#chainsaw the raven is a big girl

[mossynebula]

I just thought a little reminder about the size of chainsaw is in order and very funny

This is a raven. This is chainsaw. No fucking wonder oeople would be afraid of ronan if hes carrying this about.

[saitama-vs]

Hello. THis is the big list of all the results, sorted alphabetically. Warning: LONG LIST UNDER CUT.

Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender 41.0%

Ahti the Janitor from Control 52.8%

Akinator from Akinator 47.8%

Amelia Bedelia 80.8%

Amy Wong from Futurama 31.4%

Arale Norimaki from Dr. Slump (and one episode of Dragon Ball Super) 78.3%

Assassinlan Pasalan from The Battle Cats 54.0%

Astarion Acunin from Baldur's Gate 3 8.5%

Bambi from Bambi 19.1%

Barney the Dinosaur from Barney and Friends 27.8%

Batman 11.4%

Beedle from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 52.5%

Bennett from Genshin Impact 18.3%

Bocchi from Bocchi the Rock 55.7%

Boyfriend from Friday Night Funkin' 22.2%

Brassmo the Chao from Saltydkdan 83.2%

Buggy the Clown from One Piece 37.9%

Bugs Bunny 86.2%

Bunga from The Lion Guard 25.0%

Burgerpants from Undertale 34.7%

Captain Biceps from Captain Biceps 22.9%

Cats from Real Life 76.4%

Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale 72.1%

Charlie Kelly from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia 24.1%

Chell from Portal 54.9%

Chompy from Bug Fables 87.2%

Clover from Homestuck 57.1%

Columbo from Columbo 79.3%

Connecticut Clark 71.9%

Dan from Dan VS. 38.6%

Death from Discworld 63.7%

Discord from My Little Pony 34.2%

Ditto from Pokemon 57.0%

Divecat build Purrloin from Competitive Pokemon 62.8%

Dougie Jones from Twin Peaks: the Return 43.5%

Ebony Dementia Darkness Raven Way from My Immortal 45.8%

Eduardo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends 40.3%

Fear from Inside Out 23.0%

FEAR rattata from Competitive Pokemon 57.5%

Figment the Dragon from EPCOT 47.0%

Flabébé from Pokémon 36.9%

Flan from Everhood 41.6%

Flora Reinhold from Professor Layton 72.2%

Fumihiko Takaba from Jujutsu Kaisen 62.9%

Gamzee Makara from Homestuck 41.5%

Genie from Aladdin (1992) 66.2%

Genie from Aladdin (2019) 14.3%

Gir from Invader Zim 61.5%

Gnome Ann from Xkcd 85.6%

Gorgeous Freeman from Gorgeous Freeman 56.8%

Gotrek Gurnisson from Warhammer Fantasy 63.1%

Hatsune Miku 73.8%

Holly Jolly from Sleepless Domain 72.6%

Homura Akemi from Madoka Magica 28.1%

Imposter from Among Us 50.5%

Ingo and Emmet from Pokemon 47.7%

Isca the Unbeaten from X-Men 3.1%

Jailbot from Superjail 46.2%

Jerry from Tom & Jerry 89.7%

Joltik from Pokémon 68.7%

Kabal from Mortal Kombat 23.2%

Kanade Yoisaki from Proseka 33.3%

Karl the Raccoon from Bungou Stray Dogs 84.9%

Kira from Death Note 16.9%

Kirby 86.8%

Kobeni from Chainsaw Man 53.4%

Kyubey from Madoka Magica 20.6%

Lamb from Cult of the Lamb 51.5%

Larry the Cucumber from Vegetales 48.2%

Leeroy Jenkins from World of Warcraft 37.2%

Link from The Legend of Zelda 22.0%

Luigi, While Doing Nothing 79.3%

Luo Binghe from Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System 43.4%

Macbeth 15.6%

Madoka Kaname from Madoka Magica 49.0%

Magda from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 67.0%

Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 52.6%

Maxwell from Scribblenauts 75.4%

Melissa Foddebrat from Beware the Villainess 40.5%

Metal Cat from The Battle Cats 51.6%

Mindy from Animaniacs 58.4%

Minimoose from Invader Zim 82.3%

Mio Naganohara from Nichijou 80.3%

Mister Invincible from Mister Invincible 76.3%

Mister Miracle from DC Comics 37.0%

Mob from Mob Psycho 100 41.2%

Monkey D. Luffy in Gear Fifth 25.6%

Monokuma from Danganronpa 16.1%

Mosquito from One Punch Man 76.1%

Mr. Bean from the Mr. Bean Show 51.1%

Nahida from Genshin Impact 15.4%

Neco-Arc from Tsukihime 70.9%

One of Every Pokemon 44.5%

Orko from He Man/Masters of the Universe 53.4%

Peegue from Return to Wonderland/Wonderland Secret Worlds/the Wonderland Adventures trilogy 59.1%

Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney 57.4%

Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians 10.1%

Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb 66.4%

Pikmin from Pikmin 77.4%

Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony 90.4%

Plank from Ed, Edd, N' Eddy 74.7%

Plankton from Spongebob 29.1%

Pop Fizz from Skylanders 41.6%

Princess Tutu from Princess Tutu 63.4%

Prismo from Adventure Time 61.2%

Q from Star Trek 33.3%

Raku-Chan from Nyan Neko Sugar Girls 42.1%

Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100 41.5%

Remy from Ratatouille 54.2%

Rick Shades from Epithet Erased: Prison of Plastic 16.6%

Rio Mason Busujima from Hypnosis Mic 29.6%

Roadrunner from Looney Tunes 93.8%

Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit 66.1%

Ryan, the 'I Like Trains' kid from ASDFMovie 68.1%

Saiki Kusuo from The Disasterous Life of Saiki K 65.7%

Saint from Rain World 56.4%

@saitama-vs 30.3%

Sans from Undertale 51.3%

Santa Claus 64.2%

Saxton Hale from TF2 43.5%

SCP-682, The Hard-to-Destroy Reptile 24.2%

Shedinja from Pokemon 72.5%

Sissel from Ghost Trick 68.3%

Six Balls from Scum Villains Self Saving System 70.1%

Socioeconomic Inequality from Real Life 72.3%

Spider Ham 53.0%

Spies from Spy vs Spy 45.3%

Squirrel Girl from Marvel Comics 83.5%

Stanley from The Stanley Parable 49.0%

Starchild Dave Bowman from 2001 34.7%

Steve from Big Top Burger 81.7%

Stuart Little from Stuart Little 23.7%

Swarm of Bees from Real Life 83.5%

Tenma Tsukasa from Project SEKAI 39.9%

The Animaniacs 86.9%

The Cabbage Merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender 33.6%

The Djinn from Twisted: the Untold Story of a Royal Vizier 86.5%

The Great Gazoo from The Flintstones 55.7%

The Goose from Untitled Goose Game 94.3%

The Gopher from Caddyshack 79.4%

The Groke from Moomins 73.5%

The Midnight Crew from Homestuck 23.9%

The Monty Python Rabbit 64.8%

The Penguins from Madagascar The results of this one are complicated

The Pink Panther from The Original Pink Panther Cartoons 87.5%

The Swan from Hot Fuzz 90.7%

The TF2 Mercs The results of this one's complicated

The Tick from The Tick (1994) 34.7%

Tom Bombadil from Lord of The Rings 80.5%

V1 from ULTRAKILL 65.9%

Vriska from Homestuck 36.2%

Xi Ping/Xi Shiyong/Tai Sui from Tai Sui 34.2%

Yonah from Nier Replicant 28.6%

You 22.6%

Youngster Joey's Top Percentage Rattata 37.9%

[diamondsandlemons]

Tulip's best of 2023

by which I mean, my Top 5s of stuff that I experienced for the first time during 2023. sorry this is just a list and I don't really expand on my thoughts abt any of these, just narrowing down my choices took me all day to do. on the plus side though I do enjoy making graphics:

MOVIES 2023 originals:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - The First Kiss That Never Ends

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Suzume

Nimona

belateds:

Knives Out (2019)

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Glass Onion (2022)

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

TELEVISION 2023 originals:

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Scavengers Reign

The Owl House

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

HONORABLE MENTION: ★☆SPARKLE ON RAVEN: The Life of DrillGirl☆★

belateds:

The Tatami Galaxy (2010)

Lycoris Recoil (2022)

Yuru Camp (2018)

Seinfeld (1989)

Gunsmith Cats (1995)

BOOKS 2023 originals:

Jo Firestone - Murder on Sex Island

(…that’s the only new book I read this year. kinda surprised I even got one to be honest. Helps that it was a free audio book. I like Jo Firestone’s voice)

belateds:

(yeah I won’t bother ranking within a series. anyway here’s all the books I read this year)

Tamsyn Muir - The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth (2019) and Harrow the Ninth (2020))

Jennette McCurdy - I'm Glad My Mom Died (2022)

Nagaru Tanigawa - Haruhi Suzumiya (most of the books in the series, from Boredom (2003) to Intuition (2020))

COMICS 2023 originals:

Ryoko Kui - Dungeon Meshi

Tamifull - How Do We Relationship?

Winona Powers - Girls With Horns

Cam Marshall - Ethernet Cable Girlfriend

Sumito Oowara - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

belateds:

Cam Marshall - Matchmaker (2021)

Masaoki Shindo - Ruri Dragon (2022)

Hitoshi Ashinano - Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (1994) Deluxe Edition (2022)

Tatsuki Fujimoto - Chainsaw Man (2019)

Aki Hamazi - Bocchi the Rock! (2019)

(dates refer to when a series started, but volumes depicted are the ones I’ve read most recently. sorry if thats confusing)

VIDEO GAMES 2023 originals:

Pikmin 4

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Hellscaper

(that’s all, sorry gamers)

belateds:

Pikmin 2 (2004)

Super Lesbian Animal RPG (2022)

Pikmin (2001)

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (2011)

Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016)

ALBUMS 2023 originals:

smiling broadly - smiling broadly

Rebecca Sugar - Spiral Bound

Louie Zong - Hurricane Louie

beatrix quinn - Susan Taxpayer Demo OST

Claudi Martinez - Monster Roadtrip OST

(can you tell I don’t go out of my way to find new music? lol)

belateds:

Yoeko Kurahashi - Tokyo Piano (2004)

The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field (2022)

A crow is white - Himitsu (2015)

Yorushika - The Summer Grass is Getting in My Way (2017)

The Orion Experience - Cosmicandy (2006)

[hyacinthdoll1315]

this doll is unsure how much to mention the thoughts of others in this doll system due to this doll only existing for one year, but will share some details.

3 ships / First ever ship: The Bells hold more knowledge about this topic so will use their ships primarily.

Flutterdash: The Bells used to be big MLP fans.

Lilliana/Sorin: also former Magic: The Gathering fans, a vampire and necromancer, fitting.

Dolls and Witches.

Last song: our brain is a radio of different music and sounds. Marenol by LeaF. A song about the theme of herbicide, the contents of the music video are dark, as a girl dies many different gruesome deaths.

Last movie: if short films count Sonnies Edge. otherwise, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse. this will soon be FnaF

Currently reading: The Bells enjoy reading a lot, in particular, Bioshifter by Thundamoo, a story of a girl turning into a monster and when her human body is asleep, she becomes a monster in another world.

This doll, however, Has finished reading A Probability Experiment Turned Me Into A Clockwork Girl... 3 students try to test a probability exciter in a world where metaphysics was researched in the 70's. the students are affected and become different demi-humans.

Currently watching: YouTube clips of different series. more recently properly watched Land of the Lustrous, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Madoka Magica, and Chainsaw Man.

Currently consuming: Red Berries Orchard Thieves Cider. This doll will leave the house shortly to acquire cooking materials and high-energy intake beverages.

from a media perspective: this doll is currently consuming Punishing Gray Ravens and Cyberpunk 2.0. it will soon add armoured core 6 to it's combat roster.

Currently craving: black-tea with almond milk. it also craves Belonging and Combat

unfortunately this doll was tagged by someone this doll would have tagged, but otherwise this doll intends to meet the criteria to exact.

@passivitycure @roadkilledangel @lexical-lushes @emptystreets-es @benthic-angelic @silverchangeling @frostfangalphabitch @verity-hollow @dollish-shard

Tag 9 people to get to know better

from @the-world-annealing

3 ships / First ever ship: it's extremely tumblr that this is the first question.

the weird Alucard/Seras/Integra polycule in Hellsing left a permanent impact on me, i think. the loyalty of a weapon, a hound, to its handler.

reimu/yukari as depicted in "Teeth and Claws"

augmented human c4-621/catching a fucking break for once in its life

Last song: Rusted Pride from the AC6 soundtrack. i was talking with @yashkonu about certain AC6 things last night and i just had to listen to it.

Last movie: uhh, probably Across the Spider-Verse? i'm not much of a movie person.

Currently reading: i haven't been reading as much as i'd "like" to, but I really need to finish the Machineries of Empire trilogy by reading Revenant Gun.

Currently watching: re-watching Yuri is My Job! with a friend, and watching 16bit Sensation: Another Layer, the Arknights anime, and

Currently consuming: just had some grape juice :)

Currently craving: really sour really caffeinated energy drinks. shouldn't have one though because if i have both energy drinks and my adhd medication i have an extremely bad time

normally i don't tag forward but i'm trying to be a little more social. no pressure if you don't wanna ofc.

let's say... @yashkonu @such-sweet-entropy @kaiasky @phaeton-flier @twilight-sparkle-irl @abalidoth @oathboundfamiliar @self-loving-vampire @thimbledoll

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2022 Anime Overview: Five Anime!

I’ve done a lengthier review of Mobile Suit Gundam:The Witch from Mercury you can read here and now it’s time to tackle the five other anime I watched last season!

There’s some anime I chose to save for later, like Bocchi the Rock! (which I’m watching now and enjoying) and Raven of the Inner Palace, though I’ve heard great things about it and it’s a rare shoujosei adaptation so definitely go check it out! I might do a review of that when I do get to watch it, since it’s been overlooked this season with so many heavy hitters.

But onto what I did watch!

Akiba Maid War

This jaw-dropping genre pastiche takes the tropes of yakuza cinema and applies them to early 2000′s maid cafes in Akihabara locked in bloody war. Young Nagomi dreams of working in a maid cafe, only to find when she goes to work for the Oinky-Doink cafe (yes, they’re pig themed) that the cafe is heavily in debt and rival maid cafes are gunning to take it down. She’s protected by the deadly 35 year-old maid Ranko, who has a dark past.

Akiba Maid War is wild from start to finish. It starts up with shootout where Ranko kills a ton of maids perfectly timed to a cutesy maid cafe music performance and doesn’t let up from there. There’s a side-splitting bloody baseball episode, a deadly boxing match, and more. The comedy is endlessly entertaining- the way the maids continue to use their stupid animal puns even as they engage in yakuza style violence kills me- but it also has quite a few dark twists in line with its inspiration. This a show that could have easily come off as making fun of conventional femininity or indulged in tons of fanservice, but it doesn’t do either of those things. It’s just women in ridiculous outfits fighting each other and getting into ridiculous situations. It’s just utterly committed to its bit in a way that’s admirable.

I wouldn’t saw this a show with many big themes- though there’s the expected “can we stop the cycle of violence” one that comes up later. But there are some smaller things it’s very consistent about, and one of them is the message that if you want to be a cute, you are, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Ranko is 35 (later 36) and is also utterly terrifying with a deep voice, but she repeatedly states that age has nothing to do with being cute or a maid, and when rival maids shit-talk her for being older than them they’re always framed as villains and shut down. The series coda especially hammers in it’s message of ‘women in their 30s are cute and can be whatever they want’. This shouldn’t be notable, but anime is well known for acting like any woman over 22 is a hideous old...maid, so it’s actually pretty refreshing. Ranko is fantastic.

If you can stomach exaggerated violence (I would call it an anime that revels in gore and the violence is cartoonish half the time, but lots of folks get shot), I definitely recommend this one. It’s a fun (and occasionally heartbreaking) ride. Definitely in my top 5 for the year.

Chainsaw Man

After being exploited by the yakuza ,the teenaged Denji gains the ability to turn into a ‘chainsaw devil” and is recruited by a shady government organization. He’s told that if he doesn’t work for them to kill other devils, he’ll be killed himself. Denji’s perfectly happy with this, because after a hard life he’s only interested in a warm bed, three meals a day, and his dream of touching a boob. Teamed up with a blood-crazed demon girl and babysat by a tired veteran demon hunter, Denji doesn’t realize the ominous machinations closing in on him...

I enjoyed this anime, and it inspired me to read the manga, which I enjoyed even more. It’s a fun time full of monsters and weirdos and there are themes of being exploited by your workplace and all that good stuff. But I’m not going to count it among my favorites, because honestly, the early Chainsaw Man material isn’t the strongest. Though a good deal of it is needed to build up what the manga does later, a lot of it feels meandering.

Denji is also a bit repetitively horny in the early chapter/episodes (though he at least hops the bar-in-hell most horny anime boys don’t manage to slither over and doesn’t violate consent). Unlike most horny anime guys, his immature attitude is a little understandable as he grew up isolated from other people with little education, this is all new to him. He does develop as a character (shocking twist, I know) as he slowly gains more of an understanding of how to approach the idea of sex in a way that works for him. But it takes 5 episodes to get him on that track. I don’t blame the anime for this like most. They definitely added a few sequences to stretch things out, but it does adapt roughly three chapters per episode, which isn’t a bad pace (and is pretty much needed to fit the first arcs into a 12 episode space). And if they cut anything out, fans would be throwing an even bigger fit than they already are. (It’s very funny to see the same fans that complain about the slow pacing turn around and complain about a small sequence cut out of the second episode. WHICH IS IT GUYS, THEY CAN’T DO BOTH).

I think Chainsaw Man fans need to acknowledge the early material just isn’t as as good as the later stuff, and being able to binge-read it in manga form just helps. The anime can’t do much about that, and it’s clearly a cinematic all-star production, with lovingly animated new ending credits and songs for each individual episode, so I don’t have a lot of sympathy for complaining fans when I had to endure Sailor Moon Crystal and a million yuri adaptations kneecapped by production woes. It’s a good anime doing what it can with the material it has, y’all try having real anime problems for once.

Rant aside, Chainsaw Man has a lot of good action, and importantly to me, a fun range of fucked up women. It’s also the rare anime that plays into the horror of an adult woman grooming a teenage boy. The anime does a good job of throwing up the red flags for Makima, yet she’s so good at what she does you almost fall for her alongside Denji. There’s also the loveable, feral demon-girl Power, who hits a lot of my adoration buttons. I do love that for once, the guy and girl teen leads of a shonen manga are truly just buddies, she and Denji have a fun vitriolic friendship. Because of the themes of the story,  there’s an unlikely confluence most of the women Denji meets manipulating him by offering sexual favors, which is unfortunate if you read into it. But I honestly just think the author just likes terrible women, which hey, same. Overall, the anime got me to read the manga, and now that I’ve devoured it all, I’ll be happy to consume next season at whatever pace it goes. I just hope those unfortunate animators at Mappa get some rest.

Do it Yourself!

Teenager Yua Serufu (yes that’s a pun and it is bought up) is separated by the best friend who gets into a fancy tech school. Yua is endlessly clumsy, but when she runs into a cool girl, she becomes interested in joining the Do It Yourself! club and do some carpentry and crafting. The club quickly grows, but can Yua lure her estranged bff into the fold?

This is just a cute show with cute animation about girls working with power tools. It’s relaxing and sweet and there’s not much else to say about it. It’s set five minutes into the future, but it did handle it’s themes of tech vs analogue well, with the ultimate message being “now that we have all this cool tech, we should focus on doing what we want, like working with our hands”, which is nice in these troubled times. The characters are very archetypal- Yua’s friend is a sympathetic tsundere, there’s a girl who says ‘nya’ a lot, etc. It’s a little noticeable that the American exchange student is way more fleshed out than the South-Asian one (we don’t even get her country of origin stated in the show) and there’s a weird moment with the little robot watching the girls bathing. Other than that, not much to warn for. It’s a sweet show, but it likely won’t set your world on fire.

Spy x Family Season 2

More Spy x Family, and it continues to be a lot of fun! I enjoyed season 1 a  lot, but unfortunately this season covers some of the weaker material in the manga, where the story seemed to be spinning its wheels with a lot of one shots. Because of how the seasons are separated, it’s also incredibly noticeable how underutilized Yor (assassin mom) is in this one and how little we know about her job. Honestly, I don’t think that’s entirely down to sexism or anything, I wonder if the writer was just struggling with how to make readers root for Yor hunting down and killing a man- it’s a pretty big ask for that to be the main focus of an arc in a family-friendly comedy. But fortunately, he does eventually figure it out, and there’s a good Yor arc full of strong material coming up right where this season cuts off, so look forward to that.

For some reason, they also cut out one of my favorite sidestory chapters with Yor. Considering that they adapted all the other sidestories and even added material this season, I wonder if they’re just saving it for the next one? They better be. Anyway, Anya’s still great, there’s a cute dog, it’s still a fun anime, but not as strong as the first season. Fortunately, there’s good stuff coming up.

Mob Psycho 100 Season 3

It’s the final season of Mob Psycho! This is a quieter season than Season 2, but the show’s themes of identity and accepting oneself remain strong. Episode 6 made me emotional about a character I’d never had any emotions about before, there’s a cute little mini-arc focusing on everyone’s favorite weird alien-obsessed girl and the finale is a perfect cap on both Mob and Reigen’s development. It’s a beautiful culmination of all the growth we’ve seen in the  relationship that’s the heart of the show. I appreciated that, as small as they were, we got some glimpses of the real, grounded girl that exists behind Mob’s idolization of his crush Tsubomi. It was a nice touch that she lost her sparkly anime eyes and she got plainer ones like the other characters as it was impressed on us she doesn’t exist on a pedestal. It’s just all around solid material. I’ll miss this show a lot.

[vixvaporub]

January 23rd to January 29th Read and Watched List:

Currently Reading:

Berserk - chapters 251 to 262

Fruits basket - chapters 101 to 107

Chainsaw man - chapter 52 to 55

Pandora hearts - chapters 41 to 45

The Demon Prince of the Momochi House - Chapters 40 to 61

Blue flag - chapters 28 to 32

Updates:

The summer hikaru died - chapter 14

Yona of the dawn - chapter 237

Bitten contract - chapters 60 and 61

Blood on the tracks - chapter 137 

The tainted half - chapter 33

Skip and loafer - chapter 49

Shadows house - chapter 154

Call of the night- chapters 155 to 157

Completed/Caught Up:

Mine-kun is asexual (oneshot) about a girl who gets into a relationship with someone who is asexual 

Noragami: stray stories - chapters 1 to 7 (caught up?) 

Life 2 - chapters 11 to 27 (completed) I thought this was ok 

Rainbow field holograph - chapters 1 to 12 (completed) another one of Inio Asano’s works that I wasn’t a big fan of, just wasn’t for me (tw: rape)

Prison Princess (oneshot) I thought this was a fun and cute short by the same author of hell's paradise

Anime:

Vinland saga season two - episode 3

To your eternity, season 2 - episode 4 and 5 

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of Macabre - episodes 1 to 3

Raven of the Inner Palace - episodes 12 and 13 (completed) I really enjoyed this series, it was a good historical romance with a paranormal plot to it

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Periodt!

I mean, if it was me choosing the four characters it would all be female ones, but when I think of Tekken I think of Paul, Yoshimitsu, Law and Nina. The Mishimas popularity cannibalizes against each other because some prefer Jin or Kazuya or Heihachi, but when it comes to the definitive "faces" of the series, it's these four for me.

If there's any other girl that comes close to Nina's relevance and brand recognition it's probably Xiaoyu, but Nina is the Queen. Other girls may be trendier as the series progresses but Nina is consistent.

Also, if there's any female characters being forced down our throats it's Asuka and Lili, being positioned as the main female rivalry instead of Nina and Anna ever since Tekken 6, despite the rivalry being one-sided and Asuka's own personal story arc being consistently derailed for the sake of the teen girl fight, and then Alisa, who offers nothing other than being a cute girl with chainsaws, but its been years since her Tekken 6 debut and that shtick has lost its novelty. They have literally not tried to do anything considerable or worthwhile with any other female characters since Tekken 5.

Michelle was replaced by Julia, who was initially a serious scientist that was forced into being a cute streamer all of a sudden

Anna is not allowed to exist as a character outside her rivalry with Nina

Kunimitsu, one of the series mature and serious women, was replaced by a younger, bubblier, cutesier daughter

Jun was not only replaced by a teenager and now made to look like a teenager herself

Christie was missing from Tekken 7 because they picked Eddy over her, but the motherfucking bears are both okay to co-exist, and I'm sensing this will eventually happen again in Tekken 8

Zafina... Okay I'll admit Zafina's current predicament has some potential, provided they don't screw her up too

Katarina had, unfortunately, no personality and her character design was screaming "We have Christie Monteiro at home"

Lucky Chloe was ICONIC but the dudebros got mad at her mere existence so I don't think we're seeing her again for a while

Josie was, unfortunately, just Josie

Kazumi's big reveal was ultimately just a flashback

Master Raven seems to have suffered a Forest Law, although admittedly she was just a more boring version of Raven

Lidia has some potential as well but with Heihachi dead her character arc is kind of over?

Azucena and Reina seem to be a step in the right direction but they too are unfortunately victims of Namco's "every female in the game must have the same teenage, emotionless doll face " rule that's plaguing Tekken 8.

I love Tekken and I will continue to love it, but I think it's worthwhile pointing out stuff like that

Nina the only playable female in the demo because they know we know who the real Queen is

[pilot-boi]

Ja--e. Pl---e he-- -s. Yo- ---d t- k--- be---e --nd --t P---ha's bo-- -s re--im--e-. --lem --ek- to --e h-- -od- -s a t--- to ---trol -ou! Sh- i- -one Ja--e. Re--mbe- t-at!

A staticky voice fills Jaune’s ears and he jumps up with a yell. “Stop, stop, stop-” He claps his hands over his ears, his fingers crushing the feathers there.

“Jaune!” Yang yells, clambering up with the others.

The voice is screamingly loud, and scratchy as a shattered record. It sounds panicked, desperately trying to tell him something, to push through some kind of barrier. “Stop! Stop, please!” Jaune yells, vainly pushing his hands harder over his ears. “Please, I don’t understand, I don’t understand-!”

Blake gets to him first, reaching her hands up to comfort him. Her eyes are narrowed with concern, and her lips are mouthing words, but he can’t hear them over the thunderstorm of static in his ears. It’s like nails on a chalkboard, but a million times worse.

A chainsaw on a chalkboard. And the chalkboard is his ear drums.

“It hurts, please!” Jaune is sobbing. He thought that he’d run out of tears. “Please stop!” Tai is in front of him now, scaled hands on his cheeks, eyes bright with worry. Ruby put her hands on his cheeks when she was comforting him earlier. Like father like daughter.

And the screeching static stops. Maybe the message was done, or maybe they’d just gotten bored with torturing him.

He can’t hear Tai’s comforting words, or Blake’s worried purring over the ringing in his ears. For a second Jaune isn’t a hundred percent sure it has stopped, the ringing is so loud.

But slowly it fades.

“What was that??” is the first question out of Blake’s mouth.

Jaune is shaking. His hands are glowing with Healing when he lowers them from his ears, and he realizes there’s blood on them. “I don’t know,” he rasps. “But… I think it’s a warning.”

“What kind of warning involves you having to scream your head off??” Weiss asks, her ears pressed flat against her head. “You’re already in the hospital, haven’t you gotten hurt enough?!”

Jaune shrugs. Getting hurt is what he’s for.

“A warning…” Blake murmurs thoughtfully, but she doesn’t elaborate.

A nurse knocks on the door, and everyone turns around. “Sir?” They look throughly rumpled. “A woman who says she’s your wife is at the front desk.” They glance nervously over their shoulder. “I don’t want to have to call security, but the girl she has with her-”

“Oh shit, Raven,” Tai swears. He turns from the door and wipes a tear off Jaune’s face, face wearing a worried frown. “You gonna be okay? It’s just I’ve-”

“We’ve got him, dad,” Yang says, stepping up to Jaune’s side. “Go make sure mom doesn’t attack anyone.” Tai nods and leaves the room.

“I’d be more worried about Cinder,” Jaune comments. He rubs a hand over his chest, fingers catching on the bandages. He’s mostly healed it, but the wound is still tender. “She’s… she’s dangerous…”

“Believe me, I am,” Yang replies shortly. “Now sit down before you fall down,” she advises, pulling Jaune to the ground. “What kind of big sis would I be if I let you make your injuries worse?”

“Sister?”

“Shut up, Rubes.”

Jaune watches their antics, feeling safe but slightly detached from the situation. Cinder is here, she’s in the building. Is she going to try and take him back?

Would he argue? He plans to turn himself in anyway. Anything to buy his friends more time.

The warning keeps playing in his head, in all its scratchy and screaming glory. What does it mean? Was it to keep him safe or to keep his friends safe?

And why now?

[ridley-was-a-cat]

This is the half-way point of the season, so here are my half-formed opinions on some of the stuff I'm watching.

I wasn't really feeling Chainsaw Man in the beginning, but ever since Power showed up, it's been much more enjoyable. She plays well with Denji's character, making him more likable, and is a lot of fun in her own right.

Of the four (4!) shoujosei anime this season, Bibliophile Princess is kinda meh, while I'm the Villainess, Raven of the Inner Palace, and Play It Cool, Guys have all been super good. Let's hope this leads to even more shoujosei adaptations in the future.

I feel like I would enjoy The Eminence in Shadow a lot more if it were not a comedy. It's basically a straight-up power fantasy isekai with your standard harem of big titty girls, but it keeps acting like it's too good for the tropes it's using. Like, stop lying. You are what you are.

I came to it late, but oh my God, is Bocchi the Rock fantastic. So damn stylish.

Usually at this point in the season, I'm behind a few episodes for two or three shows. The surprising thing this season is that the shows I'm behind on aren't the mediocre isekai I usually get bored with. I'm behind on Bleach, My Hero Academia, and One Piece, which are all well-produced shows I enjoy. For whatever reason I just haven't felt like watching.

Idolish7 is giving me an ulcer, but in a good way. Tragically underwatched.

Like Birdie Wing a few seasons ago, I had no plans to pick up Akiba Maid War because it looked like the kind of SOL anime I haven't been in the mood for lately, but whoops it's actually about mobsters and kind of awesome. I'm not sure what the lesson is here.

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’m Interested in: Fall 2022

1. Chainsaw Man: Airing October 12th.

Synopsis: Denji has a simple dream—to live a happy and peaceful life, spending time with a girl he likes. This is a far cry from reality, however, as Denji is forced by the yakuza into killing devils in order to pay off his crushing debts. Using his pet devil Pochita as a weapon, he is ready to do anything for a bit of cash. Unfortunately, he has outlived his usefulness and is murdered by a devil in contract with the yakuza. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Pochita merges with Denji's dead body and grants him the powers of a chainsaw devil. Now able to transform parts of his body into chainsaws, a revived Denji uses his new abilities to quickly and brutally dispatch his enemies. Catching the eye of the official devil hunters who arrive at the scene, he is offered work at the Public Safety Bureau as one of them. Now with the means to face even the toughest of enemies, Denji will stop at nothing to achieve his simple teenage dreams. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

2. Spy x Family Part 2: Airing October 1st.

Synopsis: The second part of Spy x Family.

3. Mob Psycho 100 III: Airing October 6th.

Synopsis: Third season of Mob Psycho 100.

4. Boku no Hero Academia 6th Season: Airing October 1st.

Synopsis: Sixth season of Boku no Hero Academia.

5. Koukyuu no Karasu: Airing October 1st.

Synopsis: Deep within the inner palace lives a special consort who does not serve the emperor despite her position, known as the Raven Consort. People who have seen her say she looks like an old woman, while others say she looks like a young girl. Stories talk of her use of mysterious arts and how she can take on any request, be it death curses to finding lost things. Koushun, the current emperor, goes to visit the Raven Consort with that intention, without knowing that their fated meeting will become a taboo that will overturn history. (Source: Shikarito, edited)

6. Mushikaburi-hime: Airing October 6th.

Synopsis: For as long as she could read, Eliana Bernstein—more commonly known as the "Bibliophile Princess"—has preferred the company of books to that of people. However, as a noble, it is her duty to find a suitor. Fortunately for her, Crown Prince Christopher Selkirk Asherald proposes a deal: He will protect her free time, and, in exchange, Eliana will be his fiancée in name only. The years they spend together are bliss, as Eliana learns to open herself to others. But all good things must come to an end. For Eliana, who loves books more than people, ending their fake relationship should be no big deal. But as Christopher grows close with another girl, Eliana begins to realize that she isn't as indifferent to him as she once thought. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

7. Uchi no Shishou wa Shippo ga Nai: Airing September 30th.

Synopsis: Mameda is a shapeshifting Tanuki girl who dreams of becoming human someday. One day, she turns into a black-haired beauty and heads out to Osaka, but is soon discovered! One beautiful woman relentlessly says to the depressed Mameda, "Go back to where you came from!" calls herself Rakugo-ka (Rakugo storyteller). The Taisho Rakugo fantasy that will make you smile begins here! (Source: MAL News)

[darkdoelette]

Coquette in Autumn

Hello everyone! I know that Summer has ended, and that means many people who enjoy the coquette aesthetic are sad because the season of crop tops and shorts, boardwalks, ice cream, swimming, and much much more is gone. Most of the fashion requires warm weather. Fear not, if you’re like me and live in a place where fall exists I have made a list of helping keep up the asethetic and lifestyle.

Clothing:

Sweaters

Sweater dresses

Thigh high socks

Thigh high knee boots

Gloves. Especially ones with skeleton hands or little bows on them.

Hoodies. Especially ones with animal ears/bat wings.

Tights and pantyhose.

Capes

Light jackets

Beret hat

Fuzzy socks

Plaid skirts

Mary Jane shoes

Ankle socks (especially with lace)

Mini backpacks

Cat bell chokers

Ribbon chokers

All kinds of chokers

Combat boots

Flannels

Label pins (especially on a jean jacket)

Black latex

Skull necklaces

Skull rings

Cosmetics:

Moisturizer

Body butter

Body sprays (especially those like candy corn, warm sugar, fall leaves)

Hand sanitizer. Especially ones that are Halloween themed.

Dark lip colors.

Red lip colors.

Natural lip colors.

Orange, red, purple, brown, and nude eye shadow colors.

Spiderweb false eyelashes.

Bath bombs. Especially with all the horror themed ones.

Shower steamers

Late night face masks

Black eyeliner.

Brown and black mascara.

Hair chalk.

Fawn makeup

Cat makeup

Black nails

Freckles

Lip scrub

Lip balm

Perfume

Hairstyles:

Natural

Pigtails

Pigtail braids

Any kinds of braids

Pony tails

Food/beverages:

Apple

Candy/caramel apples

Pumpkin spice

Cinnamon

Apple cider

Tea

Lollipops

Hot coco with whipped cream, marshmallows, and cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Halloween candy

Chocolate

Bread

Cherry pie

Apple pie

Pears

Acorn squash

Ginger

Cookies

Black charcoal anything

Activities:

Put together some cute back to school outfits. If you wear uniforms, but can have SOME level of individuality (such as makeup of accessories) find those.

Jump into fall leaves

Go trick or treating! If you feel you’re too old to do it for yourself do it for charity! There are plenty of kids who can’t get candy themselves, or who need money!

Go to a haunted house. Volunteer for a haunted house if you feel it suits you. Being petite can actually be an advantage. Creepy dolls, creepy children, being able to hide in small spaces can all be freaky!

Watch scary movies while sitting on the couch/bed while eating autumn food and wearing fuzzy socks and under a blanket. If you’re too scared by scary movies, watch Halloween specials.

Make/buy a cute/scary Halloween costume! Just make sure not to appropriate any cultures! There’s nothing cute about dressing up like someone else’s race.

Find things to be thankful for.

Volunteer at a local animal shelter. Nothing says Halloween like cats.

Go shopping at Halloween stores.

Decorate your house/apartment/room for Halloween.

Educate yourself on witchcraft and pay respects to those who made Halloween possible.

Pass out candy to trick or treaters (and if you want to, the single cuties chaperoning them).

Cover yourself in fake blood and take photos for Instagram. Just be careful! It stains clothing VERY easily.

Go on a walk through the walls.

Apple picking.

Pumpkin picking.

Carving a jack o lantern.

Reading. Especially with a cup of tea.

Try your hand at archery

Other Objects:

Candles

Mugs

Small pillows

Leaves

Pine cones

Blankets

Feathers

Chalk

Black roses

Animals:

Fawns

Deer

Cats (especially black ones)

Three headed dogs

Squirrels

Fox

Crows

Ravens

Hedgehogs

Movies/Tvshows/ tv specials:

Hard Candy (2005)

The babysitter (1995)

The crush (1993)

Sleep away camp (1983)

Scooby Doo (2002)

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Orphan (2009)

Lollipop Monster (2011)

Mumsy, Sunny, Nanny, and Girly (1970)

Tales of the Crypt-(1989-1996)

The Addams Family Values (1993)

Poison Ivy (1992)

Heathers (1988)

Devil in The Flesh (1998)

The Horror Beach Party (1964)

The Love Witch (2016)

Supernatural (2006-2019)

American Horror Story (2011-)

Scream Queens(2015-2016)

68 Kill (2017)

Black Swan (2009)

Trick R’ Treat (2007)

Red Ink (Black Box Tv)

Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Scream (1996)

Books:

Look for me by moonlight-Mary downing Han

Dracula-Bram Stroker

The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde

The Vampire Chronicles-Anne Rice

Grimm’s fairy tales- The Grimm Brothers

The Twilight Saga-Stephanie Meyer

John Winchester’s Journal-Alex Irving

Tales from the Crypt (1950-1955)

The coloring book for goths-Tom Devonald

Scents:

Candy apples

Fall leaves

Face paint

Pumpkin spice

Cinnamon

Apple pie

Candy corn

BlackBerry

Candy

Burning wood

Games:

Lollipop Chainsaw

Light as a Feather, Still as a Board

Big fish games

Doki Doki Literature Club

Batman Arkham Asylum

Harley Quinn’s Revenge

Escape from Horrorland

Disney Guilty Party

Catherine

Yandare Simulator

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3

Truth or Dare

Songs:

It’s almost Halloween-Panic At the Disco

I’d Rather be Burned as a Witch-Eartha Kitt

I Wanna Be Evil-Eartha Kitt

Sweet but Psycho-Ava Max

Wonderland-Alice Chater

Dead Girl Walking-Heathers

Be a Light-ESMÉ

Waking on Air-Kerli

Black Magic-Little Mix

American Beauty/American Psycho-Fall Out Boy

Spooky Scary Skelton-Nyanners (cover)

Dracula-Bea Miller

Mz Hyde-Halestorm

Tear you Apart-She wants revenge

Eight in Nine-Slow train soul

Animals-Maroon 5

Bad guy-Billie Ellish

Other:

Check out this dark coquette playlist I made!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLedzHMFLbf6ZaE_tL_AK_gpLC5P2zgM2d

Check out this music video I made for “Bad Guy” by Billie Ellish https://youtu.be/h6L5CKwiqoE

[jordswriteswords]

Clextober19: Haunted House

"This is gonna be the coolest Haunted House ever!" Madi cheered.

Raven winked at her niece, then flipped down her welding mask and started grinding the metal pieces of… something.

No one knew exactly what Raven was doing.

Madi had asked her mom's if they could have a haunted house this Halloween, and of course, after much pleading from both Madi and Raven, her mothers gave in.

However, there were restrictions.

Madi couldn't use magic when she was in there to hurt anyone.

All scary creatures had to be friends or family.

No one was allowed to be under the influence of any substances before entering the house.

Jasper wasn't allowed to flirt with any of the parents.

Raven was not allowed to use fireworks.

There was a lot of moaning and groaning once Clarke and Lexa had gone over the rules, but everyone agreed once Lexa had cast her most menacing look towards them (Jasper actually squeaked). Madi did, at least, convince Clarke to talk to Lexa about using magic to make the place that much scarier, and of course the green eyed witch was more than willing to bend the rules for her wife.

As nightfall approached, kids gathered in the backyard of the Griffin-Woods house to gaze at the haunted house that Madi's family had made. Smoke plumed from the grass, Octavia and her vampire friends fluttered around in their bat form, the lights in the house flickered on and off, Lincoln howled, and Jasper laughed menacingly over the PA system.

"Wow, Madi, this is so cool!" Aden said.

"This is dumb," Josephine countered. "It's literally a playhouse with a PA system. How are we even going to fit everyone in there? It's like four feet tall."

Raven slapped her hand down on Josephine's shoulder, startling the twelve year old girl. "Ahhh, my pretty," she said with her best gollum accent. She was dressed to the nails as a witch/zombie combination. She had enlisted Clarke to just throw paint at her, which her best friend did so willingly. "Appearances may be deceiving," she quipped.

"Clearly. You look like a Halloween store barfed."

Raven's eyes narrowed at the young girl, and she pushed Josephine into the house with a little more force than necessary. "Just get in the house."

Surprised shouts and gasps were heard when the children entered the play place, as the house was as big as the Griffin-Woods home on the inside.

"Whoa," Aden said, blue eyes wide as he looked around. "How did you do this?" He asked Madi.

She just smiled at her best friend and winked.

The lights flashed and flickered inside the house, ominous music playing as the children moved through each room. There were fluttering curtains and fake blood dripping from the walls. Ghosts popped out of the walls and the children screamed. Jasper played a headless bartender, offering the kids bubbling brews filled with fake blood. Lincoln growled and pretended to lunge at them as they passed. The house was filled with screams as they made their way through the haunted house.

Madi tried her best not to giggle at her classmates.

In the last room, her aunt Anya was dressed as the Grim Reaper with a chainsaw (upon Raven's insistence) to chase the children out of the house.

As her class entered, Madi winked at her aunt, who was completely unrecognizable in her costume. Raven decided to go off script at this moment. "Only those of you who have pure hearts may leave this place. The rest of you must burn," she said, hand coming to grip Josephine's shoulder harshly.

Josephine just rolled her eyes at the Latina.

Anya chased the children as they all ran to the door, her chainsaw revving loudly.

Raven hit the remote that slammed the door shut just as Josephine got to the door, causing her to stumble backwards into Madi and Aden. Her head collided with Madi's nose, a loud crack sounded as she fell back onto her butt.

"Madi, are you okay?" Aden asked, dropping down beside his friend. "You're bleeding!"

Madi, delusional from the knock to her head, sniffed the blood back into her nose. She rubbed her nose with her sleeve, a sharp wave of pain coursing through her.

There was a loud crack of thunder inside the room, and a cold chill washed over the five inhabitants.

Blood seeped down the sides of the wall, wet and sticky, with an iron scent.

"Let me out!" Josephine cried. "Let me out!"

"Madi," Anya whispered, kneeling down to look at her niece. "Madi, stop."

"My nose," Madi cried. "My nose is broken!"

Anya's eyes widened, and she grabbed Raven's sleeve. "Open the door!" She hissed, pointing at Madi's broken nose.

"I can't," Raven cried as she smashed the button on the remote to no avail. "It's not opening!"

"Is it hot in here?" Josephine asked, her forehead starting to sweat. "It's hot."

"Let me try," Aden said, moving to the door to tug uselessly on the handle.

Madi was forced to sniff and wipe her nose again as the blood continued to pour out.

Suddenly, the smell of smoke filled the air, and Madi's eyes widened. Flickers of flames started catching on the bottoms of the curtains, growing as they licked at the material.

"Only the pure of heart!" A loud, disembodied voice boomed through the room.

"Madi, your magic is broken along with your nose," Anya whispered to her niece. "I need to get your mom,"

"No, no, no, please don't leave us," Madi begged, eyes watering as she pulled on Anya's arm.

"I'll be right back, I swear. We need your mom."

Raven smashed the button on the remote again and again. The door swing open suddenly, knocking Aden on his butt, and Josephine ran out without a second glance.

Anya pulled Raven, while shouting at her niece to get up.

Aden stood, shaking his head. He ran over to Madi and pulled to her feet, but she was woozy from her head injury and she fell back down, taking him with her.

Anya turned and tried to run back inside for her niece, but the door slammed shut again, locking her out of the house. "No, no, no! Madi! Aden!" She screamed.

The room was engulfed in flames in moments. Aden and Madi coughed through the smoke as they tried to pull on the door handle to the room behind them. "Ah!" Madi screamed, her hand burning on the knob.

Madi could hear the howls of Lincoln as he scratched at the door, and the shrieks of the vampires trying to fly through the walls and failing.

"It's locked!" Aden said. He coughed violently and pulled Madi down to the floor.

The brunette looked at her best friend, his face stricken with panic as he coughed and wheezed beside her.

She had sealed herself into the room like a tomb.

With Aden.

They were going to die.

She tried to wiggle her nose, but the break was so severe that she couldn't feel it. She sniffed, and the fire grew even more.

Aden reached for her hand, squeezing once before his eyes closed. "Aden!" Madi yelled, but the boy had passed out.

Madi coughed and coughed, her heart breaking and guilt manifesting as the realization that this was all her fault hit her.

"Ma-" she coughed. "Ma...ma," Madi whispered before falling unconscious.

***

Lexa watched as the children entered the haunted house.

From the outside, everything appeared normal, and then Anya and Raven came stumbling through the backdoor, followed by fire.

It was perplexing, because everything seemed normal with the magical spell covering the house.

"Where's Madi and Aden?" Lexa asked, hurrying down the steps to help her sister and sister-in-law.

"Inside," Anya wheezed. "Her nose," she coughed. "Broken. Fire."

Lexa's eyes widened in fright. "What spell did she use?" Lexa asked her sister.

Anya shook her head. "I don't know, I don't know."

Lexa ran to the play house and tried to rip open the door, but it wouldn't budge. She pounded on the door, but no one answered.

"Come on, Madi," Lexa said. "Come on,"

Suddenly, she felt like she was being pulled through her bellybutton, disappearing into a speck of nothingness, and appeared inside the haunted house, in the room full of flames.

She coughed and covered her mouth with her t-shirt, dropping to the floor to find her daughter and Aden.

It felt like her skin was being burned off with the rising heat, her eyes watering from the smoke. She coughed and gagged, searching blindly.

Her right hand finally connected with a limp hand, and Lexa held on with all her might. She reached her other hand out and around to try and find the other child, feeling a shoe to the far left of her.

Her head grew foggy with the lack of oxygen, her breathing became laboured. Her eyes spotted and she coughed, on the brink of consciousness. Lexa clung to the shoe and adjusted her right hand to give herself access to her fingers.

She snapped her fingers, everything went black, and Lexa prayed that she could hold onto the two kids to get them out of the room.

It was a handful of horrifying seconds before Lexa, Aden and Madi's limp bodies regained consciousness, coughing and gasping in the fresh air in the grass of the Griffin-Woods backyard.

Lexa snapped her fingers, and the house shook, and the doors swung open violently to reveal no smoke or fire.

"You're okay," Clarke cooed, rubbing Aden's back as he coughed.

"Mama" Madi coughed. She crawled into Lexa's lap and hugged her tightly.

"Careful," Lexa said, pushing her hair out of her face. She snapped her fingers and Madi's nose was instantly stuffed with gauze. "This is going to hurt," she warned, then snapped her fingers again to reset the bone, forcing Madi's eyes to water.

"Magical gauze. No magic mishaps until it's healed."

Madi hugged Lexa tightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"What the hell happened in there?!" Josephine yelled, storming over to Madi. "You nearly killed us!"

Aden was the first one to his feet, unsure steps gradually becoming steadier as he breathed in fresh air. "What are you talking about?" He asked Josephine.

"The voice, and the blood, and the smoke, and the fire! Hello!" Josephine yelled, pointing at the house. "Where did you even come from! You guys just appeared out of nowhere!"

Aden forced a laugh and ran his hands through his hair. "Wow, the haunted house really scared you, didn't it Josephine?" He teased. "We came through the front."

"There's nothing in there," Finn Jr. said, stepping into the playhouse to reveal plastic furniture and black wallpaper. "What are you talking about, Josie?"

"I know what I saw!" She yelled. "They weren't in the backyard two seconds ago!"

"No more candy for her, am I right guys?" Aden said with a smirk. The rest of the gathered children laughed, pointing at Josephine and teasing her.

"I - I - I'm not crazy! I know it!"

"You saw them leave from the front," Octavia said calmly, stepping towards the crowd of onlookers, including Josephine.

A moment passed and Josephine repeated, "I saw them leave from the front," her eyes glazed over as she looked at Octavia.

The spell broke, and Josephine shook her head. Raven, at that moment, pressed the button on the remote to make the backdoor slam shut, and Josephine let out a terrified scream.

Everyone laughed and she stormed off. Shortly after, the rest of the crowd had dissipated until it was just Madi, Aden, and the magical gang.

"Thanks for staying to help clean," Madi said. "And standing up for me."

"No problem," Aden grinned at her. "You're my best friend. Besides, the haunted house was really cool," he added.

"Yeah," Madi sighed.

"Hey, umm, just so - just so you know, you're secret is, uhh, it's safe with me," Aden stumbled, earnest eyes looking at his best friend. He let his finger trace down the bridge of Madi's nose ever so gently. "I won't tell anyone you're a witch."

[100storiesin2020]

a Chainsaw in Fox Tower: Chapter 3

Come read on AO3!

***

Renee smoothed her skirt and fiddled with the cross around her neck. She was waiting in the base of Fox Tower because she had been chosen to meet the new striker first. Apparently she was the friendly face on the team, which she still found amusing. She worked very hard to be a good person, but that didn't change the fact that she was far more dangerous than either Dan or Allison. It was always nice to hear that she didn't appear that way at first glance.

She could hear Wymack's booming voice even before the door opened. "Welcome to Fox Tower," he was saying. Coming in the door behind him was one of the strangest looking girls Renee had ever seen. She was tiny, possibly shorter than Andrew, with dark skin and spiky black hair that had clips thrown in seemingly at random. Her jeans looked like they had been bleached, dyed bright yellow, and then patched over with a rainbow of different fabrics. Her shirt was made of the leftover scraps of fabric. Renee smiled; Allison was going to have a fit.

Coach continued to explain that the girl would be rooming with three teammates as they crossed the lobby to where Renee was standing. "This is Renee Walker," he said. "She's going to show you around."

The girl extended her hand for a handshake. "I'm Blue Sargent. It's very nice to meet you."

Getting a friendly teammate was an odd experience for Renee but she certainly wasn't going to complain about it. "It's nice to meet you too, Blue. Welcome to the Foxes."

Wymack grunted, "She's yours now," before turning around to leave the Tower. As he opened the door, he called back to them. "Don't forget to meet at the court at 5 tonight." He didn't wait for a response before leaving.

Renee turned back to Blue. "Would you like a tour first or would you rather settle right in? We can take your stuff up to the room so you can move in before the other two girls get here."

"Moving in first would be great," Blue said. "I've never lived away from home, and I've never had a roommate." She fiddled with a hair clip. "I figure it can't be too much crazier than my crowded house, but it's definitely going to be different."

Renee tried to smile warmly. She really liked this girl and wanted to put her at ease, even though it still felt unnatural at times to be friendly. "Let's go up, then," she agreed. She looked around for a moment, realizing suddenly that Blue was only carrying a backpack. "Do you have more bags you need to grab?"

"Yes, I do. Mr. Gray kept them in the car so I wouldn't have to carry them around. He should be just outside." They started towards the door.

"Who is Mr. Gray?"

"He's my mom's boyfriend," Blue replied, as they left the Tower. "They haven't been dating long, but I think they're getting serious. He's the first real relationship my mom has been in since my dad, actually. He drove me up today because there was no way both me and Gansey would fit our stuff in the trunk of my car, so Gansey is bringing it up for me later today." They rounded the building and could finally see the parking lot. "Oh, that's him by the gray car." Blue chuckled. "He kind of has a theme going on.

Renee looked to where Blue had pointed and her eyes widened. Beside a nondescript gray car was a man in a nondescript gray suit. He looked purposefully unremarkable, like he would prefer nothing more than not being noticed. Renee knew better. It was in his stance, relaxed but ready to pounce. It was in his eyes and the way they tracked every bit of movement. This man was a trained killer. Renee strained to keep her calm, harmless demeanor, feeling his eyes weighing every inch of her to determine whether she was a threat. She reminded herself that this man was Blue's friend, and was probably safe.

"We are going to move in now," Blue told him happily.

Mr. Gray smiled, softening his hard face by a respectable amount. Renee breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Then let's get your things upstairs," he replied. He opened up the trunk and pulled out suitcase after suitcase, and duffel bag after duffel bag. Renee had to laugh then. This was reminding her a little too much of Allison.

They divided up the bags between the three of them and gradually made their way up to the sixth floor. Renee used the walk to tell Blue all about the Tower and what to expect from living with roommates. It had been quite the adjustment at first when none of the girls had gotten along, but nowadays they had it down to a system, and Renee was confident that they would be able to slot in one more person without too much trouble. Blue was hopeful for the same.

Renee pulled out her key ring and opened the door. "Here we are, home sweet home." It was a small living room area with two doors leading out. Through one door was a kitchen, and through the other was a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. "You can take either the bottom or top bunk, as long as you are on the left side of the bedroom." Renee smoothed her skirt nervously. It had taken her awhile to feel safe sleeping in a room with other people, even though she had had half of the room to herself. Hopefully she was healed enough now that hearing sounds directly above or below herself would not startle her too badly. And Andrew had her knives, so they wouldn't be an issue.

"I'll take the top bunk," Blue said cheerfully. "I've always wanted a lofted bed." She picked through the bags that had been dumped on the living room floor, finally grabbing a tattered blue duffel bag before heading for the bedroom. "Let's get started!"

******

Eventually all was unpacked and Mr. Gray had taken most of the empty bags down to the car, promising to come back with dinner. All that remained was a single duffel bag which had been shoved haphazardly into a drawer. Blue had decorated her bunk and desk, as well as part of the wall on their side of the room. She had asked Renee for permission, and Renee had granted it despite knowing that Allison wouldn't be happy about changing the decorating plan. She quite liked Blue's decor. There were fabric trees on the wall and fairy lights above the bed. Renee assumed that was what they were, anyway. She'd been busy with her own unpacking while Blue had decorated, but she was fairly certain they were not plugged in anywhere, and there wasn't any spot on the wire large enough to hold a battery. A mystery.

Blue had also placed some strange symbols in various out-of-sight places. They went under her mattress, inside a cupboard, folded above a door frame. "My mom and aunts are psychics," she had explained, "and they insisted I bring some protective spells with me when I left the house." She grimaced. "Mom wanted to come put them up herself, but Mr. Gray helped me talk her out of it."

"Why didn't you want her to come?"

"Blue shrugged. "I've been 'the psychic's daughter' all my life, and for once I just want to be Blue Sargent. I know y'all will think I'm strange, and I'm happy with that. I just want to be strange because I am strange, not because my mother is."

Renee thought about that for a moment. "Was it a hard life?" Blue blinked at her. "Being the psychic's daughter, I mean. You don't seem to fit the Fox stereotype, but Wymack wouldn't have recruited you if there wasn't something there."

Blue laughed. "You mean the stereotype of a broken home? I was pretty offended when Coach showed up because of that. I have a good home and a good family. It was difficult to find friends, but I think that would have been true no matter who my mother was." The smile suddenly wiped from Blue's face. "I am broken, though. It's just in a different way."

There wasn't a tactful way to respond to that, but Renee was saved by the door bursting open.

"Hello Renee!" It was Dan, all smiles and confidence as she swept into the room and extended a hand to Blue. "You must be Blue! Welcome to the team! It's nice to have another female face around. We need someone sensible to balance out these boys."

Blue laughed, and Renee could already tell these two would get along nicely. "I'm nothing if not sensible, and it'll be nice to have some female friends. It's just been me and the Raven boys for too long now."

"Raven boys??" Dan and Renee exclaimed in unison.

Blue looked confused but understanding quickly crossed her face. "Not those Ravens!" She looked chagrined. "My friends went to a rival school and their mascot was also the Ravens. So I called them my Raven boys. I think I'm going to figure out a new nickname."

At this point the door opened again. "Hey babe," Matt said. He walked in and gave Dan a big hug. "You must be the new striker. Blue, right?" She nodded and he grinned back at her. "Is that orange monstrosity really your car?"

Blue lit up. "Gansey is here?" Right on cue, somebody knocked on the door extremely politely. "Gansey!!" She threw open the door and leaped into the arms of a brown haired boy several inches taller than her. He spun her around as she laughed, but he froze when he noticed the others in the room. Renee watched as the all-American boy transformed in the blink of an eye, suddenly becoming authoritative and presidential. It seemed to be a trick of the face and posture. It was very effective, and Renee did /not/ like it.

"Hello, I'm Gansey," he said. He approached Dan first and extended his hand to shake hers. "You must be Danielle Wilds, team captain." At least he was polite.

Dan seemed thrown by the formality and respect. "You can call me Dan," she said. "Gansey? That's an unusual name."

He laughed. "It's my surname. I'm Richard Campbell Gansey the Third, and that name is just too much." He moved on to shake Matt's hand and then Renee's. "I'm looking forward to playing with all of you." He turned to Blue. "Are you all unpacked? I could use a hand. Also, here are your keys." He handed over a key ring adorned with two keys and several key chains of varying materials and design.

Blue smiled. "Start bringing things up. I'll be right down." Gansey nodded and left. Renee handed her a key to the dorm, and she added it to the ring.

"So..." Matt began. "Are you two dating?"

"Yup," she replied, popping the p.

"Is he always so..." Dan started.

"Obnoxious? Pretentious? Presidential? Bossy?" Dan laughed at Blue's annoyed expression. "Depends. It took me a bit too long to get past that face." She smiled softly. "It was worth the effort in the end, even if he really pissed me off at first. Anyway, I better go help him." She turned and left the room.

Dan turned to Matt. "What do you think it will take to get Mr. President to thaw out?"

Matt grinned. "My money is on Andrew scaring him half to death."

Dan laughed. "I don't want Andrew to do that, but I think you're right."

"I think he just needs time to trust us," Renee said. "After some practices and movie nights I bet he will warm right up to us."

"Twenty dollars says you're wrong," Dan said.

"I'll match it," said Matt.

Renee smiled, "Consider it a bet."

[ao3feed-pynch]

by sneakygeit

Woot! Another work for the TRC Big Bang 2020! It's for semicolonsandsimiles' fic Ag iarraidh forais i bhfodhomhain which you should go check out immediately! We're also going to get blessed with some art from ciara, so please be on the lookout for that!

This was a lot of fun and a GIANT to scan in but I really enjoyed the extra room for all the details XD

Words: 0, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 29 of cutie poots - fanart

Fandoms: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish, Orphan Girl | Opal, Chainsaw (Raven Cycle), and a mysterious matthew figure!

Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish

Additional Tags: Fanart, Faerie!AU

[thetypedwriter]

Call Down the Hawk

Call Down the Hawk Book Review by Maggie Steifvater 

ASKDJSIDHKJDOHFBOSH. 

ANDJNDUEOUTNLF.

NFUFUBFJG.

EBRJEFN.

FNJFN.

#PYNCHISLIFE

This about sums up my feelings on Call Down the Hawk.  

No, but really, I love my Raven Boys and I adore Maggie Steifvater and her world of dreamers and I was so, so, so incredibly excited to read this next installment focused on the best rugged boy Ronan and Steifvater did not disappoint. 

This next trilogy in the saga, book one of The Dreamer Trilogy, is, as Steifvater says in the first line, a story about the Brothers Lynch. Which she delivers on immensely and exceptionally. 

The story revolves around of course Ronan (with the additions of Chainsaw, Opal, and Gansey via telephone), his brother Declan, two girls we are introduced to named Jordan and Hennessy (among a slew of others), a Moderator named Carmen Farooq-Lane, her visionary Parisfal Bauer, and then an addition of another powerful visionary known as Lilliana. 

There are some other characters sprinkled in here, Locke, two old ladies who are gruesomely murdered, the van-mom with her kids in the back who took on Lilliana the hitchhiker, the random children’s author who wants to be anything but a children's author, and….I think that’s it?

There were a lot of additional characters thrown in here actually and while Steifvater does it masterfully as always and she does well to interweave all the characters and how they relate to each other, I did get a bit annoyed. 

    I will be the first person to admit that this is a subjective opinion. To be honest, all I wanted was a glorified Pynch fanfiction that was canon and lovely and long and well…I didn't really get that. I didn’t assume we were actually going to be that blessed (maybe just in my most wild, ideal dreams) but Pynch (while definitely a tertiary factor) was not the main focus, and that’s truly okay because what Maggie Steifvater is doing is setting up her next trilogy and her big plot. 

Which mainly boils down to this: There are people out there called Moderators who work as a secret faction of the government that are hunting down dreamers (people who dream reality into being like Ronan and Hennesey) because visionaries (people who can see aspects of the future as it pertains to dreamers) have found that there is a dreamer planning to end the world by fire and burn it to the ground. 

    So while dreamers like Ronan and Hennessy are innocent, the government doesn’t know that, sees them as dangerous anyways and is hunting down and assassinating all dreamers in order to stop this fiery apocalypse from killing all life. 

    So that begs the question: who is this dreamer that is dreaming the fiery inferno that ends the world? And why? And what is the Lace? And is Adam actually a visionary instead of the Magician? And what is happening with Aurora? And what in the world is up with Bryde?

    So many questions and too little answers and too few pages for my tastes. 

    But Maggie Steifvater excels what she always excels at: metaphors, figurative language, magic, whimsy, relationships, characterization, and intrigue. So much intrigue. Because there are so many characters and because they’re all interesting and all fleshed out, I want to be reading their stories all the time, but they end so quick and go through a cycle that is maddening as it is enchanting. 

    This story was fast-paced and full of characters that I’ve loved for years (Ronan, Declan, Matthew), but also new characters that I already feel like I’ve known forever, Hennessy, Jordan, Farooq-Lane. I feel like they’ve always been here, in this Raven Boys universe, but I’ve just now been introduced to a good friend that I’ve forgotten I had. 

    I loved this book. And while the fangirl in me wanted more Ronan and Adam I was satisfied with what I got because the stakes are so high and the plot so steep and the new characters aren’t unnecessary additions, but instead welcome faces. 

Recommendation: If you haven’t read this first installment or The Raven Cycle then what are you doing? Truly, because these books are art and they deserve to be read. Please go pick one up today, bask yourself in the glory that is a Steifvater craft and then stare off into space as you enjoy the titillating feeling of being satisfied and sated of a book well read as we wait for book two to come out. 

Score: 8/10

[purrincesscatitude]

Pynch prompt, if you're so inclined: Ronan is stupid. Ronan gets the flu. Ronan ignores it.

I am inclined! 

#####

They have a running joke that shit always goes wrong when one of them is out of town. Like when a tropical storm flooded their basement while Adam was in Colorado for a conference. Or, when both Noah & Maeve got the chicken pox and Adam got a nasty cold while Ronan was at the National Farmers Union convention in Georgia. Or, when Ronan broken his foot playing in the treehouse with Maeve while Adam was in California for a research meeting (“Daddy, guess what words I learned this weekend! Jesus Fucking Shit Christ In Heaven Fuck! ”)

Running joke, or horrible fucking curse. Ronan hasn’t decided yet.

Adam is at MIT for a long weekend, suffering through an academic conference while Ronan takes care of the girls. He’d been alone with them for 24 hours, and so far, nothing disastrous has happened. A temper tantrum at bedtime from Noah–fixed by getting Noah’s blanket from the laundry that Adam thankfully remembered to run before he left–and a minor scraped knee from Maeve–cured simply by telling Maeve she’s a tough cookie and giving her a black band-aid so she could match her dad–but otherwise all is calm.

Saturday morning, it’s raining and cold. Ronan wakes up far earlier than he needs to be on a rainy Saturday morning, and he feels off. Like something’s wrong. Adam’s arm isn’t around him. Usually he wakes up to Adam’s arm around his waist, morning stubble against his shoulders.

Ronan rolls over in bed, and finds the other side of the bed cold. Fuck. Right. Adam’s not here. He exhales noisily, and rubs a hand down his face. His joints ache. He doesn’t know why, can’t remember having done any unusual physical labor. Maybe playing airplane with Noah, but that’s not uncommon. His legs should have some fucking stamina by now. He’s not that old.

He’s groggy, too. Moreso than normal at the asscrack of dawn. Maybe he can get another few more minutes of sleep, wake up on a more-right side of the bed instead of whatever shitty side he’s on right now–

The door creaks open. He cracks open an eye. Two sets of big doe eyes are staring at him.

“Dad?” Noah says.

Ronan groans, “Yes, love?” And apparently acknowledgment is enough of a fucking invitation for these two little gremlins, because next thing he knows they’re clambering over him, and not like he can ask them kindly to go back to bed because who could possibly look at those girls and ask them to leave.

Ronan is very interested in going back to sleep. Noah and Maeve are very interested in taking up 89% of the bed with their tiny human bodies and trying to make static sparks in the comforter.

Then Lucy the Border Collie comes in and jumps on the bed; and Chainsaw returns from her hunt and starts squawking at the girls as they giggle; and God fucking forbid the family be in one place and Cow the Corgi not; so then there’s two small humans, two dogs, a raven, and before the fucking horse can come through the door and join them Ronan grumbles a series of fake-curses under his breath and stumbles to the kitchen to make pancakes. So much for sleeping.

A cup of coffee, two glasses of water, and a cold shower do nothing to clear the fog in Ronan’s head. With every passing hour his body hurts more and more. The girls are stuck inside with the rain, and Ronan is running out of activities that will allow him to stay on the couch beneath a blanket.

He brings their drawing desk from the playroom to the living room, and turns on some soft irish music that they both seem to like. His head throbs. His throat feels like he’s swallowing acid every time he sips water.

And then he pukes. Barely makes it to the bathroom before his breakfast makes a surprise reappearance. And once he’s done heaving, he feels like he’s been hit by a fucking freight train.

He washes his hands for at least a minute under scalding water, brushes his teeth, and returns to the living room with the girls. He collapses onto the couch with a shiver.

“Dad, do you need a nap?” Noah says, looking up from her Jackson Pollock-inspired masterpiece of glitter, sequins, and is that dog food–

“I’m good,” Ronan mumbles. He curls in on himself on the couch. Lucy licks his face and he’s too tired to do a damn thing about it.

“You make me nap when I feel bad.”

“Because you’re little. I’m an adult. Adults don’t need naps.”

“Daddy naps all the time,” Maeve notes.

“Because Daddy hasn’t had a normal sleep schedule in 22 years.”

“Why?” Noah squeaks.

“We’ll discuss when you’re older,” Ronan says around a cough.

“Why?”

Because his husband’s workaholic tendencies are not something he wants to get into with their kids when he feels like he’s been dragged behind a semi for 42 miles. Or ever.

“Later. Why don’t you cover the entire page with glitter?” he says, praying to God that distracts her, because he really cannot handle the endless spiraling of “whys” right now.

Cow whines. Ronan groans. He stumbles to the bathroom and throws up again, and then lets the dogs out.

He’s equal parts burning and freezing now, skin prickling with chills while a sheen of sweat glistens along his brow. His head is killing him. Every cell in his body hurts. He takes some pain killers, but doesn’t have any faith that his stomach will keep them down right now.

The dogs bark to be let back in; he doesn’t care that they’re covered in mud and sopping wet. The girls shriek as they shake themselves by their drawing table. Like a nail gun shooting through his skull.

Maybe a nap isn’t such a terrible idea. Sargent and Gansey are coming soon to hang out with the girls, so if he can just lie down upstairs until they get here…

“Girls,” Ronan rasps. His throat is starting to rebel against him as well. “I’ll be upstairs. If you need anything, come get me?”

“Okay.”

It takes an enormous amount of effort to drag himself up the stairs, and he nearly coughs up a lung once he gets to the top. God, he feels like a fucking wreck. Absolutely fucking awful. He collapses into bed, doesn’t even get himself under the blankets before he passes out.

When he opens his eyes again, everything is swirling, and whirling, and blue.

Blue?

Aunt Blue & Uncle Gans to the rescue! Read the rest on Ao3.