#but in actuality it's extremely disappointing

[miwiheroes]

Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Day 25: Mike's Mind was on Will . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

So after a full day of us bylers getting bombarded with asks from this one crashing-out mileven anon DAHSDGKASD I am going to drop this piece of evidence from the final post in the Airport Scene saga :)))

So during the beginning of Season 4 we see that Mike is not being himself which is super strange, and we are angry that he's ignoring Will during the airport scene and the Rink o Mania scene. We think that while Mike and El are 'cute' (eh, they're literally lying to each other but whatever) Will is sad. Then, we find out that Mike was thinking about Will. The whole time.

Mike had noticed that Will was mad at him the whole day, Mike was disappointed that Will had been ignoring him in Rink o Mania and being upset, sure, but there are other times that he is sad at Will ignoring him.

The first is when Mike finds out that the painting must not be for him because Will acts so stand-offish about it. The most notable time however.... is the scene with Mike, El and Will walking through the airport while El is talking about her plans. Mike seems so absent from the conversation, looking around and thinking about something else. He glances at Will a total of:

6 Times

Watch this clip to see it all:

Before I argue about this with people in the asks (ugh) I wanna say that these glances are not accidents. Can you imagine being Finn in this scene and accidentally TURNING HIS HEAD in the same place a total of 6 times??? This is not an easy accident to make. He is extremely good at micro-facial expressions, and this is one of those instances.

This scene is supposed to be subtle and quick, so it makes sense why you would not pick up on it straight away. You are only supposed to pick up on it when you know the information later (that Mike picked up on everything Will did that day).

First off we need to establish that Mike is already feeling nervous about meeting Will because he knows from El's letter that Will could be making a painting for a girl. He hasn't been able to reach Will for months, and it gets confirmed later that Mike was acting so standoffish because he was afraid to lose Will. We see Mike's nerves in the way he asks about the painting -- "what's that?"

Mike is now even more nervous because he gets those worries confirmed when Will doesn't elaborate on the painting even when Mike lets him.

So now that we have established that: I will be talking about every instance he looks at Will during the video above and what it all means -

1. "Wha-- really?"

Will glances at Mike at the same time that he glances. Mike then realises that Will is also glancing at him and they quickly AVERT THEIR GAZES at the same time. This action of 'oop almost got found out' makes Mike also get interrupted in the middle of his word. The way he says "really" as well is high-pitched and nervous after what just happened.

2. "Yeah no I trust you"

Honestly these are so hard to take screenshots of, because you really need to watch it to get the full effect so make sure to just rewatch the part in the video above pls <3

Again, not sure why Mike actually glances at Will in this moment other than just to check on his reaction, showing that he's being so careful with what he's saying and doing around him.

3. "Rink o Mania..."

Another super subtle one, but again it still furthers the argument that Mike was caring about Will's reactions to everything that El is saying more than anything. Maybe he just wants him to get in on the conversation or he's worried that Will's being so quiet -- his mind is still on acting normal though.

4. "Okay, are your friends gonna meet us there?"

This one is the one that inspired me to make this post in the first place. It is perfect.

First of all, El was never insinuating that her friends were going to be there. Mike had never been told by El in a previous letter that they were going to meet up with some friends. SO WHY DOES HE EVEN MENTION FRIENDS??? Obviously, he knows that she has made friends but in the letters, he's heard that Will maybe has as well.

RIGHT AS HE SAYS FRIENDS -- he looks at Will. This is no accidental head turn. This is the directors and writers trying to show you that while Mike may seem to be asking about El here (because he's asking about her friends), he's actually got his mind on Will's friends. The reason he asks is because he wants to confirm or deny the worry that he has about it.

This is literally rehashed later when Mike gets angry at Will ignoring him. He does all of thESE THINGS BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED OF LOSING HIM <3 which he says in the bedroom.

5. After "Friends? What friends?"

This one makes sense because Will's just spoken, although it is a little ambiguous whether Mike is looking at him in this frame above. Watch the video if u really wanna know ig. He's probably just looking for what this means as it's the first thing Will says the whole time.

6. After "Angela?"

It's odd how Mike clearly gets a little weirded out by what Will says here but it's pretty much clear that he has no clue that El has any bad blood with Angela. This is clear from later on, when he completely denies that El has been lying to him, and ignores that El gets taken away by Angela and everyone.

There must be another reason for his strange reaction that clearly catches him off guard. He asked the previous question about friends because he wants to put his worry to rest. BUT He now just found out that Will does have friends (or so he thinks, ofc), which is specifically a girl. El talks about a girl in relation to Will in her letter.

Again, I'm rehashing this point: It gets confirmed that Mike thought he had lost Will. So it totally makes sense why he would be caught off guard here.

THEN EL SAYS:

"I want this day... to be about me and you!"

Perfection. This is supposed to be ironic. Because clearly, Mike is not all thinking about her. He has been glancing at Will the whole scene and El saying this is the best little kicker to end it. Mike barely notices something off with El, he notices everything that Will's doing, nervous about his reactions.

Perfect ending to that scene lmao

[zahri-melitor]

inspired by your recent ask about the birds of prey - i like how you said it's basically bbs and her harem - er, i mean, teammates and contacts - instead of a team where the "center" is less rigidly defined like 90s young justice or early teen titans (i know dick was the leader but it always seemed like they were all pretty equally close even with early stuff like the roy+garth rivalry). but also i'd like to know more of your thoughts on bop as a whole! personally i loved babs in amanda waller's suicide squad and her on the jla but i can't stand her in bop because all her batty traits come out, my fav is helena so i always feel so sad on her behalf and i thought babs's "apology" was so flimsy and inadequate (maybe i'm biased though because i loved rucka's godfather-esque take on helena so i was disappointed by the sex and the city-esque writing for her prevalent throughout bop)... but babs doesn't treat outsiders like powergirl well either... and that's not even getting how various asian female characters like lady shiva were characterized but to be fair i think that was a DC-wide problem in the early 00s and not just a gail simone thing, though it doesn't make me dislike simone's writing choices any less.... but sorry, sorry, enough of my whining!! please share your thoughts on bop, i'm listenin and learnin over here!!!!!

…I think if you find Barbara as having too many ‘batty traits’ in Simone’s BOP you’re just generally going to have a hard time with Birds of Prey runs. The basic concept of Birds of Prey is Barbara being paranoid, over-controlling and running private ops for her own purposes. It’s essentially an outgrowth of the position she held in Suicide Squad 1987, only Babs is doing it independently without oversight now, rather than working as control for Waller.

Dinah does not see Barbara’s face or find out her name until BOP #21, 29 issues + 2 crossover issues into Birds of Prey as a concept. BLACK CANARY.

I actually personally am very fond of the work Simone did on Helena and Barbara’s relationship together, because she had to sit there and carefully untangle a decade’s worth of drama between them, where they were both extremely justified in being mad at the other. Sticking points that had to be worked through on both sides included: both of their relationships with Dick; Helena’s use of the Bat costume during No Man’s Land and the argument over whether or not that counted as being ‘Batgirl’; the costume going to Cass and Barbara being supportive of Cass as Batgirl; Helena breaking into the Clock Tower in No Man’s Land; Helena’s willingness to use violence and kill. There was lore there and years of encroaching on the other’s territory. So yes, it was rocky to start and they had to learn to trust each other, because they both went in with justifiable hurts, and had done things the other considered completely unacceptable.

Barbara is very much able to work with people she doesn’t like, but she is also a notorious grudge-holder, which means if she’s pissed at a character, she will go out of her way to snub them and avoid them all together. (Your most obvious examples of this are the Babs v Power Girl problems – the origin of which is actually a Dixon story and an example of Babs’ control tendencies meaning her emotional intelligence did not kick in; and Babs’ grudge against Kory). The fact she was willing to get over her problems with Helena was in many ways a reflection of the fact that despite all the conflicts, they both had fundamental base respect for each other, and understood they had to work with or around each other in Gotham.

BOP 1999 is Barbara and Dinah together against the world’s problems, and from Simone and Bedard’s runs it picks up a bunch of extra characters to widen the team and use various people for various specific needs, and to also explore female friendship. You know how Roy promises Dick at the start of Outsiders 2003 that it can just be a team, it doesn’t have to be a family? Babs tries to pull that on HERSELF in Bedard’s run while she’s grappling with the fact that Dinah’s not on the team (and fails. Miserably). What I think one of the upsides of Simone’s run (that I think may be part of what you’re categorising as the ‘Sex and the City’ vibes) is that Simone, being a woman, is actually aware that most women have more than a single female friend, and actually portrays those networks of friendships and different vibes together.

BOP 2010 is Barbara getting the team back together in the wake of Dinah and Ollie’s divorce to give Dinah something to distract herself with and lure her back.

BOP 2011 is technically Dinah’s strike force team, not Babs’, and is missing some of the vibe because they’ve lost a control figure by Barbara being present as Batgirl, not being Oracle. It’s not awful but it is pretty formulaic with occasional bright spots.

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey 2016 is an attempt to get the team back to basics in the Simone team model, by re-establishing the baselines of the Barbara-Dinah-Helena friendships. It is successful at that, but it could have dealt with the fact that Babs was Batgirl not Oracle in a less aggravating manner.

There’s an assortment of short Harley Quinn-based stories next that I’m skipping over as they’re mostly slight and dreadful.

The villains and antiheroes BOP that exists for a hot second in Urban Legends for a story really should have been a Ravens team.

BOP 2023 is still having a few issues with figuring out the balance of tension between this being Barbara’s Team and the fact that Dinah stood the team up specifically trying to work around Barbara for Plot Reasons, but a lot of the knots have been worked out by now. It’s very much moving towards having the core of Barbara-Dinah-Cass-Barda-Sin as solid.

[foxstens]

not really enjoying blasphemous 2 atm

[for-my-mind-to-run-around-free]

The rest of the chapter, now officaly done!

“Read it out to me,” Regulus gently requested. Upon seeing James’ questioning brow continued with a verse “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard /Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on.”

James made eye contact with him and continued, “Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d, / Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: / Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave”

Regulus swiftly but gently interrupted as James was taking a breath, “Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; / Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,” regulus realised they’d both started grinning at some point in between the verses. He paused, and looked at James.

They kept conversing like this, quoting each other lines from years and years of poetry, or simply going into snappy but friendly banter. They didn’t learn much about each other, except their shared love of poetry and the ability to give back as good as they got. Hours passed without Regulus even noticing, until James’ watch pinged.

ping-ping-ping

three in quick succession and then one last ping, like a cartoon character vomiting bubbles

“oh - right - ok - yes” James seemed to be overcome with a sudden urgency as he muttered out ���I’ve gotta go now but it was so nice to meet you. Umm- would you mind checking this copy out for me?”

“right, yes, of course, it is my job” Regulus replied while trying his best to not show his disappointment- what did he even have to be disappointed for anyways? The stranger who ruined his art suddenly departing with no way to contact him- Ah right. ok.

Regulus guided them back upstairs and through the small maze the back of the shop was before taking his place at the back of the counter and grinned.

“Welcome to Cemetery Gates, my name is Regulus. How may I help you today?”

Something lit up in James’ eyes as he replied.

“Oh right. yes. I came to get a book for my son. He is almost 1 years old and seems to be in a phase where he tries to roar at anything that resembles a lion… I was wondering if there was anything that had lions in them that I could read to him?”

Regulus assumed he wasn’t really a father to a one year old, and he was just joining in on the joke but he still took a minute to consider the information over carefully. He wasn’t usually in charge of stocking the infant books, and wasn’t extremely familiar with the inventory but he was sure he could find something interesting. But the thing that took up the most space in his brain, almost stopping him from formulating the coherent thoughts that came before was the fact that James might’ve had a son. James was potentially a father. James’ son, most likely also had a mother as babies tended to have mothers. Regulus didn’t quite understand why this information was really upsetting, but he decided not to ponder over it for much longer. This must’ve been a good decision, since James had started looking at him funny at some point during his now intense prolonged silence.

“Mate, you all good there? I can’t actually get Harry the book now, I was only joking, I really do need to go. I’ll stop by and get it on Sunday.”

“Right, yes, I’m perfectly fine thank you” but Regulus still took the moment he turned away to check the label of the book and get James a complimentary bookmark as a moment to compose his face to a completely neutral expression.

He really wasn’t joking about having a son.

The man he just spent hours potentially flirting with was as straight as he looked and even had a son.

He was just being friendly and as always Regulus found a way to ruin it all in his head.

Still, being friends with James wasn’t such a bad idea as this would increase the number of friends he had from 1 to 2. Pandora always said he needed to make more. As he reasoned his way into keeping in touch with James, his hands did something so impulsive, he was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything this impulsive since the act of leaving home.

He scribbled his number at the very last page of the book with a pencil nearby.

‘0755XX XXXX - if you ever want to try and beat me to a quote or return the jumper, Regulus x.’

He decided that if he took one second to consider what he’d just done, he’d burn the entire volume to its ashes but instead he turned around, slid it across the counter and told James’ his total, who chose to make a very quick contactless payment and promptly dissappear. If Regulus wasn’t too busy thinking about the hands that picked up the volume, he would’ve noticed James almost running out of the store.

He allowed himself to smile one more time before resuming the work he was supposed to be doing.

Let's go where we're happy

you may wish to go to the end of work for authors extensive ramblings.

Chapter 1: Meet not so cute

It was an ordinary day at the shop for Regulus. Stacking books, filing the returns at the back (though Regulus never understood why someone would return a book they purchased anyways, it was one of life’s mysteries) and being forced to paint that damn display in the children’s section between aisles for 10-12s and 8-10s. Truly ordinary, completely undistinguishable Sunday at The Cemetery Gates.

As it quite often did round this time of year, it was pouring out when Regulus squeezed the white on to the punched folder pocket that he decided would be his easel that afternoon. He found a comfortable position where he could reach the clouds. Round brush dipped into the paint and scraped around a little bit before touching the soft wood of the shelves. He pretended to hate Barty for being forced to do this, but it wasn’t so bad when he actually got to work and honestly, he could even admit to enjoying the art and the rest from the stressful customers once he focused.

His mind finally started wandering into the happy place hidden at the very back of his mind, somewhere he could only visit when he felt truly safe and zoned in. He finished the clouds and got started on Cinderella’s apron, while Piglet and Winne the Pooh dried in the other corner.

It was then, when his guards were completely down, out of nowhere, something pointy, freezing cold and soaking wet crashed into him.

Paint water spilled all over.

Regulus found himself crushed between his painting, now leaving an impression of Piglet on his left cheek and the thing that seemed to be a black haired soaking wet creature that stumbled over him.

He tried to shake free out of his position, which must’ve alerted the being that left a dark spot on his shirt, as he suddenly became overly animated, backing away and speaking so fast it was undistinguishable.

Regulus, finally finding space to turn around, faced the mystery. This was quiet unfortunate for him because he realised that the creature responsible for ruining hours of his work happened to be a man with a very smooth face, hazel eyes that felt like the galaxy was hidden in them and jet black hair that was stuck to his face. His slivery black octagonal glasses were so stained with rainwater, regulus wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t see out of them. His features were distinct, could even be called handsome. However, Regulus was not going to be calling the mystery gentleman who he must hate and hold a grudge against for ruining his work anything positive let alone handsome in this century.

Regulus realised the gentleman’s mouth was moving, and he snapped back to reality.

“— I’m really sorry, oh god, I’ve ruined your painting as well and is there any way-” Regulus cut him off as his rambling really started to become more indistinguishable.

“Ehm this is quite alright, I was getting the white to paint over the whole thing anyways” He didn’t know why he lied to him, but oh he was so apologetic and those eyes. No. Focus Regulus.

“Oh but really you’re also damp now, I really didn’t mean to-”

“You are quiet the rambler aren’t you” he scoffed light heartedly, turned around around and started walking towards the employees only area. Why was he doing this? Why was he being kind? He wasn’t a kind person, thank you very much. He certainly wasn’t one to be kind to complete strangers he had every reason to hate.

He turned back after a couple of steps, “Come along then, let me get you something to wear before you catch your death” The nameless gentleman looked up in slight disbelief and started following him. Regulus was still internally stunned at his own behaviour, was his coffee drugged this morning?

They finally reached the employees only area at the back and Regulus lead the stranger inside.

The door with the sign DO NOT ENTER swung open to reveal a small room with an old arm chair that could’ve belonged in the Buckingham palace had it not been so worn down and on the the right there was a faded green sofa that looked like it was straight from a sitcom. The rug on the floor was plush and comfortable, but it was clearly originally not such a dark shade of grey. The entire room had an air about it, nothing felt like it belonged, it was out of time, yet at the same time you couldn’t imagine the room in any other way.

Regulus always loved the come and go room, its what they’d nicknamed the staff area after they realised how many strays were brought here by the employees. You could always find what you needed in the smallish room in a very inexplicable way. Regulus pointed towards the unassuming wardrobe in the corner and sat the stranger down on the green sofa next to it. He pulled out a sweater from the common drawer that he was 97% sure belonged to Barty and another one from his own.

In a moment of impulsiveness, he realised he wanted to see him again.

He passed his own sweater to the gentleman and pointed towards the second door in the room.

“That’s the bathroom, there’s a hairdryer and clean towels in the third drawer down”

He faced Regulus as he said a gentle “thank you” and moved towards the bathroom.

Regulus took of his own apron and jumper and quickly changed into dry clothes before the stranger came back. He heard the faint sound of the hair dryer turn on and after a while turn off.

Not long after the gentleman walked in, wearing the slightly oversized jumper (regulus always swam in it so it really fit him perfectly) and sporting a blow dried hair. It seemed he must’ve helped himself to some of the multitudes of bottles of hair products in front of the mirror because he looked really good. His hair was soft and silky and regulus wanted to touch it .

Wait. what. He absolutely didn’t want to touch a complete strangers hair.

“—he hairdryer is ancient mate, I’m surprised you guys haven’t gotten electrocuted just by its mere existence,” Regulus realised belatedly that the man had come in and started chattering on immediately while he was busy adoring staring noticing the improvement in his hair “and oh by the way my name’s James,” Regulus must’ve forgotten to move his face as the man continued with a small cough and a very unsure face “and you are..?”

Regulus decided to stop staring daggers at him, finally compose himself and respond simply with “My name is Regulus Arcturus. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

James laughed with a smile that reached to his eyes. It made Regulus view his face in an entirely different light. Maybe he wasn’t so mad about him ruining his work.

“You’re posh”

“You’ve used my hair products”

“and you’ve noticed”

“yes. I have noticed.”

“are you mad about it, i really should’ve asked”

Regulus gave a non committal shrug, he really didn’t like strangers touching his belongings, but James wasn’t a stranger now. He was wearing his jumper for gods sake. He realised, he wasn’t actually mad, and there wasn’t his usual viperous tone behind the snappy argument they had started to communicate in.

James asked another question, it seemed he didn’t really care either.

“So, how come you’ve got such a cosy place in a shop called ‘Cemetery Gates’”

“Cemetery gates don’t always open to hell, but sometimes to what one considers to be heaven. Death only exists in the way we perceive it.”

James paused, seemed to consider it for a moment. Regulus, shocked at his honesty, also stopped. The latter was the first to speak this time.

“Your expression to that tells me that your soul hasn’t seen enough poetry, let’s get you some of my personal recommendations.”

“Maybe, just maybe, you’re wrong in your assumptions this time. But. I would still like to lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence with you.”

Regulus’ change in heart rate definitely wasn’t in response to the very handsome stranger that quoted Oscar Wilde seamlessly. No, definitely not. Instead of quipping back another line, Regulus just started walking down the stairs and gestured James to follow.

The adult non-fiction section downstairs was decorated in a much more gothic style with a consuming ocean of darkness greeting anyone who went down, although somehow there was still enough lighting provided by the chandeliers to clearly see the titles scattered around randomly on dark wooden shelves. Regulus was the only person who knew the exact madness in which this section was organised, as he did it himself personally. This wasn’t to say there wasn’t a method to his madness, but it seemed nobody else could figure it out and he never tried to explain himself. He liked the mystery it created, and it didn’t seem to be affecting the sales so no one really minded that much.

As Regulus determinedly walked them towards poetry, they passed by several busts that were resting on the shelves; Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite and Demeter, all looking towards the entrance greeting everyone that passed by.

Finally Regulus came to a stop on another surprisingly soft round blood red carpet that covered about 2 meters across and wide. He sat down and gestured James towards the books that were behind him but in front of James.

“The ones behind me, you are familiar with, I see.”

James looked over, picked a random one up and read the cover.

“So you did recognise Wilde” James indicated

“Of course I did”

“Not so uneducated then am I?”

“The poetry of earth is never dead. But I still feel there is work we must do,” Regulus, without moving an inch from the position he was sitting at, now pointed towards the books that were on the shelf in front of him and behind James “Keats and Yates are all on that shelf, you should pick one out.”

James silently obeyed, but the way he browsed, pick up a book and turned the page was so methodical it would be idiotic of Regulus to even consider James had never touched it before. Regulus was actually pretty sure James had memorised it from cover to cover with the way he handled the volume, finding his way to a specific poem.

“Read it out to me,” Regulus gently requested. Upon seeing James’ questioning brow continued with a verse “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard /Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on.”

Hello world, so, just as promised, here's the first chapter of "Let's go where we're happy", fic title taken from the song Cemetery gates by the smiths. Obligatory, I do not wish to be associated of she-who-must-not-be-named and her horrible acts, this is a fic made out of love for all those who made the marauderers what it is. Thank you all for reading. (Also will be cross-posted to AO3, link here, when it has been.) also this will be extreme slowburn as promised, just this first chapter doesn't quiet give that impression but please do trust the process. (also I might make a chapter 1.5) ok i'm going to shut up now, thank you so much if you've read it this farrrr ahhhh!!!

[vaguely-concerned]

having seen at least the rough outlines of all the romances now I have to say that I think emmrich's is probably objectively the best in terms of coherence and completeness of story arc (with the understanding that ultimately the 'best' romance is whichever one makes YOUR heart sing anyway so objectivity is a silly thing to claim that way, it just felt like it's the arc with the most well-paced focused content and the least dangling threads)... but lucanis' is my favourite haha. just. the whole kneeling before your beloved full of reverence but without any of the distance that usually implies??? his complete undramatic certainty and calm in every scene with rook after this, having spent the whole game caught between fear and longing???? mr. lives in a pantry but it says nothing about my psyche don't worry about it it's purely for tactical reasons that I keep myself contained in a small dark room not entirely unlike a cell, love among the parsnips -- finally coming to rook in their room and it's so comfortable and comforting???? after all the times rook supports and comforts him through the game he's finally able to return the same to them when they need it while being so calm and steady and it's so fucking sweet and feels so effortless and with no price attached?????? he basically assigns himself the role of your bodyguard and he WILL stab a god over it??????????????? the turn to protector (which was in his heart all along longing to get out and find a place) of it all????? he sounds like he's found himself unexpectedly stumbling into such a soul-lightening state of revelatory existential relief, full on 'you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' mary oliver style, and he goes and he shares that with rook and protectively envelops them in it when they're hurting??????????????????????????? hello for the maker's sake hello can anyone hear me?????

[rubydubsnuby]

YOU VOTED AND WE LISTENED!!!!!

THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE

MR CHARLIE IS HERE TO STAAAYYYY 🤩🤩🤩

[i-really-like-phrogs]

Three days until Beetlejuice Beetlejuice… I’m nervous!!

[bogkeep]

for my fellow fans of longform video essays about media you may or may not be familiar with. i just watched laura crone's new video that's four and a half hours long and it's mostly about a book + tv series called the magicians, but ALSO the advertising/recommendation culture around books, and i really enjoyed it. i think i especially enjoyed it because i have been craving some Deep Thinks about like, what people criticize about booktok but without making it "it's uhhhh it's bad to only read bad books!" and i found this video both refreshing and insightful. i will give a CW for mentions of That One Wizard School Series, including in the title. just so you don't get jumpscared

[brainrotisseriechicken]

first time posting something that isnt scp related and its this fucking thing

yeah

[rowenabean]

Had a really good writing time in a cafe today (good by standards of fun! And also I had a brainwave for a character I needed but who didn't feel real to me, and now he does which is nice!) but unfortunately I cannot afford to replicate this very often...

Now to figure out how to make my house less hot so I feel any ability at all to write at home

[skunkes]

WAIT TALON LOSES HIS WRINKLAGE WHEB HES FED?

Yeas ^_^ talon was turned when he was like 29 but even then he had a youthful/baby face. His default form looks something like dis (im still figuring it out, i dont draw him Young often for character reasons)

he doesn't like that he never gets to age, mostly after experiencing abuse under the assumption that he was even younger than he looks, so he forgoes feeding (the vampiric fountain of youth) so he can look old all the time to feel safer, be taken seriously etc (dis is also why he always looks uncomfortable when i draw him Unwrinkled, he feels unguarded and exposed)

He could just shapeshift to look however he wants when he's fed but it means needing to feed more often, he likes his Aged appearance to feel "Natural" and also well. Punishing himself, because sometimes disordered eating and other behaviors that can and do stem from abuse are just like that

[twilight-zoned-out]

No space monster will ever be as liminally terrifying as Fourteen crabwalking in anger

[drdt-headcanons]

Teruko and Ace fall for “as seen on TV” commercials

:)

[mavuitano]

Never before did I have the urge to say "educate yourself, for the benefit of yourself and others"

Is this inspired by way too recent events? Inspired by fandom bullshittery? Inspired by personal events? Inspired by extreme concern about the media literacy and knowledge of history over all of humanity?

Brother I wish it wasn't everything all at once.

SO!

This might be seen as an advert of sorts, but I implore you, start reading. Both your offline and online worldview would change for the better, and above all things, keep an open heart.

The world will change, people will change, you will change. There is no permanent state of anything. Change is coming, it is inevitable, even if you accept it with open arms or reject it from the bottom of your heart. But what you can do is build communities, strengthen relationships, and seek self-improvement.

"Still, the winds change direction. Someday, they will blow towards a brighter future..." (quite ironic this is from the nation of freedom) (an inspiration nonetheless)

The world can and will suck, immensely so, but a shared sorrow is half a sorrow, while a shared joy is double joy. Humanity will prevail, generations will live on, and humans are guaranteed to make the same mistakes time and time again. Don't let it close your heart and mind, but learn from it.

Am I talking about interacting with family with different views and opinions? Or am I talking about the drastic political changes lately? Or a simple squabble in fandom spaces that has participants stressing for no reason?

Well, whatever applies, really. Our greatest tool is our mind, while our strongest drive is our heart.

Use them wisely.

[needsmoreknives]

Well damn that was actually a pretty satisfying clusterfuck, and it managed to more or less explain everyone's believed version of events while keeping them true to character. Of course Mae hates the jedi! From her point of view, they invaded, took Osha from her, killed her mum right in front of her, as a side effect also prevented her from getting help for the accidental fire, and to top it all off (from her pov) willfully let her fall to her death. Of course she thought the jedi brainwashed Osha for her to be ok around them but hate Mae - it pretty much makes sense with her version of events. But also, I kind of see why Sol acted like he did - he had understandable reasons to think the twins were being abused or worse, solid evidence they were created from a vergance, and finding the fortress locked, everyone armed, and Mother Aniseya turning into a shadow monster wouln't have helped any. His actions were impulsive as hell and influenced by prejudice, but also well intentioned and driven by compassion. And damn, no wonder every jedi involved feels guilty - they basically accidently set off a whole clusterfuck chain, then pinned it on the dead 8 year old. Classy.

[raifuujin]

It's been more than 20 years and for some reason I feel that Gosho hasn't given Kaiao any development, how can more than 20 years pass and Aoko dynamics, relationship and feelings remain the same? At this point I feel like Gosho is just going to make them date because "they already liked each other" they remain in the same status quo

Hey, if we go by DC romance progress, they've been going too fast. We've already had suspicion of identity chapters, and that didn't happen until more than 400 chapters in DC. /j

Since heists have taken over any character development recently, I don't even know if Kaito and Aoko will even get any romantic progress. Maybe the actual identity confrontation will happen down the line, since that's thief drama, but atm, it really wouldn't surprise me if they only ask each other on a real date at the very end of the manga.

Like. I'm sure Gosho would love to make MK a love drama as well, but he writes MK so rarely, and usually as hype for something Kid related in other media. So the MK stories tend to be heavy on drama that can only take place at Kid heists. (To the point that the new chapters just. Use Kid as the plot device to show off a new character. Even Hakuba's never gotten so much 'look at this character being a detective' treatment in MK.)

-sighs- I just feel bad for MK as a series at this point. I like the characters, I like the general story idea, but. It's been going down a very steep hill with Gosho wanting things exciting, but not wanting any real progress in. Anything. But unlike old MK, the new stories aren't even nice standalone setpieces of story, they're... mundane. They could be high stakes, if you purely look at the scenarios on paper, but. We all know nothing's gonna happen to Kid. Nothing even happens to him when the actual bad guys show up, much less one-time antagonists.

We need actual character focus and development, not heist drama. Badly. Not even romance, though that'd be a nice change. Just any character expansion of our limited cast of characters. Gosho wants big, all the time, meaningless big stuff, when small would be so nice.