#and while we both changed a lot since then

[skaletoncarnage]

I think it should be noted that, and I see this EVERY DAY working in the games industry, a lot of the guilt comes from the very real lack of IRL protest action. It looks more like "Bury your friends in the morning... dance all night," and in the Media Creation Class (i.e. not just artists but people paid to do art by corporations) "bury" often means "they were laid off" or "moved away and stopped working in the arts". We think of seeing posts of atrocities across the world in this same way as burying our friends, but there is little real-world action or organization that results from it that affects our daily lives, hence this pervasive feeling of guilt. (Do not stop boosting posts about Palestine or deportations or any of the many current issues, but do it while finding real-world places to support these causes! I am clearly not talking about providing financial support to refugees or trans or disabled ppl who can't pay their bills.)

I helped organize a union, the first to get a viable wall-to-wall contract in the industry, and a big sentiment during it was "Everybody feels bad and no one will show up to the in-person events or do the direct actions we are taking to make people feel less bad." The most difficult part to union organizing, which has since influenced California law, a real-life result, was getting people to show up more than once. Getting people to show up for other people they were in the same room with every day. The union tried to host fun events, but most organizing is not fun work, and it took a lot of convincing people to do not fun work even though it would directly benefit them. This is especially true in the Media Creation Class, which recruits young and exploitable employees by posing itself as the Fun Kind of Work!

Yeah, it's important to help people unwind in these stressful times. But you need something to unwind from. If you're just going to work, reblogging some awareness posts, and then retreating into fiction to unwind, you WILL feel guilty, because you do not have a real-life result from actions of resistance, you are just practicing basic survival! Because social media posts, while being useful for bringing awareness to actions of resistance and changing narratives being spread in real life, are not real-life actions in themselves. Join an art collective, a homeless outreach program, a library club, ANYTHING!

OP is making escapism and feels guilty about it. At the end of the day we cannot escape reality, no matter how hard we try. Show up in the real world. Fight escapist tendencies being your first choice of action after work. Your work will feel more fulfilling when you see real-world results. Art is revolutionary when it spurs real-life action. Steven Universe did not legalize gay marriage or give us gender-neutral drivers license markers, but it made it easier for people in real life to show up to do the work necessary. And now examples like that are being taken from us because the right is Showing Up IRL and Doing The Work. It goes both ways. Art is important, but not as important as real life.

Feeling rough lately.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

I'm thinking more about... how Deltarune Chapters 1 + 2 seemed to have set up certain... Patterns for the game, which a lot of the fandom kinda took for granted that they would apply for all of the following chapters as well.

Y'know, one Dark World for each Chapter, it's going to be based on a location we haven't explored before, each Dark World has it's own Ruler and it's own Super Secret Shadow Crystal Boss and we're gonna finish the game by sealing the Dark Fountain and then walk around Hometown a whole bunch.... Even stuff like the Darkners being motivated by some form of resentment or anxiety about being abandoned by the Lightners and the Super Secret Shadow Crystal Boss being 'fallen from grace' and driven mad by the influence of Someone...

And then Chapter 3 and 4 are both kinda set around slowly dissolving down this seemingly-established formula.

Chapter 3 doesn't have a real Light World Exploration segment at all, it ends before we properly seal the Fountain, and it's Super Secret Shadow Crystal Boss is actually the main route's Supposed-To-Lose-Fight with the Actual Main Villain the Roaring Knight. (Who... we simply don't know enough about to know if they have any narrative parallels with Jevil or Spamton.)

And then Chapter 4 has TONS of Light World content, including gameplay segments against SOUL-less Kris, we get to explore the Church just before the Dark Fountain opens, the Darkners don't seem to feel abandoned or neglected and we also have, like, MULTIPLE Dark Worlds, albeit ones based on the same Light World location. Gerson/the Hammer of Justice fills in both the 'leader' role like King, Queen and Tenna but also the Super Secret Shadow Crystal Boss Role (while also being clearly VERY narratively different than Jevil and Spamton).

And I think... I think that outside of Lore speculations, I think from a narrative perspective it relates to Susie's musing at the end of Chapter 4

of how she wishes things will stay the same forever, cause that'll mean she can keep being friends with Kris and Ralsei.

Like, the patterns, the formulas, they make things feel safe, because you know on some level that the next day (the next chapter) will be familiar on some level, because some things (like having a Weird Little Freak to fight, or the friendship between our main trio) will have to remain the same.

And when they start breaking apart, it's distressing. We know the changes are gonna herald more changes. And, since we are past the halfway point, we know things will end eventually.

Obviously Susie is probably not distraught about the lack of a proper Deranged Freak Shadow Crystal Holder. But these two Chapters have been a massive shift in the way she sees the Dark World and her adventures. She's starting to notice the darker undertones beneath the surface and the Actual Real Stakes involved, rather than this just being a fun magic adventure.

Since most of the audience has actually noticed these darker moments before and has been speculating about them for years, the departure from the formula is the thing that helps to put us in the mindset that Susie is in right now, that things are different than how they were in the first two chapters (days), and those times will probably never truly return.

[hikariyaps]

synopsis ☆ satoru gojo, most popular boy on campus, has had loads of flings i mean, it's not his fault girls are all over him right? he has everything he wants, everything he needs. so when he meets you, shoko's best friend plain and unassuming he brushes it off, however one random thursday something happens. something that changes the way he thinks of you entirely. and then he just has to have you, but you won't let up that easily.

☆series masterlist

Chapter Seven

things started to go back to normal. well almost normal. that's crazy because normal for you around six months back was you and shoko. just you and shoko. now normal for you includes a lot more people. gojo, suguru, shoko (obviously), occasionally nanami and haibara would be dragged along.

ever since the evening that sukuna made his reappearance, things between you and gojo have changed. you've gotten a lot closer. it's just been a week but it feels like that day was forever ago.

you opened up more, once you realized you trusted these people. you talked about your likes and dislikes, even started talking about your family.

you started having fun like actual real fun with them. in the past week there had been three mall trips and they'd tried to convince you to go to a party with them, but you had a shoot the next day so you couldn't. instead of going without you, they stayed in and you guys ordered pizza.

satoru loved this side of you. the side of you that talked so excitedly to him about the most random things. the side of you that flashed him those smiles that made his heart stop. the side of you that started laughing at the things he said. he realizes that maybe this isn't just a side of you, but maybe this is you. and truth be told, he had never felt this way about any girl. you really were something.

‘good morning guys’ you say and take a seat next to him, shaking him out of his stupor.

‘well someone woke up on the right side of the bed today.’

‘ha ha, suguru. looks like you got your beauty sleep’ you retort playfully.

‘wait’ satoru gasps dramatically. ‘how come you call him by his first name but me by my last?’ he asks all pouty.

‘we have a long way to get there, sweetie.’ you say patting his cheek.

he doesn't know if its the physical contact or the nickname that has his cheeks burning. he's left dumbfounded.

‘did you order yet?’ you ask him. all he can do is shake his head no. ‘i'll order for you?’ you ask, getting up. he nods yes. you smile at him and leave after mumbling out a quick ‘be right back’.

it isn't until shoko speaks that he snaps his eyes away from you.

‘whoah’ shoko gasps ‘that was scary’

‘right?’ suguru agrees ‘she's never been that nice to me’

‘to you? fuck that. she's never ordered coffee for me!’ shoko breathes out.

‘is there something you want to tell us about satoru?’ suguru teases.

‘what? n-no! satoru stutters out. ‘there's nothing to tell’

‘are you sure?’ shoko droned.

‘mm hmm’ satoru says nodding rapidly.

suguru and shoko both eye him up and down, so in sync that it's almost comical.

god help him, satoru does not know how to act at all.

by the time you come back with the coffee, suguru and shoko have almost got poor satoru to tears.

‘here’ you say, placing his takeaway cup in front of him and setting down in to your seat. it was a lazy friday. none of the teachers had any energy left in them so you guys were basically free the entire day.

‘so, what're the plans for today?’ you ask, taking a sip of your own coffee.

while shoko and suguru try to come up with something to do, satoru takes a sip of his own coffee. it's probably the best thing he's ever had in his life. he lets out an audible noise of delight and turns to you ‘what magic potion did you get me?’ he asks.

you let out a soft giggle. the sound echoing in satoru's brain, oh how he wishes he could listen to it on repeat.

‘it's a caramel latte, with two extra pumps of caramel.’ you explain softly to him, so that you don't disturb the very heated conversation going on between the other two. you lean in slightly so he can hear you and so does he. ‘i know you like sweet things, and since this is my go to, whenever i'm craving something sweet, i thought i'd get it for you.’

‘well you have excellent taste’ he says and you actually blush.

shoko captures this moment very discreetly with her phone.

‘so um’ suguru says loudly, making you both spring apart and return to your own seats bashfully. ‘me and shoko have some errands to run, satoru and you should spend some time together’ he says. shoko nods along and before you both could say anything the two idiots, who actually do not have any errands to run, leave.

you and satoru just sit there in silence for a bit, sipping on coffee, when you get a call from yuki. apparently she messed up and you actually had a shoot in an hour and while she was apologising profusely, your eyes lit up and satoru regrets not taking a picture of your face in that moment. after you tell her it's okay and hang up, you look at satoru.

‘would you perhaps be interested in coming to a shoot of mine?’ you ask him, a little shy, knowing very well, what the answer would be. he is actually overjoyed that you are comfortable enough to invite him to one of these and immediately agrees.

that's how he finds himself an hour and half later, blushing at the way you were killing that outfit. he swears that he's died and gone to heaven because that full white dress you were modelling with that halo definitely portrayed you as an angel.

after the shoot, satoru takes you out for dinner (you had lunch in the studio) and what starts as a silly conversation, turns into a deep exchange about passion and love and heartbreak. and since the other two weren't here (well they were spying on you from the other table but you had no idea) the conversation didn't stop.

satoru asks you what being in love was like and you talk about it with such passion that it makes him want to fall in love.

that night, lying in bed, satoru can't sleep. because he can't stop thinking about you. and that's when he remembers something he read online once ‘when you're in love, sleep is hard to come by.’

and that's when he realizes.

he's in love with you.

and lying awake in your bed, you realize you're in love with him.

a/n: aaahhhhhh!! i thought i posted this yesterday but i just saved it to drafts apparentlyy

©hikariyaps2025

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Tag Game: Scenes I will never forget

Rules: Share 5-10 scenes you can't forget. Not your favourites, the ones that got stuck in your brain for any reason.

Tagged by @thisonelikesaliens 😘

I love this prompt, because a lot of tags are about favorites, but there are so many scenes that have more complexity than that, and are harder to classify. Going to stick to QL, since that's what most in my head these days.

1. Until We Meet Again was one of my earliest BLs, and one of the most impactful. From the first episode, I was so struck by how Korn had forced Intouch to watch him die, and how utterly traumatizing that must have been. This is not meant in a victim-blaming way at Korn for his choice, he was in so much pain, but he did do something that hurt the one he loved the most in the most brutal way possible and I needed it to be fully acknowledged. And then, close to the end, we got the moment that both destroyed me, and absolutely needed to happen for the story as a whole to work. Intouch finally had a chance to express his pain and trauma over what Korn did. Fluke's acting here gave me chills, and the catharsis I needed.

Close second is the scene with the fathers of Korn & Intouch tying the red threads, which made me cry so hard I've never been able to watch it again.

2. Manner of Death. This was the first BL I watched that wasn't romance-focused, and I ate it up with a spoon. But it was also quite a powerful and raw story. When the killer is murdering Jane, and you understand all of the despair and confusion and hurt that Jane is experiencing at the hands of someone she utterly loved and trusted, it's both heartbreaking and unforgettable.

Since none of us want to see that in gif form, as solace, have Great shirtless.

3. DNA Says Love You. I will never stop talking about how underappreciated this series is. Because Amber is a very internal character, we learn things about him slowly. But what really sticks out to me is this scene, where is he eating the cake that he used to have with this family as a child. And the memories that come back are just so overwhelming. Le and his mother at this point have no context, just see their guest crying over cake, but are still so sweet and kind despite their bewilderment.

4. Not Me. Needs no explanation. Honestly, I could pick about 10 scenes from this series. I am so beyond excited P'Nuchy is coming back to direct again.

5. Perfect 10 Liners. I know I'm not the only one who connected fiercely with Faifa, and how deft he was at wearing a positive face over his pain. I will never forget his face in this moment, while the rest of his family is happily reconnecting, and completely ignoring him and his obvious feelings, because they only ever care to see the illusion when he is present.

6. He's Coming to Me. Another series that doesn't get talked about nearly enough. The early scene with Med walking through the graveyard, as time passes and people change around him, visiting all the other graves while he is alone, has always stayed with me. It evokes such bittersweet sadness for Med, until it's broken by the first appearance of Thun.

7. Ghost Host Ghost House. What can I say, I like my ghost stories. I could pick multiple options from this show, but in this case, I have to go with the couch scene, because it's one of the best "dear lord give me strength" moments ever from Pluem, while Kawin, of course, knows exactly what he's doing with those short shorts, the little devil. They are telling us so much with zero dialogue.

8. Old Fashion Cupcake. Almost this entire series lives in my head, but the confession is just an incredibly directed and acted scene. Continuous shot, the camera matching the chaotic energy of the actors, following Nozue as he gets increasingly desperate to flee, and Togawa as he gets increasingly desperate to keep Nozue with him, culminating in both one of the best kisses, and one of the most painful moments, as Togawa thinks he's just lost Nozue forever.

9. Secret Crush on You. A lot of credit goes to the translators for this moment, where they did such an incredible job expressing the beauty and respect in Intouch's manner of speech to Daisy, and all that it conveyed. There is so much we miss due to translations, and I will never forgot someone taking the time to make sure we understood the important context between the words, for such an important character and all she represented.

10. Semantic Error. This one also has so many moments I could pick, but this scene, the code switching in their conversation, the kiss, and what it says about the characters, has a permanent rent free spot in my brain.

I also feel like I need to do an honorable mention for Sorn jacking Jun into a koi pond as a series intro, because I don't think I'll be forgetting that anytime soon.

No pressure tags @sunshinechay @infinitelyprecious @le-trash-prince @slayerkitty @poetry-protest-pornography

[katmaibearfan]

Brooks River Hierarchy: Recent History and Potential Contenders

Hierarchy among brown bears is not simple, and importantly, it is not linear. We also don't know a ton about it, because it is very hard to study. In fact, the brown bear cams at Brooks River in Katmai National Park may be the best source of insight we have into this topic.

As a result, I cannot speak to the behavior of brown bears at large -- only to what i've observed myself on the live cams. I also am not a scientist, please don't take anything I say here as a hard-and-true fact. I can only speak to what I have observed, and what I have seen other people say they have observed.

The hierarchy at Brooks River is a complex web of connections between individual bears. While there are broad patterns to these connections, it is ultimately a web of individuals; there is no line along which all bears are placed, and there is no guarantee that there be only one bear-in-charge each season. Boars tend to outrank sows, who tend to outrank subadults, who tend to outrank cubs, but that is a wild oversimplification of what is a very complicated and quite interesting system.

As this post is focused on the very top of the hierarchy, from this point on I will almost exclusively talk about the biggest and most aggressive of the boars.

Recent History

The four most dominant boars are 856, 747, 32 Chunk, and 151 Walker. 856 is likely the oldest of the four, with 747 not all that far behind. 32 Chunk is next, and 151 Walker is the youngest of the group. If we had to estimate ages, then as of 2025, I would put 856 at 26ish, 747 at 24ish, 32 Chunk at 20, and 151 Walker at 18.

856 was the boar at the top of the hierarchy at Brooks River for a long time. He ascended to his position in 2011, when he was probably about 12-13 years old, and he kept it through 2023 -- except 2017, when he was injured, and 2021. But now he's getting old, he's slowing down, and he's chilling out. And that meant that in 2024, it was time for a changing of the guard.

Ultimately, 32 chunk came out on top last year -- both 856 and 747 had chilled out in their old age, and 151 Walker has a long history of getting displaced by other bears (especially 128 Grazer), so 32 chunk seized the opportunity. He was very aggressive, especially early in the season -- he ran other bears off the falls entirely before the salmon even arrived, and he sneak-attacked 747 while the old man was taking a nap! When he went on a long courting journey with 101 in early July, there were lots of jokes about how she was keeping the falls peaceful by dragging him off to the middle of nowhere. This isn't to say that 151 walker didn't put up a fight -- he did! But ultimately, it was 32 Chunk who reigned last year.

But now these next few years could be interesting, because 32 Chunk isn't getting any younger, and there's several other boars who might be looking to take the metaphorical crown for themself.

Potential Contenders

This is entirely speculation & is just for fun.

151 Walker

explore.org capture, taken by me, September 17 2024

I mean, obviously. he's huge and 18 and ready to fight -- though last year he did mostly avoid attacking 32 Chunk, focusing instead on other bears. He's been angling for the top boar position for a few years now, though since he's getting older his opportunity window might be pretty small. I think he's the most likely to displace 32 Chunk in the next year or so, but beyond that, I think it gets tougher for him to beat the younger, faster boars. I also think 503 Cubadult could be a serious challenger to him, even as soon as this coming summer.

503 Cubadult

Explore.org capture, taken by me, September 17 2024

This guy is 12 years old, big as hell (seriously, in early summer he looks like a bear on stilts), and only getting bigger. The main question here, I think, will be whether or not he wants to try and be at the top. Not every boar is the level of dominant or aggressive required to hold that position, and so far he hasn't seemed particularly inclined towards fighting. Though, he does seem to Basically Not Care About 32 Chunk At All. But if he does start leaning towards aggression more heavily, I think the crown could be his pretty quick.

164 Bucky

explore.org capture, taken by me, August 22 2024

This young guy still has a lot of growing to do, as he is only 8 years old. But he is already pretty big, and he's also got a huge attitude, especially with the older, bigger boars. (CW: video of serious bear violence) He had a brutal fight with 151 Walker last year where he refused to back down until 856 showed up, and he is constantly encroaching on other bears' space. I think that if 503 Cubadult doesn't become the level of dominant required, then 164 Bucky has a very serious chance of being in charge -- once his body catches up to his attitude, that is!

If anyone else has thoughts about boars at Brooks River that they think could be in charge in the next few years, i'd love to hear them!!

[itzzzzzzyyyyydaaaaa]

it’s a long rant btw…so you can stay or not.🙂

ykw fuck it. it’s MY blog i can say what i wanna say.

March 22nd 2024 was the day Alexey came into my life and we got together a week or two after we met. At the time, we were both very scared to ask each other out because we both wanted to get to know each other. After some time, i asked her to be my girlfriend.

Which was March 22nd. We started calling, playing games, and texting non stop unless she was busy. Which, i get. But us being clingy, we always messaged each other until one of us replied. Sometimes HOURS would go by and still have 20+ messages from one another.

Then while dating we got to know each other more like, our real names, or what we really were like outside of tumblr. And it was a nice thing to know about. We really shared common interests and liked a lot of the same things.

Now, during all this, she would get very sick during car rides and she couldn’t be on the phone too long cs she would get dizzy. Once she got home we would text, or send pictures of each other to save or to just make each other smile. Sometimes i would sleep almost half past noon, and would wake up to one or two pictures of her.

No. We weren’t a perfect couple. We had our small arguments, and we had our really full blown out arguments to the point where it was “No i don’t want to” when we would ask each other something.

And that’s okay! Because if you don’t have an argument, most of the time…it’s not healthy. But that’s just my opinion. Yeah yeah yeah. I know we all say “Oh my god she showed me true love” … “She taught me-‘ NO. Alexey really did show true mother fucking love to me. Because she treated me a way that no one else had ever treated me. And that’s what made me fall for her even harder.

During the summer, i fucked up and got grounded and was told i would never get my phone back. I was so pissed with myself because i knew i was going to lose Alexey.

Then Come August, i was able to use my friends tumblr and talk with Alexey during school hours which, was a little bit hard…Got caught about 5 times with a phone…

And then…when i thought things would get better just after our 6th month anniversary….

September 27th, 2024…

i opened up tumblr to a break up message. My heart shattered and i cried at school. Begging and pleading asking if i did something wrong that i would and could fix it. Anything and everything just to keep her… just to have her…

It was school. School was getting harder for her since she had finals and i understood that. It just didn’t help the fact that it still hurt. That night, i messaged her and was talking to her until she just went complete radio silent. It was already 1 in the morning for her. So i just brushed it off and said “Maybe she fell asleep. She’ll msg me tomorrow!”

Boy was i so wrong..

Two weeks later i find out her dad found out about us. Forced her to give him her phone, and he broke it. and for about a month, i was speaking with her friend Artu. He is the sweetest boy i’ve ever met. And when we would call while she was at school he would always say

“Hey girl that’s dating my gay best friend” And never “Hey Ari” And the name stuck. It wasn’t until he started msging me telling me what was going on. They made Alexey switch schools. Good thing was Artu and Alexey had the same Art class at a certain location. So he got to see her every now and then. And that’s how i would get info about Alexey.

Then i got my phone back for a little bit till i fucked up again.

February 11th, 2025.

Alexey deactivated her account.

February 16th, 2025.

Just 5 days later…i found out she deactivated

i have missed her since then. Not as much as i do now. I recently went on spotify and saw she updated her profile. She had not touched it since we broke up.

So i changed my name to “Alexey come back please” last night. This morning. I woke up to her following my second account

so to try and get her to come back so we can talk again, i changed my first account to “Alexey(her real name)comebacktomepls”

and i made a playlist that has my pinterest account. And to know that its rlly her, i put on their for her to msg me my real name.

I have had so much anxiety since this morning and my head keeps bringing up scenarios that scare me because i haven’t talked to her in 9 months. So i’m very scared if she’s found someone else or not.

I cried days after we broke up because i was so heartbroken and sad. But that’s everyone…right?

I pray to god that she comes back. Because me @pink-vacancy and @jennissera miss her. When i told them abt her spotify acc, they both got so happy. So i pray she finds my pinterest, gets my tumblr and we can talk again…

[suannesnowrose]

TADC new episode news

sooo...I don't know what this means but I have an idea of the sudden shift as to what the next episode is and why the new of the next episode started off as a safari but then changed to an office job. Both Jax and Ragatha were going to share episodes equally and both of these things will happen except one will happen first but due to both Ragatha and Jax sharing episodes equally it could simply be a joke or imply what their episodes will be .Since episode 5 is Ragatha's episode I think the office job was her idea

As far as the image goes Pomni looks like she doesn't want to be there at all and looks like she's going through it

Ragatha though seems to look organized and excited so this office job might have been her idea (if not then it was Caine's) her idea might be similar to Gangle where she might take it a bit too seriously while the others hate doing office stuff but Ragatha doesn't complain or say anything as Ragatha doesn't like conflict and always is trying to be nice however I think she will drop the being nice act at some point and catch the other characters off guard. Not sure how but this was going to be the silly before the storm so this might have a lot of shinanogans

As for the safari episode I think that was either Jax or Caine's idea . Knowing Jax he'd probably get into the adventure and he may or may not get every animal extinct and probably go crazy hunting them (hopefully not shooting the cast for fun or using them as bait)

It's also a bit concerning that he even has a gun because the guy loves violence but here I'm hoping that's not Gangle but it clearly seems to be her ribbon . This image could simply be a joke but I don't see Jax not taking a chance to get revenge on Gangle after episode 4.

Though there is a possibility that both of these adventures will happen in the same episode but just like episode 4 where Kinger was on his own adventure while the others did the fast food one the group will be split up in episode 5 too. Ragatha,Pomni and maybe Kinger doing the office job while Jax , Gangle and Zooble (if Zooble even wants to or Caine forced her to go) go on a safari adventure. This concept seems more likely but also very interesting to see the characters get to choose what they want their adventure to be .(If Ragatha chose to do the office job I think it could be her wanting some normalcy like Gangle or something else. Who knows we all know she's gonna snap at some point in this one)

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm curious to see what kind of monstrous powers Akasha (and Lestat once she's done with him) will have. The show made the vamps supercharged- even a young vampire can have the fire gift or the cloud gift- but it's crucial to have Akasha stand apart. QOTD won't work if she doesn't. It's also necessary for the body dysmorphia that Lestat experiences in TOTBT. Are there any powers from the lore you can think of they could give her?

Well, for one, I am... not so sure that the show has made the vampires that supercharged. They have overpowered them, yes, but the skills they have shown so far fall in line with the changes they made.

I mean, Lestat is much older - his blood carried much more power for Louis. Which is why this Louis could "learn" (to handle) the fire gift. He is not as apt with the mind gift, which means the focus and talent in skills is still there, and can very well be different for the characters (which is also in line with the books). (And, as a note - we do not know who Santiago's maker was, but given he can fly he was likely older and powerful, and I wonder if there is a story behind it we will get still.)

That said, for the show... I think Akasha needs to have a very powerful version of the "kill gift" at the ready, which is ultimately the mix of "fire gift" and "telekinetic manipulation" (mind gift). She teaches that (and the flying) to Lestat in the books. Since Lestat can already fly I think they will dig into the "letting people explode and go up in flames at will" skill a lot more deeply.

Akasha goes and burns up the vampires while passing over them - her powers will be more in the way she can wield them and the sheer magnitude of them I think, than in them being different ones.

I talked about the poker game back then as well, ultimately... that was a very cool display of a combination of "mind gift" and "spell gift" with telekinesis mixed in, but well within range of the existing abilities/powers that these vampires have.

So far, nothing we have seen is actually "out of range"... they just boosted them.

Lestat's body dysmorphia will likely come into play simply because Akasha uses and abuses him, and if his skin in the trailer is anything to go by they are going the whitening-because-turning-plastic route (I know that trailer is not "canon canon" but there were choices in there, for wardrobe and makeup, which were very deliberate after all).

They could also shorten the body dysmorphia with the alienation through Amel - because, if they drop the whole replimoids part, and I think they will(!) - then that leaves Amel as the "evil" spirit that possesses them. And though I do not think Lestat will get the core right after Akasha is killed, I think he will get it, like in the books. And that will then likely pay into that.

Because when Amel first "presents", he does so in a mirror, in a "doppelganger" version of Lestat, and I BET Rolin will lean into the full horror of it all that is hinted at there:

"I was there, but not my reflection. It was another me, smiling at me with triumphant glittering eyes, both hands up against the glass as if he were in a prison cell behind it. Same clothes, yes, and me down to the last detail of long blond curling hair and glittering blue-gray eyes. But not a reflection at all. I was petrified. The dim echo of doppelgänger rose in my ears, and all the horror such a concept connotes. I don’t know if I can describe how chilling this was—this figure of myself inhabited by another, leering at me, deliberately menacing me."

(Prince Lestat)

I just BET that's how they'll spin it :)

[paramountinplace]

I love the beach story so much and would love a part 3. I loved the detail of Van getting sunburn too since she has red hair. I also loved akilah being concerned about the animals. You do a great job of having the characters consistent with the show. I think in the car shed get pretty fussy about it because she’d get a little feverish and feel sick from the sunburn, and it’s uncomfortable, especially around her scarring.

The chaos of Nat and Tai trying to get all the smaller ones changed for the car ride. Them trying to get Jackie Mari Mel and Gen into their pull ups since they know they’re probably going to fall asleep and are prone to night accidents.

Mel being a little fussy because she wants to sit with her best friend Gen, but Gen wants to be in the front so she can be closer to Tai, and there’s room in the front for a bucket to go between her legs in case she is feeling sick.

Mari crying for the first 10 minutes because she’s overtired, then Tai gives her sippy cup with apple juice in it and she’s fine, falls asleep immediately.

Tai trying to comfort Van and drive. Maybe Shauna is feeling big again and can drive.

Jackie’s keep handing Van random things to see if she’ll stop fussing, and reporting to Tai in the front everything.

“Maris sleeping Tai”

“Van is crying again”

“Van is touching her face again”

“Van is sweating”

“Van face red”

“Vans arms are red”

“I think I peed-ed”

Etc.

When they finally get home Jackie and Mari are both asleep and get carried inside, and put to bed immediately.

Mel and Van insisting on bath time together so they can play more. Mostly Mel because she wants to help Van cheer up.

Vans fine for a little but then gets cranky and has a tantrum for no reason because she feels queasy and tired and achy from the sun sickness/sun burn.

Nat comes in to help Mel get changed for bed, while Tai comforts Van.

I feel like this could be 2 parts , if you’re interested. I love this story so much and thanks for doing my request!

Love, 🐨🐨

Life's A Beach - Pt. 3

Summary: Done with their day at the beach, the Yellowjackets have to get back home for the night. Inspired by some of the lovely ideas above! I did end up spliting the ask into 2 parts, so there will be a part 4 sometime soon

"We're not gonna have to make them change in the car, are we?" Nat grumbled as she shoved a wad of still-damp towels into a bag. Tai shook her head, glancing over her shoulder to make sure everyone was helping to pack up their things. Mari was sitting glumly atop the cooler, not doing much, but Tai figured she'd let that one slide considering she'd volunteered to carry said cooler when no one else wanted to.

"There's a building up by the parking lot with stalls for changing and stuff," she explained, zipping up Van's backpack and turning to hand it to her. The redhead had been trailing Tai around since they'd started packing up, rubbing at her sunburnt face miserably.

"Do you wanna take 'em up now? I can give you the keys so you can drop all the stuff in our car," Nat asked.

Tai did not want to take them up now. She had a feeling that she'd need Nat and Laura Lee's help with getting the littles set for the car ride back.

"Nah, I'll just wait," she said casually, scanning their area for misplaced shoes or toys.

It was another fifteen minutes before everyone had managed to get their things packed up and hefted various bags onto their shoulders. They trooped through the sand back up to the parking lot and Tai was surprised to find that aside from their cars, the lot was almost entirely empty.

Nat popped the trunk of their car to allow everyone to drop the chairs and coolers in, while Tai unearthed two bags from the other car that held dry clothes for the ride home. She handed one to Nat and kept the other for herself, calling for the girls to follow her up to the wooden building that held the stalls she'd mentioned earlier.

Laura Lee waved them ahead, opting to get Lottie changed in the car since there was no one else in the parking lot and the minivan was big enough to do it with the door shut.

"We'll take her for the ride back, also," she told Tai. Lottie was already on her way to being asleep again, head lolling against Laura Lee's shoulder.

Once they got to the building, Tai rifled through her bag for Van and Shauna's clean clothes.

"You two go get changed and come back here when you're done," she directed. "Akilah, hon, I think Nat has your clothes."

Nat nodded, holding up a bundle of purple and white.

"I've also got Jackie and Gen," she said.

"You take them and I'll handle the others?"

They split up and headed inside, herding the others along with them. Mari had discovered the push-button shower heads outside the building and had made up a game that seemed to mostly involve her getting Mel wet, which made Tai grateful for the dry towel she'd grabbed at the last second.

She draped the towel around Mel before bending once more to rummage through the clothing bag.

"It stinks in here," Mari observed, poking her head through one of the curtains to the change stalls.

"Sure does," Tai agreed. It was an unfortunate combination of sea salt and general bathroom smell, which made Mel pinch at her nose adorably. Tai finally found what she had been hunting for in the bag and handed Mari a bundle of clothes with a pull-up sandwiched between them, trying to make it seem casual. Mari froze when she realized, wrinkling her nose.

"I don't need this," she protested. "It's probably Mel's."

Mel blushed, shifting on her feet as she looked down. Tai sighed, pulling the blonde's dinosaur pajama pants out of the bag alongside a t-shirt and another pull-up, marked this time with racecars.

"No. It's yours," she replied bluntly, standing and tapping Mari on the nose. "It's just a precaution in case you fall asleep on the way home."

Mel disappeared into one of the stalls, seemingly having decided not to argue with Tai. Mari stood her ground, fixing Tai with a glower.

"I don't need it," she repeated.

"Maybe not," Tai shrugged. "But we're gonna wear it just in case."

Mari's face screwed up and she opened her mouth in what was sure to be a mighty wail before Nat rounded the corner with a freshly clothed Gen and Jackie. They were wearing matching sweaters and Nat had braided both of their hair back in the same style. Behind them, Shauna, Van, and Akilah were following along, also clad in their clean clothes. As they came up beside Nat, one of the curtains rasped and Mel stepped out in her dinosaur pants.

"Look," Tai pointed. "Everyone else is changed."

Mari clamped her mouth shut, quietly padding into a stall to change and Nat gave Tai an amused look.

"Little trouble?"

Tai sighed. "She's tired. We all are."

With Mari cooperating, they were done fairly quickly and got back to the car without any more complaining. Nat split off with Akilah at her side to hop in the other car, which already held a sleeping Lottie and Laura Lee at the wheel, paging through her book as she waited.

"Gen, you're up with me," Tai said, gently nudging the girl towards the passenger seat. Laura Lee had already set up the sick bucket they kept in the trunk, lining it with a few shopping bags since they'd used up their proper sick bags on the drive up. Gen's cheeks went a little pink, but she didn't argue, waving goodbye to Mel.

As Gen climbed into the car, the pout that had been forming on Mel's face deepened. She had been looking forward to sitting with Gen on the way home and despite not really being one to complain, she was clearly gearing up to tell Tai as much when Shauna jumped in.

"Mel, we can sit together in the back, okay? It'll be fun, we can play the license plate game," she offered, slinging an arm around Mel's shoulders. Tai nodded, relieved that Shauna was either feeling a little older she'd been earlier, or just a little less focused on one-upping Mari and more on the clear exhaustion of the others.

"Sound okay, Mel?" Tai asked.

The blonde nodded begrudgingly and allowed Shauna to help buckle her into the far backseat. Tai appraised the three that were left standing outside the car. She didn't want to stick Van in the way back, especially not since the redhead hadn't asked to sit with Mel as she normally would have and Tai was getting the feeling she was going to want to have Van close by. Mari in the back with Shauna sounded like a one-way track to an argument that Tai wouldn't be able to break up from the front and Jackie didn't like the backseat because it made her feel claustrophobic with its small windows.

"Can you three share the middle row?"

They all agreed quietly, clambering into the car without any argument and Tai slid the door shut behind them before hopping in the driver's seat, flashing Laura Lee a thumbs up through the window. She waited for them to back out before starting up the car, adjusting the mirrors as she did.

Almost as soon as the car had started moving, Mari dissolved into tears. They came on quick, as they tended to do when Mari was tired.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Tai asked, trying to catch a glimpse of the girl in the rearview mirror.

"Mari's crying," Jackie chirped.

"I hear that, honey," Tai replied. "Mar, what's goin' on?"

Mari's response was mostly unintelligible through her tears, which told Tai she was probably nothing more than overtired. She weighed the option of pulling over to quickly soothe Mari or just letting her cry herself out. Sometimes the girl was able to regulate herself, but after a few more minutes passed and Mari was still sobbing, Tai opted to ease the car into a gas station parking lot so she could address the situation a little better.

She popped the trunk and dug around until she unearthed one of the coolers, praying as she opened it that there would be a Mari-friendly drink inside. Luckily, a bottle of apple juice sat primly amongst the melting ice and Tai dumped half of it into a sippycup that she was pretty sure actually belonged to Mel. She hoped the dinosaur design would go unnoticed in the darkness of the car and held her breath when she handed it to Mari, smoothing a hand over dark hair as the girl took a sip.

The fact that she was drinking out of someone else's cup didn't seem to register with Mari and she calmed quickly. Beside her, Van was shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"Do you need the bathroom, bud?" Tai asked, leaning over Mari to get a look at Van's face. The skin around her scars was irritated and raw, like she'd been rubbing at her sunburn. Van shook her head, confirming Tai's previous suspicions when a hand came up to paw at her cheek.

"'M hot," she murmured, whining a little when Tai reached out to stop her from messing with her skin. She pressed the back of her hand to Van's forehead, unsurprised when she felt heat radiating off of it.

"You're running a bit of a fever." She was speaking mostly to herself, but Jackie looked over at her wide-eyed. "It's just from the burn, Jackie. She's not sick."

Jackie relaxed back against her seat, giving Van's shoulder a tentative pat.

"Hang tight, baby," Tai sighed, pulling Van's hand away from her face again, pressing a quick kiss to her palm. There wasn't much she could do about the burn until they got home. She could hear Jackie saying something to the redhead as she slid their door shut, flopping back into her own seat to pull back out into the main road.

As they continued on, she peeked into the rearview a few times, relieved when Mari's head finally lolled back against the headrest, eyes shut as she dropped off into sleep. Van was gazing mournfully out the window, one palm pressed against the side of her face. Tai decided it was better than her scratching at it and didn't say anything.

"Mari's sleepin'," Jackie said in a stage whisper.

"Thanks, honey," Tai replied. "Let's try to keep it that way, alright?"

Mel and Shauna were talking softly in the backseat, but between the hum of the car and the calm music Tai was playing quietly, she figured Mari probably wouldn't wake up from it.

They managed to get onto the highway before Jackie's sweet voice reached Tai's ears again.

"Van's crying."

A tiny sob sounded from the redhead and Tai fought the urge to whip around, forcing herself to keep her eyes on the road.

"Buddy, what's up?"

Van didn't reply, pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes.

"I got it," Jackie announced.

There was a bit of a shuffle as Jackie dug around in her blue backpack. She unearthed a little puzzle toy, handing it over to Van, who took it and stared down at it glumly. Her sniffling calmed as she fiddled with it for a few minutes before her tears picked up again and Jackie took it back gently.

Her crying garnered the attention of the two in the backseat and Shauna leaned forward, dangling a fidget toy over Van's headrest.

"Here, try this," she whispered.

Jackie took it and passed it to Van, relaying what they were doing up to Tai, who nodded silently. She was debating trying to make the rest of the drive single-handedly so she could reach a hand into the back for Van to hold, but she kept both hands clenched around the wheel as she listened to the others try to get Van to calm down. She flipped the A/C on low, hoping no one would complain about the car being a little cooler and that it might get Van to settle until they got home.

"Van, no—Tai, she's touching her face again," Jackie piped up, voice still somewhat hushed as she tried to be quiet for Mari's sake.

"Grab her hands," Shauna hissed.

"No, don't—" Mel cut in and Tai fought the urge to shout.

"Don't grab her," she shot over her shoulder, feeling a little ill-equipped to deal with the situation at hand. She wracked her brain for ideas, trying to ignore the hushed squabble that had broken out in the backseat alongside Van's pitiful sniffles. "You're okay, Van, it's alright. Stop messing with your face, okay?"

"It hurts," Van replied, voice small.

"I know. You probably don't feel so good, huh?"

"She's shaking her head," Jackie said.

"Thanks, Jax."

She kept one hand on the wheel as she reached carefully across the dash to pop open the glove compartment.

"Gen, can you find our audiobook in there?"

Gen rifled through the CDs, pulling out one with a purple cover. It wasn't the one Tai had been referring to, but she figured it would work the same. She directed Gen to switch out the music they were listening to for the book, turning up the volume as a calm voice started filtering through the speakers, reading the opening paragraph of a children's novel.

"Let's all try to relax, okay?" She directed this at the back of the car, strangely grateful for the mess of traffic that she slowed into. They came to a standstill, allowing her to turn around. She gave Van's knee a squeeze. "I know it hurts, but we'll be home soon."

Shauna was trailing her fingers through the ends of Van's hair, chewing on her lip nervously. As much as she could put up a front of not caring about the other girls, she got antsy when one of them was upset and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

"Try to focus on the story, buddy," she murmured as she turned around to face the road again. As they crept forward, she made sure to glance into the backseat every so often.

The audiobook had gotten to Jackie quickly and she was slumped against her window, backpack cradled in her lap like a teddy as she dozed. Mari was still fast asleep, sippy held loosely in one hand.

Van had calmed somewhat, still fussy and restless but no longer crying. Every time her breath hitched like she was about to start up again, Shauna would lean forward to press a hand to her chest, getting her to breathe slowly in the way that Van did for her whenever Shauna got really riled up.

Mel was quiet, not sleeping but staring tiredly out the window as she mouthed at the end of one of her braids.

Beside Tai, Gen was still, body relaxed as she gazed ahead into the sea of car lights. Nothing about her demeanor betrayed that she was feeling sick and Tai let out a slow breath, hopeful that the car would stay like this until they arrived home. The traffic dissipated fairly quickly and she eased her foot down on the gas, going a little faster than she normally might choose to go.

At some point, they'd been separated from Laura Lee and Nat's car and she kept herself awake by scanning the road ahead of her for the familiar vehicle. She was glad she had chosen that particular activity to occupy herself with because it allowed her to catch a flash red and blue out of the corner of her eye, slowing to just above the speed limit as they flew by a cop car hidden strategically in a turn-out. She eased off the speeding a bit after that.

She felt Van's foot thudding lightly at the back of her seat after a while, but she knew the redhead wasn't trying to be annoying. It was something she'd picked up from Nat, who had a habit of kicking gently at the back of Lottie's seat as she drove just to feel a little closer to the other girl when she wasn't able to turn and look at Nat.

Once they were off the highway, Tai took a hand off the wheel to reach behind her, allowing Van to grasp at it with both of hers. She rubbed her thumb over the back of one of Van's hands, pulling it back only when she needed both hands to make a turn.

Van made a little sound, but Shauna was quick to offer up her own hand for her to hold, eyes meeting Tai's in the rearview. She gave Shauna a nod in thanks, making a mental note to praise the other girl for helping out so much when she got the chance. Trying to whisper her thanks all the way into the backseat while half the car was asleep seemed like a recipe for disaster, so she kept her mouth shut as they wound through the back roads that led to their house.

She could see Laura Lee and Nat's car a ways ahead of them, her headlights illuminating the stickers on the back of the vehicle. She flipped off the GPS, choosing to just follow the other car through the dark—she was pretty sure she knew the way home at this point anyhow.

Gen perked up beside her as they rolled into their neighborhood and Tai felt about the same. She knew they had a bit of a task ahead of them with getting everyone into bed and all, but she was just glad to be home and not behind the wheel of a car any longer.

A few groans rose up as she pulled the key out of the car and the lights flickered on, prompting Mel and Gen to wake up slowly. Mari and Jackie were still solidly knocked out, while Van had unbuckled herself immediately and was restless in her seat as she tried to figure out a way to get out of the car without waking the girls on either side of her.

"One sec, guys," Tai said, beckoning to Nat for a hand. "We'll be inside before you know it."

To be continued!

[tenthousandyearsx]

ERHA SPOILERS!!! BEWARE!!!

I finished Erha (*collapses*) and I'm very likely never going to reread it again – but I've been browsing different platforms and reading some meta posts and commentary that I very much disagree with, so now I have thoughts™ that I want to write down before moving on.

1. It's not a redemption arc in the Western sense

A lot of people seem to want Erha to deliver a clean redemption arc, then feel dissatisfied when it doesn't – but I feel like they miss that this reflects a Western take?

Broad generalisation, but Chinese stories are generally not about redemption as intended in the West (the Western idea of redemption has deeply Christian connotations), but about struggling against fate – which is what pretty much all the characters in Erha are doing.

More specifically, the concept invoked here is that of 命运 (mìng yùn) – what one does with the fate that's imposed on them. So: choice within what cannot be changed.

In Erha, while the events of the previous life repeat, none of the two sets of characters we see make the same choices.

2. It's not a story about fixing society

From a Western perspective, one might want the societal struggles and atrocities to be addressed in a "destroy the system and build a new one" way – but from the very beginning, Erha says that cruelty and torture for the sake of a "good" cause are not any better than senseless cruelty and torture.

"How many people in this world used the pretence of upholding justice to do evil? They took all the dissatisfaction in their day-to-day lives — all the indignation, fury, and resentment in their chests — and poured it out this way."

That's the whole point of Shi Mei/Hua Binan.

Erha says that people who have experienced unspeakable atrocities, especially if they felt powerless, will at some point snap and commit more atrocities. This is true of both Mo Ran and Shi Mei.

The difference – and what makes Shi Mei/Hua Binan the villain of the novel – is that he insists he's never wrong to hurt others in return.

Mo Ran, even though he had no real choice once the Flower of Eightfold Sorrows was planted in his heart, later feels regret for his actions. Shi Mei does not.

3. 本心 – the original heart

The reason Mo Ran feels regret is that he has not entirely lost touch with what Chinese philosophy would call 本心 – the original heart.

Both Daoist and Confucian philosophy (as well as strands of Chinese Buddhist thought) emphasise the consequences of not listening to or losing touch with 本心.

This is a core ethical idea across traditions: the notion that people are born with an innate moral capacity or sensibility, and that turning away from it leads to distortion, harm, and inner disintegration. In short, it's the part of us that still reacts when something is wrong, even though we can't explain why.

Since the novel brings up Zhuangzi a lot, in Zhuangzi's thought specifically not listening to the original heart – or deliberately suppressing it – is tragic; it leads to cruelty, delusion, and disconnection. You lose access to spontaneity, clarity, and responsiveness, and become rigid and performative – entirely off-key.

Again, this is a big difference between Shi Mei and Mo Ran. And it's what Shi Mei inflicts on Mo Ran.

4. Carefree Wandering

Carefree Wandering is a classic of Daoist thought written by Zhuangzi, and it's brought up in the novel several times.

According to it, Carefree Wandering means:

moving with the world rather than resisting it,

acting spontaneously, without calculation,

retaining a kind of moral and emotional integrity without trying to be "good".

This doesn't mean being indifferent, but that feelings like hatred, praise, pressure, resentment don't stick, so people don't cling or contort to satisfy those feelings. They're not deformed by them.

Chu Wanning is the closest to this.

Mo Ran has a tendency towards ruminating and holding a grudge. By amplifying this, Shi Mei ruins him.

Shi Mei/Hua Binan – not in small part because of trauma – cannot move with the world rather than resisting it and cannot act spontaneously and without calculation. He's too traumatised and disconnected from the original heart. Because of this, he does enormous damage.

(Shi Mei of the second timeline, however – who's not as disconnected – learns how to. And he literally becomes a wandering doctor by the end of the novel.)

5. The concept of 缘分 (yuánfèn) – the fated connection or karmic bond between people

At the very beginning of Erha, when they try to obtain their holy weapons, the dragon looks into Mo Ran and says:

I cannot make sense of it. I have seen much in my lifetime, but I have never seen a person’s soul with the imprints of two others upon it. Certainly it is utterly perplexing. “My, my soul… has their imprints on it?” Yes. After writing that one word, the old dragon paused for a moment before continuing: I do not know what you could have possibly endured. How deep must an obsession run, for another person to be enmeshed so inextricably in one’s own soul?

My impression is that yuánfèn is one of the primary themes the novel is trying to explore.

Despite all the misunderstandings and betrayals, the characters' fates remain entangled through time, memory, and reincarnation, but the choice to act with cruelty and scheming, to force the other rather than respond to them from the original heart, changes the shape of the relationships – and the characters themselves.

"In the last lifetime, love had made him possessive, so he'd become selfish. In this one, love made him accepting, and thus he became selfless."

Moreover, in the scene in which Shi Mei is going to plant the flower in Chu Wanning, both Mo Ran and Shi Mei had received kindness from him in the past. Yet Shi Mei is ready to harm him, while Mo Ran acts selflessly to save him – even though it costs him everything.

Yuánfèn is in fact strictly tied to –

6. The Buddhist concept of "repayment" 还 (huán)

On her deathbed, Mo Ran's mum asked him to always repay kindness.

Because of this, all sorts of things are set in motion.

In Chinese thought – especially in popular Buddhist and Daoist-influenced views – everything seeks balance (平衡, píng héng), and debts, whether of fate, emotion, or moral obligation, must eventually be repaid.

Mo Ran becomes entangled with both Shi Mei and Chu Wanning. Yet, because Shi Mei pretends to be kind whereas Chu Wanning (while actually being so) does not like to show that he has been kind, things get murkier and murkier. Repayment is not possible.

Mo Ran doesn't know who made that bowl of wontons, and thus cannot repay that kindness and restore balance. Confucian ethics values remembrance of kindness (报恩, bào ēn) as a core moral trait, yet because of Shi Mei's actions, it is not possible here.

On another level (and I'm going to link to this post because it explains this much better than I could), there's a whole other series of repayments going on. Chu Wanning saved Mo Ran with the congee, thus Mo Ran is fated to save him with the flower. But in that same congee scene Chu Wanning was actually saved by Mo Ran too – because if he hadn't met him, he'd have been sacrificed by Huaizui.

Chu Wanning loved Mo Ran so completely, did so much for him, and endured so much while only getting hate, abuse, torture, and death in return that by the end of his first life, Mo Ran owes Chu Wanning too much. In the end, the only way to repay that debt and reset balance is his own death.

From the article I linked above:

"With Mo Ran’s death, all the debts of fate – what Chu Wanning owed Mo Ran, and what Mo Ran owed Chu Wanning – were repaid. They no longer owed each other anything. Then, Chu Wanning and Mo Ran began a new cycle of karma. A karmic entanglement born of suffering (孽缘) transformed into a marriage/loving bond (姻缘)."

Anyway, that's it! I just had to put this somewhere.

I read the whole thing in eight days and now I physically cannot take it anymore – but I do love Chu Wanning and Mo Ran, and I wanted to address these points before I forget everything.

[srldesigns6277]

👋 Hi

Just curious. Has there been one specific event this year that has kept your faith in H&L still going strong? As a veteran you have seen it all..and since we only get mainly possible coding. Assumptions..and just our hopefulness.... love your blog!!

Hiya Lovely,

I apologize for not answering sooner, but this took some thought and reflection. And not because I suddenly don't think they are together or something. But because of other things outside of them have kept me believing this year.

Short answer: The Zouis Reunion

Long answer: Lol, it's me of course there is a long answer. I don't really ever have doubts about them anymore if that makes sense, I know what I have seen both through computers and the naked eye during the band. I remember watching livestreams of concerts from Iphone 8's in 2015, to watching videos of Louis at Harry's concerts during Live on Tour. So knowing they are them has never been the issue. For me it was always when is the narrative going to change.

When I left the fandom in 2019, things were fracturing. Louis had yet to release anything other than a few singles, Harry was still on hiatus after LOT the original. We hadn't heard anything but whispers from Zayn. Liam was starting to ramp up promo, but at the time I was pulled away from the fandom, and Niall had really just finished The Flicker Tour, and the Narrative hadn't changed, they weren't allowed to be even friends beyond the constructed divide from years previous, Narry and Lilo.

But in coming back, while the narrative hadn't really changed, there were changes to it. The reforming of the Zouis friendship over the past 4 years has really showed me exactly what the narrative of 2014-2015 was supposed to do, fracture the fandom to fuck with the boys, and it worked for a while. But seeing Zayn and Louis hang out, seeing Liam go to Niall's concert, Seeing Narry go to each other's concerts, Louis talking about being nervous if he has one of the other boys in the audience, especially Harry. Those things tell me the narrative is changing. That the media perception of the boys was always bullshit, and not just something that took a few years to see through, for me that was mostly not being mad at Zayn, but I realized that in 2017, thankfully.

Seeing the Zouis friendship rebuild tells me the narrative we were fed for years, is changing. Yes, slowly, but it tells me that things are happening and would have happened more if not for Liam's passing too, something no one expected, ever. I think we will continue to see changes after this stunt is over and after the band anniversary in July.

For me, it's always been the subtle things. The way Louis used to gently put his hands on Harry's back during group hugs on stage, while basically pulling Liam's neck down with his other arm. Or how as social media grew, the gentle way you could sometimes hear Louis talking to Harry, or Harry softly rubbing his knuckles against Louis's tattoos in 2012 and 2015. Its getting to see the dicklace for the first day of Pride, this year, or them color coordinating their outfits on the first day of Pride while on tour. Its Louis making a subtle rainbow with his close over the course of FITFWT.

When it comes to Larry now I always think of a song by J-Hope and Jungkook of BTS called "I wonder..." where JK sings about a long standing love between people with the lyrics:

This love, right now (It's) all we got, all we need We're happy right now (So) why don't we ride this feelin'?

Just dance right now (But) don't you stop lookin' forward? Just enjoy it, this love (We) can keep forever fallin'

[theboys-inzoi]

June Update is set for June 13th - that's next Friday!

more info on the official site -> here

Sneak Peek:

Updates to Family and Relationship Systems

◆ More Ways to Build Families

　◽️ Zois can now have children regardless of marital status. One new method of doing so, adoption, was originally planned to have various prerequisites. However, to allow players to form families more freely, we chose to simplify the system by minimizing the required conditions. In addition, you will be able to select a Zoi with your desired traits and have a child using their genetic information through medical procedures. We hope these features will give you the freedom to create families in your own way.

◆ Teenage Romance

　◽️ Teenage Zois can now engage in romantic interactions with one another. That said, looking back, I personally wish we could have made Teenager and Adult Zois appear more visually distinct from each other.

◆ Romantic Relationships with Everyone

　◽️ A feature that was still in development at the time of early access release, Zois can now form romantic relationships with any other Zoi in the city. To enable this feature, go to the Create a Zoi screen and click the Change Gender Identity button to adjust your Zoi's settings.

◆ Sending the First Text

　◽️ Player Zois can now start conversations via text message. While you won't be able to write custom messages, your Zoi can send texts to other Zois to make plans with them as their relationships grow. We hope to develop a feature someday that allows you to write your own messages as well.

Quality-of-Life and Simulation Improvements

◆ UI Size Settings

　◽️ In response to player feedback regarding UI visibility, we've added a setting with three different options that allows you to adjust the size of UI elements and text.

◆ Cheats

　◽️ Cheats can now be used in-game. While the number of cheats currently available is somewhat limited, we will work to add more in future updates.

◆ Lifestyle-Based Changes to Body Weight and Muscle Mass

　◽️ Zois will now undergo changes in physique based on their lifestyle choices, offering a more realistic and dynamic gameplay experience. Overeating will cause Zois to gain weight, and working out will cause them to build muscle.

◆ Exchanging Items

　◽️ Zois can now exchange items with each other, opening the door for more interactions. You will be able to gift, give, or sell items from your Zoi's bag.

New Items and Creative Tools

◆ Over 20 New Character Studio Assets Added

　◽️ New items for character customization have been added, including highly requested additions to hair-related assets as well as new outfits and accessories.

◆ Over 100 New Furniture Items Added

　◽️ More than 100 unique furniture items have been added, including items for kitchens, bedrooms, and babies.

In addition to these features, we're also making overall improvements, both big and small, to sound settings, Canvas, animations, simulation, and other parts of the game.

Editor's Note: Kjun also stated the updates from the Roadmap will happen as planned and the MOD Kit will also come along with it. This all is great news and I can clearly see how much they listen to the Community, since they also added a lot we were asking for. Ah, I'm so excited!

[xzacloudx]

I talked to an NPC southwest of the green room, after certain events (I can't remember what). I'm pretty sure they said that Tenna started bringing about changes in "the days of black and white" or something like that (Though please correct me if I'm wrong, anyone; I played while being sick & out-of-it, & still am).

That might place Tenna from somewhere around the 1950s or 60s, when color TV was gradually rolling out. And we have to take into account both his brown Light World form, & how for some reason he looks a lot more sleek & angular in the Dark World (maybe trying to seem more modern/futuristic to maintain relevance? Reminiscent of the Space Age style?)

Both aesthetics work for TVs from the 1950s-60s, when most channels started off as black & white, but gradually more were available in color.

Either way, not to discourage your efforts, but Toby plays it fast & loose with time & space (rooms in houses not lining up, nonsensical area layouts, etc) in his games. You can't exactly form direct parallels with our own timeline, since it's apparent that the Deltarune timeline works differently (perhaps not much at all, LOL). After all, the main characters are teenagers, and yet they were kids during the '90s era of internet. If it really was in the 202Xs, they would be in their 30s or even 40s. 😅

As it is, their mix of old & slightly newish tech (like cell phones & a "state of the art laptop" which seems to have Windows XP on her) more resembles the early to mid 2000s.

We're talking about the guy who made the Dogi come in 2nd to Toriel & Asgore as Nose-Nuzzle Champions, but then the royal couple broke up centuries before Frisk showed up in Undertale, & the Dogi & everyone else there (other than Asgore, Toriel, & Gerson) had never seen a human before, despite 6 others falling down there since then. Are the Dogi also super ancient & just somehow never encountered any of the humans? Or does Toby just not get hung up on time details & writes whatever conveys his characters well in the moment? I feel like it might be more of the latter. 😉

I think it's pretty clear that Toby just wanted a simple generalization of an old TV, neither design likely being any in particular.

But if you still want to find good approximations, good luck!

Tenna’s Tv Model

He’s old but i think he’s younger than spamton. I’m looking into what model of tv he is judging by his memories and looks but from what I can tell he’s an oddity because he has the antennas AND no side dials which is weird but it might just be harmless detail to make him look cool since him without the antennas looks weird

Oh my fucking god the first flat screen hit the market in 1997…

anyway I believe tenna is a late 80s to early 90s tv but he could be from the 2000s judging by the fact that some of his older memories had it where Kris was a kid during the holidays. But maybe those are his fondest memories not his oldest and maybe that’s when the most people were watching him but now this all kinda brings up a new question. When did spamton stop being a bigshot? And when did spamton abandon tenna?

I also do believe spamton is the same age as the first spam email (may 3 1978) but did you know Billy Joel’s big shot released that same year? (1978) I don’t think that’s a coincidence further confirming that’s maybe Spamton’s birth date.

[thisiskatsblog]

Sad today.

[italyveneziano]

Finally getting the answers to what the plans for HetaOni were honestly feels like this

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

Okay, thank you for clarifying what you were talking about! I'm gonna try to break your response into sections for clarity's sake, and also put it under the cut since it got away from me.

So. The way I see it, this fandom-favourite interpretation of Marius being the one and only reason for Armand's sexual trauma will always be misleading because it necessarily leaves out 2/3 of Armand's life.

I do agree that a lot of the discourse about Marius is reductive, and doesn't really get into the meat of what he represents as a character. I definitely don't think he was Armand's first or only abuser; the brothel and CoD were more extremes examples of abuse Armand has experienced, which definitely had more debilitating psychological effects overall. I don't really expect Marius to be a Steve Rogers type, and I don't think many other people do either, lol. And AZ's characterization of Armand finding love and safety with Marius is one hundred percent accurate to both the show and the books.

however none of that changes the fact that Marius was sexually abusive. groomers often create an atmosphere of safety for their victims, either deliberately or simply by being the only stable adult around. when I call Marius a groomer I don't mean he was rubbing his hands and cackling about how many kids he's gonna abuse today, because that's not who he is, that's not how abusers and groomers work. and I think that's why so many people latch onto Marius and Armand's relationship, because it's such a nuanced and realistic portrayal of the nuances that go into sexual abuse, how abusers can be guilty and loving and still perpetuate harm.

Marius took Armand home from a brothel where he had been kept for sex and used him sexually, admitting this might have made Armand's amnesia worse. Armand's age at this time is unclear--he's supposedly fifteen, but Marius also describes him at "fourteen at the most" and Anne famously mentions he was incapable of ejaculating at the time, on top of her suggesting Levi Miller for the role when Miller was about thirteen, which would have made Armand eleven when Marius found him...all this to say that despite debates about historical context" and contemporary ages of consent regarding Marimand's relationship, Amadeo is absolutely a child having sex with an adult. (ignoring how Anne Rice didn't think of teenagers as actual children, at least while she was writing tva.) Any relationship between them would be inherently abusive, and that's before we take into account Marius's propensity for emotional and physical abuse (phrases like "another brain-jarring blow come to mind). If we can agree that Marius's method was "traumatic in itself," then he wasn't really helping Armand recover from trauma at all.

while Armand may have been safer with Marius than he was anywhere else, he was not safe. There's a difference. His time in Venice may have been a time of healing in some regards, but not completely, because he was still being abused. I've seen people dance around this and say it doesn't count because it took place in a zone of "gothic horror," but depictions of sexual abuse are still depictions of sexual abuse, regardless of which genre they're in.

More specifically, Armand was being abused in a way that set him up for everything that happened with the CoD after losing Marius, since the CoD broke him into the kind of obedient believer that Marius, for all his talk about being challenged, still kind of wanted (because like you said, he has a bit of a pride problem). it's similar to how people from broken homes and dysfunctional families are more vulnerable to "the horrors of cults and indoctrination," and how one problem builds on another.

Then the Children of Satan happened.

Okay, I definitely that the role of religious brainwashing and sexual shame from Armand's time with the CoD is underexplored in fandom. However, this shame and trauma doesn't prevent him from recalling his time with Marius fondly. "basked in his mercy...his worshipful mercy" is clearly religious language, but not stemming from the sexual shame of the CoD. And when he describes aspects of their relationship negatively, he uses financial language instead of regurgitating puritanical diatribes.

this makes sense since Armand has been an investment for Marius, whether as a future vampire, a future scholar, or as a source of art and social capital. Marius not have consciously described him as such, but the idea of investment was a major underpinning for their relationship in the books, too. he believes he knows what's best for Armand, like making him have sex with strangers (same way book!Armand did with Daniel, another form of sexual abuse being perpetuated in cycles, like Marius recreating his trauma with Mael like I mentioned in the original post)

The painting is crucial here: Marius wasn't sending Armand to brothels in the showverse, he was sending him to have sex with men in exchange for art. if we decide that Marius was only helping Armand "seek human pleasures in a safe environment," then we have to assume Armand was having consensual sex with Palma Vecchio, and that he agreed to have himself whitewashed in Adoration of the Shepherds with a Donor. there's nothing the show has said to suggest this. Adoration is meant to be solid evidence for this part of Armand's story, just as the trial script is solid evidence against him later on.

Armand's story is about cults, yes, but it's also about love coexisting with abuse (Armand certainly loves Louis while abusing him, after all). It's about the destructive force of belief in a higher power who fails you, whether that's a god or a person. And it's about slavery and ownership, which plays a significant role in Marius and Armand's relationship, especially in comparison to Akasha's. It's actually perfectly in character for Marius, who's done like whip Armand during an argument or left him with the cult in the first place, to use Armand as he would any other piece of property. he's always exploited Armand sexually, the exploitation is just taking other forms.

The show can go the route of the "sexual exploitation and ethnic tensions" that you mentioned (and that the majority of the fandom seems to very fond of) and depict Marius as an exploitative creep in a convincing way but till that happens maybe we shouldn't ignore all the hints that suggest the story will be actually much deeper than that.

I'm going to be blunt here: "the CoD exists and also traumatized Armand" is not enough of a "hint" to suggest that Armand is "rationalizing" anything about being donated. It simply isn't.

I still don't know exactly what they're going to do with Marius and Armand. chances are that they'll go into Marius's opinion of himself as, like you said, doing what's best for Armand. however, abuse is still abuse despite the best intentions of the abuser, or their guilt in the aftermath. That was the entire point of the trial episode--that while Louis and Lestat's relationship may have been more nuanced than originally presented, Lestat was still abusive, and the court's victim blaming of Louis and Claudia (as facilitated by Armand) has had horrible reverberations throughout the ages.

Perhaps you're right, and the show will reveal that Armand was remembering it wrong and he wasn't donated at all. However, they do make this decision I would be very disappointed, especially since I don't think taking focus away from Marimand's abusive aspects would make the story "deeper." Probably the opposite, in fact.

this has been a very long and overly complex response, but I want to hammer in that none of my opinions of marimand are intended as a moral judgement of the people who enjoy it. I know a lot of people make fucked up accusations in shipping discourse, but I shipping marimand from either a dead dove or fluffy scene is a morally neutral act. fans aren't under obligation to apologize for liking a ship and if you only like a fluffy marimand interpretation, that's fine, too. however the ship IS dead dove, even more than other ships on this show due to the role csa plays in it, and the show would be doing a disservice to the source material and the people affected by these issues by ignoring that.

Marius being compelled to trade his own body to Mael in an attempt to escape the druids...Marius trading Amadeo for art in an attempt to finally be the powerful one in that exchange...it's all coming together. oh dear fuck it's all coming together.