#but my hometown team is not so good XD

[stewolf7]

loved your artworks so far for snowells week! i am so grateful that you put your time and energy into these beautiful drawings! i would like to request snowharry attending some soccer game, i always thought they would look cute in ball caps and scarves and everything <3 <3

You're welcome! I am happy this event exists, it's fun to take part in smth like that!

At football (soccer) game there is always that excited one and the calm one.

I went for bull hats, I thought they would look funnier :P

I've made Central City Football Club. They changed their logo to a Flash inspired one. Maybe once they did a charity event where their team played against the Flash?

[ratatatastic]

"—played out west, never made the playoffs, nobody knew who he was!"

"Yeah! And that was Connor McDavid for a while—obviously, this year was huge for them because they made it to the finals—"

"—and we're referencing Mike Trout."

"We're referencing Mike Trout—but, I feel like similar guys also in neither really seek the national spotlight."

"And that's fine!"

"But just like Trout had Bryce Harper...I think Matthew Tkachuk can be Bryce Harper!"

"I think absolutely—"

"The guy that wins a bit more, is on the more competitive team, and is the personality... we always tie back to baseball."

"We're tying it back and on that note I have a feeling Bryce and his club are gonna win one of these things at some point in the next few years..."

"I also gotta feeling if you threw em in a bar together, Bryce Harper and Matthew Tkachuk will become best friends in like 3 minutes..."

"I can see that!"

"I can see it."

"I can see them having some commonalities maybe Bryce will give him a cool headband and Matthew will give him a mouthguard, and off you go!"

"There you go! Worlds collide."

"—a bond built forever."

Territory Talk | 8.1.24 (x)

yes yes!!! give me another reason to baseball my hockey!!!

speaking of brycey headbands here are my favourites from the phils era <3 the recent wawa headband, the phanatics, the bi phillies and the showman

i think matthew and those curls would look so good in a headband but doing that im afraid he will not be able to beat those danny jansen look-alike allegations at that point (good timing too at least jansen isnt in toronto anymore and is a boston boy now so its okay now its not an insult anymore anything to support your dads team lmaoo)

and if we wanna hockey your baseball we can do that too!

bryceys a vegas boy since its his hometown!! and there have been multiple instances where hes worn gold in support of vegas whether in cleats, bat knobs, etc! (fascinatingly enough he was a caps fan at first since vegas didnt get their expansion team yet and since he was drafted by the nats but once vegas got their team he instantly switched over and became a big fan!!! yes his loyalties were very crossed in the 2018 scf and hes talked about it XD) and yes hes also done the playoff beard despite the fact he was currently playing baseball at the time so it was very funny watching him have a grizzled beard in fucking may of all months and also during the offseason he drop the puck at washington @ vegas game ofc

(also its very funny because in 2023 he was caught watching the scf in the dugout between innings while wearing gold decorated cleats to support vegas in the scf and while i cant find any tweets about it now i remember it very vividly when it happened because i was so distraught to see him root against the cats lmaoo i know another phil was watching it with him but i cant remember it mightve been stotty but take that with a grain of salt; now thinking about it, it was absolutely stotty hes a vegas boy too hes the only other guy in the dugout whod be rooting for the vgk too)

and yes we are 1 step removed from matthew and brycey meeting because of the kelce brothers and yes it is very wild to me i havent stopped thinking about it...soon...soon worlds will collide and i will never shut up about it...

STOP WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT BRYCE HARPER AND MATTHEW TKACHUK TOGETHER HOW THEYD BE BEST FRIENDS IF THEY MET PLEASE THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR MY HEALTH STOP IT

[kuekyuuq]

Gloria, Jet-lags and Imps [6x11]

Let’s jump right in:

Kinda love how Kara lamp-shaded addressed the fact she didn't tell the gang about her adventures in the PZ. She’s not wrong, tho.

...what do I want to say about Mxy using what's basically a well-known gay-anthem to tell his tale? I mean, it didn’t lead anywhere. The original song is about freeing oneself, liberation, stepping out of a (gone bad) relationship and moving on, stronger for it - empowerment. The only connection I could make, is that originally it was Nyxly’s aim to just do that (freeing herself and her kind from an oppressor), but in the way Mxy performed it, that part of the parallel was long over before he even reached the chorus. It’s also a popular Karaoke song, tho, so... he chose it because it’s catchy? I’ll try not to overthink it for now. At least, the Superfriend’s reactions were fun.

Nia exiting the elevator, "And what's this Old Stone?" I love it when ppl enter a room / situation and pick up on words that they couldn't have possibly heard. I think cinema sins ding such... Are we to assume, she dreamed Mxy's rendition of ‘I will survive’? Or is the elevator not sound-proof at all? (If it’s the latter, Nia later apparently telling Brainy “in private” between scenes / during the elevator ride about her Nyxly adventures, was a silly thing to do.)

So, "Jared" created the ring Old Stone to rule them all, it got shattered into the Paragons totems? Nyxly needs the totems and to get them she needs a crystal which also belonged to "Jared" - who happens to be Mxy's ancestor, which is why she needs Mxy / his blood, too.

I have one important and incredibly relevant question here, tho... 

With the introduced imps and their names... Why’s dude named Jared of all things?!

Really, did I mishear that? If so, I’ll leave it as is and never edit, bc that would be hilarious in its own right 😋

...

Not sure what to make about Supergirl paraphrasing a Dirty Dancing quote.  "Nobody puts Mxy into a power crystal on my watch."  ...is he Baby now? (Seriously, though: Which of the writers thought that was a fitting quote to use in that particular context?)

...now, is the exposition section of the episode over yet?

Sensitive Brainy sensed something was up with Nia. He can relate... Nia doubting Kara would understand, too, is ridiculous. But I get it... insecurities and all. But, I mean, just 5 minutes later Kara announces she wants to save Nyxly despite her wrongdoings. And yet Nia still remains convinced, Kara wouldn’t forgive her own personal mini-me... After having witnessed Kara forgiving Lena for a whole season of the writers being stupid messing up to the nth degree. But I digress, Lena’s Lena.

...how old is Nia meant to be again? Just asking out of completely unrelated curiosity.

F*ck. They really went with NewFoundland...

Imma assume it was an executive choice after realizing they couldn’t find enough actors and actresses with a convincing Irish accent... maybe. Again, no offense to Newfoundland! Just... we got the insinuations of Ireland, not Newfoundland... And truthfully, when I think of magic, Ireland is an easy association. Whereas I only due to this whole debacle learned Newfoundland has Irish ancestry. So, okay, the show forced me to learn something new... I give ‘em that.

An easy journey, she said.

Lena's been off-screen for two whole episodes, Kara announcing at the beginning of ‘Dreamweaver’ [6x09] Lena being “back east” (at least insinuating Lena’s left the west-coast already), which span over at least one full day (feat. a scene at night), and ‘I still rise’ [6x10] at least another a whole day (the whole Nia’s mom back for a day deal). And, now, after at least 48 hours she barely just arrived.

Lemme check how long a regular plane would need to fly from California to NFL......... ... .. .. So... approx. 10 hours with at least one layover. 

Yeah, using a private jet made it easier, but apparently also much, much slower...

Or, Lena randomly went some other places / did some sight-seeing in NFL before she decided to finally visit her mother’s hometown...  [Either that or the timelines don’t match up and Lena’s scenes are flashbacks of sorts.]

Optimistic and relaxed Lena is a sight to behold. I rewound 3 times, just to enjoy it for as long as possible. We all knew it was going to be short-lived... 

Let’s check off a few more items...

OMG, Kara hiding behind Alex at the mere sight of the PZ-projector broke my heart!  😢

"Elisabeth Walsh" is the new 'the one you shall not name'. ...poor Lena. 😭

Oh, so Mxy wants to be Patrick Swayze instead of Baby... gotcha.

...is this going anywhere?

KITTY!!! Okay, this must be the best opponent in the history of CWSG. 

Despite the horrible CGI, SG using her heat-vision to project a laser-beam to distract the cat had me in (happy-) tears! 🤣

Gotta love the civilians of National City quickly returning to business as usual once the giant cat is gone. Even the police officers looked rather chill...

Nyxly did look fabulous this episode ^^ 

Andrea being Lena's rock is both great and annoying. I can't fault Andrea. It's just, that we still have to see an on-screen interaction between Lena and Kara and that bugs the heck out of me. I can’t help it. I’m sorry, Andrea.

Nia: "...is my fault." Kara: "Nu, is MY fault!" J'onn: "Stop fighting, kids!" Space-dad has spoken.

Mxy used an LuthorCorp copy machine... and of cos it's faulty. It's not an L-Corp product.

Kara forgiving Nia came as a surprise to her... Oooookay. I mean, the show has been writing Kara a bit inconsistently the past two seasons... so, yeah, maybe being unsure which of her traits apply this week was not such a far stretch...

Maybe it's the hair, but I wished, Florence was played by Alex Kingston.

So, not-Alex-Kingston shows Lena herself with a funny wig and tells her how her mother was still watching her...

If it wasn't for Katie's acting skills (I love her.) I would have already hit my head against the wall repeatedly. Something about these scenes had me constantly cringe and I made it through 5.5 seasons of this show already... Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was highly distracting from the story that explained Lena’s mom was special even to another witch, where there was domestic abuse, and an accidental murder. Y’know, important stuff, deep-cutting stuff! 

At least, poor widddle Lena got some closure there. Elisabeth was a good cookie. And filled with magic. And Lena’s gotta have that ‘spark’, too... 

....so... Lena’s gonna stay in NFL for how much longer, to train becoming a witch?  Please, just hand her a how-to manual and send her back home, to figure it out on her own, please... (Yes, that would be horrible decision-making, but I need her back with the team!)

On to the finish line: 

So... Mxy IS Nyxly's brother? Wait, that doesn’t sound right... then Nyxly would have the same blood... Did I miss something? Can someone explain, please? Or is he her ex, and that’s where his rendition of “I will survive” makes sense?

Hnn... I can't help, but think Kara's speech for Nyxly was 85% based on her experiences with Lena in s05.

Awww... he said "stronger together"... Mxy... I hope, you'll be okay!

Lena believes in magic now. And I absolutely love how Lena wants to science magic XD

...but apparently magic isn’t science that hasn’t been explained yet, but parallel... powers? concepts? ether strings?

Nyxly has a loyal henchman now. Which was a bit heavy-handed. Took way too much of screen-time, so it better leads to something interesting.

And Kara is on a warpath now. Wooooot! Girl’s got enough.

...what else? 

Did I miss a third Patrick Swayze hint / quote / mention?  I learned, these things come in threes... Y’know, basic writing rules... 

I guess, for once the episode title was meant to be taken literally, Mxy popping up between characters, to try and help. (I need in-show footage, of Mxy sneaking up on ppl, without his powers, on all fours / crouched, just to get the desired effect.) I mean, I’ve never really watched Malcom, but wasn’t he like what Mxy usually is? A bit of a trouble-maker, prankster, chaos-ensuing wherever he goes? ...well, in that case, the episode title didn’t hold up, as Mxy’s scenes were not fun or really goofy. Yes, there was some superficial humor, but just to serve Mxy dealing with not being able to use his powers, which in turn was only barely scratched at (although it turned out to be his final character development crisis, appreciating not having powers and - in turn - facing consequences for once). Again, a whole lot going on in the episode, so a lot of that may have ended up on the cutting-room floor.

...where’s Kelly? Secretly adopting a kid, maybe?

...Kara’s still a reporter, right? I mean, whenever it serves the immediate plot, yes? ...Not even a throw-away line, that she has to pop up at CatCo for appearances sake? Since Andrea is already upset with her AND looking into her friends’ identities? At least, Kara should take a peek to make sure Andrea hasn’t uncovered anything yet... No?

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Kue out.

[eirasummersart]

🍃🕷🌌⚾️

For Oriol~

Refering to this ask meme~

First of all, thank you so much for the ask! <3 And sorry it toook me a bit to get to this! Of course, I'll gladly talk more about my boy~ I had to think some of these on the spot, tho xD But that helps me develop his character, so it's good~

🍃 FALLING LEAF - do they enjoy being in nature? what is their favourite outdoor activity? Yes, he does really love being in nature! Specially in thick forests where he can just float around all the branches and the leaves~ His hometown is also surrounded by forest so he's used to that since he was a child C: As for outdoor activities, he's not much for sports or excercise, so he enjoys just leisurely walking flying around and enjoying the sun and the grass and all :D He'd more often than not also pick up flowers just because they're pretty, but also he'd pick some branches and other miscellaneous stuff just laying around if he thinks he can use them to build something~

🕷️ SPIDER - what is their biggest fear? do they have any irrational / mundane fears? Breaking a nail. Hear me out, that sounds dumb but it's actually not. He got a really bad broken nail when he was younger and it was super painful and took so long to grow back till it was healed again… it's something he never wants to experience again, so he's VERY careful when handling tools nowdays. Aside from that, he's a bit scared of fire, so he'll be really cautious when handling it. He's also a bit claustrophobic, not too much, but if he gets into a really tiny space he'd be a bit panicky. If it's just a small room or not have much space, he'd just be a bit ansty.

🌌 MILKY WAY - what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them? Well, I don't know if I ever said this here?? But he is directly inspired by Tinker Bell. Mostly the one from the OG movie, but I did watch the new movies from her franchise too so I get a bit from both places C: As for the first thing, I think it was that 1. he was gonna be pretty and "vain" and 2. he was gonna be a disaster with love hahaha Also, just because I can, not much later I also decided Ace was gonna be his BIG CRUSH, unrequited tho, it never got anywhere hahah (he's got a lot of crushes, but only one that works out in the end 😌)

⚾ BASEBALL - can they play sports? what is their best position if they play a team sport? what’s their strong suit (speed, power etc.)? He is nimble and fast, so he would not be that bad at them if he tried. But he does not like them much, so he mostly stays away from sports. He does watch them sometimes as a social activity, tho. Mostly going to see the Magilift matches the school participates in. He goes there to support Ruggie as well😌

---

That is all! Feel free anyone to ask more for this ask meme or any of the others I reblog~ Thanks again for sending the ask <3

[xtoothless]

One Match

This is my first TommyInnit / Reader one-shot. Second POV and you play Cake-Wars with Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. 

Pairing: You/Tommy

Word Count: 3,707

Summary: You play some Cake-Wars with a couple of your comfort streamers :)

Ao3 Link

---

[TommyInnit is Live]

You clicked on the notification from Twitch so fast you thought you broke your mouse. It was 4 pm in your hometown of Elkhart (1), Wisconsin. School had ended a few weeks before for the kids, including for you; your Junior year. You were to be a Senior next year, your last year of high school. Most everyone was outside enjoying the weather of mid-June, the warm sun lighting the fields where kids played and adults watched or played along. It seemed like everyone was outside enjoying the sun. Except you.

You were in your room, watching a live video from one of your comfort streamers; TommyInnit. The 17-year-old British blonde from the UK. Like most, you never had any bad days when you watched his streams. Whenever you did have a bad day, it seemed like one of your comfort streamers knew and hit that "Go live" button. 

Tommy was playing Minecraft with a couple of his friends - a couple of your comfort streamers - WilburSoot and Tubbo. They had just started a new survival world, to see who could speed run the quickest. 

The chat on the side of the screen exploded with their answers. A lot said Tommy, others said Tubbo, and a fair amount said, Wilbur. You thought they were all very good at the game but considered it was down to either Wilbur or Tommy. Wilbur was the calmest about it, being quick but also taking his time. Tommy was a ball of chaotic fury; trying to be quick but stressing about beating the game.

"Wha- How the fok does Will already have diamonds?" Tommy screamed, trying to get his character to mine the iron in front of him. You smiled at the screen as he joined Wilbur's voice channel to yell at him.

"Well, Tommy. You just- you just gotta get good at the game." Wilbur's voice said through Discord. 

Tommy leaned back, his mic quieting the sound of him groaning in annoyance, "Ughh, fok off, you little- you know what?". He left Wilbur's voice channel and went to Tubbo's. 

"Tommy?" Tubbo's small voice echoed through the channel.

"I say we team up against Will." Tommy started, making his character jump out of the cave and mine more spruce wood from the mountain he was on, "Look- he's already got diamonds m'kay, let's work together." 

It took a second to hear Tubbo's reply. "...okay?"

"Great. Do you have any iron?"

As they all continued to play, you left to use the bathroom and grab snacks. On your way down the stairs, you rubbed the warm back of your black and white kitten (2) that was sitting on the windowsill. Once out of the bathroom, you check the kitchen cupboards for any snacks.

You found a bag full of fruit candies, caramel suckers, and some off-brand chocolate bars. They were technically your fathers, but he wouldn't notice if some were gone. You grabbed a handful of each and a can of Coca-Cola that was in the fridge. You then ran back, your kitten following up the stairs. 

Once you were seated, you continued to watch the stream with your kitten purring in your lap. Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo were all trying to fight blazes in the Nether. Tommy already had 4 blaze rods, while Tubbo had 1. 

"Tubbo, kill that blaze-" he then screamed in fright as his character caught on fire, "Foook! There's one behind. Dammit Tubbo." he then laughed as Tubbo also screamed in fright.

You laughed as you turned to your second monitor and loaded up Minecraft. Your computer loaded it up fairly quickly, given that you were also watching the stream that took a ton of internet to watch. Given that, you decide to play CakeWars. As you joined the round, you looked at the stream as all three made it to the end. 

They all teamed up and were trying to fight the endermen and the ender dragon. Your attention was on your own game that you didn’t realize they had killed the ender dragon and were now declaring victory. Tommy took all the credit as Wilbur laughed. Tubbo giggled and then hit Tommy’s in-game character with his own. 

With that, they decided to play servers. More specifically, the same server you were going to play CakeWars in next. You failed to notice when your screen flashed with the red lettering, “Your cake has been eaten.” 

"Dammit!"

Your teammates tried their hardest to stay alive, but unfortunately, the Yellow team was stronger with their armor and weapons. As you tried to run away, one threw an ender pearl and teleported in front of you.

Using your iron sword, you tried to defend yourself, but their diamond enchanted sword dealt more damage to your leather and iron armor; you died after a couple of hits. You groaned in frustration as you quickly hit "new game". Your kitten got up and sat by your monitor, staring at the loading screen before you pushed him toward his bed.

"Hopefully my teammates are better next round." 

You joined a new game, too focused on that to see that you were on the same server as Tommy, Wilbur, and Tubbo. The game started saying that you were part of the blue team. You looked over at your teammates and read their names. It took you a second until you recognized Tommy's skin and the name "TommyInnit" over his head. "Oh, my god." You looked at your other monitor and saw that Tommy was looking at your character (3). 

"Hello, [Your Username]." His character punched toward you and crouched a couple of times. 

"Hi!" Tubbo's character punched toward you too. 

You crouched back, punching at all three. Wilbur nodded up and down, crouching all the same. You typed into the in-game chat and typed only to your team. "I'm honestly kinda freaking out right now, ngl."

Tommy read it out loud before laughing, "Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. I see you're a woman- you all know how much I love women." 

You heard Wilbur sigh and Tubbo laughed from the stream as you replied with, "Yes, Tommy, we know how much you love women XD."

He read it out loud and laughed, "I like this one. Hey, [Your Username], do you have a discord?"

Your hands began to shake and get clammy as you read it over a couple of times. As you collected your bricks to upgrade, you typed, "We win and I'll give it to you."

Tommy ran over to the villager selling things for bricks as he read it, "Okay, guys, we need to win. If we do, I'll talk to a girl!" 

That made you laugh, as you covered your cake with endstone and blue wool. The chat on the side of the screen exploded with "Women POG", "TommyInnit talks to a woman???", and - your personal favorite - "Tommy simps over a probably 6-year-old". You laugh out loud as a dono pops up, talking in a robotic voice. 

"Tommy, that could possibly be a young girl. Maybe you shouldn't hit on her?" 

Tommy stumbled over his words as Wilbur and Tubbo laughed and agreed. To save him, you type, "Don't worry chat, I'm 17, thanks for looking out for me though X'D". 

As the game progressed, your team had two emerald points, endstone, obsidian, and blue wool covering your cake, and all members decked in diamond armor and a diamond sword. The other three teams were fighting each other as your team collected and planned your attack. Tommy and Wilbur were going to attack the middle point while you and Tubbo guarded your cake. 

They set off as you and Tubbo collected the bricks and emeralds beside your cake. The two of you just crouched and punched at one another until they came back. Tubbo continued to laugh on stream and Tommy questioned what was going on.

"Me and [Your Username] are just crouching at one another," Tubbo responded, laughing as you jumped and punched at him. 

As you leaned back and closed your eyes laughing, you heard footsteps in your headset and quickly grabbed your mouse. A red member in full leather and an iron sword was running toward your cake. You appeared in front of him as Tubbo finally realized and screamed quietly. In a couple of hits, he died, barely taking away three of your hearts.  

"Tubbo? Tubbo, what happened?" Tommy asked, panic in his voice. 

"There was a red team member attacking our cake. But [Your Username] attacked 'em." Tubbo explained as they got back to their island.

Wilbur came up and jumped in your face, punching at you, "Good job, [Your Username]"

"Thanks." You typed, then another message, "I have a feeling we're gonna win this, but I don't wanna jinx."

You heard Wilbur laugh, "Don't worry. Let's just let the other teams fight and then join later." 

"Yeah, we can sweep up what's left of them!" Tubbo agreed. 

You nodded in-game, collecting the nether stars below you. As soon as you reached 10, you upgraded your resources. You also wanted to get protection but then the green team had taken the middle point. 

"Here you go [Your Username]" You heard Tubbo say through the stream. You crouch in response as a cluster of nether stars were thrown at you. 

Soon after, Wilbur and Tommy did as well. "Let's be honest, [Your Username] is more responsible - other than me, of course," Tommy said.

"Then why don't you take them?" You typed into game chat, challenging the blonde.

The other two laughed as Tommy stood in front of you crouching, "Okay, fine. Given 'em back bitch." 

"Because you called me a b****, I'mma keep them." You said, walking over to your ender chest and putting them inside. You looked at Tommy and crouched once before covering your cake with more wool. 

"Way to go, Tommy, you made her mad," Wilbur said, crouching, having his back to you. 

You laughed once more, falling back into your seat before typing, "I'm not mad, just playing." You retrieved all 12 of the nether stars and upgraded your protection twice. 

As you turned around, you saw a green member - decked in diamond armor - bridging toward your island. You race to the edge and crouch, punching in their direction. They looked up and punched at you, as three more green members also in diamond armor appeared behind him. 

Tubbo alerted the other two and they all crouched at the edge, sword in hand. You clicked on your bow and shot an arrow at the first player. The ringing of a hit echoed through your headset as one got hit back. 

The one you hit looked back up before his teammates switched to ender pearls. You back up, guarding your cake as you watch the green eye fly through the air. 

You ignored the screams of the others on stream as you focused on one green member. They turned as you hit them a couple of times in the back. As they took off around your island, you ate a golden apple and chased after them, cutting them off and landing another blow. 

They turned and tried to hit you, but didn't realize how close they were to the edge and fell. You turned your head to see your teammates fighting off the rest of them. Tubbo was losing a fight by a player who was continuously eating apples. You ran over to him and hit him. Distracted, he tried to fight you but Tubbo's blade had killed him. 

"Thanks [Your Username]!" You heard Tubbo say as Tommy stopped screaming. The rest of green had fled or died. Wilbur had said nothing during that all while Tommy's mouth never seemed to shut. But you've been watching Tommy for so long, it didn't bother you; if anything, it made you laugh as you fought. 

Wilbur's voice echoed through the stream, "Everyone good?" 

Tubbo and Tommy said "Yes", while you nodded in-game. Your cake was never harmed, so you didn't need to rebuild. All your teammates were fine, other than Tubbo was missing more than half of his hearts. 

You all collected emeralds that were still popping out from the ground. Everyone was stocking up on ender pearls and golden apples, roughly a stack of blue wool and arrows. As you closed out of the menu, you heard the sound of breaking blocks as the game said, "Everyone's cake has been eaten." 

Tommy gathered you all around and said some "inspiring" words, "It's just 3 Red, 2 Green, 2 Yellow, and us left. We are the largest, therefore, we should be able to win this. Besides, we are probably the best PVP-ers in the whole match." 

"Don't get too cocky, Tommy." You typed to them, crouching and uncrouching once. 

Tommy laughed and then shrugged on camera, "Well, he's always cocky." Wilbur’s response came through. 

"Hey, you fooking- never mind. Let's attack yellow, they're closest." Tommy said, before turning back to you and Tubbo.

You nod as he led the three of you down the one-block road and to the middle point. One yellow member in iron armor was trying to capture the point from red but panicked when they saw you coming. You ender pearled in front of them and started your attack. They got distracted with you that they couldn't fight off Wilbur from behind. 

"Let's goooo!" Wilbur yelled, running down the three-block path to Yellow's island. The last person panicked when they saw the charging diamond armor and tried to ender pearl away. But the ender pearl hit the side of an island and they fell to their death. 

"Now I feel bad." You quickly typed into game chat. 

"Nah, there's nothing to feel bad about, it happens," Tommy responded to your message. "Now, let's attack Green." 

The four of you charged forward as Red and Green were fighting. Tubbo yelled out and you all stopped. "Let's wait to see how this plays out." He said as you agreed. 

For the next few minutes, you watched as the red team shot at Green as they tried to bridge across. You kept looking around, always cautious if another player tried to scare you. 

A green player got knocked off their bridge and the other was attacked by a red who threw an ender pearl. "Okay, [Your Username], shoot at them to get their attention. You guys ready?" 

Once everyone said they were, you looked down and started building up while crouching. As soon as you got about 8 blocks high, you selected your bow and aimed at the nearest red. You heard the ringing of the bell as the arrow hit them. They all turned to look at you as you started to dig down. An arrow whizzed past your ear as another hit you, making your character fall 6 blocks. 

Your teammates all stood in front of you as the red team came charging. Eating one of your many golden apples, you started to regain health. 

Wilbur fought one Red member with an enchanted diamond sword and enchanted diamond armor. Tommy attacked one member in full enchanted diamond armor and sword, who was building up, which reminded you of Fortnite building. Tubbo and you attacked the last one you was full enchanted diamond armor and sword. Your team had protection 2, but no sharpness on your swords. 

All the sounds around you were swords swinging, characters jumping back from being hit, and Tommy's screaming coming from the stream. You hit the Red member repeatedly, while Tubbo stood back to heal. 

You were down to about 6 hearts, your armor protecting most of your body. Trying to get away quickly, you started to build up; you were dangerously close to the edge. Making sure your character was okay, you started to shoot arrows from above. 

However, you didn't see the Red member who was fighting Tommy ender pearl up and shoot an arrow at you. "[Your Username]! Look out!" Tommy yelled as you were hit. 

Your character fell off the pillar and down toward the abyss. Having only a second to react, you quickly hit your ender pearls and threw one at the pillar. It connected and you teleported. You quickly placed a block underneath you, surviving with 3 hearts. 

"Ohhh! Oh my god!" You screamed as you ate two golden apples. "Holy shit!" 

As you hit 8 hearts, you joined the battle. Tommy was on 2 hearts and was being chased. You ender pearled behind him and attacked the Red member. Tommy must have had gotten him low because you hit him with two swings and he was dead. Tommy stopped running and saw you. "You're alive??" He seemed shocked. 

You crouched a couple of times, nodding. "You gotta tell me how later."

You nod once and turn to help your friends. As you returned with Tommy behind you, you saw that Wilbur was fighting one off and the other had just knocked Tubbo off the edge. You heard him scream as he fell. 

The red member saw you and quickly ate a golden apple as you charged him. You managed to hit him a couple of times in a row and his character got punched off the edge. At the same time, Wilbur had just killed the last Red member. 

You heard the "Let's goooo!" from the stream and jumped up and down. 

You quickly pulled up discord and got your information before pulling up Instagram on your phone. You found Tommy and opened a chat, sending him your discord. All you had to do was wait for him to open it. 

You also added next to the link, "Wait till after stream." 

As a new game was 20 seconds from starting, you realized that Tommy was talking to you. He wanted you to join another game with them. Of course, you agreed and you all selected the green team.

A couple of hours went past and it was getting later and later. The sky outside darkened and you heard your parents coming home from work. You were an only child, so no siblings were trashing the house with their stuff. 

Your kitten kept sitting in front of your screen, watching the particles in-game. You accidentally let the yellow team eat your cake and then died trying to defend it. Wilbur has just died as Tommy and Tubbo ran for their lives. 

But unfortunately, they had to succumb to defeat and Tommy had to end the stream. As he said his goodbyes to chat, you closed out of the stream and stared at your phone. You waited for it to go off, but it didn't. Not until then minutes after. 

When it eventually did, you were on your PC playing Overwatch. The match had just ended, so you checked. It was a discord text from TommyInnit.

You calmed your inner panic before opening your phone. You accepted his buddy request with no hesitation. Another message went off and it had one single word. "Call?" 

At that very moment, you heard your mother shout out to you. You turned back to your phone before responding with, "Yeah, sure, just give me a minute."

Your mother wanted you to eat dinner; which was macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets (4). You took a plate to your room and set it down on your desk, watching your cat. He seemed to ignore you but you knew he was waiting for a moment when you're not looking. 

You opened your phone and typed in your chat that you were back. Almost a second after you sent it, you were getting a call from Tommy. You accepted the call and said, "Hello?"

"Okay, well, hi- sorry, I really want to ask. How the fuck did you pull off that bow and arrow kill earlier?" You heard his voice on the other end. He seemed nervous but also knew exactly what he wanted to say.

You laughed, "Well, I've always been good at archery. On video games, of course, not so much in real life." 

"Hm, archery. That should be my next vlog- but anyway! How did you survive that first round? I saw you fall. Was it lag?" 

"Nope, I had ender pearls. I just used one quickly. To be honest, I was as surprised as you were. I was not expecting it to work." You responded as you picked up your cat who was trying to sneak over to your food. 

As the two of you talked, a smile never left your face. You two laughed like you were old friends greeting each other for the first time in years. You kept battling your kitten, which entertained Tommy. You talked until it was 9 pm in America. You previously found out from school that it was a 5-hour difference between the US and Great Britain.

"Wait, wait, wait, Tommy? Isn't it like 2 in the morning for you right now?" You asked after he hummed. 

"Uhh, no- wait, yeah, yep, yep, it is. That explains why I'm so tired-" he started laughing which in turn, made you laugh. 

"Ugghh, I should probably go to bed." He yawned midway through his sentence. 

You nodded, although he couldn't see you, "Yeah, you yawning is making me tired." 

"Oh, I'm sorry, well, it was nice meeting you [Your Name], and um, maybe we can play sometime soon." You heard him say.

"Yeah, it would be fun.” You said, “I would love to play some more sometime. I’m sure you can find time in that “Busy schedule” of yours.” 

You heard Tommy laugh from the other end, “Well, I mean, I’m not that busy. But we’ll see. Don’t tell anyone, but more vlogs are coming soon, so, I’m pretty busy this week.” 

“Alright, I won’t keep you up too late. Goodbye Tommy, it was nice meeting you.” You said. 

“Yep, you too. Goodnight!-” he ended the call as he dragged out the last of his sentence. You leaned back in your chair and looked at the ceiling, a smile on your face. That day was one of your best days.

You were definitely looking forward to the next match you would play with TommyInnit.

[secret-engima]

hamelin-born

@secret-engima

Oscar likes green. It’s that simple. Yes, he does have a lot of fond memories linked to the color green, and yes, having everything be green means that any magic he choses to use has a good chance of being lost against the background, but - green’s his favorite color. It’s that simple. He’d probably honestly be a little amused at hearing all the frantic speculation about his reasons behind the color scheme.

...the fact that The Emerald City made appearances in the hometowns of what would grow to become Team JNPR is totally a coincidence. Right? Yes. A total coincidence.

*snicker* That is perfectly in character. Mercury probably sarcastically suggested that Oscar’s animated cane-weapon be given the name of ‘Short Term Memory’ or something along those lines. Oscar, true to himself, decided - hey, his cane was a living thing, it should have the chance to chose it’s own name!

That is why the cane proudly bears a name suspiciously similar to ‘Toto’.  

Whitley is cheering on Oscar’s efforts to make miniatured rainbows, and looking up all the information on color spectrum and prisms. He too wants to be able to, one day, see a grumpy person with a personalized raincloud above their head! A raincloud that will break into rainbows when they smile and/or laugh!  And they know just the perfect test subject...

Somewhere, Qrow feels a shiver run down his spine.

Oscar did not set out with the intention of kidnapping Whitley. It just - happened? And ooh, but I love seeing Whitley’s perspectives of his first meeting with Oscar. It’s just - Oscar accidentally come off as mysterious and colorful and almost fae; it’s amazing. And just - I’m suddenly struck by the parallels with another modern fairy tale - namely, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Oscar doesn’t sugarcoat the danger when he offers to take Whitley away; he lays out everything in his offer, and leaves it Whitley’s decision.

And Whitey - comes away.

He never regrets it.

A couple of random thoughts about the Schnee Family Debacle: Actually, Qrow might initially be afraid that the ‘Schnee Bingo’ is indirectly aimed at Ironwood. Because Winter is - relatively close in Ironwood’s confidence, I believe. And the whole ‘dragging the family’s sin’s into the light?’ It is going to impact her, one way or another. And everyone who is aware of ‘Schnee Bingo’ is going to wonder just what they did for the Ringmaster to respond like this - speculation goes anywhere from realistic to highly improbable.

The smart ones, upon uncovering the evidence of what the Schnee family does to their kids, think that that probably has something to do with it.

Me: @hamelin-born 

The reblog chain this is from is getting really long, so I decided to snag this and start a new post with it. XD

Oscar likes green! It means growing things and life! And yes it does hide his magic rather well :3

The fact that Emerald City has been all over the world and stopped in hometowns of SEVERAL main characters is total coincidence yes. :3 Just like how it is TOTAL coincidence that sometimes, a child or two is invited backstage to meet the tiny Ringmaster. >:333

(Pyrrha remembers that circus years later, how she was 14 and just starting to really get famous and realize how much fame sucked, and she didn’t have her parent’s permission to go to the Circus just outside Argus but she did anyway and it was a night she would never forget. A magical, beautiful night, and then the little Ringmaster, a boy younger than her, smiled and sang a song that brought tears to the eyes and somehow- it felt like he was looking right at her.) 

(She remembers being invited backstage by one of the acrobats, a cocky boy her age with silver hair, and at first she thought they were doing it because she was “Pyrrha Nikos” but- they never mentioned it. They never even asked her name. They just led her backstage to the tiny Ringmaster in his top hat and cane and workshop of wonders. He smiled at her and asked her name. She blinked and cautiously asked if he didn’t know it already. The boy twirled his cane and seemed a little too old for his childish appearance as he said “How could I? We’ve never met before. Though,” his smile had gone a little ... something at the edges, sad or wild or maybe even fae like her grandmother’s old stories, “I may have met your shadow along my roads, and for that I suppose I owe you thanks.”)

(“...Thanks? To me?” She asks, and the boy hums as he starts performing magic tricks right there, just for her, reappearing and disappearing of various trinkets and tools. Yes, he tells her, and then he pulls out a beautiful little necklace, a slender gold chain with a glimmering stone in the shape of a juniper tree, he offers it to her, and she wonders if it’s her imagination that the stone tree feels warm and alive on her palm, you don’t remember, he hums gently, but you once told my best friend that you believed in him, and it quite possibly saved his life. He never told me your name, but he told me about the Argus girl with red hair and kind eyes, and I dare say you fit the description to a T.)

(The Ringmaster smiles at her and gestures at the little necklace, “Keep it, as a thank you. May it bring you good fortune and safe passage, no matter where your destiny leads.” Not long after, she was led out by another of the acrobats, and it was only after she’d gotten home and was staring at the ceiling of her bedroom that she realized she was automatically wearing the necklace. And that the stone still felt warm.)

(If anyone bothers to ask Pyrrha Nikos after that if she believed in magic, she will touch the pendant of a tree that she always wears around her neck and say yes. Magic is real. And so are little fairy boys with kind green eyes.)

(Annnnd now I wanna do some drabbles of the main cast meeting the Emerald City circus and having encounters with the mysterious little Ringmaster XD)

Mercury so suggests “short-term memory” but Oscar solemnly says the cane should have a say. It picks the name “Total Remembrance” and Mercury laughs his head off while Neo gleefully calls the cane a sarcastic little twig. They shorten the name to “Toto” for Oscar’s sanity.

Whitley is a glee the day they get the spell to WORK. Now- to find their first test subject. Emerald: I’LL GO LEAD HIM HERE *flies off as a gremlin magpie*

Oscar doesn’t know it, but he comes off as a little bit fae (or a lot fae) to a LOT of people. He can’t help it, with his connection to magic and his future memories and the way he acts and dresses he just- feels like a storybook wizard or fairy boy stepped out of the pages. And gosh, Oscar is totally like Peter Pan in his kidnapping of Whitley. XD Just- he offers adventure and danger and love and FAMILY. Come away with me? whispers his magic and his outstretched hand, and Whitley is far from the only person to have taken it over the years (look at his time-traveling crew), and he never regrets it.

Oh gosh I didn’t think of that. Qrow WOULD possibly think this was a jab at Ironwood, but ... not necessarily because of Winter? Depending on when this happens she might only be newly graduated. No wait the hammer fall happens in canon, so yeah there is the Winter connection, but ALSO, in canon Ironwood is implied to be an old, estranged friend of the family, and further, as a Council member, he and Jaques have to deal with each other on a professional level. Taking down the Schnees could be seen as a personal jab through Winter yes, but also as a threat, that if they can take out the Schnees, who are roughly equal Ironwood’s status and known “friends” (for a loose definition of the word) of the General, then what can they do to Ironwood directly?

The smart criminals look at the confidants of their Ringmaster, who are mostly kids, and a few of them know that the Ringmaster looks like a child himself and they ... well. Put some pieces together.

[fishylife]

Street Dance of China, Season 4, Episode 12, Part 1

- Just a heads up, there’s going to be salt this episode. Please beware!

- The two videos that make up the final episode are about approximately 7.5 hours long, so I’m going to make two posts. I’ll probably try to allocate 3.75 hours of showtime to each post but we shall see ^^;;

- I am also trying to be more less screencap-happy because my posts keep crashing and freezing because there are too many images lol

- So it looks like among the guests will be Huang Bo, Vanness Wu, Jackson Wang, Fu Longfei, Han Yu, and Wang Chenyi. (BRING HUANG ZITAO BACK YOU COWARDS!!!!!!!! But also I wished Jackson Yee would’ve made a return, I like him :P)

- The opening montage was kinda cool, having each of the captains dance in a different part of Shanghai.

- Oh my god they are literally going for a superhero theme? They were using the MCU music? What is happening?

- Why are Han Geng and Yibo dressed so boring and exactly the same OTL They were both wearing suits with vests and hats and it’s like, even if you were just going with a suit and vest and hat, try to differentiate yourself from the other guy wearing a suit and vest and hat please. Have a word with your stylists.

- Yixing performed Feitian with some of the contestants! (Both current and eliminated). It wasn’t the original choreography though, which is fine, because this is a street dance show and they gotta update it with street dance stuff. Not gonna lie, though, I was hoping for a full live performance with the dance crew performing the original dance, but I will take this anyway.

- Han Geng did have a nice performance that prioritized fun :3

- OF COURSE Henry broke out the violin and I love him for that. Also his team danced to Can’t Hold Us and I’m like I don’t know how old this song is but it seems very him to choose an old pop song.

- Yibo’s performance was literally called “This is old school” lol

- I think this event was mostly live, based on the fact that music had suddenly started playing very loudly and Henry went ???

- I thought I was just seeing things, but does Henry look like he has broad shoulders? I think it’s the tassels on his shirt.

- Closer look at Yixing’s fancy jacket for the day

- So good news is that there is a lot of skippable stuff in these longass episodes because it is live lol. There’s a lot of “waiting time” (e.g. people walking to their spots or picking numbers) that can be fast forwarded through.

- Special guest Huang Bo did a fun disco-esque dance

- Yixing was saying that Huang Bo had danced so well that the Dongbei (Northeast) king of dancing was under a lot of pressure. And Huang Bo was like “you mean the Dongbei king of dancing, break dancing champion Sun Honglei??” XD

- Henry said that the last time he’d seen Huang Bo was in the Mushroom house dancing to one dance move only, so I’m guess Huang Bo was on one of the episodes of Back to Field where Henry was a host :3

- Teams’ eliminated members came to say some words of encouragement :3 They were MT-Pop, Xiao Jie, Han Yu, and Momo.

- Dance montage! Sorry for the blurry cap. I think this was filmed close to the beginning of the show, because Yixing had his two-coloured hair, and also Nelson was in this montage. Anyway, the theme of the dance was that dance is something that is not limited by language.

- Gogo Brothers visited Changsha because they heard that it was Yixing’s hometown! :3

- A surprise guest!

- Yixing had heavy makeup on so I wondered if he’d rushed over to meet them after filming something   :P

- This started off a Gogo Brothers performance, then a Gogo Brothers + kids performance, then a Gogo Family performance

- It seems like a bad idea to keep the towel voting system when you have 164 judges??? It’s a gimmick but like, damn, I wish they’d stop lol.

- Yixing said that he wanted to pass on his own dancing skills to his children, just like Tony Gogo did. Huang Bo was like, you got it wrong, the first step is to have a girlfriend.

- Some fun shots of Rochka on vacation in China.

- Rochka got encouraging messages from his family members! :3

- This message was from Rochka’s older brother. He ended his message with acting like he was possessed lol, and the caption says something like “the Ka clan has a tradition of arts/skills,” basically saying that Rochka’s family are all talented :P

- The next message was from Rochka’s younger brother, and he said that if Rochka didn’t win, it would be his turn next year :P So I guess he’s a dancer too!

- More brothers uwu Looks like Rochka comes from a big family

- And messages from dad and mom!

- So cute!

- Some more encouraging messages from friends :3

- Boy got a wardrobe change

- Rochka’s performance had a somber tone, but it was powerful and hopeful imo. He also included a few of the other contestants on the show, which is fun. I’m also curious as to whether he choreographed most of the dance on his own, or whether he was allowed to contract help.

- Han Geng introduced Eleven by being like, I’ve known Eleven for eleven years, and tomorrow will be the eleventh month (November), let’s have a happy Eleven day lol.

- Eleven had a huge performance with lots of supporting dancers. It was very entertaining, though, as expected from a choreographer. Look at the smiley lol.

- Bouboo’s adventures in China

- Bouboo had a Wakanda themed performance. This is totally different from his usual dance style, so I was pretty surprised. However, I did feel that this choreography did not really give him much opportunity to show off his own dance. A lot of the attention went to the supporting dancers. Bouboo also said that he suffered a neck injury, and that he would require surgery :o

- One thing I’ve noticed in the performances so far is that they are far more choreography-focused than star-focused. All of these performances had a huge number of supporting dancers, and it really doesn’t make sense to have a lot unless you’re going to use them. So I actually feel that these large scale performances are actually disadvantageous for the dancers themselves if they don’t have a good choreography. Out of the four performances, I personally found Rochka’s and Eleven’s more engaging.

- Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I was really disappointed that Rochka got less than 100 votes? What? His performance was so interesting though? #justiceforrochka

- Also, I was reminded very recently that this is indeed a televised competition show, and some stuff might be rigged. So....I guess I shouldn’t take the voting too seriously OTL

- But also, what really is the criteria here? Because the voters are only asked to vote on whether they like something or not. So the dancers aren’t really limited to any particular theme, except for “just make a good performance.”

- Vanness Wu was one of the guests. For some reason I never really envisioned Vanness as a dancer. I always just remember him as a member of F4 with long hair who just stands around and looks cool X’D

- Vanness said that he and Han Geng look like a couple because they’re both wearing denim jackets. I love some chill old man humour up in this house. Also, for some reason, it never occurred to me that Vanness, a Taiwanese-American, would have a Taiwanese accent. It was kind of charming lol.

- Qiao Zhi going for Chinese style again, as he did in his individual audition many episodes ago

- Lol when the lion came out Yixing fell in love

- I did think that Qiao Zhi’s dance became a little limited when he became the front legs of the lion, because his arms were totally unusable. I guess it’s good that he left this for the end, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good move to stay in the lion for so long.

- Qiao Zhi explained that he really liked Chinese style stuff, which is why he keeps coming back to a Chinese theme. He said he liked watching movies such as Huang Feihong/Wong Fei-hung. (He said he liked movies with wudao which usually translates to dance, but Wong Fei-hung movies are all action movies so there’s probably some vocabulary here that I don’t know). He did explain that his performance was influenced by Wong Fei-hung, with the drunken fist (shown through the vats of alcohol), the clothes, the lion dance, etc.

- Ye Yin did some tap dance, but otherwise, this performance was mostly locking as expected. The entire performance was very tight. The supporting dancers were used to keep the focus on Ye Yin, which was good, because my problem in some of the earlier performances was that the background dancers would take away the spotlight from the main contestant. So this was a good performance. But I am going to bring up my grievances about Ye Yin. We know that he is a very tight dancer. He is very precise. But I barely see him do anything other than locking. He stays in his box and he never steps out. I have never seen him try to do any other sort of performance. And all of his solo performances have had a similar feel. In this performance, we got the water on the table, which is something that he had done in an earlier episode. And the song in this performance sounded a little similar to the one he’d used for his solo audition. So I respect him as a dancer, but it bugs me that I barely see anything new from him.

- AC and Ibuki went to Disney!

- Ibuki’s performance was great! Before I had started the episode I had stumbled upon someone’s tweet saying that her performance was great, so I was expecting something good and she delivered! Her performance was energetic and fun, and it really suited her style of dance. Plus, the focus was mostly kept on her, and the background dancers did really well in keeping tight and in sync but also hyping her up as the star.

- San’er took a trip home and we saw his mom and his aunt

- San’er’s performance was alright, I thought the choreography was really entertaining. He included the themes of growing up with the inclusion of the child dancer. I will say, the end of the performance was a bit too cheesy for me. I do get that this was supposed to be a personal performance for him (considering the fact that he called the performance 我 (I/me), about his growth as a dancer. The encouraging line to the kid was a little cheesy to me, but the line about taking care of mom seemed a little forced in there at the last moment.

- I’m really enjoying Huang Bo as a commentator. He is so thoughtful. He pays close attention to the performances and he’s able to pick things out to speak about. And he’s so precise with his words, and how he compliments the dancers :P

- Pikachu! Homeboy!

- SO MANY

- So the three adult dancers were Ding Zeren, Wang Chenyi, and Han Yu

- Oh look, a group photo

- Acky-san had a more traditional performance, but it suits him for sure

- Lmao he hugged the kid in the middle of his performance

- Acky-san had a high score, so Rochka, who had the lowest score before, got bumped off. (I’m still gonna be salty about Rochka,  just saying) As for Acky-san’s performance, it was entertaining, but I’m surprised that it would place third among the performances we’ve seen so far.

- Anyway, I think that means that Rochka doesn’t get to go further :( He gave a very positive message, thanking the fans, thanking Henry (and Henry obviously taking the opportunity to flirt back), and he was like “I WILL BE BACK” @v@

- Yang Kai said that after break dancing was added as an Olympic sport, more kids were being signed up by their parents

- LMAO is it true that last season Yang Kai was called Yang Chaoyue? Yang Chaoyue is an actress, but the name Chaoyue also means like, going over the limit. And Yang Kai was like, I’m continuing to go over the limit this year.

- Yang Kai’s performance had a martial arts theme. The beginning of the music was a call back to old Hong Kong action movies. It was the music that you hear when the name of the producer shows up on screen. Anyway, I liked it, I was entertained. I think it was helped by the fact that break dancing is just very impressive to watch because of how athletic and acrobatic it is. A huge shoutout goes to his backup dancers for sure, since they went all out with the stunts. But the choreography of the performance was very fun to watch, and Yang Kai himself did have time to shine.

- I’m guessing shaving their heads is like, a tribute to Shaolin Monks?

- Of the current top 8, Eleven had the lowest score, but Yang Kai had a higher score than him, so Eleven was eliminated.

- Omg the DJ keeps playing See You Again for every elimination....what year is it XD

- I’m going to continue my screencaps in a second post, stay tuned!

[kitkatopinions]

I did not know about Theadora, but she seems cool. Do you/Did you have any other ideas for her?

Thanks for this ask! Dora was a bit of a pit stop in a much larger fanfic I wrote with a friend (@plushchrome1212, my long time writing partner,) and didn’t get very much of a role in the fic. But, I always wind up putting a lot of thought into my OCs and getting too attached to them, so I have quite a lot of backstory for Theadora.

She grew up outside of the Kingdoms for most of her life, learning to fight like Blake had. Her hometown was hit with a natural disaster, and she got her semblance during the occurrence, the ability to sense danger. She decided to put that to good use by moving to Vacuo and joining Shade. Theadora’s semblance didn’t stop her from being a thrill seeker, and during her Academy days, she was a bother to her teachers and was incredibly reckless and careless (tending to sense danger and then going towards it.) She and her partner wound up not really getting along with the rest of her team or any of the teachers, but after she graduated, Theadora really missed Shade, so she decided to settle down to try to be a teacher. Due to some hard to describe circumstances, she got involved with the Inner Circle kind of more on accident than anything else, and despite her young age (she’s around five years younger than Qrow,) Oz decided to go ahead and move her into the role of Headmistress of Shade.

He started out being hesitant and suspicious with her, since he hadn’t made the choice to trust her and more or less had to, but Oz wound up believing in her sincerity (and enjoying her humor.) Theadora viewed Leo as a mentor, since he was so much older than her and really helped her learn how to run a school (she was horrified when she found out he’d betrayed them.) She always had a bit of a thing for Qrow, having ‘sensed danger’ the first time they met and being drawn to it. But she’d always figured he and Ironwood had something romantic and never pursued anything. Despite being basically the polar opposite to Glynda, Theadora liked her a lot and always had fun teasing her and trying to get her to do things like fly to Vacuo for ‘girls nights.’

I always wind up really getting attached to my OC’s, but RWBY is one of the only shows where I literally forget that they aren’t canon sometimes. XD

[avidrawsthings]

I lost track of how long this took me from start to finish but I’m very impressed with the final result. I can’t recall the last time I’ve drawn a line-up like this and actually finished it. That aside, Reina is meant to be very tall for her age, like at least a head taller than most kids her age, but here she looks to be of average height...XD

This is my take on the MC Through the Years Challenge (I think that’s what it’s called lol) by @leah-demarco 

My contribution to the MC Childhood Challenge is right here! The stuff above can be regarded as a continuation from that.

Ties into the Future MC Challenge here!

(If the letters on my blog are difficult to read on the PC, use CRTL + to zoom in. When I tried increasing the font size on my settings, all it did was make the letters overlap horribly)

1984-1985 (11 years old)

After bonding with Ricardo (Jacob) over the past 3 years, Reina made up her mind to attend Hogwarts just for the sake of being closer to him. Since he never told her or her family about the vaults in order to keep them safe, Reina was completely expecting him to be at Hogwarts starting off his 6th Year. It wasn’t until after she met Rowan did she learn the truth. Upset and shocked as she was, that gave way to her absolute determination to find him and bring him home.

As Ricardo never mentioned having a sibling to anyone except Dumbledore and Chester, Reina was only ever seen as the friendly foreign transfer student from the Dominican Republic. She hit it off quite well with her fellow classmates, becoming popular in her own right, second to Penny. With dreams of owning her own bakery one day, she decided she would have a mini baking business while at school that became a hit with her classmates.

Much like Penny, Reina proved herself to be skilled enough at Potions to also be on Snape’s good side. She views brewing Potions in the same manner as she does baking, knowing the importance of having the right ingredients and the proper way to mix them. Despite enjoying such a positive atmosphere, it didn’t stop her from having to deal with Merula’s shenanigans. 

Since Merula didn’t have the excuse of MC’s relation to their sibling to get away with messing with them, she often faced the consequences for her actions. The other students viewed her actions as quite malicious because as far as they knew, she was attacking the transfer student for no reason.

1985-1986 (12 years old)

With encouragement from Rowan, Reina tries out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team and becomes their newest Chaser. She also meets Andre around this time and the two bond over their love of Quidditch and how they were taught by their respective grandparents, Andre with his grandma and Reina with her grandpa. 

Rowan effectively took Penny’s place for all the Quidditch stuff, as her own involvement stemmed from her family’s tree farm also making wood for brooms, and she wanted to see them in action. This helped Rowan break out of her shell, especially after hitting it off very well with Murphy.

Activities aside, Reina was still determined to get involved with the vaults for the sake of bringing Ricardo home. After meeting Bill for the first time, Reina unknowingly latched onto him due to seeing him as an honorary big brother figure. Once the Ice Knight had been dealt with and the Ice Curse broken, Reina would be left in shock upon hearing what she thought was Ricardo’s voice for the first time in 2 years. He begged her to not press further for her safety, but she wasn’t having it, promising him she’d rescue him from wherever he was.

1986-1987 (13 years old)

Develops a big time crush on Talbott after meeting him in group study sessions, and goes out of her way to help him when realizing he’s going through something. Merula’s constant spying nearly destroyed the chances of Reina and Talbott becoming friends, but in the end they succeed and the two become quite close.

With the Vault of Fear causing Boggarts to run amok all over the school, Reina knew she’d run into one eventually. What often puzzled her was that she’s never encountered one before, and isn’t exactly sure what her fears are. She got her answer when walking down a hall on the way back from the courtyard. It would take the form of a woman she wasn’t familiar with, but insisted she was Reina’s mother. The sight alone caused Reina to collapse with a high fever.

While she already knew her mother was abusive, the woman died when Reina was a toddler and her memories of the woman were wiped to spare her from the trauma. As the Boggart couldn’t figure out what Reina feared at the moment, it appears to have latched onto her subconscious. While she wasn’t sure why her mother’s image would cause her to have a fever, it gave Reina and her friends all the more incentive to break the curse as soon as possible. In time, of course, they succeeded.

1987-1988 (14 years old)

Reina pays less and less attention to Merula’s nonsense, and goes as far as befriending Ismelda after helping her deal with heartbreak regarding her feelings over Barnaby. Reina then attends the Celestial Ball with both Ismelda and Rowan as a girl group.

Some time after the Celestial Ball, she starts dating Talbott and the two are head over heels for one another. They do keep it private, however, as Reina herself is still very popular second to Penny, and Talbott would rather not be the center of attention.

After meeting up with Torvus, she befriends the Centaur much faster thanks to him not knowing of her relation to Ricardo. She has some familiarity with Centaurs as a herd of predominantly female ones live a short distance outside of her hometown. Progress is made and the Sleepwalking Curse is broken.

1988-1989 (15 years old)

Her 5th year proved to be a major turning point in Reina’s life. With newfound responsibilities, she now had to balance Prefect duties, her side baking business, Quidditch, detention and figuring out how to solve the newest curse. Reina’s emotion-reading abilities allowed her to be aware of Rakepick’s wickedness, and she refused to go anywhere near the woman to the point of avoiding her classes entirely. This didn’t go unnoticed by her friends.

The group found themselves divided over Reina’s choice to avoid the woman. Some of them (including Ben, Rowan, Talbott and Tulip) sided with Reina when she shared her concerns, while the others (Bill, Charlie and Penny) had doubts. Bill felt very appreciative of not only Rakepick teaching them actual important things, but the fact that she’d secure a Curse-Breaking job for him once he graduated. Charlie, of course, sided with his brother, and Penny herself was desperate for whatever help was possible to free Beatrice from the curse.

When questioned if her current levels of stress was affecting her ability to read the emotions of others, Reina couldn’t provide an answer, but stuck by her gut instincts regardless. Things reached a breaking point near the Christmas holidays. Penny (with some manipulation by an opportunistic Merula), took Reina’s refusal to cooperate with Rakepick in the worst possible way and angrily lashed out at her friend. The ensuing argument led to a vicious falling-out between the two. Some weeks later Reina would suffer a stress-induced mental breakdown that left her bedridden for some time.

Prefect duties were given to Rowan with Sprout’s approval, she was excused from detention and couldn’t take part in Quidditch until further notice. Her condition also prevented her from having her Quinceañera, which deeply upset her for quite a while. When Merula failed to get the painting from Peeves, Reina had to do it for her despite her weakened state. She recovers enough that she’s approved to enter the vault with the rest of the group. 

After Rakepick revealed her true colors and went as far as trying to kill Reina, the group fights back and forces the woman to flee. She reunites with Ricardo and the two have a heartfelt reunion. He joins the group in heading back to school. While Reina would fall into a coma for a week (even clinically dying for 4 minutes), she would eventually recover. With Ricardo safe and sound, and the Portrait Curse being broken, Reina made it clear she would no longer be involved with the vaults. The injury she sustained from Rakepick would leave Reina in a wheelchair for most of the upcoming summer.

1989-1990 (16 years old)

After the emotional fallout from everything she went through the previous year, Reina fell into a very deep depression. It was so bad that it darkened her hair and left her in a lethargic state. She barely interacted with anyone outside of her family, Rowan and Talbott. She only took 4 classes (Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology) at the N.E.W.T. level as her future career of running her own bakery didn’t have any required classes to go with it. 

She had no energy for her extra-curricular duties, so Rowan officially replaced her as Prefect. Reina had also stepped down from Quidditch for the same reasons, and ceased her baking side business as well. In her downtime she’d often be sleeping due to her near endless exhaustion. She even found a way to switch off her Empathetic abilities and kept them off due to not caring. With Ricardo tackling the final vault, Reina stayed true to her word by not getting involved when the next curse broke out.

She would remain in her slump until one night when she had a nightmare of Rowan getting killed right in front of her by Rakepick. It scared Reina so badly that it took a Calming Draught for her to be able to relax. While it didn’t break her out of her depression right then and there, it proved to be the push she needed to eventually make a recovery and get her inner fire back. What definitely added to it was how prophetic it felt. The same night she had the nightmare was when Ben and Merula went to the Forbidden Forest by themselves and encountered Rakepick, but were saved at the last minute by Ricardo.

Reina and her friends outright believe that despite the teachers’ best efforts to tackle the current curse, they weren’t getting anything done. The group would take matters into their own hands, but Ricardo would act as their guide, using his own experiences to help them out. 

1990-1991 (17 years old)

By this point there’s no sure way of knowing how the vaults would be dealt with, but they would be dealt with. Reina by that point would feel a sense of relief that she could finally put the vault stuff behind her and go back to as normal of a life as possible. She’d graduate with the rest of her friends and together take the next step toward the new stage of their lives. 

After graduating, Reina would head back to her home country and work under her family to learn how to officially run her own bakery.

[mx-ishikawa]

Like a fire in My Blood

(so uhhh obligatory Lupin self-insert fic!! this is a li’l backstory of how my S/I got involved with the squad that I’ve been working on for the past couple weeks, lmao. warnings for guns, canon-typical violence, and lots of swearing- y’all know me by now XD” enjoy!)

Tied up to a chair in an abandoned warehouse surrounded by gun-toting mobsters was not planned for my Saturday night. Then again, normalcy wasn’t very present in my life anymore.

“Now you’re gonna tell me one more time, sweetheart, where is that treasure?” the squatty man who I assumed was the leader growled, pointing the gun at my face. What the fuck.

“First of all, I am not as sweet as you think I am,” I spat- how the hell was I so snarky staring straight into the barrel of death itself??- “and second of all, I really have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about so quit insisting I do and let me go!” Surprisingly, he lowered the gun.

“You’re a terrible liar, my dear,” he snarled, going over to where my jacket that had been forcibly removed from my person for some reason was hung.

“Buddy, I was raised by an overprotective controlling helicopter mother, I may as well be a professional liar,” I retorted.

“Well then how the hell do you explain this?!”

I gasped as he pulled out the bright, shimmering green stone from my jacket pocket. FUCK.

“Oh THAT! Jesus Christ, I completely forgot I had that, goddamn!”

“Yeah, sure you did.”

“No, I’m dead serious, I actually forgot about that! Literally, if I had remembered that I would’a told you straight-up because that shit is not worth my life!”

“Well then, care to explain now?”

“Yeah okay so it’s like- I went down State Street, past the Cultural Center, then I kinda went through Millenium Park until I got to the Art Institute, then I took a left and once I got past Lakeshore Drive I hopped over to the left again and- that cluster of trees at the park entrance? It’s literally right there in the middle of them, hidden practically in plain sight! I was just trying to find some worms for composting and I find a shit-ton of emeralds instead, how crazy is that?” I laughed breathlessly.

It wasn’t a joke, no, every word I spoke was true. I was so shocked upon finding the stash of emeralds right there in the middle of Chicago that I immediately covered it back up and ran off-- but not before nicking one, if only as proof that the whole thing hadn’t been a weird fever dream. And possibly for future bragging rights, but other than that, material things like rare precious jewels meant nothing to me. The fact that these happened to be in my favorite color was just a cool bonus. 

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the fat man sneered, huffing away at his fat cigar. “I’ll be taking this and the rest of the emeralds now.”

“Go ahead, I don’t need it or any of the others.” I would have waved my hand dismissively had it not been tied behind my back.

“I don’t understand though… what kind of woman would give up such riches so easily?”

  I tried not to gag. I don’t mind being called a woman, but not with that kind of sexist implication. “Not the kind of woman you’re thinking of, that’s for goddamn sure.”

“Ah well. None of that matters in the end.” He paused to snap his fingers, and two of his biggest men approached with their guns. “Finish her off.”

“Whoa wait WHAT?! Why do you wanna kill me, I fuckin’ TOLD you where the emeralds are-?!”

“And I appreciate that, it’s just that I can’t have any witnesses, you know? It’s only business.” he gave a wicked sneer. The men cocked their guns.

“Fuck you and your business, I won’t tell anyone, I swear! You saw how honest I was, come on, please, I-!”

I screamed and screwed my eyes shut as a shot rang out. I braced myself for the worst. But it never came. 

I finally opened my eyes when I heard a “what the hell?!” from among the mobsters. I gasped as I saw another, new person standing protectively in front of me. Someone who appeared to be wearing traditional Japanese attire, with long black hair and an even longer sword. Who was this person and what the hell happened?!

“FIRE!!” the leader yelled. In an instant, the stranger leaped up into the air and lifted their sword, twirling it around effortlessly as shots were fired at them. What were they do-

My thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as a bullet landed next to me. No, it was only half of a bullet. My eyes widened, looking back up at the stranger with the sword. No fucking way.

From that second, my eyes were transfixed on them. I watched them in shock as they sliced literal bullets clean in half with ease. When some of the men ran off, the stranger leapt forward with a low grunt and slashed their sword through the men’s guns. They gasped in shock and fright as their weapons broke clean in half seconds later. There seemed to be thousands of mobsters in this warehouse, but the sword-wielding stranger took everyone down with ease. Even when their sword was suddenly shot out of their hands, they nimbly avoided impact and took the mobsters down with what appeared to be heavily-practiced martial arts moves. 

Now I’d seen my fair share of bloody fights since mingling with the underground scene in Chicago. Hell, even back in my tiny hometown I’d seen some shit. But never had I seen someone fight so gracefully. Every move they made was so smooth and poised that if I didn’t know any better I’d have thought they were dancing. They caught sight of their sword from across the room and leapt out of the fight to snatch it back. Every move they made with that thing was quick and clean-cut, deliberate and precise, effortlessly slashing anything that came their way. When seemingly every gun was destroyed or emptied of bullets, only a few brave unarmed mobsters remained, but with a few fluid flicks of the swordfighter’s wrist, all of their clothes were slashed off save for their boxers and tighty whities. Not exactly a sight for sore eyes, but it was enough to make even the leader of the mob run away screaming for their lives. 

“Haha, take that ya old geezer!” someone yelled. I gasped and finally diverted my attention from the swordsman to find two more people were in the warehouse, someone with a red jacket and another with a black one. When the hell did they get here??

In that brief moment when I looked away, the graceful warrior had come behind where I was sitting, and before I could plead for them not to kill me, I was freed from the ropes that bound me. I pulled my arms forward and breathed heavily, trying to process what the FUCK just happened when a voice behind me spoke.

“Are you alright?”

Their voice was deep and strong, yet held no tone of aggression or danger. I turned to look at my savior and gasped. It was a handsome- no, beautiful- man. He was tall and slender, standing strong and proud. His pale skin glistened with a thin coating of sweat from all that movement, and I couldn’t help but notice that he wore his shirt in a way that exposed most of his chest. His hands were large and strong, but with long, nimble fingers. He had a narrow face and elegant features. High cheekbones, a defined jawline, a light rosy dusting on his cheeks, and intense, dark eyes. He looked to be stoic and serious, and if he hadn’t just saved my life I might have been intimidated by him. 

“I… wow~... I mean! I’m… safe, thanks to you.”

“And us, too!” a voice from earlier retorted. I whipped my head around, it was the man in the red jacket. “It was a team effort, wasn’t just him ya know.”

“Jeez Lupin, give her a break,” the man in black said, “you weren’t the first one to make sure she wasn’t dead!”

“Well I think I deserve some credit too, Jigen!” the man in red- Lupin- whined.

“I uhh… well thank you everyone but… I didn’t actually see what you two did.

“What?!” Lupin gasped.

“Sorryyy! I just...” I turned back to the handsome swordsman, “you were the first one I saw show up so I guess I just kinda… focused on ya.”

The man called Jigen chuckled. “Hey Goemon, looks like you got an admirer!”

“Hey!” I felt my face heat up. “I just-!” I bashfully looked again to the swordsman- Goemon.

“Goemon… thank you, and your friends, for sa-” I cut myself off as realization clicked in my brain. “Wait a second…” Lupin. Jigen. Goemon. I’ve heard those names together before. “Wait just a minute, I know who you guys are!” Lupin let out a monkey-ish giggle.

“Took ya long enough to recognize me! No surprise though, I am pretty infamous~”

“So it’s safe to assume you’re after the same treasure those mobsters were, right?”

“Bingo,” Jigen said, tipping his hat ever so slightly.

“So, if you guys wanted to get there first… why did you save me?”

“Because unlike them, we do not want harm to come to innocent people,” Goemon nobly spoke. God, something about his voice… clear as a bell, soothing, and undeniably sexy. But his words put me at ease. 

“Oh thank god… so, since you saved my life and all that, how ‘bout I make your lives easier by leading you to the emeralds?”

“Sounds good to me,” Jigen said, and the others agreed. They casually strolled out of the warehouse as if they hadn’t just fought off mobsters in that very space, off to their car parked in front. Lupin took the driver’s seat while Jigen got in the passenger side, leaving Goemon and me to sit in the back together. 

“So,” Goemon spoke once we got moving. Was it just me or did his cheeks get pinker? “What is your name?”

I froze. Shit.

“Uhh… I… I kinda have a beef with my real name, but uh, you can just call me Light.”

“Light, huh?” Lupin piped up from the front. “Where’d ya get that alias from?”

“It’s a long story,” I chuckled.

Goemon shifted in his seat. “I like it.” Cue me blushing again.

“Y-you do?? I mean, thanks…” I scratched the back of my neck. His only response was a nod as he crossed his arms in front of his broad chest.

He was quiet for the rest of the ride, Lupin and Jigen making most of the conversation as I pointed out where to go. But I couldn’t stop looking over at Goemon. He looked so calm, so picturesque. I admired the way the wind wafted through his long locks and how his thick lashes rested against his rosy cheeks. And sometimes, when I glanced over at him, I found him looking right back at me. Like he wanted to say something to me, but didn’t. Something in his eyes made him look so soft. When I first looked at him, those eyes stared right through my soul and meant business, but now there was something much more tender behind them. Almost like… puppy eyes. I felt myself swallow thickly.

My thoughts were brought to a halt when Lupin parked the car on the side of the street. All we had to do was cross Lakeshore Drive and we were on our way to the treasure. Thankfully it was dark out and we’d be less noticed.

“Thank god there’s a bridge here,” Jigen said, puffing at his cigarette. “Because I am not crossing that son of a bitch.”

“Yeah my mom and I made that mistake the first time I was here, we were standing there waiting to get across for ages.”

“Wait, I thought you lived here?” Lupin inquired as we made our way across.

“I do now,” I clarified. “Didn’t always though. For most of my life I lived in this shitty small town about an hour and a half away from here. I’d visited here about six times, so naturally this was my first choice when I finally got the chance to get the fuck outta there. Haven’t been here for very long though, only like what, a couple months maybe?”

“So you were a small-town gal, eh?” Jigen exhaled another breath of smoke. I grimaced.

“Yeah, and I hated it.”

Once we got across the drive and to the site of the emeralds, Lupin started asking more questions.

“So Light, if you were the first person to find this treasure, how come you only took one and not the whole stash? Was it a strategic thing or-”

“Well actually, I found this shit completely by accident, so leaving all but one here was mostly out of shock. That, and I never really cared much for material shit.” Jigen sighed from next to me as he dug.

“Finally, a woman who doesn’t.”

My brows furrowed together. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Hey, if you’re talking about Fujiko again, you’d better can it!”

“Wait, who’s Fujiko??”

“A female affiliate of Lupin’s,” Goemon answered.

“A very unfaithful one at that,” Jigen scowled, “she’s not above stabbing us in the backs to get the loot we earned for herself.”

“Oh come on guys, she doesn’t always betray us!” Lupin whined.

“Makin’ excuses for your girlfriend again,” Jigen grumbled. I dared not make any further comment on this Fujiko thing; seemed like a personal problem. Once we finally uncovered the jewels, I helped load them into a large sack.

“Even if you do not care for material items such as these, it is only fair that you are given a share of them,” Goemon spoke.

“Yeah, we’ll split ‘em up evenly between the four of us!” Lupin smiled.

“Awww~. You know…” I began, “for a group of rag-tag thieves, you guys are pretty nice. Nicer than half the law-abiding citizens I’ve met in my lifetime.”

“Well, you know, it’s all in a day’s work!” Lupin chirped, before his voice suddenly dipped a bit lower. “And you know, you and I could work well together in other areas~”

Goemon bopped Lupin’s head with the hilt of his sword before I could think of a response. Did Lupin just flirt with me??

“Jesus Christ, Lupin, get ahold’a yourself,” Jigen scolded.

I wasn’t sure how to respond so I kept quiet until we were finished with our work, and almost immediately someone caught us.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE LUPIN, YER UNDER ARREST!!” a loud, booming voice yelled. I looked over and saw a tall, stocky man who appeared to be dressed like a detective from the 1940s with a slew of police behind him.

“Oh shit, the feds!” I gasped as we took off.

“Sorry Pops, I got places to go!” Lupin snickered. We sprinted through the park- god I always hated running- until we got to a dock. The man known as “Pops” was hot on our trail, but the guys hopped into a boat and managed to start it up. I was the last to hop into the boat- but I tripped and dropped my bag of emeralds, which thankfully landed inside the boat with a clattering. I braced myself for an awkward landing but a pair of strong arms caught me. And just like that, the boat sped off so quickly that I had to brace myself against whoever was holding me. I heard “Pops” yelling in the distance, but my brain turned it into white noise when I looked up and saw that once again Goemon was my rescuer- and my hand was directly on his chest. My face flamed up like gasoline.

“Gwaaah!! Uhh-” I gasped as I embarrassedly scurried out of his grasp. “Thank you, sorry-!” I brushed my bangs out of my face, a nervous habit.

“Why are you apologizing?” Goemon asked. “There is nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yeah, you helped us get to the treasure!” Lupin said from the steering wheel.

“If anything, we should be the sorry ones because now you’re stuck with us and your home is back there,” Jigen chuckled.

“Eh, home is where the heart is,” I said. “And my heart always wants to travel but never gets to.”

“Ah, a free spirit, I see how it is,” Lupin giggled.

“Lord I was born a ramblin’ man~” Jigen softly sang, lighting a cigarette.

“Yeah… I hate staying in one place for too long. Unfortunately for me, I’ve only ever lived in two places my entire life, and we’re rowin’ this boat away from one of them. But hey, this was my first time being personally caught doing something illegal so I’ve been perfectly prepared to just abandon ship and take off at any time.”

“Wait, does this imply you were planning on this? I thought you said you found these gems by accident!” Lupin gasped. I had to laugh.

“Nono, I did! But that doesn’t mean I’m innocent~.”

“So what the hell is it you do?” Jigen asked.

“I’ve been involved in undercover transport of goods, it’s what I do for a living. And before you ask because I know you will, yes, some of those goods are drugs, but not all of it. Sometimes we assist in the trading of riches like these emeralds, and sometimes we get food and water or money for bills to those in need when their so-called government aid won’t. Yeah sure it’s illegal, but it ain’t a bad gig.”

“My ancestors would greatly honor the work you do,” Goemon calmly spoke. The compliment caught me off guard, but when I looked at him I could tell he was sincere.

“Aww shucks, it’s nothing,” I chuffed, scratching the mack of my neck.

“Please tell me your organization is named “The Robin Hood Project” or something like that,” Lupin laughed.

“Actually, we have no name to our services,” I clarified. “Gotta stay discreet.”

“A wise decision,” Goemon said.

“Sorry if we just got you out of a job,” Lupin apologized.

“Naw, this ain’t like no 9-5 gig, it pretty much runs on a ‘come whenever you’re available’ basis, they’ll understand if I’m away… might be surprised once they find out I got wrapped up with Lupin the Third, haha.”

“That’s my name, please wear it out!” the aforementioned thief giggled.

There was a brief moment of quiet before Goemon spoke once again, turning to me. “If you wish to go wherever the wind takes you, then it seems the wind is blowing in your favor tonight,” he nobly said.

“Sorry about him, he likes to get all prophetical and speak in metaphors and shit,” Jigen said.

“No I understand what he’s saying,” I said to Jigen, but I was looking more at Goemon. Was it just me or did he have a small smile on his face? I returned him a smile just in case. “Thanks again for, y’know saving me and everything. Thanks to everyone but… especially you.”

“Yep, she’s your admirer alright,” Lupin laughed.

“Shush up!!” Goemon and I somehow said in unison, before we exchanged shocked glances with each other.

“Jinx! You owe me a Coke!” I yelled excitedly.

“Uhhh…” Goemon averted his gaze and his eyes darted all over, looking confused. It was strange, seeing the man that took down an entire armed mob with nothing but a katana and his own fleetness look so innocent, but that only added to his charms. Oh no, he was way too cute.

“You don’t actually owe her a Coke man, it’s just a thing people say,” Jigen chuckled. Goemon sat forward and crossed his arms, looking slightly embarrassed.

“American expressions of speech remain a mystery to me,” he grumbled, cheeks flushing a deeper rosy pink. Yup, he’s way too adorable. My heart fluttered just looking at him. I was doomed. I was so doo-

“LUPIN YOU LITTLE WEASEL!! STOP THAT BOAT RIGHT NOW, YER UNDER ARREST!!!”

“That same guy again?!” I gasped as a blinding spotlight was cast on us from what I assumed was a police boat.

“Pops, you’re relentless!” Lupin yelled from the front of the boat.

“Sorry, we got places to go and shit to steal!” Jigen chuckled before promptly shooting out the spotlight. This time Goemon deliberately held me flush against him as we sped away from “Pops” for the second time and into the night.

[kendrixtermina]

The Abyss NPC are such a trove of gold for additional worldbuilding tbh 

Everything about the Pagan Lady who I assume is Dagdan breaks my heart

That poor NPC whose family was somehow massacred by nobles “People with crests do whatever they like no one stops them least of all the church”

Mr. Backup died during the timeskip :( But Abysskeeper ends up marrying his older sister in VW and SS

Rodrigue paid for reestablishing the monastery town, even giving money to the ppl in abyss & generally seems to. I guess you see where Dimitri gets that charitable mindset from. Yuri also notes that he’s remarkably uncorruptible. 

Abysskeeper is originally from Derdriu. It#s fun how a lot of his CF and AM dialogue is exactly the same but in different context XD - apart from of course the rodrigue line, and the time Hubert sends a soldier to do some mission there

When you go save Fhirdiad Constance is pretty glad to save the ppl from the school of sorcery and is glad to find them mostly unharmed

Yuri goes into some detail of events right preceding Byleth’s return in AM where the villages near the fronts weren’t sure wether to think of the guy massacring random imperial soldiers as a serial killer or a folk hero

Balthus apparently had a friendly brawl with Dimitri at some point (I guess continuing the tedency of the recruitees in aM to mention having personally interacted with him, at the very least Leonie and Caspar also get lines like that)

Apparently Yuri’s mom got sick sometime during the timeskip (at least in the AM timeline) so he couldn’t evacuate her from Faerghus. 

Constance like Ferdinand, Lorenz & Lysithea is one of those ppl who remember Edelgard in a semi-positive light after her defeat. Kudos to you!

Balthus suspects where Claude ran off to. Well, he was kinda sent there to snoop on him to begin with XD

He never had any hope for the Parlay

Apparently Yuri does have a habit of praying, he’s not like a strooong believer and can’t recite the scriptures much but it’s a habit he picked up from his mom, I guess he would be one of those ‘culturally religious’ people

I just love how Yuri had additional observations on nearly everything like... nothing gets past him. 

Meanwhile in the CF timeline, Balthus apparently thinks Edelgard is hot (which earns him a death glare from Byleth) and thinks the whole Black Eagle strike force should go have a beer to celebrate Byleth’s return since they’re all old enough now and Byleth’s no longer supposed to babysit them

I love how Hubert just flat out takes over Abyss and integrates poor overworked Yuri into his spy networkXD . Hence why Hapi feels he deserves a definite article.  Well, Hubert appreciates how good he is. The mission was to try & convince the Alliance lords to fold so like El & co were actively attempting diplomacy until the end

On CF you see a very omnious NPC who suddenly dissapears if talked to (probably Agarthan) who complains about “that prince being no good” - Did they offer Dimitri their support when they noticed they were definitely losing control of Edelgard? If so he seems to have rebuffed em. It’s a very cryptic line and I can’t rly make heads or tails of it, but, if he wouldn’t sell Rhea out to Edelgard he probably wouldn’t do it for someone even worse no matter what they promised him. 

Apparently in the VW timeline Hapi is a big fan of Judith

Balthus is proud that little Hilda has become an A list schemer

Hearing Claude’s plan makes constance a bit self-conscious about her own being more past-focussed, she’s been out-bolded

Hapi doesn’t know much about Almyra but reflects on how there are many marginalized minority groups in Fodlan including ppl from Isolated communities like her own

Yuri finds the plan a bit lofty & idealistic for his tastes, and also reckless,  but he realizes that he’s got no leg to stand on when it comes to being more noble than he lets on, and that maybe a lil bit of recklessness are what these times need

Oh, once the secret’s out Hapi concludes that there probably would have been war one way or another with the slitherers having everything infiltrated, edelgard or no edelgard

Balthus mentions that Holst wasn’t at Shambhalla because he was “working out things with the Almyrans” and suggest that they warn him about the slitherers lest they sabotage the diplomacy

Apparently Hapi meditates! This comes up cause she trying not to freak out about Nemesis

“People sait it was the church who kept order but actually Yuri’s the one keeping us from complete chaos”

Apparently it was Hapi who kept the surface bandit population from flattening Abyss

Apparently in VW it’s Judith who gave supplies to Abyss (In Rodrigue’s place)

Seems like despite Hapi’s worries they kinda fare best on CF though (”Things have been pretty ok” vs “We lost some ppl”)

Abyss Resident: “I used to be an important person in the church but Im exiled for embezzling. It wasn’t out of greed tho my hometown was pillaged and the church wasn’t putting in enough to rebuild” Tell me again that Rhea cares about the little guy

One of the random rogues from Abyss is from the kingdom, claims to be a distant descendant of Fraldarius the Elite and finds “poetic justice” in taking down the empire under Claude. 

Another reaaaaly juicy tidbit is that rogue with another message from Hubert, telling Byleth to bring Rhea with them when they go to Shambhalla. Ensuing that Rhea and Thales would destroy each other.  And reaaaly adds to my conviction that Edelgard and Hubert basically did everyone a huge solid and no one noticed. Well, actually in Verdant wind they Do notice eventually; Its the left hand fighting the right cause everyone has triust issues galore

I didn’t think my love of Hubert could increase further

I always wondered, hm, were they expecting Rhea to self-destruct? Did Claude deliberately plan for it? But I never had enough evidence. especially for team Empire. But I mean Edelgard started this whole war cause Rhea is a danger so, while I get keeping her alive cause the slitherers want her for experiments, why not slit her throat as soon as the imperial palace is surrounded? Why have Hubert return her alive, to win the other faction’s trust? Not their style.

Though the random rogue also says that “Rhea was kept alive as insurance” against the slitherers. 

So it WAS part of the plan. I always did have that feeling, but, I never knew how to articulate it logically and not just intuitively. 

Of course if Byleth went and told Claude about this, Claude’s decision is also clear because he’s not dumb enough to think the empire would care for Rhea’s wellbeing out of the goodness of their heart

Though ultimately she insists on coming along for her own reasons anyways wether Claude is there or not, for plain ol’ revenge. 

Also while reading through the scrpits I realize that I never clicked the “Do you hope [Rhea] is dead?” option when Claude explains his plan. That actually nets you support points and he’s like... “Daangerous question friend”. Really Claude is not “the chill/nice one” he’s so much more interesting than that and I love him

Also I love how the NPCs get different outfits depending on the route! I wish there had been more route-specific aesthetic touches

[krysyuy]

Episode 5 aka “omfg, I love this drama”. I actually didn’t think it would take the whole episode to find Hee Seong/Hyun Soo, but the writer has continued to surprise me. I didn’t even realize how much time had passed before the episode was over. I love how smart Ji Won is. The drama is letting her use her brains. She’s not being dumbed down or being mislead to drag out the reveal of HS’s involvement. The watch is what tips her off to who she had been chasing earlier and, looking back, she realizes she recognizes that face. (“No way. I can recognize you even from your shadow.”) Of course, she struggles with this even as she conceals the evidence. She knows this is Bad, and right now, no one can find out. I feel a bit sorry for her hoobae who had no idea why she’s snapping at him. ^^;; And then he was along for the ride with JW and her tunnel vision as she tried to apprehend the taxi driver. Aside from the bizarre scene at police headquarters (though it was funny xD), I like that we got to see the detectives do their jobs, tracking down and using clues to figure out where the suspect is. I take back everything I said about the sunbae. (Please don’t die!!) We even get to see the Team Leader out in the field when he informs HS’s “parents” about what happened. But no wonder HS didn’t want JW near his “mom”. She has no chill whatsoever under pressure. HS was right, JW would see right through her. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Team Leader recalls this interaction later because she was frankly being way too obvious. Any lenient feelings I may have had for the parents has shriveled up. They are absolutely going to throw Hyun Soo under the bus. I mean, they state it explicitly. Well, the father does. The mom actually didn’t seem as sure, but that might just be me giving her the benefit of the doubt after her moment of weakness during her conversation with Hyun Soo in the pharmacy. Anyways, I don’t trust either of them, and I’m sure HS is gonna have to deal with their shit (and their real son) in the back half of the drama. I didn’t get any shady vibes from the sister previously, but I sure as hell have them now, lol. “Keep it [the goldfish charm] on you at all times”??? Did she say that to ensure he would have a piece of evidence on him linking him to the serial murders if/when he was ever caught? Where is that charm now? Is JW going to find it in the basement?! (And then burn it in that bonfire from the trailer? 👀) Despite this revelation of where the goldfish charm came from, Hyun Soo remained stubbornly quiet. He was willing to die for his sister rather than reveal what he knows. If HS had told the taxi driver, he knows Hae Soo would’ve been the next target. I hope that loyalty isn’t misplaced. While I suspect her a bit, I’m still 50/50 on if she’s evil or messed up just like her brother. But god, all of Hyun Soo’s confrontation scenes with the taxi driver. *chef’s kiss* (Give LJG all the awards.) The driver clearly wasn’t listening to him. He only wanted information that Hyun Soo could not give him. I wonder if he actually believed him at the very end when HS denied it yet again. The more we learn about HS and JW in the past, the more I love them. JW mentioned possible robbers because of the blackout, and I didn’t think HS got the message from his reaction. But he stays outside the store until the electricity comes back on (╥﹏╥)♥ There was absolutely no reason for him to do that if he didn’t care on some level, and at this point, they’re just barely acquaintances too. And then their conversation in 2008… they were both honest and straightforward with each other. (Well, HS was as honest as he could be without divulging the darkest of his secrets.) HS had been trying to drive her away for her own good, and he told her point-blank about what’s wrong with him/why he isn’t suitable as a potential partner. But JW is undeterred and goes on about how he has only one problem, which she has the solution to. She sees something in him that he doesn’t, but she will love him, she will be there for him, she’ll teach him whatever he needs to know… and then things will change. And they did. Ji Won took the time to see him, and Hyun Soo works on himself, betters himself, for her. They manage to carve out a happy, peaceful life for themselves. But the drowning scene! God, it didn’t disappoint. I’m trash for when my OTPs are in life or death situations, and one half is desperate and frantic with worry over the other. JW has figuratively and now literally breathed life into HS (╥﹏╥) JW didn’t have time to fully process HS’s presence in his hometown since she got sidetracked and found out he was kidnapped. In the next episode, she’ll definitely start to put clues together. If she doesn’t figure out his identity right away, she’ll be set on that path. HS will also be in the hospital recovering, so she has time to snoop and come to her own conclusions without him running interference. It will be so interesting if JW figures it out, but she doesn’t say anything or confront him right away. So he doesn’t know that she knows, and he’ll continue acting “normal” and give his excuses about why he was at the inn, etc. Meanwhile, JW is uncovering the full truth and perhaps misunderstanding a few things along the way. The ending montage had me so confused, lol. I initially thought they were part of HS’s memories but then they dropped the future parts too. Plus we also have JW wandering around on her own, so that’s another mark against it being his memories. Instead of the normal ending credits, they decided to give us this sneak peek, probably partially as promo for the new OST. Like a mini MV clip. I think it also might be because everything will change in the next episode, but I guess we’ll see. There’s also so much going on in that montage, I don’t even know where to start. Is their relationship doomed? (╥﹏╥) That’s the vibe I was getting, especially from those angsty parts where they’re both emotional and he has dried blood on his face and she’s crying. Then it looks like he leaves her, and I’m assuming she told him to go… Don’t mess with my heart like this!1!! My Twitter liveblog for Ep5: twitter.com/krysyuy/status/1293643015672619008

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY V8E10 LiveThoughts

Well since its my birthday, Im kinda bored, and there’s little else for me to do right now since I dont get food till later, lets catch up on last weeks episode in anticipation of tomorrows. 

Huh, starting off with a epilepsy warning. Thats...a good sign I suppose?

Probably not the first part with the RT logo if I had to guess. 

Opening shot looks like something outta Gundam or Halo. Ironwood looking thoughtfully out as a Manta cruses by randomly. Plus; sunlight. Second day dawns...damn, have they really been fighting for that long?

Brings up the wonder of how long Remnants day actually is.

More Mantas. One REALLY close by. Damn those things are QUIET.

Those poor Specialists. You can just TELL they’re bracing for Ironwood to kick their ass. The doors also still busted which is a rather nice choice.

Also interestingly the female Specialist’s coat is missing the top two buttons of her partners. No clue why. 

Actual sweatdrop on the girl. What is it with RT suddenly making their characters have body liquid?

Ahhh Qrow kicking ass. Excellent. I would expect nothing less. 

Also FUCK THAT TABLE IRONWOOD.

Homie loosing his SHIT XD

Oh. Whats this...energy blast? Looks like its coming out of the- Oh. Thats Oscar isnt it.

...my God. ITS. BEAUTIFUL.

(Cries in military nerd)

I love how the music cuts out when it hits, just like what happens when a nuke goes off. 

The fact the Aces have to CARRY the bomb in BY HAND is good shit.

Massed gunfire in the back, and for a second you can see the true thoughts of all of the members. Oddly enough Hare’s got her exoskeleton activated. HYuh, weird, everyone else is hauling it bare. Elm, obviously, she beefy. I guess Marrow and Vine are just capable?

Also based on the shot we see just before the entire screen goes yellow and it looks like the blast literally yeets marrow onto his ass (I assume its Marrow based on the weapon visible in profile) it looks like Atlas is actually WINNING the fight, they’re pushing forward towards the whale.

Grimm; PURGED. ...how much you wanna bet this was a one off? No way to weaponize it. No way to make this more effective.

The music is...dissapointing, truly. If I had scored this, it would have some orchestral choir, a little bit of Requiem for a Dream style kinda thing. Strings and intense flutes and maybe a bit of drums.

Everything goes white for an ABSURDLY long time

Annnddd the sun comes up JUST as the whale starts disintegrating. HA! DIDNT PLAN ON THAT DID YOU SLUT!

CUE NEO CASUALLY SKIPPING THROUGH THE HELLSTORM OF GRIMM BITS WITH THE LAMP

Wait wheres the bomb... Also Marrow being the only one who cares amuses me.

Ahh dont worry about it buddy, its probably MAGIC explosive force, if it didnt kill you it wouldnt kill them. Huh, part of the whales skeletons still there.  I think its dead. GOOD

Wait how tall is Marrow? Hes like a good six inches taller than Winter here and shes wearing combat heels

“Target destroyed, good work.” Oh how casual. I love how he thinks that was the bomb.

And he goes right on to the new issue as if this is the end of the Grimm situation

Oh they still have the bomb.

Cargo ship, huh. I thought it came in on a Manta? Maybe Im miss-remembering.

AND now everyone in Atlas is going to start suffering fucking RUSTLUNG like in Gears.

Oh. Wait. Most of the whale’s still there. Fuckin hell IF THIS THING REGENERATES

Watts is so casual about all of this. I mean it makes sense but like, damn bro, flexibility.

Mmm, I think Cinders about to get brainblasted on by Watts. Please do so. TEAR HER A NEW ONE.

Interesting that Cinder thinks shes in command here. Im sorry, Cinder, but one of you has a college level education and the other WAS A FUCKING DISH RAG BITCH AND PROBABLY A STREET WALKER.

Guess which one is which.

Heels. Interesting. I dont like them but interesting.

Mmm. Long way down.

Watts: STARTS LAUGHING. I love it.

Dude is speaking FIRE. And TRUTH! THIS CATHARSIS...

I know she wont kill him and Im already cool with that cause this alone has put Watts well above her in my book of awesome villains. 

Hope we get to see more of him after this.

Hey he actually got THROUGH to her!

NOW SULK WHORE!

AWW SHES CRYING

Yeah of course the heroes are okay. RIP whoever was in that Paladin though. Hes probably dead.

Oh, the Bees 

Where the fuck did Emerald go

Oh there she is. Just completely shattered. YEAH HE DEAD FRIEND

Agricultrual area, okay cool, glad we finally got a name for this place

Red Line...huh. Like in Metro Speaking of, theres the Metro. No power, lights out. Apathies maybe?

You got a prisoner now.

Scrolls as a light source too huh? No flashlights? Also, pink purplish pettles...whats that one for, GAY THOUGHTS?

...kinetic energy. Really. Thats it. HOW IN THE FLAMING FUCK DOES THAT WORK?!

For those of you not in the know, kinetic is just...movement. Thats it. The ACTUAL energy that results from potential energy being used. 

Its just physics. And they’re treating it like some kind of superweapon.

Talk about a bit of an ass pull. And of course theres only a little bit left, because duh.

Guess maybe its got to do with movement and stuff. An idea for later.

Imagine if everyone looked over at Emerald and shes gone.

Nope, still there. And t hey’re about to hit the civilian shelter...yep, theres everyone.

OH MAN THEY DONT EVEN HAVE ANYTHING GOING ON. Literally just people chillin on the sides of the rails. Boy that must SUCK

Depression everywhere. Damn the Grimm are gonna come right in and mulch em.

And back to Ironwood. ANGRY DAD FACE.

Glad they call it a payload.

Its hard to tell but I think the image hes looking at is a casualty report. If I h ad ot guess blacked out equipment is losses.

Closer look says “Status Report in the upper left (upper right reversed) 

So...based on this, Atlas has lost at least 4 airships, 8 Mantas, four Paladins, a bunch of troops...actually the more I look at this I think each one represents a bunch of units because there is no way that this is everything they had.

I cant really see the middle parts but on the right I cna see “First Fleet” and “Second Fleet” Seconds got fewer Mantas attached oddly. No clue what that means. Same amount of Airships, but nothing else.

Cant really read the middle points. I THINK it says “First Batallion” at the top and then under it is split into (Something) A, B, and C. Might be Squad or something similar, the breakdown seems to be identical across it. 48 diamond markings and four Paladins. 

Based on a quick check of Google, I believe these are, in fact, Platoons, the subsets of a Battalion. The numbers are flexible on there but it seems to fit.

48 men to a Platoon with four Paladins as heavy fire support sounds like a viable mix. If thats the case Im just gonna hope this is all that was depolyed and Atlas has other forces elsewhere BECAUSE IF THEIR ENTIRE MILITARY IS LITERALLY ONE BATALLION OF TROOPS IM GOING TO RIOT.

The number more or less makes sense. 

On the far right theres some kind of power core readings, no indication of what those are, and I cant read the wording over it. Maybe for the pylons. 

Ironwood then convinently walks past a window showing intel on the whale. Annoyingly all of the important looking text is blurred out.

Theres Hares thighs again.

Third ones some kind of profile on Cinder, the image is recent as well. Fourth one...I think its a map of some kind of the impact zone, perhaps the area lost to it. 

“Watts is either incompetent, or betrayed us.” WHICH DO YOU THINK IS MORE LIKELY.

Looks at hand dramatically while contemlating loss.

Hare loosing her shit is awesome.  Also, nice shot of her shoes. 

Maybe you should have put more faith in your military instead of Huntsman idiot.  I guess this KIND OF explains why he wants to leave. He doesnt thinkt hey can win no matter what. 

The look on his face is...disheartening.  Dudes gone the same way as Lionheart. Shit.

Also interestingly, the picograms above his office door show the phases of Remnants moon, rotating from full and unbroken to shattered.

What are you planning Ironwood.

Ohhhh. SEE NOW SOMEONE FINALLY FUCKING GETS THE IDEA You want someone in this world to do something YOU PUT A GUN TO THE HEAD OF THIER LOVED ONES!

Winters not having none of it of course. 

Ohhh shes in for a SPANKIN NOW

I love how Hare throws her under the bus like that. 

FUCK THAT TABLE

Radar. REMNANT HAS RADAR.

MOTHER...FUCKING... HOW?! HOW DO THEY HAVE RADAR.

Suns fully up now. Interesting.

Also, canonizing it now; the mountain just behind Atlas in this shot is where Fortress Academy is. 

This one.

Hang on. SDC Freighters literally look like neutered... ... GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

AGAIN! EVERYTHING IN ATLAS’S ARSENAL IS JUST SDC EQUIPMENT MADE INTO MILITARY FORM! FUCK. ME. SIDEWAYS.

WHY!? WHY IS EVERYTHING SDC MADE?!

LE SIGH

The crazy logic sit down thing is...weird.

Also, I see constellation on the floor of Ironwoods room. Looks like...chiron and Pisces. So why are Earth constellations on the floor of a Remnant building?

Damn, air cleaned the fuck up real quick. 

NEO YOU CHEEKY BITCH. THE RAISED PINKY FINGER

Yay, the teams reunited. NOW THEY CAN ALL DIE TOGETHER.

FAUNUS EAR WIGGLE

Rens first comment; wheres Nora.  Yay. Also, poor Ruby.

I like how the music just died.

I hear gunfire...

YEAH! Mantas for AA work, hell yeah! I know Im supposed to be mad but fuck that swarm attack! Oh its so good.

AND IRONWOOD WITH THE FUCKING POWER STANCE

MY GOD XD

I like how he specifically mentions Atlas’s technology like their technology is anything hot 

Seriously could you get any more fucking dramatic. I get the point but like, dude, your from Atlas, wasnt this shit BANNED in the Great War?

Boy, he really doesnt like Mantle does he. Then again at the same time, my hometown doesnt care for the homeless here. Its probably like that.

Not sure I follow your logic here. Hes probably bluffing. 

Oh wait Penny...right she never left the mansion, she got fucked over.

And thats it.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Since Lapras was mainly used for water travel, that's probably why it got released later. Can't exactly move well on land. (It's likely why we rarely saw half of Misty's team) It was nice that they had it reappear briefly in Johto. (I can totally see why some; while agreeing that Paul was good foil for Ash's character at the time, preferred other rivals when it comes to personality more) I know some want him to be in the PWC, if to reference that one quote by Cynthia, but

(Part Deux) seeing a few pull up the idea of Paul being Brandon's apprentice sounds like a better 'end' for him. (And since Gary's here, I doubt they're gonna reignite that rivalry. Not impossible, but stuff is crowded enough as it is. I feel characters like Ritchie and even Trip deserve to have something that can be left on a high note) Except being aware of stuff like Speed Racer, I'm not well-versed in old anime either. This is from watching a lot of "behind-the-scenes" for animated media.

(Part 3) (Stuff like that is why the meme thrived, it truly was a time xD) Aww, sometimes moving the reblog to a new tab works or repeat refreshing of the reblog page. (If it still doesn't work, here's the *post to the original gif instead) Heh, if anything, the fact that those two showed up in SM added to why some thought Gary WOULD show up in Alola. (Aside from Red and Blue making a surprise appearance in said games) If not Blue's Alola outfit, people drew Gary in his pink holiday shirt again.

Yeah. It was nice while it lasted, Lapras was precious. A baby.

My opinions regarding Paul can pretty much be summarized as he is an excellent rival and a terrible person, and I hate him but I respect his role in the narrative as Ash’s total antithesis. Still, I prefer antagonistic rivals that are antagonistic in more entertaining ways and/or have an apparent soft side. (Read: Gary, Drew, Harley.)

If Paul were to make a return... I’m both concerned and curious about how that would play out. I agree that with Gary making a return they probably wouldn’t reignite another old rivalry. I think Ash’s rivalry with Paul ended about as well as it could be expected to--in their conflict of principles, Ash won out, and with Infernape so Infernape got to triumph against its past abuser. I’m pretty satisfied with that, and I honestly think there are other past rivals that’d be better to see again. (Remember Casey? I wonder how she’s doing.)

Cool, I should start looking into stuff like that. I’m fascinated by how dubbing works and it could be fun to do some research on the history of it.

Yeah, definitely. The Gary Motherfucking Oak era was SO fun, what a time to be alive.

It’s whatever, I’m not too bothered about it. Making note of that for future reference though.

The circumstances were so right for Gary to make a return in Alola (he could’ve even brought back the vacation outfit, which is so tacky but I love it) but I guess he just couldn’t take the heat. (For Whumptober last year I actually wrote a Drew/Gary fic where the two of them took a little trip to Drew’s hometown in Hoenn, another tropical region, and Gary nearly passed out from heat exhaustion. I feel like him getting acclimated to Sinnoh means he’s resistant to the cold at the expense of having much less tolerance for heat.) Glad he’s finally coming back now, Kanto’s probably a bit less likely to kill him, haha.

[auncyen]

001 - Ann & Ren/Akira; 002 - Morgana

this time I will c/p both templates at the start so I remember to do both lol

Ren/Ann

when I started shipping it if I did:

I was interested in it from my first playthrough, though I actually romanced Makoto that playthrough due to timing with confidants (I was...not too great with confidants my first playthrough, though I would like to say I only missed by three in the end).  Romanced Ann my second playthrough and was happy.

my thoughts:

Like Ren/Ryuji, these two make me happy as a sort of “opposites attract”, where Ren appreciates Ann’s bubbly nature so much for helping him get out of his head for a bit and Ann doesn’t mind his reserved nature because of how thoughtful he is (until he’s keeping secrets on Christmas Eve and then it drives her a LITTLE nuts)

What makes me happy about them:

They’re pretty much my two favorite characters in p5 (though the competition for the top spots is fierce XD) and I think their differences make things interesting, so it’s fun to pair them just from that, but also thinking about Ren letting himself be silly with Ann is nice!

What makes me sad about them:

Because the game doesn’t let who your girlfriend is affect too much mechanically (which is a bit understandable in terms of difficulty implementing it...), it’s a little awkward if you romance Ann ASAP and they just...seem to go through the entire game with it apparently being a secret?  I think it is believable for them to keep it quiet for a while (maybe not wanting to make a big deal out of it in case they break up, or Ren worrying that any decision involving Ann will immediately lead to suspicions of favoritism once people know, or just not wanting to upset Mona/Ryuji/Yusuke, depending on what Ren thinks the other guys’ feelings for Ann are), but I would hope that by mid and especially end-game, they’d be comfortable enough with each other and the team to say “hey, yeah, we’re a couple”.

(Of course that would get in the way of harem route.  But harem route is dumb anyway.)

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Sometimes I feel the ditziness for Ann gets...way too overdone?  It’s a hard balance to strike because she canonically isn’t much better as a student than Ryuji and it’s implied she has trouble staying on task on her own, but she definitely can stay on task in a group setting and she’s insightful at times.  I can get her getting down on herself sometimes (there’s little moments in canon that seem to imply she does) but when fic actually makes it seem like Joker has to...babysit her or something it’s like nooooooo.

things I look for in fanfic:

I guess just going with above, the sense that they’re equals and both making decisions to better themselves.

But also fluff.  I love fluff. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Ren: Ryuji, Haru, Yusuke

Ann: ...Ryuji with the caveat of a bit of development?  Like I don’t think I’d hate a different PT romance for her but I haven’t really been interested in any of them.  (Ann/Shiho is kind of so prevalent and usually presented like it’s just some automatic thing that I’m just “meh” on it.  I like them fine as best friends.)

My happily ever after for them:

I really would like Ann to finally figure out what acting is XD and be able to work as an actress.  I’m not sure if it’s something I see her sticking with long term, but I do think her career would be spent in the public spotlight, with her making sure to take lots of downtime in private to be with Ren and keep herself sane.  Ren could go a few ways--became a local politician out of sheer spite over bullshit policies, is a journalist in the politics section because he’s good at stumbling into all sorts of trouble and getting people to open up to him so it’s never been a dull moment....not sure.  They have a nice apartment where Morgana is staying with them (having long gotten over his crush by this point).

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Ann initiates more often as the big spoon but every once in a while, Ren decides he needs to snuggle her close and is the big spoon. 

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

...Cuddling.  Though I’m also amused by the idea of them playing team-based games easy for couples to play, like pictionary (ESPECIALLY pictionary--Ren’s drawings look fine, Ann’s look like an imaginative first grader’s...this would go one of two ways--Ren having fun lightly teasing Ann as their team goes down in flames because he can’t make heads or tails of what she’s drawing, or Ren astounding the other team because he can.)

Morgana

How I feel about this character:

So Ann and Ren are my top two characters; Morgana is third.  (Again, the competition for top spots is pretty fierce--Ryuji, Haru and Yusuke are all right below this, and I like Makoto and Futaba pretty well too.)  ...Part of that is probably because he is a cat, but it’s also just--he definitely comes off to me as a younger, caring but bossy sibling to the protagonist, and it’s just cute???

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

...I don’t...really...although actually in one fic where Ren’s hometown was Inaba and Morgana was trying to become human, I h/ced him having a crush on Nanako, who would be pretty close to the age I h/c him being equivalent to.  (I think they were just slightly off by a year or two?  I’d have to figure out her age again.)  ...But like even in that fic idea he didn’t actually get with Nanako.  In fic where he turns human there are a couple ships I’d be willing to read, but personally I feel like all the PT would probably see him as a younger brother.  ...and also be a little hung up on the fact that he’d once been cat-shaped.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Ren & Morgana brotp for life.  Morgana probably gets in trouble with other PT at some point for keeping secrets about Ren’s more dangerous activities, but he and Ren have a code.  (The code is “snitches get stitches”.  They are both a little terrible sometimes.)

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I just think he gets bashed way too much.  I have literally seen posts where Ryuji is excused on certain things for being immature, still a teenager, and then Morgana is bashed, and it’s like ?????? Ryuji has sixteen years of life experience over Morgana!  If Ryuji deserves that sympathy (which I think is fair, he does), Morgana deserves it as well, if not more!  Where in Mementos was Morgana supposed to pick up life lessons on being mature?

(Granted I think it’s perfectly fair to be irked at the writers for making Morgana the character he is, because they certainly could have made him mature if they wanted to with some handwavey reason.  Just, from an in-universe perspective, ...he actually could have been way worse with the background he has.)

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

Let him be human!  Kind of still on the last point but I also think it’s understandable for Morgana to not always approach issues maturely because there are literally only seven people he can talk to so god help him when he needs to ask advice on an interpersonal conflict because there could easily be no neutral party for him to ask.  I just feel like him being stuck as a cat hamstrings him so much in terms of potential development which like...I guess ATLUS wants a mascot character, but in-universe?  Feels kind of cruel of Igor unless there wasn’t an option on how to make Mona.

...There were ship questions in this meme but I’m taking those out lol

a headcanon fact:

He can’t talk to normal cats, but he does understand them better than most humans do (though he doesn’t understand them perfectly himself--he is still a product of human cognition, not feline) and that’s part of why he gets so upset about the cat abuser.  He people-watches a lot when Ren’s with confidants, but he has once or twice gotten attached to strays in the area and done his best to try to help them, most likely by leading them to friendly humans, or leading the friendly humans to them.

[justabrowncoatedwench]

Rewatching Leverage, picking up on fun details, trying to find/catalogue them, as I do when I re-consume media I love xD

We know a couple of the characters’ hometowns! Or states anyway, even though it’s never stated explicitly in dialogue! (This got long so I put in a readmore.)

Tl;dr: Eliot was born and raised in Kentucky, and Parker was born and spent her childhood in Illinois*. And Nate we know was born and raised in Boston.

*Presuming she was not moved across state lines during her bounce into/through the foster system or moved across state lines with her bio family (unlikely).

The Two-Horse Job gives us both Parker’s and Eliot’s. Parker, in her flashback to being about 9 or so (based on the actors’ ages, both Young Parker’s and Beth Riesgraf) when she saw a “horse kill a clown”, the flashback places us in Camden, Illinois. I’d guess based on her age that Camden, Illinois is either Parker’s hometown or at the least Illinois is her home state, considering the imprecise age of her entrance into the foster system. In this same job, the client is his former fiancee and her father, who can be reasonably believed not to have gone through a big move. Their farm (and the job itself) takes place in Kentucky, telling us that Eliot grew up in Kentucky. (Aimee’s contentious greeting to Eliot about Southern welcomes etc also makes it clear this is not a new town/state, even if it could possibly be a new farm/property.)

Another fun thing is that Leverage is *very* good at having actors’ cast to the ages of their characters, or aging their characters according to their actor’s age. We see this in the entire main cast. For example, in The Two Horse Job Young Parker’s actress is 9, the flashback she appears in was 20 years before present day, and in present day Beth Riesgraf was 30 during season 1. Alec Hardison is 22 in season 1 (per him being explicitly 24 in season 3), and so is Aldis Hodge. etc etc...

So, from this, we can extrapolate that if Eliot (mid-30s, since Christian Kane was 36 at the time) was last home 8 years ago (Aimee’s accusation about him having not called or written or contacted her in 8 years), he was last home when he was about 28. Without precise information on how long he was in the army - he was implied to have been a green beret (The Experimental Job; Delta Force specifically, from a The Office Job DVD commentary) - we can take an educated guess that Eliot was probably last home about when he was discharged from the army and before taking up freelance retrieval/mercenary work.

I’m comfortable with this guess because of two reasons. One, he and Aimee have the conversation in the barn that the last time he left it was because she got married, and that every time he left before that he’d come back. This lines up with him admitting later that he made a promise to two “people” (Aimee and the US Army) and found he couldn’t keep them both, and that once he was discharged from the army he likely went home to see if Aimee and he could take up with each other again (is my strong feeling about that). BUT, between his previous departure and his final return she’d gotten married, so he left for good. Two, we get a flashback in this job during that very same conversation where Aimee asks what his possible reason could’ve been for “dropping off the face of the planet” that shows us Eliot barely standing between two thugs who have him by the arms, interrogating him about a monkey. This suggests to me that he was captured on a freelance job. Of course, he could’ve been a freelancer for years already when he returned home to find Aimee married, but we know enough of Eliot’s reputation and skills in the present day of season 1 Leverage to suggest that it could have been an earlier job in his independent career. A possibility, not a guarantee, of course, but still a good one I think.

Another fun fact about Eliot that lines up pretty perfectly with this theory! In The Last Dam Job he tells Nate that before he killed a man not in the line of duty, "he had God in his heart, and he had a flag on his shoulder." and "he has not seen that kid for 10 years”. The Last Dam Job aired in 2012, making Eliot (per Christian Kane’s age during filming/airing) to be about 39, suggesting that Eliot had not killed a man outside of his military line of duty for the US Army until he was 29. This lines up really well with the extrapolated information from The Two-Horse Job that Eliot was last home, presumably post-discharge, at 28.

No detailed puzzle pieces yet on where Hardison grew up, though he also went through the foster system, albeit without as much implied bouncing from home to home as Parker did. Plus he stayed in it until he was 18, versus Parker who ran away and never went back. Ditto on Sophie, though I think we’ll never really know for Sophie, since it could risk the Mystery. xD And Nate we know was a born and raised Boston boy (season 2 ep 1).

Addendum/Note: The assumption that the characters are relative to their actor’s ages plays out pretty closely for all 3 of the younger members of the team (Eliot, Hardison, Parker), and at this point also does for Sophie (mystery woman in her 40s, Gina Bellman was 42 during season 1). But we do have canon info on Nate’s birthdate, assuming his passport in The Lost Heir Job is accurate and not a fake, meaning that Timothy Hutton is 5 years older than Nate.