren’t already freaked out and you realise that there is something very, very wrong with the tower.

then there’s the matter of the veil, which is so thin that it’s easily ripped open, subjecting the mages within to these horrific transformations. it makes you wonder if it was deliberate, if it was set up this way in the hopes that the veil would be torn so there would be an excuse to kill all the mages. greagoir, for one, seemed all too keen to put them down during the broken circle quest. this is kind of partnered with the way that less skilled mages seem to be manipulated from the sidelines (i.e. jowan) into resorting to blood magic so that they can be removed rather than trained. one less mage, as it were.

on the surface, it seems a little ick at worst, and generally not at all terrible given that irving seems to care about amell/surana at least. but then you take all of this into consideration and you realise it’s very dog-eat-dog, because when you grow accustomed to existing in a space where your so-called “protectors” are also your jailers who are always waiting for an opportunity to get rid of you, what creeping dread you may have felt beforehand begins to morph into horror.

[dyke-pollinator]

(this ask is a get-out-of-jail-free card to infodump about osrs)

OSRS is by far the best mmo as far as I'm concerned. You can do literally anything in it. It's so simple. Its just a little medieval fantasy point and click RNG simulator. But that simplicity is what makes it so addicting.

You can literally just do whatever the fuck you want on it. The game doesnt hold your hand at all, and while I can see how that would be overwhelming for new folks getting into the game, its an aspect that keeps me coming back.

It's kind of a single player mmo. Like sure there's content to do with other folks, and it can be social at times, but like your account is yours. Everything takes such a long fucking time in that game, especially if you're playing as any type of Ironman account, that the game feels more personal.

Like I don't play nearly as much as some folks that I know and I still have nearly 5000 hours of in game time on a single account and its not even in the late game yet.

Like sure these stats are pretty decent for an iron, but I haven't even started going most of the end game content like Raids, CG, Nightmare, ect.

No only that but I legitimately that the osrs content creators are some of the absolute best gaming content on Youtube. By far. It is insane what some of these people do with the game, all because of how much of a sandbox it is.

Even if you know nothing about osrs or Runescape in general, I would HIGHLY recommend checking our SoupRS on Youtube and watch his Gielinor Games series. All of them. Start with the first season, and watch them all if you like it. Its like a survivor style game with challenges, voting, bannings, and testimonies, all through the lens of osrs.

Settled is one of the funniest motherfuckers on Youtube and has multiple videos about region locked accounts that are still easy to understand for folks who have never played the game.

Jeporite has a NorthernUIM series that leaves me in hysterics every video.

J1mmy is one of those content creators that turns everything he touches into something good. I cannot praise all of his videos enough, including the ones he makes that arent related to osrs. However, his osrs F2P series is one of my favorites.

Hannanie is a trans woman content creator that just makes some of the most off the wall insane videos I've ever seen. Seriously, she made a fucking 21 part series about cutting fucking trees in this game and managed to make every installment a banger. Hannanie is a treasure and everyone should know her content.

Imo the only gaming content on YT that comes even close to osrs is probably Minecraft, but that is mostly because you can do so much modding that the content stays fresh.

Also look at my silly little pets:

I promise you I spooned the shit out of every single one of them.

Rock Golem at 89 mining, Groot at 86 farming, TWO fucking rex pets before 140kc, 42kc thermy.

Plus with the RuneLite client, you can make your in game interaction as customizable as you want. My whole client is fucking Miku themed lmao. The community has made so many amazing plug ins for this game including a full HD client with dynamic lighting effects, increased GPU distance rendering, ect.

OSRS is a great fucking game and you should definitely be playing it. I will take full responsibility for the thousands of hours that you lose to it. I could go on but this post is already a lot longer than I was expecting it to be.

As an aside: Ironman does something to you. Why do I have 117k Light Orbs in my bank? Idfk might need em. 20k gold tiaras? Just in case. 10k snake skin? You never know when something might pop up. Hoard Everything.

[theonlyendersgamefan]

No spoilers

SHADOWS IN FLIGHT IS ACTUALLY GOOD??

I genuinely forgot that Orson Scott Card is a competent sci-fi author. Every other shadow book has me like “please let this be a normal feild trip” and then you get 100k words of the slowest Mormon manifesto disguised as political thriller. (Except for shadow of the giant (they could never make me hate you, shadow of the giant))

Shadows in flight is classic 80s sci-fi and relative to the rest of OSC’s library it only has a little bit of sudo-incest. But even outside of that I’m also just really engaged with the story and junk. And even if the story was entirely non existent Cards distinct writing style from Enders game and speaker for the dead, which was lacking in the first half of the shadow saga imo, returns here which is a breath of fresh air.

I feel I should mention this early on just for transparency sake but, a positive book review by me is entirely useless because I will rate a book 5 starts purely based on my own ability to creat fun mental visualization out of it.

Let me explain. Delving truely a tiny bit into spoiler territory.

At some point a group is in a hallway in 0g and they’re all geard up. My own interpretation of this scene has this group, who is not usually especially discreet, be as disciplined as a highly trained swat team. In reality, text on paper, their gear is no more then rudimentary. Just as a consequence of not needing anything more. They are probably moving as instinct guides them. In my mind, however, they are fully bravo 6 going dark. No wasted movement, swift and efficient. The entire atmosphere of the story changes, they are having conversations through coms and I will mentally add in radio chatter even if it doesn’t make sense. Or I’ll make up a whole dramatic sequence for them opening a hatch or turning a corner. It’s fun as a little brain exercise but it’s not black on white text so my review of the book, which is based partly on the above, is biased because I imagined it in a way that I would like best.

What I can say is that this book is much less intrusive than the rest of the shadow saga. Orson Scott Card still can’t help but tell us directly what we’re supposed to think and HIS interpretation but in this book I feel that he’s taking a similar approach as speaker for the dead. Each character is written strongly enough that they can disagree on a conclusion based on the same information and neither is pitted to be explicitly wrong by the book (like a couple other shadow books I could name (I HATE SHADOW PUPPETS (Why waste such a goo name on such a boring book))).

Overall the book does give you more space to breath and more time in between receiving information and the characters declaring their own opinions. I actually several times got to the conclusion of one of the characters before they did because they all think their conclusions out. Instead of starting with the answer and condescending to everyone about how obvious the reasoning is later.

I’m also a big fan of the tech in this book. It’s much more grounded then in say xenocide. Advanced but based in concepts of physics and chemistry and biology that are common enough knowledge. You don’t feel overwhelmed or like you just have to accept that this is true and not gibberish.

Anyway SHADOWS IN PEAK.

I definitely didn’t write out all my thoughts here partially because I’m trying to stay as far from spoilers as I can and partially because I’m just writing down ideas as they come to me (is that obvious. I’ll write more about this book for the foreseeable future actually, it’s becoming my favourite shadow book (shadow of the giant in a close second but it’s becoming a more distant second which each page of shadows in flight)

I also haven’t actually finished the book.. I’m half way through and had to talk about it, soz.

[luckyfrogtarot]

Choose a Chungha album

What is going on for you this blue moon?

I love chungha :’) she has such good summer songs imo also I’m so glad summer is almost over because I’m melting here 🫠

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only. Sometimes piles won’t resonate and that’s okay this reading might not be for you or the pile might not be for you. You can choose a different pile if that’s the case. ❤️🍀

This time I pulled some oracle cards for you guys!

Pile 1: Falling Angel and Empty Well

This pile has to be careful of not falling down the wrong rabbit hole. If there is something that’s calling to you but it’s not in your best interest please take time to reevaluate as to why this calls to you. You might also be feeling empty and a little out of it. You could really use some rest and some time to yourself. It’s possible that if you like to go out to party maybe opt to have a night in at least one day a week to replenish yourself instead. Talking about parties please be careful of certain people and friends who encourage you to do things that might not be in your highest good. Too much drinking or staying out too late. Nothing too horrible here, but your body wants rest and you seem to not be giving it any/much. There is definitely a feeling here of avoidance. You’re avoiding a spiritual calling and/or rest. You could be avoiding through partying or even working for some of you. (I swear I don’t hate parties, it’s just what comes to mind). Partying can be good and fun, yet I’m seeing that if it is disrupting any plans that are for your betterment you might have to start putting down some harsh boundaries with others. I’m sensing it’s mostly with others because they want to distract you. It’s not intentional and these people aren’t bad either. You could want to study or work but others might not or they have more free time so they think that you do too. Pile 1 please prioritize yourself if you’re tired. I’m feeling as if your guides are really wanting you to listen to them about rest and focusing on yourself. Sometimes you might feel it too so please take a moment when you sense this. For a few of you this could be about working too much, but I’m sensing it’s very few of you. The message still stand though; rest is required!

Pile 2: Spirit of the River (I haven’t started but you guys have such cute energy!)

You guys were definitely lucky this summer or your gonna be feeling really lucky after this blue moon. So many positive (imo) cards! I mentioned you guys had cute energy because it feels like you guys are fun and sweet when you aren’t focused on something serious. You might laugh a lot or really like cute things (sanrio or coquettish like stuff). Yet when you have some goal in your sights you guys can be very focused and determined, it’s impressive to others (including me). You could also have a fresh image, like the photo you chose. I don’t know, you guys have some really light watery energy like a clear pool. Moving on with the reading though I’m sensing that you guys might be a little resistant this season, due to confusion. You could be at a crossroads or stalemate on a lot of things in your life around this blue moon. There is movement coming soon though you just have to let it flow. A lot of blue and water symbolism here! You could have planted a seed and your waiting for it to grow. This seed could have been anything from a career move to even romance. You just have to water it everyday and it’ll grow. In a literal sense you just have to put in work everyday (even if it’s just a little bit) so you can see the plant growing, slowly but surely. I am sensing that once you finish the work that was necessary you should go out and play a bit. I’m sensing being around water will be great. Going to the beach or a pond or a pool. You do need some fun distractions. (This is like the opposite of pile 1) It will distract you from the seed you planted or in other words: your work, project or romantic interest. You might need time to focus on other stuff that brings you joy and to let things flow. If you are always checking up every minute or every hour on your seed/plant you’ll think “why isn’t it growing?”. That’s because the plant still needs time and work put into it! It will grow soon enough pile 2! Give it time and love and don’t forget to give yourself time and love too. You’re moving towards your success regardless don’t forget that. I really hope that metaphor made sense pile 2!

Pile 3: Eye of the Needle

Pile 3 you guys are going to be getting a big opportunity that you’ve been waiting for! Something that you felt was almost like a dream or so far away is coming towards you. It feels like when it does come in you’ll think it’s luck or fate. It partially could be fate, but I’m sensing it’s more your perseverance and hard work. You could’ve been working really hard to get this opportunity and you never took your eyes off of it and now you’re getting it. It was due to your hard work pile 3 don’t undermine yourself! Lot’s of gold and yellow in this pile. You even have the Sun card here. A lot of sun imagery in the other cards too! Maybe you feel hopeful that things are getting better for you. Like this triumphant feeling mixed with being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I do think whatever you’re pursuing or whatever opportunity you have is going to be successful. With the Seven of Wands here,to me, that reaffirms that you definitely worked day and night to get this opportunity. This is an exciting emotion coming through. I’m also hearing “it’s smooth sailing from here on out” I don’t know if that’s how the saying really goes but the point is that your hard work has allowed this for you. It’s as if you made a boat by scratch (and a good one at that) so now all you have to do is sail it. The waters are calm and there is also enough breeze to keep you going. There is an intensity to you and maybe in your eyes. Either this is the look you have when you think about your success or your future. Or this a feature you might naturally have at all times. You’re very strong willed though that’s for sure. I’m seeing that if you feel like no one is proud of you or of your success/accomplishments or of this opportunity you’d be mistaken. It’s possible people here aren’t showing their amazement, but without a doubt your guides do acknowledge all your hard work. They’ve been watching you and helping you out and they’re very proud of you 🥺. I also feel such a warm feeling in my chest so this could be how you’re feeling or how you should feel! You have a right to feel proud of yourself too pile 3 :).

[anipgarden]

Oh yeah just because I feel like rambling

If my garden plans work out as intended it's gonna be absolutely banging this year. The only thing that could stop me is my bad watering memory skills, my bad weeding skills, and my tendency to step on things on accident.

But even with just the vegetables and fruits the plan is

Tomatoes. Hoo buddy the tomatoes. Last year I had 12 tomatoes (6 romas and 6 beefsteaks) but the 6 cells I picked up had extras in them, which means if I separate them well enough I can get 7 beefsteaks and 14 roma tomato plants. I'm gonna have to find space. But goddammit I will find space.

Peppers. Just sweet banana peppers this time for now (bellpeppers grow too slow for too little reward imo) but I picked up a 6 cell of those. I've also still got some plants that hung on for the entirety of winter (Florida for the win) so whether or not those stay where they're at is. A Decision I'll have to make tomorrow.

I've already planted carrots and peas that are starting to come up, but I might plant more because I didn't get as many as I was hoping for by the tomato cages. I also planted lettuce seeds, cabbage seeds, and green onion seeds that I've seen not much results from so if those pop up they pop up but otherwise I think its a bit late to plant more? I'll recheck the extensions site.

I'm gonna try growing watermelon again!!! I got 3 bags of compost and at least one and a half of those bags is gonna be dedicated to making a nice mound to plant seeds in. The year we used fresh compost was the year they grew best, but trying to reuse the same mound in later years yielded not much in the span of results. Time for new compost on a new mound.

I'm gonna try growing zucchini and squash again this year! Some in my bins (might need a soil refresh, hence more compost) and some in the ground (we'll see how it goes). Hopefully if I start them now instead of waiting till April (I did NOT know I could plant them as early as late Feb until like 3 weeks ago in my area) then they'll get to a decent size before the snails and slugs get voracious. If not. We'll see what happens.

I might try growing cucumbers but idk man.

All this on top of my plans for growing swamp milkweed, purple coneflowers, rudbeckia, and more. I also still have rights over the front yard landscaping, so I'm responsible for finding more butterfly weed and liatris plants at the plant sales in April (the ones I planted in October are either still dormant or dead. Out of the 5 liatris I planted then I only see signs of 1 coming back, and none of the butterfly weeds. Fingers crossed though.)

All this to say. I'm excited! Fingers crossed, everyone!

[cafe-con-letty]

re: my last post: what i think the 118 & co’s spotify wrapped looked like + my reasoning behind them (pt. one)

***this is all just headcanon please be nice 🫶🏽

****also this is a LONG ASS post, so i did put a cut just in case you want to scroll past :)

bobby:

completely based on vibes alone. i was going to add bruce springsteen but i forgot :(. i think that bobby belts in the air tonight on his way to work every morning and if he pulls up before the song is over, he stays in the truck with the windows up until it’s done.

chimney:

idk i just feel like he listens to really bad music. as you can see, to me he is unironically an ice spice fan. i actually fw gwen stefani, but the everybody else on his top 5 is trash imo. obviously, art is subjective, but i feel like 4/5 of his top artists are universally acknowledged as terrible. i also feel like he doesn’t know he has garbage music taste and actually insists it’s superior to everybody else’s. they will not hesitate to put him in check though.

hen:

this is also based off vibes but also kinda pulled from music aisha has put on her story (namely that she is a fan of rap/hip-hop). also hen is canonically a beyoncé fan and i think we should acknowledge that more. it was a toss between noname and rapsody for a moment, but i reeeeally like noname 🤷🏽‍♀️ no hate to my girl marlanna though. in my head hen and buck went to a migos concert together and screamed when they came out. i also think that she was a fan of drake when he first came up, but post-scorpion he kinda fell off so she leaves his newer shit alone. when denny’s in the car she plays age-appropriate common songs for the social commentary and life lessons they provide. because of this denny’s favorite song is currently the light.

buck:

lowkey inspired by obama’s summer playlist, but a little less eclectic because there’s overall less on it. originally i had blackpink and iu on his top artists and songs, but i changed my mind because ptv fan buck is very important to me. i feel like his music taste as a whole has probably been derived from all the people in his life, which is why aaliyah’s try again is number one on his top songs. we know that maddie used to pick him up from school and i cannot get the image of a young buck was in the passenger seat of the jeep singing his heart out to whatever love song he definitely cannot relate to out of my head, sooo…here we are. i have a lot of thoughts about his music taste but that is for another post.

eddie:

this was literally the easiest one i did. i also think he likes corridos but there were too many artists in the pool if i included them so i kept it down to country. i feel like nobody who follows me knows what corridos are, but just know that eddie’s love of corridos is included in pretty much all of my writing featuring him. ofc i had to put selena on there because i love selena and i think that eddie, being the tejano man that he is, also enjoys selena. idk why whiskey whiskey is on there. let’s just say he’s in his edmundo noches era or something idc. he also likes to listen to songs that chris liked when he was little because he thinks it’s funny when he covers his ears and stares out the window, but also a little bit because he misses baby chris in the backseat singing along to florida georgia line. he is very delighted in five years when chris takes his girlfriend to a florida georgia line concert as a date though.

ravi:

this one was harder because Ravi The Landlord definitely listens to the fit and fresh podcast on his way to work in his stupid cybertruck (because i know he has one okay) but also i feel like he has to listen to music, so i took songs off my spotify wrapped from last year. i don’t actually like drake that much, but her loss was my SHIT when it first came out + i do think that ravi very much enjoyed search & rescue. he is team kendrick for all intents and purposes though. unfortunately ravi and i are both sufferers of rod wave syndrome. nobody lets ravi pick the music at any event because he will put on great gatsby. i also think he likes kevin gates but that’s something i will not be addressing today.

[slugg4rd]

Brain rot so bad I’m posting on Tumblr💔

Haymitch x gn reader rambling ig?!?!

Word count: 1.2k

He’s a stubborn alcoholic with depression who copes by being rude or otherwise sarcastic, you test his patience SO MUCH. He knows he hates you, that’s about it, but also he finds a good deal of fun in goading you and bantering with you whenever you’re around. This man is a handful, and he’s mean, and he has literally no patience for bs.

Idk how you win him over, the logistics don’t matter rn I’m going nutty thinking about him. Imo I love the whole co-mentor thingy, anything that forces him to be around you bc otherwise he’s off hiding somewhere moping. Like imagine being depressed together, fighting over your different tastes in drinks or coping. He’s hugging a whole bottle of liquor or maybe wine if it’s fancy enough and he’s scrutinizing your fruity cocktail like it’s any of his business.

Especially love the thought of getting drunk with him, at this point he just falls asleep when he’s buzzed but he’s trying to stay awake just to bicker and get as much of a reaction from you as he can. The only time he shuts up is if you roast tf out of him, he’d slump down into a chair or on the couch mumbling something barely coherent and then he’s out like a light.

Or, even better, you’re both sleepy drunks and start nodding off at the bar. You barely remember the walk to bed, all you know is somehow you’re still arguing with Haymitch. He throws himself onto the mattress, your mattress, both to piss you off and because he’s too burnt out to bother walking to his own bed across the hall. You flop down next to him and then all of a sudden you’re waking up hungover and half hugging that fool. The both of you freak out to find you’re in bed with one another, fearing the worst, and eventually having to accept the harsh reality that you spent the whole night cuddling and nothing more.

He doesn’t just refuse to admit he likes you, he’s literally oblivious to even the idea of it. No he definitely doesn’t enjoy your company, and he definitely doesn’t seek you out, and there’s no way he would ever think about you outside of your brief and unfortunate interactions. But then you start joking around talking about some pretty celebrity or a handsome victor from another district and suddenly he’s so defensive.

“Her? She’s two faced.”

“Him? He’s not even average.”

“Them? They’re frugal.”

He can’t even begin to realize he’s getting jealous, he’s too busy trying to shoot down all your compliments to these half baked crushes.

But if you compliment him he thinks you’re joking. You say he looks handsome and he’s all “Haha, very funny, y’know you look good too- with your mouth shut.” He’s gonna go for the jugular, but also he finds it getting harder and harder to insult you. Since when did your annoying smile become something he could tolerate? He must still be drunk..

You’ve wormed your way into his life and his head and suddenly you’re over at his house in the Victor’s Village, cleaning up for him while talking about self care and how he deserves it. You’re infuriating, and yet his lawn is trimmed and his walkway is clear of weeds and even his bookshelves are free of dust- and maybe he should go outside for a bit today and get some fresh air.

You’re tidying everything up and then he’s bringing you some old Knick Knacks, keeping track of your hobbies so he can leave you gifts, forcing you to sit down and relax for a minute between daily stressors. You call him an enabler and the laughter that follows makes your heart all fuzzy in the worst way. Every time you do something for him he thanks you in a way that makes it clear he didn’t think anyone would ever do this for him. And when you thank him for his gifts, his occasional reality checks, and his unwilling hospitality, he can’t help but feel more proud than he should that something he did held even an ounce of substance in your life.

How do you even confess??? Do you??? It’s like one second nothing was there and the next you both just agreed that you were a thing, end of discussion. He’s yours, you’re his. You’ve basically moved in at this point, and you’ve been egging him on and showing him he’s worth the effort, and it’s starting to get through his thick skull that maybe there’s worth in improvement. You don’t fix him, as I said before, he’s stubborn, but he finds his own rationale getting weaker and weaker each time he tries to argue why he should go out for drinks tonight. And then when things break and you’re telling him just what he means to you, he’s finding himself falling into you like a damn safety net.

And once he’s got you he is not letting go.

Protective is one thing, this man is clingy. Like Velcro. But he’s a brat and he’s not going to let you tell him how needy he is, it’s just a coincidence that he’s always by your side. He’ll say he’s “keeping you in line” its “your fault” because you’re in his way, but you both know he’s been following you around on his own fruition. He’s attached to your hip at this point, literally. He has a particular affinity though, and that’s hugging you from behind. He just comes up like he owns the place and wraps his arms around your midsection, shoving his face into the back of your neck with the biggest sigh he can muster. And if you reach up to play with his hair that’s it, he’s going to drag you to whatever couch is closest and have an impromptu nap session.

Also did I mention he’s petty? Because he is. And he’s annoying unlike anything. You go to sit down in a chair? He’s already seated in it, patting for you to come into his lap. You want to try a bite of his food? He’s making you take it from his mouth. You need to shower? He’s asking to come so he can keep you company. And if you let him join you, he’s 100% sitting there watching while going on about how “you missed a spot” just to see how irritated you can get.

Letting him come into the bathroom with you when you shower is like making a deal with the devil. This man is going above and beyond for your attention while you’re trying to focus on the task at hand. He’s definitely offering to help you out, saying he can scrub your back for you and all that, it’s up to you whether you let him join or kick him out.

Either way after you’re done he’s so soft and tender, wrapping you in a towel and drying your face off, saying you look like a drowned rat while also telling you that you’re the prettiest thing he’s ever seen. He ruffles your hair with the towel just to squeeze it around you and grab you by your waist, pulling you until you kiss him. But if you’re still mad at him he’ll keep drying you off and messing with you until he can get you to crack a smile, and then he’s peppering kisses all over your cheeks as you push his face away.

He’s a nuisance, but he’s your nuisance, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ummm anywho that’s all I got 🙏

[marginaletchings]

tsv thoughts:

spoilers, etc etc.

-

People being annoyed at Faulkner for killing Roemont and cheering on Shrue is not a double standard. I actually think Faulkner was fully justified, but I also think the move was incredibly stupid. A schism could have happened without the Gulch needing to compromise their own ways of worship, and I guarantee you a younger faith leader will always win out over an ageing and arrogant elder. The main reason I believe it was the wrong move though, is that it's another instance of Faulkner falling prey to more delusions of grandeur--not that he isn't talented or great or whatever, it's that he continuously sets up these grand expectations for himself and acts selfishly and blindly so he can, what, be remembered in the Silt Verses? He's an excellent parallel to Roemont because of this. We even see that he's struggled with his faith since the big battle at the Gulch and especially since he betrayed Carpenter. Faulkner doesn't NEED a gun, he has weapons and a whole ass congregation/religious movement behind him and he doesn't know where the fuck he's taking them.

Shrue isn't a neoliberal, y'all. @melandrops made a good post about it here (hope it's ok I mentioned you & linked, lmk if it isn't) but yeah

Shrue is an excellent parallel to Faulkner. We see them go from relatively fresh-ish politician who's out of touch enough to send godkillers after the Parish--and if I recall correctly, with the blessings of the High Katabasians--then when they start getting more doses of reality they're shown to be flexible in pivoting to other directions. And then, with each new horrifying dosage of reality, pieces of Shrue's willingness to put up with bullshit breaks away; their willingness to continue Playing the Game is shattering as their beliefs and their most sincere feelings about life/society/the world get more radicalized. We see Shrue go from "decent-ish person making too many compromises to stay complacent" to "good person with a clearer view of reality who is in too deep and has to make some big decisions on how to survive." Faulkner has gone in the opposite direction, from "powerless, but a sincere radical willing to brute force and ask questions later" to losing faith and falling into near complacency, albeit complacency of a paranoid variety. Faulkner is now in relative power, and he is willing to betray the people he loves to keep that status quo.

Some folks are a bit too hard on Shrue, imo. One of the most human things ever is the innate need in us to try and protect what little stability we have. Everyone talks big game about being revolutionaries until food and home and our loved ones are at risk. Watching Shrue be pushed and pushed until not even those matter anymore is, therefore, a fascinating and cathartic experience.

[sparrowlovesskittles]

Alright time to finally show off my live notes in my usual way (messenger screenshots)

Also I didn't mention this bc I was suspending my disbelief as much as I could but. The entire clan of riverclan could've just like. Guarded the kits and murdered Splashtail easily.

This book was very silly.

Other random notes in no particular order:

-Whistlebreeze and Frostdawn are very cute names and very cute (girl)friends. I like that Frostdawn got a meaning to her name :3

-Nightheart and Sunbeam considering Frostdawn 'like family' is SO sweet

-I liked how things ended with Berryheart EXCEPT when Sunbeam said she could pretend Berryheart was still alive. Her conflicting feelings on her mother after her death were handled well but that line in particular stood out as odd to me.

-I really DID enjoy Frostpaw/dawn's 'drifting between life and death' chapters, especially how her scenes with Curlfeather played out. But Nightheart and Sunbeam's chapters in between were soooo boring and pointless.

-I actually think it's kind of sweet that Jayclaw was trying to tell Frostdawn that she could stay dead if she wanted to, trying to persuade her that RiverClan wasn't her responsibility and that she didn't need to feel guilty if she couldn't handle it any longer. One of the only cats who really cared about her feelings. It's just kinda strange with the context.

-Like I said even if I think Curlfeather and Berryheart ended on a bit of a hollow note I do think it was realistic even if not particularly satisfying. It just felt like they didn't quite get a proper ending? Curlfeather especially.

-Don't love the way Splashtail is written to be mentally ill. Like it is a little different, it's not a Mapleshade situation where she was hallucinating her kits telling her to murder people, Splashtail WAS actually seeing Curlfeather's ghost (or I believe so anyway) but the way he was written was a little uncomfortable.

-Frostpaw murdering Splashtail is SO GOOD!!!!! BEST part of the book hands down.

-ASC will always have a special place in my heart, because it's the first arc that I've read live from start to finish.

-That said I think I liked TBC more. ASC was really fresh and interesting at the start but as it went on you started to realise that they weren't going to follow through with potentially interesting plotlines that they set up. Splashtail especially had so much potential to be fresh and interesting and they really let him fall short. This arc was very similar to last arc and I think TBC handled it better. The ending of TBC felt huge, bombastic and interesting, but ASC kinda fizzled out, I doubt it will have much of a lasting impact. It tried to set up some 'starclan bad' points but ultimately spent too much of it's time talking about the importance of starclan to really start anything meaningul. But I still liked ASC a lot even if Splashtail ended up being a big disappointment of a villain imo.

-I really liked our protags from this arc especially. Frostdawn is one of my all time new favourite cats.

-Sunbeams friendships with Lightleap and Blazefire kinda got dropped though and that was sad and disappointing.

-Graysludge and Mistslime are hilarious names. I feel bad for them but god that was funny.

-But also speaking of them. When Frostpaw wakes up they're not even mentioned. They also kinda left her when she was weak and dying. Can we address this please.