#but character-wise id say devotion

[emberphoenix-san]

do you ever think about Ketheric Thorm?

[fitzs-space]

Watched Labyrinth last night with @galacticjay1, and my brain worms took over.

So woe, hermitcraft Labyrinth au be upon ye

Gem as Sarah, main character energy unfortunately but someone's gotta do it. she's the type to just end up in situations. that way the baby Toby can be her puppy Winnie. [alt option would have been Scott, cause Scott's got the vibe to just be in places, but he could not be bothered to actually go through the labyrinth]

Bdubs as Hoggle, just look at him. the tolken short guy whos forced to help and will complain every step of the way about it, and will completely kissass up to their boss. Also both having a prized possession always kept at their side [the Clock, and the bundle of jewelry]

Scar as Jareth the Goblin King, Yea. Who else.

Etho as Ludo, just vibes really. Quiet dude willing to help and can just do wild shit for no good reason. [alt option was Doc, cause he's got the tall brute force energy to him as well, by they said it didn't fit. Docs got more of a higher energy to him then what would fit]

Rens Sir Didymus, Dog Knight. eccentric mf who screams out soliloquys going on about saving the fair madden they have devoted their time and service to, is that Sir Didymus or Ren? yes. Ok those are the main ones, now onto the other characters met in the labyrinth in approximate order of appearance

Xisuma is the worm. look at that mf and tell me I am wrong, one of the lines is this dude asking Sarah to come in for a cup of tea. Id apologize to the Xisuma enjoyers, but this is tumbler and people know he's a bit of a wet paper bag kinda guy.

Impulse and Skizz are the door Guards, The guards have no idea what's going on and neither do those two. I know its Technically the "Four Guards" and It could be team Zits, but the vibe isn't there fully. the type of mfs to mislead someone by pure accident[Skizz], and also cause its a lil funny[Impulse]

Martin as the False Alarms, their entire roll is to dramatically shout false warnings at the people who pass. If I didn't make the man who abuses the voice effects on his GoXLR as the rocks who wait to shout at people, I'd be making a mistake. [listener ass bitch] Also there is straight up a line where one of them goes "oh please, we don't get to shout these very often, its only our job" in some posh voice, then go back to the deep dramatic shouting. and that's just Martin man.

Grian and Mumbo as the Door Knockers, vibes [its also funny to make everyone's favorite guys as characters only seen for five minuets at most] If any two guys are going to be subjected to living their life forever constantly shouting at each other barely being able to understand what the other is saying, it'd be those two. Grian would be the Left, would also scream if he couldn't hear someone [Watcher allegations also] Mumbo as right because the ring in his mouth could be drawn as his mustache

Tango's a Firey, look at him. Cartoon ass bitch, the entire scuffed greenscreen dance sequence is on par with his thumbnails. I know there are supposed to be five of the dudes, but shhhh Zedaph would also fit with these fuckers. the type of guy who could probably detach his head, but still knows that there are manners and its rude to throw someone else's head

Pearl as the Junk Lady, she's the cleaning lady and collects trash, was it ever a question? And Pearls gremlin voice is the exact same as the Junk lady's voice

Doc's the lil fairies at the beginning of the labyrinth, everyone say thank you to Doccy for butterfly truthing Doc.

Jellie as just all the goblins, Scar the Jellie king instead of the Goblin king. The threat of Winnie getting turned into a cat is kinda funny, also there's the Humongous? that's a Jellie panda

the only main characters Im missing is the Wise Man and the Hat, I just do not know who to put them as, maybe Xb and Keralis cause of vibe? or Xb and Hypno cause of the horsehead farms bit. I do not know.

All that will come from this is me maybe drawing Ren and Scar as the characters, feel free to do what you want with this, my brain just needed to scream about this really

[shallanigans]

oooh im so glad u watched dbd! yeah so charles, in the comics, is canon bisexual. he's also, in the show, a teen boy who died in the 80s. which. the AIDS crisis. the first person to die of AIDS in england did so in 1981. take that, and then pair it up with his reaction to edwin's confession, particularly what he says.

hes not closing the door to edwin or this opportunity--what he is doing, is saying that they have the rest of forever to figure this out. he's not wrong. he just needs for the two of them to be able to reach that forever first, and to do that they need to run up the stairs and away from the doll spider demon.

i think, for charles, who is so devoted to edwin, and clearly loves him above all else, the answer he gave was perfect--he cant say hes in love with edwin back, so he doesnt. he cant say hes in love with edwin back, because he doesnt know! as a bi person, ill say this. in my experience, there have been a few times, where there have been moments of, i dont know yet. and obviously that is not everyone's experience, and im not even saying that is charles' experience! but he loves edwin so much, and he wants to figure out if he loves edwin in a romantic way too--and to do that, he needs to think about it, and again, he cant do that on a stairway to hell running from a demon. perhaps, its even more than that--perhaps, he wants to figure out if he can. has he thought about his sexuality before? has he ever been attracted to a boy before? has he ever consciously been? maybe these are things he needs to think about. he likes girls, check. maybe he likes boys too? he's a detective, he'll figure it out.

i do think that expecting a love confession reciprocation (which we did get, it was just not a romantic one, and even then, it wasnt shut down forever) right away, and then not getting it, was not necessarily bad thing. ultimately, dbd is a story, a tv show, there are characters and then there is development--there is build up. so to not get that confession, it makes sense storytelling wise. because we havent gotten to see charles come to terms with his sexuality, or even think much about it (consciously), beyond being attracted to crytsal. (and. all those longing yearning loving looks directed at edwin lbr) we get to see edwin come to terms with his sexuality in s1. he was repressing pretty hard and wasnt even aware he was in love with charles. so, in the hopes we get a s2, maybe we'll find ourselves with a charles having an oh moment scene. id kill for that

I would absolutely love to see this, and I know in the show the love confession wasn't explicitly a shutdown. However, based on Edwin's comments to Niko that "it made us better friends"/that Charles didn't feel the same, and also based on comments from the showrunners about how they wanted to focus on the platonic friendship between them, I am not so optimistic.

In the case that it does happen, I'm frankly not looking forward to a several-season love triangle between Crystal, Edwin and Charles. Of course, I understand Charles not reciprocating Edwin's feelings immediately (and especially not in that setting). However, I really don't care for his romance with Crystal because I feel they have no chemistry. It annoyed me that Charles pretty much put the whole thing out of his mind afterwards and went back to wanting to be with Crystal for no real reason other than she's a girl who was a good friend to him. I understand that TV shows work like this, but I'm tired of love triangles in general. If Charles and Edwin don't get together (or at least Charles doesn't address Edwin's confession in some manner) in season 2 I probably won't be watching it. I've seen too many teen shows drag on with unnecessary romance drama between people who have no chemistry, and I don't want another one to add to the list.

[ideal-real]

ok where im at with opla is i watched like, the majority of it, (up to midway baratie and half of syrup village). romance dawn is adapted well, but the moment they get to odas more competent dramatic writing uh. everything falls apart. imo. there was a point (and that point was mid-baratie) that i was like... i cannot do this. they were loose with romance dawn plot wise and that worked, but as soon as they got to the baratie and syrup village where they did need to adapt extremely closely for it to actually work they shit the bed pretty bad- and because they didn't adhere to the character introductions in actual one piece it literally felt like they were playing catch up.

if you want to ask my opinion on it as far as ive gone id say its bad but definitely has some qualities op fans might like if they can suffer through the... um... pretty wild writing, that feels like they didnt know who the audience was for this. how they handle the mihawk fight is a great example and also my personal last straw- they skip to the mihawk fight as if theyre excited to do some good character writing for zoro but what makes that fight satisfying, is that zoro is doing it out of kindness for a loved one, he is literally a character defined by kindness and devotion... at the beginning of the baratie arc he literally calls luffy brain damaged and also never agrees to be in a crew with him to his face. he smiled 1 time throughout the entire episodes i watched. that pissed me the fuck off, genuinely. because it really felt like my adoration of the mihawk fight as a good zoro moment was being used. i felt manipulated by it.

and also the fact its not a comedy which makes everything way shittier, tonally. like what the fuck????

[xensergal]

Xen "Octavia" Sergal Goes On A Very Stupid And Long Rant About Her Favourite Show Helluva Boss Because She Needs To Get This Shit Off Her Chest ASAP™: The Movie.

This is a long, long ass fucking rant about this show. i will type shit as it comes up in my head. i dont care if my takes are "trash" or "shit" or whatever. its my tumblr and i get to choose whats posted here. ok.

its actually fucking insane how my 2 favourite shows are on near complete opposites to each other on the surface. you have an impossibly perfectly written show with 0 bad episodes and the greatest characters to ever be on TV (Breaking Bad), and then you have a 15-20m per episode comedy/musical/drama on youtube (Helluva Boss). but this isnt about me comparing BrBa to HB, its just about HB.

i have a lot to say about this show. a lot i really, REALLY couldnt get out due to twitter character limits/not really having many friends who watch helluva boss, so tumblr gets my full thoughts, straight from the top of my head. right as theyre being produced. enjoy.

Stuff

the premise of this show is pretty damn cool. a comedy/musical/drama about a bunch of imps in hell who start up an assassination business to make ends meet, while also yknow shenanigans n other shit happens like complicated love trigonometry, bc hey its a show you cant 1 thing forever bc thatd be stale *cough* SITCOMS *cough* and repetitive and would be a shit show, this isnt a shit show. its one of the best ive ever seen. but back to what i was saying. the show has a fantastic premise with good plot and cool characters i will get to in just a moment. i rewatched all of whats been uploaded for this post. to refresh my thoughts and finally, get all this shit off my chest which ive been needing to for all this time.

O YEA OBV SPOILERS FOR ALLLL OF HELLUVA BOSS DUHHHHHHHHHH

Pilot

this is 3 years old and damn does it show. the animation is very stiff (but still, well made) compared to later episodes, and especially 1 which ill get into later. but the pilot does a great job and introducing the viewer to the main characters of the show, those being Blitzo (Brandon Rogers), Moxxie (Richard Horvitz), Millie, and Loona (both Erica Lindbeck). all with weird, and fucked up relationships with eachother. M&M are a married couple (gross), Loona is a complete whore with syphilis, and Blitzo is her adoptive Father whos also a complete perv who stalks M&M at their house. its fun! its a good plot with good characters and its pretty damn funny. theres also a major supporting character introduced in this episode, Stolas (Brock Baker). i love him, youll see why very soon.

the pilot isnt without its issues tho, the pacing is complete ass with flashbacks inside of flash backs and its just, man idk its fucked up dude i dont like it. weird shit.

7.5/10, good shit, good opening to HB

Murder Family // S1: Episode 1

good episode! damn after a year of waiting after the pilot for something new people surely had high expectations and id say E1 followed, its pretty good.

plot wise it follows I.M.P on a job to kill some bitch n yknow shenanigans n whatnot moxxie fucks it up because hes a bitch and people almost die but moxxie saves em in the end its good and i like it!

some stuff changed from the pilot, mainly voice actors. Erica Lindbeck no longer plays both Millie and Loona, just Loona. meanwhile Millies new VA is Vivian Nixon and shes pretty good! Millie has more of a southern accent now which will make sense in a future episode. however Stolas also had a VA change, Bryce Pinkham. its flawless and makes me love Stolas even more, you will see why.

8/10 episode, great shit. much better than the pilot.

Loo Loo Land // S1: Episode 2

words cannot describe how much i love this episode. its flawless.

saying something is flawless is big, really big, but i do feel like this one is. and its all thanks to the opening sequence. the opening sequence makes the audience do a complete 180 about what they thought of a character, no longer is stolas just "a rich, important figure in hell who is extemely gay for blitzo" hes that, plus a loving and devoted father. and the music, its perfection. its the highlight of the whole moment alongside the beautiful visuals and deep character development. and on the subject of characters. Stolas #1 comfort character.

this episode introduces quite a few, the first 2 youll see are Octavia (Barrett Wilbert Weed), Stolas' daughter and Literally Me™, and also Stella (Georgina Leahy), Stolas' arranged wife who wants him dead as hell with NO shoes on in the casket for fucking blitzo. shes hot. very hot. girlboss. shes mean to Stolas tho :(

this episodes plot is cool too. I.M.P make an exception for Stolas and are hired to be bodyguards for the day at a theme park oh joy a theme park how whimsical and fun loving! oh goody! everything is on fire by the end of the episode! splendid!

but like yeaa dude this episode slaps, great plot great characters great shit, O YEA CHARACTERS i forgot about Fizzarolli (Alex Brightman) hes in this episode too, at least a robot version of him. Blitzo and Octavia hate him, thats cool.

10/10, i think this is the best episode of HB released so far. it also has Wally Wackford (Don Darryl Rivera)

Wally Wackford Counter: 1

Spring Broken // S1: Episode 3

oh damn! another banger! lets keep this good episode streak going!

this episodes also great. not as great as E2, but still great.

I.M.P get their parking spot stole by Verosika Mayday (Cristina "Vee" Valenzuela) whos a famous popstar in hell (thats why theyre in hell because they listen to pop and pop sucks listen to metal instead youll also go to hell but for a much cooler reason) and just happens to be Blitzo's ex girlfriend. so Blitzo challenges her to a duel where he bets I.M.P can kill more people than Verosika can fuck by the end of the day an who wins gets the parking spot (spoiler alert blitzo wins bc ofc, plot demands it) and then shenanigans lol.

i really dont have much to say about this one other than i like it, verosika is hot, drunk moxxie is funny, and that hehehoo sex joke. O YEA the musics good too its very good

9/10. banger

C.H.E.R.U.B // S1: Episode 4

i hate this episode. i really really hate it.

nearly everything which couldve went poorly, did. and i dont like that. let me explain.

the plot is okay, I.M.P go to kill a trillionaire. good! thats cool! fuck billionaires and especially fuck trillionaires. meanwhile a competitor, C.H.E.R.U.B, is trying to stop this guy from ending his life. and I.M.P cant have that so they convince him to fuckin die already lol. its fine but how the episode executes this is atrocious. you could easily skip through this one and go onto E5 anyway, this plot adds nothing to the current overarching storyline. yet.

for comedy, pacing and the actual joke is everything. especially if your main writer for this episode (at least by order of appearance in credits) has been doing comedy skits on youtube for many, many years now. no offense to Brandon Rogers, hes phenomenal, but this episodes pacing and jokes are trash. the pacing goes as follows:

Beginning plot development/jokes - meeting the competitors/jokes - joke - joke - joke - fight - joke - end joke. its trash and doesnt work at all imo. the jokes fall flat and its not well paced at all.

however there is 1 more point i want to bring up about not just the episode, but the show in general. regarding moxxie and the things which happen to him. moxxie in this show is essentially a less depressed Squidward Tentacles. this sounds fucking insane but Let Me Explain. the writing has him treated like a fucking punching bag for jokes and/or plot development. in E3, this was for plot development. he got stuffed in a beer keg and nearly got ate by a monster fish. this episode it was for no reason whatsoever. he just, got hurt and thats the joke. the joke is moxxie got hurt. thats it. next episode does it worse, ill get to it.

but anyway, this episode was shit but i liked the fight scene in it, that was cool.

4/10, trash but the fight was good. it also has wally wackford.

Wally Wackford Counter: 2

The Harvest Moon Festival // S1: Episode 5

wow.

when this episode first released, i didnt think much of it. i believe i said it was about an 8/10ish or something like that. rewatching it, i couldnt have been more wrong.

this episode has some fan-fucking-tastic plot. and it just might be the best plot driven episode to date. maybe E7 gives it a run for its money, maybe.

the plot is as follows, Stolas invites I.M.P to the wrath ring for a day off for the harvest moon festival. here we get to meet Millies parents Lin (Su Jan Chase) and Joe (Edward Bosco), but also Striker, whos played by Norman Fucking Reedus from video game kojima. and my GOD he fucking slays the role. besides Bryce Pinkham as Stolas, Norman Reedus as Striker has to be my personal favourite Voice in the show. its fucking fantastic.

however there is 1 character i do have to mention in particular, Sallie May (Morgana Ignis).

Why her in particular? she only has a few lines! yea true, however it gives me an opportunity to talk about the shows flawless LGBTQ+ representation. In Sallie's case, shes Transgender. you can tell the gender of an Imp by the pattern on the horns, millie for example has mostly black horns with thin white stripes, a sign of being AFAB. Moxxie and Sallie however have even sized black and white horn stripes, a sign of being AMAB. but what about other characters?

(these are all from memory so forgive me if any are wrong)

Blitzo is Pansexual

Moxxie and Millie are both Bisexual

Stolas is Gay

Stella and Octavia are currently unconfirmed (i think) tho i headcanon them both as Lesbian because i can.

Striker is also probably Gay i mean have you seen him talking to blitzo like cmon

(also funny side note i should add the VA's for Stella and Sallie, Georgina and Morgana respectively, both ship their characters together i think thats pretty fuckin cool i feel like i just have to mention that somewhere)

theres def a lot more ive missed, however these are the ones which come to mind. their sexuality/gender identity is never forced in your face, its never too painfully obvious that theyre gay for the sake of it, its pretty much flawless representation and i feel more shows should take a thing or 2 from HB in this aspect

Gushing over Norman Reedus amd LGBTQ+ rep aside, the plot revolves around a yearly game of strength in the harvest festival where blitzo and striker (among many others) compete in together. also tangent time

LETS COUNT HOW MANY TIMES MOXXIE GETS FUCKED BY A SHARK

3. thats 3 times. again, punching bad. what did moxxie do to you, anyway tangent over.

anyway striker competes in the games to gain the trust of I.M.P to stab them in the back by killing their gateway into the living world, Stolas. and you wouldnt believe who hired him (at least i didnt when first watching), Stella. anyway moxxie finds out, shit goes down, they fight, striker gets away. moxxie finally gains the trust of millies parents, big reveal, episode end. banger fucking plot and its just so damn good.

remember how i said the animation in this show gets really gooood,,this is the episode i was thinkin about when writing that. this episode has hands down the best animation (aside maybe the finale of E6) overall of any episode. with cool panorama shots which go around the whole charaters, n shit like that its great.

banger song too, striker did a sing and its good.

10/10, a great episode, but still a weaker 10/10 than E2. it also has Wally Wackford

Wally Wackford Counter: 3

Truth Seekers // S1: Episode 6

I barely remember anything from this episode, and at the time of writing, i only watched it five minutes ago.

so the plot is like, blitzo and moxxie get captured by crazy conspiracy guys called D.H.O.R.K.S (haha dorks) and its up to Da Girlz™ to save em meanwhile Da Boyz™ get truth gassed and spill a bunch of plot shit and its good i dont remember what exactly they said but its a fuckin good scene the animation is great with a unique visual style bc theyre hallucinating and OOOOOOOH the hallucination song its a fucking bop i love it (This is a good time to mention for anyone who yet doesnt know Sam Haft has put a bunch of the songs hes wrote for HB on Spotify, they may be just covers, but theyre still fucking great.) but anyway the fuckin, fight scene when millie and loona catch up to moxxie and blitzo is gahhdamn fuckin beautiful its so well animated n shit and then ya just got

Demon Stolas.

because fuck yes.

anyway yea good episode i guess plots good everythings good its just, i forget about this episode so often im convinced its not real

6/10, banger, just wish it wasnt so forgettable

OZZIE'S // S1: Episode 7 - FINALE PART I

rewatching this episode hurts. i cant put it into words how, its just a lot of fucked up shit to take in at once and i really do not want to write about this because its late and im tired so ill keep it fucking simple

Blitzo fucks everything up by using a fake date with Stolas as a cover to stalk M&M on their 1 year anniversary of their wedding, but then moxxie breaks into song and Asmodeus (James Monroe Iglehart) does not like that one bit so he and fizzarolli fuckin rip him a new asshole meanwhile blitzo interferes and gets both him and stolas into shit and my GOD this is where it gets depressing.

this song, despite it being a banger, is depressing as shit. i cant stand it, i cant stand how it treats blitzo and stolas

the shitty choices theyve made...

the people theyve thrown away...

its all coming back to them in song form. and it fucking sucks for them.

but m&m are doin okay ig they fuckin, hit fizz over the head and continued their song after that shit its all good for them tho ig or smthn idk im tired.

10/10, a phenomenal ending to the 1st season of one of the greatest adult animated shows ever written. it also has Wally Wackford.

Wally Wackford Counter: 4

THE CIRCUS // S2: Episode 1

damn i like this episode

i like the blitzo backstory with how he and fizz used to be before they now hate eachother, with how he met stolas and became his first friend. with everything really. its a great episode and like

damn its good idk what to say im tired its just a good episode.

Johnathan Freeman does a good job as Paimon, stolas' dad too even tho hes a shitty dad.

ok yea plot tho, it takes place like ~25 years before the pilot which is neat i like backstories. but like, paimon literally bought blitzo just so stolas could have a friend so he didnt need to be a father to him thats just. man i dont like that. blitzo and stolas are so cute tho i like them. uuuh fuckin, more stella content too shes back still a girlboss still hot, still mean to stolas :( you can tell im tired cant you lemme just say a thing

WAIT I FORGOT THE SONG AT THE END the song at the end is so goood i love it. idk if i like it more than You Will Be Okay but i like it its good i like it thats all i can really say rn. i could say more if i wasnt tired but im tired.

9/10, good shit, good backstory, good good good good episode.

SEEING STARS // S2: Episode 2

i have. so much to say about this. too many words to fit into tumblrs infinite character limit. but ill keep it brief because i want to

you have no idea, how long, i have waited for this to happen. just one scene between Octavia and Loona. just one, and now i have it. i am complete.

i saw this post which talked about star and moon symbolism between octavia and loona and it made me realise, holy shit, there is gonna be so much more octavia and loona content in future episodes if all this isnt a coincidence. and i am ready for it all.

i could talk about the rest of the episode if i wanted too, but i dont. i only want to talk about these perfect 2 minutes between these characters. i do think this is the best moment in the entire show so far. seeing a headcanon that youve had for so long (in this case loona and via being friends) become true, it connects with you in a way that not much else can.

and i dont care about the rest of the episode. not one bit. not right now anyway. i just want this moment, forever.

10/10. a good episode all around, and a truly, perfect moment. it also has Wally Wackford.

Wally Wackford Counter: 5

and damn thats like, all of helluva boss so far. ive been writing this for like 7h now becasue tumblr keeps breaking for me and i keep having to write anything all over again. god im tired. but im so glad to finally get all this off my chest after years of not really having anywhere to gush about this show. it means a lot to me, more than what people think. and i dont know where i would be without it, literally.

"but whats with the wally wackford counter" its there because its funny and hes a funny character.

[musicarenagh]

Robin Shaw Transverses With Latest Single - Jekyll and Hyde Jekyll and Hyde is the latest single from multitalented artist Robin Shaw, who has devoted himself to making good music that can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. Although Robin didn’t start recording or singing during his early stages of life, he someway gravitated towards music. In a recent interview with Mister Styx of Musicarenagh, the Jekyll and Hyde hitmaker disclosed that he used to be a street dancer and sometimes write poems and stories. This is evident in his music, as one key skill that cannot be overlooked as far as Robin Shaw is concerned is his storytelling. During the interview Robin was asked about the type of music he produces and this is what he had to say: “My main Genres are between pop, hip hop and indie. I love storytelling. I just want to portray my storytelling through an array of styles and genres. As long as there is imagery and creative story that's key to me.” Jekyll and Hyde is perfect proof of his versatility and dedication. Robin Shaw uses relatable lyrics that easily resonate with his listeners. The captivating lyrics pulls at your heartstrings, and the use of lush instrumentation gives the song an eerie feeling, just like wondering in a forest. Listen to this “I felt 'Jekyll and Hyde' has a weight behind the title because of the story behind the character. Plus the song is all about 'two personalities' and having another side to you. More specifically an evil side.” This, according to Robin Shaw, is the main inspiration behind the single. Listen to Jekyll and Hyde below https://open.spotify.com/track/7GG5KD0YbvwesxU20dI2Xu Follow Robin Shaw on Facebook Twitter Spotify Soundcloud Youtube Instagram What is your stage name? Robin Shaw Is there a story behind your stage name? Nope, it simply my name 🤣. My dad wanted me to have Rob1n but yeah simply Robin Shaw is fine. Where do you find inspiration? Anywhere and everywhere. Relationships, work, family, friends. I think you can only write about what you know and experience. What was the role of music in the early years of your life? I started off as a street dancer so I wasn't into recording or singing part as such early on. I always had an appreciation for the making of music though and use to find myself writing poems and stories on the side. Are you from a musical or artistic family? I wouldn't say I have a musical background but my dad and mum have always been artistic. My dad used to be very skilled with writing poems. Who inspired you to be a part of the music industry? I inspired myself if I'm honest. I wanted to challenge myself and put my creativity and passion to use. [caption id="attachment_53034" align="alignnone" width="1032"] I inspired myself if I'm honest.[/caption] How did you learn to sing/write/to play? Writing always came quite easy to me as I've always been quite expressive and I always had an interest in English literature and creative writing particularly at school. I started off with a company called Regent Street Artists in Soho after passing an audition. I have then made a conscious effort to practice and improve my vocals when I can. In the car, in the house, wherever I can improve, I'm always wanting too. Guitar wise, I have taught myself to play guitar although I wouldn't claim to be an established payer, more early intermediate level. Writing is something that has been more constant and consistent musically. What was the first concert that you ever went to and who did you see perform? I believe it was Oasis at Wembley in 2009. How could you describe your music? My main Genres are between pop, hip hop and indie. I love storytelling. I just want to portray my storytelling through an array of styles and genres. As long as there is imagery and creative story that's key to me. Describe your creative process. It usually starts off with random different lyrics and words with some link to a song. Then I create themes for a particular song.

Once the themes are established and some direction with a verse or chorus, i then work with my producer to then create and structure a song. I have always found I overwrite so trimming the lyrics is a challenging part. My producer is very musical minded so it feels quite easy to get the song started when we are in the studio. What is your main inspiration? Family. Real situations in life. Relationships and intricacies of the highs and lows of the emotions that come with that. I also love comedy and try to bring a little bit of that in my music. What musician do you admire most and why? I love many musical artists but my top ones would be Eminem, Lewis Capaldi and probably Mac Miller. Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career? Yes most certainly. As an artist you need to evolve, make mistakes, learn, pratice, grow, get it right, get it wrong. I'm certainly not the complete artist but I have progressed and certainly adapted my style. Who do you see as your main competitor? Myself. Comparison isn't realistic. You have to better yourself. You are the only one who can stand in your way and improve. What are your interests outside of music? I play for a local table tennis village team. I love table tennis. I love going to the gym. I have a husky dog who requires a lot of work. I enjoy fitness and work at the retailer John Lewis as a nursery advisor. Work has always been am influence and inspiration to music material. [caption id="attachment_53036" align="alignnone" width="960"] I play for a local table tennis village team. I love table tennis.[/caption] If it wasn't a music career, what would you be doing? Something in entertainment. Acting would of been cool or even media based like a radio presenter. What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music? There's many small and big problems. I think one problem is getting the attention on national stations. It's such a competitive platform but then it adds to the challenge. I've managed to accomplish a lot in the 6/7 years I've been releasing music but yet to get played on a U.K. national station like radio 1 or Kiss FM. If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be? For streaming platforms such as Spotify to improve that payment of streams to artists. Streaming is such a part now of undiscovered artists, it's not equal the payments don't match. https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UtDe5ZRRdeuCS7g4LfGmQ?si=F6V80DTfQvSqXlIK8GDc6A Why did you choose this as the title of this project? I felt 'Jekyll and Hyde' has a weight behind the title because of the story behind the character. Plus the song is all about 'two personalities' and having another side to you. More specifically an evil side. What are your plans for the coming months? I am concentrating on the promotion of the single. Planning my events for next year to perform at. I have two more singles coming out next year. Will also start recording again in the new year with new material that is ready to start production on. Do you have any artistic collaboration plans I have a good friend of mine who is from Columbia and has done an accoustic version of a previous song of mine called 'Bus 2 Nowhere' which is put on YouTube. We are hoping to do some more acoustic versions of my already released songs. What message would you like to give to your fans? If you want something, go for it. There's always challenges but if you want to become something no matter how small or big the dream maybe, never give up. Belief is the biggest asset you can have.

[welshoot]

Vyn’s wallpaper is possibly the one that fascinated me the most. That might be because Vyn himself is a very interesting character.

Black is the main interest color in Vyn’s wallpaper and, true to the formula of the others, MC is the one wearing that color and Vyn isn’t. Black has a lot of possible meanings. It can symbolize night, elegance, evil, power, mystery, and sophistication along with numerous other things. For the purpose of this image I think it’s symbolizing mystery, sophistication, and possibly power. Vyn is a fairly mysterious guy, he doesn’t really show his hand very often and is frequently portrayed as being kind of shady. He also is shown to be very sophisticated and have the power that comes from being sophisticated and mysterious. He keeps us guessing and that’s part of his charm. In terms of power, he also has been shown to be incredibly intelligent and have a very good read on people, both of which are forms of power in and of themselves.

I’m not entirely sure about what the flower on this wallpaper is but it reminds me of a white camellia. Camellia’s symbolize love, devotion, affection and admiration. This flower can also imply refinement, perfection, and faithfulness.  Vyn has been shown to have very deep feelings for the MC and the idea of ‘love at first sight’ has certainly been toyed with. In addition Vyn is very refined making this flower a good choice. White camellias  symbolize purity, good luck, and adoration. This is interesting since we don’t know how ‘pure’ Vyn really is. He’s been implied to have a lot of secrets and not be everything he seems. That said, the purity could be linked back to MC, a pure-hearted young lady who has been showing him that people can be genuinely good.  The flowers shown in the image also remind of what’s called the Cherokee rose. While it is more likely that the flowers are camellias I thought it’d be fun to discuss both options. The Cherokee rose has legend about it that deals with the trail of tears. According to the legend, while walking along the infamous trail of tears  the Cherokee women’s tears turned into these flowers and their sadness turned to strength which helped them through this horrible time. If this flower is indeed a Cherokee rose I think  it’s actually rather fitting for it to be on Vyn’s wallpaper. Vyn is a psychiatrist and though he specializes in criminal psychology he has been shown to help those who need counseling, including those that feel broken and lost. Much like how the Cherokee rose helped the Cherokee woman who felt broken and lost.

The notepad, medical id, pen, and clock all relate back to Vyn’s job but the clock is the one that interests me the most. Vyn was shown in the prologue using a clock to assist him with hypnosis. The fact he had this clock the first time we saw him and in this wallpaper makes me wonder if there is going to be something specific in the future plot to do with him and hypnosis or him and time.

 Position-wise, MC appears to have fallen and landed on Vyn. Her arms are thrown out to show she is bracing herself against what is likely a floor since they appear to be laying down. She is smiling at him, almost smirking and he’s looking back at her with a mildly amused, rather doting expression. This says a lot about their relationship. MC feels confident enough to look at him the way she is in such a position. She’s obviously comfortable with him and doesn’t seem bothered in the least by their position. Vyn isn’t uncomfortable either and seems to be preparing to wrap his arms fully around her. All in all, their positioning and expressions imply a romantic and rather playful relationship which they’ve been shown to have in the game.

[four-loose-screws]

FE8 Novelization Translation: Book 2 - Front Cover & Other Introductory Pages

Yup, you read that right! It’s time for book 2 already!

And here’s the big announcement - I recalculated the number of parts I’m going to split the chapters into, so I don’t have to take a break in-between books 1 and 2! Some chapters have more scene breaks than others, so it was an easy thing to do without compromising pacing at all.

Let’s get started!!

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Book 2

Written by TAKASE Mie

Illustrated by SUZUKI Rika

Published by Square Enix

(inside flap)

Author

TAKASE Mie

TAKASE Mie was born on July 31st in Tokyo. She graduated from Waseda University. Her recent hobby is the cello, which she was inspired to start learning after watching a certain sailing movie. Though she has dreams of one day being able to play Bach’s cello suites, she still has a hard time with even basic scales.

Cover and Obi Design: atelier THiRD

Princess Eirika vowed to rebuild her home country of Renais, gained the help of their ally nation Frelia, and started to fight back. As her army marches, she crosses paths with all sorts of people, and grows her group of allies. Finally, they make it to Renvall Castle, a critical strategic location for the Grado Army, and attack it. During the battle, she succeeds in reuniting with her elder twin brother Ephraim, who disappeared on the front lines. However, after having only a moment to confirm each other’s safety, Ephraim states that he will march to Grado Castle. Eirika volunteers to travel to the Theocracy of Rausten to support him, but then...

(inside flap)

Illustrator

SUZUKI Rika

SUZUKI Rika currently lives in Yokohama. She is a freelance illustrator who has contributed to titles such as the Monster Collection TCG (published by Fujimi Shobo) and Angels of Dawn (written by KAYATA Sunako and published by Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.). She also created the manga Tableau Gate - Volumes 1 & 2 (published by Kadokawa Shoten).

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Book 1

Written by TAKASE Mie

Illustrated by SUZUKI Rika

Table of Contents

Chapter 11: Caer Pelyn                                                                                           

Chapter 12: The Wyvern Rider’s Wrath

Chapter 13: The Desert Palace

Chapter 14: Reunion

Chapter 15: The Day the Empire Fell

Chapter 16: Repatriation

Chapter 17: The Demon King’s Shadow

Chapter 18: Encroaching Trap

Chapter 19: Night in Rausten

Chapter 20: The Lord of the Darkling Woods

Chapter 21: The Continent’s Wrath

Character Introductions    

Eirika

The Princess of Renais. She is kind, and does not like war itself, but still dedicated herself to the current war without hesitation to retake her country, a goal entrusted to her by her father, the king.

Fado

The king of the Kingdom of Renais. In his youth, he was renowned for his military prowess, and he is adored by his people as an honest statesman.

Seth

Though he is the youngest of all Renais’ generals, his loyalty and superb skills in both combat and discernment make him the ideal image of a knight.

Franz

He may have just only become a full-fledged knight, but he has a very serious and earnest personality, and is skilled in combat as well, ensuring him a promising future.

Valter

A general of the Grado Empire also known as the Moonstone. He was discharged from the army for the crime of massacring ordinary citizens for fun. However...

Gilliam

A devoted knight of Frelia with a long history as a fearless soldier. He is a man of few words, but his power is known throughout the entire Frelian Army.

Tana

The princess of the Kingdom of Frelia. In contrast to her friendly personality that is beloved by all of her retainers and servants, she also has military experience, and is an active member of the pegasus knight unit.

Hayden

The king of the Kingdom of Frelia. His resourcefulness is unparalleled, and has earned him the title “The Wise King.” He is a long time friend of Fado’s and spares no effort in aiding Eirika and her allies.

Vanessa

An outstanding knight, even among the prided Frelian pegasus knights. She is very serious, but kind.

Moulder

A priest. Within his calm appearance lies a very intelligent mind. He can not only heal with staves, but is also knowledgeable in medicine.

Selena

A mage general of Grado, also known as the Fluorspar. One of the empire’s three generals. She has vowed her undying loyalty to Emperor Vigarde.

Ross

A boy living in Ide Village in Renais. He is saved by Eirika and her allies when his home is attacked by bandits.

Garcia

Ross’ father. A former troop commander in the Renais’ army known for his dauntless courage. When his wife passed away, he retired from the army to raise his son.

Neimi

A girl born in Lark Village in Renais. Her home was burned down by bandits. She cries easily, but undoubtedly inherited her grandfather’s famous skills with a bow.

Colm

Neimi’s childhood friend. They were the only two to survive the bandit attack on their hometown. He has sticky fingers, but is kind to Neimi.

Artur

He meets Eirika and the others while carrying out the orders given to him by his monastery to purge the lands of monsters. He has a deep love of learning and is a devoted monk.

Lute

Artur’s childhood friend. Though it is true that she is an exceptionally skilled mage, the words and actions she chooses as a result of her confidence in that fact are a bit detached from reality.

L’Arachel

A young woman with a strong sense of justice on a continuing journey to take out the monsters roaming the lands. She actually appears to be of noble standing based upon the way her companions talk to and act around her.

Dozla

A warrior traveling with L’Arachel. He cannot hide the fact that he is her loyal retainer, though perhaps it is more accurate to say that he is not really trying. He’s not one to sweat the small stuff.

Rennac

He is actually a master thief, and just under contract with L’Arachel, but all she does is drag him around everywhere.

Natasha

A cleric being pursued by the Grado Army because she was deemed a traitor. She asks to travel with Eirika so she can spread the word to other nations about the strange things occurring within the empire. 

Joshua

A skilled mercenary who loves to gamble above all else. He becomes Eirika’s ally after losing a bet with Natasha.

Ephraim

The prince of Renais and Eirika’s older twin brother. He is blessed with a strong sense of justice and decisiveness. He also excels in spearmanship, and his skills are highly respected by the cavalier unit.

Kyle

A loyal retainer who has served Ephraim ever since he joined the cavalier unit. An exceptional knight who’s skilled in serving as a guard.

Forde

Like Kyle, he serves Ephraim as both a guard and close confidant. He and Kyle have been rivals since they were young. He is also Franz’s older brother.

Orson

The commanding officer of the Renais cavalier unit. He is a devoted cavalier who has served the royal family for years, and that King Fado trusts deeply, however...

Innes

The prince of The Kingdom of Frelia. He always has a strong sense of duty towards his role as a member of the royal family. He is extremely confident in himself, and has the strength and abilities to back it up.

Myrrh

A girl who is neither human nor monster, but a member of the dragon tribe. She leaves The Darkling Woods to tell the humans about the abnormalities occurring across the continent.

Amelia

A girl who became a soldier because of her respect for General Duessel. However, she feels lost when she learns that he opposes the war.

Gerik

The brave leader of a band of mercenaries. He joins Eirika’s army because Prince Innes hired him as his guard.

Tethys

A dancer whose bewitching dances attract the soldiers around her and heighten their morale. Once she joined Gerik’s Mercenaries, she became an indispensable member of the group.

Marisa

A female mercenary is rare enough, but her beauty and skills make her even more of a diamond in the rough. She is registered in the guild as a member of the same mercenary group as Gerik.

Ewan

Tethys’ little brother. He aspires to become a mage, and convinced a renowned sage to become his teacher. He is at the age where he cannot help but want to be treated as his own person.

Saleh

The sage of Caer Pelyn, and the only person of this age to associate with those of the dragon tribe. His abilities are very widely known. He is also Ewan’s teacher.

Glen

A general of the Grado Empire who is also known as the Sunstone. One of the empire’s three generals. He also questions the current war…

Cormag

A dragon knight of Grado. Glen’s younger brother. He trusts and respects his brother completely, but after a certain event happens, he leaves the Grado Army.

Lyon

The prince of the Grado Empire. He has been a friend of Eirika and Ephraim’s for many  years. His research into dark magic has made him even more knowledgeable in magic than the palace mages.

Ismaire

The beautiful queen of the Kingdom of Jehanna, known as “The Queen of White Dunes.” She has gained the overwhelming support of the people for her accomplishments in running the country since her husband’s passing.

Duessel

A general of the Grado Empire with the title “Obsidian.” One of the Three Imperial Generals. Though he has been accused of being a traitor, he is working together with Ephraim to warn the emperor of the error of his ways.

Knoll

A palace mage of the Grado Empire who studied dark magic alongside Lyon. He is one of the few people who knows the reason why the emperor, once known for his virtue, changed so drastically.

Caellach

A general of Grado known as the “Tiger Eye.” He started out as a mere mercenary, and rose up to his current position, but he is an ambitious person who wishes to rise even higher.

Vigarde

The emperor of the Grado Empire. He is beloved for his virtuous ways, including opening up the national treasury to the people in times of disaster. However, ever since that fateful day, his personality has changed completely, and he began the invasion all of the countries across the continent of Magvel...

Syrene

The commander of Frelia’s third unit of pegasus knights. She is Vanessa’s elder sister by blood, but Tana also looks up to her like an elder sister.

Mansel

The Pontifex who rules over the Theocracy of Rausten. Known for being highly educated and devoted to his beliefs, he is worshiped by the deeply devoted people as the representative of the gods.

Riev

A mage general of the Grado Empire known as the “Blood Beryl.” Ever since he learned the reason for the emperor’s change, he has served the emperor to support his dark ambitions.

[reyeslonestar]

Question what are some things you wanna see in season 3 of lone star? Character development, plots, anything

I want to see Tonya Kong write every episode. that's all. thanks for asking!

-

sadfkja I joke, I do have other ideas, but that is definitely high on my wish list! i'm gonna go through by character and talk about what I'd like to see for them, so this is gonna get quite long whoops...

the main thing that I'd like to see overall, though, would be evidence of an overarching season plan or arc - it doesnt necessarily have to be a plot that stretches through all the episodes or anything major, but I'd love them to have plotted out the season before they start. from watching this season and then reading interviews after the finale, they dont appear to plan many things from the start and end up throwing in ideas as they go along. if they plan it from the start they can foresee how theyre going to affect character development more, and they can have a bit more balance in the types of episodes they have, so that the season is less insane and more naturally ebb-and-flow with a few light episodes to break up the drama.

okay, onto the characters! just going to do this in billing order for simplicity's sake. customary reminder that these are just my own opinions and thoughts, and this is more of a wish list than a realistic expectation.

if you want to search for a specific character, ctrl F for one of these terms including the dash at the start:

-Owen

-Tommy

-TK

-Grace

-Judd

-Marjan

-Paul

-Carlos

-Mateo

-Nancy

press “j” to skip the whole post.

-Owen

okay so I'd love to see them actually develop his character. Owen has been given a lot of backstory with lots to play with development-wise, but to me it feels like the show never goes anywhere with it. he's got a lot going on what with 9/11, feeling responsible for the fates of his fellow firefighters, the codependence of his relationships etc. I'd like to see him go to therapy and see him grow some self awareness and seek to manage himself better, rather than all his screentime devoted to him being a hero when other characters have the situation handled. it would really show him as a good leader if he drew on the skills that his team has and refer to them for advice/ideas. realistically he is the main character, so I'd like them to develop him like one.

also, I kind of love the chief role for him? I think it would suit him really well. but it would drag him away from the 126 and split up the dynamics too much so it would make for bad tv and I wouldnt actually want to see that. good for his character though.

-Tommy

I love Tommy :) just wanted to say that.

so obviously Tommy's got a lot of grief to handle next season, and I don't want them to shy away from that. I want it acknowledged and processed. (I'd also like a little bit of seeing the twins' grief too, because they're also suffering a massive loss). maybe something with Judd helping Tommy learn to manage her grief with his own experience of losing the original 126, encourage her to go to therapy, plus Tommy, Grace and Judd all feeling the loss of Charles together. after all, Grace and Judd were his friends and they will be grieving too.

I'd also kind of like to see Tommy have something outside being a working mother. obviously we're going to need to deal with that a lot especially now that Charles is gone, but I feel like she's been assigned the Character TraitTM of being the working mum and I'd like to see them give her a hobby or something. idk. and give her a night off with Grace or something. give her something just for her.

-TK

okay so I think theres a fair likelihood that theyre going to return to looking at TK's addiction next season which im not averse to. I think him struggling with his sobriety would be worthwhile to see for his character and to show that its not a straightforward path, plus it makes sense with all the insane stuff they've thrown at them in s2. however, Id like to see it in the context of his friends and family rallying around to help and support him and show him that he's got people to rely on, and that he's allowed to rely on them, plus the support of his AA meetings and therapy. I also need them to lay the groundwork for him struggling, so putting in signs of him deteriorating so the situation makes sense. this storyline doesn't need surprises to be interesting or good, and frankly it shouldn't have any.

as for him and Carlos, I definitely want to see them househunting! I'd like to see the combination of househunting/Carlos with Tommy's kids/Grace and Judd having their baby have an impact on their perspectives regarding their future and spark that conversation (like, looking at houses with more rooms and thinking about kids, future, marriage etc). I think that maybe one of them, probably TK, or maybe both of them those boys have way too many parent issues having anxieties about being a dad could be an interesting way to add tension without being too drastic, and then that can be resolved in a way that reassures them of their relationship and reaffirms their strength as a couple. the talk about the future would also lay the groundwork towards a proposal at the end of s3.

-Grace

grace :) my love :)

I could watch episode after episode of Grace kicking ass and saving people over the phone. I'd love to see an episode set there? like, some kind of story within the call centre with all the handlers having to resolve that between them, but also tie in the first responders, so we see the fire team, the paramedics and Carlos all working but we only see the bits that Grace and the other call handlers hear, if that makes sense? also an actual Grace/Carlos team up where they are coming in from the different angles with different amounts of evidence and figuring out the best way to solve something together. plus I'd like to see her maybe get some recognition for being awesome at her job, maybe another handler coming to her for advice on how to solve something.

of course we've got the baby Ryder on the way, and I want that to go comfortably and smoothly for her. she deserves that. lots of wholesome excitement for her and Judd from the whole extended firefam, baby shower, gifts, the full works. pamper grace please.

-Judd

judd4captain2k22. please.

yeah I know its not gonna happen, but I loved judd stepping in as captain this season and I'd love to see that continued with him taking more leadership, and Owen deferring to him for advice/council in a work environment rather than personal life. maybe set up a long term idea about judd being a captain someday.

he's gonna be a dad :') so what are his anxieties about that? why were they putting it off before? was it related to his PTSD? he's got lots of people relying on him now, how does that make him feel? what if his kid loses him? id like to see him still using therapy as a tool to help himself deal with everything. lots of meaty questions to dig into there :D

-Marjan

I'd quite like to see more of her balancing her daredevil nature with the impact of that and realising how much danger she puts herself in sometimes. or on the flip side, maybe the team is dealing with a really dangerous situation and they utilise her fearlessness to save people. her relationship with social media could also come back? but bring in the development they gave her this season, and her Firefox presence is more serious, less flippant?

I think that theres now a space for her to explore her sexuality/romantic experience now that she hasn't got her engagement with Salim as a kind of failsafe. maybe she wants to put herself out there and date, but thats really daunting as shes never really had to do that before? personally I think this could tie in really well with a self discovery/exploration regarding her sexual orientation, but I doubt they’d go there with her, so thats just my headcanon.

-Paul

I want them to draw on Paul’s observational skills and perceptiveness more, especially on calls and in emergencies. I remember someone (sorry I cant remember who) pointed out that he would have been a great character to centre the arsonist plot around in terms of noticing the clues etc, so id love a storyline that revolves around him dealing with an emergency like that. I also really want a Carlos and Paul friendship so maybe them collaborating on a call to solve something, that’d be cool.

can we give Paul a girlfriend please. if im not complely insane, there was a reference to someone in like,, 2x04?? someone who put mayo in his sandwich? idk I havent checked (edit: it was aioli in his banh mi! thank you @meneatyoghurt), but if there is someone can we show him having a fun and loving relationship please. I dont need there to be any drama. just them having fun on a date or something.

-Carlos

so I know that some people are keen to see him in his police role more but I really don't need much of that. on calls with the 126 I'd like to see him be the officer in charge more, but I don't need police-exclusive storylines. I've talked about it here if you want to know why.

the only area that I'd like to see would be in the direction of reform/addressing the flaws of the system, and I think they can do that on a personal level for him, because he and Mitchell need a chat. if they'd gone with her decision in 2x08, he, Mitchell and the bank robber would all be dead, and I think thats gotta have some impact. also the fact that he was suspended for trying to preserve life. theres a lot they could work with there and maybe have him thinking about how he can do good and how he can effectively protect and serve. not to mention, the opportunity that would provide in terms of addressing his relationship with his dad and how he maybe sought approval by pursuing a police career?

also I’d like him to learn that he doesnt need to accept blame/preemptively put blame on himself and that he doesnt need to apologise when someone else hurt him. kind of want to send him to therapy. kind of want to send all the characters to therapy. but yeah, him learning that he can accept apologies and understand that he doesnt have to make people feel better for hurting him. hes allowed to be hurt and feel pained about it. and that can tie into his relationships with Mitchell, with TK and with his parents.

I think I mentioned most of the tarlos stuff in TK’s section, but I wouldn't mind at least one instance for them where we see it all from his perspective instead of TK’s.

finally ive mentioned above how i’d like a team up with Paul on a scene and both of them figuring it out together. I'd also like them having a friendship outside work, just the two of them, bonding over books and being relatively sane people compared to the rest of their friends.

-Mateo

Mateo is so sweet. I loved 2x14 and the recognition he got, more of that please! also theres still so much I want to know - one of the more consistent things they set up for him in s2 was his faith, so I want to know more about that. what's his relationship with religion and God? he's pretty isolated from his family so how does he feel about that? is his religion something that helps him feel connected to them? maybe the church helped him find a community when he first came to the states, before he got settled with the 126, and he finds reassurance in faith that God is looking after his family while he cant be there? I think maybe there's scope for a conversation between Marjan and Mateo about that, about that distance and caring for their families through faith and prayer.

also, if he's still with the horrible firehouse, I'd like to see the other firefighters being won round by his resilience and stepping up to look out for him, and someone backing him up against the captain. Mateo is used as the butt of the joke most of the time, but I'd also like to see a bit more acknowledgement of things like losing his house and the bullying hes going to get more of from this firehouse.

-Nancy

I think that her speech to Tommy in 2x14 was really telling, and I'd love to see them expand on that a bit more. first on the loss and fear of losing her friends and coworkers, but then also on her hopes and aspirations - she said she wants to be a paramedic captain so lets see her working to take her exams and qualifications, and showing initiative on scenes etc.

id like to see more of her being integrated into the 126 group. she and marjan turned up to the hangout together, so lets develop that relationship more. I would love it to be romantic but I'd also love to see that as a friendship. but also her forming bonds with others in the group as well as more of her and TK being a chaos duo. I love that they stole the ambulance, more of that insanity please!

-

I think thats it? if youre still reading, youre insane and I appreciate you a lot! honestly im open to all sorts of things in s3, this isnt a prediction or anything, its just stuff I think would be interesting based on where the characters are now. 

[maskedjoker]

We are getting really close to the scene in lost fragment of snow that was genuinely confusing in the book, and it's the scene were everyone in the circus is killed. I think what we will probably get is a scene were mana finally ends up giving into despair after he is hit and then allen is fed to a lion.

I think that with more current info, i can say for sure that sleeve earl and mana are a hybird. This will likely cause a resurgence of sleeve earl into taking over the body and becoming whole. This only lasts for a short time however and when cross confronts him after the rest of the circus has died from the audience turning into akuma(which i suppose are implied to be constantly just around the earl and is probably one of the many reasons cross warned Allen to stay away) some exchange of words or damage causes a lots of control. This damage however also hurts mana(or potentially just being forced out off control) causing him to loose even more memories as seen when mana and Allen reunite the next day.

Now i think we can agree that sleeve earl exists as a third entity, especially since her recent art exhibit interview, as she talked about the suit being a super sophisticated golem. I think in this case as with tim and lero yhat "golem" refers to AI. Id argue with the weird phrasing like helix of life and all the biotech style that magic is more often than not just more advanced technology, and wherever the noahs came from likely was, hence why they say they only seem strong because we have become so weak. This is only further shown with innocences resemblance to machines like its gear like parts and percentage resonance.

The noah memories in general i think are some kind of AI that passes through generation lines, carrying significant portions of its past forward and then fusing with a similar person in their lineage. For example early on road would have been just road, then through some means either became an AI(or was given a piece of someone that counts as one under golem, its unclear). Regardless once connected to the noah memory, it acts like a save file and becomes more sophisticated with time. It carries each life and gives all those memories, feelings and drives to a new body. So new road would remember being road, her life and everything, but also the life they had been living up until the two combined. Over time the noah memory keeps getting larger and larger to the point new experiences are so small, relatively speaking, that it overrides much more than normal. Since they are fuzed as one being they likely cant be separated without mutually assured destruction, were the current entity will die and any remains will not be the origionals, if anything remains at all. An example of this is that tyki could not be made human by Allen I their fight i the arc, despite having a blade that should destroy only part of him. Admittedly tyki is a special case though, and more tyki backstory is needed.

Changes from body to body become more subtle, but the base, which likely has a distinct core function as seen by its response to certain tasks and ideas, remains a strong aspect. This creates an almost reincarnation like effect for them, needing to only find a new body to continue.

The suit is like this, but different. I don't know how the original earl split, but i do think that some aspect of him was placed on the suit. I would like to say its the original version of the noah memories of the earl and nea got like a brand new copy, but i actually have no idea what memories he has of being past earl so its mostly a guess. Regardless the noah actually all seem to transform in some way when they get mega pissed. Im looking at you skinn, jasdevi, and tyki/joyd. So the suit is likely that kind of thing, but way more distinct and capable of acting autonomously. Since they all have different forms it makes sense that his would also be unique. They all probably represent some inner desire related to their memory. Skinn is just rage so big angry man works fine. Jasdero and devit are bonds so they want most to be one. Tyki got all fucked up before he changed so i got nothing, but it had a heavy does of sadism, which I guess is pleasure? Taking into account that killing in horrible graphic ways is his guilty pleasure it kinda makes sense.

So because of that, this sentient AI is constantly trying to pair with half a fucking brain because nea and mana only share one brain cell. Some kind of resistance from mana or strain causes him to constantly fall ill or comatose. Now to be clear on naming, sleeve earl does not refer to themselves as adam in the mirror scene nor does he refer to mana as adam, and only uses "we" when talking to mana about being the earl. Oddly enough the earls self pronouns are we, using wagashi which is kind of like the japanese equivalent of the royal we used in europe for the entirety of the series. For the record, mana in the flashbacks uses male or single they pronouns, i don't remember if he uses boku or watashi, but he uses at least one if not both.

So from this it seems millennium earl is a title, used by whatever is paired with the suit. Adam is the original name of the noah, and is the preferred name of the current earl aside from the title.

This circumstance was likely caused by the rest of the noah, who are using the earl for something related by the pillar. His separation either by accident or by intent was likely by the hands of his family trying to keep control for their ends. This is why the current earl is called a broken puppet and has so many things around him related to acting and stage plays. He is playing a role, the red clown to allens white clown as stated in the ark arc. He even wears a mask. His memories and mind have been damaged though, therefore broken. However broken puppet for both allen and the earl could also refer to a puppet that doesnt work as a double meaning, implying they can no longer be controlled or puppeted.

It is also implied that he is still unaware of this betrayal, but it is likely nea does to some degree as it would explain why he became a traitor and killed his own family. To be clear, i dont think all of the noah know everything, and i dont think they dont actually care for the earl. It seems they still genuinely follow him to their death and see him as one of their own, especially in cases like road, tyki and wisely.

Now early i said that different generations of noah would cope woth reincarnating differently. Since the earl only died once before 7000 years ago, id say resetting to a new body with only 17 years would be just smashed flat by any algorithm with that much data. However manas feelings are still the newest, and so still have an impact even on the current earl.

Now we come to resurrecting mana. How? Why? Well i dont know. But my guess is whatever part was the memories of mana for the 20 or so years he lived, or at least his memories at death, are in allen. His curse and weird hallucinations of mana seem to suggest it. Alternatively that part of his soul may have passed on, or it fuzed with the noah memory making the origional mana part of the hive and much like tyki and his noah memories cannot be seperated. Not good regardless.

As two additional things, i want to mention that hoshino is a twin and has always been obsessed with it, so having twins in her book was inevitable. What is extra weird is hoshino was actually going to be a triplet, but either her or her sister absorbed it before birth. She has mentioned it in dgm interviews and i cant PROVE it translates to anything in the plot but its suspicious. She also still list mana, nea and the earl as distinct in every book up to date in extra novels and at the start of her books. Oh and her favorite hat for the earl right now? The one featured on the most recent chapter? Has two faces on the front that are visible, and one in the back thats hidden, and the most recent art has the back face as the only one visible, angrily staring allen down. Great art foreshadowing if im right. Its also usually sleeve earl, if not exclusively, that wear it.

The second thing is mana talking about love and drive in the most recent chapter just brings up the earl having the noah memory of love or devotion or something for me. Ive written about it before but it just seems to fit. This character is all about that from the ability to fuze loved ones together to the hearts he talks with and his drives being based on grand acts of devotion, being by their side etc. Mana also loved and adopted both and dog and a homeless child and keeps talking about how the world is so beautiful despite all the bad. The earl literally acts like the whole noah clans mom by his own words and cooks for them, and both of them go out of their way to be cartoony to break tension. The earl literally goes and buys a single red rose from a poor girl while tyki pontificate on how he doesnt act like a villain. He doesnt take an umbrella because he wants to feel the rain. He talks about how what he does is in human nature and requires a connection between two people. He is even designed with his ideal colors as red and purple with white, as well as being designed after flowers. I know this probably doesnt make sense, but its stuck in my head.

[seijch]

ANNOUNCEMENT: NOT A HELLO, BUT NOT A GOODBYE EITHER

omg hi ... im like . ashamed to come back after saying brief hiatus in october and then disappearing off the face of the earth til FEBRUARY but under the cut i will be explaining myself and the following, if youre interested (and a tl;dr at the very bottom if you don’t wanna scroll thru this obnoxiously long post):

the reason(s) i was gone for so long

what i was doing during that time (its just a personal account yall can scroll past this idrc)

the status of those um . halloween requests

the future of this account

i. so . Hiatus .

i know. i know . i probably mentioned it when i made the announcement post, but my mental health likes to go on one of those rides. yknow the ones where you go like up rlly fast then down maybe and then up then DOWN .... its like that. i needed a break and every time i wanted to come back or thought about it, something would happen and i would get stuck in my own head.

a big reason for getting stuck in my head was (and i hate to admit this ... i hate to admit that i have Insecurities On The Internet) my feelings of inadequacy regarding my writing. i love to plot fics, i love concepts and characters and making little headcanons but i dont ... know if i love writing rn. and i thought for the longest time that like . whatever ill just push thru it its fine ill be fine but it kinda wasnt lmao you can kinda see it in my halloween reqs and what become of them when i get to that but i began to feel like nothing i had put out or would put out would hold up prose wise (and normally i dont feel like this im much more “idc its my life im living it” but thats not a rant for tumblr LMAO). i still feel like that -- like im better as a reader than a writer. but . You Know :-)

tl;dr: mental state go brrrrr

ii. anywhere here’s wonderwall

when i left, i was in a steadily decreasing mental and emotional state, made worse by a situation at work that really was a case of petty jealousy on my end and rlly isnt very consequential now despite how much pain and resentment it gave me when it Was a problem so i wont get into it. the tl;dr of november and december was me using work as an crutch and distraction -- i know my job, i do it well, it helped me not think about my responsibilities and obligations and inadequacies. of course, as the holiday season grew busier n busier i was scheduled so often that i moved 88 or so miles (according to my apple watch, which i ONLY wear at work since im never anywhere else outside my house) and fell into a cycle of showering n sleeping at my house before going back the next day. (theres definitely something to be said abt capitalism and “grind culture” here but once again its not the time or place snsjkdfds)

at the turn of the new year, i happened to remember a birthday card i hadnt filed away for safekeeping from a friend of mine that id been horribly out of touch with til that point. i started crying because i realized how out of touch id been in general up until that point. the month of january was great for me: i was focused, happy, and in a much better place than i had been before. the end of it brought me down focus wise and im hoping that enough time away from my distractions will refocus me bc i ... need it LMAO and though ive burned out from that level of productivity and gotten distracted again im ... trying to stay positive which i think is the most i can do 😁👍🏼

media wise, i got real into stardew valley (but burned out bc i played it extensively as a way to wind down after work), the pokemon platinum romhack renegade platinum (still havent finished it bc of school n i played it w the intent to see if i could nuzlocke it ... bitch its so hard but its so fun bc of it), briefly assassins creed: odyssey (im one of those ppl who completes an entire region before i move to the next so you can tell i burned out of that one + wouldnt have the time to properly devote to it even if i didnt), got back into genshin impact after pulling for xiao (after not touching it for like . months), and danganronpa. yes . danganronpa 😐 i Know. i stopped playing it after the second trial of the first game bc i was so hurt by the outcome and picked it up in late january only to get sucked in (thank god i had the foresight to buy the second and third games during the steam winter sale). rn im at the start of chapter 4 if anyone wants to come in my asks and um . talk to me abt danganronpa

tl;dr: I’m Into Danganronpa Now

iii. you realize halloween was three months ago right

i mentioned this in the first section, but i love to plot things. every request is plotted or at least has a solid foundation. i had fun detailing what concept i wanted to go with considering what i was given, and there were some bangers i might touch up in the future. but heres whats going to happen to the requests themselves:

there are two finished requests. one will be posted tomorrow and the other will be touched up (just bc i finished it doesnt mean its good 🧍‍♂️) and scheduled for next saturday. as for the ones i never got around to ...

i will not be finishing those requests. i hate to be That Person, but i feel like we all expected this 🧍‍♂️ what i will do is post all of my notes for each request in batches -- requests that have an @ to go with them will be mentioned in the post proper, but anon asks will be pictured. (there are some asks that came from blogs who are now deactivated but i wrote down all the prompts and remember most of those askers so ill cross that bridge when i get there) there will most likely be an excerpt or two simply bc i think i mightve written a few plot points or interactions in the form of bullet points. i rlly am sorry about doing this but i remember looking at my notion doc with all the prompts and feeling ... like i wasnt measuring up n it wasnt just to myself or to some intangible concept of “other” id constructed but it was instead to those who requested n actually WANTED to see and hear and read my writing and i ...... im gonna admit thats another big reason i avoided this site.

regardless, youll definitely get what i have (and likely more than just my bullet points and illegible handwriting).

tl;dr: im sorry. what i have in terms of plot, concept, and interaction for every request will be posted, but i cant say ill ever complete them and mean it.

iv. so what now?

well i mean . im not entirely sure how sold i am on haikyuu in the content creation department (as a creator n to a lesser extent, as a consumer). as mentioned previously, its no longer my primary focus. it doesnt mean im not into haikyuu anymore; i have a lot of love for those boys but i cant rlly say im even caught up w recent fandom activity and also havent even finished s4 pt2 LMAO thats on my to do list

and despite all that, i still want to share my plots n concepts and snippets and maybe even fics. it wont happen anytime soon. it might not even happen. but i mean . its better than me saying i wont write ever again shjdkfs but either way ill probably use this blog as a personal blog w the occasional ask game for dialogue prompts (those are always so fun i love making up aus to fit like . the most mundane prompts)

as for my works (past and any potential future), ive opened an ao3 acc here n ill be editing n possibly expanding on my old works to post there. tumblr, to me, is The x reader hub, but i figure more x reader fics on ao3 is never a bad thing.

ill be deleting/posting drafted posts to the queue since they were all meant to be queued anyway as well as (sorry again 🧍‍♂️) deleting or answering asks in the inbox. (moots if you get a notif from me saying i rbed your post from months ago ... mind your business) im very hard to get ahold of and its ... a problem. expect an overhaul of the nav n shit to reflect my new direction n also because i feel like i cant tell if my passion for carrd is shared by the majority HSDKLFS maybe its better to read my info in a normal post ykwim .......

and of course . if youve read all this n decided im no longer worth the follow, i sure as hell cant stop you. thank you for wanting to, at some point, hear what i have to say -- it means more than you think.

tl;dr: writing will be edited and reposted to ao3, this blog will be a personal blog with a hint of writing (sometimes)

the tl;dr to end all tl;drs:

im back! i wont be as active as i used to due to a lessened interest in haikyuu in general, but i have an ao3 acc now where all my past work will be edited, possibly expanded, and reposted. any future work will also find itself there. my halloween requests will be posted in batches as incomplete concepts, plots, and snippets of scenes; i wont be promising to finish any of them.

there are still fic concepts im attached to and want to finish, but i cant promise any more writing on my end. this blog will be a personal blog with maybe writing, not a writing blog with my personal thoughts all over it.

regardless if you stick around or not, its been crazy sexy cool (equal emphasis) being on haikyuu tumblr even tho i wasnt around for long ... even tho its not my main focus anymore, im still excited to see what the future might hold 🤝

love, ari 💌

[witch-of-ren]

hi!! I saw your post titled "Hades' library" and was wondering if you've read anymore books with him since then? im a huge book reader and a Hades devotee that's trying to get back onto better devotionals for him since ive been struggling, so I thought I'd share that w him :) is the night circus good? id love more recs, im more into fiction books but anything u got I can try!! tysm

Hi! 

I have not read anymore books with him, or even finished Night Circus. I’ve been struggling to really get into books recently and reading has seemed like a chore rather than something fun for me recently. BUT that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a ton of books to recommend. I got carried away, so they’re under the cut. :P

The Night Circus, for one. It’s very good! Erin Morgenstern is one of my favorite authors and that book is beautifully done. It has magic, mystery, romance...pretty much everything you could ask for. Including POC cast (Tsukiko being one of my favorites) and LGBT characters. “The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

Next up...The Starless Sea. Another Erin Morgenstern book. I daresay this was better than The Night Circus. Again, POC cast and LGBT. The main romance is LGBT and done very well. Mystery, magic, witchcraft...it’s got a wonderful plot. I read it all in two days, the majority in one sitting and it felt like coming out of a deep sleep when I was done. One of the tattoos I plan to get is going to be related to that book.  “Strange, isn’t it? To love a book. When the words on the pages become so precious that they feel like part of your own history because they are. It’s nice to finally have someone read stories I know so intimately.”

It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but Even the Darkest Stars (Heather Fawcett) was a good one. It has a sequel now and I keep meaning to read it. Another fantasy one. Magic, witches, demons, adventures. This is similar to the Grishaverse (Shadow and Bone series/Six of Crows) with its setting and some of the magic, but there’s some solid differences. The ending made me mad but I think it sets up the sequel well.  “I wanted to push against the world and feel it push back.”

The Deep by Rivers Solomon is a short novel, perhaps one would call it a novella. It’s POC centered and it has an intense storyline. LGBT if I remember, too. Gorgeous story about mermaids who descended from African people thrown overboard on slave ships as they came to America.  “What does it mean to be born of the dead? What does it mean to begin?”

While we’re talking about mermaids, here’s my plug for the Waterfire Saga (starting with Deep Blue). It’s actually really good and I adored reading it. I think I read through the whole series in one sitting while I was sick once. “One is not born knowing how to lead, one learns.”

These next few are going to be more in the realistic fiction, young adult fiction genre but there’s a reason for each. A piece of what, personally, working with Hades is supposed to mean and what he can represent in a relationship.

My Fairy Godmother is A Drag Queen (David Clawson). It’s a new take on an old fairytale in a modern age, but the message underlying is to be yourself and be that unapologetically. And that money and fame don’t buy happiness. It’s a humorous book and I really need to read it again. “I just felt like . . . me. And whatever “me” meant, that was perfectly fine and absolutely enough. Everyone should feel that kind of peace and self-acceptance far more often than I think most of us do.”

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman (I’d say any of her books besides Infinity Courts, since that’s a different genre, but there’s two I’d like to talk about in particular). This book features POC cast. I believe Kiko, the protag, is half Japanese and half white? The message here is similar to the one above, but it deals more with breaking away from the trauma added on to expectations or an external force. I saw a lot of my relationship with my step-grandmother in this story and I sent a copy to my cousin. We both learned and grew and healed from this story and the lesson taught.  “I want to find self-worth without needing it to come from someone's approval.”

Summer Bird Blue (Akemi Dawn Bowman). This one is a lot heavier, topic wise. And actually, it’s really fitting for me at the moment. The main character loses her sister and has to figure out life without her. She goes through a period where she loses touch with her music, one of the most important things to her. It’s written partly in Pidgin (a mix of English and Hawaiian) so good luck, but it’s a beautiful story of healing and recovering from losing your other half. “Grief is a monster - not everyone gets out alive, and those who do might only survive in pieces. But it's a monster that can be conquered, with time.”

Broken Things (Lauren Oliver) Murder mystery! Uncovering the truth and laying an old friend to rest. But with drama and healing. It’s told really well and the ending caught me so off guard. I usually can’t read murder mysteries because I always guess the ending and am disappointed when I’m right. Couldn’t have guessed this one.  “That’s the thing about hearts. They don’t get put back together, not really. They just get patched. But the damage is still there.”

Finally...They Both Die at The End (Adam Silvera). Coming to terms with the inevitable end of life. This book follows to characters who know they’re going to die. LGBT romance in here as well. It’s a wild ride of a book and well, the title is completely true. There’s dealing with guilt, regret, anxiety, and other feelings that someone on their deathbed would usually have.  “Maybe it's better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs.”

I hope that gives you some ideas! Some of these deal with really heavy topics, so please look into that just to be sure so you’re not caught off guard. 

- Ren

[a-libra-writes]

GOT MEN: Write down things you find attractive about each of them? (I saw this at Underrated Character Imagines and wanted to ask if you could do the same?)

oh, I saw that too!! Khat has good taste 😏 im including some girls bc I am a Giant Bi

Ned: 150% HUSBAND MATERIAL. I love how broody he is. Love his POVs in the book. his love for his family & siblings is 🥺🥺 10/10 would live in domestic bliss with this man, his nice hair and 10 kids.

Robb: idk he’s real cute and honorable and i wanna pinch his cheeks. love his bond w Jon and ofc w Grey Wind is awesome.

Jon: sorry Kit is too baby-faced for me but i really love Jon’s chapters, he’s such a broody considerate sad lil butt, & loyal to his friends!! love his partnership w ghost, the goodest boi

Benjen: THAT VOICE AND FACE AND SMIRK I JUST 1500% 👌👌👌 AND THAT HAIR! damn Starks and their perfect-ass hair. damn his smile and cute nose.

Jory: sweet loyal boy with a perfect smile i will always protecc. JORY NEVER HURT ANYBODY

Edd: i love his dumb face and nose and his personality is great thanks. i think his actor is perf. 

Tormund: im not super attracted but hes got a great heart and TREATS HIS WOMEN LIKE QUEENS

Mance: fuckin chaotic-ass bard int he books why did they take away his singing and lute. big sweetie too 

Theon: ill be real hes kind of a giant fuckboy and i love Alfie but I dont think he fits Theon well BUT fuckin fantastic character arc 10/10

Yara: pleaSE STEP ON ME I LOVE BADASS PIRATE LADIES SHES SO SASSY AND COOL SFJDSJDFJSD

Jorah: THOSE EYES!! THAT SMILE!! THOSE SAD LINGERING LOOKS FSLDFD I love Jorah sO MUCH 😭😭 This seems silly but i LOVE his whispy blonde hair and the armor+blue/tan outfit he wears a lot, IDK WHY HEsS SO HANDSOME!?

Missandei: gorgeous queen who knows all the languages and is hella wise I love her pretty outfits too

Grey Worm: big ole sweetheart who will also throttle a man and rip out his heart for u. a smile i must protect.

Tywin: first of all charles dance is 💕💕 bc THOSE EYES AND THAT NOSE aND THAT VOICE and i just love dominating assholes who only have a soft spot for a love interest like hes an awful person but we dont judge on this blog ok. also love me some sneaky intrigue characters

Tyrion: just as much sneaky intrigue as Tywin except he actually has a moral compass, also a heart lmao. 10/10 would marry 

Jaime: problematic fave bc Nikolaj is a dreamboat. also his devotion to those he loves is really frickin sweet even if its misguided as hell lol. ultimate tsundere, prove me wrong

Sandor: GRUMPY! 👏 BUTTHEAD! 👏 WITH A BIG SOFT SPOT HE DENIES!! 👏👏 also like jorah he has that “lady and knight” trope that im a HUGE sucker for. fuckin handsome-ass giant cant decide if i wanna cuddle or get railed by him 

Bronn: he has pretty eyes and i like his voice but that’s moreso the actor lol. Im not super into him but i really like his interactions w Tyrion and his personality

Petyr: not super into him but i really love his manipulative nature and his actor is fuckin A++. say what you want about him but he PLAYS THE LOOOONG GAME you know he’s faithful AF. probs the only legit yandere in GoT lets be real

Stannis: MY ONE TRUE KING AND HUSBAND 😭😭💕💕 I love him soooo much, the show ruined it but his character arc in the books is just SKFKSFK AGH i really love justice-oriented, unyielding & stubborn characters and he has such a big soft spot for Davos and Shireen and he’s such a frickin butthead but also just wants love and has all these insecurities bc of his brothers. I love him. Absolute fav. I really like his actor too, his voice is 💕

Davos: I LOOOOVE LIAM CUNNINGHAM his sweet eyes and voice just fit Davos so well and that beard!! 💖 also great devoted husband and wonderful dad i jsut sfkdkfsl i also want to settle down on a seaside home and have several kiddos or just like 5 dogs with this man. love his relationship w stannis, most iconic duo

Margaery: marg in the books is kinda meehh for me so i really love natalie’s take on her, i love how gorgeous and sassy she is!!! if we dated we’d have unstoppable double femme energy

Brynden: AAaAAAA HES SO TALL AND CUTE AND HIS VOICE AND HE’S A BADASS KNIGHT I JUST SKDFKSDL 💕🐟🐟💕 and he’s so sweet to Cat and just a stubborn butthead to his brother I WILL NOT BE SHAMED FOR MY LOVE OF OLDER MEN

Edmure: idk why he’s an idiot in the show but i really like him in the books haha, he’s just likable? damn tobias menzies is a cutie tho. doesn’t look like my image of edmure but i love his smile!

Brienne: AAAHHH PLZ BE MY KNIGHT AND CARRY ME AND FIGHT IN MY HONOR akfksdkf I adore her idealism and honor, even if it tends to backfire on her, and she’s just wholesome and kind!!! SHE DESERVES THE WORLD!

Ramsay: hes the worst so WHY IS IWAN RHEON SO ATTRACTIVE LIKE?? those eyes?? that fucking smile? hIS cANINES ARE SO PRONOUNCED WHY IS IT CUTE??? damn him. damn him for making ramsay attractive. i am shamed.

Roose: hooooo buddy okay i cant help it, its like tywin all over again except Roose gives off those yandere vibes and his voice is just 💦💦💦 I LOVE THE ACTOR THEY PICKED. I will not apologize for him being a fave lol, id post my writing for him but shaaaaame

Oberyn: so i binged Narcos before GoT and i had no idea Pedro was in this show, lost my shit lol. Ahhh I love the swagger Oberyn has, he’s such a chaotic bi 😆😆 a very passionate man, not my type at all but his stupid charisma makes me swoon anyway

Beric: i love his actor!!! such a big soft sweetie with THE MOST RADIANT SMILE OMG how does he do this. love him!

Gendry: eehh hes too young for me but i love his friendship w Arya and hes a big cute dork in the book. 

Edit: no one asked but i think lord commander mormont's actor is p cuuuuute.... 👀 even without his talking bird

[bothsandneithers]

Day 3327

I need to hurry up and write this, because I am forgetting how miserable I was. This is not part of an effort to ensure that I don't repeat this process over again (perhaps as some may be tempted to do after childbirth). Instead, this exercise is consistent with my tendency to ask my friends to describe the most uncomfortable and unfortunate parts of their vacations. Who wants to hear a story that could more succinctly be conveyed within the narrow pages of a travel brochure? To adapt this question to the present situation: Who wants to hear a series of events that could be more adequately summarized by a few pages in a student handbook?

I’m sure that someone could have a field day by drawing parallels between giving birth to a child and writing a dissertation. While this is not my story to tell, I have described my experience by drawing upon the image of a mother who harnesses supernatural strength to lift a car off of her child. The listener is then immediately confused, and I then have to clarify that, in this metaphor, I am both the mother and the child, and that the dangerous, debilitating, threat of the car, is my dissertation.

It may be more effective if I am more direct: I want everyone to know that I (as the small child) was quite miserable, and I (as the mother) accomplished something that I thought was more than I could handle.

I imagine that if a car did end up on a small child, then the entire situation would invoke so much stress on the mother that she may not ever be able to recount exactly what happened during those subsequent moments. In a different way, of course, and for reasons I am still trying to understand, I too remember very little from the summer and early fall leading up to my defense.

In the place of memories, I find myself relying on artifacts to represent months and events that I cannot recall. One such set of artifacts are the six or so issues of The Atlantic magazine that have been set aside into a small pile; each one received a small verbal promise that I would open the pages after my defense. Now, as I review the covers, I imagine that they may never be read. Below are some of the stress-inducing cover stories of these abandoned issues:

How to destroy a government: The president is winning his war on American institutions.

How QAnon is warping reality and discrediting science.

The election that could break American.

How did it come to this? Why the virus won.

In the early days of lockdown, when the virus was beginning to take hold of its victory, I read this explanation for why most of us are not thriving right now: In order to flourish, one must be able to play several different human roles over the course of the day -- something that is arguably impossible when we rarely leave our dwellings.1

After reading this explanation, I starting clinging to the argument that the overwhelming reason why completing my dissertation had become so difficult was because of an absence of variability in my human roles. Even though none of my other typically played human roles were terribly interesting (commuter, friend, peer, coffee shop customer, gym patron), each one offered me respite from the singular human role that I was stuck with: The neurotic graduate student.

The neurotic graduate student human role was difficult to be around, because she was always worried about so many things: that her arguments weren't good enough, that there were errors in her code, that she should be able to understand certain concepts that were still evading her, that more time-intensive analyses were still required, and that overturning new stones would reveal that previous analyses or assumptions were wrong or incomplete. More simply, the neurotic graduate student human role was always worried that she was not good enough.

This persona can be debilitating, and I found that the act of writing a dissertation included a lot of time not actually writing, but rather, a substantial amount of time was devoted to sitting in paralyzing anxiety, not able to do anything.

Even though many of the weeks leading up to my due date were a blur, I do recall choosing this time to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Perhaps I did this because misery loves company. I decided to view this odd movie choice in a particular odd format, whereby I watched the movie in 15 minute intervals, across several nights, as if savoring a segmented Toblerone.

I watched the first few segments in stoic sympathy with the characters, but I eventually found myself amused when Jack Nicholson realizes that almost all the residents are “voluntary”:

You can go home any time you want? You're bullshittin' me. He's bullshittin' me right? Cheswick, you're voluntary? Scanlon? Billy, for chrissakes you must be committed, right? I mean, you're just a young kid, what're you doin' here? … I mean, you guys do nothing but complain about how you can't stand it in this place here and then you haven't got the guts just to walk out?

I remember smiling for a few moments at this scene; it was a gentle reminder that I invited this stress into my life, and that I could, indeed, bring it all to an end if I really wanted to. The smile was fleeting, and felt similar to when you are crying, and your friend says something that is true and funny to try and make you feel better, and you laugh and it feels really good but it also reminds you of how bad you feel, and how far away you are from feeling like yourself.

Yet again, someone else might have a field day drawing parallels between today’s academic environment and a fictional mental institution from the 1970s. I can't do this, in part because, aside from that one scene, I don’t actually remember what happens in the movie.

I did, however, voluntarily lock myself in a hotel room to write, because the suffocating familiarity of my home was preventing me from generating any new sentences. A sticker had been placed between the room's door and its frame, denoting that the room had been thoroughly cleaned. Surely this was only intended to be a symbolic seal to provide some peace of mind that it was safe and acceptable to be outside of one's house.

Once inside the room (that seemed no cleaner than in the absence of a pandemic), I did not immediately initalize my plan to write incessantly. Instead, I desultorily found myself on a support group on reddit that was dedicated to "PhD stress." Feeling compelled to write anything that was not my dissertation, I made a post targeted at those who were also writing their dissertations during a pandemic:

What you are doing right now is really, really hard.

Under "normal" conditions, you would be facing a sheer amount of uncertainty with your work (e.g., not knowing how analyses will turn out, not knowing what your advisor will think of your progress, etc). Under these new conditions, you are dealing with the uncertainty of the state of the world (pandemic), the government (upcoming election -- if in the US), as well as your dissertation! These are absurd conditions, whereby any one of these things would undoubtedly have negative impacts on your well being.

For many, you went from having an entire support group of peers, to sitting in your bedroom, day in and day out, trying to come up with novel ideas and effective ways to communicate these ideas.

As such, I urge you to take care of yourself. I urge you to give yourself permission to ignore unwanted criticism that, while in other circumstances you may work hard to address. Now, in this current context, just don't. Give yourself permission to stop perpetuating the idea that your work and your psyche should not be impacted by the fact that nothing is the same right now.

Defend your ideas, yes. And do good work (-- nah, do good enough work). But know that you are defending your work under surreal circumstances. Account for this when you wake up tomorrow, move four feet from your bed to your desk, and try to do the same thing over again.

Overnight, this became the most popular post in the subreddit’s history. Admittedly, there aren’t a lot of members in this particular community (it should also be noted that this post was recently surpassed in popularity by a post entitled, “PhD has destroyed my mental health”). Still, several users responded with something along the lines of, “Thank you. I needed to hear this.”

I needed to hear those words too -- that is one reason why I wrote them. But I was also desperate to play another human role; one who ambiguously could have already made it to the other side of the dissertation defense, and was able to offer encouragement to those close to the finish line.

Soon after my hotel stay, where I eventually did find motivation to write, I was set to defend my dissertation. This was met with the opportunity to transform into another human role: someone who was nearing the end of her graduate student career, and had no choice but believe that her work was good enough.

The dissertation defense took place via video conferencing. I sat at my desk in my make-shift office in my bedroom.

Five kind and smart professors asked me kind questions that made me feel smart.

And that was it.

After the defense, the stress began to fade away. I recalled the wise words that my therapist once said, “It’s remarkable how, after the defense, people just won’t need anything from you anymore.” I made edits to my dissertation and submitted my final version. I dismantled my “home office” and replaced it with a reading chair and a plant. A new issue of The Atlantic arrived in the mail, and now with time, cognitive space, and optimism that this issue would not be as depressing as the others, I started to read.

I opened to an article about a historian who predicts that the United States is about to experience a terrible decade. He blames this on the overproduction of elites. ("There are still only 100 Senate seats, but more people than ever have enough money or degrees to think they should be running the country.") These elites find alternative ways to disrupt the status quo to influence people; the elite overproduction "creates counter-elites, and counter-elites look for allies among the commoners.”2

Although the article was compelling, it did not feel like appropriate material, as one does not work tirelessly through graduate school to then be compared to Steve Bannon.

I continued to the next article which was about young adults (or old children) who post things to a social media platform I’ve never used (TikTok). Not only do they create short videos that are viewed by millions of viewers, but there is an entire industry of these individuals, and they curate their content together in the mansions that they cohabitate (I am yet to grasp the monetization of this endeavor).3

I settled into my chair. Finding myself enjoying my new human role as a casual observer to an unknown world, I thought: What an absolutely absurd life pursuit.

xx,

Amy, PhD

https://nplusonemag.com/issue-37/the-intellectual-situation/epilogue-for-a-way-of-life/ ↩︎

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/can-history-predict-future/616993/ ↩︎

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/charli-damelio-tiktok-teens/616929/ ↩︎

[cyclone-sally-art]

For the persona Au, what the basic plot and themes of it and will there be a mascot character that symbolises that main theme?

okay i have a doc of themes that were word vomited out and a rough story, so ill stick it under a keep reading. warning it gets less fleshed out as it goes tho

i also have no idea for a mascot, or any real theme.

Persona au

Molly: as the main character, she is the fool arcana. Dps with a lot of evasion. her persona is goldilocks. codename is bear trap

her persona helps her understand that she is allowed to care about herself, she doesn't have to put on a sweet face

"Why do you sit and let them walk all over you...? You allow yourself less than you deserve... you claim to compromise and yet you let yourself be pushed to the wayside... And all the while you are taken advantage of by those closest to you... let us forge a contract little one... I am thou, thou art I... take charge of your destiny! We will not sacrifice our desires for the gain of others!"

Mollys mask is soft, what she shows to others. Its made entirely of fabric, so its harder to get a grip of to tear off

Giovanni: strength arcana. almost solely because of his strength of heart, but hes mostly a healer/buffer magic wise. his physical moves are fairly strong but his healing is probably the best of all other characters. a funny ui thing that i imagined was him scribbling out the attack names and writing cooler ones that show up on the buttons you select. His persona is fionn mac cool.

Has a big honking spear (not pictured)

Fionn means ‘light haired’ but the exact origins of this name is unknown.

This persona embodies Giovanni’s sense of comradery. Fionn was the leader of the Fianna, a small band of warriors mostly detached from the royal politics of the time.

"well that didn’t take long. So young, so eager to rebel. It is clear to any that you would truly die for your comrades. Yet your higher ups see this devotion, and think you as weaker for it. Little do they know that this kinship is a strength! I am thou… thou art I… let us form a contract, and this strength will not be ignored!”

Giovanni's outside ‘mask’ is not very different from his real self, so the metaverse equivalent is actually a pair of shades. They aren’t hard at all to remove

Sylvie: temperance arcana. he has the most well rounded epithet move wise and hes pretty well rounded in stats too. His persona is Beefton

Its minos themed, but its really just Beefton

Mera: Moon arcana. primarily because reflecting light and junk. the research I have says that moon arcana have a hidden depth to their actions.

Indus: chariot arcana. entirely due to his drive and focus on BARRIERS. his personal goal to protect lady Mera also fits the chariot.

Percy: justice arcana.

Ramsey: hermit arcana.

Zora: sun arcana.

and as for order the party is formed in the hypothetical game... (its not how they meet but the times they join party)

id say that molly first gets pulled into a palace with giovanni (it doesnt really matter who the palace belongs to) and then the two unlock their personas and meet morgana (who i guess would stay the same since nobody else in ee that i know of fits)

then sylvie follows them into the palace the next time, he unlocks his persona whos... basically beefton but hes wearing greecian clothes and the persona name is minotaur

mera and indus actually discover the metaverse independently, but meet the trio when theyre very lost (they just wanted to get out of prision) meras persona is probably gonna be based on kaguya but ill have to check if theres already a persona with that name. indus's is probably some sort of defending hero (wether mera has a palace or not is up in the air)

percy who has been investigating these 'phantom theives' that have apparently stolen two (or more, how many palaces between team members joining is undecided) hearts already. i dont have it figured out how she gets into the metaverse but thats around the time she joins. her persona is likely some god or angel of justice after joining and stealing another heart.

percy introduces ramsey to the group (he most likely doesnt have a palace because hes not really troubled by much other than survivalism.) his persona is definitley a rodent (pied piper came to mind)

finally the final team member is zora! her persona is def a time/sun being of some kind, but i havent hammered out a motivation for joining other than 'people born with power lord it over others and i hate it' buts shes def the loosest canon.

Other possible phantom theives are feenie and trixie, possibly rick shades, yoomtah could be a weird helpful sidekick that doesnt have a persona cause robot. maybe the final boss is the leader of bliss ocean.

zoras persona is eos, greek godess of dawn. eos' symbols are saffron, a cloak, roses, tiara, cicadas, and horses.

the cloak and horse really mesh so im thinking a cloaked woman on a horse (or a cloaked horse lol)

[mojavehearts]

Dragon Age Inquisition Characters As Flowers

(both from the game and irl) this was a request but I am stupid and deleted it on accident (I'm using a different phone rn until I get a new one :((() but here we go

Cole - Elfroot

it's used for healing and he always says he wants to help people,heal their pain, also I find elfroot very soft looking and gentle like it's leaves would feel like a feather.

Josephine - Crystal Grace

She's poised and elegant she comes off as very conservative in my opinion and to me whenever I see Crystal Grace I immediately think of her the colours of the flower really speak to me as colours I identify with her, just how she carries herself and her in general aura.

Sera - Dandelion

Seems to be everywhere at once but also can be hard to find in a large space, she goes wherever the wind takes her and I identify dandelions as a childs flower, just like her bubbly//childish personality, a Dandelion is said to make wishes come true.

Cullen - Edelweiss

This flowers meaning is courage and devotion, Cullen to me seems like a person who is very devoted to what he believes in and quitting Lyrium would take great courage, he is strong but fragile as well.

Dorian - Blood Lotus

...heh blood because- anyway. I feel like just like the Blood Lotus aesthetically and name wise matches Dorian well, lotus' in general are said to have deep meaning for the mind body and spirit, they grow below in muddy water and peak through beautifully once they have fully grown.

Solas - Amaryllis

Meaning, pride. Also their intricate design makes me think of how complicated things must be for a romanced inquisitor, to love him but know the truth at the end. The deep red colour also reminds me of him for some unknown reason.

Vivienne - Forget-Me-Not

Vivienne was one of the hardest to think of but thinking more of her personal quest with the Grand Duke I decided on the Forget-Me-Not for quite obvious reasons, people seem to either dislike or love her with no inbetween but one thing for certain was she did seem to actuall love the Grand Duke, the Forget-Me-Not symbolises memories in love.

Iron Bull - Gladiolus

They're said to symbolise strength as their leaves are shaped like swords and the word 'gladius' in Latin means sword, he is an intense and strong warrior so it seemed fitting. I also thought Dragon thorn would have worked well for Bull as well

Blackwall - Asphodelus

The Asphodelus has a connection to death, and was used against sorcery both of these facts speak out to me from his past and how he took on the role of a grey warden. I could go on about how much Rainier into Blackwall symbolises death in multiple ways but I don't want this to be INTENSELY LONG

Cassandra - Dawn Lotus

The Dawn Lotus seems like a flower Cassandra would think to be beautiful, she is a romantic after all, it grows in the fallow mire which to me is a very dark and cold place just like her exterior but the Dawn Lotus appears beautiful and gentle like how she is on the inside.

Varric - Orange Tulip

The orange tulip is said to symbolise understanding and appreciation, varrics friendship with Hawke/Inquisitor comes off to me as very strong and meaningful. A mutal appreciation and understanding. And also orange is a colour I identify with him as it's warm.

Leliana - Lavender

Refinement and grace, soft smelling, symbolising both devotion and silence. If your Leliana is hardened or not she shows devotion. Silent in the shadows, your spymaster.

That all being said id love if someone had different views or opinions they would like to share I also had a few other ideas for some of them that ended up getting cut so maybe we had the same idea. Hope whoever requested this saw it I'm sorry I'm stupid and deleted it!