#anyway i'll try to NOT do a mystery next time lmao

[juniperhillpatient]

new chapter of 'in search of glorious happenings of happenstance' :)

this time - Katara, Yue & Jet participate in a rally to stop an unethical company from building headquarters on Ember Island. Azula helps Ruon Jian investigate a mysterious woman who may or may not be stalking him. Jin works on finding her calling.

[uniformbravo]

since i've spent the past few days essentially staring at nothing but natsuyuu volume covers i thought it'd be so fun and silly to try and redraw them all from memory tee hee. all 30 (thirty) (三十) of them!!! wheee!!!!

i haven't actually looked at them next to the originals yet so guess what time it is!!!! LET'S COMPARE

starting with volume 1. iconic. show stopping. masterpiece. the mona lisa of natsuyuu SURELY i reproduced every single detail perfectly such that it kickstarts my career as a forgery artist RIGHT

well feast ur eyes

(im using the english volumes for comparison btw they have a good clear view of the art)

CAN U TELL WHICH IS WHICH OOO THEYRE SO ALIKE BET U CANT!!! SPOT THE DIFFERENCE LEVEL 1000 WHICH ONE DO U SHOOT

all i remembered for this one was GREEN and it's not even the right shade of green ajgosugdjfkdgj i even made the fuckin. what do u call it. i'll just say yukata??? I MADE IT GREEN AND ITS SUPPOSED TO BE RED i stg if u held a gun to my head & asked if there was any red on vol 1 i'd be DEAD

but i remembered the book of friends is like. weirdly purple? ok well in this pic it looks p gray BUT ON OTHER COPIES...... IF U UP THE SATURATION GKSJKDNFKDG

why is nyanko sensei smack dab in the middle HUH i couldve sworn he was bottom left this is so fucked up and scary. haunted manga volume??????? i bought it from a grarage sale idk you guys-

at least natsume's pose is like kind of right but also that's most definitely a complete accident i can ASSURE u (im rereading this the next day and the pose isnt even CLOSE what are u TALKING ABOUT)

anyway can i just fucking point out the kanji on the book of friends bc that is from MEMORY YEEHAW here's what it's Supposed to look like: 友人帳

LIKE even tho i got the last one wrong ITS LIKE STILL PRETTY CLOSE??? i think i deserve 100 points for this objectively

MOVING ON THO....

OK NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT SURPRISINGLY im actually like. i thought i bombed this one completely but liKE THE COMPOSITION??? KIND OF ON POINT. KIND OF GENIUS TBH

i remembered Blue and Madara and like what else do u need rly. butterflies are optional in all scenarios imo

also i NEVER have any idea what natsume's wearing in any of these so i always just like default throw him into his school uniform LMAO u will see a pattern

why is the book of friends burgundy in this one btw. it was GRAY i mean purple definitely purple aha

ok volume 3 im actually scared for i know i fucked up SOMETHING

HGLKFKGLKFKGFN OK!!!!! OK NOT SUPER AWFUL!!!! just noticed i forgor to color the book of friends fukg

main thing i remembered abt this one was the color of natsume's... attire.... and which characters were present. whats sensei doing all the way up in the top corner tho 0/10

return of the school uniform lmaooooo hm. irrelevant who cares plus didnt ask. all things considered this wasn't as bad as i thought. THE NEXT ONE HOWEVER,

hsngjfgnfjn okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

sensei's way cuter in this one than i realized wait wtf this cover's cute af how did i never notice. underrated cover -10 @ me. look at his lil BLEP >:O!!!!!!!

i knew there was some fuckshit going on w the yukata in this one ourhg i was just like hehe greeennnn also sensei's there. my work here is done

what is natsume's pose even hgnkg i was straight up making shit up at this point LIKE the first 6 or so covers are SO hard for me to distinguish in my head i should get a free pass for the poses in all of them like i can do whatever i want IM the artist now

oh god whats next vol 5

OK!!!! like a straight 5/10 TBH i literally forgot i was planning on rating these LMAO

i remembered the like white v-neck shirt thing and his pose kind of??? i had NO idea what to do for the yukata tho i just made it orange and u know what?? close enough. my rule of thumb is just like pick a color and then throw flowers all over it u cant go wrong

taki looks so much more mysterious on the original and also wearing a skirt. i gave her a big stick bc i thought i remembered her having one in general but i think i made that up tbh wouldn't put it past me. got her hat right tho hee haw

cant believe i didn't get natsume's beautiful artwork tho look at that little shit sensei up there god hes so ROUMD literally moma material

PROBABLY my best one yet uhhhh but i maybe cheated JUST a little for this one ITS LIKE BARELY CHEATING STOP BOOING ME

as i was toying w the idea of doing this redraw thing i was still working on collecting my Images and Pictures so i kinda started taking note of a few small things here & there and one of them was just. the general gist of this cover SO LIKE that's why it's so good LOL

forgor the flowers tho. i literally forget everything that isn't a character like immediately BUT OK CUT ME SOME SLACK like after a point the covers start being whole ass scenes which are SO much easier to remember shit abt than the fuckin Green Void (p sure this is the last green void cover tho)

8/10 composition is gr8 but details like the shirt & the yellow flowers are wrong, also the stick is backwards. i literally looked up what that thing is called and forgot already tee hee

OK WE'RE NOT DONE W THE GREEN VOID I REPEAT-

fuck dude. fuck. i rly thought vol 6 was the last one LOL not to spoil but as i was grabbing these images i saw a Preview of what's to come and the green void lasts until fuckign volume TEN LOL collapses onto the ground and dies

so erhermrm this is vol 7 lolllll i remembered the bg flowers this time can u believe hahaha distracts u from the fact that LITERALLY everything else is wrong auhghg

u know what the green void turned into bushes and i think that's beautiful.... like points for creativity on my part tbh. like to be completely honest. 3/10 i got the characters right

YO????? GATE CONFIRMED LET'S GO?????? it's definitely the school gate but i choose to believe natsume & tanuma r in jail for crimes and u should too

actually this is shockingly accurate for how much i goddamn struggled w this one gkjsldkg the CHARACTERS are right the OUTFITS are right SENSEI'S THERE urgh i knew one of these covers had tanuma holding sensei like that but i couldn't remember Which

i can't believe i actually got tanuma's pose that close i rly thought i was bullshitting w that one wtf. +5 points instantly

do u like how i just scribbled sensei wherever lmaoooo i drew natsume & tanuma & went like. i think sensei's in this one. PLOP

6/10 honestly closer than i thought

OK........ I SEE........ literally dies

this one i was getting MASSIVELY confused w vol 4 bc i could remember nothing distinct abt either of them except Green and natsume w Big Doggie

i remembered the BARE essentials of the composition but not much else... since i thought the green void was gone i put the green i remembered into natsume's yukata (and then put him in the school uniform again LOL) and went WELP. GUESS I'LL DIE NOW

2/10 honestly one of the worst fucking ones lskdjflsdkg

OK THIS ONE.... i almost died irl trying to remember this shit, even before i started and i was still viewing the covers i was like there is no way in HELL im remembering this shit for vol 10. and i was right

like. Purple. White Mask. Antlers. WILD layered clothing. at first i drew the mask as an actual deer skull but later had a straight up epiphany and redrew it like that which... still not correct but I MEAN.... IT'S PRETTY GOOD

i cant believe most of the purple is the bg oughgh his clothes are WHITE..... this is fucked up. i DID remember the stick tho, bells and everything!! actually bells and nothing else!!!

7/10 ok it might seem high but CONSIDERING this design..... i think i did shockingly well TBH

NOT...... the worst...... one....... i could've sworn he was sitting on a pile of books this is so sad that woulda been so cute 😭

for a second when i saw the real cover again i thought he was sitting ON the bookshelf and i was about to RIOT but its okay it's a step stool. still physically possible

my version of natsume here is so much more like Proper gksld he looks like a school boy... studying in the academy's library... hardworking student.... but no the real one is just sitting there like a wet puppy orz he's not even READING i rly thought he was reading. this is such a huge L

cannot fucking believe i was right abt the window tho. like wrong shape but the fact that it's even there.... giving myself a whole ass point for that one

5/10 i rly thought i nailed this one gksgndfkj

also RIP TO THE GREEN VOID U WILL NOT BE MISSED o7

ah shit ok. well one of them was in the school uniform at least fjgugjdkf

why is my natsume lying there like hes abt to start a therapy session, boy would NEVER-

also the plushie hmnmhnmhngnf i dont KNOW i knew there was some kind of prop there but like gun to my head i woulda died again. main colors that stood out to me for this were green and that bluish purple so i got those into mine but i mean. well u can see

once again a random window in the bg i got correct let's gooooo 5/10

LMAO SPITS OUT MY DRINK WHOOPSIE!!!!!!

this is so fucking bad im choking im gurgling LOLLLL i was SO sure natsume's paper had an eye on it i was POSITIVE this is so fucked up. i mean obvs i picked that up from sensei but like i didn't even KNOW sensei was there. or that there were bg characters at all uuuuuououohghh (matoba ignored +5)

i was like. black yukata red flowers CHECK piece of paper w eye CHECK horns CHECK i even went back and edited the horns to be more accurate i was so proud of myself sobs

ok but i knew it was shit trasjh when those were the ONLY details i could remember bc obviously there was gonna be more going on I JUST DIDN'T REALIZE HOW MUCH MORE.....

straight up dookie/10 no jk fr like 3/10 @ me u need to use ur EYES

OK..... I WAS VERY CONFIDENT ABT THIS ONE..... except for his outfit i knew i was bullshitting that BUT I THOUGHT I NAILED THIS ONE....... the one fucking time i didn't just default to his uniform LMFAO

even remembered the pink flower ball smh and for WHAT. i knew he was sitting in a pile of plushies & blankets or smth but no way in HELL was i even gonna attempt to draw them with a speck of detail. but HEY the plushie i drew for vol 12!!! i knew he existed Somewhere. he doesn't even have a horn tho thats so fucked up i thought he did

obviously the most striking thing abt this cover is the bg w that deep burgundy & the circular window so that was the main thing i nailed down right away (my palette was more muted tho). also natsume sitting there w paper in his mouth but i thought he was mid return when rly hes playing like keep-the-balloon-off-the-floor or whatever the fuck he's doing. i love u natsume

(if i thought he was in the middle of returning a name WHY didn't i include the actual book of friends flksglkd automatic fake fan/10)

8/10 this was like my ace in the hole i was like if i got nothing else i got U volume 14!!! and then

NOT THE FAMILY PHOTO......... FUCKING DIES

man idk shit just end me. whats even going on in this cover im gonna deck u natori. dont ask why this makes me want to commit violence hes just so. URHGHGHnH

i dont know whats happening to me rn looking at this im losing my fucking grip dude who let this happen im gonna hurl this volume into the sun??? i think???

why did i add the other two youkai i just thought they should be included but i played myself i had to draw them from memory and for WHAT. pls tell me i got them at least a little bit right i stg

it's the crossed legts dude if he was just sitting there like a board the way i drew him id be like ah shit it was just natori sitting not natsume too but he just HAS to cross his legs and the fucing elbow propped up holding the glasses im S MAD IM SO MADdestroy him

it's 1am i gotta go. i have to go. right now my mom is calling me i have to fukcng. 4/10 i got the couch colorr right. bye

---

tumglr...... only allows 30 pictures per post..... bc im not on desktop? or is that a site-wide thing now. in any case this is getting long so i think im gonna split it right down the middle into 2 posts so there u go, first 15 volumes. so far my score is ermmm

well i didn't rate the first few volumes.

vol 1: 6/10 decent

vol 2: 6/10 also decent

vol 3: 5/10 composition is Scramboled

vol 4: 2/10 it's SO BAD

so now my overall score is 74/150 fjggudjofjdkgjk doing gr8!!!!!!!!!

ok bye for real ✌️

[liauditore]

aight i think i'll be releasing all my whumptober drabbles whenever i finish all the prompts (cus i am NOT finishing on time lmao) on AO3 as a collection but until then have this 👍👍

limlife martyn hurt/comfort with some treebark/solidwood/zombiewood if you squint (not explicitly romantic, just very affectionate, u can read it however u'd like)

// detailed violence, character death, light gore, implied insanity, implied mind break, swearing, hallucinations

The first thing Martyn knew was that it burned. The second thing was that he should’ve been dead.

As he dragged himself across the gravel, leaving a trail of red behind him like paint off a paintbrush, he wished he was.

His legs had given up on him, that much was clear. He was almost thankful he couldn’t feel them, if the splitting pain that ran down his torso from chest to stomach was any indication of what they would feel like right now. Not that there was much left of them anyway.

He grits his teeth, squeezes his eyes shut and claws himself forward another few inches, dragging the rest of his body behind him. The gravel scrapes at his exposed skin, leaving long, raw scratches running down his forearms. A hundred tiny needles digging into his fingertips.

He does it again.

And again.

And again.

Involuntary grunts escape from his lungs. He yanks himself forward. Something sharp cuts into his side. He yelps. His arms give in, his form falling down onto the coarse earth with an unceremonious thud. Forehead pressed against the coarse earth, Martyn chokes out something between laughter and sobs.

God, where the fuck was he even trying to go?

He remembers now. The game, the timers, the way Scott looked at him as he pulled the sword back through his ribs. He finds it funny now, thinking back, how fast he got to die. Martyn had won.

He remembers now. The moments after he killed Impulse. The clarity returning to his mind, the smell of blood and sea water in the breeze. The fact that nothing happened at all.

Whoever had Watched them, made them fight to the death in this sick game, didn’t offer any congratulations or reward for Martyn after his victory. He got nothing. Nothing but the continued beeping on his bracelet as the seconds continued to tick down.

He’s… Not sure what happened after that. There was an hour and more left on his timer. Then there was suddenly less. And it hurt. A lot. But whatever it was, it didn’t manage to finish him off.

Martyn laughs til his throat could take no more.

All of it. Everything he did. For this?

The least they could do was kill him right.

Martyn stops trying to move. His breath weakens and shallows.

Maybe if he manages to stop thinking, he’ll be okay.

Time passed.

The waves kept crashing.

The birds kept singing.

The leaves rustled in the breeze.

Something crunched, far off in the distance.

The ocean sung.

A dull noise sounded somewhere far off.

Blades of grass brushed up against each other, propelled by the winds.

Another crunch. Closer.

A larger wave crashed, the very edge of it brushing up against Martyn’s hand.

The crunches speed up. Closer. Closer. Closer.

Footsteps.

That noise again. But clearer. Closer.

“Dude, hey!” it was a voice. Martyn’s eyes re-focused.

“Dude, are-are you okay?! Oh, jeez…” the voice was right next to him now. If he rolled his eyes all the way up, he could make out the bottom of the person’s boots.

This was… Impossible.

It can’t be him.

“Come on, babe,” the voice spoke. “Let’s get you someplace safe.”

The man lifts Martyn up into his arms, resting his head on his chest. Suspenders, Martyn noticed, as he nuzzled up to his mystery saviour.

“Eager there, lad!” the voice chuckled softy. Martyn doesn’t have the energy to smile back, but something about the way this guy is trying to brighten him up… Feels right. Familiar. He lets his weight sink completely into the man’s arms. Warm.

He doesn’t know when the tears began or when the wet splotch on Ren’s shoulder formed, but he didn’t care. He doesn’t know how Ren is even here. Or why he’s helping him. Or if he remembers him. But he doesn’t care.

“That’s right, there you go,” Ren whispered as he carried Martyn… Somewhere. “You can sleep if you want, my dude.”

Martyn woke up in a bed with way too many pillows.

“R-Ren!” he shot up to a sitting position, taking in his surroundings.

He looked down on his legs. Wriggled his toes. He was… fine. It didn’t hurt anymore. The bracelet with the timer on it was gone.

He was… in his usual t-shirt and shorts, not that gaudy outfit with the broken buttons.

“Martyn?”

Not Ren’s voice. Pitch was higher, accent was different, but familiar-- he knew this voice.

“Jimmy?!” Martyn’s eyes went wide, his breath hitched.

“Martyn, are you—”

He dived out of bed, tackling his former friend a little bit too hard. He squeezes him, burying his face into Jimmy’s chest.

“M-Martyn, jeez!” Jimmy exclaimed, a half-laugh accompanying his words. “Not that hard, jeez! Let go!”

He tried to kill Timmy. Martyn remembered. He set up that trap, he was so mad at him for… Everything.

He watched him die.

Babbling resembling apologies started to escape between gasps for air, incoherent yet visceral.

“You should be dead,” Martyn whimpered. “I watched you die, I would’ve killed you, you—”

“Martyn,” Jimmy sighed. “It’s-- It’s not-- I’m not mad, Martyn.”

Another figure approached, Martyn could feel the presence behind them.

“Oh, someone’s up!” Ren exclaimed. The dog-man squatted down. “Martyn, was it?”

Martyn just stared, unsure of what to do or say.

“You’ve, uh… Been through a lot, haven’t you?” Ren tilted his head. “You’ve probably got a million questions, huh?”

Martyn nodded, looking back and forth between Jimmy and Ren.

“I don’t… really understand what’s happening either,” Ren said. “But, uh, couldn’t just leave you there, y’know?”

“Ren,” Jimmy spoke up, still holding Martyn close. “I think… I think you should grab Cleo.”

“Right, right!” Ren bounced back up. He looked Martyn in the eye, grinning. “You should’ve seen the look on her face when I took you home, dude! I don’t know what you did to her but-- Sheesh!”

Cleo. Cleo was here too?

Martyn didn’t catch the rest of what Jimmy and Ren said. His head spun. Wooden floors, he noticed, and a huge window on the side of the house. Sunlight beamed down on a cute little dining table, littered with crumbs and dirty plates. It must’ve been lunchtime not too long before he woke up. This was… a house. That much was sure. A home, even. Multiple rooms. Bedrooms. Lived in. Ren and Jimmy, did they live here? With Cleo too? For how long?

Could he… stay here with them? Forever?

The distant sound of waves crashing ashore could be heard, a little more violent, a little angrier.

But Martyn felt safe.

And as his body finally grew cold, as his heart couldn’t keep up any longer, his entire body went numb.

Waves. Crashing.

The moon rose, full and bright and beautiful on the shore.

This is okay, he’s okay.

He’s going to go home.

A wave crashes over his body, dragging it towards the ocean’s jaws. He doesn’t even feel it.

As he dies, as the last beeps on his timer sound, his mind is not alone, cold with mangled legs on that deserted shoreline with the bodies of his former friends just metres away. He is having freshly baked carrot cake with people who care for him, hold him, love him around that tiny dining table in that cabin off by the cliff side.

Even as his body is carried off to be washed ashore someplace far off in the future.

Inthelittlewood fell out of the world.

[readingoals]

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag (2024)

I know I'm a bit late with this but I figured I might as well still do it 🤷‍♀️I wasn't tagged but hey if you also haven't done it and want to consider this a tag, feel free lmao

This is hard to narrow down because I've read some absolute crackers and nothing is like super standing out from the rest. Maybe The Next Big Thing by James Colley just for how fun and Aussie it was, or maybe Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie because it was a clever mystery with some really great Poirot/Hastings banter.

Another toughie because though I've not read many sequels, the ones I have picked up have all be great. Recently I caught up on the last two The Adventure Zone graphic novels and god I just love that series so much. I loved the podcast and I think they're done a great job of adapting them.

Also right up there are Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson and The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling, both of which I adored.

I've surprisingly not re-read all that many books this year (yet anyway, there's a couple I wouldn't mind getting to). So I think it has to be The Shadow of the Wind. That's been one of my fave books for years now and it had been a while since I last picked it up so it was so great to revisit it again.

As it has been for the last few years, the genre I've been reading most is mystery. Most of those are Agatha Christie's since I try and read one a month.

Oh theres a few of these. A Botanical Daughter was probably my most anticipated release of the year but it took aaaggggesss for me to get my hands on a copy because the place i pre-ordered it from went into voluntary administration so my copy was never shipped. I mean I probably wasn't going to read it until October anyway but while waiting for it to arrive I also read some reviews that said it kind of missed the mark so I'm a little less excited now. The other book I still havent got around to picking up is Kill Your Husband by Jack Heath even though I was really excited for it too. And then there's also Clairmont by Lesley McDowell which I hadn't known was coming out but I saw in store and immediately bought and then also didn't read it.

Definitely Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio. I think Ben Aaranovitch also has something new coming around September but I'll admit I'm a little behind on all of the rivers of london novellas and stuff. The Benjamin Stevenson has a Christmas book coming and I think the next book in the Ex Hex series is also due out and I'll probably pick it up pretty quick.

Hopeless Aromantic. Huge disappointment. I was really interested in a queer nonfic book that focused on aromanticism rather than asexuality and it just missed the mark by so much. It was poorly researched and cobbled together and frankly not worth anyone's time.

The Mysterious Mr Quin by Agatha Christie. I've read a few of her short story collections before so I went in expecting the usual sort of thing and it definitely felt like it was going along similar lines to start. But it got weird. In a good way. It feels as if the stories flirt with fantasy elements, and the last one even crosses over maybe? almost? Mr Harley Quin came off as kind of creepy too. It was definitely not quite like her usual stuff and I really really enjoyed it.

I've read from I think 9 or 10 authors that were new to me and yet I'm not really sure how to answer this, no one super stands out. Maybe Erin Sterling? I've read two of her romances this year (tho does she really count since it's the pen name for rachel hawkins and i've read one of her mysteries?), the book I read from James Colley was also really good and I'd probably pick up whatever he wrote next, so maybe him? From a nonfic author, Carnage by Mark Dapin (an Aussie true crime book) was very interesting and I liked he way he handled such difficult topics, so maybe him?

Probably Alex Easton from the T Kingfisher novellas?

I don't think anything I've read this year has really made me cry. I thought Loveless might but it didn't this time around. I guess I did get a bit blurry eyed during The Adventure Zone: Eleventh Hour graphic novel and same with Carnage, but not full tears.

Oh, so many lmao. The TAZ graphic novels, Ghosts: The Button House Archives, The Thread That Binds, Everyone On This Train is a Suspect, Cain's Jawbone (happy that I got it solved though I never got confirmation I was right lmao).

Okay this one is easy. My Folio Society edition of The Shadow of the Wind. Also, since I answered this last year I've also got the Folio Society edition of Frankenstein and I know I got it last year but I couldn't not mention it.

I also found some of Georgette Heyer's mysteries in a great edition at the lifeline book fest

I have 6 more Agatha Christie books to read (I'm partway through one of them now). Then there's also the copy of Northanger Abbey that Lauren annotated for Christmas last year, that'll be coming up soon, and whatever book we decide to annotate and swap for this years present. I'd like to spend October reading at least a couple of Frankenstein/Mary Shelley inspired books so I'll probs try and get to A Botanical Daughter then, maybe Clairmont and maybe Chicano Frankenstein or any of the others I have. I'd also really like to get to Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies but I'm saving it for like the end of the year when it's summer.

[deathbxnny]

Hiiii!

Thank you for doing my request, also wanted to just say that after some googling, I made a mistake with character names.

My dumbass got hit with the Mandela Effect. Because the character I for some reason called "Shinxi" is actually "Baizhi" so yeah.... that's 100% on me lol. But you did I great job anyways, and I'll save her for next time 😅

-----♡

LMAO AND HERE I WAS DESPERATELY SEARCHING FOR THIS MYSTERIOUS CHARACTERS FOR LIKE 2 HOURS??💀😭

It's okay, though, Anon, I also had my moments where I got hit by the Mandela affect and was convinced that something was the way it was despite that not being the case, lol. I'm glad you cleared up the mystery because I was seriously racking my brain trying to figure out who it was. (I eventually thought it was a new character I may have missed in my time of unwilling absence from the game, but I'm glad that I didn't let it get that far-)

I'm glad you liked the request anyways though and thank you again for your ask!!<3

-----♡

[gunsatthaphan]

Hey, allow me to use your lovely blog for a rant..

Theory time: I think Sands mystery dad is also Bostons Dad. It's gotta be the dad from someone in the friendgroup or they wouldn't have spend a whole talk on this. My money is on Boston, because he keeps getting mentioned and it would be fitting that a politician that is cautious of his image has a secret child. Also I've seen that there's an actor cast for this role.

Also I think that Drake's character is the one that was trying to blackmail Boston. So that encounter next episode should be interesting.

Moreover I need to know what Ray was doing on his phone in the end..

Anyway, hope you're slowly making progress in recovering from the heartbreak of todays episode (especially the last 5 mins).

Greetings

hi anon!

I actually had no idea there were theories about sand's dad out there until I saw a comment saying what if sand and ray share the same dad and now my head hurts dfkjhgf

I'm currently not seeing any hints about sand and boston being step brothers and I don't really see how a 30 second scene of sand talking about his dad is an indicator that he's related to someone in the friend group lmao but I'll keep an open mind I guess. I agree that the theory about the reputable politician having a secret child makes sense but idk. at the moment I don't really see it. Top and Sand being step brothers on the other hand seems more sensible to me. we still don't know what's going on between them afterall. but who knows.

I agree about Drake's character in the next episode though. but wasn't it boston who blackmailed him into deleting the clip? but anyway I certainly did not expect him to return lmao so there's that. but this should be interesting for sure. it looks like he's got some secrets too.

I'm trying to recover from the disaster of the last 5 minutes but it's not going so well dkjghf. I'm pretty sure things are gonna go even more downhill from now on and I'm not ready for that lol. just give me my flirty boys back pls I'm not ready for heartbreak 😩

xxx

[non-un-topo]

oh please please tell us about the next qq fic 🥺🥺🥺

Hello, beloved!!! Thank you for enabling me lmao!!

So I desperately missed writing little queer quartet adventures, but was basically brain dead and fell into a heavy post-fic depression after my last mystery fic. But I've been spinning this idea around in my head for a long time now and will very soon have time to write!! Bits and pieces will likely change, but I can tell you some things so far.

Putting this under a read-more actually because I kind of rambled and I don't want to clog the dash lol

It will take place in India in the mid 1400s. The quartet will have come from Bulgaria, escaping the consequences of a certain mistake that Quynh might have made in battle. Not a small mistake, either. They make it to northeast India and have to stop because by that point they're penniless and starving. Conveniently, there happens to be a noble Hungarian family who has settled there for not-yet-known reasons, managed by the lady of the house, lady Morana, because the lord is off fighting the Ottomans. Anyway, Morana is causing problems with the locals by demanding that they mine for ~~something, ohh~~ even though she hopes she's being a good person by supplying them with jobs and extra food. But whatever she's mining for --- which she has not actually specified --- must be really valuable because she's offering all of the house's gold and riches as a reward to whomever finds it. She has men overseeing the mines who sift through all the resources people find, who might call on anyone at any time if they happen to find the thing. Anyway -- the quartet sees this noble family (and later a very sick population of locals) and think, "hmm. We should con them and redistribute the wealth." Naturally.

Somewhere along this line (I'm still figuring it out) they, or more specifically Yusuf or Quynh, realize the lady might be looking for a fabled substance that can turn iron into gold. That's right: the philosopher's stone. So this is sort of how they try to con her. Yusuf takes on the role/disguise of an alchemist and makes fool's gold, Nico has to pretend to be a leper for a little while. It's a whole thing.

But before all of that, Quynh and Andromache both get jobs working for this family because... food and money are needed, stat. Even though Quynh is morally opposed and grumpy about it, she gets a job as a servant, hoping it will put her closer to the lady of the house so she can learn her secrets (like wtf are you digging the land for, lady). It doesn't quite. Turns out Quynh is hired specifically to assist the lady Morana's daughter, Jana, who is blind. Jana is not helpless like her mother thinks, and she is very smart and well-read. She and Quynh develop a nice little friendship and do anarchy. Andromache is hired as a swordsman to train the eldest child of the noble house, Henrik, who is 16 and acts like it.

I could talk a lot about the OCs because I just spent a few days developing them, but I'll keep it under wraps for now unless anyone wants to know dsfgfd. I just figured the canon characters are probably a lot more interesting.

Andromache will eventually get to beat up the bratty young lord (for a good reason).

Yusuf will put his artist skills to good use, and miiight come across some problems as he pretends to be an alchemist (I mean, lying about the fact that you have THE miraculous alchemical substance has consequences).

In befriending Jana, Quynh may also befriend a Mysterious Character who also works for the household, ohhhh. I was thinking a lot about GoT and HotD lol. Many mysterious spy-like characters there.

And Nicolo will discover some things about medicine that will have lasting benefits. (He might also have to amputate something in order to look like a convincing leper, but he'll get better lol).

I can tell you there will be alchemy (well, not really but you know), lepers, moral issues / grey morality, OCs I am kind of proud of, drama as usual, and very many typical queer quartet shenanigans and jokes.

Anyway uhh yes! There it is... <3 I'm still figuring out the plot and doing my research, but it's definitely cooking. It will also switch POV between the four characters, which I don't think I've done before in one fic yet! I'm aiming for Quynh to be more of the focus though. If this ends up being like 40,000 words and super niche or disorganized, oh well. I'm just happy I have a new idea <3 Thanks again!!

[hollowfaith]

🌻 lmao

misc action memes

🌻 - for my muse to suddenly hold your muse’s hand .

A dark alley, a forbidding looking sky, and police sirens in the distance...

It's no wonder Eiden feels uneasy as he follows Aurelius through the deserted streets. Actually, if it was anyone else but Aurelius he'd be thinking the guy was taking him away to off him (or you know, try something adventurous), but the indifferent look on the angel's face completely dismisses that possibility.

"How much further is it?" he asks while following on the other guy's heels.

"Not far."

"You know, it'd be faster if we flew there—"

"No."

"I want to avoid touching you again if I can help it."

"All right, all right, fine." Eiden rolls his eyes. Once upon a time that might've actually happened, but their daily tiffs and fights have made that less likely these days. Somehow they've skipped being civil to attacking each other on sight—though to be fair the angel absolutely deserved it, being the prissy prude poopoohead he was everyday.

What did Klaus see in this guy anyways?

"None of your business."

Oh. Had he said that out loud?

Scratching his head at the slip, Eiden continued to shadow Aurelius' steps. The fortune-telling shop that the angel had purportedly found predicted all sorts of strange fates and destinies for everyone involved. The only problem was that the fortune-teller herself wanted to read the palm of a "man with a complex love life," promptly Aurelius to drag Eiden along with him this time. Personally, Eiden didn't think his relationships were that complicated—they were just extensive, but the thought of snooping on Aurelius and getting a complimentary fortune told was too much to resist.

He would've refused if he'd known they were going in the dark, though—and to an extremely sketchy part of Crimson Lane, no less.

"Hey, Aurelius—"

"What is it?"

"What were you doing here in the first place, anyways?"

The angel pauses to give him a scornful look. "Saving lives."

Eiden snorts. "Yeah. Yeah, I bet you were..."

"I most certainly was."

"Uh-huh. Well, if you need recommendations for a place, I know a few good ones."

"If it's from you, I'll be sure to avoid them especially."

"Reallllly? You know, the ones with private rooms are fun to rent out. If you and Klaus went—"

"Be quiet."

Eiden snickers. All right, maybe this wasn't all bad.

—

"Welcome. I've been expecting you both."

When they eventually reach the fortune-teller's shop, Eiden has to struggle not to arch his eyebrows at the woman. She's the most stereotypical "fortune-teller" he's seen: fancy head scarf, crystal ball, smoky makeup, the works.

Then he spots the telltale glint of the smoke machine before her and how it conveniently swooshes around when she talks to her (electric-powered) glowing crystal ball and yep, 9/10 this woman was a scam and ripping Aurelius off.

Not that he'd ruin all her hard work in fleecing the golden fob.

"Hmm..." she begins, slender fingers (and those long, long nails) swirling "mysteriously" around her orb. "You said your name was Eiden...Eiden Itadori. I see. The readings I get from you are very strong, very potent...indeed, you are a man destined for a life rich in love..."

Next to him, Aurelius stands with arms folded, patiently waiting for her to finish her spiel. Eiden tries not to snicker again as he adopts a fitting "believer's face." "Really? Then can you tell me who my next lover will be?"

"Hm, yes...I do see..." the lady doesn't even look up, too absorbed in her playacting. "He is...someone you already know. Someone you feel close to, and who feels close to you in turn..."

Eiden wonders if all the fortune-tellers get their lines from the same books.

"He is...a tall, dark, and handsome man...whose name begins with...A."

Now he's a little disappointed. Even though she was a scammer, Eiden was at least expecting something a little closer...even R would've worked, sheesh.

"How much taller?" Aurelius suddenly asks.

Huh? Eiden glances up to see the blond suddenly looking serious. Since when was this guy interested in his love life?

"The crystal ball tells me..." the fortune-teller concentrates, then bats her eyelashes at Aurelius. "...that the mysterious lover is about your height."

"Dark-haired?" Aurelius presses on and Eiden begins to get a bad premonition. "Dare I ask, does he have green eyes too?"

"Hold on, Aurelius—"

"Indeed!" Sensing an opening, the fortune-teller latches on. "Why child, you never told me you were so talented in the Gift. The man you speak of...indeed has green eyes and dark hair. Long? No...straight...or not quite," she peers closely at Aurelius' darkening expression and brightens. "Curly, I suppose. Perhaps even waves."

Eiden blanches. Why were they describing Klaus all of a sudden? Anyways, his name started with K so there was no reason for Aurelius to overreact—

"Anghelescu."

Uh-oh.

Before Aurelius could unleash his wrath on the poor unsuspecting woman, Eiden does the greatest noble sacrifice of his week and grabs Aurelius by the hand. "Wait!"

Aurelius doesn't budge beyond shooting him a frosty look.

"I mean, not all fortune-telling is accurate!" Eiden laughs before blabbering on, "Look, if you were standing in the dark you'd be tall, dark, and handsome too, plus your name begins with an A."

Aurelius scowls. "She said he had wavy hair and green eyes."

"Well, couldn't you get a perm and contacts? You like Klaus so much you might as well be him some days! So calm down, hey—?!"

He sees Aurelius reaching out towards the oblivious fortune-telling woman. Unsure of what he'd do, Eiden jerks hard on the angel's hand to drag him to his side. "I mean it, you're handsome okay? Still an asshat at the end of the day but at least your looks don't hurt! Though I'd rather eat dirt than date you and your terrible personality—"

"She's gone."

"Eh?"

Aurelius shakes off Eiden's hand and looks irritably at the table where the fortune-teller was sitting just moments ago. It seemed she'd slipped away via a back entrance during the distraction. "The woman you defended so earnestly just ran away. That's a poor way to repay you."

"It's not like you would've hurt her anyways if you were staying in Klaus's good books," Eiden shoots back.

"Do you always think me so capable of violence?"

"Haven't I seen enough of your violence towards me?!"

"Then why do you stick around?" Aurelius is back to folding his arms, this time focusing his scrutiny on Eiden. "If you know you irritate me, then you should try to please me instead."

"Yeah, right! You're not worth all that effort."

"But Klaus is?"

Eiden furrows his brows. Why were they back on that touchy subject again?

"You value Klaus' friendship so highly that you would risk dealing with me to keep it. The easier choice would be simply to give it up," Aurelius points out.

"My friendships aren't that cheap."

"Then how much—"

"You don't put a price on stuff like that, dumbass!"

"Humans put a price on everything."

"Not all humans. Not me!"

"Then I will put a price on you."

"You wish!" In a fit of pique, Eiden picks up the crystal ball and throws it at him. Aurelius bats it away, where it falls onto the ground and shatters into pieces—luckily, none of which fall close enough to graze their skins.

"Guys like you," Eiden snaps, "break everything they touch eventually! Just you watch! You're the one most likely to ruin things for yourself!"

Aurelius bristles. "You're being very disagreeable today."

"What? Can't handle the truth?"

"I consider words from you to be pure hearsay."

"Says the guy so insecure he has to ask a fortune-teller to give him answers!"

"All you do is judge my character based on my actions."

"Like you're any different!"

"Have you ever proved me wrong?"

"Well, have you? Asshole!"

(Their argument continues until the local police force escorts them out of the district for disturbing people's sleep.)

[vmprgrl-2005]

I never told you what I do for a living (hotline miami-jacket x reader)-part two

"I'd end my days with you in a hail of bullets"

link to part one wattpad link part three

word count-926

warnings-blood, strong language, violence, severe injury

an-is this even good? idk but heres a part two anyway lmao. this is pretty short so i'll try to have a part three done soon :)

After a few hours of sleeping dreamlessly, a sound at the front door wakes me. Slightly disoriented, I sit up and rub my eyes, letting the memories of the last few hours flood back into my head. After gaining my bearings on reality again, I hurry out of bed, hoping that Jacket is finally home. As I approach the door, I realize how violently whoever is on the other side is pulling on it, and the strained grunts that sound nothing like Jacket. Assuming the worst, I run to the kitchen, grabbing the sharpest knife I can find and attempting to hide. Before I can get too far, the man breaks down the door. I stay as close to the wall as I can, being sure that my shadow is hidden and slipping back into my bedroom. I duck behind the bed, gripping the knife as tightly as my trembling hands will allow. The man stomps swiftly through the hallway, obviously not trying to keep his presence unknown. He storms through every room, and I hear his muffled voice say “I know that fucker is here.” Before he approaches the bedroom, I try to prepare to defend myself, but I can’t keep my hands steady. He opens the door, standing still as his eyes search the room. I have a brief moment to take in his appearance. He's significantly smaller than Jacket, in a blue and green blazer, jeans, and a rat mask with a large gun in his right hand. I know he sees me, and I steady the knife in one of my hands. Before I can even think about hurting him, he hurries over to where I’m hiding, grabbing me by the neck, hoisting me into the air, and putting his gun to my head. “Where is he?” the man yells, his voice gruff. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” I cough. “Your piece of shit boyfriend, where is he?” The man yells louder as he shakes me harshly. He looks around the room, still not believing that I’m the only one home, and his grip on my neck loosens for a second. I take the opportunity to lift my limp arm as far as I can and slash his shoulder with my knife. Blood sprays on my face as he yells, doubling over in pain, dropping me and giving me a chance to run. Before I can make it out the front door, though, my body is shoved forward by a sudden force and a burning pain shoots through my side. I can’t feel myself scream as my body hits the ground. The mystery man walks past me slowly, but instead of finishing the job he sits down on the couch smugly, crossing one leg over the other. The pain in my side is unbearable, but I barely have enough strength to writhe. A pool of my blood spreads on the floor beneath me, still warm. As I fade in and out of consciousness, my mind drifts to Jacket. He's probably almost home, exhausted from another round of killing. I wish I could be here waiting for him when he opens the door, helping him clean the blood off of his face and forcing him to get some sleep. My eyelids flutter a few times as I try to stay awake, but I pass out after a few minutes. 

Somehow, I regain my consciousness when I feel footsteps near me. It takes all the strength I have left to open my eyes to a familiar sight in front of me, white converse and blood splattered blue jeans. Jacket moves in slow motion in front of me, running through the door and bending down next to my limp body. He kneels in the large puddle of my blood, shaking my shoulder with one hand and slapping my cheek gently with the other. He's yelling something, but my ears gave up on hearing a while ago. All I can do is bring my clammy and blood covered hand up to meet the hand resting on my face. Jacket intertwines our fingers and squeezes my hand gently. He attempts to lift me out of the pool of blood and into his arms, but the whimper that leaves me makes him hesitate and gently lay me down again whispering “Fuck, sorry” in a shaky voice. Though my vision is beginning to fade, I can still see the pained look in his eyes, and it's one I’ll never forget. Jacket looks over his shoulder, finally noticing the masked man that I can only assume is still sitting on the couch. Giving me one last loving look, Jacket stands and approaches the man that almost killed me with no way of defending himself. I can’t tell exactly what's happening through my blurry vision, I can only hope that Jacket doesn’t meet the same fate that I have. After a few painful minutes of keeping my eyes open to watch what unfolds, I can feel the bang of a gunshot echo through the room, the bullet not stopping until it meets Jacket’s forehead. He collapses almost instantly, body going completely slack. I wish I could move to comfort him, or that I could’ve taken the bullet for him. I can’t fix this. We’re both going to die laying across the floor from each other in his apartment and the cops will barely care to identify our bodies. I try to say something along the lines of “I love you, I’m sorry,” but all that leaves my blood-tainted mouth are a few incoherent mumbles. My eyes become heavier than ever, and finally close.

[gnomewithalaptop]

Ok, finally getting to those other Asks I wanted to do. So the TAU blog reblog of ur "The last time I saw you (you were so young)" fic post, u said this: "'LISTEN I know I’m meant to be working on that one longfic but my mother told me a story about my deceased grandmother & then I just blacked out and wrote this idk what to tell you", I thought for a sec, u were talking about: "The Man Who Knew the Future You" (I love the idea of Alcor meeting a past Mizar; prob. so weird for both, lol), 2/?.

(Continuing on from my Last Ask(s)): , but then I realized u were prob. talking about "Cue the Sun" instead actually, which I found out from the Ask from toothpastecanyon asking: "What is cue the sun? 👀" (having trouble linking links), & now, I am obsessed w/ that idea/it. Like, a civil war, a R!Ford Mom having a R!Gideon (of all people) Troubled teen of all people (it's also cool to see more Ford & Gideon stuff in TAU & R's of them too), trying to find something to win the civil war 3?/?.

(Continued from Last Ask(s) again, sorry for how many Asks): , but then them finding like a 2016 (I think it was 2016) Gravity Falls and meeting a skeptical and/or sus. Stan (Stan meeting reincarnations of his brother and enemy and/or past enemy, man, oh man) and the OG Mystery Twins (Dipper and Mabel, right? Awesome. That/This should be very fun), and they all think it is 2016, and not, 7098 (man, the year differences is gonna be strange &/or confusing for everyone), &/or etc. 4?/?

(Continued from my Last Ask(s) again): Like, sign me up for "Cue the Sun"! And it is gonna be a longfic (probably)? Like, even if it wasn't, I would still be interested in it, but it being a longifc is even better (as a Gravity Falls, TAU, and/or etc. fan even more esp.). The map(s) u did for "Cue the Sun", & the thought u are putting into "Cue the Sun" is amazing. 4 or 5?/?. The next 1 should hopefully be my Last Ask. I didn't realize the/my Asks would get this many.

(Continued from my Other Asks. Just 1 more after this): Is there any more "Cue the Sun" posts besides that Ask I mentioned in my other Ask(s)? When I try searching up "cue the sun" on ur blog, this is all I get "Sorry, no results for cue the sun". I didn't even get that Ask I talked about, that literally has "cue the sun" in the Ask. Tumblr's Search can be so bad sometimes. Anyways, really excited for "Cue the Sun", whenever that is. & I love ur other TAU fics and posts too! 5 or 6?/?.

(original cue the sun post)

Oh dude. Dude. Never apologize for sending too many asks -- getting this in my inbox literally made my day. To your first question: yes! The longfic in question is Cue the Sun -- I'm still working through it rn, and I'm hoping to start publishing sometime this summer/fall -- woot woot graduation time! Right now, it's looking to be about 6-7 long-ish chapters? Which is def a longfic in my book lol (I'm trying to get it all written out before I start posting -- that way I can keep with a consistent update schedule)

I am SUPER excited about it though -- I've been having a blast working through the twists and turns of it all and making sure all the pieces fit together (and dropping Easter Eggs to as many other pieces of TAU lore as possible lmao)

But yes! OG Mystery Twins are 16-17 y/o Mabel and Dipper Pines, Stan is extremely sus (but lbr that's par the course for him), and Olya and Fatima (r!Gideon and r!Ford) are about to have the worst week of their lives.

Featuring: dead sisters who haunt the narrative, utopian society models gone wrong, weapons of mass destruction, the long-term effects of magical radiation (i.e. what happens when you stick a Chernobyl disaster inside Gravity Falls), and narratively significant golf carts

FINALLY: you can find all my writing posts under #this-is-gnomes-writing-tag, but since you're the second person to express interest in this fic, I'll start tagging Cue the Sun stuff with #cue the sun. Right now there isn't really much there (read: it is a barren wasteland) bc I tend to just vague post about things, but I'll make sure to tag any future excerpts/asks/milestones

[thegreatimpersonator]

Hello!! I interrupt your scheduled programing with "Kate tells Meg about the book she is reading because she is bored and reading is fun!" time!

Okay - so, I finished the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty on audio, and wow! I really liked it! I found the writing to be subtle, and the narrators did such a great job with the emotions the book had. The plot was almost like peeling back a layer on something, finding more and more behind the walls. It starts out one way, and then the adventure starts and pulls you along for the ride. The characters were lovable, and it was so nice to read a book that had Middle-aged adults at the helm. They felt real and I rooted for them! Very excited for the next book when it comes out! Highly recommend for audio!

Up next for audio: I am about 25% of the way through Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott! I've picked this book up a couple of times, only to turn around and set it down for whatever reason. This time, second time trying on audio, I managed to push through the part that kept stumping me, and I like it so far! I am interested! I like Bellatine a lot, but still trying to find some connection to Issac. I am curious to see how this will all intertwine with each other because right now it feels like there's a lot trying to happen. However, the setting is dreamy and lush with imagery and fall vibes, so it's doing a great job for healing my heart, as I ache for the cooler weather, spookier vibes, and dreamy colors.

For physical books, I managed to get about 50 pages through Immortal Longings this weekend, and I wish I could find some more time to sit and read because I like it! The setting is gritty, the vibes are mysterious and what can I say, I love a good trial setting. Still getting to know the main characters, but I am rooting for them! Has the classic Chole Gong imagery, but a lot less dense, and I think the New Adult setting for her works well! I think it allows her to actually tell the story she wants to tell without being worried about it being too much for a younger audience. Hope she considers sticking in the genre!

Other fun news, we adopted our new kitten on Monday! He is about 5 months old, black short hair and the sweetest little guy. He's snoozing in his carrier while I work right now :D His name is BMO from Adventure Time! We're still a bit away from introducing him to our older cat Suki (from Avatar the Last Airbender!) but hopes are high and we are so happy :D

Anyways, thanks for tuning in! Back to your scheduled programming with Meg talking about Kendall Roy :D (Long asks for the win!)

OH HELL YEAH it's been a long time coming!! This makes me instantly want to pick up immortal longings, but I need to finish my current read first haha! Lovely to hear about Adventures of Amina al-sarafi, I bet audiobooks add a whole new dimension to the genre (I've heard so much about how yellowface would work best w a narrator, looking forward to try that out) and BMO 🥺 i hope he gets along well with suki, always ALWAYS a pleasure to hear about cats!! Im currently reading siren queen by nghi vo, I guess I'm still chasing the do tell vibes and so far it has been promising so let's see how that fares! A friend also highly recommended Naomi's Room and I think this is the perfect time to delve into horror so maybe I'll check it out soon, Still trying to convince myself to get started w house of leaves but for some reason I keep saving it for later lmao!

[kuromi-hoemie]

1. i am left handed

2. I've kinda played a lot of instruments and music was a p big part of my life growing up. my favorite to play were drums for 5 years and my second favorite was bass for 3 (❁´◡`❁)

3. i also skated for a decade. like on a skateboard down stairs n roofs n big gaps kinda thing 0: i was pretty good actually lol

i go up to 15 facts but I'll put the rest under the read more :3c

@ghoul-butch @thisismenoww @babyboodle @mellueminate @tranzjen @mothgirlyuri @limedotsoda

4. i used to get free public transportation thru my old job, but when covid first hit and i didn't have access to a car i made myself an ebike 🚴🏾‍♀️ it felt p cool whizzing around town at 30 something mph on my lil grocery run

5. i have happened to come across many witches and mediums in life so far and i feel like we always find each other at the right time (❁´◡`❁) the world is so interesting and mysterious! (do not ask me about this, this is my extremely long rant topic depending on who's asking lmaoo. related to something of a lifelong passion/fascination of mine)

6. i mention it in passing but i grew up with hauntings being a very regular thing across different houses and have experienced plenty in adulthood, but not as much as me n my fam all under the same roof. ghost stuff is complicated to rant about but this is basically tied to #5

╰(￣ω￣ｏ) this childhood is sort of the basis of my framework of understanding (as opposed to a Religion)

7. i used to pierce ppl when i was 18. i was good at it and had a lot of happy clients, but i was not certified. i also didn't like this shop i was wanting to apprentice for for trying to make me do a tattoo apprenticeship too (this was also actually what killed art for me and made me stop drawing entirely for 10 years).

🚶🏾‍♀️what i ended up doing is since the shops take 50% what u get paid anyways why don't i just charge half the price. i was snatching up so many of the younger customers in my age group bc of word of mouth, affordability, and my professionalism 🙂‍↕️ i took it very seriously and even a decade later it makes me happy to think there are ppl out there still happy with what i was able to do for them, the same way i feel so great w how i look thanks to the piercer I've been coming back to myself.

8. i grew up in a small city/big town by the beach (❁´◡`❁) i remember it fondly

9. i was caught up in a love triangle w twins once and it was as messy as you probably would imagine lmaoo

10. learned how to drive a forklift before i learned how to drive a car and was so good at it i had ppl w decades of experience watch me try to fit something on a rack and they'd be like “there's no way you're gonna make that fit” well guess fucking WHAT buddy!!! 💅🏾 every time, i loved having a lil audience

11. i lived next to this old lady who grew and sold hella weed and i also got one of my favorite pets from her. she gave me a little albino rat 🥺 the weed was funny bc we were a few blocks away from the police station actually pre-legalization 😹 she was cool as hell. she'd splice peyote w some other kind of cactus and in doing so u could harvest it in just 2 years i think? and it's supposed to take much longer otherwise, i never got to try it but that sounds cool

12. on that note I've tried salvia before which was rly funny and stupid but also so wild ajdjska. if u feel like u will still be fully present and aware no you will not lmfao i got yoinked into another reality in the middle of some prison break plot lmao 😭

13. i used to throw knives when i was younger and i got back into throwing knives again recently, and also am giving the spikes a try this time (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) very fun

14. i do 3D modeling and electrical engineering as a hobby sometimes but i ONLY am ever compelled to do it when it's for taking care of plants. my dream would be to have a huge lab complex with different zones for different climates for growing different kinds of plants separated by their general purpose (ie spices, medicinal herbs, fruits n veggies etc). but a bunch of others too just bc they're neat. i rly wanna play around w hydroponics and think being able to fully automate plant care and learning how to care for all of them sounds rly nice (❁´◡`❁) i could settle for a greenhouse too ♡⁠ apartment indoor gardening it is though huh (⁠´⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.̫⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠`⁠)

15. i have never had a straight era. when i was little i knew of LGB and straight ppl but didn't ever see myself as belonging to one or thought about it. i watched the music video for Im Not Okay and Frank kissing Gerard immediately made me realize and instantly accept that i was bisexual. being bisexual has always been pretty matter of fact to me and as a kid i didn't hide it but didn't rly feel the need to talk about it either unless u asked lol. but like. i was never questioning, i wasn't even ever straight and i think that's really funny. i didn't get to intentionally explore myself as a queer person until my early 20s but i have always been surrounded by queer ppl and that's rly nice 👼🏾

if you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs! anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog <3 (absolutely no pressure)

I didnt have my first friend in the same grade that stayed my friend until 4th grade

My Choir teacher was in a hallmark movie

My favorite class is band

@hold-my-dr-pepper @somewhatcompetent @beechaotic @angel-and-the-serpent @babyqueenfangirl @definitelynotriana @smokee-bee (Sorry smokee!)

[seelestia]

Hallo liaaaa, don't mind mee-

just randomly popping in after being gone for like a week to send u tiktoks huehuehue >:P

petty scara :P

paimon shitting on scara lmao

i will send you every scara thirst trap I ever come across. mark my words >:D

scaranation stay winning (first the stepping animation, now a choking one?? Hoyo be spoiling us fr ;D)

also a lil tidbit i kinda wanna share- I kinda hate that everyone's memory of scara just suddenly gets erased and how tf is this mans gonna get redeemed if he can't fix the wrongs he's done to the people he's hurt if they don't even remember him, also erases the entire history between his relationships with people apart from the traveler (idk much about this whole situation, I've been seeing a lot of people talk about it, and if it is just a complete memory wipe- i'm fr disappointed :'D)

anyway yeahhhh- talk to you later liaaaaa <333 happy holidays ;D - Ever so SIMP-ly yours, 👹✨ Jae <3

jaeeee, you've been caring for that stardew valley farm of yours for too long. you've touched enough virtual grass, now go back to your wifi connection. (/j)

THE FIRST ONE LMAOOOO everyone else is fine until he sees indigo hair and purple eyes and— why did you bring his mom🧍imagine inviting ei to the teapot knowing that scara is there HELPFKEKSK he is rushing into the nearest room and locking door like us when it's family dinner time 😩 (/lh)

ngl, paimon was literally a certified scara hater during the quest because she's scared he'll turn around and hurt the traveler 😭 but let the man have his mental breakdown for a bit <//3 although all of them were seconds away from being crushed in that scene, so paimon's inconsiderate urgency was somewhat understandable.

TWO SCARA THIRST TRAPS IN A ROW?? i am clenching my chest dramatically. please, what... what more do you want from me. i thought i already did what you wanted by joining the club officially, you're trying to sap me dry here 🤨 (/j)

[ SPOILERS for sumeru's interlude quest! ]

DW, JAE, I GOT YOU. the quest did leave me feeling kinda empty too and ik you're not a player, so let me explain the summary of the quest! >:)

if you wanna know, scara was the one who wanted to tamper with the irminsul himself so he could erase himself from everyone's memories. his line of thought was that if they've never met him, then all the wicked incidents (specifically, the tatarasuna incident where the people who took him in died because of dottore) that happened because of him would be gone... so, that those affected by it will live and he can right his wrongs that way.

but a mysterious woman voice (we speculate it's istaroth, the god of time) told the traveler that, not verbatim, although memories can be tampered with, the events still stay the same. even after scara did all that to erase everyone's memories of him so that they'll live, they still died but through different means — which meant that his sacrifice changed nothing but memories. only nahida, the traveler, and paimon are the ones who remember his past because everything still happened and his friends still died 😭

SO, BASICALLY !! scara thought that he'd fix his mistakes and redeem himself by taking himself out of irminsul like we expected, but it backfired on him and now, here he is. <//3

ngl, i felt a little empty because i was hoping that they'd elaborate about ei in this quest since it's centered around scara. but this whole being forgotten thing is still kinda trippy tbh fjwkfjjekd it's a 50/50 for me personally ;( but this quest was also the last shove into the scaranation because we finally got to properly interact with him and he is so stupid and cute and—

BUT FOR THE TRADE, i'll give you: what i'd do if i get scara on his next rerun, did you remember when i said people were naming him Babygirl, and i love patrick pedraza.

[cookinguptales]

Is it correct that we witnessed Guillermo talking to Freddie only two times this season, and the last time was in episode 4 before they went to the Night Market? And next week Freddie will just appear out of nowhere? I guess it is alright for the crazy portion of the fans (us), those who know about the leaks and talk about each episode every week here on this silly little site. But I’m curious how the casual fans (has wwdits casual fans?) will react to Freddie’s appearance. In the end I think I just wanted a few more snippets of Guillermo’s boyfriend throughout the season, followed by short clips of a curious & concerned looking Nandor.

It's unclear, actually. We did see Guillermo on the phone very briefly in Go Flip Yourself, but we don't know if he was talking to Freddie or not. It was while "Bran" was on the phone arguing with the permit guy; we see Guillermo walk out of his room on the phone, see the camera, then walk right back in.

I'd say that it's probably implied that Guillermo was on the phone with Freddie if just because the only time we've seen him on the phone with anyone else in this season was while he was planning for Nandor's wedding. (And... I feel like there might be something to say there, but I think I'll hold onto it for now. lmao) And we've specifically seen Guillermo talking to him on the phone in his room and being secretive about it. It's possible he just didn't want to be on camera, but I think he was, again, trying to hide being on the phone.

(EDIT: someone told me this might have been implying that Guillermo was the permit guy? unsure, but it’s VERY funny if so.)

Anyway... I've talked about this before, but I do agree that the way Freddie's being introduced here is very weird, from a storytelling and pacing standpoint. To me, it feels less like a romantic storyline and more like... god, almost foreshadowing? They haven't shown enough real interaction between the two of them for literally anyone to get emotionally invested in the ship (like really all we've gotten is Guillermo hanging up on Freddie as Freddie tries to say romantic things to him) but it would make sense if they're trying to tease us about something bad coming up. It gives real "someone is suspicious on the phone a lot in a murder mystery" vibes, which is... a weird choice.

I really don't know if this is all purposeful or not. If they really want Freddie to be mostly a short-lived (but emotionally turbulent) obstacle to nandermo, the way it's being written makes some sense. He's not supposed to have a deep character; like Marwa, he's largely a plot device.

But if he is supposed to become a major character that we care about... it's weird. It's weird to expect us to get emotionally involved in a pairing we've never even seen. We've missed the entire first several months of the relationship. We don't even know how long it's been going on, much less how they met or got together. We don't know how they interact. We don't know how they feel about each other. And all that feels important when you're trying to introduce a legit romance...?

At this point, it's obviously information that's being kept from us on purpose. The only reason I can think of is if they're trying to hide some kind of twist from us, like when Laszlo very suspiciously tore that page out of the book in s3. (I've said repeatedly that the way they casually mention Freddie but give zero information about him feels a lot like how they kept mentioning Colin's 100th birthday in s3.) The whole thing kind of has a whiff of Chekhov's Gun, y'know?

But if the twist is just that Guillermo has a boyfriend at all, then... yeah, the characterization and build-up feels lackluster. And then you run into the same problem that I feel like they're having with Marwa. It's hard to get that invested in a character who's only there to cause trouble for the "main" characters. She doesn't have much of her own personality, which is purposefully done (and even lampshaded, to some degree) but like... it still makes it kind of awkward when she's onscreen sometimes.

I really hope that Freddie/Guillermo doesn't become a real thing because at this point, I don't see how it could be done well. There's just too much missing that I feel is intrinsic to making a romantic pairing work on a tv show, especially one that's introduced several seasons in. Having Laszlo/Nadja dropped on us in medias res was fine because it was the beginning of the show, they immediately depicted their dynamic and emotional intimacy, and they quickly explored it more thoroughly. We've really gotten none of that out of Freddie/Guillermo.

So like... really hoping he is going to be a plot device. It's still kind of frustratingly thin if he is, but it's a lot better than this being a half-hearted introduction to a regular character. I think the only way he could work as a regular character at this point is if he ends up being drastically different than we and Guillermo expect. (Like, idk, secretly a villain or a vampire or a slayer or something.) Then both of us get introduced to the true Freddie at the same time and the relationship can actually develop onscreen.

Then again... I just hate important characterization happening offscreen, lmao. It's one of my absolute biggest pet peeves in storytelling. It's the one thing that's actually irritating me most this season, as far as Guillermo is concerned. So that could be my own irritations coloring my analysis. lmao

[thekaijudude]

Do you think they will ever explore Z's origin? And do you have any theories as to where he might be from?

On the topic of origins, was it ever explained what the voice of light is and whether O-50 ultras are sentient or just ultra versions of humans?

Ah yes I've talked about this a few times

Considering that Z's origin was teased that he was not from M78 in the voice drama from his black markings and Ace found him on a planet somewhere highly suggests that he's basically just another species of ultras like U40 etc

And considering Ace named Z as a "Last Hero to bring peace to the universe one day", it might have a more darker implication that he might be the last member of his species to survive an extinction event of some sort, and that Ace managed to rescue Z on a mission to said planet to perhaps assist said species but failed

Plus Z was immensely popular which also won an award in Japan and considering TsuPro now also has alot of money to spend, its very likely that we'll see more expansion in this area in the future, like what specifically happened to Z's species etc

As for your second question, it's been quite some time since I talked about this in depth but it's a huge topic to cover which I did a long time ago so I'll try to summarise the main points

For one, it seems that the VoL is the power source of O50 Ultras and that, like all power sources, it seems to also be sentient, being able to choose who receives their power (except for the DoL and wherever Trigger came from, still very foggy on that but its the least expanded anyways) .And the VoL is shown to be the "most sentient" in the sense that it is also able to outright give directives to its proxies, that being the 050 Ultras as we've seen with Orb, the 1st Gen RB siblings and Fuma. In fact, this was greatly expanded upon in the Orb Chronicle novels

I won't go into the inconsistencies with the 2nd Gen RB siblings and whether Fuma joined the Tri Squad based on the VoL's directives or nah cause frankly, I suspect that the seperate writers themselves aren't aware of the can of worms they've opened and never really thought of the broader picture of the 050 lore which I suspect would be retconned/expanded upon in the next 050 installment

Plus it's a can of worms that I've delved into in a few seperate essay posts before and I really don't plan to going that in depth again until we get a new 050 installment to potentially retcon these issues

(can't even find said posts either via the search engine thank you tumblr, very cool)

As for the second part of your 2nd qn, I've also talked about this in depth before but in summary, it seems that they are just ultra forms given to those that managed to climb the Warrior's Peak on 050 and are granted the power via the VoL, be it kaiju or ultra. However, the fact that the VoL has the ability to synthesise powers of other ultras like with the Ultra Cards and RB Crystals, and even materialise them (for the former in the final ep of Orb) is very sus

Cause it could be also possible that the VoL has the ability to create existing ultras or even completely new ultras and imbue its proxies with their power, making them the hosts of basically existing ultras, or just the OCs thought up by the VoL itself(lmao), but without their sentience to allow the proxies to be in control

Yeah, you can tell that the implications of this is also another can of worms that I previously already delved into extensively that I can only summarize until the next installment which would hopefully clear all of these ambiguities up

But frankly, while I assume that they'll delve more into how the VoL works, its quite unlikely that they'll expand upon what the VoL is. Cause the power sources of Ultras are kinda on the same level of mysticism as Legendary Ultras, whereby the less mysteries we uncover about them, the more significant their existence in a sense.

Tho perhaps the next expansion in the sources' lore would perhaps be in UGF3 when the Ultras try to fix the Absolutians' power source and maybe we'll get some exposition and more insight on them there?

Thanks for the questions!

[kohakhearts]

ok turns out i needed no prompting but HUGE rip to my assignment i rushed to do at the last minute in order to write this. also re: my tags, i cross-checked with someone else's interpretation to make sure i was hearing things right so i'm a little more confident in that now lmao. let me break this down, i have so many thoughts.

the tv size version is pretty straight-forward, i mean. we all know this one, but hey. it's part of a bigger puzzle. so why not just look at the whole thing!

...i realized partway through this that my colouring scheme may be counterintuitive, but red is rica matsumoto's / satoshi's parts and blue is daiki yamashita's / gou's. purple being both. just to make that clear.

anyway. let me dive into the Rambles :3

ねえ、まだまだまだ？急いで！ hey, is it time, is it time? hurry up! 出かける準備はできたかい？ are you ready to head out? キミに見せたい不思議の世界 / 見送りならいらない we don't need a send-off to this mysterious world i want to show you

pretty classic ash: impatient but in that enthusastic, go-getter kind of way, you know.

as a bit of an aside, i have a lot of thoughts about ash's role to his companions in each series, but for the sake of brevity let me just leave it at like...ash is someone who is unapologetically passionate about the world and the things in it he loves (namely, pokemon. which...so real of him, tbh) and that passion is the primary spark of motivation and inspiration in his companions. and i think goh is the companion who we see this most explicitly with (a very intentional writing choice, i'd say), though i think there are decent arguments to be made for may and serena and maybe even clemont.

たとえ火の中　水の中 even if in fire, in water 手さぐりで見えない今日の中 fumbling through the unseen today １秒先だってまだ知らないけど i (we?) don't know what the next second will bring

great mezase pokemon master reference, of course. but aside from that...pretty classic goh. something fun about this is that the verb here to fumble stems from the noun hand, so you know, uncertainty in the future, unsteady hands of the present...i could say more but i'm sure i don't need to :p

いつも思い出はどれも but every single one of our memories 全部ボールの中に will always be inside a ball

well, yeah. i mean. pocket monsters. yeah. hey, but isn't this such an interesting line when the anime revolves around this relationship between ash and pikachu where, like, pikachu doesn't go in his ball...but we know ash has to carry the ball around, because that's how pokemon Works. also something something gary something silver conference haha what? anyway.

１・２・３で飛び込め！ on 1, 2, 3, jump in! いつか描いた未来がボクのポケットにあるから the future i hold on to is in my pocket はじめましてはいつだって初めてさ "nice to meet you" is always the start of a new beginning ためらうことなどナイ！（ナイ！）トライ！（トライ！）* there's no hesitating! (no!) try! (try!) Let's have a fight! let's have a fight!

*in case you're wondering what's going on here, gou joins the line after satoshi sings ためらう, which is the verb in this phrase, "to hesitate." i think - possible i'm mishearing the timing on the entry, lmao. but i think it's an interesting lyrical choice

１．バトルをしたなら one - after the battle is done ２．笑うか泣いたって two - whether you're laughing or crying ３で仲間になろうよ we'll be friends on three

あの日だって　この日だって　いつだってそうしていた this day, that day, that's how it's always been 先も見えない　果ても知らない世界がそこにあるけど a world of unseen mysteries lies just ahead

レッツゴー let's go 転んですりむいて even if we trip and fall レッツゴー let's go 何度も歩き出す隣 when it comes to who i want walking by my side each time キミにきめた！ i choose you!

this is where the regular length op ends ofc, and musically, the chorus is gorgeous, and the animation is gorgeous, and that in itself i could spend a long time talking about from a character perspective, but i'll spare you all THAT essay and just focus on the lyrics. not a lot to say on this part, i do feel the lyrics kinda speak for themselves.

anyway, let's move to the more interesting part, which is...everything after the tv size cut. which i will say is, i think, more representative of where the characters are starting than where they necessarily have wound up. 1・2・3 is a unique op in that it's reused for the entire series. the only things that change are a) who's singing it, of course and b) the animation sequence. which in the last episode (or the one preceding distant blue sky/mpm, anyway) is i think why we get that lovely extended op at the end. though that's still not the full version iirc!

隣の街から景色は　ため息つくほど世界は the view from the neighbouring town, the breathtaking world 目まぐるしく回り　変わる spinning dizzingly, ever-changing ボクを置き去りにする leaving me behind

ok, gou, kinda edgy! i couldn't figure out a nice way to translate that but i mean...it's about get the point across. i guess. and the point here is...world vast and plentiful, change scary. things move faster than i can meet them, etc. i think this idea of being left behind is really central to ash and goh's relationship (also, sorry for switching names constantly here, i do not know why i'm doing that. it doesn't matter). i mean, it's their first conflict of "oh so you're not really my friend" and "everyone is the same" which of course...isn't the case, and goh opens up to ash, even thanks him for reaching out to me (!!!) when they finally part ways for good, until their final conflict is about, well...being left behind.

goh is a very isolated person, like. we know ash reaching out to him is the catalyst that helps him make more friends. and also in fixing his existing friendships, i mean? his relationship with chloe visibly improves throughout the course of jn. he gives horace a second chance. but there's this underlying insecurity he has about those things blowing up on him. and at the centre of that is the fear of ash, the person who pulled him from isolation, leaving him - and so leaving him isolated all over again.

but that's not the case, obviously. even when they part ways (which they were always bound to do, and as much as i love goh i think it would have been a diservice to his character to have had them continue journeying together at the end of jn). he has pokemon now! he has other friends! he has a goal that involves other people, or at least involves this notion of friendship, which was something he didn't have before. so even as he's being left behind, the world that ash opened him up to is still beautiful.

子供の頃には夢中で　くぐり抜けた穴ぼこでも the holes i obsessed with pulling myself through in childhood しばらくぶりだな　見落としていたの？ i haven't seen one in a while; have i failed to notice it?

this to me carries a similar weight as the previous verse, only...you know. this is ash's problem, which he grapples with in mpm - you've reached your goal, so now what? he's not struggling to be the best anymore and with it comes a kind of emptiness, or lack of meaning...tangentially, i remember seeing people be like ash's initial reaction to beating leon was so stupid, why was he surprised he used to be so confident :/ to which i like.........yall gotta watch more of the anime than the first 50 episodes of the indigo league, but WHATEVER, none of my business - anyway, i just think after all this time, he wasn't expecting it. and he didn't just become champion. he become like, the world's best trainer. how do you go up from there?

i think it's also worth drawing the parallel here that both ash and goh were not exactly well-liked as children. and that's not just prior to the start of ash's journey; ash being this loveable idiot archetype to so many fans doesn't really stem from him actually being an idiot so much as like...he didn't know very much in the beginning, and was overconfident, and other people called him out on it - usually by, well, pointing out that he's being an idiot. he learns and grows and yeah still has his silly moments, but those are the things he struggled with as a child: inferiority, an overblown projection of ego to avoid acknowledging it. it's not difficult to see when you watch the os front-to-back. it's also not difficult to see where any of that stems from.

でもね　忘れた景色も but that forgotten view 今日のどこかにあるよ** is still out there somewhere

**essentially, just "to this day" (what i'm translating as still here). this feels similar to the other thing i asterisked before. not necessarily meaningful, but interesting that gou is the only one singing it. feels intentional, somehow.

ah yes, the classic "good memories leave imprints" you know - "even when i'm gone, i'm still with you - because you know i'm chasing my dream and you're chasing yours." the tension between ash and goh generally boils down to, at any given point, the idea that things you do for other people, or pokemon, have positive, lasting impacts. goh sees ash prove time and tme again that it's true, but he still battles with that previously mentioned fundamental insecurity. it's the very first thing they get into a fight over, with the ivysaur - you're going to make them rely on human intervention. if i rely on you, where does that leave me as an autonomous individual? how can i be my own person when you're gone if i only learned how to operate when you were there? but memories sustain, so the lessons learned from each other ultimately remain. goh spends all of jn learning that firsthand through being ash's friend, and his final test is, yeah, when they part ways - and he's still out there seeking out that "view," right? because the world is so big and beautiful. and he knows that now, all on his own (good job, goh).

１・２・３で飛び出せ！ on 1, 2, 3, jump out! 散々だって泣いていた日々とボールの外まで with all those days spent crying outside a ball

i think this is where we want to remember the line about all our memories being inside a ball. don't ask me what this means because honestly i have no idea and am not sure if there's a more...idk, coherent way to read/translate this particular line.

「どこへ行こうか？」 は "where do you want to go?" is 「どこへだって行ける」でしょ？ "anywhere you go," right? 息つく暇などナイ！（ナイ！）トライ！（トライ！）*** there's no time to breathe (no!) try! (try!) Why don't we go? why don't we go?

***again with the verb single voice thing. this time the verb being "to breathe," of course.

this is reminding me of the one english op. the walk off the earth one i think. i'll go anywhere if i'm with you or whatever (would you believe i actually watched the dub, lmao). but this little exchange is actually the whole reason i sat down and started writing this, because i was so sure my ears were deceiving me, that the "anywhere you go" answer would be gou, not satoshi, cause i mean, come on. i watched the whole anime. ash's thing is just aimlessly leading people around wherever. i mean, hey, maybe they're quoting each other or something, but i don't think so - i think this is really just a shared sentiment. no time to think, or to hesitate - let's go on the next adventure. i'll follow you, i'll be there, even when i'm not.

１言葉を越えzて one - beyond worlds ２境界線の先の two - beyond boundaries まだ見ぬ君まで with those i've yet to meet

new friends, new adventures...that's the goal, right!

倒れるなら　手をつくなら　前だって決めたんだ even if my hands fall to the ground, i've already made my decisions 日が沈むように影伸びて　背丈も変わっているけど as the setting sun makes shadows grow, i (we) will grow as well

レッツゴー let's go 雨上がりでなくちゃ we'll have to wait 'til after the rain レッツゴー let's go 晴れ間に虹はない you can't see rainbows on sunny days あの日から気づいている since that day i've realized

there's a lot of like...hard times get us to the beautiful parts of life going on here. shadows grow, rain brings rainbows - i'll get up again and again and keep trying. which is...kind of the point of the song, honestly. "you've helped me find the strength to keep going and chasing my dream," which is why, duh, goh and ash had to walk separate paths at the climaxes of their respective arcs. it was in the op the entire time. i've been saying this since before it even happened.

but, again, let's just look at goh as someone whose primary defence mechanism was...not trusting anyone, because the pain of being left behind and lost outweighs any benefit. and now we have this imagery that ash's whole journey starts with: a lot of genuine suffering, scary stuff - followed by a rainbow. something that inspired him to keep going...and ho-oh shows up at a few other very key moments in ash's journeys, when he's stuck needing to make a decision about how to continue forward. it's not a mistake that the rainbow imagery follows ash and goh from their first meeting to the moment near the end when they see ho-oh together.

and also - waiting until the rain is over? goh isn't a patient person. i feel like that line is meaningful in that very literal sense too. he learned patience and compasion through having friends. when, before, the one friend he had outside of chloe was someone he ultimately lost because he grew sick of feeling badly about waiting around and began to make assumptions about other people. that's one of his bigger character flaws that the anime actually goes a long way to address.

君は　君は　いつの間にやら hey, you. hey, you. before i knew it 大人になっちゃいないかい？ haven't you finally grown up?

ほこりを被った　ボロ着の　右ぽっけに置いてきた i've left everything in the pocket of those dusty, worn-out clothes 片手に収まる冒険 / ボクらの全てだった our adventures placed in my hand / all of us together あの頃の思い出が / 君を探しているよ these memories of those days / are searching for you (us)

and, yeah - there's the whole thing. you've achieved your dreams, you've grown up, but even if we grow up and grow apart we're always connected by the experiences we shared. and that's great.

１・２・３で飛び込め！ on 1, 2, 3, jump in! いつか描いた未来がボクのポケットにあるから the future i hold on to is in my pocket どこかへ行こうよ　どこへだって連れていってよ let's go somewhere; i'll go anywhere if it's with you ためらうことなどナイ！（ナイ！）トライ！（トライ！）**** there's no hesitating! (no!) try! (try!) Let's have a fight! let's have a fight!

****same verb as before, only now we've switched who's saying it. in the chorus most things stay the same, but there are some interesting line shifts.

the line above that i was very liberal with. but the meaning is essentially correct. again, it's sort of a reversal on the earlier thing, which i think says a lot - these little swaps suggest as they've grown, they're come to understand each other in a way they literally couldn't in the beginning. and that's mutual.

１．バトルをしたなら one - after the battle is done ２．笑うか泣いたって two - whether you're laughing or crying ３で仲間になろうよ we'll be friends on three

あの日だって　この日だって　いつだってそうしていた this day, that day, that's how it's always been 先も見えない　果ても知らない世界がそこにあるけど a world of unseen mysteries lies just ahead

レッツゴー let's go 転んですりむいて even if we trip and fall レッツゴー let's go 何度も歩き出す隣 when it comes to who i want walking by my side each time キミにきめた！ i choose you!

and so we're back to this and that is the end. basically, i think it really just...outlines the trajectory of their arcs, and how they operate with respect to each other. unlike the other classic companion duet op (high touch!), i don't think 1・2・3 is explicitly about the relationship between ash and goh? i mean, kimi ni kimeta is kinda the whole. pokemon thing. but also unlike high touch, no pokemon are ever named in this song, either. so a lot of the "you"s kind of just...aren't attached to anything, and i think the reason why is because they can be attached to a lot of things, which is kind of the point, you know? like...ash and goh have an important relationship with each other, but journeys in itself is so much about the network beyond that, which i don't feel like other series do in quite the same way. this song is fascinating to me though because it takes both their histories, one that is so rich with connection and one so defined by its utterly lack of connection, and draws them in parallel to each other. links them together in a very meaningful way. makes them somehow inextricable.

anyway, i could say more. but i'll stop. great song. 10/10 recommend.

yeah im thinking about the full version of 1・2・3 again yeah its making my brain a little mushy about The Characters