#as in i like that ship but i never for a second believed it'd be real

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

Me, who's suspected from the very beginning that Ted would go home to Kansas and therefore never got invested in any ship involving him because I knew it wouldn't happen: sike

[ooffmlsorry]

One Piece Men Dealing with a Dangerously Reckless S/O

context: by dangerously reckless I mean someone who never has a second thought about throwing themselves in harms way and doesn't care what it does to them

t/w: passive suicidality, self harm? (better safe than sorry) angst. Mentions of blood, injury, and death

LAW

It'd probably lead to a big argument where he threatens to kick you off his crew because losing you would legitimately be the death of him. He can't lose anymore people he loves to violence. When Bepo tells Law you didn't even hesitate to plunge into a thicket of razor wire to help your crew mates escape, it doesn't read as admirable to him. It reminds him too much of himself on Spider Miles. After he gets your side of the story, which pretty much confirms it, he doesn't talk to you at all while he cleans the mud and blood from your skin and stitches the slashes that cover you from head to toe. Normally, even if you've fallen asleep, he talks you through your treatment, but not after your stunts. He's that...scared? Angry? Distraught might be the right word. Every time you do something like this, he's speechless because his thoughts are racing with the reality of losing you. He feels sick to his stomach. On nights like these, he doesn't know whether to sleep far away from you or hold you so close to him you can't breathe.

LUFFY

At first, Luffy doesn't care. He has the utmost faith in his crew, and they put themselves in harms way all the time! Getting injured is just being a pirate sometimes! That's pre-timeskip. Post-timeskip Luffy still has a lot of faith in his crew and a lot of faith in his ability to protect his crew, but he's...different. He believes things are always going to work out no matter what and if they don't he'll make them, but sometimes he wakes up in the middle of night and stares at you, tracing all the scars you've gotten from one fight or another. And then the what-ifs begin to creep in and the nightmares start. After literally diving into a sea king to retrieve Nami's log pose and Chopper has patched you up yet again, you wake up to Luffy calling out for you in his sleep, sweat dampening his hair and his face twisted in fear. You soothe and shush him until his breathing evens out, but he holds you tighter still. It's not in his nature to "bench you" or doubt your strength just because he's in love with you. That would be controlling and doubting you, and he would never do that. But that doesn't mean Zoro and Sanji don't take notice, even if Luffy won't say anything they make it extremely hard for you to pull off any careless "heroics."

ZORO

Much like Luffy, Zoro doesn't think much of it for a while for the same reason. This is the guy that was completely ready to cut his own legs off, after all. But that doesn't mean it doesn't concern him, especially because you don't seem to have a rhyme or reason for all the shit you pull. And he would say something to you about it. Maybe not directly after you jumped straight into Marine gunfire to cover a little girl, he just wants you to be alive at that point. But after days of taking care of you as your wounds slowly heal, after he's certain you're not going anywhere this time, he'd make sure the two of you are somewhere alone and quiet to talk. As far as Zoro's concerned not going down without a fight is completely fine, dying for your dream isn't considered giving it up, but acting like it isn't a possibility is stupid. And he'd tell you as much. For most of this he wouldn't be able to look at you, just because if he does fear is going to take hold of him, but for that last bit he would. Zoro would search your eyes hoping you understand what he's saying. He'll tie you to the ship if he has to, he'd do anything if it saves you from being so stupid as to forfeit your dreams.

SABO

Dying for the cause is par for the course. It's a grim reality that Sabo begrudgingly accepts, although he does have a bit of youthful naivety that it won't ever happen to anyone. He won't ever believe the revolution isn't worth it, but you do make him question it for the first time. He loves you so much he has to compare you to the whole world for a moment, and that's one of the worst thoughts he's ever had. Because the whole world still wins. The guilt would eat him alive until he blows up (somewhat literally) at you for drinking the last of a rare poison to keep it out of the enemy's hands. Angry tears roll down Sabo's cheeks. When he yells at you, he's shaking with anger and fear. It's not up to him, but he doesn't object when you're completely benched while you recover and for a little longer after that. It takes a while for him to no longer angry and scared out of his mind, but once he is he's back to himself. If can visit you every day he will. He has hope for the world's future, and hope for yours too. He's not leaving either behind.

[whymustyouhurtmeinthisway]

I know it's all jokes and I'm taking this too seriously, but all those A.B.A. cheating/Paracelsus cuck memes going around on Guilty Gear twitter piss me off a little. Not because they're getting in the way of my ship or anything like that, but because they fundamentally misunderstand A.B.A. and Paracelsus' dynamic to a ridiculous degree

A.B.A.'s unstoppably obsessed with Paracelsus, her soul's consumed by almost nothing but the overwhelming desire to be connected with him at every single waking moment. She'd never even consider "cheating" on him for a second, and even if she did she wouldn't take it even the slightest bit lightly. If she were to ever feel even a hint of attraction to anyone besides Paracelsus, she'd immediately undergo spine-tearing amounts of remorse, inner conflict, rage, doubt, and a thousand other negative emotions towards herself for even thinking about "cheating" on her beloved "husband" for a millisecond. I'm not gonna yell at you for making lighthearted ship art between her and another character or anything, but to me it'd be pretty out of character for her to just casually love someone else without massive inner torment before, during, and after the fact.

All the Paracelsus cuck jokes don't work at all because Paracelsus would be nothing but overjoyed if A.B.A. were to move on from him and find someone who actually loves her back. To be a cuck you gotta be feel a) distraught that your significant other's cheating on you, and b) turned on by it despite the circumstances, and Paracelsus fits neither of those by a long shot. Though he respects and cares for A.B.A. as a friend, he feels absolutely no romantic or sexual attraction towards her, and wants more than anything for her to not be in love with him. 100% of the "marriage" stuff between him and A.B.A. was done entirely without his consent, he takes every opportunity to remind people that he's not actually A.B.A.'s husband and doesn't love her the way she does, and the only reason he sticks with A.B.A. at all is because he's literally incapable of moving on his own to get away (and also because she'd be devastated were he to leave and he's too nice to put her through that).

In conclusion, Paracelsus would be extremely happy if A.B.A. were to ever "cheat" on him, not because he has any cuckholdish or voyeuristic tendencies, but because the two of them aren't actually in any kind of romantic or sexual relationship at all in the first place (no matter how much A.B.A. believes they are) and he'd love for her to move on from him to someone who actually loves her back (both for her sake and his own)

[razzdazzledoo]

How do you feel about people roleplaying as MX?

Alright everyone, sit down. I've been waiting for this moment.

Welcome to

RAZZDAZZLEDOO'S QUICK GUIDE TO WRITING MX!!

For those who wanna be in-line with the character while still having the freedom of not being canon.

So first things first, let's get the ground basis with MX.

MX does what he does for the reactions it brings, that kinda stuff is his entertainment. So he plans ahead, hoping to find the best snowball effect for the strongest look of terror on people's faces.

Though he doesn't plan THAT much, he gets a ground base and then improvises the rest of it so it's hard to plan ahead against him.

He's also not meant to be intimidating all the time either, his playmates will get bored if it's the same song and dance so he plays into other personalities to throw them off.

When their guard's down? He strikes while the iron's hot. And that makes them terrified even more.

Second, how he interacts with other people.

It ultimately depends on what the other person's like. Are they exactly like him? Do they have the potential to be? Or are they like Lucas where they clearly fear him?

Those kinda aspects will play into the chemistry MX can have with a person. He's best friends with Executable M and Mr. Virtual for a reason, they're just like him in the sense of 'tormenting for their own entertainment' along with whatever goals they have.

If they show fear, he'll play into it. He'll show them reasons to fear him, and then the next moment deceive them into believing there's some good in his heart. Only to then tear down those chances, and watch them crumble.

"What if I wanna ship my MX roleplay with someone?"

You have the freedom to do that, don't let me restrict you from having fun. I'll provide how he would, in-character, respond to romance. But I wanna get some rules down first.

Do not be sexual with him. That kinda shit makes me incredibly uncomfortable, not to mention I don't see him ever showing interest to the thought.

Do not ship him in problematic scenarios. This can include: People in the victim role, like MX took their soul and put them in a vessel; Characters who are directly stated to be minors; And characters that use Luigi's likeness. I outright forbid this and will not hesitate to block you if I see it.

Build up to it. MX obviously isn't going to know what the hell a "relationship" is, he's never entertained the idea and so it's going to take some time for him to learn. He's gonna have to figure out why he feels the way he does around that specific person, whether with their guidance or not.

He knows that humans can feel love, and how they respond to it, since he's been around since the universe's creation; but he personally doesn't know much on the subject.

When he realizes he's actually capable of love, he's not gonna know how to respond to it. He might even outright avoid the person he feels those emotions to since he has not an iota of knowledge with relationships.

If your interpretation of MX has an actual friendship with other muses, and he gets along greatly, he might go to them about it as a show of trust and they can help him figure it out.

Otherwise, he'd try and leave "gifts" for his special someone. Like a cat bringing you a dead bird, for comparison. Most of his gifts are eldritch abominations though, like a smaller version of one of his clouds in his world as an example.

On the other hand, if his special someone went to him first about pursuing a relationship and he does feel love towards them as well; He'd go along with it, essentially being a big giant teddy bear for them if he thinks it'd be funny enough.

If someone tries to pursue a relationship with him and he feels no attraction, he just kinda messes with them about it. Poking fun that they'd fall in love with a monster like him, who'd never love them back.

There's no canon MX ship, I just personally lean more towards Powerforest since it's a comfort ship of mine.

"What are some other tips?"

If your interpretation of MX can frown, make it have impact. That brute smiles all the time, regardless of the situation; So if he frowns, that's gonna have to mean something.

Canonically if MX frowns, he's locked in. He's not gonna waste time playing around, he wants you DEAD.

Don't be afraid to be silly sometimes.

It'd get awful boring real quick if MX was one-dimensional in a roleplay scenario, having something like that can give him way more depth and I encourage it.

You don't need to follow this guide exactly, but please still be respectful of the boundaries I expressed in here.

This is not meant to be a rulebook on how to write MX, you still have the freedom to write him how you feel most comfortable with writing him. This is just how I go about writing the character in my own spaces.

[birrdies]

wpuld u consider “I can keep you safe, they’re all afraid of me.” For shadowrot? or really any Cleo ship. because she’s so scary…

Win Secret Life.

There's a certain peace that should come with knowing you'll lose. Etho's not fool enough to believe it's feasible to win; for him, anyway. But that does nothing to dampen the panic, burning bright through him and setting every nerve-ending alight. It's a familiar panic that slips back into his bloodstream, almost like it'd never left. The fear that comes with dwindling numbers, rolling thunder claps, and each audible heartbeat pounding in Etho's ears.

A wild animal that knows it's about to die won't just take it lying down, even if it knows fighting is futile. It'll still gnash its teeth and swipe its claws at anything that moves in its periphery, anything that gets too close or backs it into a corner. And Etho can't help but shake like one, pacing in the same stretch of grass until it flattens to dirt, churning every possible move in his head. A chessboard only Etho's been dropped in halfway through the game and he doesn't know where half the pieces are.

The task book weighs a million pounds, strapped to his waist, where the words taunt him again and again.

Win Secret Life. Win Secret Life. Win Secret Life. Win Secret Life.

"Hey—"

Their base had been overrun, what little defenses they'd managed to build ripped to pieces. It's not safe there, really, but it's not safe anywhere. Least of all out here in the open, the night sky an oppressive, suffocating weight draped over him, rivaled only by the silent stone statue at his back, hands outstretched, non-existent eyes cold and empty. This place is crawling with red names, it'd only take a second for them to come raining down upon him like hellfire.

"Etho."

Grian's gone, too. Not gone gone, but somewhere Etho can't see him, which is almost just as bad. That panic is an unfamiliar one that sinks its teeth into him, like the cornered animal is trapped somewhere inside of him instead, desperately trying to chew its way out. It's always been just him, by the end. He's had allies, sure— beneficial things to have, like weapons or gunpowder or redstone— but if he'd end up alone that would've been fine.

Would have been.

Where the hell is Grian?

"Etho!"

He stumbles, ripping from his mindless pacing by a pair of wide, heavy hands gripping him by the shoulders. Pale, green fingers twist into the fur lining Etho's collar. He stares at those hands, taking longer than it should have to remember that they belong to someone. He lifts his head, eyes suddenly heavy and tired as he faces Cleo whilst simultaneously avoiding her gaze.

With nowhere to go, his legs stagnant, the anxiety festers. A burst of kinetic energy bubbling underneath his skin like a boiling pot with the lid left over it. He tries not to shake. He doesn't know if it works.

"Cleo," he says, swallowing a gasp his body tries to force out. "We've gotta— We need to find somewhere to set up, fortify. Maybe team up with Bdubs and the others— we're outnumbered. They're stacked, they've got Gem, Joel, Scott—"

"Etho, stop." Cleo jostles him by the shoulders, pulling him in close enough that he couldn't squirrel away even if he tried. Her eyes are red. Nauseatingly red, so deep Etho can't believe he hadn't noticed them before now. "Stop, you need to calm down."

"If we don't act now it will be too late," Etho says, reaching for Cleo's wrists, though he's not confident whether it's to push her off or steady himself. Either way once his fingers have found her pulse point, he can't bring himself to let them go.

Cleo's face, usually stone carved sharper than any sword's edge, softens. Her eyes dim, her mouth tilts up at the corner, and she loosens her grip on his collar. The only thing keeping her hands there at his neck are Etho's. Now he's shaking.

"It's already too late," she says, and its the kind of news that should be delivered with a somber, hung head and the unspoken apology too dense to ignore, let alone breathe through. But Cleo's not sorry. She's smiling at him and he's never seen her more relaxed.

It terrifies him.

"No," he says, shaking his head. "No, it's not. We're still here. We can— We can do something, we just gotta find Grian."

"And do what?" Cleo says, raising an eyebrow at him. Her heartbeat is steady. Calm. Everything a red name at the end of their rope shouldn't be. "Aren't you tired of dying scared and alone and desperate?"

I'm tired of dying, Etho can't bring himself to say. I'm tired of trying and it never being good enough.

Instead, all he can do is nod.

"Then let's go out our way." Cleo grins at him, and it's the first thing to loosen that iron-like grip his ribs have on his heart. "Y'know, causing mayhem, being nasty."

It's tempting. There's few others (if any) Etho'd rather spend his final hours with. Because these are the final ones, if they even have that long, and no amount of panicking or planning or trap-setting will undo the scales that've been tilted against them from the beginning. But the thing about scared animals is that they're stubborn. And no matter how much he wants to give in and let go, he'll never be able to rid himself of that instinct. Not to win, but to survive.

"But the others— They'll be on our tail the whole time." What if they don't have the time to do anything? To live their final moments how they want; just because you don't want to fight doesn't mean everyone else will spare you the same courtesy.

"I'm not scared of some bumbling red names," Cleo says, her words as vicious as they are confident as she finally lets him go, forcing him to drop his hands down by his sides. But she doesn't leave him. She stays right there, within arm's reach, as she tugs free a flint-and-steel from her pocket. "I can keep you safe. For now, anyway. They're all afraid of me."

The laugh that bubbles out of Etho is a quiet, private one that hurts coming up. But he wouldn't have it any other way. "You are pretty scary, Cleo," he says. "What do you wanna do?"

"I think burning Scar's house is a good start," she says, flipping the flint-and-steel in her hand before activating it, watching the small flame dance.

[exo-raskreia]

i know you probably hear this all the time but your blog is so on point on the horrendous ending of bleach and the endgame couples.

tbh i don't even care that ichigo and rukia didn't end up together... okay after all these years i still give a huge damn that these two aren't endgame. but seriously idc that much that they aren't together. but what i'm so pissed is who ichigo ended up with! be so fr! orihime and ichigo... i could and would right an essay on how they are so incompatible. i would've prefered if he ended up with tatsuki or even some rando. he waited until they were married for him to say her first name... like i get that he wants to be respectable and they weren't that close but ichigo barely knew rukia for a week and he was already down bad for rukia. i still believe to this day that ichigo doesn't look at orihime the same way he looks at rukia. actually he SETTLED for orihime since rukia was already locked down with renji ‼️i will die on this heal. and also the ichihime shippers are scraping for their ship moments while we, ichiruki stans, are eating so well with unlimited supply of ichiruki moments lmao

I would've been fine with the ending simply having Ichigo & Rukia standing next to each other happily (maybe a little too close?) as they look over Soul Society. Leaving the possibilities there. Narratively, such an ending would've made sense. I don't think even non-shippers would have batted an eye. No typical "timeskip married with kids" ending. It didn't make sense for it to end that way.

Even if I was a non-shipper, Ichigo ending up with Orihime goes against the narrative & is one of the major issues with the ending, since there was never an inkling of chemistry between them. No special moments. No interest nor special thought from Ichigo towards her. I literally never thought IH would have a chance; it seemed that unlikely 💀. I never doubted an IchiRuki victory (even if they wouldn't outright get together, like I said, at least that it'd be implied that they will in the future). Most of the shipping fandom thought the same or similarly, I believe... Most ppl shipped or could see IR happening... Kub0 had developed it enough to have most of us thinking this way...

IR had the potential to be the best-written M/F canon ship in a battle shounen & yet... 😮‍💨

I don't believe for a second that Kub0 had "always" intended for IH/RR endgames. To this day, he hasn't said anything meaningful about either pairing. He did absolutely nothing to imply them throughout the story. He put no effort into them. At every opportunity, he would always make it about IchiRuki...

Dudebros & IH's fail to see that IH/RR as endgame makes no narrative sense. If I was an IH/RR shipper, I'd be upset with how Kub0 handled them. They have no development, no official content, no merch, no proper validation from Kub0... He still can't even bring himself to give them a family color spread 🫢. Saddest endgame ships in a battle shounen...

About Ichigo finally saying Ori's name in the last chapter, there's a funny post on that here. 🤭

And yeah, Ichigo definitely settled for her, cuz the fact he waited until Rukia was unavailable will always be laughable... He tried dating Ori once then broke up for a while then tried again... wow, he was really "in love" with her from the start, huh? He was just putting off the inevitable cuz he had to seek unhappiness in order to stop Ywach from returning at his happiest moment... 🤷‍♀️

[morethansky]

***TBB SPOILERS***

My primary takeaway from these last six episodes is that Hunter and Crosshair ARE SO MARRIED OH MY GOD. They do everything together, even little chores.

And my Crosshair-is-Hunter's-second agenda continues to thrive; since their reunion, Hunter has hardly made a decision without checking with Crosshair first.

The way I cackled at Crosshair looking up at a ship careening in the sky and being all put upon: "Uh-huh. That's the idiot I married. Unfortunately."

And then the way he hurriedly reached for his binocs when they saw the ship crash, and how the camera lingers on him to show his relief, sob. I see you and thank you for your service, shippers on the crew.

Finally a glimpse of the cadets! Thinking about them tasting ice cream for the first time makes me want to cry. How many clones have never tasted it...

I like that "Identity Crisis" was like a mirror of "Confined," but I think it could have been 15 minutes. To be fair to them, I feel this way about like 75% of the franchise.

So we were all very wrong about what was in the Vault. What was Palpatine even going in there for, honestly. I do quite like this foreshadowing of the Inquisitorius though.

The ominous hint about Emerie's past is interesting. Is the implication that Nala Se took Omega under her wing and abandoned the rest of the Omega clones? Like Jango, I guess.

I love that Tarkin's cameos are all about funding. Something about the Imps squabbling over government spending just delights me. I wonder if the end of that conversation actually means he's not going to be killed by the clones but by Palpatine instead? That'd be kind of disappointing tbh.

Hilarious to me that Fennec got an entire episode and Cad Bane got like two minutes of screentime. Like Asajj, he knows when to stay out of the plot. They did my boy Todo justice though, love that dumb droid.

I, a plushie enthusiast, approve of how this is adamantly a pro-plushie show. But how am I supposed to believe that Omega, who missed Lula so much she effectively cloned her, was just going to leave her there??? I guess that whole scene was just a way to remove her and the goggles from the ship before it exploded.

I'm in the middle of writing like five different Tech/Wrecker whump fics and even I wouldn't have written CX-2 effectively shooting Wrecker. My heart!!!

I was so worried about Gonky. Glad he's okay.

"Point of No Return" needed 15 more minutes, actually. I continually find it so jarring how quickly this show breezes through reactions. It would've been nice to see at least a little more from the Batch at the sight of their ship being blown up.

That ending...was not for me. Crosshair missing that shot after he was given an entire episode to figure out what was wrong and meditate is such a frustrating choice. What even is going to be the arc here? Is it really going to be him abandoning his weapon entirely? That should be an upswing in the plot, but at this point it'd be more believable for him to be like, "Man, fuck this, I'm over it," lmao.

I'm glad Omega at least chose to get captured. Everyone knows I've been pissed about the anti-heroic messaging of this show from the start, and given how afraid I was that they would just abandon the other clones, I'm very relieved Omega's had this arc of worrying about them. But it's so silly to retread this line of plot after the three kickass episodes covering this exact thing. These next episodes are absolutely about to be messy af, and it's a bummer how it'll take away from the impressive clarity of the first three.

Why does this show keep cutting the titular team off at the knees?? Seems like Omega will probably work with Emerie and Nala Se to contact the Batch and Echo/Rex with the coordinates, but that will mean that Hunter's group will once again be lost and searching in the meantime. And they didn't even get to find her the first time!

Truly the quintessential fandom show. Half of it makes me tear my hair out in frustration and the other half makes me shriek in delight.

[salt-cedar]

I'm rewatching 1899 now for the 3d time and my brain is spitting theories that are all 100% valid now since we'll never know, ok?

🜃 This theory, that the show is heavily influenced by Jungian philosophy, is still what I believe is the core of the story. However I'm now leaning towards thinking that Virginia is Eyk's wife. She is much closer to him in age and the role of a mistress also can leave a wound of being not chosen (yes I'm thinking of Hannah from Dark).

🜃 I think that, for the second season and the second level of simulation, the earth symbol means Earth. Something happened to it, and the Prometheus is maybe one of the ships destined for another planet(s?). That' would explain the persistent motif of betrayal and taking a dead man's name and place -- people would do a lot in order to get on a rescue ship. Notably, the stories of Julien, Olek and Lin Yi could be explored deeper here.

🜃 Based on the visual emphasis on the episodes' titles and their weird simplicity, I decided that it'd be cool if for every season the names of every episode were the same. Like, s2e1 - The Ship, s2e2 - The Boy, etc. The events in an episode would not be the same (that would be a very boring show) but would have references to the previous episodes, building up layers of meaning. Idk if the showrunners actually planned that, I just think it could be a very neat idea for such a cerebral show.

🜃 Following this, I think it's pretty obvious that the second season would be in another layer of simulated reality which is the space ship. The first episode of the second season, titled "The Ship" would be about the space vessel Prometheus, the second, titled "The Boy" -- about the ship's computer, probably modeled after Eliott (see another Eliott crack theory below). The last one, "The Key", would be about another key to get out of the simulation -- which is Ciaran (KEY-ran). The third season would take place in a real reality, with the last episode being the key to complete understanding of the story in all three layers (and it has to do with Eyk).

🜃 The Eliott crack theory that was promised is that he is made in the image of Ciaran. Yes, I am the one who said that Eliott is Maura's inner Child in season one, I stand by that. Maura identifies with men a lot, both in relationships and on a deeper personal level. In the 1899 simulation she has studied for a masculine profession, wears pants, has no particular sentimentality towards children, etc. In the 2099 she is the only woman in the chamber with hair cut short, which also makes her stand out. If her family story is true, she was probably raised without a woman's influence, making her identity lean masculine. So her Animus is a guy and her inner Child is a boy, that's fine. But upon rewatching now I am not 100% sure that Ciaran is alive. The question: "What have you done to my brother?" was poignantly repeated twice. Maybe Ciaran is dead and papa Henry made him into Prometheus' board computer (and that makes him capable of knowing what did he do with the people on the ships!). That could also help with not explaining why Eliott's/Ciaran's actor grew up between the seasons, as he is made in the image of Ciaran at different ages.

🜃 With that said, I don't think that we wouldn't have seen more of Daniel in seasons 2 and 3. Aneurin Barnard is too much of a cutie pie and a talented actor to not hire him for later seasons. Maybe we could get cool scenes with Maura visualizing him at the time of need and maybe even conscientiously going back into 1899 simulation to learn or find something. After all...

🜃 ..."What is lost will be found" is about integration and wholeness. Jungian philosophy and art based on it is often about going into the depths of madness/subconscious to the point of seemingly losing all sense only to come back out of it healed and wiser than before. I maintain that probably all the characters experienced some sort of disintegration of psyche due to trauma and had the misfortune to experience that disintegration in the collective subconscious on the 1899 level. Remember how in Dark the triquetra was not only a cool symbol but also a graphic expression of oneness of past, present and future; the loop itself as it is a knot; and the entanglement of three worlds/timelines? Maybe the Earth symbol also stands for multiple things at once, one of them being a broken whole? The slash cuts off one of the corners of the triangle, after all. And I believe that, at the core, this story is about healing that cut and becoming whole again.

🜃 The third, "real-real" season would probably take place in 1999. Though it might contain flashbacks, too. The abundance of references to 70s and 80s is fine because that would be the time of most characters' childhoods and youth. My pet theory is that the simulations are to stimulate character's brain activity because they are all a part of human supercomputer program. It's a rarely explored old-fashioned sci-fi idea, that people can solve problems and work through data in their sleep which produces intense dreams as a side effect. My strongest argument for this? All the references to "Alice in Wonderland", a book that is notoriously all about math under the guise of nonsense adventures.

🜃 Of course, there is going to be something even more sinister about the whole putting people to sleep to see nightmares scenario but as per tradition, the twist is that all the horror was for love. And we would cry about it, and never feel normal again.

?? The one thing I really can't decipher is what's up with all the Alien references. Like, what are they about.

[nemoys]

a very long messy review of link click (season 2)

alright so reading through a bunch of (mostly negative) reviews of the season thus far i've come to my own conclusions over how this season felt, and i really feel like addressing them since i personally feel like it deserves recognition (and rightful criticism) within certain aspects. really interested in everyone's takes so lmk whatever you think about all these aspects i'm about to gloss over.

NOTE ; i'm not going to be talking about the art direction or OSTs . i believe those have been nothing short of phenomenal and i feel like we can all universally agree over that

1) tonal shift : from a more emotionally driven s1, coupled with sprinkles of slice of life moments, we turn to a mostly thriller/mystery plot line. personally, i've always seen this coming. the tonal shift really didn't take me by surprise. with the lg stabbing at the end of season 1 it almost seemed inevitable that the more light hearted aspects of the first season weren't going to happen. more importantly, it was very clear that there was always a higher presence to fight. link click was always meant to be a thriller, this was always the plan, and so i suppose logically i assumed the second season would follow that path. i understand how people might've felt disappointed, or 'robbed', but i don't think the shift was all that shocking quite honestly, it was always set up. link click was never light hearted, even at s1.

the more shocking shift has to be the shift from an emotional, to suspenseful change in writing. the emotional writing in link click has always been the best part of the show and that hasn't changed, the emotionally driven plot lines of s2 (chen bin, ltc/ltx) have been written very well. the suspenseful writing also works. replaces the tear jerkers with an unsettling anxiety, and it's executed relatively well. you can clearly tell that the crew's been experimenting quite a lot with this season, and yes, that's usually what season 2 is for.

2) pacing : now i totally get the criticism in this aspect. in my opinion, the weakest part of s2's been the pacing. with overly drawn out fight scenes, and unnecessarily long recaps, i think the issue has to do with the fact that lc just has a LOT to address, and so it makes us feel less inclined to sit through longer scenes that don't directly advance the plot.

obviously i get that the fight scenes show off a lot of the animation budget #tm and they do look great but the fact that we had way too much time dedicated to a five minute long fighting cutscene in the FIRST episode just made me feel impatient.

3) red herring endings: alright this might be an unorthodox opinion but, aren't red herring cliff hangers a norm in general with these kinds of shows lol. idk i've come to expect the total opposite every time so it doesn't really bother me i guess i'm just used to the medium. not really a lc problem it's a story telling problem in general but that's just marketing i don't know what else to say.

it'd be nice if they followed through but some part of me thinks they're pulling a whole boy who cried wolf situation, eventually they'll pull the trigger when we don't really expect it.

4) shipping/ main trio reconciliations : it's a really serious ongoing situation. i kind of get why the main trio/shiguang don't get a chance to talk things over amongst themselves, it just isn't the time. keep in mind everything that's happening rn is happening continuously, there are no gaps within the days or anything, kind of makes sense that they don't really talk about it. they probably will get to once it's all over, which might be well into s3. again, this was always meant to be a thriller more than it was trio focused. also idk about you guys but i think we actually did get a lot of sweet moments within the trio, cxs and lg, even the sibling dynamic with ql and cxs were really lovely this season.

5) the women: okay i REALLY don't understand the problem here. the women are written well. ql is written FANTASTICALLY and all side characters like ltx and that one red eyed lady i'm forgetting the name of were great too. hell even chen bin's wife was great. i think for a donghua/anime where women are usually given dirt in terms of actually strong writing, lc has always been very solid. their lives do not revolve around the men in the show it just happens to be that men are a part of their lives. they have very distinct personalities and aren't treated like weird objects to gaze at (what a bar lol) but yes i do think the women are written quite dimensionally.

6) unanswered questions : when have linear shows ever answered questions (especially mc based) in season 2?? when has season 2 EVER tied loose ends? when it comes to linear television, season 2's purpose almost always build towards a greater evil/climax. there's a reason why season 2 hasn't answered questions we've had, season 2s in most shows rarely ever do. from what i can tell, with a confirmed s3, i've always expected s2 to simply do its job as a second season and further raise stakes and raise even more questions. i do get the frustration, i get the lack of any backstory, but i want to refrain from making any actual comments over that till every episode's aired ahah, however, im not too mad at it. i just think this show's ride is currently still at an increasing accelerated pace (guys i'm sorry i study physics), things will only be explained once we've once hit the climactic point or go downhill right after. time will tell i guess

Conclusion

overall, i think this season was actually pretty solid. s1 set a very unrealistically high bar, as s1 in my opinion is one of the best seasons in television period. but s2 and s1 shouldn't be compared in the same way, their tone is quite different, and needs to be analysed individually instead. i'll make a complete review once the season is over, but honestly i've come to enjoy the season most when i stop expecting too much out of it. i think people had way too many things they've expected from s2, that were bound to simply never happen.

that said, i do hope the crew takes the valid criticism regarding the pacing (and ig the character focus?) into consideration and implements it well into s3. it's worth noting that i believe nothing was meant to be complete with s2 in the first place.

i've really enjoyed this season, and i'm beyond ecstatic to rewatch it all once it's done airing, in order to properly take it all in. it's had its flaws, more than s1 has had (let's be real s1 had little to none). but that's bound to happen to shows when they head down their linear routes. currently sitting at a 7/10

[toutvatoujoursbien]

As an elder Millennial myself, I think the important lesson to take away from this is that there's no such thing as a feminist prince. A lot of fans projected Colin's qualities onto Luke to an inaccurate degree. He had a job to do on the press tour and all he had to do was try to match Nic's energy. I don't think he's as bad of a person as everyone's making him out to be, but I do think he has some serious blinders on and he's bonded with some people who ultimately aren't good for him. It's sad to see how something that could've been a huge launching pad ended up being a diving board that broke under him. (I also think the fandom is mad hypocritical and if they got even so much as a whiff of him being single, they'd change their tune really quickly and it'd be the Luke Love Train all over again.)

(My first ask! I feel like I've had a Tumblr rite of passage.)

Anon, you brought up a good point that I haven't covered. I do, personally, believe that a lot of the confused feelings and outrage over Luke and his actions stems from fan projection that got out of hand - not just with Luke/Colin, but also with Nicola/Penelope. To me, Luke's portrayal of Colin has been excellent - I think his version of Colin is both charming and easily excitable about gossip and niche subjects (I'll never get over the olive joke). He's also totally made for the female gaze, and even moreso because he just so happens to fall in love with his best friend, the perpetually overlooked and looked down upon wallflower Pen. He sees what's special about her and falls in love with her - which I think allowed the audience to wonder "If someone like Colin can love Pen, then perhaps I could have something similar." (That is a very, very basic, surface-level interpretation that I'm throwing out here.) Also, I think the constant reminders that Luke was the most like his character in Bton, as well as his behaviors during the press tour, meant that when the PR Stunt happened, it caused so many to go, "What the fuck?"

As for Nicola, just using myself as an example - and bear in mind that I am a cishet, female, elder Millenial - I connected with her as an actress first and then Pen second. I didn't "find my successful career path" until I was 31 myself - so I feel like I understand how much it means to her that she's really taking her rightful place in the spotlight now. I have so much to be thankful for where I am in life right now, but I also know I had to work my ass off for it and there was no safety net for me to fall back on. So to know how hard she's worked and how far she's come, I'm going be honest and potentially open myself up to criticism - I was honestly offended for her when everything kind of blew up in the fandom. Did she need me to be offended on her behalf? Of course not, but I needed the time and capacity to process what I was feeling and come to a better headspace. Even though I do ship Lukola, most of my bitter feelings at the time were around: I can't believe anyone would want to take away from all the work N has done over the past 6 months (and 2 years, if we're being honest, in regards to S3) by taking away from the premiere and making it about an alleged gf.

That was a very long-winded way of saying yes, I agree that some parasocial boundaries were blurred - most likely because of the absolutely crazy amount of content we were fed during the press tour - and projections, for lots of various reasons, occurred, so when the aforementioned crash in expectations happened (whether or not it's right or fair), it was a Big Hurt for many fans.

I think a lot of fans don't believe him to be a bad guy, just making some bad choices right now??? And even though intellectually, people understand that it's his life and therefore his choices, it's still be difficult to watch. I think I can also firmly say that many of us feel like a change to his friend group would be a smart move in the path forward - but again, our wants and wishes mean very little in reality.

It's sad to see how something that could've been a huge launching pad ended up being a diving board that broke under him.

When I tell you I physically winced while reading this sentence because oooouffff, but true. But, as others have pointed out, we don't know what he wants to do with his career. Maybe he was more ambitious and the jobs he was going for didn't pan out. Maybe he's still waiting for the right role to come along. Maybe he's perfectly happy doing Bton every 2 years (omg, freaking kill me with that longass timeframe). As previously stated, until he or his team make any sort of statement - all we can do is make chatter and noise.

(I also can totally see your last point. I would hope that for the fans like me, who don't put him on a pedestal but still really like and support him, this wouldn't be the case. But I've also see firsthand on Twitter those in the fandom would give him a free pass if he was single again 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm actually genuinely curious the demographics of those in the Lukola and Polin fandoms. It would be interesting to break down...)

Anyway, thank you for the ask! I hope my further ramblings made sense 😆

[theneighborhoodwatch]

uhhh wally/barnaby for the ship thing?? idk if you ship them im just guessing because youve rbed some art for it lmao

(send me a character/ship to hear my thoughts)

when or if I started shipping it: [friendly shrug that communicates absolutely nothing]

my thoughts: IT'S FUNNY, I... I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD FEEL WAY MORE STRONGLY ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP BEING ROMANTIC THAN I DO? especially considering that "eccentric and traumatized manic pixie nightmare guy obsessed with fulfilling some fictional archetype x his more cynical and worldly friend-slash-colleague who starts out supportive but eventually finds himself way out of his depth" was pretty much the Exact dynamic of the last ship i was invested enough in to call an otp. so far though, any moments they have together don't get much more out of me than "ooh, interesting, i wonder if/how that's gonna come into play later," or "oho, i think my friend who ships barnwally will get a kick out of this," or "aaaghghg fuck.... buddy comedy angst...." i think my thoughts on them right now can be best summarized as ... i am excited for when there is enough About them in canon to finally make me as emotional over them as i am about, like, franklydear or wally and home. but also even if their relationship is never explicitly or even implicitly romantic then i have more than enough reason to believe it will still be just as emotional and rich with Themes. TL;DR: i know they're gonna fuck me up Some day, but that hasn't happened yet.

What makes me happy about them: they genuinely like each other! i feel like with welcome home's whole Thing of its characters' predetermined roles coming into conflict with their reality it'd be really easy to have one of them secretly hate or resent the other from the get-go, but - no, wally trusts barnaby to always have an answer for what he's feeling or experiencing and barnaby is gentler and more upfront with wally than he is with almost any other character (although considering his general personality that may not be saying much HAHA.) it makes it a lot easier to get invested in them and subsequently dread what effect The Horrors will have on their relationship.

What makes me sad about them: so, like. wally probably knows why he and barnaby are friends to begin with, i.e. he probably knows that A Higher Power decided that they should be friends, and so it was done. the possibility that wally can exist beyond what his audience/creator(s) expect of him does not seem to have ever occurred to wally himself. what i'm getting at here, is that. wally may genuinely like being friends with barnaby, yes. but liking something because you chose to seek it out and liking something because you are under the impression that you will somehow cease to exist without it are Two Very Different Things, and the latter is. very dangerous for any kind of relationship. and, fuck, barnaby - if i was barnaby and i found out that that was how my best friend (who i may or may not be in love with) saw our friendship the whole time - if i found out that was the truth and i never noticed it? i would never be able to forgive myself. even if that friend ended up doing things that hurt me or other people or themselves and i was rightly upset with them for that, there would always be that little voice in the back of my head telling me that if i had just looked closer for two seconds i could have fixed it. i could have helped him. i could have shown him i was a real friend.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: i don't seek out WH fic all that often, but i remember when it first became a thing a lot of explicitly romantic barnaby/wally fic made barnaby a little too earnest/mushy for my liking? like yeah, he cares about wally and is gentle with him and everything, but he is also very quick to tease wally and to dress up pretty much everything he says in at least on layer of irony/clowning around. this pooch does NOT have the emotional self-awareness for the things you want him to say!! i also dislike when authors make another character (usually home or. howdy?) like, over-the-top abusive towards wally so barnaby has more incentive to get with him, but i just don't like character assassination/flanderization in general, so.

Things I look for in fanfic: honestly, just, like. more stuff that actually interacts with WH's canon. i feel like a lot of the stuff i see for them is either AU fic or smutty oneshots that don't do a whole lot to incorporate canon elements. which, like, do whatever you want forever, but i'm Starvin' over here.

My kinks: y'know i was gonna be like "teehee, wrong blog! you're not getting that here, silly!" but. i actually have no idea what kinks i would consider Only in the context of wallaby. uhhh. ask for my nsfw blog if you wanna hash that out i guess.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: i'm very curious to see if canon is going to end up making a case for laughingstock. i don't know if it will but i think it would be very funny. as for wally... [looks at his relationship with home] uh. [looks at his relationship with W/the WHRP] umm. [looks at his relationship with the audience] fuck. maybe work on yourself a little bit before thinking about sharing your life with someone again, buddy.

My happily ever after for them: an animated music video set to on melancholy hill by gorillaz. it opens with wally sitting in front of home's burning remains at night, gazing mournfully into its eyes one last time. the only sound we hear is the crackling of the fire. we smash cut to black for a split second before the song begins to play, paired with the visual of wally driving down a long highway at sunset, in what is very clearly a hastily painted over mail truck that used to belong to eddie's post office. after the opening instrumental of the song, the footage alternates between three perspectives: wally traveling to his unknown destination, complete with all the hitchhiking, gas pumping, pit stopping, and otherwise less glamorous parts of road travel; the other neighbors trying to put their lives back together after The Bullshit, in particular following barnaby's melancholic point of view as he visits each one/attends their various get-togethers; and finally, the neighbors Braving The Horrors back in the day to fight for a life that best fits their needs rather than that of their long-dead makers. as the song begins to roll to a close, we see the mail truck pull up to an unfamiliar looking house, with a handful of neighbors hanging out on the porch and barnaby leaving out the front door to grab something. the entire scene takes place at sunset once again, meaning everything in is in silhouette. barnaby stops dead in his tracks when he sees the truck, and the others soon follow his gaze. wally opens the door and steps out, his body language hesitant as he takes one step towards barnaby. barnaby begins to walk towards him. we smash cut to black on the final note of the song. the end.

[toyouhellohowareyou]

Here's your ⭐

Director's cut!

Okay, so I pestered Dark to pick a fic and we're going with

Mandatory Puppy Pile

So let's get to it.

So Depletion was the first fic of @somer-writes I can remember reading. Halfway through reading I started leaving dumbass comments and getting dumbass replies.

Depletion is about the Chain being so damn hurt and exhausted and filthy they're all ready to strangle each other. Twilight, in his sleep deprived state, drags everyone together while they're sleeping despite the fact some of them very much want to not be around anyone else right now, and waking up to find you've been moved is a bit not good.

The Gang Discuss ✨Consent✨

The non-consensual puppy pile joke was born somewhere in the comments there, and eventually I had enough material to do something with it, it was also a couple of weeks after Somer's birthday and Skip (hi Skip!) had gotten us on a server together by this point. The fic summary is almost word for word the first thing I said about it in the chat.

This thing went through a lot of names, the original was Non-Consensual Puppy Pile, but it was also 'enforced', and 'compulsory' in various versions. Title change to avoid misunderstanding lol.

This one's kinda hard to breakdown because it's comedy lol. This is the funniest thing I've got published for sure. It's my second most popular by most metrics after Moon Pearls.

Okay!

The reason I did most things is "because I thought it'd be funny"

Fake out intro? 'cause I thought it'd be funny.

Four's the main narrator as I needed someone who was going to observe without getting involved in things too much and I was comfortable writing him.

Wars is the main secondary because somer ships 'em lol.

I mostly plotted this cackling to myself in my car during my commute.

The boys are jetlaggedddddddd. I couldn't use the word 'jetlag' but that's what it was.

Sky is sleeping because it's in character and cuts down the number of characters. Similar to Time faking it, the man cannot be fucked with this. He is eepy, let him rest.

Wars thinks being boring when it’s perfectly acceptable to be losing your shit is what makes you an adult. He's not entirely wrong though.

Legend tries to escape by playing fetch. There's a 'Legend tries to make fetch happen' tag no one has ever commented on but I like it.

“LEGEND TURNED INTO A RABBIT!” wails Wind.

Legend looks at himself, looks at them, runs some calculation in his head, then joins in the wailing, “TWILIGHT CAN TURN PEOPLE INTO RABBITS!” Legend immediately throwing Twi under a bus to protect his secret. The gang now believe Twilight can turn people into rabbits. This is never questioned.

Twi refusing to stop staring at Wars as he tries to take a leak and everyone giggling about it. I have no excuse.

TWILIGHT POV This was fun and is most people's fav bit. He's a good boy mmmk? He's a good provider. He loves them so much. This was the original premise. He's such a dumbass, I love you wolfbrain Twi.

He leaps on it, sinking his teeth into the back of its neck. His teeth are so bad at this today! He picks up a rock and hits it many times. So noisy! But it works! I love this line okay? The mental image, he tried to chew through the back of it's neck then bludgeoned the poor thing to death when that didn't work. The boar is screaming, the children are screaming, the tone is so casual and simplistic. lol

The puppies scream in delight.

“TWILIGHT, WHAT THE FUCK?!”

They are not eating? Ah. They are too little. He needs to break it up for them. He grabs a leg and wrenches it.

“GODDESS’ MERCY AT LEAST LET ME USE A KNIFE, TWILIGHT!”

More delighted screaming.

This is most people's favourite bit including mine. Twi brain says one thing, dialogue says another lol.

Smallest puppy takes it delicately, “Thanks, Twi. Good boy.” Four just runs with it

Four is secret MVP in a lot of my stuff including this because he has The Braincell and a bit of chill. In love the boys being friends and bouncing off each other and knowing each other. Them plotting revenge against each other constantly is part of this.

Again it's Wars with Twi for the shippin'.

Wind's “This group is a nightmare, I haaaaaaate you!” Is another Depletion joke, but it was about Legend in that.

How to end it? We go full circle, Twi wakes up and is told not to let any of them leave by Sky who missed all the drama and the reason why.

He loves them so much ❤️

[bokettochild]

so in blood of hyrule's history do you have any scenes of legnd and tetra interacting? because i think they'd be the type of pairing that would hate each other to the point of besties. like i think you'd never realize how much they get along from the bickering and sass and i think it'd be funny to see (it might also provide relief since with it being so far in things are probably gonna be angsty at that time)

Unfortunately, Tetra is yet to show up. I wanted to avoid using only her ship for the boys to get around, since it seemed like a cop out to have her there at the drop of that hat when she has pirate business to attend to. She might show up later?

I fully believe that she and Legend would have a lot of fun with each other though. They'd be like those two friends that can't stop insulting each other to save their lives, and while it seems to everyone else like they're a second from brawling, they are just genuinely enjoying each other's company.

Maybe when I eventually get around to finishing Sisters Through Time I can touch on this :)

[ebbywaffle]

so i don't really talk about what i dub as Da Babby Ships(tm) in this fandom because 1)the older i get the less i focus on romantic ships between teens and 2) frankly all of yall(on both sides) scare me

but i wanna talk abt this constant belief that Kairi never wants Sora to change or is clinging to a past Sora. and i can see why ppl believe that when there's lines like this

she's also said her famous/infamous "never change" thing. but hold on! let's look at the context for this line.

in this scene she is not talking to Sora like the aforementioned famous line. she's using letters to Sora as a journal of sorts.

now it'd be great if we could have a conversation that this kid finds it easier to sort out her feelings on paper to a friend she won't send the letter to. (like it's a normal thing to do. i mean it is, a lot of people find it easier to journal this way, but it also isn't lol even Lea was like 'uh, ok kid') but Kairi literally has said this kinda thing to Sora's face. if this is something she truly believes she'd just say so. however the next time she sees the guy she says

that's...not the lines i'd expect from a character that doesn't want the other to change at all from the trials they are about to face. it sounds like to me that even if he does change, she still wants to be there for him. she doesn't say she wants to marry him, have kids with a white picket fence. she doesn't say 'stay babby Sora forever'. she just wants to keep him literally (not just figuratively) safe in battle. (and she technically does the second time around anyways)

there are many ways to interpret these scenes, but what frustrates me is that very few wanna focus more on the individual characters and instead use them as talking points against ~certain~ ships/shippers. let's go old school reading comp here: why is she using letters to sort out her feelings to an imaginary Sora? what does she expect from their relationship/friendship? what could have happened to make her want to write this stuff down in the first place? *coughit was COMcough* why didn't she just tell him not to change again when she had the chance?

sometimes these made-up people have a better grasp of what is fiction vs what is reality than us fans do because ofc she wouldn't say that 'never change' stuff to Sora again. she's matured! she went to school for an entire year without her closest buds :( so she had the chance to learn history!! ofc battle changes people especially when you're up against one of the most manipulative assholes ever!!!

but she still wants to be there for him. the real him, not some letter-version or past version. no matter what. i think that matters more than her supposed clinging to nostalgia

[hello-nichya-here]

Let’s be real. The only reason toxic Zutarians and delusional Zukkas became so rampant is for the same reason.

Zutararians and Zukkas are two generations of the same issue.

Maiko is written so incoherently and Mai gets no development of her own. Zuko and her are a terrible match and treat each other poorly (I know the fandom can’t agree which one is at fault but I don’t think it matters).

Fans searching for a more satisfying conclusion of the fandom fav Zuko stumble into the waiting clutches of Zutarians or Zukkas who bombard them with their terrible takes, OOC writing, and admittedly beautiful fan art. Before you know it, they lose touch with actual canon.

This is all Bryke’s fault for writing Maiko terribly.

And yet people blame Zucest… nonsense!

Anon, I don't mean to be rude, but you're just wrong all around. Not only do I not think Maiko is terrible (might not be my OTP, but I am fond of it), but even if it WAS and fans had to rely on fanon for good romance, that does NOT explain or justify the way Zutarians and Zukkas not only act like their personal preference is objectively better than everyone else's but also actively lie to themselves and others about their ships totally being secretly canon but screwed over at the last second.

They do that for one reason alone: Entitlement. They're entitled, spoiled cry babies who screetch at anyone with a different preference because they take it as a personal attack.

Bryke writting Maiko any differently would not have made these people less insufferable. Hell, their ships hapenning in the exact way they wanted them to would also not do the trick, if anything it'd make them worse.

It doesn't matter what you think about Bryke as writers and people, or how you feel about the canon ships: The bad behavior of Zutara and Zukka fans is the responsibility of Zutara and Zukka fans, nobody else.

I don't like Legend Of Korra or the comics. Never sent a death threat to the people who made them. Never harassed fans of it or had them doxxed. I love Zucest to unhealthy degrees, but you won't see me claiming "There was totally a deleted scene of them kissing in the finale instead of fighting, but evil Bryke ruined it all, and if you don't believe my obvious bullshit I'll scream at you until I'm blue in the face!"

I LOATHE the ending of How I Met Your Mother with all my being, and resent the showrunners for being such dicks to fans and complaining we didn't praise their terrible writting. I would NEVER accuse them of abusing their authority over the actors and being predators just because I disagree with awful messages the finale sent - something zutarians do Kataang and Maiko fans ALL THE TIME.

It's really, really, really, really easy to not do that kind of stuff.

Be critical of Bryke and their writting, have whatever opinion you wanna have on Maiko, but let's not pretend writers/showrunners are to blame for FANS attacking people.

It'd be like going "Oh, this actress and her fans got death threats because audiences didn't like her character, clearly this is the writers fault for mishandling said character" NOPE, the blame of that kind of awful behavior ALWAYS lies solely with the people who choose to act like that.

[noa-de-cajou]

Brynja (mentioned) belongs to @hel-phoenyx and is played by @corneille-but-not-the-author

Everyone else mentioned but not named belongs to @thal-ent , @azeler and @soupedepates

Some post-session Leonova content uwu

________

“Looks like someone’s in a good mood.”

If there is one thing I learned from being Leonova’s brother, it’s that when she comes back on the ship humming a tune and looking inexplicably cheerful, it’s usually a sign that things are about to go down very quickly. And the grin she flashes me doesn't reassure me in the slightest.

“Didn’t you leave with Brynja?”

They left alone, Leo pretexting that she needed Brynja’s eyes to find something she wanted to get, which sounded both like the truth and a lie.

“Well, Brynja finally found her long-lost first love, so I thought I’d let them have their little reunion in peace.”

Huh. Well that's certainly something.

“So… The famous Tyrfing whom she thought was dead is here, in this port, at the same time as us? What were the odds?”

The irony in my voice doesn't escape her, and her smile only widens. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew all along that we would cross paths with the Kraken’s King ship, but she looks so excited about it, it feels a little uncanny.

I can't remember the last time she was so happy.

“I've asked her to bring everyone at the tavern later tonight. Drinks will be on me, of course.”

I sigh. Deeply. From the bottom of my chest.

“And you want me to be there, don't you.”

“Of course I do! You're my second!”

Unfortunately, I am.

“You know I don't do well with strangers.”

“Oh, come on, you won’t even have to speak if you don’t want to! I just want you to see this! It’s a one-in-a-lifetime occasion, even for people like us. Kal, there’s an occultist rukkorn and a man with a Fol-Eye, even a fairy, can you believe it? And well, Tyrfing Harkyrsen, obviously. I’m sure there’s more people on their boat that I didn't get to meet, more very interesting people, you definitely want to be there.”

I smile abstently. Can't say I'm sharing her enthusiasm. Would it be interesting to meet those people? Certainly. Do I want to? Not really. I've seen rukkorns and fairies and mutilated men before. Brynja’s nice and of pleasant company on the ship, but I don't know any of the others.

Especially since I know all too well what Leo has in store for them.

But it doesn’t look like that's what's on her mind right now. She wants to know. To learn. She always does. And it's getting more and more rare for us to learn anything new with age.

I make the beginner mistake of thinking about the person she could have been if things had happened differently, and my chest starts aching a little. She's never looked more than my sister like she does right now.

A stupid part of me hopes that I might get that sister back. It knows I won't.

Yet she looks at me with the shiniest eyes and it’s all I can think about.

“So, will you be there?”

I huff, she grins.

“Pretty please.”

I sigh, I nod, and she knows she won this one. This is one of the few requests I could refuse without consequences, but I don't have the heart to do so.

It'd be so much easier if I didn't love her.