#but alas that only happens to one of them 😔

[arolesbianism]

Welcome to the “they’re just like me fr (derogatory)” club featuring no color because I would rather die than draw Sif with color

[stevebabey]

a piece that alas, will never get finished 😔 the bath fic that was once discussed, half written, and left to rot in my tumblr drafts. i hope u can read the seeds i was planting and see the vision i had even if i never could write it <3

Hot water is, indisputably, a luxury in the Munson household.

Far as Eddie knows, the same goes for the whole damn world.

Hot water is something sacred. Something to be used scarcely, lest you drain the tank and have only cold water to wash your plates and yourself in for the rest of the week.

It's not the worst, but, well, then again Eddie can think of few things worst than needing a shower during the colder winter months when the water splutters out lukewarm and the cold trickles in right when he's in the middle of washing his hair. It sucks. Always sends him to bed with the shivers.

Hell, sometimes he'd even do the mile at school just for a chance to get in the showers first — dashing in for the free hot water that only lasted a good couple minutes.

It was worth it though, Eddie thought.

Both the exercise and the sneers, in exchange for getting to be truly warm for the first time since he'd gotten out of bed that day. Warm showers will do that to you though.

Eddie's heard stories of places, of faraway like Hawaii or somewhere, where it gets so warm that when it rains, the water sometimes rains down already warm. Like a great big shower for the whole place.

He reckons if that ever happened here in the middle of nowhere Indiana, he'd be out dancing in the streets in the warm rain. Soaking it all in. Taking not a single drop for granted.

Steve's house, as Eddie has discovered, has more than one shower — because it's got multiple bathrooms.

In the time he's been hunkered down there, his sides patched up roughly and healing at what feels like a snails pace, Eddie has taken to exploring the empty halls of the Harrington House.

It's... enormous. Gargantuan. Fucking massive.

There's rooms with doors that never open. Rooms that Eddie's never even seen Steve go near. Endless doors and cupboards and an upstairs and downstairs, and far too many garages for one just couple and their son.

Eddie explores them all.

It stems from his boredom, of course, because patient isn’t one of the words used to describe Eddie Munson but restless certainly is.

He wanders aimlessly, under the guise that he needs to keep using the muscles in his legs while he heals up but truthfully, he loves a good snoop.

Soon enough, the driving force of his wandering transforms from boredom to… curiosity.

Steve Harrington has always been an enigma to Eddie.

Upholder of conventional standards and the heterosexual gaze turned, well, loser, in the manner of a couple months- it was jarring to say the least.

Especially to the likes of people like Eddie, for whom he had represented everything wrong with small town Hawkins. Rich meathead jocks who pay their way through school.

Eddie always figured he’d had a fucking mansion of a house but this place… it’s unsettling, seeing so much space, so unlived in.

It’s even more unnerving how Steve just… doesn’t take up space.

Even in his own home. Steve’s bedroom doesn’t sprawl out, it’s not packed with possessions and hobbies like Eddie knows his own is. His wallpaper matches his sheets, picked out by someone who clearly doesn’t know Steve.

Everything is tidy because Steve seems to have this neatness ingrained deep within him. He putters around, on auto pilot sometimes, to keep the space clean for parents who don’t seem to come home.

When Steve's out at work and it's just Eddie, wandering aimlessly to keep the strength in his legs, the loneliness of the place yawns down the halls. Consuming. Suffocating.

He’s found himself eagerly awaiting Steve's arrival home from work, if only to hear someone else's voice other than his own.

Today, Eddie's searching has lead him here— into the master bedroom’s ensuite and they have a goddamn fuckin’ bathtub.

It’s a proper fancy type one with clawed bronze feet and a wide lip, made of sparkling clean marble. The type he might describe for that is a King in a campaign, just to be on the nose about how wealthy and greedy this character was.

He’s so transfixed on it that he doesn’t even hear Steve jimmying his keys into the lock, coming home.

It isn’t until— “Eddie?”

Eddie jumps, startled, as Steve’s hand touches on his shoulder lightly. His goal to not scare the other boy doesn’t go as intended, considering how much Eddie flinches but the moment he turns his head, his face is relaxing.

“Fuck, dude,” He breathes a sigh of relief, lips quirking into a smile. “Didn’t hear you come up.”

Steve shrugs a bit and scratches behind his ear, a bit awkwardly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Eddie nods, but his gaze has already shifted back to the tub before them. Steve follows his gaze easily, an easy chuckle passing his lips.

“I see you found the bath.”

“Yeah…” Eddie says, sounding a bit breathless, his voice distant. Steve glances over, trying to understand the strange emotion toying on Eddie’s features. It’s just a bath. Steve hasn’t even been allowed to use it before, sure, but he likes his own shower just fine.

“It was such a bitch to get it in when they first got it,” Steve explains, folding his arms across his chest as he recalls the memory.

He points his finger behind him to the doorway without moving his arm. “Knocked down a whole wall ‘cos they couldn’t get it to through the doorway. To be honest, I’ve always thought it was kind of ugly.”

He’s waiting for Eddie to say something. For the joke, for the sneering comment on his parent’s fortune, for any lippy spiel that usually gets under Steve’s skin in the best way. The longer Eddie stays quiet, the more it begins to worry Steve.

It’s as though Eddie hasn’t even heard him.

Steve clears his throat and tries again, his tone light and delivered with a chuckle. “Man, you’d think you’ve never seen a bath before.”

Eddie’s head snaps toward Steve. He finally breaks his trance, regrettably just to snap at Steve. “I have, thank you very much.”

Steve feels a bit of embarrassment bloom over his cheeks, wanting to backtrack on his poor joke instantly but before he can open his mouth Eddie is already softening, hackles falling. His eyes are back on the bath.

“Just… haven’t even taken one.” He admits softly.

Steve doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know what’s going through Eddie’s mind — can’t come close to understanding what forlorn nostalgia is tugging at Eddie’s gut.

“Not really, I don’t think.” He continues. He pauses to think, head tilting back just a bit. “When I was really little, maybe. Little enough to fit in the sink or— or something.”

Eddie seems to realise he’s letting whatever thoughts he’s having drift out of his mouth and promptly snaps his jaw shut, teeth clacking as he does. He doesn’t look at Steve, doesn’t want to see the pity or the sympathy or the—

“Anyways,” Eddie huffs a breath, turning to leave his newfound discovery on the exploration of the Harrington House.

When—

“Do you want to?” Steve asks suddenly. His voice is sincere. “Take one?”

Eddie blinks. Wonders if it’s a joke, that it’s being offered out just so it can snatched away and Steve can laugh at how desperate Eddie is to actually be given this. He has to hastily remind himself that Steve wouldn’t do that to him.

There’s no containing the excitement rushing in his voice when Eddie spits out, “Can I?”

Steve chuckles, an easy smile at the other’s eagerness.

It’s easy to overrun the instinct that’s ingrained deep, not to cross the little rules his parents have scattered through the house — easy because he’s doing it more and more with Eddie here.

They’d eaten off his mom’s expensive and untouched china on the first night Eddie had managed to get up and about to eat downstairs, instead of tucked in bed.

He’d been so keen to help, proclaiming that he’d set the table for the both of them— too excited to be up and moving to remember that he and Steve weren’t usually as buddy-buddy as they were acting.

Steve had soaked in it greedily. Warm brown eyes, saccharine smile, he’s found that Eddie sort of glows when he’s happy. And that giving him good food is one of the ways to stir up that happiness.

But even then, Steve had paused seeing the plates in Eddie’s hands, an instant stone in his throat because he isn’t allowed to use those ones.

Sputtering through a sentence, Steve swallowed the stone and skipped over the rule he’d never broken before. It was worth it for the smile on Eddie’s face.

Just like it’s worth it now. Seeing the awed smile on his face, already a little jittery at the thought of a bath… Steve’s embarrassed to find he can’t really say no to him.

He keeps that to himself though, because if Eddie knew that he’d be batting his eyelashes and making every demand known to Earth. But then again, that didn’t sound so bad either.

Christ, Steve thinks to himself. He’s so screwed.

[panlight]

you're post about what would happen if SM didn't follow up after Eclipse with Breaking/Forever Dawn (what a timeline that could've been... 😔) had this line that made me think:

I think you could still include some plot with the Volturi if the group Jane lead in Eclipse picked up any evidence of the wolf shifters and reported it back to Aro.

it made me think about Eclipse where they tried to hide the werewolves' existence from the Volturi...or I guess involvement? (I'll get to that later) and then later in Breaking Dawn where Aro is fascinated by the pack

thing is.....wouldn't the Volturi (or at least Aro) already know? Aro's whole thing is seeing every thought (maybe even memory) that went on in your mind from I guess the first thought you ever had to the present, and just from Edward alone he could've already known about the "werewolves" they had a run in with when they made a treaty in the past.

and even if that was a long time ago, from having touched Alice (who did in fact learn and met the recent resurfacing of the Quileute wolves) it surely would've raced some suspicions? or maybe even have an idea that "huh, are these people they had a treaty with part of the Children of the Moon too?"

now it makes me wonder the full extent of just how much of your thoughts Aro can read, or if Edward's "he hears every thought your mind has ever had" just being dramatic (like he isn't already with his chosen method of offing himself. lol.)

Yeah I've often wondered about this, too. Aro makes it pretty clear in New Moon that he knows all about Alice from being "introduced" to her by Edward via the mind-reading, but is it like an instant download that he immediately just knows or is it more like a book he has to flip through, and maybe he hasn't gotten to the wolf stuff yet because it wasn't as immediately interesting to him as Alice's powers?

I think again it's probably a function of the books being written out of order, because he for sure could pull the "well I'd love to let you go home to my dear friend Carlisle, but alas, you have been fraternizing with werewolves and brother Caius has a problem with that :( " and try to coerce them to stay in Volterra to serve him to spare the other Cullens or whatever. Like he could have so easily just villain'd it up but he couldn't because they HAD to go home and finish high school and get married and have Renesmee.

I guess in my theoretical sequel-to-Eclipse he did find out about them when he touched Edward and Alice in New Moon but he just put it on the back burner and didn't mention it to Marcus or Caius and could have pulled it out later in this not-BD. That is, instead of the Irina thing, Aro could have pretended to be shocked by what Jane was telling him after reporting back after Eclipse (OMG werewolves?! no way! surprisedpikachu.gif) and used the "alliance" with the shifters to go after the Cullens. "To fraternize with the enemy is one thing, but to work with them to kill other vampires is quite another!!" etc.

And I still don't think we talk enough about the danger Edward put the whole family in by choosing Volterra as his would-be suicide method. Edward, my buddy, you gave all the family secrets to Aro. More than he would have gotten from anyone else because you, too, are a mind-reader. I mean at the very least Rosalie and Jasper should be pissed about that. If his plan to die had succeeded, he would have left them not only with the grief over his passing but the fallout from Aro knowing all about Alice (and everyone else, too).

[katyspersonal]

In today's SoTE progress: ARRRGHHH I am SO goddamn angry!!!! Gfhghmjm But also I am thinking about Messmer and Marika a LOT now.

1) So, I was getting mentally prepared for going to battle Messmer, and decided to visit just one last piece of fort associated with his location!

^ This shield was dropped by a Black Knight Garrew that acted like a boss but was no harder than a regular enemy. He was using a Crucible aspect that gave him chameleon's shooting tongue to attack with and I hoped he'd drop it instead hfhghgj I'm gonna assume it was somewhere in the game and I just missed it for a dumb reason :pensive:

^ A valid reference in case if anyone will want to draw/write certain grim scenes in detail or something like that

2) There was also a fairly well-hidden secret that I felt proud of discovering, but it was just a stronger version of the talisman that makes arrows stronger! And not only I don't use bows, but also it didn't even give lore! Goddamn it Fromsoft reward me with INFORMATION for my explorer's interest!!

3) Okayyyy sooo :/ I was soooo ready to get my ass kicked by Messmer that I kinda dreaded it, but needed to get this over with! Alas, DLC should end sooner or later...

And at first, I did get my ass kicked, sure. But..... ...not only he switched to the second phase halfway through his health bar and not after it was fully reduced like I expected.. but also I adopted OBNOXIOUSLY fast. :/ :/ :/ It didn't take me EVEN 15 MINUTES to fully adapt to him and just get closer and closer with every try. And!! I did kill him? Like are you JOKING. Are you KIDDING me. That was IT? It took me several days and tormenting @fantomette22 for useless tries to finally defeat Rellana, I had to try many strategies and be extremely smart and inventive with her!! I thought if she was so strong, Messmer would have been even WORSE, and yet I am just sitting here like:

Dude yeah no SHIT you needed Rellana to protect you :/ Guess I was not impressed by 18 inches of Messmer the Impaler 😔😔😔

4) Okay but I DID like his voice acting a lot hfhgv I was just sitting there like "stop sounding sexy you dunce, I already decided that I'm going to dislike you!" XD /j

5) His final words were "Mother... Marika... A curse... upon thee..." and.. hell if I know whether he cursed us or her. I am assuming he cursed her since switching to calling your parent by name instead is a kind of strong sentiment. Like defying them their status over you sort of. Besides all the statues of her in Shadow Realm but one being headless. So... yes, interesting.

6) It was not patched out btw! :>

7) Okay actually when I was about to beat Messmer's ass for good I've accidentally found the summon sign for Hornsent NPC! I was not seeing it during the fight, just happened to run into it, and if Igon taught me anything is that such summons are a good idea because they progress the questline. Maybe. So, he gave a dialogue after Messmer was defeated:

"We meet again I see, comrade-in-arms. Upon his end, did you see Messmer's face? Twas sublime - a very tangle of snakes! To think he dared to call us savages. When he himself was most base of all.

To say the least, I am to you indebted. Yet unquenched remains my thirst for revenge. The death of Messmer was merely the start. Now comes the piper to collect from Marika, her offspring, and all the Erdtree's denizens... In vengeance for the flames, my blade I wield... If Miquella's redemption soothes the ache... that throbs within, demanding blessed vengeance... Then I wish not to be by him redeemed."

Sigh... I just can tell that the guy will have to turn on us sooner or later. Honestly, rejection of anything that could help/heal/etc the pain that demands revenge is such a... real reaction? He is a very real character. He straight up doesn't want to stop even after achieving his objective and himself, ironically, fell for the path of punishing every associate including innocent people whose only sin is being "born in this culture". He became like Marika in this regards!

Honestly, this is a very good writing moment! Second favourite after Miyazaki's jab at horrors of believing in "sacred mission" in Crusader's Insignia! (I like the character even more now for very real negative character development, but I just can TELL we'll have to kill him gfhhgg)

8) .... ah, right, I forgot this post about Messmer

Again: hatred like what? Hatred coming from Abyss Serpent? His hatred for Marika? Hatred for all divested of her grace? Hatred for himself? Is this many things? Fromsoft spare me I am too autistic to read hfggjhgjgb

9) This is actually sweet:

So, the snakes were friends all along, and I suppose the counterparts/antagonists to the "evil" serpent within him!

10) *points at this like in the meme* Hey I remember that this bit was mistranslated! XD

It actually says that he did that for his mother's sake, and not by her wish! It makes even more sense with the following sentence, as if HE really wished for no single mfer to look weird at her. No, as if he INSISTED to accept all blame and hatred. Considering he curses her in his dying breath, after all (or at least calls her name which is a bad sign from a child), there must have been such a long build-up of unhealthy relationship between them to it...

He not only wished to keep her away from all fear and hatred that follows, and fulfill her vengeful desires, but also basically said to use him like a punching bag. But if she feared the curse within him in the end, then SHE is to blame that he gave up on any and all hope to be pure, good and loved. Like.. whose fault do you guys think it IS that his self-image centered entirely on being fear and dread, as well as someone to hate? I have an impression that he did want to take the blame and excile for her sake, but also resented that she actually accepted his request to use him. Like.. maybe he didn't even realize that what he, subconsciously, wanted was for her to refuse. I might be speaking from too much personal experience, but sending such mixed signals (requesting something with expectation that the person will refuse) is a sign of bad parenting at least, abuse at most. And knowing Marika's horrid parenting skills... yeeeeah.

Again, really good writing. They are saying so much with so little, as always. Glad that Mister Miyazaki keeps the mark with his stories only being readable if you have at least one PTSD ggbhjghbb

11) I have a bad guess that they did not elaborate on what exactly Abyss Serpent is, otherwise @val-of-the-north would've already spoilered me because we love worldbuilding xd

But seeing how Marika Had a Moment about Giants' Fire all because it's capable of burning the Erdtree, the reason is probably similar. She I with Fire like Gwyn is with darkness: it can end her era, maybe end herself, so it is terrifying.

At the same time, she was trying to love her children, at least at first. She created this eye for Messmer and created a lot of Divine Blessings to ease his burdens in the past. Then there were Omen Twins that she yet named with her initials and at least Godfrey and Godwyn were seeing them, although horned creatures would be her worst nightmare. I feel like the pipeline from this to "children become kings or lords or else you'll only be worthy of sacrifices" + "unwanted bastard in Mausoleum" was a long one. She tried to love even the children that were either a walking hazard or walking PTSD, but failing to overcome fear before Messmer set her down the spiral. God, I can see all of her snapping if Messmer asked too many questions, accidentally acting hostile if he tried to be physically affectionate unable to conceal her fear fast enough... She would not be the type to try again with anyone after casting him aside in the end, but, she would take the passive position of "kids, prove me that you deserve my love because ME putting in effort won't avail anything, apparently". The guilt but one that made a quitter rather than a better person.

12) Also *points like in the meme again*

Yeah, every forge type of the dungeon in Shadow Realm has throwing weapons!!! He adapted!

__________

So yeah this post gotten EMOTIONAL ALL OF A SUDDEN when I expected it to be short. Damn, the girls didn't lie, he IS an interesting character!

[calico-heart]

Me rn trying to figure out ways to force X'rhun and Arya and I'lyrha to be involved in the Bozja plotline

There's a pair of Red Mage resistance fighters there, a Legion conscript named Lovro and his apprentice Meryall, who defected from the Empire to fight for the liberation of Bozja. How did they learn Red Magic? Lambard. Lambard agreed to teach Red Magic to Legion soldiers as part of his betrayal.

Lovro hated Lambard's guts. When Lovro went on to train new Red Mages for the Empire, he deliberately tried to recruit revolutionaries who he could encourage to use the magic against the Empire. Absolutely hilarious to me. But the narrative potential of finding out Red Mages live on and fight for freedom elsewhere... because of Lambard, is something I really want to see X'rhun react to.

There is ALSO a Vochstein beastmaster enemy - and a neat chunk of lore on what happened to that noble Ala Mhigan house after they let their griffins loose to prevent the Garlean's having them. Cairm insisted their griffins could not fall into the hands of oppressors. To spare his father's life, one of Cairm's sons agreed to enlist and teach the Garleans their secrets to training griffins. His adopted daughter now serves the Legion loyally, with Vochstein griffins and - there's just something very cool to explore there.

Trimaran, Lyrha's griffin, is only half Vochstein - but he has the notorious temperament of that breed and inherited the vibrant blue coloration. She's not a beastmaster. That combination of flaws shows in their tempestuous relationship. Pagaga would recognize Trimaran's lineage, and the intense rivalry that might spawn there - two inheritors of a vaunted bloodline, each accusing the other of being unworthy to claim it. Idk! Sounds fun! Plus like. Griffin fight. Griffin fight.

But X'rhun is pretty allergic to leaving Eorzea and getting involved in large military movements so somehow I'm going to have to make the plot kidnap him 😔

[brisquad-unit-4402]

unit 4402, not to be needy in your inbox, but i haven't stopped thinking about the pliskin fic ever since i read it. it's so good. the emotional intimacy. the little snippets of their friendship before they actually meet. the stupid clumsy confession scene(s?). it's SO well-crafted, you should be a licensed writer.

alas i need pliskin!reader and ike to meet again and be horny because i think it'd be funny and endearing. they have all this emotional closeness but when it comes to actually being together irl they're suddenly shy and overwhelmed at the prospect so they act like teenagers again. i don't even need to think about the actual nsfw parts, i just love imagining them navigate this new romantic territory and being in love and making mistakes and laughing about it and being so sweet i get cavities 😔 i love them, they should be together forever i think

- anon 🦝 if i'm allowed a sign off qvq

[non-explicit nsfw under the cut]

oh 🦝 you're always allowed to sign off, i don't mind! thank you for the lovely complim—

HORNY???

🦝. you are so brave for speaking the truth.

─── ･ ���ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it’s like this ok. they’re both such sweet people and genuinely want the best for each other, all this time has let them understand how they see one another and how to communicate, especially since they’re miles away from one another. every now and then the stars align and they get roped along into an off-collab with some of their other friends, and find excuses to sneak out by themselves just to spend time with each other and catch up on all the little touches they missed.

hands bumping together here, an arm around the waist there. resting on one another and taking in the scent as you wrap your arms along him. you spend a wintry week in london with half of the luxiem boys and a few other livers that want to visit, but you don’t miss how ike’s fingers brush against your neck as he places his scarf around you. the touch is brief but you have to grit your teeth as he ties the scarf, and the remains of his touch burns like coal under the fabric, unsatiated. you can’t keep your eyes off him but your hands want to explore, make him feel good.

eventually you both make time to meet up for a few days, just the two of you, discreet enough that only a few of your close friends know that you’re housing a guest at your place and your fanbases are unaware. it’s not like it was the whole point of the visit, to be clear! horny thoughts be damned, you really did want to see him again. being able to show him around your town and do the cheesy couple things—holding hands, cute dates, sharing clothes, the whole nine yards—it feels like a dream.

on that first night you agree he'll share the bed with you, and when he makes sure you're comfortable with it, he pulls his shirt up over his head and falls asleep half-naked under the covers. you wake up the next morning with a view of nothing but his chest, which pairs nicely (read: awkwardly) with the dirty dream you woke up in the middle of before you could get full closure.

you bring it up to him that very day. it starts off simple:

"do you ever want to have sex? yeah, i'm ready for it. yeah, i understand. that's what you want? i can do that.”

and it's just so easy deciding it then and there. and then he asks questions, and you're glad to receive them, and that makes you ask him about his preferences, too, and the conversation gets more intimate from there and halfway through it hits you that it's really happening and that, god, you're ready but you're not prepared at all for how bashful you're getting and he's getting bashful too and it's good information that should be out in the open and you're glad it is especially because it's important to know what is and isn't okay and he needs to know too but—phew. the conversation ends when everything's been said but your flustered face is in your hands and ike's been wiping a cleaning cloth at his glasses for the last ten minutes so he doesn't have to make eye contact.

but, well, you're both on the same page now! and the feeling is mutual.

and he's on top of you now. his glasses rest on the nightstand, and without them, his eyes are so, so clear, and bright, even as the red around his cheeks threatens to burn brighter.

"this is okay?" ike asks. one of his hands holds you down by your wrist but you can feel him tremble. he lets go to wipe his hands on the sheets. "sorry, my hands are sweaty. it's just that i've been looking forward to this for so long."

he giggles a little at his own awkwardness, and it spreads to you, too. he sounds so soft and cute. you sound like a weirdo. "oh, me too, you have no idea."

his eyes flit down. "can i take off your...?"

"yeah, you can s-strip me. if you want..."

bad choice of words. or good? you can't tell, just that it's making your heart lurch as he undoes the button. an inch of your underwear peeks out.

"oh, so you're wearing this color? it's really you," he says. it's so matter-of-fact and unsexy that you can't help but laugh. “wait, no, i mean, it’s good! i like it! they suit you—oh, forget it, i give up.”

you stay giggly while he undresses you down to the skin. you meet his lips and kiss him, soft and smiley as he shakes off the embarrassment. "never change. love you."

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

ah i got carried away but what if one or both of them are virgins...

they get to explore everything for the first time and with it comes all the anticipation and surprise and pleasure of feeling it all for the first time... you know. how wet it is and where things go. how the actual action is done so soon but how long you can savor the foreplay.

and all the silliness that comes with it! it's trying something new together. every touch runs electric and it's so hard not to beam at how it feels. bonus points if they're ticklish and laugh while fucking, turning the little shivers and thrusts even more intense, all smiles and loose laughter while you enter for the first time

✧. ┊ masterpost ✧. ┊ kofi

[11queensupreme11]

It's more like 7 wins. Not 14 rounds.

We have 5 god wins. So. If susanoo wins only 1 god will win then just humans

The last god fighters would only come in like 1 year at best or 2 years.

You have time

i know we're currently at 5:4 (gods:humans)

one side needs seven wins, and there's currently (not counting a fourteenth round), six rounds left

that's why people are trying to theorize the pattern of wins vs losses so that everyone can fight because it'd be a waste for the mangaka to not utilize ALL fighters and not have the full 13 + 14th round.

(it also just wouldn't make sense in a story-writing perspective. why introduce the prospect of 13 rounds and all those fighters if they're not gonna be used???)

that's also why a lot of ppl are theorizing that this current tenth round is gonna be okita's win, because if susano'o wins, like you said, they'll only need one more win, so every other round is gonna be easy to predict:

it's a popular theory that the manga ends with the humans winning, so based on that, if susano'o wins, then the humans are gonna win the remaining rounds to get to 7 wins. very predictable and boring, and not all characters are gonna be utilized which would be a waste

that's why a lot of people are 10000% certain that we're gonna have all 13 rounds, with one of them ending in a tie and thus creating a fourteenth round so ALL characters can be utilized.

my theory is that

10th round: okita win (5:5)

11th round: god win (6:5)

12th round: TIE (so it's still 6:5)

13th round (the tie-breaker round): human win (6:6) this extra round will be where the winner from the spinoff comes in to fight for the gods but gets their ass whooped (again) lmao

14th round: i fully believe odin's gonna be the last, and that he'll lose so (6:7 -> human victory! 🥳🥳🥳🥳)

i initially assumed that the tenth round would end in a tie because of the predictability of the round, so i thought the mangaka would go "SIKE! it's gonna be a tie, bet you weren't expecting that!!!" but alas... there isn't enough time for the spinoff manga to conclude before the tie-breaker round after the tenth 😔 so my new guess is that it's gonna happen on the 13th round instead

[americankimchi]

you know what that poll i just reblogged got me thinking. in a kinder world where the republic won the war, order 66 never happened, and ahsoka never left or returned to the jedi order, i think the first time ahsoka genuinely beats obi wan in a fight she's the only one surprised by it. like once she's grown into her knighthood and really settled into who she is, i think she'd be unstoppable.

like she could've 100% beat him before that first time for years but there was always the mental block of "well i can't beat master obi wan in a fight. that would be ridiculous" but once they got into the swing of the spar and all thoughts and doubts were washed away in favor of focusing on the next flurry of strikes and parries and deflections, she'd come out the other end with one of her sabers to his throat and the other holding his at bay, blinking in shock at her victory.

they'd turn off their sabers at the same time and bow respectfully to each other, smiling. obi wan would pat her arm and tell her good job, and that he always knew she'd best him one day, and anakin (who was spectating on the sides shouting the occasional "GET HIS ASS, SNIPS, KICK HIM IN HIS OLD MAN KNEES" during) would run up to them and sling an arm over ahsoka's shoulders just absolutely beaming with pride talking about how it's all due to HIS wise teachings and ahsoka would say WHAT wise teachings and then ANAKIN would challenge her to a duel for his besmirched honor!!!! sighs....... alas for what could have been 😔

[kavalyera]

Bbg I did not mean to make an insane fucking lineup for you but alas here we are😔

anyways here’s some character inspiration that helped me build dr kelley<333 and also for the masses to get to know her better :3

Amy Dunne - I watched Gone Girl and read the book and I adored how much of a psychopath Amy was. Her strive to perfection and her constant adaptation to becoming more and more “perfect” in her own eyes to the point it puts her husband and other people at stake was probably the craziest thing I’ve seen and I love her for it. Dr. Kelley is like that in the sense she will become ruthless in order to reach these impossible standards of perfection she holds both to herself and other people.

Dr. Clef - She was my SCP OC before she was my VTM OC and Dr. Clef’s character played a major role. They don’t have anything much in common personality wise, but she makes herself an enigma to protect her reputation and make sure no one knows what else she might do or say.

Anton Chigurh - Both characters are devoid of remorse—though Dr. Kelley still does have a bit of cognitive empathy as she recognizes that she needs to understand people to uphold her reputation. Dr. Kelley never threatens people much like Anton Chigurh, her acts of violence being silent and clean.

GLaDOS - Dr. Kelley is often passive aggressive towards people she looks down upon, which is most people. She’s hates people that don’t have the drive to be smarter or more knowledgeable. Probably the biggest influence on Dr. Kelley’s character because basically the entire foundation of Dr. Kelley’s character is her motivation for a surprisingly sincere passion of medicine and human anatomy which is based of off GLaDOS’ own passion for science :3

Mother Miranda - Both are exceptionally intelligent but both of them have a fatal flaw: their arrogance. Their explosive anger comes after playing calm for far too long, which then causes dangerous shit to happen

Lorraine Broughton - Kind of a new one since I just watched Atomic Blonde and they’re both ENTJs so that’s what they have going on for them!!!! ^_^ They’re both stoic in the terms they don’t let anyone see who they really are. For Dr. Kelley, vulnerability repulses her to the point she finds any form of emotional weakness of her disgusting and that “only humans should feel this way” and other kindred are like okay damn. Both are assertive strategists who are directo and don’t play when it comes to getting shit done💗

[beansterpie]

ES21 japanese volumes part 3/??

<< part 1 < part 2 ||

HAHAHA guess who found a site with japanese scans?? (Also yes hello it's been close to.... half a year??? (fuck) since my last post-- a big part of that is because taking clear pics of panels/pages on my phone was a pain in the ass so I kept procrastinating lol)

Now lets get back into it!

We left off at the end of Sena's unwilling first morning practice, where we got to see just how fast he's able to run. We were then informed that their first match is happening the following day... while only having 3 players :')

oh the lengths one must take to subdue Cerberos....

Panel 2 -> HIRUMA: We need 8 people by tomorrow's match! We'll split up to gather them! Panel 3 -> KURITA: 8 people? SENA: I thought you said that American Football requires 11 people...

You'd think he might catch on to what's happening after all the 'top speed in the NFL!' fuss at the end of the last chapter.... but our boy is not smart, your honor.

But Hiruma (seemingly) relents, saying how they each have to find at least 3 people to help out their team by the end of the day. Whoever finds the least amount of people faces whatever penalty game that Hiruma comes up with, so uh, there's reason to fear.

Panel 1 -> Basketball club Panel 2 -> SENA: Alright, I'll start here...! Panel 3 -> imaginary SENA: How would you like to play in an American Football match? Panel 4 -> imaginary SENA: We'll prepare all of the equipment! All you have to bring is your fighting spirit!!

imagination vs reality....

Panel 1 -> SENA: Um... excuse me Panel 2 -> SENA: So... I was wondering if maybe I could get you guys to play in an American Football match for us... or something... Panel 4 -> JERSEY #16: Ahh... I'll pass. JERSEY #8: Yeah, not interested. SENA: I-is that so... Panel 5 -> SENA: Aahh-- it's no good. Why do I always....

Ah poor Sena. But all those years of timidness and cowardice aren't going to up and disappear overnight because then we wouldn't have a story. Also, an aside, but in these earlier chapters Sena has this little... verbal tick, I guess? where he ends his sentences (usually requests) with "なんて…" (na-nn-te), shown in panel 2. A different form of the word is often used at the end of a joke, meaning essentially "just kidding!", and this is like... an uncommitted, spineless little version of that. He's asking them if they would please consider playing in a match, and basically ending it with: "haha jk...." 😔

I translated it as "or something..." because he ISN'T joking, he just can't help but say it because he's that non-confrontational, and I thought that might be confusing without context? Or perhaps I'm just over-explaining, but alas.

Panel 1 -> KURITA: Wanna play in an American Football match!? Panel 2 -> JERSEY #16 & #8: No! Panel 4 -> SENA: No, it's not over yet! This isn't the only sports club! Panel 5 -> SENA: I'll go around to all of 'em--! Panel 6 -> HIRUMA: You're playing in a match for the American Football club!

I had to put in all three of their uh, pitches? to the basketball club because I love this little sequence lol. It's such a fun way to show the differences in how each character approaches a problem, and visually displays their body language so well. It's like the funniest version of the three billy goats gruff story

Is this the first official appearance of Hiruma's little black book? It's funny, it's dastardly, and it's just as much for the sake of cartoon violence as his guns are lol. (Seriously, some of the stuff he uses to blackmail people has me side eyeing Hiruma (and Inagaki) real hard rip. The fact that you're not supposed to take any of it seriously is it's saving grace.)

Panel 1 -> JERSEY #16: Uwah, again!? JERSEY #8: Will you give it a rest!! We said we're not gonna play!! Panel 2 -> HIRUMA: Hooo~ that defiant attitude.... I take it you two are first years? Panel 3 -> HIRUMA: Hhmmmm, so Satake-kun from year 1 class 2, and Yamaoka-kun from class 5, huh? Panel 4 -> HIRUMA: Satake-kun is-- well well! The true culprit behind the underwear thefts of the swimming club! And Yamaoka-kun-- what's this? He gives a kiss to his poster of Ai Kago every morning? Whoow, isn't this painful! SATAKE: Wha-- YAMAOKA: How do you-- Panel 5 -> HIRUMA: Now, I think I'll just spread the word!!! SATAKE: Waahh w-we'll play, we'll play! YAMAOKA: Please let us play in the American Football match!!

The severity of the dirt seems pretty skewed to me, but I guess to a teenage anime boy from the early 00's, general embarrassment is just as bad as sexually harrassing your schoolmates 🙃

But anyway, now we know exactly why Hiruma is so feared by the general student body (and faculty)! A real menace to society <3 Btw, at the time Ai Kago was a girl in the pop idol group Morning Musume.

After going to every other sports club in Deimon, Sena finally comes into some luck at the track and field club....

ISHIMARU: An American Football match? Yeah sure, I'll play!

Ishimaru.... you're such a good guy..... 😭

Panel 1 -> SENA: R-really!? ISHIMARU: Yeah, and y'know-- Hiruma's probably gathering the first years, right? Panel 2 -> ISHIMARU: So if I play with them, I'll get to know their physical abilities, and I can invite any of the promising ones to the track and field club. Panel 3 -> ISHIMARU: That's ok, isn't it? As a give and take. SENA: O-of course!! Panel 4 -> SENA: (Yay, that's one person!) Then I'll be seeing you tomorrow! Panel 5 -> ISHIMARU: Tomorrow!!? That's impossible! SENA: What--!!? Panel 6 -> ISHIMARU: I work part time for the local magazine delivery-- I have to deliver them all by noon tomorrow so it'll be tight. Sorry

Poor boy can't catch a break. And enjoy Ishimaru in his like, first and last serious arc for the rest of the series..... :') you deserved better my boy.....

Ishimaru's fairly casual attitude towards Hirma makes me so curious about what he's like in class though lol. I guess for people that Hiruma has no direct use for, they end up flying under the radar and don't have a strong opinion on him? Maybe to some students in Deimon, Hiruma is just 'that eccentric guy in my grade' lol. Strange thought.

But you know, at least Hiruma managed to get some people to help out! Wow, such charisma.

Panel 1 -> (from left to right on the chart -> ): Sena, Kurita, Hiruma Panel 2 -> SENA: Amazing!! So many, just by himself...

Panel 1 -> SENA: Hiiee!? Panel 2 -> KURITA: Hey.... I guess you're also at zero, huh.... Panel 3 -> KURITA: Even Hiruma stopped after 7 people.... and all the sports clubs have already gone home.... It's no good, we're not going to make it in time for the tournament.... Panel 5 -> SENA: I-I'm going to make another round!

Like, ok. So I haven't actually read that many sports manga (mainly because they tend to not hold my attention very long), but Eyeshield's opening chapters are so charming and cute and like... well set up that I always love re-reading it. It might ultimately be a classic coming of age/underdog story, but at this point Sena isn't even interested in playing the damn sport lol (in fact playing the sport is the thing he's got the most reservations about). It's just that he's made friends with Kurita and wants to help him (and Hiruma) towards this goal they're so passionate about, and also wants to feel like a part of something. Idk, it's really successful in fleshing out Sena's personality imo, and manages to make this extremely cowardly kid very endearing (which I think is kind of a rare thing in a shounen manga protag, not to mention a sports manga one).

BUT anyway, he spots Ishimaru doing deliveries and jumps over the fence to reach him.

SENA: Please let me gopher-- no, I mean-- please let me help you!

His heart is in the right place! When you've been a doormat your whole life, it takes a minute to move past it!!

Anyway, skipping ahead a few pages because I've already used too many images on this chapter lol (not me straight up posting half the pages of this chapter so far 😭) -- Sena helps Ishimaru deliver half of the magazines and so they manage to hand them all out that night. Since that frees Ishimaru up the following day, he agrees to play in the match-- which means Sena managed to get one person!

He returns to the club room and tells Kurita the good news, but that still leaves them with.... 10 people.

Panel 2 -> KURITA: We're short.... one person.... Panel 3 -> KURITA: We were so close.... Panels 5 & 6 -> Sounds of the crowd cheering

Panel 1 -> SENA: U-um! Panel 2 -> SENA: For the last person, if I... if I participate...

Whenever Sena thinks about potentially playing American Football in these early chapters, I've always liked that the things he focuses on is the sound of the crowd, the... kinship, maybe? of being on a team. There's probably an element of the glory that appeals to him, but it mostly seems to be the ambience and passion and unity that he's drawn to. As opposed to like, Monta later on who (initially, anyway) really just wants the fame and adoration of being a popular player lol (and good for him, the heart wants what it wants). But for Sena, as the protagonist, it helps me connect to his wants at this point in the story a lot more organically as opposed to if his desire had always been "I wanna be The Best Sportsman™!!!" But again, that's a me thing lol.

Of course Hiruma has to interrupt before Sena commits one way or another lol

Panel 1 -> HIRUMA: That fucking konbini!! Running out of sugarless gum!! Not even flies would chew on that nasty-ass sweet gum!! Panel 2 -> HIRUMA: Oh damn, I forgot to put them up halfway through.

Hiruma's comically short temper that vanishes between one panel and the next will always be funny to me lol. Explosively coming into the club room, ranting about unimportant bullshit while tossing soda at to his teammates (which is quite thoughtful of him actually) and then casually revealing that he's taken care of everything....

Sometimes when I'm feeling unmotivated, I think to myself "what would Hiruma do?" the answer is usually 'several illegal things', but I can at least try to emulate his proactiveness lol.

Panel 2 -> SENA & KURITA: WE DID IIITT Panel 3 -> HIRUMA: We didn't do anything!!! I'm the one who ended up doing it all, you useless idiots!! Actually, give back my cola!! I don't have a single drop of fluid to spare for you morons!! Wilt and die!

Well. No one ever claimed Hiruma was gracious.

That's (more or less) the end of chapter 3! Finally!! The chapter ends with another character room, this time for Hiruma. I'm also putting Kurita's here, which was at the end of chapter 2 but didn't manage to squeeze in.

Page 1 Kurita Ryoukan 2nd Year Deimon Devilbats #77 Power: ***** Speed: * Technique: ** [upper corner: "My refrigerator" bottom left: "Bookshelf-- bursting with American Football magazines" bottom center: "Weights over 100kg"] Page 2 Hiruma Youichi 2nd Year Deimon Devilbats #1 Power: ** Speed: ** Technique: *****

When I read this manga for the first time back in highschool, I was SO frustrated that it just showed the club room instead of Hiruma's bedroom. Ngl I still feel a little cheated, but I guess they had to maintain that gremlin mystique somehow 😔

(Also join me as I puzzle over where the fuck Kurita keeps his futon.... 🤔)

------------

I was going to cover the next chapter as well, but I think I'll just end this part here-- the next chapter is more or less when the first match starts, so I figure I'll do those together! Honestly this chunk of the story didn't have any egregious translation errors in the fanscans so there wasn't too much to comment on that front lol. Enjoy my ramblings about how much I like these early chapters, they're so charming!

[drbtinglecannon]

Darius because YOU! Are his lawyer

This is such a high honor coming from Willow Park's lawyer herself, thank you pal 💖

How do I feel about this character

I love Darius so much he's absolutely one of my top favorites, it's like between him and Eda. He's hilarious, he's cunty, he's interesting, he's one of Dana's favorites, he's a good person but he's a bitch about it, his design fucks, he has no canon love interest, and I wish we got more of him. I have so many thoughts on him and he was only in about 15min of screentime.

What can I say, I looked at all the Coven Heads in the S2B trailer and immediately decided he was my favorite and every time he was on screen I was validated by how thoroughly he passed the vibes check

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I am typically an aroace Darius enjoyer, but I have fondness for dariraine, dariraeda, and darimila (why is he always listed first and why is it fitting (wait I have to preface I'm ace and I use ship names by what sounds best I have literally never done it by "who tops" I can barely remember that's the common use of ship name order SO I'm mocking Darius as he would wanna be listed first because he's That Bitch)) because all of them have a lot of cute fluff potential (and dariraine has fun angst potential especially if it's between Eda's Requiem and O Titan, Where Art Tho)

Typically tho even in those ships I don't see Darius as someone that would live with a romantic partner, I think he'd want to keep his own house lol and he's very valid, it's styled exactly how he likes and no one else lives up to his cleanliness standards, it's win win for both parties

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Darius & Eberwolf is literally Lilith & Hooty a little to the left and it's sooo fucking funny and wholesome for it. Lilith was actually my S2A obsession until she left I was so fucking devastated when she moved out, so seeing Darius & Eberwolf were a similar archetype to Lilith & Hooty really endeared me to them immediately in ER when we knew nothing about them. Then by the series end they really are one of my favorite little duos of toh they're comedy gold potential but didn't get enough screentime 😔 Darius surrendered for Eberwolf even tho it was at the cost of the rebellion and I still think about that scene. Guy who joked about people dying is likely actually not being pragmatic at all when it comes to loved ones 👍 they threaten Terra Adrian & Vitimir lol

I'm also a "Darius & Eda used to be besties and will do so again" truther. They're the same yet opposites, they're both dramatic, they're both powerful, they both have a hot monster form, and they both speedran becoming adoptive parents after just being That Guy to some kid for a while. The ONE episode of interactions they had in COTH with Darius having to exasperatingly tell Eda what he means but also he calls her "Eda" not "Edalyn" like everyone else but Raine does, and Eda mocking Darius over beating his ass in ER and Darius IMMEDIATELY getting defensive & lying which Eberwolf calls him out for, DO YOU SEE MY VISION? THEY USED TO BE BESTIES. THE CLAWTHORNE PARENTS LOVED DARIUS. DARIUS & EDA WERE EACH OTHER'S ASSHOLE FRIEND. THAT FANART OF THEM IN FACIAL MASKS & DOING THEIR NAILS WATCHING DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES IS WHAT THEY WERE.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Liking him at all is still quite unpopular 😔 this fandom sure treats the nonwhite parents a certain way lol. I also don't really like ala//darius, I get the appeal but it doesn't compel me

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

I've had a perfectly envisioned idea for a year or two now of an toh episode that followed the rebel trio after Them's the Breaks, Kid and before Hollow Mind that was a 3 part split reminiscent of how Once Upon A Swap was paced.

Not only would it tie back to the style of OUAS -- a notoriously hated toh episode -- but it would be able to give info in a slow drip by following Raine first, then by the end we see Raine is working with Darius & Eberwolf, then it goes back to the beginning of the day through Eberwolf's POV, then Darius' POV, and ending on the buildup that they're the rebels Hunter is chasing at the beginning of HM.

We as the audience can tell by the designs who they were in HM (or well. Most of us. Some people thought Darius was Alador for some reason) but ahhh think of the extra foreshadowing that could've been in HM if we got an episode inside the castle so close to the day of unity!! Like what if Collector's shadow was visible at one point behind one or all of the rebels, letting us know Belos knew exactly who they were which lead to the foreshadowing in HM of the 3 arrows being where Darius, Raine(Eda), & Eberwolf each get put to stand during the day of unity spell in King's Tide BUT ALSO how we don't REALIZE it's referencing them specifically UNTIL KT AIRS. LIKE THE LAYERS IT COULD'VE ADDED.

Also obligatory Darius Hunter moment has to happen here to lead to Darius' reaction in HM upon hearing Hunter was trapped considering their last on screen moment in ASIAS and some people even now can't visualize them interacting in a positive manner 🙄

I do imagine it would be a touch 🤏 angsty. Like in my vision, Darius sees Hunter getting heat from Kikimora over a wild magic book, and it's like she can't really do anything to him over it but she could tell Belos who would be unhappy to hear that and all 3 of them are aware this would be the outcome, and Darius debates for a solid 10 seconds if he should pretend he didn't see them because well as heartless as he knows it sounds it actually benefits him & the rebellion keeping Hunter at arm's length but now that he's spent time with the kid he's like not a bad kid maybe they can convince him to join them?? Before he goes over and like a true actor plays it off that he asked Hunter for the book. Hunter obviously does not play along well as he's not a good actor, so Darius very condescendingly tells Kikimora to leave like "you can read, can't you, Kiki?" And she sputters "yes of course I--" and he just cuts her off "then read the room" while giving her a cold look until she awkwardly and angrily leaves. Like absolute cunt behavior from Darius but it's hilarious and it works to his cover as a CH. He gives Hunter the book back when Kikimora leaves and they good naturedly mock the other's taste in books ("I don't know how you can read that, Deadwarian era writing is dreadful to slog through" "Well some of us like reading more than fashion magazines") before they pass the mess hall and Darius asks Hunter if he's eaten, "Y-yes!", Flapjack is not standing for such lies and pecks him from under his cloak, which Darius knows is Flapjack so he laughs and tells Hunter to eat, Hunter pauses before he tries to genuinely thank Darius for defending him earlier, and then well shit remember how it's better for the rebellion if Darius keeps Hunter at arm's length maybe he needs to remember the bigger picture? He was literally doing rebel work when he got distracted helping Hunter out, so he kinda gently tells Hunter not to expect he can always go save him, and because Hunter's an abused teen (not that Darius really knows that yet) and he was enjoying having an adult that's nice to him now he visibly deflates before quickly excusing himself

Darius apologizes under his breath because he doesn't enjoy being mean to Hunter (even back when he was being mean to him) but it's one of those hard choices he makes like how Raine refused to get Eda involved. Can be miserably tied back to how Hunter ends up hiding at Hexside and not the rebels finding & helping him.

Wow I went insane typing that all but yeah that's my vision of what I would add to canon if I could add 1 episode into the show that doesn't change anything at all it only adds character filler & foreshadowing potential. Maybe I'll actually write this fic one day haha.

Another thing I kinda wish canon would've done was overtly state Darius adopted Hunter because like it's clearly implied but a lot of people still deny it! Dadrius won guys let us have this they had to cut so much stuff from the show including Darius backstory

From this ask!

[mandy4ever69420]

opinion on sheila?

i don't care for her. as a person. i've found her miscellaneous shenanigans a lot more enjoyable upon rewatch, though, since i'm no longer trying to find a way to still like her as a person. it's very sad for me to not like her because she is played by JOAN CUSACK whom i adore + naturally she fucking kills it in her performance. alas she is not dom top rosalie mullins from school of rock 😔

i contemplated leaving my response at that but i DO in fact think she's really interesting! i thought, you know, some other people have made Some posts about how she fucks up but tbh, come to think of it, usually they only go so far as to say "she did bad thing, therefore bad" and dont go past that! which is tragic. SO i'm going to. i hope.

please keep in mind as you read this that my biggest problem with sheila is her attempt to, as a white christian woman, adopt and raise a handful of native american children, which is a facet of cultural genocide (article II, item e) that the ICWA was literally created to prevent. i also dislike her for other reasons, but this is the biggest

sheila is probably the strongest example within shameless of a character being cute, charismatic, or "nice" on the surface, in a way that really powerfully distracts from the type of harm they're capable of.

particularly, in addition to being "nice" and carrying joan cusack's INCREDIBLE charisma, sheila is also disabled! she's terrified of a lot of things, and mocked by her husband for it. she absolutely deserves sympathy for her struggles with agoraphobia and a LOT of people conflate sympathizing with someone with having to accept their behavior. this is the flip-side of people not understanding that someone who has done something scary or messed up still has a sympathetic internal experience.

season one has sheila most of the time unable to enact harm because of her limiting circumstances. although she repeatedly ignores frank's sexual boundaries, he's also definitely taking advantage of her hospitality the entire time. frank often will lose sympathy points by acting horrifically in other ways, sheila's behavior will be ignored for how sympathetic she is. in season one, sheila also APPEARS to be a great and supportive mother to karen, specifically because of the contrast in how overtly judgemental and controlling eddie is. while watching this show with a friend of mine, she made the great observation that when sheila comes out of her shell a bit, you can really see how she wound up married to such a stuck up conservative asshole.

even so, sheila's inability to support her daughter hurts her. that's not to say she's at fault for the way her agoraphobia leaves karen feeling adrift, just that it happened. i really like season 1 sheila. karen also spends a lot of time feeling that it's her responsibility to take care of sheila, and while it's extremely nice of her to do, the fact is that sheila needed an adult's support, not her teenage daughter's. when karen spends so much time acting protective towards sheila, which sheila was undoubtedly both touched and embarrassed by, i think this also pushes forward into both of their minds the way that sheila views karen in some ways as more of a bestie/equal than a child under her care.

note also here - sheila seems to have no grown up friends! there are a couple times when she tries to branch out (christianmingle, selling sex toys) but they don't seem to work out. she even sort of alludes to knowing people at her old job at a hair salon, but she seems to never have actually be close to them, just sort of friendly. she is extremely lonely, probably since even before she developed agoraphobia.

sheila is loud and brash and strange, which masks in ways that she may also be very very insecure. it makes sense if she only bonds with little kids if she's terrified of the judgement of an adult. (this is also a problem with kash - though obviously, kash takes this in a worse direction by pursuing ian romantically). she's also GOOD with little kids. she absolutely is not good with teenagers. i would absolutely trust her to watch a toddler, i don't think there's any real problem with that.

however, please see: sheila playing with liam, she asks him "which do you prefer, the baby, or the whore?" this line is hilarious. it also points to her having more or less the same conservative view of sexuality that results in karen's DaddyzGirl plotline. it feels relevant she uses a blonde barbie to represent the "whore".

sheila also seems more involved in catholicism than the gallagher family. to be sure, the gallaghers are catholic, but i didn't get the impression that it was as much of a religious identity to them as something they just inherited and went with.

by the time jody shows up in karen's plotline, sheila is established so aggressively as being kooky and unable to handle a lot of the "real world", that when i recall thinking, oh, well, she shouldn't be letting this guy around her daughter, but i'm not sure she understands whats happening. and it's true she probably didn't. part and parcel to her viewing karen as more of a best friend than a child in here care, and her inability to understand teenagers the way she does littler kids - she just defaults to trying to interact with karen as another adult.

sheila being more catholic also adds an interesting layer to how much she wants karen to go out with jody, given that karen is a bisexual girl, even if sheila might not be aware of that.

i assume we're already in agreement that she shouldn't have allowed karen to marry a 37 year old - which she definitely had to consent to. in an interesting parallel here with my general read of mickey being the karen to ian's lip, the united states does allow people under 18 to get married, but only with a parent's consent. mickey is the only other character i can think of whose parent gives such horrifying and enthusiastic consent to their marriage (and, similarly - both lip and ian show up to these weddings, get drunk, and make an ass of themselves)

sheila viewing karen as a best friend more so than a daughter also is what leads her to believe it's acceptable, just kind of bitchy, to sleep with jody. jody is another incredibly immature adult. this is a running and well executed theme in most of the predatory characters on this show. karen didn't want him, and sheila later apologizes for all the wrong reasons.

sheila obviously gets hit with another massive wave of loneliness and regret after she kicks her daughter out - she doesn't seem to understand that attempting to force someone to keep an unwanted pregnancy or child is a surefire way to ruin a relationship, and almost certainly thought that karen would go into playing this "sweet little girl" role she expects of having a cute, blonde, daughter. this also shows up in sheila's idealization of karen's relationship to jody. sheila can't accept that karen is outspoken and independent, she wants karen to be a housewife and a princess - karen apparently loved princess stories as a small child (or sheila thought she did), and sheila is unable to accept that that's changed - and she wants jody to be the prince in this story.

even when karen comes back, sheila still can't wrap her head around karen not being obligated to be a mother. she's horrified to learn that karen had told hymie's father's family that sheila "wasn't safe", when karen just wanted desperately to go back to before, because she wanted her mom to love her, and she wanted to feel close, without the imposition of an unwanted child from a traumatic pregnancy.

this might be a reflection of the disaster that was sheila's marriage - a lot of women will try to make up for what they feel they missed out on by projecting onto their daughters' lives. sometimes this is just awkward, but sheila decides to send her brain damaged, absolutely unable to consent, daughter off with jody. when karen becomes disabled sheila sees her no longer as a best friend, but more like a doll. come to think of it, this might be why she got so enthusiastically involved in ..."activism"... for down syndrome. it's an exciting role to play for her.

jody makes probably one single good point in his entire life, which is that hymie should stay connected to his chinese heritage. he obviously didn't care THAT much, and sheila wasn't really listening, because these two later separate hymie from family who DO want him (tommy and his mother) to participate in this fanciful idea.

sheila is, after that, somehow surprised to learn she feels lonely again! she desperately seeks out community however she can - this time in latching onto being 1/32nd menominee after taking a DNA test (as per my memory?) - there's not really anything wrong with wanting to know more about a part of your heritage, and if she'd been more normal about this, who would've fucking cared?

carl doing a crappy imitation of black culture while he believes himself to be 1/8th black is the closest comparison here. sure, sheila also might've really identified as native at that point, maybe she meant well! however, sheila is a grown adult, who tries to build this connection through children. carl, is, however fourteen years old, and he tries to get involved in black culture by hanging out with and emulating older people, befriending and protecting nick, and failing pretty embarrassingly at getting a date. even so, carl's behavior is cringeworthy enough to get commented on by pretty much everyone in the show.

and sheila's attempts to adopt these random children are the culmination of her "cute little baby" obsession - it doesn't escape my notice that she barely pays attention to the oldest (gary?) and focuses heavily on a little girl - and her desperation to find community. she again ignores frank's right to consent or not (and.. the legality of bigamy) to marry frank solely to acquire cute little kids, and, by her hope, a connection and real reason to be involved in a tight knit community.

one of the points at which joan cusacks acting really sticks out to me is when she's at the hearing in hopes of approval for her adoption, and she's sort of playing hard at being "in" group - to boost her chances at getting approved adoption, and because she really, really wants to be "in". she kind of believes she's getting there until the council start to talk to each other in menominee which she, of course, has no clue at the beginning of how to understand. they're just speaking in their own language, but she feels an acute sense of exclusion. when they conclude and simply say "no"- no explanation offered, because why bother to explain to someone who is not going to get it - she has this devastation on her face, because she realizes she was not going to be "in" anyway, no matter what.

when it comes to these kids, yeah, they may have wanted to live with her. but they're kids! they like wifi, and cool snacks, and tv. children deserve a lot more respect and to be trusted, but they also can't understand why it'd be harmful to grow up in a white christian household.

sheila reattaches herself to frank pretty aggressively in response to her new, new, new, old loneliness. she again views someone's daughter as a peer (or adversary) and not a daughter - though with sammi, at least she's a grownup with boundary issues.

sheila's writing is less compelling to me after this, but that might just be because when she really really does try to adopt these kids, i kind of blacked out from rage, and couldn't stand to really look at her. in my rewatch i might pick up on more in s5. she does get pretty involved in the gentrification plotline, though, which is well written, but super difficult for me to look at directly (high fives for anyone who will never afford a house in their hometown) i really hope that her independent sheila life will give her some self confidence by herself, so she'll feel better AND stop twisting herself into these convoluted choices and taking really bizarre kinds of advantage of people in an effort to find ANY community. but idk maybe she'll become a scientologist or something. who really knows

[burning-academia-if]

Hope you have a nice day! Also I kinda wanna know what if while the ROs in an argument with the MC (nothing to serious but enough to rile them up) and the MC just goes "You wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid" to caught them off guard and win the argument but the ROs, in the heat of the moment, blurted out "And so what if I do?" What are the ROs reaction after realized what they just said?

Aksks alas this isn't a situation that would happen with certain ROs 😔 I'm assuming this is crush stage?

Rook: He actually has great self control so he'd never say anything to MC without intentionally wanting to. MC saying that does catch him off guard tho, whatever he was going to say next dying on his tongue. He recovers quickly and just laughs it off with a "you wish." If dating tho then yeah he might say that and he'd only give a slow grin, moving closer until your noses brush, waiting for your response.

Beck: I can't imagine him arguing with anyone lmfaO Even if MC is angry or even being unreasonable he's just going to patiently give you space or disentangle your feelings with you if need be

Rhea: It slips out without thinking, and she goes still. Her words were icy calm, but she feels the heat in her chest. She doesn't take it back though. It's not like it's a lie

Zoe: They grumble it, and when they realize what they said and that you heard them they kinda reel back. There's a series of stutters as they try to take it back or insist they didn't realize what they were responding to. They can't look you in the eye.

Lars: That wasn't an accident. He gives a lazy grin as he says it, the challenge still in his eyes. His gaze flickers to your mouth, not hiding his intentions in the slightest.

???: It's one of the few times you managed to get under their skin. They didn't mean to say it, but at the same time, there's no way you wouldn't know they've been wanting to kiss you. They wished they could have expressed it at a better time, but they don't shy away from their assertion.

[sea-dwelling-wizard]

my interpretation of stolas and blitz's relationship + ranting that goes nowhere

just look my way was the most beautiful mv ive ever seen. stolas 😭😭😭😭😭 bbg are you okay (he's not)

i've read through the comments on this video and i agree with, well, all of them! one really struck me, though:

i love this theory!

i have another one to add to this; several, actually!!

can the moon signify blitz's heavy emotional barrier? blitz is shown hiding behind the moon's outer crust in a protective position.

what i think is that he's protecting his heart, his soul; one that has been hurt many times in the past. he's suffered through the accident that led to fizzarolli losing his arms, his horns, etc., he's been through a breakup for a relationship that meant to validate his feelings, that yes, he can love, he could have someone love him, but all that happened was a breakup and public humiliation at asmodeus's lounge. and then there's his presumably dead mother and frustrated sister.

blitz doesn't want that to happen again. he's built such an emotional wall around his heart and his body that he doesn't realize stolas loves him. he doesn't want to get hurt. he's shown tucked away into the depths of the moon, curled up.

now, stolas--

i've been thinking about him a lot. the end really got me theorizing. he falls into the water, and he reaches his hand out only to 'drown' and wake up to reality, the asmodeus crystal on his desk.

i love that segment of the song so so much!!!!!!!

my favorite depressed owl boy hshshshshshshshhshs ily stolas <3

the moon affects the waves of the sea. it reflects its light on the water and no matter how far they go, they always go deep. the moon provides light for the creatures above and below. the sea is deep, it's alluring, and it drowns those who are too weak, cowardly, or overconfident.

stolas is drowning in it. the sea implies his deep feelings for blitz. what started as a one-night affair led to something more, and that was love. he's never been in love, and all this is new to him, but he's being acknowledged yet pushed away by blitz (see emotional barriers above). i feel like their emotions are mutual; however, neither can express it properly.

stolas is trying so hard.

at face value, blitz seems... ignorant? cold? busy? i, on the other hand, think he's trying not to get too close. there was a theory in that episode's comment section that blitz is not too educated and is trying his best to communicate. i have mixed feelings about that one.

the lyrics signify stolas letting blitz making his own choice, whether he wants the crystals or if he wants to continue the deal. i fear blitz will have the wrong idea on seeing the crystals. hopefully they clear everything up??????????? i might be hoping too much for a show that's bound to end in tragedy 😔

one more thing!!!

in the truth seekers episode, stolas had blitz on a leash.

could this mean that blitz thinks stolas is truly in control? that stolas decides where their relationship goes from now on?? stolas is royalty, so its natural blitz thinks so. he looks scared? hesitant? is he too hesitant... to do what? to accept stolas loves him? to accept that their relationship is bad in a way? to accept that he loves him? to accept what?!

stolas is smiling in this scene, but it was all a truth poison trip, meaning that's how blitz perceived him before. in the later episodes, i feel like this perception changed. it still hurts to see this, though.

tl;dr: the sea, or the water body seen near the end of the mv can either be stolas's deep feelings for blitz or a metaphor for his chaotic life. blitz has protective walls around his heart to protect himself from further harm. blitz feels stolas is in control of their relationship.

dear god this show is so well written- i could write more but alas i have other things to do

[thevalleyoftriumph]

"He'll apologize after he's done here. Make it up to them somehow later, have a long talk with them about this." Assuming Dark did not execute cg/ they weren't there/ SOMETHING idk, and Dark was able to patch a very beaten and unconscious Chosen up and drag them back to the house, how would that conversation go? Would Beast take one look at Dark and attack him? Even if Killer or Chosen want to try diplomacy? Would They (one of the alters) wake up, realise their still in the house with the guy who is stronger than them and has harmed them, and book it? If so would Dark follow? Or let them leave Would they wake up to a note? Would one of them rip it up before the others have a chance to see it? Would they TRY diplomacy, only for the argument to immediately resume Theres so many possibilities, none of which can happen since Dark was blasted to kingdom come, BUT we can imagine for a moment

Oh man the convo would go so horribly so badly. Like let's be so honest Dark is the worst person to have a genuine and emotional conversation with he does NOT know what he's doing he's almost worse than Chosen 😭

I've never actually thought about this particular scenario before [as in it's actually like.. never crossed my mind somehow] so I can't really say for absolute certain what would happen, BUT . Let's indulge.

I think you're pretty right that if it were Beast still in front when they wake up, it'd probably immediately assume it was still in danger and attack Dark - that, or it'd absolutely book it the first chance it got, since it's not really looking for a repeat of the Virabot part of that whole thing. Sometimes it's just gotta do what's safest, and that doesn't always mean fighting back - sometimes it means retreat.

I think Chosen would still have some sort of faith in Dark and would like to stay and hear him out - and Killer by extension would, too, in a way. But both would be extremely hurt by everything and can be just as stubborn as Dark when they want to be, so it'd be pretty hard for them to not end up cutting him off a bunch to put their points in.

I think however, aside from Beast, Killer would also probably think about leaving. Maybe not forever, but definitely long enough to go sit outside and think about things for a while. They'd probably slip out when Dark is busy and he just comes back to them gone and briefly freaks out lol.

Honestly I'm certain the argument would just start back up eventually unless something changed REALLY fast you're totally right about that. These guys are sooo bad at emotions and Talking Things Out that it's almost comical if it wasn't borderline depressing.

HOWEVER ☝️ I think even during another argument, for Both of them their fight would just constantly be lingering in their minds - especially through Any Other Future Argument, the thought always rears itself back around. They're cautious of their actions, both of them - neither wants to get close during an argument anymore. If, say, Chosen instinctively tries to get closer - he stops, pulls back, then continues with what he was saying. It would do neither of them good if it got physical again, in fact thats the last thing EITHER of them want, so they do everything physically possible to remove even the possibility of an accident if they end up disagreeing about ANYTHING. No matter how small.

IDK THERES JUST SO MANY WAYS THIS COULD GO AND COULD EFFECT THEM ALL IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE TIME POST-SHOWDOWN TO HEAL FROM THEIR ISSUES. They love each other dearly and are each others best friend but they're also both so so so badly traumatized people and need a therapist SO much. So badly. Alas there's no therapists in the Outernet who work with cybercriminals who had a hand in nearly destroying their world unfortunately. 😔

[yuenity]

what are your thoughts on tua s4?

Oh boy how long of an answer do you want baha 😭😭

The short answer is I generally enjoyed the season despite its many many flaws. The two major things that I hated with all my soul was Five and Lila’s whole thing (for so many reasons) and Klaus’ arc. Did I love the ending?… no, but I saw it coming. I can’t say I hated it, even if I would’ve liked to see them finally happy.

But if we really want to get into the nitty gritty of it… (Long, half-coherent ramblings below cut)

The show definitely felt… off this entire season. The characters didn’t really feel like their characters and they were always making decisions I didn’t see them making. But the first 4 episodes were generally fine. They still sort of felt like the umbrella academy. It was the last 2 episodes that stuck out as the worst. They felt rushed, and they kept putting in new information last minute (like all that shit with Abigail, woof).

I won’t talk all that much about Five and Lila cause I’ve already reblogged so much about it, and there’s nothing I have to say that others haven’t already expressed. The things that bother me the most about it is how it destroyed Five’s character and how unnecessary it was. Obviously I understand how Five and Lila would fall in love after 7 years of being stranded together. I mean… Five literally fell in love with a mannequin last time he was stranded. But at the end of the day, he would always choose his family. My man was literally stuck in the apocalypse for 45 years and STILL never gave up on finding them. He abandoned Dolores for them. He would not give up after 7 years because of Lila fucking Pitts, especially after all the trouble he’s already been through to save them. But the big thing is, NONE OF THIS HAD TO HAPPEN 😭 it literally didn’t affect the plot whatsoever, it just made Five and Diego hate each other in their last few minutes of existence. ALSO it literally sours every joke about Five and Lila from season 2 and 3. The whole reason they were funny before was because we thought the idea of them was ridiculous. We thought it would never happen. Ugh poor Diego, I felt so damn bad for him this season

Now Klaus… sigh. I spent the whole time thinking “there has to be a reason for this right? There has to be a reason he’s doing his own irrelevant thing on the side right? He probably knows some important information that the group doesn’t and that’s why” but noooo. It was just pointless. I missed him so much, but to just get that was 😭😭 also the fact that nobody fucking went after him?? Every time someone else tried to leave the group, they protested, but then they literally just let Klaus walk away. I. also the germaphobia… I already made a long ass post about that in February, it should be below this post if you wanna read that lols

the possession prostitution was uh… interesting. I can’t say it was out of character, especially when drugs are involved, but it is strange that there were no protests despite his last experience with possession. I haven’t thought a lot about that aspect though tbh

I wish we would’ve had more Ben and Klaus moments :(( I MISSED THEM SO MUCH it’s not even funny. That’s the thing I was looking forward to most, but alas 😔 we get a greeting and that’s it 😔 it feels like the show just forgot how important they were to each other. Obviously sparrow Ben is different from umbrella Ben, but Klaus was the only one to make an effort to connect with him last season. I thought they had gotten somewhere, but now they’re practically strangers. For the second time they didn’t get to say goodbye to each other. Sigh

don’t even get me started about the whole Durango thing. Look… I’ve always found it easy to put aside plot holes when it comes to this show. And I did for a lot of this season. But the fact that this particle is apparently so important to setting things right, and we get no explanation for how Jennifer has it is crazy. That seems like a pretty important thing to explain 😭😭 WHY WAS SHE IN A SQUID??

Also no dance sequence :(( no, Jean and Gene’s didn’t count

…

These are my main grievances, but there was also stuff I liked about the season

Like Jean and Gene!! They’re such classic tua antagonists, I love them.

And finding out Ben’s death!! 6 years of speculation and not ONCE did I think that’s how it was going to happen. I was happy to finally have answers, and holy shit was it shocking. Do I like that it was bc of the Marigold and Durango situation? No, but whatever. Small victories. One thing that I couldn’t help wondering though, was if Klaus knew what happened. Like surely he and Ben had to have spoken about it before? And I remember Klaus making a comment like “I know you didn’t ask to die violently at a young age” back in season 1, which was more than anyone else had ever said about it. Hm just thoughts

Also Luther’s entire character. Seems fitting that he would be my least favorite of the family in season 1 and my most favorite in season 4 lols. He was like the one characterization that didn’t get fucked. The way he kept bringing up Sloane and looking longingly at Diego’s family :(( the return of his stress eating 😭 I love that guy

I also really liked seeing all the characters at the end. The gasp I gusped when I saw the Swedes and the tears I cried when I saw Hazel and Agnes…

Anyway yeah