#and the disparity between my feelings for them is really funny

[leondegranced]

A sequel to my lil guy

[enemui]

⁉️What your favorite Genshin Impact character says about you🫵

🐰Amber: Your favorite Pokémon is Eevee and your favorite Sanrio character is My Melody.

🌹Lisa: You're not scared of smart women but you are scared of interesting women.

🛡️Noelle: You don't know shit and plan on keeping it that way.

🫧Barbara: You either sell or buy gamer girl bathwater.

🦇Fischl: You're quarter-delusional. Like, you are delusional, but sometimes you're aware that you are delusional.

☘️Bennett: You have a soft spot for miserable little creatures and you desperately need a bigger character trait than that.

🍖Razor: You love dogs, even if they're old, ugly little goblins.

🐱Diona: You love cats and hate alcohol. Those are two rare instances of you feeling strongly about anything.

🔮Mona: You were assigned financial irresponsibility at birth, and haven't managed to do anything to change your fate.

🗡️Rosaria: You think having a healthy biorhythm is overrated. You also look like a human cigarette.

🖌️Mika: You let your feelings of pity towards others control you.

🍀Klee: You're the fun parent. You probably own a spoiled pet.

🦴Sucrose: You actually love to talk, people just hate to listen.

🧪Albedo: You're gay and neurodivergent.

❄️Eula: You're weak to corporate tricks. You should really work on that.

🦚Kaeya: You're not known to have functional relationships and healthy coping mechanisms.

🦉Diluc: You think you could get an edgy boy to open up to you. You couldn't because the moment someone is even a little cold to you, you will cry.

🦁Jean: You always order the same thing from the menu. Not because it's your favorite, but because you're scared of trying anything new.

🍏Venti: If being horny and annoying was a sport, you'd be an Olympic athlete.

🐇Yaoyao: You can be sold anything with a cute mascot plastered on it.

🌶️Xiangling: You wonder how a lot of different things taste like and you need to be stopped.

🧊Chongyun: There's a great disparity between how you want to be perceived versus how you are actually perceived.

💦Xingqiu: You are knowingly annoying and don't plan to stop anytime soon.

🎸Xinyan: You're misunderstood, but you definitely don't make an effort to be anything else.

⚰️Hu Tao: Your self-proclaimed pranks have resulted in actual damages to people's mental and physical well-being.

🎼Yun Jin: You've projected onto your partner before to the point you lost the ability to identify their actual character.

🥥Qiqi: You aren't swayed by public opinions.

🐍Baizhu: Close the wikipedia tab with a list of terminal diseases, you're fine, just severely dramatic.

🏔️Shenhe: You've been in abusive relationships. Not sure if as the victim or perpetrator, but you were in them.

🎲Yelan: You'd be perfectly content as a housewife. Just do chores and read smut.

⚓️Beidou: You don't mind putting in the work to change things to be more to your liking.

💎Ningguang: You have no qualms sucking up to people for a bit of societal advantage.

🍤Keqing: You've entered relationships before, thinking you could change them. No, that absolutely did not go well for you.

⚖️Yanfei: It's not just your exes who suck, you have an entire toxic friend group.

🔔Ganyu: You have an elaborate power fantasy about quitting your job.

🫖Madame Ping: You're a classy lesbian.

⚙️Guizhong: You present your opinions as facts.

☁️Cloud Retainer: You've been in a situation when you've found your girlfriend's mom more attractive than your girlfriend.

🪽Xiao: You're non-binary and depressed.

🐉Zhongli: You need a man to kiss the back of your hand. Also you have a strained relationship with your father.

🍁Kaedehara Kazuha: You don't care about looks, only vibes. You're also addicted to adderall.

🍃Sayu: You are serious about the silly and silly about the serious. Sometimes it's funny, other times you deserve to be dropkicked into the sun.

🎁Kirara: You have a crippling addiction to adorable girls.

🦌Shikanoin Heizou: You are guilty of the "thinking with your dick/pussy". Don't try to deny it, you didn't even care until his birthday became a national holiday.

⚡️Kuki Shinobu: You have better things to do than a well-paying job, such as arson.

👹Arataki Itto: You are a size queen. You also think you're way more interesting than you actually are.

🎇Yoimiya: You've had a crush on the same person for the longest time and every time you think you're over them, they make a request of you and you jump on it like a dog.

👺Kujou Sara: You could probably use hormonal therapy.

🍡Thoma: You think appearances don't matter as long as he's nice. You're also a terrible judge of character, so all your exes are just overall shitty people.

🪭Kamisato Ayaka: You cannot survive without your established social circle. Were it not for the luxuries of civilization, you'd be dead in a ditch.

🧋Kamisato Ayato: You have no self-respect, if a slightly above average man tells you to do something, you'll do it.

🐕Gorou: You don't need a man, you need a dog.

🪸Sangonomiya Kokomi: You don't know how to dress well, but you really want a girlfriend who does.

🦊Yae Miko: You think as long as a woman is hot, she can do whatever the fuck she pleases.

🌸Raiden Ei: You've been in a relationship with an unmedicated mentally ill person and walked out of that experience having learned nothing.

🧞‍♀️Dori: The world would be better off without you.

🌻Tighnari: You have an attitude and you refuse to reign it in no matter how inappropriate for the situation it is.

🪴Collei: You either have no idea what you're doing or you should be in jail.

🪷Nilou: You live quite blissfully, but dealing with you isn't easy. This is called ignorance.

✨Layla: Your best exam results come from days when you showed up to class hungover and on 45 minutes of sleep.

📐Faruzan: Your family broke the generational curse, which somehow had a negative impact on your character.

🪻Candace: You are the mom friend, but only because you have to be. Like, you're a mess, but you're a lot less of a mess than your friends.

🌺Dehya: You can draw yourself symmetrical eyeliner.

🃏Cyno: You probably have a good moral compass, but you still aren't easy to get along with.

🦅Alhaitham: You're, like, severely delusional. You either think he's like you or that you could be on good terms with him. Both of those are clear signs of delusional behavior.

🕊️Kaveh: I hate to break it you, but buying stuffed animals can't substitute for going to therapy.

☂️Wanderer: Most of the time, you're really cute, but you can be absolutely terrifying if you so choose. You're also trans.

💉Dottore: You're fairly submissive but if someone makes you mad, you'll make sure they regret it.

🌱Nahida: You're addicted to winning arguments. You don't even need to be right, you just need to feel like you've won, even if you resort to the method of wearing a person down until they no longer want to continue debating with you.

🌂Navia: You have leadership skills specifically in the "do as I say, not as I do" department.

🐧Freminet: You're non-binary and have anxiety.

🎩Lynette: You're very patient but you'd rather not be.

🪄Lyney: You have a dark secret and the dark secret is that you're actually a Danganronpa girlie.

🍷Arlecchino: You're not a good person but you genuinely don't think it's that bad.

⚔️Clorinde: You have fallen prey to misinformation on numerous occasions before.

🩹Sigewinne: You'd sacrifice your liver to keep a person happy.

🐺Wriothesley: You can be appeased by an act of hot girl shit.

🌊Neuvillette: You need a man to kiss the back of your hand. Also you have a strained relationship with your mother.

💧Furina: You're delusional. Could be affectionate, could be derogatory, it varies from person to person.

🦟Paimon: You don't know shit but you have an opinion on everything.

🐋Tartaglia: Your exes all belong in jail. So does your current and next partner. You never fucking learn, do you?

💰Pantalone: You don't need a healthy relationship, you need a sugar daddy.

🖤Capitano: You are, amongst other things, a monsterfucker. You want to be destroyed, but, like, lovingly.

🎀Columbina: You are a mix of a pomeranian and a Biblically accurate angel.

🎭Pierro: You are fatherless on an Olympic level. You don't need a father, you need a daddy.

💫Lumine: You're a hot girl. You're either stupid or evil, but you're a hot girl. If you're not a girl, you are a red flag.

☄️Aether: You have a crippling crop top addiction and you have no idea what to do with your hair.

🌌Dainsleif: You date people before getting to know them, but don't understand why you don't get along with your partners.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

It's funny to watch you insist all the time you're not into L*ona and J‐Word and then roughly every 6 months you stage a takeover of the Sebek-Zigvolt-Defenders-Club and loudly and proudly proclaim he's the best boy actually and we should all love him.

In all seriousness, it was your thoughtful analyses that changed my mind about Sebek some months ago and I now also preach the good word about him. He's so loud and dumb and silly and I cry when we get more of his lore and personality revealed, so you're doing great work soldier 🫡

(P.S. Is this confirmation of the list of your favorite first, second, and third year? Two secretive schemers known for taking advantage of people and one tall, loud, loving croc boy with a big ol' heart😏)

[My two big Sebek analysis posts: here and here! Other Sebek analysis can be found in this masterlist.]

I insist I'm not into J word and L*ona because I am, in fact, not into them :) Trust, trust. I cannot tell a lie :))

IS IT REALLY EVERY 6 MONTHS... If so, that's totally unintentional on my part 😂 If I put out a Sebek analysis, it's because there was an ask about him or there's been new official Twst content that I want to scream and shout about. Between Sebek, Jade, and Leona, I feel that Sebek is definitely the most easily understood and most disliked one, especially from the get-go. General opinion of him seems to have improved considerably thanks to book 7, but to this day I still remember the visceral hate he received because he was labelled a racist or loud or an ass-kisser or having no personality outside of liking Malleus. It was sad to see him getting trashed... so I guess I felt like someone had to defend his honor www (And to be clear, it's okay if you dislike Sebek!! Not everyone has to like him. I'm only saying that I don't agree with the opinion that Sebek is a shallow character.)

AAHHABIHFAHSFHQGTG830TQ3P9Nadfhubabyoifam;,; I'm happy that my analyses helped you to see him in a new light!! Again, Sebek truthers rise up ✊ He's a himbo, but he's OUR himbo...

I'd say that Leona is at the top of the third years for me, yeah. B-BUT NOT BECAUSE I LIKE HIM OR ANYTHING, GOT THAT???? It's mostly because I don't find most of the other third years that appealing to me. Jade faces much stiffer competition, since I like most of the second years. However, he manages to pull ahead of the rest of them by a smidge. It's actually Sebek that's fighting hard to keep the spot of my favorite first year; the other two I really like are Ace and Ortho. Ace fluctuates a lot though... While I do find his bratty personality cute (especially when he's doing vocal impressions of the other characters) and appreciate him having the gall to tell others off (regardless of power or social statuz disparity), I also find him very annoying and immature. So I guess it's actually Sebek versus Ortho, the more solid candidate. I think Ortho's relationship with his older brother is very sweet and, of course, tragic. I also love that he looks so innocent but has a deep capacity for violence (laser beam to the face, anyone?) and a strong curiosity to learn more about what it means to be human.

Assuming that Sebek, Jade, and Leona are my respective favorites of each year though 💀 They’re all freakishly tall and pretty muscular (sliding scale of least muscular J word to most muscular Sebek www)… Two big brains and there there’s just. The baby with brawn.

chsjwvjwjwow I mentioned this to some friends and here’s how that convo went:

THIS WAs 100% UNINTENTIONAL… OTL

[bitchslapblastoids]

interesting but predictable how some of the inherent uncanny valley strangeness of bringing something that exists in the chronically online space into the real world can manifest. I’ve noticed this at all the other tours of theirs as well - some people can have a hard time separating internet behaviors from irl behaviors, and the sudden merging of these compartmentalized ways of being (online vs offline) can be hard to navigate.

I think it can also make people uncomfortable to see their comedic silly billie faves being serious, and there’s a dissonance to seeing them, these characters who live on our screens, along with the audience around you who are typically just avatars and usernames shitposting in lowercase, all suddenly in the same physical room. And suddenly that often completely disparate, scattered, semi-anonymous community needs to adapt to social mores and group norms in a new social context. It’s taking a community with its own set of rules that were designed for and in response to a digital landscape and plonking it into a completely alien environment. And yeah, we’re all humans who exist in public outside of our internet lives, but it’s different when that happens but you’re still in the context of the phandom.

Which I think is what leads to things like shouting out rly profane, out of pocket things during the quieter moments of their shows. because if you comment something like that online, you won’t rly be interrupting anything. you might be ignored, you might get some laughs, maybe you’ll get a notice bc haha unhinged right. Or like treating an evacuation drill as a lol pass the tea yas mommy daniel moment instead of an oh we’re actually here in real life moment.

I went back to my tatinof review bc I remembered writing this - ��someone behind me kept screaming at them to "GET NAKED" (particularly during silences in the 7 second challenge) to which everyone in my area responded with claps and laughter.” During my second TIT show, there were people around me who wolf whistled and shouted “kinky” and “ayo ok freaky” during totally inappropriate moments. I remember during Dan’s quieter bits of WAD people could not seem to just stay silent. (I have suffered complete amnesia when it comes to ii so I can’t speak to any part of that experience lol.) after the preshow and during intermission at tit, I heard separate people at separate times making a range of critical comments about Dan and Phil’s bodies in ways that were downright shocking and not how I hope they’d typically feel comfortable speaking about other humans.

I think on the whole, phannies are so lovely and kind to one another. I feel deep gratitude for this community. And I know this isn’t just a phandom thing; I think how we treat one another in public spaces has generally really eroded, and concert etiquette has become abysmally poor. But phandom, as always, is a little unique, because of the sense of mutual understanding and the co-created dynamic between us and d&p. It dissolves the boundaries, so when Dan tells you to shut up, your online brain tells you that’s just a chance to be funny with your fave. When you have a chance to be heard, your online brain provides a memey shitpost joke and your irl self shouts it out even though that ain’t the move in a theatre performance unless invited to do so.

No real conclusion here, just some observations about the rly unique dynamic this all creates!

[vladdyissues]

anon from before. i feel like jazz is the odd one out because vlad doesnt hate her like jack but also isnt really interested in her like he is maddie and danny.... i could see him genuinely wanting to be a mentor to her though, based on canon interactions. just. at an arms length. hes not Obsessed with her but if he wants maddie and danny she'll inevitably be tagging along as well. i can imagine him daydreaming about dong questionable domestic things with maddie and danny all day while he sends jazz off to university. jazz is a bright, ambitious young woman! Surely she won't take offence of my treatment of her family if i bankroll her education!

I've actually been meaning to make a post about this point for some time.

Realistically, or at least in accordance with canon, Vlad should be more interested in Jasmine, who is the next best thing to Maddie, instead of Danny, who represents Jack and most resembles him.

But having the chief (male) antagonist of the series obsessed with the protagonist's teenage sister 1) detracts from the hero vs enemy dynamic, and 2) is honestly too creepy and predatory to get away with, even in a funny joke-around way. No way would Nickelodeon allow a middle-aged cartoon man to be obsessed, romantically or otherwise, with a sixteen year-old girl. The power disparity between them is too great, and that's just as humans. Vlad is also a mega-powerful half ghost completely capable of attacking and subduing a teenage girl. It pegs the red on the Uncomfortable Implications Meter.

But Vlad being obsessed with a teenage boy who happens to have his same powers is acceptable because they're more equally (narratively) matched. Ergo we get the soft "Uncle Vlad" side when it comes to Vlad's interactions with Jasmine. (I mean. Apart from that bit in Secret Weapons where he threatens to "waste"—TV Y7 lingo for "kill"—her with injected nanobots should she betray him.)

Speaking of which, she never got those nanobots out of her bloodstream.

But ignoring that last detail and focusing on when things were still somewhat amicable between Vlad and Jasmine, I could definitely see him trying to mentor to her, being invested in her future and her education. She represents all the things that Vlad admires in Maddie, specifically her intellect*.

* In order to maintain his delusion that Maddie is a genius who could never make a mistake, I think Vlad has convinced himself that Jack must have lied, duped, or otherwise "tricked" Maddie into marrying him, because there's no possible way she, such a remarkably smart woman, would ever marry such a bumbling idiot. He had to have deceived her. It's the only explanation.

Vlad has Maddie on a pedestal—which is also part of his objectification of her. He worships her, the goddess who could never (willingly) do wrong... the prize he can only ever admire from a distance, never to have or hold.

Anyway, I'm starting to get off track. I love this Badger Cereal equivalent of Vlad & Jazz. (Cheese Therapy?)

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | Hiiragi Mix Thoughts Part 1

So I haven't been super active on this blog not because I don't love Given anymore, but any ounce of brain energy dedicated to Given means I have to feel the agony of waiting for the two movies to release. BUT ALAS the time has come because @aarinfantasy is the GOAT thank you thank you thank you~~~ Spoilers and screenshots below the cut 👇👇👇

GENERAL NOTES:

How can Mafuyu be animated even cuter than before? Like I don't even know how but how can he look even more adorable???!!

I love the intentional placement of sound and music in Hiiragi mix, moments of silence are so effective in highlighting tension, awkwardness, release, nervousness. Like even 1 minute into the movie, you hear the boys breathing as Uenoyama is tuning the guitar and Mafuyu is sitting beside him. It's those little details that show the atmosphere between characters perfectly.

I like the balance of Hiiragi/Shizu's storyline and Mafuyama's storyline, it's following the manga closely and shows the complexity and intertwining of their stories. It's a good way to juxtapose the different struggles between the two couples and what they needed from each other to overcome their miscommunication! I think the team took feedback from the Given Movie 1 2020 and OVA broken up into two parts when it should have worked better as one longer movie.

I saw on reddit I think that Hiiragi's VA is still relatively new to the industry but I saw a HUGE improvement in his voice acting in this movie, the range he gave to Hiiragi is amazing!

SCENE REACTIONS

This scene was so funny I CACKLED Uenoyama and Hiiragi with their catty energy I LOVE THEM

2. I fell off my couch at this scene HHAHAHA

While Uenoyama's face is funnier in the manga, something about the animated rocket launch from earth JUST GETS ME HAHHAHA. Ok serious talk though how did I not notice that when Uenoyama got confessed to and when Haruki told him he's about to debut, his brain turns into astronaut footage? I think it's a very smart way to illustrate that for Ue, music = love and one cannot exist without the other.

3. OMG Uenoyama's face HAHAH awww man I know he's bummed as hell at Mafuyu's "I'll think about it later" (to the debut proposal) but his face, Ueki and Itaya's faces send me straight to heaven

You know how Ue feels? Our munchkin cat feels like he just proposed to his lover and his lover said, hmnnn I'll think about it. 😭 Chemical, emotional, physical, psychological damage right here>>>

4. The voice acting here from Hiiragi's VA Fumiya Imai SLAPS SO HARD

It's definitely giving deja vu, similar energy to Uenoyama panicking about Mafuyu, gosh I love Hiiragi and Uenoyama's baby gay panics it's so cute.

5. Kageyama is that you?!

6. The sound design and use of silence in this entire scene....incredible, showstopping, amazing, impactful yes yes yes

7. This scene animating Shizu's flashback to childhood was really well done.

It's interesting that in the movie they didn't speak too much about Shizu being transferred from foster home to foster home, or what he had to do to get by. But also, in the manga, I'm pretty sure that they didn't have this scene of a child Shizu closing his hands over "precious stone" but I think it absolutely elevated my connection to Shizu as a character. It really shows that he believes he has been selfishly holding Hiiragi back and that he has been trapping Hiiragi all this time. It gives so much more context to what he did next which if it wasn't clear already, he tried to push Hiiragi away in order to free Hiiragi from him. 8. HOLY SHIT wow goddamn I would not want to live where Akihiko is living oh my 💀💀💀

Watching this scene animated with the noise of the highway really highlights how bad Akihiko's living conditions are. I flagged this because in the Given Manga sequel 10th mix [SPOILER AHEAD], there is this whole thing of Akiharu's disparity with their living conditions so....this is interesting....just putting it out there.....

I also don't remember this scene in the manga, but I really appreciate it, it shows the contrast of Akiharu in the first Given movie vs. this one and how their love and care for each other has evolved! Very cute! I'll make a part 2 soon!

____

My Given Metas

[demenior]

marion/babenon/vandran was one of those headcanons where i heard it for the first time and immediately accepted it as truth, but i'd love to hear more of ur thoughts on it -- how do u picture vandran getting folded into marion and babenon? are there particular parts of their dynamic that u really like, or really see as a cornerstone? anything else u want to talk abt wrt them?

I started the concept of the Parent Trap Trio as a joke, mostly because I thought it would be funny for Fjord n Jester to have to deal with their parents getting married* or just the utter childish horror of having your parents brazenly flirting with each other.

And then suddenly it wasn't a joke. As a note, all of my thoughts for the trio are specific to the Fealty Series, which means it may or may not match canon.

To start you should read the light that you will see at evening by Capitola because they basically nailed how I imagine the first introduction between Babenon, Marion and Vandran going, as well as several little background details.

(this would be because Capi has been my co-conspirator for the Fealty series, and is also just a great writer)

* (I don't think any of them are the marrying type)

And then thoughts/details/concepts in no particular order:

Vandran and Babenon knew of each other while they were both in the Revelry. They were never on the same crew, and never close, but were aware of each other and their reputations

Considering Vandran's last love tried to kill him/he had to fake his death to escape her, he's a little hesitant to get involved in anything serious

Marion and Babenon are the only ones allowed to call Vandran by his first name (James) as a sign of intimacy. He will always refer to Marion as 'Miss Lavorre' as a sign of respect (until they're in private)

Babenon usually gets referred to as 'Mr. Dosal' for the same reason.

In the Fealty series we see a lot of similar behaviours between Vandran and Fjord (because they're father and son), where they feel their worth is tied to their masculinity which is tied to how much they can provide for/care for the person they care about (this is absolutely tied up to some toxic masculinity, but as the Fealty series explores, this is also how they both express their gender AND their affection and therefore very important for both Fjord and Vandran)

By this metric, Vandran has a lot of hang-ups about the wealth disparity between him and Marion (and Babenon, who is Marion's trophy boyfriend). He has a livable wage for an old bachelor, but certainly not for courting a Lady (or her trophy boyfriend) and he struggles with his pride about it

The three of them are all people that scrambled and fought hard to earn the life they have now- while they may not be upfront about the details of their past and where they came from- they can recognize that sharp edge in each other

Vandran does not actually live in the Chateau! Marion has offered for him to move in, or to rent a room to him, but he insists on maintaining his own apartment. It's a point of pride for him (see above re: masculinity).

Vandran does not wear a sword in A Lady's home (as this would be an insult to her in many ways- implying her home is not safe, or implying that he could be a threat at any time).

Marion and Babenon do not consider themselves 'high class' by any means, but they are accustomed to fitting in with high(er) society more than Vandran is

If Babenon needs to force Vandran into wearing something that he and/or Marion have purchased for Vandran, all he has to do is say something along the lines of 'you wouldn't want to embarass Marion, would you?' because Vandran can easily be trapped by social convention

They are all aware that if Vandran wanted out he could just stop coming to the Chateau

Babenon hires a personal barber to come to the Chateau for all of his personal styling (shaving, haircuts, etc). He insists that Vandran come along 'because I'm paying for it already', and since Fjord lives in the Chateau he joins in.

It wasn't meant to be, but Boy Time Spa Day became a Big Event in the household and the women leave them alone for it. Marion and Jester think it's SO cute. They got the boys matching robes.

Boy Time Spa Day is the most time Fjord and Vandran spend together outside of work, and the leading cause for them having any kind of good relationship

Vandran and Marion have a book club and enjoy talking books over a glass of scotch

As Vandran was once a) a notorious pirate and b) an established businessman on the coast, Babenon has engaged him to aid in helping Babenon make inroads towards connecting with different criminal factions.

Due to several previously mentioned factors, Vandran almost completely rejected being courted, and nearly left Nicodranas. It's only because Marion is so good at what she does that she was able to keep him from disappearing.

Marion and Vandran's only major point of contention is Vandran's relationship with Fjord. He insists he's not Fjord's father, while she insists that he is. It's the only thing Vandran will fight her on.

Vandran, like Fjord (used to be), will always say one thing (the polite, expected thing), and then may act completely different. This is how he let Marion and Babenon play flirty chicken on him, by telling them "no I'm not interested" and then continuing to return to visit.

Marion and Vandran both wear solid social masks- ie: they maintain a clear facade of what people expect of them, and reserve their true selves for their private moments, and may not even remove these masks in front of people they love. They recognize this in each other, and there's a kindrid spirit there.

Babenon and Vandran are actually best boy friends. Sometimes this infuriates Babenon, such as when Vandran insists that the shirt he slept in is fine to go to a meeting in. But they both have a huge flair for the dramatic. If Babenon is out of the Chateau for anything, he will usually try and get Vandran to come along with him.

The two men have some feelings about Marion's line of work, but have an understanding that work is work, and she's the most successful of all of them. They often attend her performances together.

Even though Marion has Bluud, Babenon and Vandran have an understanding that if she is entertaining a client (specifically for sex, which is not all the time, as this is the only time Bluud would be outside the room, and not in it with her and her client), one of them must be close enough to intervene in the chance that there is any kind of danger

Marion, and Bluud, have insisted that this has literally never happened in the Chateau's history. Bluud finds this a point of pride that they don't think he can do his job, Marion backs Bluud up but secretly appreciates the gesture.

That being said, if they ever actually interrupted her with a client she would kill them. She is running a VERY professional business, thank you.

Babenon and Vandran have a better understanding of the complications of their status as 'fathers' in Fjord and Jester's lives, one that Marion thinks they're both "idiots" (her words) about. Babenon is Jester's biological father, but he won't claim the role as he wasn't there to help raise or support her. Vandran technically raised Fjord (hired Fjord when Fjord was ~14-16ish, until Fjord was ~28-30ish), and he mentored Fjord, but he doesn't think he has any right to call himself a father, as he doesn't believe he's added anything good to Fjord's life.

They've been "together" for maybe a year now? (For reference, the Fealty series is ~3 years post-campaign, I think). It took a long time for things to move anywhere beyond flirting, and then there was the crisis where Vandran almost faked his death again and disappeared. Even still, they aren't really 'defined' so much as they are enjoying their time together and taking each day at a time.

Marion wants this to be long-term. But she's waiting to bring it up so that Vandran doesn't panic and run away again.

The "relationship" is a bit of an open secret with Fjord and Jester, if only because Fjord and Jester don't need to know ALL the details of their relationship. The parents can keep a few things, just for themselves. Also, both Vandran and Babenon are a wee bit uncomfortable flaunting anything sexual in front of the kids. Marion is willing to go along with their wishes, though she doesn't see the issue.

You will note that both Marion and Jester are incredibly sex positive and don't share their partners' shame around sex.

While they do have an active sex life, their relationship is based more around companionship. The three of them will be up long into the nights/even into the mornings based on conversations and debates. These are occasionally interrupted with kisses and other things, but not always.

They have been SO excited for Fjord and Jester to finally leave on their trip so that they can have sex all over the house

[universe-of-peoples]

There’s a lot of different opinions about what went wrong with Wish (2023), and i think a lot of them are missing the point.

So here’s my take on what was ACTUALLY wrong with Wish (2023).

Let’s start with what the movie was. It was a cute little movie, just 1 hour 35 minutes long (for reference, about as long as Encanto and a little shorter than Frozen). It had a cute story and a powerful message about working to make your dreams a reality, with a side message of the will of the people is more powerful than one corrupt ruler. It had good music; not as popular as other movies’ music, but I added the songs to my Disney playlist and I genuinely enjoy them. The whole movie was just a fun time.

Now let’s talk about what the movie was expected to be.

Fans expected this movie to be the next big Disney Princess movie, the big important Disney 100 movie, because that’s what it was marketed as. More important of those two was the latter - this was THE Disney 100 movie, the “when you wish upon a star” movie. Yeah, THAT movie. Disney fans were understandably excited. After hits like Frozen, Tangled, Encanto, Moana, and others, Disney had proven it was capable of producing movies that were big emotional hard-hitters that could also be funny and entertaining.

Then let’s shift over to Disney. The eyes of the world turned to them as they advertised their biggest anniversary yet. They had a lot of ideas for this movie (as everyone keeps talking about), but they also had a lot of pressure on them. They probably had story ideas that would have cemented this movie in the ranks of Frozen, Encanto, Tangled, Moana. But you know what it feels like to me?

It feels like Disney got scared.

This movie was supposed to be THE movie that represented their brand. They would have to find a message, an emotional journey that fit their brand but didn’t deviate from the brand’s central theme. Other movies got to tell their own unique stories with diverse emotional journeys because while they were A Disney movie, they weren’t THE Disney movie. Not like this one was supposed to be.

So they watered down any emotional journey the characters went on, relied more heavily on the overly-relatable main character archetype (with her job interview jitters, big group of friends, quirky personality, etc), and threw in the nostalgia bait (that’s a given. It’s the 100th anniversary movie.) Compared to the other Disney movies that could be big emotional hard-hitters, but could also be funny and entertaining, I’d say this movie landed at definitely funny and entertaining, with a smaller emotional journey that definitely wasn’t hard-hitting. The story was just a bit smaller than some other Disney movies.

The thing is, none of these things are inherently bad. It’s ok to tell a smaller story. Other studios do it all the time! Heck, Disney has done lots of them in the past! It’s ok to want your main character to be relatable, it’s ok to put in some references to past works in your movie, it’s ok to have songs that are good but not good enough to break the charts.

So what’s the problem? The problem, as I see it, was the disparity between what was expected and what was delivered. A good part of that expectation came from Disney’s advertisement of the movie, and a smaller part came from fans’ expectations of any Disney Princess movie given the company’s track record. It was a perfect storm of This Movie Isn’t Going To Be Well Received.

IMHO, the movie isn’t bad. It just isn’t what it was expected and advertised to be. So please stop hating on the movie and direct your anger instead to The Mouse, the one who really deserves it.

[utilitycaster]

Unpopular opinion: the tower conversation between Caleb and Essek was a define-the-relationship conversation on a 20+ intelligence level and with the context that defining a relationship does not inherently mean "we have decided whether or not we are dating from this point onward with the only options being a static yes or no," and if more of the fandom read it that way, there would be significantly less equivocating over their relationship and how often Essek is mentioned in regards to existing and potential post-canon content

This is very funny to me bc if you were not off anon I'd be like "man what does Megs say about it, she'd know more!" Anyway, after this one I'll be taking a break bc I do need to do a bit of D&D prep and this is going to be a slightly long one. To that point, it's below the cut.

Anyway, thank you, because I very much enjoy Shadowgast but I don't know if I've made as much of a study of it as others have, or as I have for other ships, but this led me to rewatch/reread the transcript for this speech (2x133, btw, starting around 3:26:00 for those wondering) and: yes.

I think this is definitely the 20+ INT level version; it is entirely about theory, and the arcane, and everything is subtext. But it's not unprecedented. If I were to do the mathematical thing, and I will, and reduce it to a problem I already know, this is akin to Fjord and Jester's conversation in episode 2x72. Compare:

LAURA: Would you do anything to get them back?

TRAVIS: No. No, but, I feel like I knew what I was doing, and I realized I have no idea.

to

MATT: "You spoke once of intent, lot of fortunes have changed since. What is your goal? Ultimately?"

LIAM: I think my priorities have mostly shifted since we last spoke about things like this. I think what's going on right now is more important than my petty, earthly grievances. Still very much fascinated with and attracted to ability and skill. And it's not fashionable to say, but to power. Who doesn't feel the tug of such a thing? But, uh-- yeah, I said it knowing what your reaction was going to be. I see you outside. (laughs) But it doesn't matter. There are bigger things than you and I.

MATT: "I think that's the key. The pursuit of magic, in the ways that we know it, in the ways that we've been disparately, but in some ways similarly raised and studied. At a certain point, it becomes about the self. It becomes about what I can do. And it's impressive that you've deviated at your skill level. I just hope it holds."

LIAM: That's the key, isn't it? Because if you were to put the very thing that I have wondered about for so many years in front of me, I'm really not sure what my reaction would be.

It is, as you say, a definition of the relationship. It's not "we are now dating;" it's them figuring out if they want similar things; if they will be not just compatible but good for each other. It's foundation laying and setting boundaries for something that won't come to fruition for some time yet, but it's undeniably something more serious than mere friendship.

I think the tower conversation is also uniquely important because it's Caleb's first romantic overture after meeting with Trent. He volunteers the information about his past not just willingly, but specifically in order to connect with Essek rather than to protect him or push him away. They are even able to laugh about it together, and that's really it. This is the point where romance becomes an option.

There's more - I think that Essek admiring Caleb's ability to set aside himself despite his rapid progression as a wizard is absolutely a flirtation, as is Caleb saying he's attracted to "ability and skill" - but really in the end it's them saying "this is my condition, and you have met it." I think the relationships that lack some kind of condition and stakes like this - and to be clear, it's okay if, as with several relationships I don't cover here, those stakes and boundaries are set not through a clear conversation that serves as a turning point but rather more implicitly/through actions - end up feeling fundamentally empty and lacking in possibility because there isn't that tension and that recognition of each other.

[xshingie]

Musings on Richter/Annette Writing Journey

(but also, how I basically became that one obsessed Edouard/Annette shipper lmfao)

What the fuck lol my Richter/Annette fanfic This Distance Between Us totally blew up… I can't believe the view count more than doubled (!!!) in less than a week lol. That's unreal lmfao.

I've been processing a lot of feelings™ that started way before S2 aired. I realized how much I soured on Richter/Annette over time, and how much I wanted to delete everything I wrote. And then S2 aired, which totally shot everything I had ever written for them. Lol. But I realized I kind of did that to myself, having imagined a certain dynamic that never came to be. All the feelings and themes -- things that awakened me to write, which I never did before -- all the complexities to explore in Annette's character, or how Richter and Annette end up interacting… all of them ended up not being relevant at all.

With S2 Richter/Annette canon, everything I ever fell in love about writing for the ship -- about Annette, isn't actually a thing -- and it's clear to me now, the disparity of seeing the things people fawn over the ship aren't the same things I had wanted to write for, meaning that they're not the same things people want to read for.

It's… a bitter pill to swallow, because seeing people demand more Richter/Annette fanfiction, only for me to realize that it was because it wasn't my Richter/Annette fanfiction people wanted to read, I guess. And now I understand why.

Been thinking a lot -- and reading a lot, too. Thinking about how to navigate the challenges and complexities of writing an interracial romance in a historical setting. And how much my understanding has so significantly changed since then with all the additional research I've done. How I wish I could have written things differently, knowing what I know now.

I remember so vividly, how much of it was a struggle to bring myself to post This Distance Between Us, knowing that everybody had moved on from the show, and when I did post it, I was right ;_; People really had moved on from Nocturne. I usually vomit words to "debrief" with myself at the time of writing to help me process my thoughts at the time, but it'd be nice to revisit my writing again.

One thing I am deeply grateful for, is how much Annette and Edouard inspired me to write, to read, to research so intensely in a way I hadn't before.

It's fun, to look back on your 2023 musings and see how your perspective and interpretations have shifted over time. How I actually ended up falling for Annette and Edouard more…. It's quite funny. I didn't consider Edouard initially until I started looking into who Edouard was in relation to Annette when developing her character conceptually. Over time, I've realized how much more nuance and depth Edouard/Annette from a storytelling lens that I'm vastly more interested in exploring and writing for, even though it's a dead ship o_o;

I'm not sure where I want to go from here. I still need to finish rewatching Season 2 and re-evaluate if I feel differently about Richter/Annette, and Annette as an individual character how they turned out in canon.

[girljeremystrong]

cat!!!! hi!!!! i want to get my non-reader friend into reading. he probs won't read anything over 150-200 pages so i'm trying to find an entertaining short book. all the short books i love are essays or philosophy or things i think he could like in time but would probably find dry at the start (especially cause he hasn't read anything recreationally for years). so im at a loss and wanted to know if u have any recs for short books that are page-turners/easy to read <3 hope ur having a good day beloved xo

hello my love <3

first of all sorry for replying late but i was sleeping and then i had to go to the BANK but anyway i have compiled a little list of books i loved that are under 200 pages. there are lots of classics that are shorter and i've included them even though i think some of those would be stuff that you or him might have already read!

contemporary fiction

open water by caleb azumah nelson: THIS IS SUCH A GREAT ONE that i can't imagine anyone not enjoying. truly. it's a love story between two black young british people but it's far from a tiktok romance novel. it explores themes of race and masculinity and vulnerability and it's soft but also very real and it's wonderful. honestly if i had to only recommend one it would be this!

small things like these by claire keegan: very good and quietly hopeful story of a man in a little irish town at christmas. everybody was talking about this book last year and with good reason, it's great.

whereabouts by jhumpa lahiri: the story of a woman in the town she lives in and how it can change in a year. this is an introspective one but jhumpa lahiri is a genius so it reads very easily and it's so wonderfully written.

interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri: short stories, mainly dealing with indian characters in the US. they feel absolutely universal while teaching something about culture and belonging. won the pulitzer in 1999.

how not to drown in a glass of water by angie cruz: a woman narrates the story of her life to her counselor who's trying to find her a job. it's funny and hopeful and memorable. the author is so great (she wrote another one called dominicana that is a masterpiece although is longer!)

kim jiyoung, born 1982 by cho nam-joo: the story of a new mum living in korea that explores the estrangement of being a woman and having to give up so much. it's definitely more serious but it's written very well and it doesn't feel heavy at all.

swimming in the dark by tomasz jedrowski: this one is incredible. it's the story of a polish university student who falls in love with another man in the 1980s in an obviously very repressive society. so he's in love but he wants protest and he can't ignore the struggles and the disparity around him. it's very political but also lyrical and tender.

someone who will love you in all your damaged glory by raphael bob-waksberg: okay this breaks 200 pages at 256 pages long. but it's so good. everybody would love this. it's by the creator of bojack horseman if that can be an incentive somehow. it's a collection of stories that are so unconventional and bizarre in the most incredible way. they are funny stories and sweet and absurd and sad. i really loved reading this book.

infinite country by patricia engel: the story of a colombian family dealing with deportation. it's from the pov of elena who is the eldest daughter. it's a beautiful book that deals with very real struggles and it does it beautifully.

classics

recitatif by toni morrison: very short story (about 20 pages) but so clever and so well written of course. it's the story of two women who have known each other since they were children. they lose touch and then they reconnect when they're older. one of them is white and one of them is black, but the author never tells you which is which. so it's a great story about race.

the cossacks by leo tolstoy: the story of a man who loses his fortune and retires to a cossack village. it's very russian... but it's very well written and definitely explores some of the themes that tolstoy will then explore in war and peace like the purpose of life and war and his love of nature.

white nights by fyodor dostoevsky: again very russian. but less than 100 pages long! it's the story of a young man living in st petersburg who one day meets a girl and they become fast friends. they both feel like outcasts, so together they feel like they can belong. it is actually great.

giovanni's room by james baldwin: lots of baldwin's books (both his fiction and non-fiction) are short ones actually. this one is the story of a man in paris who, while waiting for his girlfriend to get there, falls in love with a man. it's an incredible story dense with love and passion and shame and it is wonderful.

the old man and the sea by hemingway: old man tries to catch big fish after not being able to catch any fish for a long time. but also so much more than that and nobody made me read this in school so i only read it at 25 and it blew me away. everybody told me it would be so sad but i think it's actually hopeful and a little bit it is a story about community? and it tells you that there's people waiting for you to come back.

of mice and men by steinbeck: again i read it in my mid twenties and loved it. it's a gut punch. it's about two men clinging together as laborers in california. it deals with what it means to feel powerless in a tyrant world.

franny and zooey by salinger: one of the best books ever i think. franny and zooey are brother and sister and they are two young people experiencing existential doubts. it's a book about family and about growing into adults and about the alienation that comes with that. salinger knows how to write young people in a crisis so well and how to make it engaging and entertaining.

having compiled this list i now see that my tastes definitely are oriented in a certain way but i hope at least one of these can work for your friend. i tried to include all the shorter books that i have read and loved and i think that generally anyone could enjoy them, but you never know!

hope you're having a great day too!!! mwah!!

[machihunnicutt]

Ahh, I don't think I've ever prompted you for anything, which is a crime!! A long long time ago you wrote punnihawk, and idk if it's still your bag, so if it's not or if you're not taking prompts anymore, feel free to ignore this :) But if it is and you are, I'd love to see 'cuddles to trap the other' with them.

HELLO! yes! feels like a million years ago, my first mash fic :')

19. cuddles to trap the other

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a sensational dancer?” Hawkeye said. 

Peg was leaning on him a little, the side of her face pressed just below the collar of his crew neck. She was already dressed for going out, apart from her feet, which were without their customary heels. He’d adjusted his posture to account for the height disparity: shoulders hunched, knees slightly bent, palms at her shoulder and waist. 

Dancing with Beej required different adjustments. Hawk had to be more cautious with his feet. BJ was prone to getting distracted and treading on them. It was easier to maintain eye contact, though, since they were nearly the same height. And when Beej was feeling confident, sometimes he led. 

“I think you told me, the other day. Though maybe you said terrific, not sensational,” Peg said.

He’d begged her for a dance. Peg and Beej were going to one of the hospital’s frequent fundraising galas. It was an excuse to dress up, get a little tipsy, and talk to people—all things Hawkeye enjoyed, when he was in the right mood. 

Unfortunately he’d just gotten off a double shift, after an extraordinarily hectic week, and was more or less dead on his feet. He was exhausted in that slap happy, clingy, sore to be missing out way. Peg took pity on him.

Hawkeye could smell her perfume: light, floral, her special occasion scent, in the little blue bottle on her dresser. He and Beej had picked it out together. 

Visits to the perfume counter always gave Beej headaches. He’d persevere—eyes closed, bridge of his nose pinched, hint of a smile on his lips—while Hawk held up testers. 

“You know, we’re all going to smell like this,” Hawkeye had said, fingers grazing the inside of BJ’s wrist. 

Their shoulders brushed. It was raining outside. Inside, it smelled like damp hair, like Peg’s lavender shampoo, in the big bottle, to share. 

BJ opened his eyes. “Then we ought to pick something that complements your aftershave,” he said.

“You move like a dream,” Hawkeye said, shifting his weight, leaning into her as much as she was leaning into him.

Peg was stronger than she looked. She’d held him upright a time or two. 

She laughed. Hawkeye loved her laugh. When she really got going, she got the hiccups. The first time it had happened, Hawk had been bowled over with affection. They’d been out, all three of them, finishing their drinks outside a café. He and Beej had a spectacular comedy routine going. He couldn’t remember the jokes now. He’d been a little drunk, maybe, and in good company, which made everything funny.

When she laughed, some of her white wine came out her nose. Hawk passed her his handkerchief. Beej rubbed her back, at the space between her shoulder blades. He met Hawkeye’s eyes, across the cluttered table. He leaned back in his seat and crossed his long legs. 

“Don’t get big heads,” Peg said, after drinking deeply from her water glass, and then Hawk’s (leaving lipstick on the rim). 

The record they had on lapsed into staticky silence and Peg drew back.

“A good dream, I hope,” she said, smoothing the wrinkles from her dress.

BJ came into the room, holding up two ties. “I can’t decide,” he said. He frowned at Hawk. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“The purple one,” Hawkeye said, as Peg ushered him toward the mattress. 

“Erin’s sleeping over at Angie’s. I gave her the number at the club just in case, so no need to listen for the phone. Just get some sleep,” Peg said.

She pulled back the covers and kissed his forehead. 

“Don’t step on her feet, Beej,” Hawkeye said.

BJ was flipping up his collar and tying his purple tie. He looked nice in his well tailored suit, with the cufflinks Hawk had bought him for his birthday. 

He raised his eyebrows. “I’ll try my absolute hardest,” he said. 

Peg brushed some lint off his lapel.

“I know you will. We should call the cab. I hate showing up late to these things,” she said.

Hawkeye watched the two of them, lingering by the door. They’d wanted to skip the gala and stay in, with him, but he’d talked them into going. It seemed an awful shame to keep the Hunnicutts from a party.

“We’ll duck out early, Hawk,” BJ said.

Hawkeye opened his arms wide. 

“Kiss me goodbye, at least,” he said.

They didn’t need to be asked twice. They lay down on either side of him and Hawk was briefly distracted by the mingling of their warmth and scents and limbs. BJ kissed him and then Peg kissed him (gentler, to avoid smudging her lipstick).

“On second thought, I can get dressed and come with you,” Hawkeye said, eyes half-lidded. “I’m not as tired as I seem. I promise.”

BJ pressed a kiss to his hair. “Nice try,” he said.

Hawkeye rolled onto his side and tucked his face to Beej’s chest, breathing deeply. He was right. Beej smelled like Peg’s perfume.

 Her hands were at Hawk’s waist. She tucked her chin over his shoulder. 

“Well, I’ve trapped you here now,” Hawkeye said.

“Or we’ve trapped you, darling,” Peg said, in that dreamy, soothing tone she used when she read Erin bedtime stories. 

“We’ll be home before you know it,” BJ said.

[transgenderdoctorwhomst]

Ok I have been playing ac2! Here's my thoughs so far in no particular order (Also tag for @quietwingsinthesky ):

Ezio you absolute unneutered stray cat. I just know he's accidentally produced so many kids that abstergo or the assassin's could grab anyone off the street and probably trace them back to ezio

The disparity between altaïr in the codex like "We Need To Stop Doing Religion" followed up by the assassin's treating him as a sort of mythological figure functionally is so fucking funny. Sorry dude the assassin's are gonna religion about you

Half of the time the parkour feels better than ac1 because it's like, actually mapped to a controller correctly and more optimized, the other half of the time it feels worse because ezio will just fucking jump off the building without pausing. Altaïr will fucking fight you if you try to kill him with fall damage.

Its-a me, Mario!

I am in segment five out of 13 and Lucy hasn't forced desmond to take a break. She REALLY wants that bleeding effect to happen! Surely this will have no ill consequences for desmond!

GOD also "desmond, shut the fuck up" took me out. I love you lucy.

Desmonds Special Underdog Protag Intor in the opening was so funny and also made me cringe. Ac2 so far is just Not Doing Well or Trying Very Hard at making desmond an interesting protagonist. Also he's like. Barely there. You play desmond quite frequently in ac1, during well placed breaks and progress in the story. I've played him Once in ac2, and not a single time since starting ezio proper. And I can't even force him to wake up and walk around a little bit :(

Meanwhile I like making ezio run around in altaïr's outfit :) I like the touch that the outfit is just. Altaïrs model. It has the missing finger.

SPEAKING of that, gotta love how ezio was just ready to let a guy he barely knows cut off his finger. Just, Fuck Man, If You Say So.

The codex is a fun treat for me because I love altaïr and seeing what he's doing post-game. This man is slowly being mentally consumed by the piece of eden, a thing that started within a few months after ac1, based off bloodlines. And he is struggling with basically being a surprise prophet AND the new leader of the assassins SO BAD. This man is awful at being a team player.

I cannot believe desmond has to almost immediately have sex as ezio. This is so funny. Desmond WILL learn to have game, because he currently has None. Any bleed effect from altaïr will not help, because altaïr also has -3 charisma.

I wonder how often during this insane animus session, desmond just totally fucking forgets hes not just Being Ezio For Real, and gets jumpscared by Shaun or Rebecca piping up to inform him of something.

Last thought: ac2 has significantly more Side Content bloat than ac1. Ac1 is a pretty tight game, and it only has a fraction of the side content ac2 has. I could consider 100%ing ac1 doable for me! I will not be doing that for ac2. Ac2 I will collect the Fun Lore and whatever I happen to run across while playing. Both games are good! This is just extremely noticeable!

Ok. Bedtime for me now. I will sleep rotating altaïr in my head.

[mixed-up-metaphors]

I think the people should know. What are the Top Five Cool Things about each of your hyperfixations, and why should we play them?

*cracks knuckles* Metaphor: ReFantazio (i haven't actually finished this one so consider this an incomplete list)

FOUND FAMILY ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!

YOU CAN COOK WITH YOUR FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!

heismay is the sad old man adopts lost children trope and i will die on this hill

medieval rapping (see Pringus McDingus' video)

highly breakable. imagine giving the iron wall of your team healing skills

Why You Should Play It: can't speak for the plot as i haven't finished it but overall very enjoyable experience thus far. i like almost all the characters a lot, which is rare for me. several of them have surprised me. also fun gameplay!!

Persona Five (Royal)

ASETHETIC. SLAPS

MUSIC. SLAPS (beneath the mask and the songs for the spoiler royal dungeon live rent free in my mind, among others)

yusuke.

i want to hug. All of them (ryuji :( )

FOUND FAMILY!!!

Why You Should Play It:

found family team of traumatized misfits go on adventures and also stop some corrupt people along the way. i especially love the base final boss (yabbadabbadoo?), the preceding cutscenes, and its trope inversion. there are also...certain plot twists, especially in Royal's DLC that were a fantastic gut punch.

Persona Four (Golden)

some of the story's later arcs took a steel chair to my emotions and went ham. (the seventh dungeon especially)

a seven year old somehow manages to found family someone who is already biologically related to her as a cousin into being her older brother. How. What is this power.

i love some of the more ominous, melancholy or somber tracks in this game (favorite examples include this one, this one, and ESPECIALLY this one)

the whole ost slaps for that matter, heartbeat heartbreak hhnNghhHG

this one's found family to me too and i will also die on this hill (excepting maybe Kanji and Naoto my beloved, i do ship them a little)

Why You Should Play It: same reasons as P5(R) but murder mystery this time. characters feel a bit more interconnected than P5's, and i found the plot and storyline very impactful and meaningful. also, you can fight people with household items such as a guitar, a steel chair, fish, corn on the cob, a tambourine, roller skates. by contrast, there is exactly one character who uses almost exclusively actual weapons and placing said character amidst the household item wielding ones makes for some very funny disparity.

(i have yet to play persona 3 reload but it is next on my list and i predict it is going to be my favorite of the persona games. stay tuned lol)

FE:3H

i think all of the story's paths have a unique perspective and i enjoyed all of them (though i can't speak for SS, never played it). i admit readily though that AM will forever be my favorite as i find it deals most directly with themes like loss, regret/shame/guilt, forgiveness and facing the past, which are all favorite themes of mine.

i want to protect and adopt every character in this game forever

all of the games i've listed thus far have fantastic voice acting but 3H especially stands out to me in this department. i could go on for a while on this one.

YOU CAN COOK MEALS WITH YOUR STUDENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BONDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INTER-CHARACTER SUPPORTS!!!!!!!!!! I CAN WATCH MY BELOVED GOOFY GOOBERS DO SILLY THINGS WITH EACH OTHER!!! or watch them cry with each other but hey i mean tomato tomahto

Why You Should Play It: admittedly, i don't think this is really the reason most people enjoy the game, but i personally loved going through the game like it was my solemn duty to protect and care for every student i was teaching. recruiting them read as a matter of life and death to me so i approached it with a certain ferocity. 3H is sort of an RPG/5D-Rock-Paper-Scissors-Chess/Optional Dating Sim(??) so there's probably something for everyone. i ESPECIALLY love relationships between all the characters, Caspar/Linhardt, Raphael/Ignatz and Dimitri/Dedue/Ashe are easily my favorites but there are so so many others to enjoy here too. also you can class characters as something that is wildly unfitting for them. SHOULD Hubert be a brawler? probably not, given that the man has the physical strength of a soggy napkin, but you can train him to do so!!

i think that about sums it up!! thank u maude for the question!!

[bitch-butter]

⭐️⭐️!!

some pretty on the inside lore 😘💕🍒

David ached, but it wasn’t the sort of ache he was used to. It was an appropriate ache, the kind that came after a long, long night out, and the gentleness of the realization that he probably didn’t have sex the night before was like a butterfly landing on the tip of his nose.

He was in New Orleans. That much he was fairly certain of, but as he felt through his pockets he didn’t feel any money, and he couldn’t remember when and how he had lost his client in the heat of the night, and he certainly couldn’t remember who the man in the bed was.

so the big Thing with including this section in the first place is that that's Gene lol who is - similarly - in the death throes of his Party Monster era before he has to legitimately put his nose to the grindstone instead of a deep well of drugs. it came as a wayward Funny Idea between sarah and i that they would have had this crazy, raucous night out where it's unclear exactly if anything Happened between them and neither of them even remember meeting each other.

Rubbing over the greasy lids of his eyes, David sighed. What was the point trying to form any connective tissue between the disparate elements of his life anymore? There would be things he couldn’t remember, it was just a fact. It was either remember everything, or remember nothing.

I remember nothing, he quoted aimlessly in his head before groaning. He had to go home. He had to read David Copperfield again.

a huge part of Web in this story is just how much he actually remembers the events of his life while simultaneously trying to convince himself he really doesn't remember anything. part of that is a symptom of his deep unhappiness and part of that is just the privilege of being able to make mistakes when you're young and assume that they won't follow you or have an impact on the way you live your life. we've all had moments like that, which is what my primary intention is in illustrating this time in Web's life, where he's doing this enormous, loaded thing and just assuming that it will be something that stays where he leaves it and not weep out into every other area of his life and his future. it's hard in a hundred ways to be young, not the least of which is that you don't always know when you've gone too far in one direction.

Struggling to his feet as silently as he could he allowed himself a moment to be purely happy at the fact that he still had his phone at all, even if the absence of payment made his pockets seem large, vacuous with disappointment. He looked at the man in the bed for a moment, almost wishing he could remember him, if for nothing else but to know why they hadn’t had sex. It had been a long time since he’d found himself in a situation that wasn’t transactional, either by design or by chance, and this stranger in the bed who had let him sleep on his floor was a mystery to him.

He’d thank him if he understood it more.

it's nebulous Here but the idea is that at most they did make out that night. and sometime in the not too distant future Web realizes this, shares that information with Gene under the Auspices of thanking him for looking out for him before they even really knew each other, and this interaction comes to be Extraordinarily misunderstood by their entire friend group lol but that's a fic for another time.

i guess suffice it to say Web's past is always present lol

[thebirdsareafterme]

Lestappen, carcar(carlos/oscar), charles/oscar, dando

I have many thoughts and I hope I don’t get persecuted for this.

Lestappen: makes sense, does not compel me

Personally, I can see why people flock to Lestappen, as it is considerably the most popular ship at the moment. It has all of the components of being a good ship, with the childhood rivals to lovers, red and blue dynamics, etc. but it lacks one thing, which is a real connection to build the ship off of. Now, I know that fans of this ship are super passionate about how much Max and Charles love each other and are super gay for each other. When you look at their relationship at face value, there isn’t much there that isn’t just the coworker experience. They interact in the paddock, but outside of that, they rarely spend time together and if they do, it is almost always court-mandated (scheduled events by their management). They have a lot of respect for each other as competitors and have a base level friendship from proximity, but I just can’t seem to feel that sense of compulsion from their relationship that is heavily based on how they interact at their jobs. There are more compelling ships for both of them (I would argue Maxiel and Piarles) that, when compared, show the disparity between how they interact with each other versus how they interact with their friends.

Another reason that I can’t seem to see the Lestappen vision are the fans themselves, who like to insert their RPF narrative into every context for absolutely no reason. I think of that video that RBR released before the Hungarian GP this year where Max was listing his top three friends in the paddock. The comments were just Lestappies screaming “Where’s Charles??” or “Max only put Checo because he’s sitting there with him!! He would have said Charles if Checo wasn’t there!!” and most bizarrely, “ Max didn’t say Charles because they’re not friends…they’re lovers 😌”….genuinely, why are you pushing this narrative so hard. This is the REAL person stating the facts about HIS OWN relationships with people that he ACTUALLY knows, and you have a bunch of teenage girls telling him that he’s lying. Anyways, there’s a lot about parasocialism and all that, but that’s my hot take on Lestappen. Please don’t shoot me, I just have many thoughts.

CarCar: does not make sense, compels me

I actually was super invested in CarCar for a while, as Carlos is one of my main guys, so I was there at its conception. However, I completely thought this was a crack ship for a while and was unaware that people were serious about it until a few months ago when I saw how much stuff they have on AO3. Incredible! Considering how new it is, it has a lot of content and fans and I love how it’s based on a rivalry that just doesn’t exist and maybe 6 race interactions. We’ve definitely had more CarCar interactions this year, so I’m excited to see how they develop as more lore drops. They have lots of potential to become a great ship, perhaps becoming Webbonso reincarnated? Also, their ship name still cracks me up…cuz u know…they’re both race car drivers…yeah CarCar is chill and funny af. It doesn’t make sense and that’s why it works.

Charles/Oscar: does not make sense, does not compel me

This one, on the other hand, confuses me a bit. I always see them more as a father-son duo (see pre-Monaco tweets) so I feel kinda conflicted shipping them??? I think they have similar senses of humour, which is good ship potential, but I will admit I haven’t really paid attention to their interactions this year, so if anyone has a primer I would love to learn about them.

Dando: makes sense, compels me

I’m not usually a multishipper or a Lando fan (in the way where I like him in relation to other drivers but not as an individual), but something about them just makes sense to me. They have a lot of lore and a ton of fun interactions in and out of the paddock, and they also happen to genuinely like each other. It’s the whole “you’re the only good thing to come out of this bad thing” situation that they had going on all throughout the Horrors Part 1 (2021-2022) that makes them so compelling to me. They’ve got a lot going on in there, like the whole photography thing, the spontaneous Australia visit over winter break, and the overall chemistry they have. At first, I wasn’t the biggest fan of them because I was a Carlando child of divorce first and foremost, and also because they didn’t seem to like each other in the beginning as well, but they’ve definitely grown on me over the years.

Anyways, thank you for the ask! Had a lot of fun articulating my thoughts about these little guys.