#but tbh i kinda just hate the direction that the story went in

[funwalker]

spoilers for jjk....

I think the problem I've been having with the current arc of jjk (the manga) is that they're doing it like a reverse heist movie and I think it really works against the story.

All of the characters have been doing all of this preparation off screen and when they use the fruits of all of their planning it just kind of feels like it's been pulled out of thin air as a plot convenience?

The explanations feel like they've had a decent amount of thought put into them but i feel like it really diffuses the tension having them after whatever they're explaining has occurred.

just saying "oh yuji can use reverse cursed techniques now so he can fight tougher enemies without dying," like... that's cool and all but i feel like it would be more satisfying if we were shown that first and then watched things unfold in unexpected ways in the battle. The way it is now is Yuji shows up, we learn he has a new power, they fight for a while. Theeeeen we go back and learn how he got this power, but it's still in the talking heads format where everyone is sitting around explaining their plan as if this is a heist movie... but we're already watching the heist. We're like, 3 hours into the heist. Like, it's not a trump card that really turns the tides (or at least hasn't yet). I feel like if you're trying to reveal "this character has grown while you weren't looking" it's really more effectively used for emphasis rather than exposition?

A more satisfying flow to me would be something like:

showing all of the characters preparing for this big battle. there are lots of little moving parts to this plan, hence why I likened it to a heist movie. (this would be all of those little flashbacks peppered throughout the recent chapters, but frontloaded either before they send gojo to fight sukuna or after gojo dies. probably after gojo dies for the most dramatic tension)

they go into battle. everyone is at their marks. it's not enough. (this is essentially what's already happening)

if things don't happen as they should, *then* they can explain the contingencies, but because you already know the basic plan, you can begin to put together how this changes things, or it could set you up to be more surprised by an unexpected turn of events.

I think that's why I had more fun with the comedy "battle" between Takaba and Kenjaku. Like, the realization that he's sort of met his match and is enjoying the fight is unexpected and later it's revealed that they had planned it (which in itself is kind of novel because it's also an unexpected pairing from a reader's standpoint). It's probably my favorite sequence in the recent chapters.

Anyways, I'm just complaining because it feels like this arc has gone on for so long and we keep stopping to explain power levels and healing your brain so you can keep using your domain and blah blah blah we picked these three guys to nullify this one thing that sukuna does and taught yuji rct off screen in a week or however long its been and we've made so many contingency plans PLEASE JUST GET ON WITH IT... Honestly though, I've been so checked out of jjk since the shibuya arc ended. I've mostly been reading it on the side because there's usually a new chapter up when I got to check for the new Chainsaw Man lol...

edit: I wrote all of that mainly to say I really don't get why people are enamored with telling a story out of order. it's cool for a surprise every now and then or if it is thematically relevant, but a lot of times it feels like they're just doing it for the sake of doing it. Or like in this case, it feels like it's supposed to be *another* reveal. What is this, like the 4th or 5th time? It's no longer interesting at this point. (it wasn't even well used to begin with.) There's nothing wrong with things being in chronological order!! En media res is probably the most misused rhetorical device IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! STOP IT. STOP. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[galakaz]

Some things i found notable in part 3 of canto 7 (also just an overview tbh)

That zewi story don told at the beginning sounds like fixer 300 ngl (i havent watched 300) Samcho remembering the name don by looking at the bottom of her boots is funny to me ngl that hana fixer has definitely been around the block if they had posters of her back then I predicted correctly that the silver haired don was the original don and made the amusement park it seems as long as dante can prove that they are accessing the situation and things are going well enough to plan it will calm outis' anxiety Surprised we never saw carmilla dispite seeing those distorted by it (rip funny blue haired guy and the west zwei) Silver haired don getting his idea for an amusement park and coexisting with a person due to a promise (for a "tomorrow") and the fact he fought her for so long he just got interested by her and her tales (to the point even samcho listened in) is interesting that duel between bari and silver haired don makes me ask what did fights in the library really look like cause theres no way those lot are dueling harder then some of the star of the city tier fights in ruina POV: fighting sancho phase 1

No seriously who taught that women how to box i thought she would start by using her blood weapons not by going left right goodnight at the first sinner who loses a clash

This image really be kinda how i feel about don after all the time (she did grow on me i didnt hate her at first but i did start finding her more enjoyable as time went on

Ngl my first reaction to reading this was "people self shipping when you tell them their ship is evil", also shows that dante is starting to get a lot more considerate of the sinners and willing to accept them no matter who they are if they are willing to change (also probs why they are called SINNERS) Mili banger as usual BINAH! I just realized we are actaully for once doing the kabbalah in the right direction this time starting from the top and going to hokma, binah ect rather then malkuth Row Row fight the power (i havent watched gurren lagann i really should though)

The qte grabbing me by the throat and going "NO YOU ARE HELPING HER DREAM TOO START MASHING"

HERO IM GOING TO PROVE MY VERSION OF JUSTICE IS MORE JUST THEN YOURS UNO REMAINING ON THIS STAGE I AM THE ONLY ONE I AM MY BIGGEST FAN I AM MY BIGGEST FAN I AM MY ENEMY AND MY FRIEND

Felt uncomfortable (not in a bad way) some of the ways this canto touched me personally (also unbreakable coins are a pain), canto is amazing though (crying samcho now don did get me

Also what the fuck does his blue ass want anyway he keeps popping up

The barber is hotter then dulcinea

[artracoon]

PJO SERIES HOT TAKES/UNPOPULAR

OPINIONS. Sorry if I offend anyone, it's just an opinion. NO HATE I LOVE RICK AND THE ACTORS 💙(I just don't like Disney directing tbh)

The Athena kid in me is screaming at the top of their lungs because they think they could make a better script than Disney. BRO FINISH 2

Chapters in like 5 minutes- AND THE FIGHT SCENE BETWEEN MS DODDS AND PERCY

WAS RUUUUSHED Slow down Disney that was a good bit. They also made it happen outside instead of having her lead him inside. How hard did the mist have to work with all those people there???

Is it just me or is Sally kinda mean, where's our mom figure? Im crying over Luke's acting it was so good but also why are you dropping bombshells on us the second episode??

No offense to the actors but some of the lines felt like they were from Disney channel in the 2000s. It feels almost like a completely different story I understand why but I thought it was going to be more accurate

Love Annabeth’s "you drool when you sleep" but why was the scene setting so weird??

1 I drastically miss the Hellhound scene. It was one of my favorite scenes. They should have made the first two episodes *| accidentally vaporized my math teacher" and "My mom teaches me bullfighting" then they wouldn't have had to rush it so much. So much information was thrown at us in the first episode I couldn't process it. Also the convo between Percy and Sally in the Cabin was really unrealistic... Why did she have to drop that on Percy so fast I thought Mr. D and Chiron were supposed to have that conversation with Percy.

The bathroom scene was fine but I really wish Annabeth could have been there, instead of making her look like a huge stalker. We could have had her show him around camp like I get we want to build that relationship with Luke so it hits harder but Idk I personally wouldn't want her on my team if all she did was go "Im stalking you to see if your worthy" ditch me and watch me fight 3 v1 and then push me in the ocean. The Ares kids bashing... but Clarisse's acting was great. That scream of anger was amazing.

I feel like they took the first book and went

"eh don't need this, or this hmmm nah that doesn't seem important" and then shook it all about. They changed so much to save time but they didn't even make it a movie so there wasn't much point??

The intro was fine. I didn't really like the dialogue between Percy and Sally at the beginning. The museum was okay but we didn't get a lesson about Kronos so no foreshadowing for that at all. No one really seems to remember this but Percy didn't keep the pen and it doesn't make sense for him to as-well with getting kicked out of school. In the Book Percy was given the pen while fighting Miss Dodds. Afterwards he was still unknowingly clutching the pen when he went to talk to Mr.Brunner who took his pen back saying he should bring his own pen next time, making Percy more confused because Mr.Brunner had given him the pen.

Later when he's leaving for the quest Chiron gives him the pen saying it was from his dad. That means Percy wouldn't have had the pen during his time at camp and his fight with the minotaur. So it wouldn't make sense for him to defeat the minotaur with its horn rather than his pen if he had the pen. In the book he HAD to defeat the minotaur with his own horn because he had no other weapon.

He had a hard time on the beach and during sword training because no other sword felt right. I could rant forever on everything they overlooked.

Sorry no one asked for this rant i'm just so upset because Rick said it was going to be accurate and he chose these Actors because they would be able to play the parts more accurately but the script doesn't work so I there's no point in having actors who would do a good job if the script doesn't do a good job

[b1adie]

posting this as a screenshot instead of just answering the ask bc its rly long. anyways. my commentary

my point abt furina was that i liked her a LOT in her initial introduction. like she instantly became one of my fav characters. after the whole quest and all that she’s kinda ehh for me now. i dont dislike her but i dont like her nearly as much as i did initially

at that time 4.0 was first released it surprised me so much to see all the hate she got, for things like you mention in your ask. like… people genuinely being mad and hating her for being a little fucked up were the same people going crazy for chiIde lmao

but regardless of “good or bad,” i liked her bc she was interesting. her lines were unique and her voice acting was fun to listen to and the drama she brought to the story was really entertaining and refreshing to me.

i dont really care that she “fucked over innocent people” or whatever, cuz those people aren’t real. i liked that she was super fun to watch. and while i do like her story and the direction the fontaine plot went, she’s a lot less fun to me now. she lost that bravado and drama and kinda just blends in with the other characters. which is something i’m actually a little worried about with aventurine, tbh. i hope when we get his ass back from the void he’s still got some of his fun little bitchy attitude and doesn’t just start being Guy Normal 🙂

if anything this ask really proved my point tho, like… wow you guys really take it personal when a character is a minor antagonist meant to be annoying or an inconvenience or something huh? maybe relax and have fun watching characters put on a little show for you on a screen. it will make your gaming experience better

anyways, please send any further asks about genshin to @nabumalikata, my genshin blog 👍

[gavillain]

How do you think KH2 compares to KH1 in terms of the direction they went with story and characters?

I am well aware that I'm in the minority here, but I always thought Kingdom Hearts II was a big letdown after Kingdom Hearts I. I still ENJOY KH2 and I have fond nostalgia for it, but it's just as not as good as the first game, imo.

My biggest problems with it:

The Disney Worlds are entirely superfluous. You could literally cut every single out, even the ones where Organization XIII appears, and it would not change the plot at ALL. And that was NOT the case for KH1, where every single Disney World DID have a purpose, whether it was to advance the main plot (Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Agrabah, Monstro, Neverland) or to underscore major themes or ideas (Olympus Coliseum, Atlantica, Halloween Town). In KH2, you're basically playing through shittier versions of the Disney movies without it impacting anything until the time comes for you to actually go do important stuff in Hollow Bastion or Twilight Town. And the Disney worlds are the majority of the game! So it just feels like most of the time, you're just wasting time with filler.

The twist that Ansem wasn't Ansem and that he was ACTUALLY a guy named Xehanort, and Xehanort has a second incarnation who is leading the Organization while the REAL Ansem is a good guy who has been in disguise as DiZ working to undo the damage his apprentice has done was a dumb twist. It undercut Ansem's motivation and characterization from the first game, and it was just needlessly convoluted and started the trend of the series just being convoluted for the sake of being convoluted.

Riku had an incredible arc of character growth in Chain of Memories with him deciding the walk the Road to Dawn and use light and darkness together in his own way. That got thrown out the window so that Riku could be emo and mopey, turn into Ansem for some stupid reason, and be on the periphery of the plot. I get that they needed him to be offscreen for most of the game, but having him arbitrarily take like twenty steps back in his arc wasn't the answer.

They set up Organization XIII and the Nobodies as being morally gray sympathetic people trying to regain their hearts, and we have Roxas as a sympathetic person grappling with his existence as a Nobody and the question of what measure is a non-human... aaaaand all of that kinda just gets brushed aside in the main game where Organization XIII is just unambiguously mustache twirling evil, and Sora just has to kill them all. It's weird, and it doesn't jive. If you're gonna try to make your villains sympathetic, it can't just be an informed attribute where one character feels sorry for them for a reason they never showcase. Axel and Roxas aren't even in Organization XIII for most of the game. No one is conflicted, no one has any redeeming qualities. And that's FINE. You can have pure evil villains, and they WORK as pure evil. But the weird informed "oh you poor thing" quality doesn't go anywhere and it muddies the waters in a way that just makes what you as the protagonist have to do in the game feel... icky. And it's never examined.

The game design does away with like 90% of the platforming, so the level design is almost exclusively big empty rooms. You run from one side of the big empty room to the next, you trigger a cutscene, then you run across another empty room for another cutscene, and so on. I found it very boring to actually play outside of the boss battles, and there's just no exploration element in this one. Which, compared to KH1 where exploration, climbing on things, finding secret passageways, and completing puzzles was such an integral part of the gameplay.

Oh and they try to compensate for that shortcoming by adding in a bazillion annoying minigames that are equally boring. Thanks, I hate it.

This one's mostly a personal gripe, but I missed the Disney Villains council from the first game. They were fun, and tbh I feel like they were MUCH better villains than Organization XIII, wherein most of the members were glorified boss battles without any real character depth. Maleficent also kinda gets turned into a sap, and the lifelong Maleficent fan in me hated that. She gets an interesting arc, but at what cost? XD

Kairi has nothing to do, and she is pointless in this game. And characters can exist without a utilitarian plot purpose, but they never really find anything interesting for Kairi to do even just in a flavor way. She's just kind of in the game because she was important in the original and they didn't want to leave her on the island for the entire story.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS DODGE ROLL IN THE ORIGINAL GAME??? I know they added it in Final Mix, but in the base game, it just doesn't exist, and there's just no good way to dodge for the majority of the game. And to add onto that, I hate the way you have to level up Drive Forms to get abilities that make traversing the game easier, but they only level up in arbitrary ways and it's hard to even get to use them because the drive gauge takes forever to fill up. You really only can get the movement abilities in the late game where they don't even really matter anymore.

Look, I know most games have the camera being controlled by the R3 analogue stick, but I genuinely hate that. Having it controlled by R2 and L2 in KH was so much more intuitive and made me so much less motion sick. I wish they'd had a way to toggle the controls for that.

But there are a few big positives that I have to say:

The whole end scene on the beach with Sora and Riku is amazing. one of the very BEST moments in the entire franchise. Even though I didn't like Riku's arc, him and Sora getting to just sit and talk at the culmination of a hard won victory was wonderful, and this scene was a great cherry on top for their stories over KH1, CoM, and KH2. Also, I will go down with this ship.

The Roxas prologue may have gone on for a bit too long, but it was GOOD. It was well written, Roxas was interesting, and the way they used the end of summer vacation as a metaphor for the end of existence hit SO hard home for childhood me playing the game. VERY powerful, very well executed, no notes.

As previously mentioned, I like where Maleficent's arc ended up going with her trying to return to power in her own way with the deck stacked against her. I don't necessarily think it was handled especially well for most of the game, but I enjoyed getting the chance to root for my favorite villain to usurp her rivals. And that has definitely influenced my writing a lot.

The combat gameplay is really fun, and even though I don't like the mechanics of the Drive Forms, actually using them in combat is super fun. You feel POWERFUL, and it's exhilarating!

The music is amazing. It's Yoko, so of COURSE it is.

I like what they do with Pete. I know most people don't and think he's just KH's Team Rocket, but I thought Pete was fun. And I like the depth they managed to give him too.

Olympus Coliseum's story is genuinely great. I like how it's actually mostly a NEW story instead of just a retread of the movie. Hades is in peak form, and playing around the Underworld is just the best.

The Disney Castle / Timeless River story was likewise really good. I think those two and Olympus were the only two Disney worlds that I thought were actually worthwhile.

So, yeah, there's a lot that I actually genuinely really like about KH2, and I'm nostalgic for it, but I have major beef with it too. It's not as good as KH1 (which, for the record, I thought was damn near perfect), but as its own thing, it's definitely better than a lot of the subsequent installments.

[skibasyndrome]

Hey hey Simon,

I'm curious about ♥️💥👻💕📗🎨

But obviously you don't have to answer all of them!

Hey Sophia, thank you so much for asking! 🥰🥰

❤️: What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Ahhhh, I'm always so bad at answering these types of questions because I generally don't remember my lines, but because I went over the last fic very extensively with W @darktwistedgenderplural when they were beta-ing for me, I kinda remember a few of the lines from that story that I really liked, hehe:

But Simon halts after a few steps into the lake, the water nipping at his thighs in a way that makes Wilhelm wish he were one of those little waves.

It’s just them and the lake. That same lake where he first dared to believe that he and Simon could have a future together. That same lake where he first allowed himself to think of Simon as pretty.

💥: What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

Hmmmm, I think I'd like to just have had more screentime for Wilmon because I love every single second of that, but tbh I don't think I'd change anything from canon because I love canon so so so much the way it is!

👻: What is your wildest headcanon?

my Wille praise kink headcanon possibly? no, hmm, idk, I don't think I have any wild headcanons necessarily (but do let me know if you remember anything wild I said, if there are any, I probably shared them with you lol)

💕: What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

ATM I'd say it's You crave the Applause / Yet hate the Attention :)

📗: Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

Well, I do write lots for academic endeavors, if that counts 😅 I've done original writing before but haven't done anything in that direction in yeeeaaars. Idk if I'll ever come back to it tbh, but for now I'm very happy with fanfics on one side and literary analysis on the other <3

🎨: If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Vampire Simon my beloved (in the pretty purple costume for him to match Wille's valentine's ball look <3

Send me fanfic writer asks

[midnights-wish]

this is a rant regarding umbrella academy's fourth season 'cause i'm not happy with it at all & have the absolute need to just get my opinions out of my system, but no one i know has finished the series, so a tumblr-rant it is.

you've been warned, spoilers from here on out!

okay, so. i will start by saying that i loved the first episode. i watched it & thought that it looks promising, and that the show gets an ending-season it deserves, but starting from episode three (? i believe, could have also been episode four, but since i binged the show i remember the whole thing as a very long movie & can't really put things that happened in specific episodes) i just started to get disappointed.

the vomit 'jokes'. someone there must think those are really funny, but they just aren't. it's gross & cheap humor. i don't mind their vomiting in the car - their bodies are adjusting back to their powers, so being sick is having to vomit makes sense. every other time was unnecessary. i'm aware they did those kinda jokes before too (like when five meets his other self), but tbh i don't like those either. i just don't get it.

the only person actively working to find ben is victor, the others are basically doing nothing, which i feel is a real shame:

klaus is away for the majority of the time 'cause he felt the dramatic need to immediately revert to his drug use after regaining his powers. this led to him being locked away in a room & then a coffin. sad, 'cause like with some other characters his powers got upgraded & they could have used him for so much more than for playing a sex-medium & accidentally getting his dealer killed.

diego is in a character arc of realizing that his family is what matters most for him, which i really really loved! bummer lila had to cheat on him - i get why she did in the context of the story, just don't like the writers chose that direction, when just an episode before both lila and diego started voicing their concerns and personal issues with the marriage. i was thinking they both would start figuring out how to save their marriage and make life both exciting for both of them and their kids. but apparently that was used as a poor excuse for the writers to start an unnecessary romance.

now i get to lila & five. oh my gosh, i hated that so much. look, i'll give gallagher that he played his role very well; i really could feel his characters heartache through the screen as he was watching lila next to diego. but, was that storyline really necessary? i mean i get they were in the subway for seven years, and i understand feelings will develop under the conditions they were in. but i don't think that was necessary. yes, sure, send them to the subway. but instead of embarking them on a seven-year-long journey, why not let them be lost in there for like a month or so, & then make them stumble on that diner together, find out why the apocalypse happens together, and then let the other fives help them to get back home, so that they can inform the others & get a proper plan started? no falling in love necessary. then there would not be an annoying rivalry between diego and five, five would not have left everyone while they were fighting ben & jennifer just so he could sulk (i would have not needed to be put through that kitschy montage), diego and lila could have spent the time fixing their marriage during the episodes, and since everyone would have had the chance to work together much earlier, everything would have turned out more focused as well. also, what i really dislike: if you start this stupid route with them, at least have the courage to also say who lila actually wants to be with after seven years. being gone for seven years and then suddenly returning to your old life after having started a new relationship that also went on for a couple of years is a complex situation. they really could've done something with that, but instead she just flip-flops around, not giving a proper answer while five just sulks (which i find out-of-character, too - from him forgetting dolores completely to betraying his brother, to him suddenly acting out of emotions rather than logic, & to him just sulking alltogether, i mean). i just don't see why this development was needed for the story at all.

luther is with diego the whole time, not much happened for him either, although he did have his little breakthrough of finding out some people in the cia where involved in the cult. which is a nice find, but also didn't play a greater part in the story as not more was done with it.

allison was busy to find klaus. also with her sibling-relationship with him. which i found was an unnecessary fight either way. was just there to create useless drama. not much more to say here either.

don't have stuff to say about ben, he played a big role & i feel everything made sense for him

anyways, when it comes down to it, i just feel dissatisfied. the show would've deserved much better of an ending. i mean, i don't mind the ending per se, it makes sense. i just don't like how they got there. if you're gonna end it with them ceasing to exist, why not let them end everything on a good note, rather than with inflicting an unnecessary love-triangle? also maybe let them work together properly, to show that they learned their lessons from the other seasons? also, what i don't understand, if all of the marigold has to merge with the creature, but there were a total of 43 kids born under the same conditions as they did, then why did it work with them sacrificing just themselves? i mean understand the creature could've gotten to the rest at some point too, but i feel like they could've tapped a bit more into that (maybe during the diner scene).

i dunno, maybe i'm nitpicking, but i just feel the season was full of unnecessary drama, sometimes created out of pure nothing and an unnecessary love-triangle of which that time could have instead been used with bringing everyone together & creating a proper plan (& with diego and lila patching up their marriage and learning to work together as a badass couple; just imagine how cool the fight-scenes could have been, with them fighting using a parents' logic).

i'm just kinda sad now, tbh.

[fkevin073]

OKAY SO I HAD NO IDEA THAT THE 'SACRED PRAYER' FIC HAD ACTUALLY STARTED THE AU FOR BMHNTY, SO I SAW THAT ASK AND WENT ALL ????? BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT FIC WAS JUST ABOUT THE JACE/ALYS/AEMOND THIRST LIVING THEIR LIVES AS KING, QUEEN AND PROTECTOR YOU KNOW, BUT GUUUURRRLLLLLLLLL

i am sorry for the capslock i am just so on edge, am literally shaking as im writing this i read those two chapters this afternoon while waiting for my dentist and had to excuse myself and go to the bathroom to fUCKING CRY™, FKEVIN!!!!! THAT WAS SO STRESSFULL HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT AFTER WRITING THIS STUFF

that being said, i loved it all. so glad alicent's daughter!alyssanne and jacaerys had a happy ending and you didn't destroy me any further by adding hertbreaking notes about their future, i can't wait for the same to happen to valaena and jace and NO NO, i do NOT accept less otherwise I hAvE tRaUmAS FKEVIN NO BITTERSWEET ENDING AROUND HERE WHERE'S MY HEA TAG WHERE IS IT

(I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SAY AND SAY IT IN CAPSLOCK THAT VISERYS SUCKS IN EVERY UNIVERSE!!! HE SUCKS SHIT I KNOW I AM HIS HATER)

AHHH GIRL!! I keep forgetting that not every reader is aware I wrote that 'sacred prayer' AU first, and tbh I kinda recommend keeping it that way? it's odd having a lot of people know kinda sorta maybe the direction the story is going to take in some of the major ways (again there are going to be changes so not everything will be the same, but still) . still, I'm glad u liked it!!

also, sorry about the bittersweet ending tag, but there are no proper HEA's for me for my hotd fics for the most part! I love the angst too much what can I say!

and yes, Viserys is the worst! I hate hate his guts!

[fusillisarah]

2023 Reading Roundup (44 books, Predominately Romantasy)

I graduated from university and started my big girl job this year, take a look at what I was reading as I passed these milestones! I read FOURTY FOUR books this year and I’m so proud :)

Vampire Academy Series: Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy, Frost Bite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice

10/10. Comfort books. Love the arc, love the direction. Slow burn mentor/student. Set in modern day. Romantasy.

Dune & Dune: Messiah: Frank Herbert

Dune is a 10/10. Incredibly worldbuilding. Anyone with any interest in sci-fi should read. Messiah went a lot quicker, less complicated and fleshed. 5/10 I didn’t really enjoy it. Maybe I’ll push through one day…

King of Scars Duology: Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars, Rule of Wolves

I love love love Six of Crows, and I didn’t feel like reading Shadow and Bone just yet, so read King of Scars. 7/10 I probably should have read Shadow and Bone but now I probably never will, basically got the gist of it. Didn’t have a lot of background but the story is rly good. Love love love Zoya!!

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series: Sarah J Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses, a Court of Mist and Fury, a Court of Wrath and Ruin, a Court of Frost and Starlight, a Court of Silver Flames

12/10. Perfect down to the last minute detail. Epic fantasy, worldbuilding that had my jaw on the floor. Must read.

Fourth Wing: Rebecca Yarros

9/10 quick and easy read. Loved the dragons in this one. I’m a sucker for Enemies to Lovers so I basically exactly what i signed up for. Little scared for series though… ahh!

From Blood and Ash Series: Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Blood and Ash, Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, Crown of Gilded Bones, a War of Two Queens, a Soul of Ash and Blood

4/10. First 2 books were really interesting, third one actually totally lost me and in the middle of the fourth I ended up reading all of the Cruel Prince books in the middle of it lol. Determined to not have a DNF this year so I came back, finished it, and read the god-forsaken Soul of Ash and Blood. 0/10 I hated every second of that book. It’s a complete retelling with maybe 2 or 3 chapters that are actually interesting. Yes, I know I read all 5. No, I have no technical regrets. Take that as you will.

The Cruel Prince: Holly Black

The Cruel Prince, the Wicked King, the Queen of Nothing

Good, no spice obvi and super popular but I loved Jude’s character and was obsessed with the politics. Super intriguing I blew through these. 8/10

Verity: Colleen Hoover

6/10, read it in like a day and a half but I don’t rly like thrillers, they scare me lol. It was good tho and my first Colleen Hoover book, not sure if I would read another one but I did really like this one and the ending was super crazy. read it as a palate cleanser after Cruel Prince. I’ve realized if I don’t have a non-high fantasy palate cleanser I fall into a reading slump lol.

Once Upon a Broken Heart Series: Stephanie Garber

Once Upon a Broken Heart, The Ballad of Never After, A Curse for True Love

OUABH is 9/10, honestly such a wonderful book, perfectly captures the hopeless romantic of Eva and allure of Jacks, but TBONA is SHOWSTOPPING!!! 12/10. So amazing, love the storyline, never bored, such good romance it’s the most well written romance I’ve read in a while- screeching halt for ACFTL- I’ve put my thoughts on this blog but it felt so empty compared to the lifeblood in the first 2 books in the series. Definitely worth the read though.

Throne of Glass Series: Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, Kingdom of Ash

Nothing to be said that’s not already been said. Amazing. I love sprawling epics. Not a ton of romance and tbh I’m not a Rowan girly. Defending Chaol til I die tho. 10/10

Twilight: Stephanie Meyer

6/10. I’ve written about this one but I just felt like it was super juvenile for my tastes, I was expecting to like it more and it was just kinda eh. Needed a little more something something but that is of course a me problem. I just think I am not a big fan of YA anymore.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: V. E. Schwab

Wonderful story, totally lust for life after reading, made me so excited about the ending. I felt like there was so much more to be told which is like exactly how I wanna feel reading a book. 8/10

Divine Rivals: Rebecca Ross

At first I was not rocking with the pacing, I feel like this book could have been a lot longer. But when I finished it I actually was more on board with the speed and it was super sweet. Good found family aspect. 7/10 will for sure be reading the next one.

Plated Prisoner Series: Raven Kennedy

Gild, Glint, Gleam, Glow, Gold

I love love love LOVE these books! Pacing is amazing, you can see exactly how Auren’s trauma affects her character, Malina has gained a fan, just huge fantastic series here. Cannot wait until the last one is out. 10/10

Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop me a book review for 2024! Happy new year everyone!

[anakin-pilled]

okay i finally finished the star wars sequel trilogy and here’s my opinion and thoughts on each of the movies that no one asked for but i want to share anyway 🤓🤓 spoilers below!

The Force Awakens:

Don’t have a strong opinion on this movie TBH, I think it’s the weakest of the three but it’s a good introduction movie.

Wasn’t expecting Han’s death…RIP TO A REAL ONE😭

Still don’t understand how Rey was able to beat a trained Kylo Ren in battle…she was too OP for the first movie.

Kylo’s back story isn’t convincing enough and I think he’s kind of lame, I don’t think they did him justice.

Transitioning between scenes is so reminiscent of the OG triology and I love it.

The Last Jedi:

THE BEST OUT OF THE THREE!! I really enjoyed this movie; especially all the different sub plots. I loved that we got to see more characters.

I AM A FINNPOE ENTHUSIAST

I AM NOT A REYLO ENTHUSIAST

I liked Rose’s character and her dynamic with Finn!! Kelly Marie Tran did not deserve all the hate she got ): Rose was awesome ):

The scene in Snoke’s throne, Kylo reminded me so much of Anakin in ROTS, from the hair to the expression on his face, I literally think he channeled Anakin’s energy into his performance (think of Anakin when he first pledged loyalty to Palpatine)

Kinda confused on the direction they went in with Luke. You mean to tell me Luke refused to kill Darth Vader because he believed there was light still in him, but couldn’t extend the same hope to Kylo? Idk, Luke’s main characteristic is that he’s the hopeful, optimistic hero and I feel like they completely scrapped that. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THEY DONT EVEN DIRECTLY TELL YOU WHY KYLO HAD SO MUCH DARKNESS IN HIM, i blame the story tellers

Luke saying no one’s ever really gone…yeah I cried 😭

I knew Luke died from like years ago, but watching his force spirit in front of the two suns just reminded me of that iconic scene in ANH where he’s standing in front of the two Tatooine suns. Literally one of my favorite Star Wars scenes EVER 🥹

The Rise of Skywalker

I think my biggest gripe with this trilogy is that it completely ruins Anakin/Vader being the Chosen One. Like….George Lucas confirms he’s the Chose One and then we see in ROTJ that he helps brings balance to the force, thus completing the prophecy. BUT THEN PALPATINE DIDNT DIE AND HES BACK AND THAT MAKES THE PROPHECY COMPLETELY MOOT AND THATS AN INSULT TO MY POOKIE.

Didn’t expect Leia to die…I know Carrie died (RIP TO A REAL ONE) but I honestly didn’t know she was going to die in the movie and I kept on wondering how they were going to pull it off. And I’m just realizing they killed each of the OG trio 😭

We needed more Rose.

They built up Finn to be a love interest for Rey in the first movie then completely scrapped that idea for Reylo 😭

Not sure how I feel about Reylo. I was really hoping they wouldn’t kiss then BOOM they kissed. Idk I just don’t think the chemistry was there.

I still think they did Kylo’s character building dirty, but I did enjoy his redemption arc. RIP

The voices of all the Jedi guiding Rey, I CRIED OKAYYYYYY

FINNPOE SUPREMACY

I love FinnPoe, but also Finn and Poe separately. Oscar and John were amazing

Seeing all the Death Stars crash, the Ewoks looking up and cheering, the celebration scene 😭😭���😭 I cried so much IDK it just reminded me so much of the the end of ROTJ and honestly I’m a huge sucker for a good winning final scene.

Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy more than I thought I would and while I do think it’s not PERFECT and I do think there’s a lot to fix, I do think a lot of SW fans are just salty and hated the idea of a more diverse, female led franchise. I would definitely watch again (:

Now I need to know what happens after lol

[jeanmoreaux]

as someone who has already finished sab s2 & just stumbled across your live-blogging posts … i’m so sorry, michelle.

like i don’t even remember all of the important plots in the trilogy & soc/ ck but some things came back to me while watching … not kidding, i went from “wow, okay, i’m completely confused but that was fun, i guess?” to “i have so many questions, i hate netflix for putting unnecessary pressure on the creatives & i feel like i just kinda wasted 8h of my life” in the span of less than 48h.

and i don’t know, a continuation of beloved books should not leave me at that. i mean, what they did worked in s1, why mess everything up? like you wrote why rush through everything & let no one breathe?? 😭🤦🏻‍♀️

thank you, annie <3 i think you're touching on a very important point here: the pressure on the creatives. like, they have to rush everything and put as much plot as possible in this season if they have no idea whether or not they get to continue beyond these two seasons they have been given. and the thing is that they simply cannot do the story and characters justice under these conditions. and that makes the season fail as a whole—whether you look at it as an adaptation or a separate entity removed from the source material entirely. i know we all come back to the "think of it as fanfiction" thing again and again, but it is literally doing what fanfiction occasionally does where it assumes you already care about the characters and dynamics so they don't have to develop anything meaningful and get into the good parts right from the start, skipping the build up. and this season does the same thing. it banks on us caring about new characters and relationships and plot points without giving us a valid reason to care about them, but at the same time they twist and tweak things to fit the show's direction/plot which makes it hard to think of these characters in terms of their book characterisations. and if you're a viewer who doesn't know the books at all you have even less reason to care about any of it. it's truly a pickle tbh. i KNOW why the season feels so underdeveloped and rushed but i am still disappointed by it. i KNOW why it doesn't work and that they had to work with the fear of premature cancellation in their backs, but it doesn't change the fact that this season just isn't all that good. i literally hate it here.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Question, why're you so hateful towards any and all things that has happened with persona games post p5?

What is the problem with p3reload? I literally cannot find any problems well apart from the well worn down complaints of the lack of femc and answer.

If this is about the Ken post, I think it's fair I'm a bit miffed that (SEA) Atlus posted that. TT0TT Otherwise, I'm going to be assuming this is just a reaction of seeing my other posts. XD

Now....hateful? P5.....most likely, I mean I went from loving it to....well... I felt betrayed (I've gone into my issues with P5 time and time again on this blog tbh TT0TT If you want more specifics I'll can go into it again but not atm for this post to save time ;w;). All in all P5 broke my sanity, I used to be very excited for it, but it turned sour when I actually saw how.....much it sucked.

P3 is salt. I'm pissy. I'm just angry at the choices made. It's something I love that's just.....it just has so many issues tied to it now (I do like some stuff, I do like the new singers voice BUT I hope they allow us to play OG tracks, but that goes for any remaster/remake). This broke me into going villain era ("you aren't making those posts anymore silly" I know I have other stuff outside the internet sadly ;w; orz if I wasn't wiped every day I would be showing my distain on every Atlus post but alas I can't I must pick and choose my battles and if it means bitching on here I'll at least take that orz)

Tbf to P5, I love Kamo's arc. I'll always stand by that. After that it gets complicated.

Spinoffs in general I really just don't like the......non direction the P5 spinoffs have had compared to P4. Arena/Q1/Ultimax were like a mini narrative. P4D was a send off. P5's are....aimless. But that's not hateful, that's just frustration with the direction. (I'm thinking it's cause the team got restructured so.....random events go I guess it's whatever). Like as burned out of P4 as people were for the P4 spinoffs (a bit unfair since 3/4ths were also P3 spinoffs TT0TT), they had some great writing highlights in the franchise and were released in a very natural way. (and the hype of announcing 3 games alongside P5's teaser? Oh god that was fun!)

P3/5D I'm.....very upset with how Atlus handled it. It's price gouging (wanting $60 for each game SEPARATELY), lacking content compared to the previous game P4D (less story and less songs, again P3/5D are counted as two separate games), and horrible timing. The latter is that....P3 didn't have a modern console for people to play on. Atlus screwed P3D over. They should've used this opportunity to funnel the new P5 fanbase into the older games, but instead of focusing on porting P3/P4 over ASAP within that year (which would come to hurt the next game), they pushed for P3/5D instead and didn't give it a fighting chance. Now P5D is screwed in a way that....P5D didn't have the best song selection, like P3/4 could pull from MULTIPLE games and animes, P5 only had P5 and an anime airing. P5D should've happened later, maybe as a send off like with P4. TT0TT (I think timing for P3/5D right now would've been great, considering it feels like we're ending the P5 era and P3R is coming out. I'm hoping they port P3/5D or give us a sequel/remake now would be the BEST time).

PQ2 I'm upset because the lore and how things work are fundamentally fucked over (only a minority may care or notice but it's there TT0TT), like it literally was "P5 broke me 2, electric boogaloo". And I hate how P5 focus it is....esp when I don't think they do much with the story that's meaningful. Love it has FeMC in it (one of the best highlights), love that Yosuke/Teddie are finally written closer to their original game counter parts (outside P4D). Sad that it feels like they game constantly licks P5's boot for some reason (it feels very one sided compared to the equal praise P3/4 did in it's era). I don't mind Hikari but I'm kinda......eh on the PQ2 story as a whole. Was excited to see Climax Theater again only for it to be....eh. The worlds felt eh compared to PQ1. It just felt like an all around downgrade in story compared to PQ1 (it def has better characterization, tho I want to attribute some of PQ1's flanderization to the translators, also to PQ1's benefit.....flanderizing was to help give all the cast members screen time, which PQ2 doesn't do well). I hate that FeMC and P3MC barely interact even tho that was a big freaking advertising point. TT0TT The cast is too bloated, I like to say PQ2 would be better without P5 (it would), but really we need to cut a team. If they wanna keep the FeMC/P3MC plot line then we gotta cut either P4 or P5 (if we gotta change some story/setting I'm fine with that too). Hell, I'm fine with a PQ2 game with just P4/5 and no P3. But the game is just too bloated atm. TT0TT Also Atlus screwed this one too, 1) by not having P3/4 ports available yet, but also 2) putting it on a dead console. orz they really had no fighting chances.

P5R it's.....unnecessary tbh. I like the 3rd semester, but Sumi/Maruki would've been better suited for a spinoff game. One were we could just focus on them and not have to slog through a game that barely anything changed. Also really? 3 years? And we need an updated release? AND IT'S NOT DLC??? Fuck, at least FES The Answer you had an option to get the updated version or buy the Answer itself at a lower price (basically the PS2 ver of DLC). And at least the portable ports of P1-4 were on a different console. P5R is doing this ON THE SAME DAMN CONSOLE. It's BS. Feels like a cash grab like P3/5D were. (I probs prefer vanilla more than Royal tbh, even tho I love Sumi and like Maruki).

P5S......I just....thought it was bad. Felt hollow, like not enough social stuff and too much focused only on gameplay (aka not enough balance, if you ignore the gameplay you're left with.....not a lot). There's issues with characterizations at time (not that P5 was consistent to begin with but still). Like P5 I'm fine with the premise of the story, I hate the execution. While playing I was like "Wow this game doesn't understand P5....I feel sorry for P5!" I was appalled at how they handled some of the villains. Gameplay is fine, just wish there was more to do outside the gameplay. Annoying P5R couldn't be more involved in this (timing is just all over the place with these games wtf atlus??? TT0TT), it lacking P5R isn't a break it for me I just find it to be VERY odd. Esp since they released it after P5R???? At organize it like you did with Arena and P4G, it'd be less strange. TT0TT

P5 anime fucked up Kamo's dungeon didn't want to touch it after that. I don't think I'm in the minority of people not liking the anime.

P5 manga, need to catch back up but I didn't mind the first two dungeons. Liked the new additions. I'm probs in the minority.

P5MM manga: it's ok. Love the artist. Story started off strong but ended up kinda meh at the end.

P5 Daybreakers OVA: I like it a lot. Wish we had more like it.

P5T: Nothing against it atm actually. TT0TT I'm liking the pink villain so far (so far she's being handled better than Alice! YAY!). I really like the new spinoff only chars of this game so far (I'm neutral/positive leaning on the other's but I don't LOVE them). Atlus' statements on the timeline of this game is confusing, and if it IS non-canon to the main timeline I find it very shitty of them to only say that AFTER people have bought the game. ;w; Other than that...uhhh DLC is my only other issue (which I haven't brought up a lot, barring P5S, and on the lower end of PQ1/2, DLC has been ASS with the P5 era games. Like P4D DLC was ass too ;w; And Arena/Ult/Q1 weren't great either, so it didn't start with P5, but it got worse with P5). It's not the WORST DLC practice they've done, but it's still not great. DX

P5X: Nothing to say here, we vibbing. Like what I see so far. Sad it's a gatcha but que sera sera I guess. Probs my fav overall P5 spinoff so far.

P3P/P4G ports: Eh audio this, AI background that. I'm just happy these mfers are finally ported. TT0TT Now do it again with P1/2!

Ultimax Port: Just happy it's ported tbh. Shame they couldn't add a new route (since this game's writing needed a bit more ironing out).

Now P3R.........I think people being upset about the lack of FeMC/Answer is completely valid and talked about for a good reason. Hear me out! A big reason me and a lot of other people have been clamoring for a P3 remake is because we wanted to FINALLY have a complete version of P3. Both Journeys and AT LEAST one Answer (two would be great, but the bar is in the GROUND right now, we're asking for the BARE MIN TT0TT). Then P3R is released and............nope we get another non complete version of P3. It's not just FeMC/Answer fans who are upset. It's the fact we can't have it all in one STILL. And it's not just "one complete game" It's about "One complete story" we lack being able to experience the full story of P3. ;w; *spoilers for key elements of the Answer below* (I just want all three journeys to be treated with respect, but Atlus cutting the FeMC and Aigis journeys....it just puts a bad taste in my mouth and causes issues in the fandom).

(hell the manga, movies, and stage plays NEVER made an Answer adaptation, and the manga/movies never pulled a P4tGA for FeMC either! If they were upset with how they first made The Answer they could always rewrite it at this point and keep the key elements which spoiler: Wild Card Aigis, Metis appears, Erebus fight, Liz leaves, and everyone grieving and then finding out the reason behind the Seal. Like I'm pissy as a FeMC fan first and foremost, but I'm very upset as a Metis fan about the lack of Metising I get to see TT0TT)

I also don't like the look, I hate the lighting and the new art style (I got into Persona cause of Soejima's art style tbh, so I'm vibbing more with ReFan and P5X) and (esp) models (I could overlook the art style if I didn't hate how the models look so much). They look plastic, the heads are overly round and it throws me off (like how Anne's head portrait go more circle in P5R compared to P5 vanilla/P5S), and their....facial features....it's probs cause I'm used to Soejima....but something abt them feels off like they're smooshed. I dunno. The environments outside Tartarus looks like shit with the shitty lighting. "Oh it's just the lighting" well it keeps taking me out of it along with everyone's plastic looking helmet hair.

I'm not the biggest fan of some of the UI. (did I ever finish that post? I don't think I did sigh I gotta dig it up if I didn't TT0TT).

I'm sad about certain gameplay changes (lack of tired system esp, but lack of splitting up and such as well). It was a big identity to P3 that I loved and it being gone now is.....sad ;w;

I'm happy about other gameplay changes (and aspects I've had on my wishlist have come true, such as expanding on P3MC's friendships w/male chars in these new eps or even expanding on Strega). But what I'm happy with so far is mostly the social gameplay additions/changes, not so much some of the combat/exploration changes.

I don't really care about the voice changes for the english version. I know other people are but I'm eh. I'm sad we're missing Yumi and have a new singer. I like the new singer, tho I'm eh on some of the covers (as long as we get the OG tracks to swap to I'm gucci, but I'm good regardless). Only issue with the new singer is they......hired ANOTHER new person??? I feel a bit bad for Mayumi (FeMC singer) and Shuhei (PTS, anime sequel to P3, and P3P op singer) who were already tied to P3 and were passed up on....ngl I would've loved more Shuhei. TT0TT Really drive the male vs female. Just....why did they pass up on them? Esp Shuhei? TT0TT

But I'd be able to overlook all these little things I hate about it......if they would JUST GIVE ME A COMPLETE VERSION OF P3. If they just gave me FeMC and Metis, I'd accept all the other stuff.

That being said, again I don't want to be gouged by DLC a fucking again. Which I fear is what WILL happen to FeMC/Answer...... but gd I'll choose the devil I like more and I'll take. I'll hate it but I'll freaking take it. But considering Atlus LOVES showing off day one DLC, and not a peep of FeMC/Answer anywhere....I'm feeling like we aren't going to get that even. orz.

And I know there's a tired counter "But that's extra work!" well consider this:

There's already a complete script (story wise, and planning wise)! P3R is working off an existing script, sure they've added stuff and tweaked other stuff, but it's not like they had to start from scratch. Same goes with FeMC/Answer, they have a baseline. They have assets they can work off of. (translators and new Eng VAs besides that)

Atlus already copied and pasted A LOT of the male events into the FeMC. Like the main story is nearly identical (maybe 20% has differences?) 14/22 SLs share the same people, with only 1 really being completely rewritten and the rest being nearly exactly the same outside a handful of dialogue. Music wise there's only 6 song differences and 1 additional new song. (tldr; they could totes be lazy and just copy and paste with slight differences I'll take it, small changes can still go a long way and it's something rather than nothing).

(related to point 2 but looping Answer in now) The dungeon and story beats are the same between male/female. So gameplay structure is the same. Answer's dungeon and areas is basically a copy and past assets (with some recolor) as well.

Atlus is a big boy studio, they aren't in financial straits like in the P4 era, they have big daddy Sega to help them. They can handle it. And it's been in development for a while, I'd rather they delay it and give me an actual full version like people voted for. (And yes, the votes included P3/FES/P when asked, not just P3 vanilla or male).

[minijenn]

Opinion on Twilight Princess.

Ok. So. (again).

Controversial take? Twilight Princess might just be one of my least favorite Zelda games. It's gameplay loop is very bland and samey, the locations you visit are generally unmemorable, its NPCs suck both design and personality-wise outside of Midna (who is the game's saving grace, she's fantastic). It's music is good but not as good as other Zelda games, it's atmosphere is weird and inconsistant, constantly flipping back and forth between wanting to be deadly serious and dark and still falling into the usual silliness Zelda games typically tend to have and it doesn't work like it does in a game like Majora's Mask, which does it much better. It's story is mid compared to other Zeldas, though I do find the Twili very interesting concept-wise, but of course, the plot gets hijacked by Ganon which is just kinda... lame. The wolf thing, surprisingly, I don't mind too much, but I hate the game's dungeons with a fiery passion, hate how fucking stiff everything feels, hate those fucking gross ass chicken things with the human faces, hate most of the boss fights, hate so many things about it that I have to say its probably my least favorite 3D zelda overall. A spot that used to belong to Majora's Mask but tbh I warmed up to it after recently playing it again. But playing Twilight Princess again? Made me adamantly dislike it and I'm so glad the series went in a different direction following it (and we got Skyward Sword as a result, which, as previously mentioned, I adore).

[hugheshugs]

dinner time | t. bordeleau

au masterlist

<- prev part, this is part three

remember to comment or send me an ask if you wanna be tagged in dbf fics <3

summary: you find out something that upsets you and leads you to avoid dinner but thomas comes to find you anyway.

contains/tw: briss being a bit mean, thom being a sweetheart, y/n being a sad sensitive little baby. kidding. kinda chaotic tbh, a little angsty too.

pairing: dbf!thom x brisson!reader.

word count: 1.3k

note: ik this ones short and not very entertaining but its a filler, like all stories have. gotta get the ball rolling, yk? and sorry it took me so long, sometimes my brain doesnt work the way i want it to but i hope you like this <3

you and thomas had got off to a bold start. neither of you could deny that fact and the regret was slowly starting to settle in. it was wrong—you shouldn't have wanted him to get so close and he shouldn't have let you get so close.

so, as the day went on, both of you kept your distance. luckily, it wasn't awkward but there was a mutual understanding that you both needed to stop anything from progressing, which would be easy to do now seeing as you'd just met.

you'd changed into a different dress, needing to hide the popsicle stain from your dad and because you felt like you'd flashed more of his friends than you would have liked.—you didn't want to flash any of them anyway—after luke walked in on you and thomas, a few of the other men came in too and in your defence, you hadn't realized your skirt was bunched up until thomas scrambled to stand in front of you to block their view.

they were staying over for dinner too, a couple of them staying the night because they'd been drinking. you were given the task to set up the table with hunter but he was too much of a kiss ass to actually help, deciding to hold the plates in his hand while talking to marty instead of putting them down.

you walked over with a little bit of stomp in your step, crossing your arms as you stood in front of them.

"can you please help me set up the table and stop talking to marty?" you asked him before grabbing his arm.

"it's matty, y/n," he corrected.

"oops," you blushed. "sorry, matty."

"all good. go help your sister, hunter. we'll talk later," matty smiled. you uttered a small thank you as hunter was forced to walk over to start helping you.

"i hate you," he grumbled, roughly setting the plates on the table.

"hunter!" you scolded. "you'll break them, be gentle."

"hunter, be gentle," he mimicked, causing you to roll your eyes. "don't tell me what to do."

"whatever," you grumbled, handing him the cutlery. "how long have you known these guys?"

the question had been on your mind since earlier today and you finally had a chance to bring it up. hunter was so at ease with all of them and they all seemed to know him so well. but you'd just met them now so he couldn't have met them that long ago.

"couple years. just met bordy a couple days ago though, dad hasn't seen him in forever," he replied without looking up.

your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at him and you felt your heart sink an inch.

"years?" you asked, a bit of sadness in your voice. how had he known them for so long? you hadn't even met them until today.

"they come to the arena occasionally to see dad. that's how i met 'em," he shrugged. "but bordy lived in switzerland for a while, just moved back a couple weeks ago."

you simply nodded your head at his words, pursing your lips as you felt an uneasy feeling in your gut. you stayed quiet until the task was done, heading inside before anyone could catch you. you were always the odd one out amongst the three of you but after that talk, all you felt was disappointment in yourself.

you never gave your dad a reason for him to want you to meet his friends, the people that mean the most to him. for some reason he just assumed you'd already met them, completely forgetting that he'd never taken you back to the ice since your mom left.

it was frustrating, infuriating, even—but it was directed towards yourself. you weren't good enough for him. he wasn't proud enough of you to care and that hurt like hell.

you stayed in your room for a bit, tears welling up in your eyes but you never gave them the power to fall. it was silly, really. you hated how upset you were by this because after all, you were meeting them now anyway. you could be downstairs with them, you could be trying to get to know them better but instead you decided to mope in your room.

it was so contrasting that you felt incredibly overwhelmed. your throat closed up with every passing second and even if you wanted to go talk to them, you couldn't because you didn't trust yourself not to mess anything up.

time passed by and soon enough, it was time for dinner. everyone made their way to the shaded area outside where the table had been set, brendan placing a couple side dishes down before taking his seat. they all sat down but thomas stood in front of the two empty seats, obviously realizing something—someone—was missing.

"where's y/n?" he asked brendan. "isn't she going to eat?"

brendan looked around the table before letting out a deep sigh. "let me call her."

he tapped his foot impatiently while brendan got his phone out, dialling your number only for it to go straight to voicemail. he called you again, texted a couple times as well but you didn't answer.

"whatever, she didn't answer," brendan informed them. "sit down, thom. maybe she isn't hungry."

"maybe she doesn't have her phone on her," thomas pushed. "why don't you go check on her?"

"it's not that big of a deal," brendan insisted, raising his eyebrows at the chair to instruct him. "sit your ass down."

"no," he nearly scoffed. "can i go find her, at least? since you wont."

"god, she's a pain in my ass. yeah, whatever, go find her," brendan shrugged with an irritated expression.

"hurry up, we're hungry," owen commented quickly before thomas walked away.

"you guys can start. i don't know how long it'll take," he told them, beginning to make his way inside the house.

the four walls were silent as he stepped in, other than the breeze of the AC. you weren't in the living room or the kitchen, leading him to search the entire first floor with no luck. if he was being honest, he couldn't believe brendan at the moment. of course he didn't mind checking on you but that was your dad's job. the way he didn't even care to bring you down really rubbed thomas the wrong way.

if anything, he felt for you, but he hoped this wasn't a regular thing. maybe brendan was just tired, so he'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

he slowly trudged up the stairs, listening for any sign of your presence. nothing.

starting from his left, he knocked on every door in sight, thinking he'd find you in at least one of them. he hadn't seen you after the fifth but you heard the continuous knocking from your room and walked over to open yours, only to be greeted by him as his fist was ready to knock once more.

"oh my god," you held a hand to your heart. "you scared me."

"seems like i do that a lot," he chuckled lightly. "i've been looking for you."

"oh," your stomach twisted. "is something wrong?"

"no, not at all," he mumbled, taking in the look on your face. you looked heartbroken. that was the only word he could use to describe it.

"they started dinner downstairs. your dad called you but you didn't answer so i came to find you."

your chest sunk. as if on instict, you slammed the door shut before he could see the tears falling from your eyes. he was so kind, and it made you feel so guilty. your heart warmed at his words but your mind began to think about how he was the one to call you down instead of your dad.

"i-i'm not hungry," you spoke against the door. your voice was quiet but it was just loud enough for him to hear. "thanks anyway, i think i'm going to—um, going to sleep now s-so goodnight."

he tried to hide his hurt, confused by your sudden reaction. he slowly nodded his head even though you couldn't see him. "yeah, okay. sounds good, i'll bring you that tide pen tomorrow. goodnight, y/n."

--

dbf!thom taglist<3 @hockey-lover86 @cuttergauth @cuttergauthierr @bbbbruins @makenzie3s @wxndxh @kenzie3165 @jayrami3 @hailcale @hockey-lover86 @bordelhoe

[sergeantsporks]

Got any work stories?

God, so many. Not all of them are bad. But a lot of them, WHOOF.

We had this one regular customer, like he came in every day, and ordered the same thing every day. We called him Egg Biscuit Guy bc that's what he always ordered. But it was super specific, an Egg Biscuit Well Done with a pack of jelly and 2 packs of pepper, with a fork and knife and lots of extra napkins. And EBG was VERY specific about how well done he wanted that biscuit. He wanted it BURNT. It had to be HARD AS A ROCK. We had to cook that biscuit for SIXTEEN MINUTES before it would be well done enough for him. And then he would complain about how long it took to cook it. It was either not well done enough or it was done right and it took too long. When the grill saw that biscuit on the screen they KNEW to burn it. And he was a GROUCH, and he HATED EVERYONE.

Except, for reasons unknown to everyone including myself, me. I was like the only worker he was ever not horrible to. Our best guess is that it was because I challenged him on his military discount bc he didn't ever have an ID, which I did because I was fed up with him being inconvenient so obviously I had to inconvenience him. And he was very polite to me afterwards. Still not sure if it was because he liked me better or because he didn't want me to challenge him again. Either way. He still comes in, but I never see him.

There was also the time I got tricked into taking a tip by a nice old man. Bc we're not allowed to take tips, and most people don't care and most of us will take tips as long as we're not near a camera, but at that particular day I was in direct view of the manager, so I was offered a tip of $20 and when I politely declined, he said "Oh, this isn't a tip :)" and my sleep deprived brain went "Did I just hand him his food without taking payment for it?" so I said okay and took the money and then he drove off really fast and I was just kinda. Huh. Okay then.

Once someone yelled a bunch of slurs at my coworker and said he'd be waiting outside when he left to go to his car, all because my coworker was the one who told him that our lobby was closed (during the high point of the pandemic). We were given instructions to never serve him again and to call the police if we saw him and everyone in the store was SO pissed about the whole thing. It was bad. This guy in particular was incredibly racist, but people were just Like That about the lobby being closed. At the point where we were open for take out but not dine in, I was our assigned "tell people to get out of the lobby" person because they'd refuse to leave and I was meaner and firmer than my manager. That was my favorite part of the job, tbh, I got to be mean to asshole customers and tell them no with no repercussions. Got cussed out a few times though.

"Is the guy on the headset okay? He sounded depressed" "Sir, he works here."

[theshy1sout]

What do you think will happen in season 4?

Hahaha, it depends on what are you asking for!

We have so many arcs going on here and my predictions are way different than my expectations, they are almost the opposite sides of the possible plot of s4.

So SPOILERS ALERT!

Wukong is going to lose the fight with LBD of course xD I'm more than sure about it. But also he won't die, I think season 4 it's too soon for that (if the writers plan to let Wukong die at all... it would be actually interesting to see some angst when Mk literally replaces Wukong as the new Monkey King). I guess he will hide somewhere to recover and I wish he would meet Macaque halfway. They really have things to talk about. I'd like to watch the whole ep with only them talking/fighting. the fact they both have different views on what happened between them, and we don't know either what happened or what they think about it, it's just thrilling and intriguing.

Also, I'm a big fan of a theory that Wukong has kinda complex bc he hurt Mei and disappointed his successor. He's kinda still in the "punishments&praises plus self-interest" level of morality (it's a child level if you dunno what I mean), I think that's why he always runs away from consequences. He just doesn't believe in forgiveness and redemption (maybe that's why he did what he did to Macaque). So Wukong getting a bit obsessed to earn Mei and Mk forgiveness without even trying to directly apologize to them? I'm in that angst, baby

Also Macaque is finally free and nothing forces him to do anything. I'm super curious about his arc. He was my very first love in lmk, I can't hate him for anything, I just understand and feel this character too badly

Mk and the crew... I didn't watch the English translation of the scene when they talk about what they're gonna do now xd So no idea, are they looking for Mei? I don't know xd although I'm still waiting for Sandy's true potential reveal and Mk going apeshit

RED SON. YEAH.

Look, I was so hyped and I overanalyzed EVERYTHING about Red Son in season 3, my BFF read essays about him day and night for two weeks, and I'm not gonna write everything down right here right now, but LISTEN, there is no other way to explain what he's doing in this season, he got pretty attached to Mei, or at least to protagonist, but listen, hear me out omg

~ Red Son was wandering around the world with her dragon plushie, looking for Mei to help her with Samadhi ~

TRY TO READ IT AS A FRIEND'S INTENTIONS WHEN THEY ARE LITERALLY STILL STRANGERS

And however obsessed I sound, the truth is, Mei's arc is really expanded right now, she went through a lot of trauma, she holds a lot of pain, she was betrayed and used, she's not a sunny smiley sweet girl sidekick with sick dragon powers anymore. She's not someone who's gonna tease or joke with the only person who can help her with the mess she's forced to live with.

And Red Son on the other hand had his quite long now story of redemption, he's completely into supporting protagonists, even against his parents, even despite the fact protagonists literally used him, punched him, stole and wrecked his car right after he saved them and let them eat, drink and sleep in his house. We still don't know why is he doing all of this, completely selflessly and quite desperately tbh.

So whatever relation between these two will be, it visibly can't be slick and simple like their teasing-competing relationship from Spider Queen ep. They both have complex arcs now, it's hard to write their training plot as a 'buddies bonding time' thing or sth like that. They both know how serious is the situation, so their bond after 4 will be really deep and strong

Or the writers will make fun of them or put a lot of drama, I'll be mad if they make fun of my poor traumatized Mei and my selfless gold-hearted Red hero

i WISH we'll see some dragonfruit, but there is no love plot in lmk so far, and I know other cartoons directed by Sarah Harper (for example Glitch Tech), and she's not really into "let them kiss'' stuff XD however, I love her for the absolutely brilliantly created man-woman best friends tropes. Mk & Mei relationship is so purely natural friendship arc! So whatever she's up to with Red Son and Mei, I trust her it's gonna be good

Thank you so much for giving me an excuse to scream about my favorite animation. I'm always ready to write an essay about anything about this brilliant cartoon