#are you aware that things happen that aren't shown on screen??

[roguelibrarian]

Gonna be a bitch about bad Star Wars takes again.

One of my biggest Star Wars fandom pet peeves is how people will insist that Padmé obviously didn't know she was having twins (and then use that assumption to make big sweeping statements about how Reproductive Healthcare In the GFFA Is Cartoonishly Bad And It's All The Jedi's Fault Because Reasons).

Because there's literally nothing indicating she didn't know and the only person who's even remotely surprised by the droid using the word "babies" plural is Obi-Wan who of course had no reason to know she was having twins.

And idk I think it just makes sense that they didn't have her look at the camera and announce to the audience that she was having twins because the audience already fucking knows because this story is a prequel to that whole other trilogy about said twins and their adventures.

It's just one of those little things about the fandom that drives me completely insane every time I think about it.

[halemerry]

On Crowley, memory, and identity.

So full disclosure first, I am not someone who is particularly interested in having Crowley's angel name on screen - personally I rather like the idea of never having an answer to this question - but I also do think it's interesting and fun to speculate and we got quite a few hints at this throughout this season soooo

Obviously part of this is that we meet him. The angel that would become Crowley is the first person on screen this season. We confirm a lot about him here. He confirm that he is powerful enough to start the engine of the universe. We confirm that he can control gravity and time and space and light. We confirm that he is the being that says let there be light before the beginning. We also confirm that he consulted with the concept designer of the universe and that he's very comfortable with the idea of questioning authority. We are also given Aziraphale's anxiety as a contrast to this and as proof that that is not a universal trait for early angels.

Now, we have always had evidence that Crowley is powerful. He's done some things that seem impossibly big. He stops time very casually and seemingly without effort - even at the end of season 1 it doesn't even seem to give us the same strain on him that holding the Bentley together does. This is a thing that we only ever see Crowley do and notably a thing that you would think other beings would mess with to their advantage if it was possible. Which means they either literally can't or that it never occurred to them that they could. Or as is becoming increasingly clear: perhaps it's a bit of both.

But that's not the only implication of power we get in season 1 either. We get Crowley seemingly in tune with the universe in a way many angels and demons aren't. Which, makes some sense if he helped make it. This manifests in all sorts of ways. He's constantly aware of Aziraphale's presence. He can smell when the world state changes like when Adam names Dog. He holds the Bentley together through utter destruction. He notices that there are different books in the bookshop - something I always assumed was meant to convey he was familiar with the shop's contents but after learning he didn't even know Jane Austen was a writer I wonder if it's actually more to do with him being in tune with reality. He also can apparently quite literally feel when there are eyes on them.

We're given even more of all these things this season in some really interesting ways. Crowley literally tests the air to check if a miracle has happened - another thing that we don't see anyone else do despite Heaven literally assigning someone to Aziraphale to check for a specific miracle. This particular beat is also something we are shown twice this season. Both here and in 1941, when Furfur uses the miracle blocker on Aziraphale. Here Crowley tests his miracles and despite getting nothing of the sort when Aziraphale tries a miracle literally the beat before this, we are given both a visual and an auditory effect. It ripples out with a watery sound effect from Crowley's finger. It's like he's prodding at reality.

There's also several instances involving the recognition or lack thereof of angels and demons. Crowley feels that the demon army is arriving before it does. Neither side seems to be able to track Gabriel - one of the most powerful beings in existence - at all once he leaves Heaven. We also see countless angels fail to notice Crowley himself both as Bildad the Shuhite performing literal miracles right in front of them. And this happens again as he prances about Heaven after Muriel. Aziraphale can't tell Shax is a demon despite Crowley recognizing she's manifested behind him nearly as soon as he answers the phone. Aziraphale can't even recognize that he himself is still an angel at the end of the Job story.

He also. Quite literally. Brings someone back from the dead???? Like waves a hand casually on the street and reconstitutes Mr. Brown like he'd never been dead at all. Mr. Brown returns with no memory of what happened to him holding a newspaper that seems to have literal bite chunks coming out of it. It's not framed as a huge miracle or anything strenuous either - just a casual snap.

And that's not even getting into the parallels with Gabriel. First of all. We get the color purple. It's purple when Aziraphale and angel that would become Crowley start the engine of the quadrants of the universe and it's purple when they miracle to hide Gabriel. This color is associated with power and, historically in the language of this show, with Gabriel himself. Them using it together twice speaks a lot to the power they have together.

But that's not the only symbolism historically tied to Gabriel that has found its way to Crowley this season either. Most flashy of all is the lightning. This is how we see Gabriel arrive on earth at the end of season one and it is something Crowley apparently just Does when he gets too mad to contain himself.

This alone wouldn't catch my attention except. Except the way Crowley reacts to Gabriel's memory problems is... interesting to say the least. He's angry and understandably so. Part of this is him being mad and protective of Aziraphale - he says as much himself to Jim directly. And yet, weirdly, it's the kind of mad that reminded me of something else.

This is the mad he tends to gets at his plants. Do it properly. Think hard. You can do better than that. Grow better. It's the kind of angry that's steeped in projection. It's he kind of angry that is undercut with the occasional weird undercurrent of understanding. And so much of his dialogue with Jim around this is framed like he does actually understand. Jim says it hurts and he says he knows. Jim starts talking about it feeling like being an empty house that still remembers where the furniture is and Crowley immediately latches onto this and understands ah it's looking at where the furniture isn't.

And there's a few other conversations that center around this issue that I find really interesting from a projection perspective. There's the conversation that happens when Crowley goes to have an alcohol fueled chat with Jim. He says "You're Jim now. Got everything just the way you wanted?" This doesn't make a whole lot of sense for him to be addressing Gabriel with. As far as he knows all Gabriel would want was the end of the world.

And then there's the particular way he asks Jim to eliminate himself in this scene. Climb out the window. In other words, have a fall. Something he pretty immediately retracts and clearly feels guilty about no matter how much he hates Gabriel.

And then there's the first conversation he gets to have after learning about Gabriel. Crowley opens this conversation, thinking out loud. He's staring out, not talking to Az yet and the very first thing out of his mouth is, of all things: "He's going to be okay." A weird start for a statement about Gabriel in itself but then Crowley goes and adds what at it's core is his own trauma narrative to the end with, "We can just take him somewhere and leave him there."

Now the real fun bit: Crowley also has memory issues that are out very prominently on display even as far back as season 1.

He has inconsistent memories of his Fall. The answers he gives us to why he Fell change slightly - even when he's alone with himself. He doesn't seem to understand why exactly he Fell even though he clearly has some vague idea of the pieces in play. I always thought to some degree that this was just a trauma response, but season 2 drew even more attention to this and now that we know that memory alteration is how Heaven handles powerful angels I can't help but to wonder if there's more in play here.

Crowley can't remember Furfur - who he apparently literally fought next to during the war in Heaven. Crowley can't remember building a nebula with Saraqael. Crowley doesn't remember why they decided gravity was a good idea.

But he does remember bits and pieces here and there. He remembers doing some of the starmaking. He remembers how to access clearance locked files. He's missing pieces and also seems to have an understanding that Gabriel's memories ARE in there. Almost like he's done this work on himself before.

This narrative itself is also far more concerned with the angel Crowley was this time around. It teases his rank a few different times. Most notably is him having access the files only available to Dominions and above.

Now angel hierarchy is a bit of a messy area depending on what sources you're using but given Good Omens tendencies in the past we can assume that this leaves us five ranks. Dominion, Throne, Cherub, Seraph, and Archangel.

I might break down why I think Dominion, Throne, and Cherub feel kind of odd to me later if there's interest - now available here - in that but given the current length of this meta I just want to focus on that last one for now.

Crowley was an Archangel is far from a new theory and I've honestly historically had some fairly mixed feelings about it. But the parallels between Jim and Crowley lend some interesting connective tissue to a lot of those theories. And. There's also some interesting camera work and script writing tied to Crowley and that term outside of the scenes about Gabriel's memories specifically.

Firstly, during Crowley's chat with Beelzebub he says it's a big universe with plenty of places for an archangel to hide. Like Alpha Centauri perhaps?

Then we get Aziraphale and Crowley both presenting Hell and Heaven respectively the idea that it could have been them that did the archangel class miracle. Aziraphale gets scoffed at and yet. Shax is the one who says the miracle was archangel level and Crowley's response is "how do you know I didn't do it?"

Then later as she's prowling about the shop we get this interesting shot of Crowley in the doorframe and Jim in the background. Crowley grins and offers to let Shax look in and see if she can see any archangels in there while he's framed dead center and Jim himself is blurry in the back of the frame.

And most fascinating in my opinion is this shot that happens when Crowley and Muriel are accessing the classified files. Nearly every shot in this sequence is group shots or shots of Gabriel. The camera is focused in the plot and the way the archangels function as a group and on Gabriel himself. But we get one single shot in this entire sequence of Crowley by himself and it is immediately following Gabriel saying "I am the only first order archangel in the room - or, well, the universe."

And then in the end. We get the Metatron who goes out of his way to avoid using Crowley's name. He calls him demon (and insists correctly that Crowley would recognize him even when Michael doesn't) or refers to him as Aziraphale's friend. He only ever uses that name when trying to use him as a bribe for Aziraphale. That combined with the dark look he gives Crowley implies a familiarity that only the Metatron has with him.

So who is he then? There's plenty of old meta out there about why certain archangels fit or don't and I won't reiterate them here. They're interesting and definitely worth poking around at and very fun to read! Personally I'm not as interested in naming the someone he used to be as I am in examining the places that ghost of this angel has started to poke through the narrative so I'll end this here. It's spiralled into something far longer than I ever meant it to be anyway.

[bloodykora]

cracks in your voice

I don't know what inspired me to make this but, I did. And it's about L. It's a short lil thing.

They/them pronouns and no use of y/n (completely ambiguous)

"The person you hired has been in their bathroom for a long time Ryuzaki, and you don't seem suspicious of it at all."

The pair sit, the chain linking the two together as their chairs only sit a few feet away from each other.

The security footage of the building on one of the side screens, everyone either returning home or to their rooms in the headquarters. Light had been flickering over the footage as L re-read a french file for the third time.

Ryuzaki's eyes don't move from the computer screen at Light's voice, still concerned about the task at hand.

"Yes, they do that. Often." Somehow the flat tone of the detective somehow surprised Light even after all the months he had known L.

"Often? And you aren't even concerned, I thought you said that Kira could very well be one of the people in the taskforce which is why you came after me and Misa. And here is a person on the team doing very suspicious actions and you don't even care!"

Finally the tired eyes peel from the computer to look at the killer beside him. Clearly already over the conversation at play.

"Light. Out of everyone I assumed you would be most grateful that I do not interrogate people about being in the bathroom, just how long does Misa hide in hers in the morning?"

"Yes but her door is usually cracked open or something! I just don't understand the bias you clearly have."

L sighs, too bummed to fight against the fog brain of Kira. He debates in his mind, wondering whether it would be worth it to save you from the embarrassment if Light said something about why you were in there or the rage of Light accusing you as a traitor.

"They are crying Light." His tone is softer, delicate as if you were in the room with the two. His gaze wondering up to the ceiling of the room, staring off into space. One of the few cracks in the facade of World's Greatest Detective.

"What?"

"They cry at least once a week in there, the first time I heard it I had decided to mute their mic and not ask from then on. I had an inkling it would happen tonight as well." He pauses in his speech, thinking of the warning signs you had shown.

The fast blinking eyes that had no gaze or attention behind them at the end of the day, the slight sniffling and thick swallows during lunch. A part of you would have regretted sitting with Ryuzaki during if you knew he was aware of your patterns.

"Now I would appreciate it if you did not bring this up with anyone else. Especially them, if I could I would even ask for you to forget we ever talked about it." His thumb reaches up to his lip, pressing to it as he returns his attention to the words on the screen in front of him.

[fafefae]

holds head in hands. nobody look at me but i binged a whole ton of the episodes from the new fairly odd parents cartoon and i have thoughts and if i dont get them out of me i think i will perhaps explode. i am aware this is children's media also, but just hear me out. (i have not finished watching all the episodes. a gauge for readers to know roughly where im at, i havent met irep yet. haven't watched the finale yet either but ive heard its not the greatest.)

Cosmo and Wanda shouldn't have been Hazel's fairy godparents.

Cosmo and Wanda shouldn't have been Hazel's fairy godparents. Peri should have.

listen, its been a long LONG time since ive watched an episode of fairly odd parents (the original), but like. hear me out for a moment PLEAAASE. the whole reason Timmy Turner got Cosmo and Wanda in the original series was to help him deal with his terrible, evil, awful babysitter Vicky, who is consistently an antagonistic force in the show moreso than, but also alongside Crocker, who brought with him a whole other slew of hijinks and issues for Timmy to figure out how to get out of.

Hazel doesn't have that. Hazel doesn't have a direct antagonistic force in her life.

the closest thing she had was Dev to be her Vicky, and Dane to be her Crocker. but Dev is Hazel's on-and-off friend (mostly on), for a majority of the series. he's not an antagonistic force to Hazel the way Vicky was to Timmy. and while Dane is obsessive the way Crocker is, and is set up to be the true villain of the series (i havent seen the finale, so im sure ill be mad if this isnt actually the case), he's not actually a present force she deals with.

to make it clear: Timmy had consistently absent unloving parents, an evil irredeemable antagonist to deal with, and also dealt with an extremely obsessive antagonist on the side. that's why he needed fairy godparents. his life was miserable, so he needed fun silly times and thus, got the fun silly fairies.

and to get to my point: Hazel's parents aren't absent in her life and love her, she has no evil irredeemable antagonist to deal with, and the extremely obsessive antagonist she deals with hides in the shadows like a mastermind, so she doesn't really even know he's a bad guy to deal with until way later. so why does she have the fun silly fairies? her life isn't miserable! she's consistently shown that she's loved by her parents, and her biggest problems are... growing up, being kid who deals with school and friend drama, and missing her big brother. her life is, objectively, already silly and full of love. she doesn't need caring parent figures. she already has those!

what she needs is a brother figure to help her with missing Antony, and what she needs are life lessons in her life, not more silliness. and for all of the two minutes i've seen him on screen, Peri is exactly what she needs. he tries to be serious, he isn't silly the way his parents are silly, and this is a little stretch, but he's literally established as a brother figure to Timmy in the original series.

you know who does need caring parent figures? Dev. you know who does need silliness in his life? Dev! and that's why he clings so hard to being friends with Hazel once it happens, because she's silly and fun and he needs that. so why doesn't Dev have Cosmo and Wanda, and why doesn't Hazel have Peri???

[leggerefiore]

Okay I know you've said you aren't really into Giovanni but just an idea that's been rolling around in my head sometimes I think the idea that Nanu's partner was with Giovanni before is funny (or vice versa) because I like to imagine one finding out and just being like "ah you've got a type" aka older men with Persians even if it's just an accident on their partner's fault Also as I wrote this I just imagined Nanu and his partner spiderman pointing meme at each other like "...how do you know Giovanni"

cw: nondescript references to sex,

relationship: Nanu/Reader, implied Giovanni/Reader

“… What do you mean that you had a one-night stand with the head of Team Rocket,” Nanu cocked a brow up from his place on the couch. He had been watching television vacantly while petting a Meowth. Some news flash had occurred, which brought your attention to it, too. A familiar logo was shown on the screen alongside an apparent takeover of the Aether Foundation. The old man planned on ignoring it and waiting it out, but you had apparently recalled something.

As much as he wanted to feign surprise, he supposed he should not play dumb. Giovanni was well-travelled and had a bit of streak. His time as an Elite officer in the International Police had garnered him a few connections. Most officers struggled with negotiations with Giovanni, but Nanu was fully aware of how to deal with those types. “You really aren't his normal type,” Nanu continued, leaning back. You seemed surprised by his words.

“How do you know Giovanni?” The question was heavy in the world. He only responded with a deadpan look. It should have been obvious. You were aware of his previous work. Looked had made sure of that when he paid a visit to Po town police station.

“… I'd ask the same of you,” he tilted his head. You blanked for a moment. Nanu did truly debate it for a moment. Were you a powerful trainer? It was a sure-fire method to encounter him. He seriously doubted you were a member of Team Rocket, but he supposed that was not impossible. Did you like to gamble? There was that casino Giovanni had owned as a front in Kanto. “Is it a common thing for you to go after older men with Persians?” he finally asked.

You blanked again. Well… It was not as if there was not an appeal to older men, but you were not sure that having a Persian was a necessary prerequisite. Though, thinking on it, there were some other traits that seemed to link the two, even if it was not so strong. “Uh… maybe,” you replied to his question. Nanu fought back a chuckle. Well, not overly surprising. “Hey, shouldn't you and Looker do something for what's happening at the Aether Foundation, then,” you decided to change the topic.

“No,” he leaned back, “Not my job.”

You wanted to sigh.

Well, why not go yourself, you thought. Maybe it would be nice to run into Giovanni again.

~

“What do you mean that you are dating Nanu?” The Rocket Boss seemed bewildered when you showed up within the depths of the mansion he had taken over. Certainly, he had recalled a previous “relationship” between him and you. Well, he supposed an alternate version for you, but a you nonetheless. Clearly, you were a more than capable trainer to have got through not only his grunts, but the many other organisation leaders that he had brought here. Then, you start a conversation immediately with that.

“I don't know,” you shrugged, “He implied I have a type because I mentioned that we fucked once.” Giovanni hummed. Well… Nanu certainly was not dissimilar to him, but he would not say their overlapping traits were more than their differences. Though, he did find the information that Nanu was around fascinating. Had he helped you? His eyes narrowed.

“Uh, also I'm here to stop you,” you pulled out a pokeball, “Before you ask, I'm not interested.”

“… Interested in having an affair or joining Team Rocket?” he tilted his head. Might as well try. Perhaps you could be convinced to either and get out of his way for just long enough to finish his work. Whatever it took to satiate you… And still possibly convince you to join his group would be preferred.

“Both,” you shrugged, “Nanu is better than you, sorry to say.”

Well, that pissed Giovanni off. Now he really had to put you in your place.

Nanu could only ask later what you did and why.

[hellobitchlet]

Thoughts on Natlan act 3 and 4:

Act 3-

- there is seriously no point to giving Traveler an ancient name. They're very obviously just being given one bc the writers want to show off how amazing they are at everything again. If the whole point of ancient names is that it's solely a Natlan thing, then there's no point in Traveler getting one. Why were they and Paimon scrambling to get one? You're already being praised and given new abilities constantly, you don't fucking need it.

- that aside, Xilonen gave a decent explanation of how ancient names and the night kingdom work. I didn't feel like act 1 or 2 explained anything properly beyond "it sure exists and is important to the super special archon's plans", but Xilonen explaining that deeds have to happen inside of Natlan and be recorded and acknowledged by the Wayob (who will only acknowledge ppl from Natlan) was easy to understand and made perfect sense. My only problem here is that it should've been explained this cleanly back in act 1, before we started using ancient names for drama. Because, you know, maybe I would've cared more about it then?

- the Ororon stuff would've been much more interesting and tense if it wasn't introduced by... being randomly told to you. In the middle of an unrelated plotline. And then spending the whole fucking time assuring you that he's a great person while you follow a trail. And doing nothing else except experience Citlali's inner thoughts. That was literally the entire build up to meeting him.

- despite it being handled in the most boring way possible (and god, do I want to emphasize that they handled it in a boring way), I do like the plotline between Citlali, Ororon, and Capitano. It's a lot more interesting than the basic ass saving Natlan plot, which is about as much of a stereotypical hero plot as they could've made it. I honestly adore Citlali and Ororon now, they're definitely my favorites of the Natlan cast. Like, they had actual on screen conflict with one another for a few minutes! They care sooo much about each other and it was shown through their actions and interactions with each other instead of just monologuing it to Traveler. The bar is below the fucking ground...

- I especially enjoyed seeing Citlali getting drunk and accidentally spilling about her problems. However... it's funny (read: annoying) to think about how long it's taken for this to actually fucking happen when Kaeya and Venti have been here since the beginning, and about how much Kaeya and Venti have been shit on for being alcoholics. It was probably one of the best character building moments I have ever seen from Genshin, but man, a newly introduced Natlan character should not have been the first one to do this.

- "we've only known each other for a few days, right? What would you think of me if I were to start dumping all my complaints on you after we've only just met?" Oh thank god she has some actual self awareness. I wish other characters (playable and npc) would stop infodumping their entire backstories the moment they're introduced. Ultimately, the awkward telepathy moment that they're probably never going to explain served the same purpose. But that wasn't something she was doing on purpose, so I'm willing to forgive her for it and pin it on the writers instead.

-it really sucks that they're being so confusing about Citlali's age. You know it's because of Hoyo's refusal to make playable characters that aren't 1000% conventionally attractive. They're seriously trying to give us a teacher/student relationship in which the teacher is supposed to be significantly older than the student and NOT give her a single wrinkle. She also kept saying stuff that implied she would age to be hundreds of years old, so I want to be interested in that, but it just got caught up in the confusion of "wtf is her age?!"

- I got increasingly annoyed every time Traveler shared the Capitano stuff with others. You fucking idiot!!! He specifically told you not to do that!!! You barely even doubted Mavuika even though you barely know her and she's mostly just been standing around going "trust me on this bc I know what I'm doing" this whole time!!! Are you sure you even care about what he had to say?! Because he specifically said he would tell you if you actually fucking listened to him, which you are going out of your way to NOT do!!! Just a few real life months ago you were acting all buddy-buddy with Arlecchino!!! Can you be consistent about your opinions on the Fatui for one second!!!

- they were really trying super hard to make Capitano wanting to save Natlan mysterious, and make him have ulterior motives (like literally every other harbinger since Scara), but like... First off, this is the last gnosis the Fatui doesn't have, and second, he directly said that Mavuika failing would be bad for the rest of Teyvat as well. He already had perfectly good reasons. You don't need to make yet another harbinger have ulterior motives.

- I almost liked the Chasca and Chuychu moment. But I say almost because... there was no fucking point to it except to tell you that the Fatui found an ancient relic. You were just stuck in dialogue box hell that made a weak attempt at pretending there was gameplay by putting a timer on single dialogue options (not even being given multiple options? really?). That whole thing should've been a sneaking sequence with Traveler. There's literally no reason why it wasn't one. It wouldn't even require good writing to add that. Just have Mavuika say that someone found a large Fatui camp, and have Traveler volunteer to sneak in to check it out. Then, you could've had Traveler finding the relic, and maybe finding Capitano and Ororon and follow them to the domain while they discuss their plan. There you go. That would've saved you a lot of time stuck in dialogue boxes, by removing this sequence and the Ororon memory sequence and replacing it with an extended period of gameplay.

-However, the role reversal and the actually showing how good the sisters are at working together improved their characters a lot for me. Chasca doesn't feel as much like a Shenhe copycat when fighting with Chuychu. But even then, it was very annoying when it turned into "don't worry, we don't actually mean what we say! We're just stubborn!" immediately after their sequence. I could fucking tell, Genshin. I'm not a child.

Act 4-

- ...in theory, initially fighting with Capitano and eventually convincing him to help us is an okay storyline. But none of this felt like fighting him! We literally spent the whole fucking time following him and his troops around and debating what his intentions are! And no, a single fancy cutscene unrelated to Traveler doesn't count! We never got to hear his side of the story until after he failed, and he just had a 10 second spat with Mavuika, revealed that he's from Khaenri'ah, and reluctantly agreed to Mavuika's plan within 5 minutes.

- also, after Fontaine offloaded the majority of Furina's backstory onto an inner monologue in act 5 that just reiterated what we already knew about her, I am not a fan of poor Ororon getting a similar treatment in the end. It's not as bad bc it served a purpose in the story besides "look at how sad he is!", but suddenly becoming one of the special heroes his super special archon wanted and having no objections was a really boring ending to what started off as the first on screen playable ch vs playable ch conflict we've had since like... Childe in Liyue I think? Hoyo is lucky that it has cultivated fandoms that see monologues and sudden info dumps as good writing.

-I'm glad that seelies are finally confirmed to be angels, and that we're getting more proper Celestia lore, but once again, Hoyo is lucky that it has cultivated fandoms that see monologues and sudden info dumps as good writing.

- I have mixed feelings about Capitano's backstory and intentions. On one hand, I like that he's from Khaenri'ah, and I'm very glad that he knows the abyss sibling and Dain. I really like the Khaenri'ah related parts. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of the Natlan parts of his backstory. As I've said before, I'm really fed up with Genshin tailoring harbinger backstories so that they're part of the lore of the nation they show up in, instead of Snezhnaya. And I'm even more fed up with them making every harbinger have different goals that are unrelated to the Fatui. I've talked about this before in this post.

-going back to the point about his goals, his backstory can still perfectly serve as an explanation for why he's helping the Tsaritsa, with or without the Natlan part. You still didn't need to pull any of the special motives stuff. It would've made perfect sense to say that Capitano (+ Tsaritsa as well maybe) was afraid that the destruction of Natlan could interfere with their plan, so Tsaritsa has been sending him and some troops to deal with the situation and try to get the gnosis in the process. But, of course, Mavuika would fight back and be a powerful opponent, so this mini war between them has been going on for a while, which would tie back to Varka's letter from Weinleslfest first mentioning him going to Natlan 2 years ago.

-...oh, wait. That Weinleslfest moment and Mika's backstory was probably just to remind you that he and Varka existed and foreshadow him being in Natlan and didn't actually mean anything. I know this isn't related to Natlan at all, I just felt like saying it. We don't talk about Mika enough, okay?

- with all that being said, after how much I hated Arlecchino, and Dottore being used as a scapegoat to make playable harbingers look better, I had little interest in Capitano initially. But I do actually like him now. Maybe even just as much as I like Citlali and Ororon?

- speaking of the Fatui, I have to mention how weird it is that the pyro gnosis being the last gnosis the Fatui doesn't have isn't treated like a big deal at all. The idea of Capitano even bringing the gnosis to the Tsaritsa is barely even mentioned. We're literally going to Snezhnaya next, and the Fatui screen time is STILL not focused on the Tsaritsa's plans?! There is no worry about what will happen if he succeeds in getting the gnosis? No talk about what the Tsaritsa's plans could be? No talk about what it could mean for Natlan or the rest of Teyvat? No connecting this story to the overarching plot beyond a few lore reveals? Nothing??

- Genshin is seriously bad at stakes. THAT WASN'T A FUCKING WAR, THAT WAS A SINGLE BATTLE! It just... suddenly sprung up, and it took about 10 minutes, but I almost started feeling tense. There were actual corpses all over the place, and I was fighting non stop instead of being stuck in a dialogue box, even if the mobs themselves were fairly boring, and then... Chasca suddenly became one of the special heroes and everything was over. All of that was like... half an act of fighting? Literally any other game would have at least finished the 'war' at... the end of the story? Obviously? We couldn't have at least waited to finish this in act 5?? Seriously?? This whole thing was just a vehicle to quickly make Chasca one of the heroes, finish the 6 heroes plot point, and then show a hint of the false sky??

- gameplay wise, why did the handle the 'war' like that? What was with the slow ass hot air balloon I was forced to use 3 times- but was allowed to teleport to places the rest of the time? Why was I forced into a situation where I couldn't leave, when I was literally just in Natlan and not a domain? Why did we suddenly switch to a different dialogue box just for a few minutes?? Someone PLEASE explain to Hoyo that adding new stuff doesn't automatically make it good. Or, I guess 'novel', as their surveys put it.

- Chuychu was the closest I've ever come to actually being sad for an npc's death. Probably because I actually saw someone react to it, instead of Genshin just expecting you to care because Paimon is telling you to. Because of the Chuychu stuff, I'm actually starting to like Chasca, and I'm glad for it. Liking a character in theory despite canon is much better for rewriting stories than disliking them entirely and not knowing what to do with them (*glances at Fontaine*).

- I'm starting to see that the 6 heroes plot is probably just their current ploy to place the focus on the characters who have come out this update, or are coming out next update. Act 2 has Mualani becoming a Special Hero, because her first banner was up at the time. Then act 3 and 4 had Ororon and Chasca becoming Special Heroes, because Xilonen already is one and they're coming out next update.

- that being said- I feel bad for Kachina and Mualani. Kachina was the obvious 'main character' of act 1, with Mualani and Kinich as supporting characters. But then in act 2, the focus was shifted over to Mualani, because she's a 5 star and her first banner is happening, so they need to convince people to like her. And in the process, Kachina was screwed over in what should've been her plotline, becoming a supporting character whose role is to prove how good at The Power of Friendship Mualani is and introduce us to the 6 heroes stuff. ...and then both are screwed over in the very next update because they're already out and don't have anything else to do.

- I know that she'll presumably get more screen time when she comes out, but it's greatly worrying me (for reasons that should be obvious) that Iansan is barely being given any screen time. I am so worried that they're trying to pull a Xinyan or a Candace with her, because of course they would.

- literally what response are you expecting me to have to Xilonen slowly dying for Traveler to get an ancient name when it's revealed in the randomist and calmest way possible?? It's obviously supposed to be cheap emotional fuel, but both Xilonen and Citlali are being so calm about this random reveal that I didn't end up caring either. I don't care so much that I almost forgot to mention it in this post.

Overall, not impressed at all, but there are a few tiny gems in here that will be good for when I eventually have to get to it in my rewrite lol.

[olderthannetfic]

Thinking about your answer to https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/711971384704811008/im-aware-that-this-is-probably-a-dumb-question (the impact of a sex scene)

As a writer, I've often skipped it when, to me, it didn't feel necessary: the characters have reached the point where yes, they're together / committed / into each other, etc but I've had a few times (not often) readers say they'd have liked to have the sex scene, in fics where for me it would have been totally pastede on: the arc is done, the deed happened / will happen off-screen, etc, so it doesn't bring anything to the story or characters. But I think for some, it's unsatisfying if the dicks aren't out and the tongues battling for dominance; if it's not shown but only implied, then it's not as satisfying to them as readers.

Similarly, as a reader, I've often found myself skipping over the sex scenes when it felt, to me, only here to fulfill expectations, a reward for the readers who enjoy sex scenes independently of whether it's useful in the story, even if commenters are raving about it or the author is praised for their sex scenes. Ficcers aren't writing assignments to please a paying customer, after all, but themselves and hopefully their community, and many do love reading and writing about The Boning. But in that case, when I don't see the point of it, I just skim quickly so I can spot if there's anything interesting plot/characterization-wise. It's rarely the case when it's just added at the end IME, though I guess it's here as some sort of... emotional climax? or something? for some folks? I can't see it, but it's there for people who aren't me, and that's fine.

So I'm not entirely sure that I 100% see what you mean when you say that it's obvious when it's needed or unneeded ;-) it can be obvious to me that it is such when the exact opposite is obvious to another reader/writer, so I guess there's a degree of YMMV about it.

And yeah, I'm ace, and yeah, I do read and write sex scenes; it's not that I'm a prude! I just think there's a degree of sliding scale to it. Is The Sex Scene Necessary / Does It Make Sense Plot-Wise etc? You say that it's obvious when sex scenes (or gore, etc) are distracting or unneeded in a badly written fic, but 'badly written' may not quite mean the same thing to everyone, and perhaps depends on what the reader wants to find there.

(Cue me angsting about adding a sex scene in a fic because Gah! People want their smut! And I read So-and-so say that they only read Explicit and Mature! Must add sex to fics! And then write a porny fic, and see someone say the opposite! Woe! ;-)

--

I meant it's often obvious to the writer, but yes, readers may disagree. I think the sex scenes at climaxes are particularly prone to people disagreeing for exactly the reason you say: they're a sort of genre expectation for some. I do, generally, find a long emotional build unsatisfying if we don't see the characters get together beyond just asking each other out, and a sex scene is one way of showing them together.

It's the sex scenes in the middle that happen well before the emotional climax that I feel are particularly obvious. Maybe it only comes with experience, and I'm sure not everyone will agree because there's nothing in art everyone agrees on, but I think a lot of people will agree on which ones feel extraneous or missing... or at least which ones feel like they're there to be hot vs. which ones seem to be doing something else in addition.

Let me give you an example of a sex scene that should not have been missing:

In the film The Quick and the Dead, Sharon Stone finally had enough clout to get the sex scene removed. Good for her... but sadly, it's one time it really should have stayed in because it happens between two characters who don't trust each other and have only sort of drawn closer the previous day. On the morning after the sex scene they're scheduled to fight a duel to the death. They concoct a secret scheme to get out of it. We don't see them coming up with this because it's supposed to be a surprise, which is fine, but we also don't see any scene that really explains when they had time to come up with it or why they trust each other enough to carry it out. The sex doesn't make it sensible to trust each other, but it does explain why they might suddenly be filled with new feelings and do so anyway. It also explains when they had time to discuss a plan in private without others wondering what they were up to.

The scenes that are most obviously needed are ones that are structural: They contain some major emotional beat that isn't in other scenes. Something about the status quo is radically different between the scenes on either side. A character makes a major decision even if we don't know exactly what it is yet. Those kinds of moments should be on-page/on-screen.

[generalluxun]

Prac teacher here - I'm only 21 and 3/4 done with my degree so I'm not claiming to be the biggest expert around but... Children's media creators have a duty to think carefully about every single implication they put on screen. There's a difference between say, SpongeBob, explicitly a show about idiots and bad people and a show like ML that's supposed to have a "message". They have a duty do to this because children and being against their abuse trumps all your "creative freedom" (before anyone tries, no this isn't about LGBT people. That's harmless. Obviously.) Audrey was willing to call Chloé worthless in front of all of Paris without a second thought and her behavior was never shown as "just a comedic thing" but something that genuinely upsets Chloé so much that at 14, she's very aware that her mother doesn't love her and she questions it. Audrey explicitly says she'll turn her life into hell. People need to look past fandom terms like "cHaRacTeR StAn" and understand that some of us look deep into this because we've experienced it (like many children unfortunately currently are) and/or have actual education in child psychology and development.

Yeah, there's definitely a difference. If everything is farcical and silly, and you stay away from deep topics, then you have a lot more freedom and less responsibility. There are plenty of shows that go shallow, and there's no reason to pick at them. That's their lane.

It's when a show tries to go deep that the care is required. You don't need to address child abuse, but if you do, do it well. You don't need to address addiction, but if you do, do it well. You don't need to address PTSD, but if you do, do it well.

That's where ML falls down.

Marinette's antics were framed as farcical humor for several seasons. Jokes might hit or miss, but it was clear they were all jokes. No, we aren't supposed to take the fireman helping her build a pyramid out of bins so she can look over the wall into Adrien's window seriously. Then halfway through season 5 we ARE supposed to take it seriously, and it's supposed to be PTSD that we've NEVER heard about until now, that magically only showed up now and very quickly vanishes simply because she 'tries' like, that's it. That's.... not how PTSD works.

It's the same with Tikki's 'addiction' from Dearest Family. Appears out of nowhere, happens, almost destroys the world, and then after a pep talk it's gone. That one is *slightly* more reasonable because it all involves a magical being not a human child.

And of course the child abuse. I don't need to get into all that again.

When your words have reach, you have a duty to pick them carefully. If you don't want to, don't pick up the megaphone.

[tonedeafkunst]

assorted helluva boss sentiments

I knew it from the moment asmodeus appeared on screen. I felt it in my soul, I could see the heart eyes. I wonder how it ever felt to be a doubter because I was never one

2. While I do enjoy Fizzarozzie as much as the next guy I do hope the series continues to be about IMP instead of shifting focus every season? or at least concluding some type of arc for Millie and Moxxie? It feels weird that we haven't seen them in the last two episodes.

3. Speaking of weird things that don't fit. Musical numbers. 4 in one episode is way too much if they're going to be full-length musical numbers. Fizz's song should've been cut after the first verse -like the distraction one- and it should have been way less pop. Get fucking weird with the songs please I dare you. ALSO TOM CARDY. MORE TOM CARDY ALWAYS PLEASE THANK YOU

4. speaking of things that stop tempo to a halt and are way too based on the internet's love for the trope rather than the actual quality: Stolitz. not the ship in itself but the conflict it's going to endure in the next episodes. Please. for the love of god. "Oops" was without a doubt one of the best episodes in the series by virtue of the fact the characters TALK AND COMMUNICATE TO ONE ANOTHER. and as Oops shows, this doesn't mean having less conflict or interesting stuff happen! You can have Stolitz without getting this played-out fanfic Will-they-Won't-they bullshit and still make it interesting! I'd usually trust the writers cause Helluva Boss is one of the best-written series I've ever seen, flat out, but Stolas' backstory episode makes me weary. PLEASE have them communicate, Blitzo's problems aren't going to be carried away by it all because he's the protagonist and the story centers around HIM, having Stolitz be an arc of personal growth rather than the end point of said arc will make it MORE engaging

5. silly things interruptions. The Major Sin Design Debacle was obviously bad faith bullshit, and I enjoy every one of the Deadly Sins' designs, but I especially enjoy their theming. Lust isn't tied to any particular negative environment because this show, rightfully, doesn't want to depict lust as a sinful thing in the first place lmfao. Beelzebub as a party queen completely incapable of holding back is good, Sloth being depicted as hospital land is fun and I hope they expand the joke further, Wrath being a fiery and desolate land is appropriate. Greed is fun as a design and I find it very apt that a group of animators would depict the sin of avarice as being into entertainment and the merchandising of said entertainment and the people behind it. I do wonder why he's an insect? maybe there's some catholic lore behind it I don't remember but considering they (rightfully) are only kind of inspired by it as Beelzebub shows I would have preferred to see Mammon as a bit more parasite-like. Also, did I miss something. WHy is he Australian. he should definitely be British. though if you apply that logic I guess everyone should be British in hell

6. and last but not least... why oh why, if your show wants to focus on inter-character relationships (and it clearly does and it's the correct choice in every kind of storytelling) would you ever bring in class warfare and make the anticapitalist the asshole. Striker might want to kill our fave bird bottom but he's right. "ooooh but he works for Stella he's part of the system" hey the fact S2 stripped her of all her nuance doesn't excuse making Striker's cause into a joke as well. I just pray the writers KNOW what they're doing (and if Stolas' Harvest Moon Festival characterization is still canon, then they should be aware of what they're writing) and... I don't know if I'd prefer they ignore the entire theme by closing it off with a joke or at least give a satisfying ending of """compromise"""" to the entire system in hell. Considering how every romantic relationship between an imp and an overlord has been shown to either be incredibly positive or at least healing, and how the only negative relationships we're shown are -by nature of the show- character-focused and don't really touch on the systematic oppression of imps, I don't trust SpindleHorse will ever actually give space to the Imp Socialist Revoluton, which is a damn shame.

I'm going to go ahead and make the mistake of tagging this because I'd really like to find other fans to discuss with but please. for the love of god. If you read this until the end and aren't able to recognise this criticism is born out of LOVE for this show and a desire for it to become even better than it is. do us both a favour and ignore me.

Mediocre bad shows don't elicit this type of reflection and engagement and if they do for you I urge you to stop letting media make you more miserable

[artificialkids-2k23-official]

Is Spike really artificial? He was hatched by magic, but he seems to be a naturally created dragon who just came out of his shell under unusual circumstances.

I was actually hoping someone would ask this, and I went into this prepared to defend my position. Bear in mind that this is based on my interpretation of what happens in canon, rather than being something that is itself canon. However, I feel like my interpretation is the one that makes the most sense; I will also be using this as my precedent for other entries that will themselves be up for interpretation. (This is why I told y'all on the forms to make your cases and allowed a clause for inclusion based on how well you plead it. You won't always be successful, but you might be.')

Anywho, let's get into it.

So, what we know of Spike's origins in canon, and on screen, is that he was hatched from an egg via Twilight's magic during a magic test, as a result of Twilight witnessing Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom and opening up magic that she'd up until that point struggled to do at all. This was what got her entry into Celestia's magic academy and drew Celestia's attention to her, and later got her taken on as Celestia's personal apprentice. We also know that after that, Spike was raised by Twilight's parents and trained in his own type of magic by Celestia.

And that's what we know, because that was what happened on screen. We have also been told several things, but those things do not, in fact, line up with what has actually been shown.

Or rather, what we haven't been shown.

Because. Where are all the other students' dragons? Why is Twilight the only one who actually has a dragon, if hatching a dragon egg is the test for entry into the academy? Surely, if the entry test is hatching a dragon, then there should at least be some other dragons at the Academy, right? And there should have been preparations in place for their care when they were hatched?

And what was Celestia doing with a dragon egg anyway? Where did she get it, and if that's the test, then where did she get any of them? Why was no attempt made to return Spike to the dragons after he was hatched?

And for that matter, why is hatching a sentient creature via magic the test for entry into the magical academy?

Here's my interpretation: it's not. Because the egg isn't real. The test is, in fact, a Kobayashi Maru type test- the egg is fake, because they aren't interested in whether you can actually hatch the egg, they want to see your magical aptitude, they want to see the range of spells you know and how you go about magical problem solving. How do you approach a task that you must complete using magic? What spells do you turn to, what processes do you choose?

But Twilight didn't know this. And so her magic didn't know this. So, when her magic was brought screeching into the forefront, it looked at the task she was doing, hatching this dragon egg, and said, oh, okay, no problem. Oh there's no actual dragon in here? No problem there, either, I'll just make one.

And thus was born Spike the Dragon, and Teen Mom Twilight Sparkle.

And you will never convince me otherwise.

(By the way I'm aware that Lauren Faust had some very specific interpretations, but she made it clear this was her own interpretation, and one of the later writers had different ideas, and so I'm going by what we actually see on screen rather than any word of god interpretations. If they wanted that interpretation to be canon, they should had put it in the script and on the screen. Anything left open to interpretation is that.)

Now, you don't have to agree with me. But this has been my working interpretation of Spike's birth for well over a decade, and this is my poll, and I make the rules, so he gets to ride. As far as I'm concerned, Spike was created by magic, and thus qualifies for inclusion.

[lindsay-robles17]

Blog Post 3: Is Breakthrough Advertising and the level of awareness still relevant in today's digital world?

I feel that Breakthrough Advertising and the level of awareness is still relevant in today's digital world but it is executed a bit differently than it was a couple decades ago. Within recent decades in accordance to the rapid growth of technology, we have had to conform the way we use the 5 levels of awareness to new platforms as they arise and ways on how to get the message across to users. When addressing the first level of awareness which is Unaware, that is when customers don't know they have a problem or need. That is still relevant today because their will always be people who are unaware of things and we target those people to the desired product. That can be applied today through ads online through social media platforms or streaming services that display advertisements. This lets the customer know that there is something out there that they were unaware of and now need that item. The second one being problem aware is when the customer knows they have a problem but they don't know how to fix it or that there are solutions to their problems. Applying that to today would mean finding out what that person's problem is through the things they've recently searched if they allow tracking across websites and then using that information to give solutions or websites that offer solutions in the form of ads so they can become aware that there are resources out there to purchase to fix their problem. For product aware, that is the knowledge about the particular products a company offers, especially compared to those offered by its competitors but they aren't sure if that's really what they want. In order to convince them, it is shown that people are more likely to engage with your content, share your posts, and click on your links on the search engine results page (SERP) if they recognize your brand. Having a product that stands out on our computer screen will seal the deal and have purchases skyrocket. In the digital world "solution aware" would be executed by displaying advertisements tailored to what that persons specific solution is. For example, lets say a man knows his grass is all frayed out on the edges even after mowing his lawn so he knows the solution is to purchase a weed wacker to make the edges look sharp. But he doesn't know what brand of weed wacker to buy or even where to get one for a reasonable price. So as he searches through google, key words such as affordable, and weed wacker, his search engine starts to get an idea as to what he is looking for and sends out personalized emails and advertisements to his computer or mobile device showing him exactly what it is he's looking for. This could happen within the span of hours or days and he will be able to complete his solution. Lastly being "most aware", this is when the customer is aware of the product, knows the product, and is interested, but needs some more convincing with extra information. Within digital media, this would be found in the details of the item. Where they give you that extra nudge to put something in your shopping cart with details on material, color options, size, accessibility, financing plans, reviews, etc. It all comes down to those little details and real life experiences with the product that make or break the shopping experience and with digital media, it is all at your disposal at the tips of your fingers.

[badedramay]

How is mayri doing so well on social media and with the masses? I can't believe a show which was supposed to create awareness on child marriage has the most amount of romantic edits on ig....are people ok?

i mean.. have you seen the kids? They cute. and they do have chemistry (as in they carry their scenes well together and have a comfort between them that translates nicely on screen). what more does a show in Pakistan need to become a success? Take almost all the big hits of the country and none of them will be without a solid pairing at the center of it. Mayri just happens to have a younger pairing by the usual standards.

I haven't watched the show so i don't know if the show's narrative is pointing out the negative impacts of child marriage or glorifying it. i have only read comments that says its the latter. however, my mother who watches the show, hasn't confirmed that to me and she says the drama paints a sorry picture of the young people who have been married against their will and before their time. so really..i don't have enough facts with me to call the show as it is bad or not.

EDITED TO ADD: i confirmed with Mumma and she told me the show repeatedly in every episode calls out the practice of early marriage as a severe act of injustice to both the boy and the girl. both Aini and Fakhir are shown as deeply unhappy and unsatisfied with the turn their lives have taken with their marriage. them compromising on their marital status doesn't mean their relationship is in any way glorified in the narrative.

based on the edits and comments i have seen on ig, it only becomes clearer that our audience wants to watch a good looking pairing with a balanced relationship of light heartedness and conflict that's engaging and realistic. which is what the Mayri couple is giving them. Fakhir and Aini had the friction of hating each other initially to them gradually becoming, if not lovers, then at least partners who lend each other support through their troubles. is theirs an idealistic, inspiring relationship? it's not. but from what i have seen in edits and comments it's not full of the usual toxic bs as well. to the drama's audience it's fun to watch and engage with.

look..i had my cable and starone and channel v etc when i was in my teens which gave me plenty of youth shows with romance and drama that kept me hooked. what does the current generation of teenagers audience have in local content??? they aren't interested in watching the saas bahu saazish. that's for the older generation of audience to indulge in. you think it's the adults making edits on ig? not really. It's the younger audience which has enough free time to churn out edits after edits without real life pulling them in other directions. i remember spending HOURS on forums and with my basic Photoshop skills making gifs daily for shows i was hooked to when i was in that age. were those shows narratively the best? Heck no! Ek se ek badhkar kachra tha but hey i had FUN. i learned things from it that helped in developing my taste. I didn't watch the shows and nikal padi main college mein romance karne. the point i am trying to make is that even one show can have different sets of audience if the show has multiple enough elements to cater to them. Mayri clearly does.

[itsclydebitches]

Related to the topic of underdeveloped deaths in RWBY. I think the only death after Volume 3 that has been dealt with with some kind of weight, we saw it happen completely on screen and affect other characters in the next volume, was Clover death and we know how was handled.

I was about to start this answer with, "Yeah, at least RWBY showed us his death on screen, rather than leaving it ambiguous by cutting away," but then I remembered the confusion in the fandom when Clover was shown across from Winter in the Definitely Not Dead ward, rather than a morgue. And on the one hand I get it. Fans aren't wrong for thinking that getting stabbed straight through the chest with a sword and then going limp as Qrow sky screams is as obvious a death as anyone can manage... for a normal show. But RWBY is the show that brought Penny back, that healed Weiss, that has characters like Ironwood who somehow lost half their body and lived to tell the tale. If he can survive that, presumably with time between injury and medical treatment, why not Clover? He's living in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy show where characters can be frozen solid, pushed off a cliff, and wake up totally fine weeks later. Taken from that perspective, it's not hard to understand why fans followed the thread RWBY was potentially dropping by putting him in a hospital bed, face uncovered.

Then we've got all the reasons why people wanted Clover to live in the first place: the incredibly stupid way he went down, his budding relationship with Qrow, the Ace Ops being underdeveloped as a whole, a lack of interest in Qrow's revenge plot-line, and some pockets (such as mine) wanting to keep someone around who doesn't think Ironwood is a bigger threat than Salem herself. Given that Clover's death was arguably unsatisfying, the instinct is to wish that he's not dead so that, hopefully, things will be more satisfying moving forward. (Excluding, of course, those who just aren't a fan of the character and were happy to see him gone, no matter how he left. I can understand that lol.) The impact of Clover's death amounted to something, sure, but nothing that made much sense. Qrow blames the wrong person before dropping that with a single speech from Robyn, one that shows a highly biased view of Clover even after he's gone. Harriet decides to drop a bomb on a city of innocents because she, apparently, was in love with him, despite never demonstrating that in Volume 7. Everyone else? They don't care.

Honestly, I think Clover's death had the most comparative impact because 1. His death was conveyed in a shocking style that, notably, is reminiscent of Yang losing her arm. Volume 8 tries very hard to recapture the success of Volume 3. 2. His death was an iffy move that for many edged too close to Bury Your Gays for comfort, even if it was never technically that. 3. Fans were aware of everything above and the frustration of it all caused an influx of interest. Just not, you know, happy interest.

But again, it's a comparative low bar. Is a shocking, stylized, on screen death that leads to random outcomes better than Ironwood's ambiguous death after the downfall of his character, or Penny's assisted suicide after having her android identity stripped from her, or Vine blowing himself up after the show did nothing to develop him? Probably, but that's not much consolation when you're hoping for so much more.

[helsingvania]

I've been thinking about the lgbt rep through Castlevania and how it is in the shows vs the games pisses me off severely.

The games have a lot going for years at this point. Reoccurring Carmila who in her source material is a lesbian and her gf appears with her quite often. There's a canon trans woman witch enemey who is also Reoccurring through the games. Alucard is described as an androgynous beauty and breaks many masculine standards even for the time periods he appeares in. Shanoa gets flirted by many women through her story, even though she isn't aware of this even happening. Love interests aren't even that common through the games so it can be throughly assumed that many characters are some form of queer because of this. Obligatory maxiam and juste being assumed lovers because no one gets the true ending on first play through.

While the show only has three confirmed characters. I say three because based on dialogue the show's version of Carmilla would only be with a woman if no other man lived on earth, even at that its on the same plain as zoophilia??????

Plus morgana and striga barely get....well anything! They barely got much screentime or character shown. Hell even their relationship isn't well defined nor showcased, its basic things you see in a relationship and we don't really know how they even met. And Alucard was confirmed to be bi....by watching him being r/ped on screen that's heavily festshised on screen.

[amaya-chwan]

Takeaways from Therapy Game Restart 14 + Illustration Book Release Date

Hello again everyone! ❤️💛💜

It's finally here... chapter 14! In all its glory! 😍🥰✨

Before we get to our takeaways, just some news I missed in the last post!

🎉 SENSEI'S ILLUSTRATION BOOK WILL BE RELEASED AROUND THURSDAY, 23RD SEPTEMBER! 🎉

Image taken from this Twitter post from Dear+!

It is titled "日ノ原巡イラスト集　DARLING" and boasts a collection of illustrations from Sensei's works so far: Secret XXX, Therapy Game, and Kamisama no Uroko.

The current price is ¥2970 with tax (¥2700 without tax). If you'd like to preorder it on your proxy shopping service, I've found it on the Comi Comi Studios website here! The bonus for purchasing it on this website is a B5 clear file~ I haven't seen it on Animate just yet, so fingers crossed it'll appear on their website soon with another (different) bonus! ❤️💛

Alright, with this amazing news done, let's move onto our takeaways, the long awaited takeaways! Thank you for being so patient with me! 💜

My short life update: currently in week 8 of lockdown and I haven't left my house in a long time other than for exercise or groceries. But I do have my vaccination appointment booked so YAY! 🎉

Here are our takeaways for this chapter:

Oh man, we pick right up from the last page of chapter 13. MINATO, BB, YOU LOOK SO PAINED! 😭

Sensei is the BIGGEST tease... that's all we got of that Minato and Shizuma scene...👀😭

The female staff at the veterinary hospital have really mellowed out! They're not bad, after all. ☺️

Oh dear, Nakajou-sensei, please get better ASAP!

Whoa... did Onodera just...?? I'm starting to think back to that Onodera discussion we had a couple of months ago... 🤔

Poor Shizuma, always roped into Onodera's workplace stuff! IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE GREAT PEOPLE SKILLS, SHIZUMA! PROUD OF YOU! 😍🙌

Man, Onodera has a really... blunt way of saying things to her human clients. Wow, brave. 😲

But I will say, Onodera really is good with animals. 🙌

Yet again, I think about that Onodera discussion we had... 🤔🤔

And that’s it for this chapter’s takeaways! For a more detailed breakdown/summary of this chapter, please continue after the cut! There may or may not be a surprise scene (or two) there. Please keep reading if you want to see~  😉✨

Our chapter begins where we left off in chapter 13--Minato pinning Shizuma down on the bed. Shizuma looks up at Minato and reflects on his actions that caused the pained look he is seeing.

Image taken from this Dear+ Twitter post!

On the next page (title page), the dialogue reads: Shizuma wants to understand what it is about his director (Onodera) that is making Minato uneasy. // However, that beautiful liar hides it well...

(I believe we are taken back to the morning before Shizuma and Minato meet up for their date.)

The title page features Onodera walking back to the clinic, bread in hand, with a cat cozying up on her leg. We are then brought to the clinic's lunchroom, with the female staff and Shizuma on break. The roster in the room shows that Onodera is extremely busy, Nakajou-sensei has afternoon house call appointments, Tatsumi is Nakajou-sensei's support for these appointments, and Shizuma has a half day and finishes in the afternoon in lieu of working on his scheduled day off.

Shizuma asks his coworkers what presents they like from their partners and takes note of their answers. One of the female nurses asks if it's Minato's birthday. Shizuma confesses that their relationship has been affected by the various things happening lately, so he wants to get Minato a gift before seeing him later that day.

The nurses quickly pick up that the gift is a "tribute" of sorts as this line of work means a lot of missed appointments and dates, and Shizuma confirms their suspicions. While the nurses realise male-male relationships and male-female relationships aren't that different in this aspect, everyone in the lunchroom is alerted to someone shouting Nakajou-sensei's name.

Shizuma and a nurse see Tatsumi with Nakajou-sensei, who has collapsed on the floor. While the staff are concerned about Nakajou's well-being, she brushes it off as a dizzy spell. Before they can help her up, Onodera sweeps her off her feet and carries Nakajou to her (Onodera's) office. While Nakajou asks Onodera to put her down out of sheer embarrassment, Shizuma and Tatsumi are in shock, with Tatsumi commenting on Onodera's manliness in that moment. One of the other nurses gently smacks Shizuma's shoulder and tells the two to grab a blanket and a drink for Nakajou.

In her office, Onodera asks Nakajou why she's been overworking herself to the point of collapsing. The nurse (who gave the gentle smack) very obviously hints to Onodera that it is her fault. As Nakajou calms the nurse by saying that's just how the director is, Tatsumi asks Nakajou about their afternoon appointments. She says she'll be fine to go after a little rest, but the nurse says she mustn't overexert herself.

After a few back and forths about who should go and the clients' needs/personality (picky about the vet, had a pet that doesn't like men, etc), Onodera says she will go. The nurses are shocked and reminisce about all the issues they've had when Onodera interacts with the owners. Tatsumi and Shizuma stand there, and can very clearly imagine those situations happening.

While Onodera rearranges and informs the nurses of the shift changes to accommodate Nakajou-sensei, Shizuma has a terrible premonition that unfortunately comes true: he is appointed as Onodera's support for the afternoon house calls.

Wearing a sulky expression, Shizuma packs the necessary equipment in Onodera's car and reminds her that he has a very important engagement that night that he cannot miss, and as such will leave immediately after the house call appointments are done. Onodera bursts his bubble, and tells him to give up on those plans while he can since this is the line of work he's chosen.

As Shizuma reads the client files, he questions Onodera on why he is her support when he's never attended to these clients before. While Onodera tells him that good coordination is important with a physician's support and that he's the only one she can rely on to give her an honest opinion and calm the clients, Shizuma realises that he's basically the mediator between her and the owners. She confirms that this is his strong point, has great expectations for him, and proceeds to drive. Shizuma then reads the patient files at lightning speed, realising there's a threatening 'something' that Minato has sensed, but that's just how the director is. He then vows to make it to their meeting tonight, no matter what.

The first three house calls, as expected, involve Onodera insulting and angering the owners--Onodera tells the first client that his insistence on seeing Nakajou rather than a 'young' director is having a negative effect on his pet who needs immediate medical care; Onodera offends the second client, inferring from their conversation that her pet's appearance is more important than the need to shave their fur and get an ultrasound done; Onodera accuses the third client of being irresponsible in caring for his exotic animals and asks for more effort on his part. In all three scenarios, Shizuma awkwardly smiles while trying to ease the tension.

The scene skips to Onodera and Shizuma arriving at their fourth and final house call for the day. Just as Onodera explains to Shizuma that she must check a whole host of things at house calls (and indirectly be too blunt about it with the owners), Shizuma asks her to consider the owner's feelings and change when and how she says things. She glares ahead in silence, and Shizuma is just glad that she is now aware of it. He again reminds her to talk with the owner nicely and gently as he probably won't be able to help with the next client as their pet dislikes men. Onodera tells him to just sit in the corner and witness the client become furious while he doesn't help, making him feel slightly guilty for saying that. He is now adament on not helping her.

They reach the owner's home and we meet an elderly woman named Shiratori and her 9-year-old male cat, Tono. Shiratori apologises to Shizuma as her cat doesn't like men. Tono hisses at them as Onodera opens his cage, but is then coaxed into submission by Onodera who covers his vision with a towel and takes him into her lap to calm down. Shiratori and Shizuma are surprised at his sudden docile nature, with Shizuma witnessing how well she deals with animals.

As Shizuma looks on at Onodera while she completes a check on Tono, he sees she is crumbling at the friendliness and talkative nature of Shiratori, who sings nothing but praise for Onodera and how her family must be proud to have such an amazing daughter. Aiming to ease her troubles and remembering the earlier guilt-trip she gave him, he redirects Shiratori's attention to her broken fly screen and offers to fix that plus everything else that needs repair in her home.

Onodera watches as the two leave the room for a bit before apologising to Tono for ignoring him. Tono looks on at Onodera happily while she asks him how he can live with such a lively human and to tell her his secret to this. She brings him into her arms once more to check his limbs, and as Tono looks up smiling at Onodera, Onodera sees her reflection in Tono's eyes, and both seem to realise something.

BG Text: Stare...

Suddenly, Shizuma and Shiratori, who are busy fixing the window, hear a loud crash and rush into the room to find Tono atop the cabinet and Onodera on the floor, with her hair in disarray. In the next panel, Tono is shown to be hiding in the bookshelf, looking on irritatingly at the humans. Shiratori apologises to Onodera, who shakes it off and says it's nothing to worry about and no harm's been done.

Shiratori asks if Onodera will fix/tie her hair up again, but when Onodera says her hair tie was broken when Tono used her as a launchpad to get on the cabinet, Shiratori runs to get her a new one. As Shiratori gushes over the 3 piece dopey looking character hair tie set she received as a present from her grandchild (and lets Onodera pick one), a greatly displeased look is plastered on Onodera's face. Shizuma, in shock, notices her displeasure and hopes she just thanks Shiratori for it. And Onodera does, bringing a great big smile to Shiratori's face.

As Onodera and Shizuma leave, Shiratori says she's glad to have talked with Onodera and invites her to come over again. As she says this, we see Onodera looking back with a blank look in her eyes.

And that’s it for this chapter! THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR! 💜 While I was surprised at the lack of Minato in this chapter (Sensei legit is such a tease, LOL 🤣), I'm happy we can learn more about Onodera. Ngl, I'm starting to really question if Onodera is male or female now, given what transpired in this chapter. I guess we shall see in the next one!

I also changed the formatting a bit and removed the bullet points. Please let me know which format is better/easier to read! Ahah!

EDIT: Spelling and grammar checks are done! Didn't change a lot, but hope it reads better! 💜

📢 As always, please support Hinohara-sensei by purchasing her books and CDs! 📢

And please also refrain from resharing these translations and images outside of this post! Thank you for understanding! ❤️💛

There won't be a chapter in next month's (September release) Dear+, so I shall see you in two months for the next chapter (Dear+ November Issue, to be released in October).

As always, stay safe during these turbulent times and look out for each other and for your loved ones! 💜❤️💛

[everyhowlmarksthedead]

❛ YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE ❜

✨ REQUEST: hermanikiiiiiii i wanted to request you the prompt number 1 with coco cruz!!thank you, love you muchisisimoooooo💕💕

✨ PROMPTS: “Wait, you love me? Like Garfield loves Lasagna?”

✨ MADE BY: Juls.

Gif credit: to my lovely @supervalcsi.

WORDS: about 2k.

❚❙ A/N: this writing hasn’t been edited, you may find some grammar mistakes, I’m sorry about that. If you find a description about body or a word out of place or something that makes you feel uncomfortable / unrepresented, let me know by a private message and I will change it delighted ❤

❚❙ JOHNNY ‘COCO’ CRUZ MASTERLIST.

❚❙ MASTERLIST.

❚❙ JOIN MY TAG LIST.

When you heard that Coco had been shot, your heart suddenly stopped. It was four days ago in some kind of dog's fight, as Chuckie told you at the scrapyard. Bishop needed someone to take care of him while they were investigating what happened, so you offered yourself without doubting it.

Much to your regret, you are only two good friends, even if you feel more things that you can't explain, about which you haven't talked with anyone. And thanks to your work in the hospital, you managed a room only for him, so he could rest as much as he wanted, as much as he needed. But your back hurts like hell after being sleeping on the sofa, close to the bed, just to make sure that you were able to attend to all his necessities for minimal they were.

These days there, you have learned a lot about him, about his curiosities, about his fears; spending his time awake talking with you to keep his mind entertained, to not think about the pain in his lower abdomen. Your mates took the bullet in a jiffy, but, normally, the sorrow remains for a couple of weeks. Luckily, he only complained when the hour of the next turn of medicines was close.

You have tried to not think about your feelings the time you were in the hospital, but it was impossible. All you wanted to do was to lie by his side on the bed, embrace him between your arms and kiss him, having to conform yourself with holding his hand and resting your cheek on the mattress. Your eyes have never left his eyes, not even when he was sleeping, on alert in case of an unforeseen because of pain, or an infection, or God who knows. You were really paranoid.

“You ready?”

Coco glared at you, slightly tilting his head. You had asked the same question five times in the last two minutes. Offering him a hand to secure himself, the mexican put down from the hospital bed, ready to leave and go home. Angel and Gilly had cleaned his house, even if you insisted to Bishop that you could do it. But he asked you back to stay with him till the next morning, so he wouldn't stay the night alone until they came back from the other side of the border.

Two knocks in the opened door brought you back to reality from your own thoughts, in the meantime that you helped Coco to wear his leather kutte. Directing your tired eyes to the entrance of the room, you found three Vicki's girls, happily waving their hands. Raising an eyebrow confused and your lips pressed, they came in without asking.

“Papi, we've missed you”. The latin and playful tone of voice from Mariela, as she swung her hips to your friend, gave you shivers.

In just one sight, your presence was pushed to the background. These girls hadn't even called to ask about his state of health and, now, they were there as if they did all the work you did —delighted, of course. Trying to keep calm, you put Coco's clothes into his bag, zipping it when everything is ready.

“No te preocupes, we take care of him now”. Carolina sentenced with contempt and superiority, grabbing his stuff ready to abandon the hospital.

“Yeah, mami. Go home and rest”. His words hurt. More than a bullet.

Preferring their company besides yours let you know that he hadn't taken in count what you did. And yes, you did it because you wanted, but you also thought that maybe could mean a step ahead. But it wasn't. Not saying a word, doing anything but a simple nod with your chin, you grabbed your bag to step out from there. Ashamed. Feeling stupid.

Two weeks have passed and Coco has come back to the clubhouse. This time you have been doing extra shifts to compensate for your lost days taking care of him, almost walking like a zombie from home to work, and from work to home. So, when Bishop invites you to a party in his honor, you decline it. You are too tired physically to assist and tired mentally for foolishness. What is the point of going to a party to see Coco having fun with those bitches? You have had enough after two weeks without receiving a single text to thank you or to know how you are. He hasn't even cared about the fact that you haven't shown up in the club for two weeks. That's the little he thinks in your friendship.

Zapping from one channel to another, you try to find something to watch. A movie, a tv show, whatever that helps to distract your mind, while you enjoy thai noodles with beef. Finally finding an action movie, you cover yourself with a cozy blanket, grabbing the cardboard box to start your dinner. The ringtone of your phone interrupts your calm, with Coco's name on the screen. At first, you don't want to answer, but he continues insisting for more than three long minutes. Hanging up and calling again. With a furious growl installed in your throat, you leave over the table your dinner to grab your phone.

“The fuck means you aren' comen'?”

He doesn't even let you say hi or how are you.

“It means that I'm tired and I have to work at five”.

“I don' think one damn beer reverses your sleeping schedule, Yo' Grace”.

“Fuck you, Jonathan. I've been working double shifts to cover the hours I was taking care of you in th—”.

“Nobody asked you to do it”.

Eyes widened and your heart racing. You can't believe he just said that.

“Yeah, nobody did. But your hermanos preferred to be on the other side of the border. Your putas preferred to be partying and sucking dicks in Vicki's. And your mamá sent me pal' carajo when I called to tell her what happened. I did it because I was your friend. Because I cared about you. Because seeing you there with… all those tubes was killing me. That shit continues giving me nightmares every fucking night. But you shit on that. You kicked me as soon as your putas came to the hospital”. You don't know when you have started to cry, more than because of the rage than because of the sadness. “I'm sorry if I'm too tired to drink a fucking beer, but my job is more important than a person who doesn't give a shit about me, who hasn't called or text me in two weeks, who only wants my company when no one else is around. Have fun in your damn party and fuck all those whores to thank them for picking you up from the hospital, but didn't care about how you were after being shot”.

Hanging up, you toss the phone somewhere on the table, wrapping your body with the blanket and lying down on the sofa. Trying to contain the tears, the only thing you earn is to cry bitterness. You can't understand why he only has noticed your absence at the party. What has changed? Probably it was his egocentrism working, wanting to be surrounded by a lot of people, not caring if they're his friends or not. But you're done being his lapdog.

About to fall asleep, the angry hits in the main door make you suddenly wake up agitated.

“Open up!”

The rage is consuming you again after hearing the strong mexican accent, taking three long strides towards it to receive him with your reddened crystal eyes.

“What the fuck 'you want now? Haven't you had enough beating myself up?”

“You're fuckin' dramatic”. He spits in your face, stopping with a foot the slam to his about to close the door again. “I didn't talk to you because you were working, bu' you didn't talk to me either”.

“Yeah, because you were served with your bitches. Go fuck yourself, Jonathan”.

“Don' call me like that again”. Coco grunts taking a step into your house. “You had to work, they came to cover your back”.

“Oh, please, don't make me laugh. They just wanted to have the credits of taking care of you, so you will expend more money with them. That's the only thing they care about you. Wake up from your world of fantasy, Coco. If you weren't part of the MC, you wouldn't be a shit for them; just another fucking soldier with a broken home”. You can't help but push his chest with both hands, driven by anger.

At first, he doesn't say anything. He looks thoughtful, being aware of the truth in your words. And it hurts that you have to be the one to open his eyes. The problem is that you weren't thinking while talking, pulling your gaze away from him and pressing your trembling lips, one against the other.

“I'm sorry”. You babble, cleaning your tears with the back of your left hand. “I didn't mea—”.

“But you said so”. Coco interrupts you with a husky tone of voice, bristling every inch of skin of your anatomy. “That's wha' I am without my kutte. An ex-soldier, a criminal, an outlaw. I spend my money on them because they take care of me, one way or another”.

“I did it too”.

“So, what? What you want? Money? Tell me an amount”.

Squinting at him, you can't help but chuckle with a painful and bitter laugh.

“I did it because I love you, not because I want your money”. You confess, knowing there's no going back. “I don't care about your money, nor your job, nor about your kutte. I love you because you make me happy. After all, for me, there's nothing better than a hug of yours, because you… you are simply amazing. You're intelligent, funny, loyal. And I wish that you could see yourself through my eyes, Coco”.

He, not saying anything, is killing you slowly. Barely breathing, you cross your arms over your chest to hide the fact that your lungs aren't receiving any air.

“I thought that after being shot, you realized you only live once. And that… after being those… boring days with me, you realized that you preferred the company of these other girls. The funny part of being alive. So I just pulled myself away”. Taking a small pause, you bow down your head, cleaning your tears again. “These weeks have been torture. I've written you a lot of texts that I haven't sent… and I've been a lot of times about to call you. But 'you know that… feeling when you think... the other person is not gonna answer you, because maybe is too busy for you? That shit has been destroying me”.

Hoping that Coco finally is going to speak, he remains silent. Looking at you openmouthed, processing all the information you have just give him.

“Can you, ple—please, say something?” You beg almost shaking.

“Wait, you… love me? Like… Garfield loves lasagna?”

Raising your eyes, pouting at him, you know that he's trying to make you laugh after understanding all the pain you have been through. Lonely. Without talking about it with anyone.

“I'm sorry, mami… I just… fuck”.

Cupping your cheeks onto his hands, Coco slams his lips on yours, tasting the salty tears you have shed because of him. The sloppy kisses bring some more air to your lungs, calming your racing pulse and making you feel less unhappy. As your fingers get intertwined in his shirt, crinkling under your grip, he urges you to walk backward so he can close the main door with a kick.

“God knows I'm so fuckin' sorry… Please, forgive me”. Coco's whispers brush your lips, keeping his eyes closed just like yours. “I'm gonna take care of you now, okay?”.

Nodding in silence, you place your arms around his middle back, hiding your face into his chest. His strong scent brings you back to life, while his arms wrap you tightly to comfort all the pain he has provoked you without knowing it.

“I just want you, ma'. No one else. Just you”.