#definitely noticeable and it's nice to see. That said... I still like the season 2 art style more? And I'm speaking strictly of art style.

[sskk-manifesto]

Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and how “ability users” (opposite to “normal people”) learning to accept themselves through the acceptance of their own abilities is a queer metaphor of acceptance of own's sexual orientation and gender: an essay by me

[deathbxnny]

May I request some headcanons about Victor, selika, Vander and Vi about caring and being with a S/O with ADHD.

Please and thank you

Arcane characters with an s/o that has ADHD. | Viktor, Sevika, Vander and Vi

Thank you for your request, and I hope you'll enjoy this!<3

Content: No spoilers for season 2, season 1 Viktor, established romantic relationships, fluff, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns.

((Not proofread))

》VIKTOR

He was the first to notice and accommodate to your ADHD, mainly as he knew what it's like to live with something that makes life a little harder in general.

Viktor is very patient and gentle with you when you're having a hard time focusing on tasks or are procrastinating on projects. He understands it just fine and works with you to find strategies that make everything a bit easier. Whether it's studying with you or helping you out on research papers, you both spend a lot of time together, to say the least.

You two enjoy working on your own things in eachothers presence, as it helps you get over your lack of motivation and gives you a chance to talk his ear off freely. Thankfully, he's good at multitasking when it comes to you. Some may think your talking is excessive, but he finds it cute.

Whenever you're a bit more fidgety than usual, he'll hold your hand or give you a reassuring smile, yet doesn't stop your body from regulating itself naturally.

Viktor takes your diagnosis as a simple fact, nothing that defines or undermines your ability to be his s/o. If you need a little help, then he's very clearly okay with that.

》SEVIKA

She doesn't initially understand the concept of ADHD and doesn't care much about it either. Sure, she gets that it affects your day to day life, but she was going to help you out with anything either way even without the diagnosis. So, in other words, she's ready to learn and do as you please.

Your fidgety nature was something she definitely had to get used to, as she mistook it as fear or nervousness rather often. This typically meant that she'll ask you if you're alright a lot or if there was someone bothering you. Over time, she learns to look past it and see it as a natural part of you. If you can't sit still, then she'll let you roam around whilst her eyes watch you closely.

Your endless ramblings and deep interests about the most nichest topics also needed some time for her, but what got her the most was your procrastination issues. She did get not want to do things at all, but she would still attempt to make work as fun as possible in her own way. She'll accompany you everywhere and take care of the heavy lifting.

When she said that she was loyal, she was definitely not kidding around. Your ADHD changes nothing about the way she views you, and so she doesn't make a big deal out of it either.

》VANDER

Probably the most patient and understanding of your ADHD and its symptoms by far. He sees them as a part of you in a good way and simply accepts them as they are.

Whenever you procrastinate on chores or work, he'll try and make it more enjoyable by either helping out or promising you a nice treat after. If it's really bad, though, he'll just do things himself to not stress you out about them too much.

He's the same with your lack of focus, although he sometimes does get concerned about you zoning out when things get serious. Vander will still find his own innovative ideas on making you focus when he needs you to.

He loves listening to you talk to him about the most random things possible, mainly as it shows him that you're comfortable enough with the care he gives you. He also just enjoys weighing in with his own opinions about the many various topics you bring forth at rapid speed.

Either way, he skillfully navigates your diagnosis with ease and doesn't ever let you feel like you're burdening him with it.

》VI

Well, she certainly may have outlandish ideas at times when it comes to working with your ADHD, but she definitely at least has the spirit for it!

Your natural fidgeting and inability to stay still gets interpreted in you just needing to power yourself out. This makes you often find yourself in front of a punching bag with an excited Vi telling you to go ahead and let it alllll out. Whether it works or not is up to you, but you appreciate the effort even after you had explain it wasn't that easy.

Vi will make it her mission to help you out on projects or with work whenever the procrastination gets too bad. She'll also help you out with simpler tasks when she can but will otherwise try to make things fun, at least.

You two enjoy rambling away with each other, and it is her favorite thing. You're both bad at focusing on one topic at a time, so your talks can go on for hours, which she loves very much.

Your diagnosis is just a part of you that she very much loves, even when it gets difficult at times. She never wants you to feel left out or liked less because of it and does her best to never let you think that.

[katzske]

Thoughts on Earthspark Season 2 (first half)

Spoiler Free:

I must admit I’m dissatisfied.

The animation and rendering definitely looks cheaper. Sometimes it feels like frames are missing, animations not polished, scenes not fully rendered. 2d and 3d poorly blends. It’s quite noticeable unfortunately. Characters also do the TFP Megatron stare now.

That being said, time was taken to revisit old models of characters and give them a new appearance. (4 i’ve noticed) It makes sense given a lot has changed during one year time skip.

The writing often feels either like exposition dumping or naruto filler episodes. I was never at the edge of my seat even during the climax. I ended up skipping through episodes due to the lack of relevant plot information.

Something ES managed to maintain were carefully composed shots that make great still images. While that’s nice for screenshots and redraws, I also feel like it’s the only unique aspect of ES’ animation style that remained. The rest, as previously mentioned, has lost quality.

Character Details I’ve noticed and want to talk about (spoilers ahead)

half of season 2 part 1 is filler. optimus trailer episode, great america with cosmos, a pachycephalosaurus-truck fighting mushrooms, hashtag taking ten years to dispose of hard drives…. each episode did have a few minutes of either cute or important moments. but the majority is a waste of time.

I was hoping that we would learn more about the decepticons. now that they’re free, what are they up to? how are their dynamics? how did season 1 finale change their perception on things? would they try to convince the terrans THEY are the good guys? nothing like that though.

There is no satisfying character development for starscream. ES Starscream was perfect to explore a more neutral version of him, who does not do bad things out of pleasure, but due to necessity; following his desire to be free. In the show he mentions he wanted to get rid of his oppressors (in his eyes autobots and humans), but a real “bruh” moment was when he told Hashtag the only reason he opened up to her last time was to tell her “take care of yourself first”. It completely disregards the fact he came to help in the season 1 finale after reflecting on Hashtags words. It also aggravates me that the writing could have been a very easy fix. “hey i’m not being selfish by destroying this town. im doing this for the decepticons, we have lived under the control of the autobots and then of humans. this needs to stop, we deserve freedom and i will do anything it takes.”

the show managed to establish some friction between starscream and shockwave but for deception standards it was very tame. overall i think it was written okay; he purposely let the Terrans escape with the fragments, and he bailed on Starscream once he went bonkers. I hope that he gets to be a Decepticon leader in the second half; i don’t think we have seen that in any TF TV show before. i also like that his antennae and eye color give away his emotions now.

i feel like the autobots are treated even worse than the decepticons this season ngl. they merely exist; and when they do have the spotlight it’s often for comedy.

why the fuck did shockwave not wait for hashtag to just dump the hard drives and leave. if someone walked up to me yelling “give me your trashbag” as i’m trying to dispose of it i’d be weirded out too lol.

i hope the chaos terrans don’t return. aftermath imo was, plot wise, redundant. spitfire at least was interesting and had an impact.

i wish there were more interesting fights like in season 1 instead of, oh no they’re hitting the trailer with sticks, oh no we are an abomination of dinosaur and vehicle for what feels like 15mins straight. i miss seeing soundwave slay.

[slafastri28]

It was and is You - CL16 - part 2.

Note: Here's part two, part one link-> part 1

Saturday

You had set an alarm that morning to make sure you didn’t miss your “morning coffee”. You had assistance from your three friends in choosing your outfit and helping you get ready. Allie did your hair, Liv did your makeup, and Mila chose your outfit.

“Can we please meet him,” Mila begged.

“Don’t ruin this for Y/N, you know how she is about guys,” Liv said. Your last relationship of three years ended in the middle of your last season putting you in a slump. It had been a year and now here you were with this guy who you clicked with instantly. 

“Yeah, but she needs our help, right Y/N?” Allie said slyly knowing her full intentions.

“Okay the last thing I need right now is you fan girling over him while we are just trying to get to know each other,” you said, “Maybe just maybe in like an hour after I’m down there you can possibly join me for breakfast when he has to go,” hoping to ease their eagerness, it seemed to work.

“Yes! See she does want us Liv,” Mila grinned. You rolled your eyes looking at the time seeing a message light up on your phone.

Charles: We are still good?

You: Yes heading out now 😄

“I have to go,” you said swatting their hands off of you. You took one last look at yourself in the mirror, grabbed your purse then dashed out of your room. You got on the elevator expecting it to stop on his floor and it did. You looked down then back up to see the brunette enter the elevator.

“Hello again,” he smiled.

“So you were the driver my friends are obsessed with, it was you, that explains the mystery,” you said.

“It is me,” he shrugged. The elevator door opened and you made your way to one of the tables in the lobby ordering your coffee and espresso. The two of you began talking, finally getting to learn more about Charles and about your shared interests. You both were athletes with crazy travel schedules, you both played an instrument, and you both agreed that after this weekend you would stay in touch.

“I want to make a deal with you,” he grinned.

“Oh what am I getting into,” you teased, knowing that it would end up with you being happy.

“If I place top five today we can do this again tomorrow, even though I prefer to take time to myself the day of a race, because I would like to see you again,” he said.

“And if not?” you trailed off. You were distracted hearing giggles coming from the elevator area, you looked up to see your friends watching you from a distance back. 

“Y/N?”

“Oh my god I am so sorry, I am so sorry,” you whispered over and over again as you watched your friends walk over.

“Hi Charles,” Mila said running her finger along his shoulder, “I’m Mila,” she said batting her eyes.

“And I’m Allie,” she said doing the same.

“And I’m Liv,” she said giving both of them a stern look.

“So this is the famous girl group I have heard about,” he laughed. You put your head in your hands embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” Liv mouthed to you. You rolled your eyes knowing this would happen. You watched Mila and Allie compete in trying to woo over Charles and he was nice about it he played along, but always continued to look at you and talk about what he knew about you. Your friends went to a different table waiting for you to join them once Charles left. He looked at the time and noticed it was time to leave for qualifying. His car would be outside in moments to pick him up. 

“So will I see you after again?” He asked standing up. You stood up with him,

“Yes definitely,” you blushed. He opened his arms to hug you, you wished him good luck with a hug and went back to your friends table to share only the important details of your date.

“So you agreed to the deal right, he has to finish in the top five it’s Monza!” Mila said.

“Can we please come again, but we won’t flirt,” Allie begged.

“Oh please, you can’t help yourselves,” you said. 

“Hey I held them back,” Liv said. You nodded at her thanking her for her efforts. You continued discussing and telling your friends to back off. You texted Charles under the table apologizing once again for what had happened.

You: I am so sorry again, they can be a lot sometimes 🫣

Charles: Stop worrying I’m fine, besides they could have done worse

You: I guess so, but don’t let what happened this morning distract you

Charles: If anything I feel more ready after talking to you

You smiled and your friends caught you texting.

“Y/N stop it’s girls time,” Allie whined. 

“Jealous?” you smirked. As time went on the four of you got ready for qualifying and made your way to the track. The drivers came on the track making their way around the track competing for times. At the end of the hour Charles had not only finished in the top five, but the top three. Your friends all jumped and screamed for joy rushing down to the spot where you would meet Charles after. After moments of waiting you saw him, once again your eyes met through the crowd, it helped that you were in the front this time. There were tons of voices yelling for him around you but you remained silent knowing he would make his way over to you. As he approached you, the butterflies bubbled in your stomach, you felt your face heating with each step he got closer to you. He reached out his hand to you over the barrier you were waiting behind. You took it,

“Do we still have a deal?” you asked.

“Oh we have a deal,” he said firmly pulling your hand to his shoulder, you hugged once again infront of this large crowd. You could feel the weight of all the pictures being taken of you by all the girls around you.

“Talk to you later,” you grinned pulling out of the hug. He winked and went on to signing and taking pictures with the other fans around you. You and your friends ran off shouting bye. The four of you went out for dinner once again debriefing.

“Y/N you have to see this,” Allie said flipping her phone around. You took her phone scrolling through seeing tons of pictures of you and Charles all over social media.

“Y/N your famous,” Liv smiled.

“Oh please remember us,” Mila laughed. You looked up this media on your own phone and sent it to Charles.

Charles: So they are calling you the mystery girl

You: It’s not going to take long before they figure out who I am, we exchanged medias they can find me through yours

Charles: Is that a problem?

You: No, but are we… well what are we?

Charles: You will have to wait until tomorrows deal 😏

You rolled your eyes putting away your phone for the rest of dinner. The three of you made your way back to the hotel, still discussing you being Charles’ mystery girl. You texted him a quick good night ready for your coffee date the next morning once again. You drifted off to sleep having a dream of tomorrow’s race outcome, little did you know it would be a dream come true.

[saurongorthaur9]

The funny thing is, even if a kiss happens between Hal and Gal, the antis will say that “it's not romantic”, “they're not in love”, “it doesn't mean anything”, “it's manipulation” and blah blah blah

I have noticed some recent conflict in the fandom over what exactly Sauron feels for Galadriel, and I don't want to insert myself into any of that. That being said, I do agree that what Sauron feels for Gal is complicated. I think there is love and there is obsession and probably other things that can't be boiled down nice and neatly into any one emotion.

With that preface, Tolkien actually talks about how Sauron's underlying driving motive is love. Love of order. Love of beauty. Love of perfection. He even says that in the beginning, these things were Sauron's virtue. Morgoth was a being driven by a nihilistic hatred for all things that he could not control and corrupt, but Sauron was driven by passionate love for Middle-earth and the things therein, and this was actually the core difference between them.

Of course, though we know that Sauron's love (as Mairon) started out as something good, it was quickly twisted into obsession to control what he loved. And eventually, when he was not allowed to control it, it twisted into hatred just as passionate as his love had been.

I love that we're actually getting a microcosm of that with Sauron and Galadriel, and I think how Sauron feels about Galadriel is very Tolkienian, given the above passages from "Morgoth's Ring" that I referenced. I think at the beginning, Sauron-as-Halbrand's love for Galadriel was actually pretty genuine and as pure as it could be for a being like him. He connected with her (genuinely, I believe), he admired her, he found her beautiful, and he saw a kindred spirit within her. And I think those were all pretty wholesome feelings.

However, we've already seen those feelings begin to warp into obsession to possess and control. We saw it even by the end of Season 1, when we saw how manipulative and angry he got when Gal rejected his marriage/partnership proposal. We're definitely seeing it in Season 2 with his creepy, possessive behavior towards Mirdania in the last episode.

I think over the course of the series, we'll see Sauron's love become a darker and darker thing, more and more obsessive, more possessive than a genuine connection: mirroring how his love for Middle-earth fell into something dark and twisted. By the very end of the series, I could even see Sauron coming to hate Galadriel - much as he comes to hate Middle-earth - because he can't possess or control her, but I think it will still be an obsessive hatred that is, in part, a love gone terribly wrong.

All this is to say, I think the best characters are complex characters. Is Sauron in love? Yes, I think he is. Is he also manipulating Gal? Yes, I think he is. Is his love something dark and controlling and possessive? Yes, I think it is. These are all things that can co-exist. The one thing that I do vehemently disagree with is that "it doesn't mean anything" or that Sauron and Galadriel's connection doesn't mean anything to Sauron. I think it means everything to Sauron. And if there is a kiss, I think it will be an extension of that. At least, I would hope so.

[hetalian-veteran]

Art Styles I Personally Think the Hetalia Characters Looked Their Best In (and Why) Part 2

Link to Part 1, Link to Part 3

Please note that I am referring to the show and not the webcomic. This is primarily because I didn't always have access to the webcomic and thus the show is what I've always been most familiar with. I will also refrain from talking about characters that have only appeared in one season.

Also, please keep in mind that these are just my opinions. And if you have any different ideas of what designs looked better, that's totally okay. At the end of the day, I'm just here to have fun.

America: Seasons 1-4

It was kind of hard to choose which design was best for America, seeing as they are all very similar to one another while also having different qualities that I liked. But I ultimately settled on the one from the first four seasons. I adore the WWII bomber jacket, as well as how the character in general was animated back then. Not to mention that the older art style just fits him so well. A lot of Americans have an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude about things, so I find it fitting that, at least in my opinion, this also works for aph America. He looks great everywhere else, but I won't deny I have a nostalgia for the original. This was an exceptionally close tie with his design for season 5. Not to mention I once drew aph America fanart for an art project in middle school and got an A on it.

England: Season 5

Okay, I'm gonna be real here. This all came down to the eyebrows. Well, not entirely, but it definitely played a large part. I never had a problem with England's design in seasons 1-4, but those eyebrows though. They were so distracting. I understand wanting to give characters a prominent feature that makes you go, "Yep this is (insert character here)." But I think England's eyebrows were too overdone in the previous seasons. However, I also believe they were far too thin and lightened up in seasons 6-7. Season 5 had a good balance. Not too thick but not too thin. Also, I feel like his facial structure and design made him look kinda weird in season 7.

China: Season 5

So... I'm gonna be honest here. All of the other designs for China make him look like a young girl to me. Yes, he still looks sorta feminine in season 5, but not like he appears in seasons 1-4 and 6-7. In season 5 he actually looks more like an adult man to me. Not to mention his hair. Because holy crap that is some of the most beautiful hair I have ever seen put to animation

Russia: Season 6

This was a close tie between all his designs, but it ultimately came down the hair. Yes, I know, I talk about the characters hair a lot. But that really was the deciding factor for Russia. All his designs look great in that the long coat and vertical lines throughout give me the impression of a Russian nesting doll. Now, whether that was intentional on Hima's part or not, I cannot say. But it's a cool detail that I always notice whenever I see him. When it comes to his season 6 design, I like not only how innocent he looks (which is an important part of the design Hima intended from the beginning), but that his hair has some more fun detail too it. It looks so soft and fluffy, not like the previous designs that made it look like he had water dumped on his head.

France: Season 5

What can I say about this design that hasn't been said already? The only other character who had a bigger glow-up than France was Spain (who you can see my opinions on in a previous post). Literally everything here is an upgrade from his design through seasons 1-4. His hair looks so silky and soft, not like that yellow plastic we had earlier. Also, the hair ribbon tying it back looks so elegant and refined, fitting perfectly with the character. I also love the small detail of the ribbon being the same color of his eyes. It's a nice touch. His outfits this season are great as well. They are very simple, but still elegant, with soft, curved lines and balancing both warm and cool colors. Especially in his outfit during the Joan of Arc episode.

Canada: Season 5

I think I'm starting to have a favorite season in terms of character designs here. Canada just looks his cutest here, primarily because of his outfits. He has one of the most adorable and cozy wardrobes this season, and I want to raid this man's entire closet. I love the flannels and cozy jackets and hoodies that he has. As someone who grew up most of her life in northwest Montana (which, if you ask the rest of the US, is basically just lower Canada), I think I have to be a little biased here. Canada's design gives me the feeling of home in a way, and this is definitely a wardrobe that I embrace for a time growing up.

Austria: Seasons 1-4

The hair curl in his cowlick hits harder here, just getting that out of the way. There's more of a curl to it, which is more reflective of Himaruya's art style. And even though his wardrobe in the latter seasons is great, this one all around looks better to me. I like the royal blue lined with the deep red. And the cravat is just a fabulous detail that I love. Now that I think about it, everything about this design just feels very Himaruya. Like, this is one of his best character designs. There's also the placement of the mole on the bottom right-hand side of his face. In other designs, it's not as prominent. But here it's easier to see. I feel like it makes the design all the more unique.

Hungary: Seasons 1-4

THIS. This design for aph Hungary is top tier, and nobody can convince me otherwise. Something that has always intrigued me about Hungary is that she was raised primarily around men. So much so to the point where she saw herself as one growing up. But when she got older and realized she was actually a woman, she ended up adopting more feminine clothing and characteristics. Aph Hungary is a female character who balances both feminine and masculine traits. And her design from seasons 1-4 emulate this balance perfectly. Her long hair is a pale brown color, and her eyes a dark green. Unlike later seasons where she's given long, shiny, elegant hair and sparkling eyes. She's often found wearing either military uniforms or pretty dresses. We even see the evolution of her fashion from child to adult, where she goes from wearing her hair shorter to wearing it longer and with a flower. Her design encapsulates the idea that, yes, she is a woman. Yes, she is feminine. But at the same time, this is someone who has seen war and battle. (I might have to do a separate post about Hungary, because her design and character are honestly fascinating).

[poppyplate]

minor season 5 spoilers for lmk!!!

(some sketches + my thoughts on the new season :0)

this season was so good!! i'm gonna put my long rant about my thoughts below, just cause i have a lot of things i wanna talk about :3

animation: ik the animation change was jarring for some people and i did almost cry about flying bark leaving the show when the news first dropped, but i honestly think wildbrain did a great job and the animation is still super cute and fun. it's definitely different and you can tell, but they still do all the silly animation things that flying bark did and this season honestly had some of my favourite humor (visual and otherwise).

i'll definitely miss the old animation, fully hand drawn 2D animation is becoming harder to come by in cartoons now so it's sad to see this show lose one of the most exciting aspects of it, but i'm looking forward to seeing how wildbrain does in the following season(s?). i'm honestly just glad we're getting more monkie kid content.

plot: i did enjoy the plot they set up. this season did feel different pacing wise? if that makes sense. not that it's necessarily bad i just noticed it felt a bit different. i'm really excited to see more about this whole chaos thing.

ik li jing wasn't necessarily a villain, but he was an antagonist for a bit so i'm adding my two cents about him and nezha. i didn't love what they did with their story arc, but ik there's only so much that can be done in a 10 episode season where each episode is only 10 minutes long. i think their arc would've just benefited from more time :(

villain(s): i think the nine headed demon is such an interesting character (even though he did confuse me a bit) so i hope we get to see more of him. probably my favourite big bad so far personality-wise.

main characters: i'm glad sun wukong had more screentime this season!! he always either isn't around or gets trapped, so it's nice that he was present again.

i definitely felt this season focused a lot more on the monkie trio, which was bound to happen, but i like them so i was fine with it. idk how much of a redemption arc macaque is trying to have, but i kind of hope it's not a standard redemption arc. not that i didn't enjoy macaque's character this or any other season, i do like him most of the time. i just personally hope they keep him as more of a neutral figure even if he does stick around with the group.

i don't have much to say on mk that hasn't already been said. i love the guy and i hope he gets to be happy again soon T^T

side characters? ig: i thought mei and red son's episode was cute. i love dragonfruit interactions a lot, but i do hope red son gets some more screentime next season cause i miss him </3

i am happy sandy got some more screentime though, his episode with mk was cute. also tang was so real this season, he's just like me fr (i hate manual labor).

other notes and whatnot: this season felt shorter somehow, even though it wasn't and i'm not sure if we'll be getting a special like we always do or if they're just going to move on to the next season. either way, i'm excited to see where it goes from here.

although i wasn't in love with the ending of this season, it just felt a tad rushed and i definitely think we would've benefited from a few special episodes again.

i'd give this season a solid 8/10. i would love to go through all the episodes and share my thoughts on them, but i'm just gonna share my ranking of the episodes.

(i feel pretty even with 1-2 and 3-5)

1. collar the king

2. temple of the goddess

3. the cage

4. sacrifice

5. strings that bind

6. into the pagoda

7. claim to flame

8. harbinger

9. the storm within

10. festival fugitives

[idolish7imagines]

Hello! I hope it's okay to request how TRIGGER would show their jealousy for a S/O who's friendly and caring to everyone? Thank you in advance!

TRIGGER would show their jealousy for a S/O who's friendly and caring to everyone

A/N: Sorry this took so long! I hope you enjoy it!

.::.

Gaku Yaotome

Gaku takes great pride in you being his s/o, practically everyone's darling around the company of both his coworkers, staff and friends

everyone except his sometimes, apparently.

He's 100% for you to be independent and having strong relationships with others, being dependable and all that. But he can tend to get...possessive for lack of a better term.

He knows he's special to you, thats something in which his confidence would never wain, but he does need his alone, quality time with you. It helps him recharge especially after a long day.

As much as he loves that you're always present and there for both his and your own friends, he's still not above blurting out his needs that you should take a break from tending to everyone else and do something chill with him, like watching a movie or going for a drive.

His schedule was already hectic in certain seasons, so quality time is important to him as it is

It doesn't happen too quick at least, he'll give at least a 2 week grace period before his arms wrap around you from behind and he practically begs you to not leave and go do something besides being at his side.

With that said, its pretty easy to recognize when he's jealous.

Even if he's on good terms with the person, there's a painfully particular frown he gives when you're talking to them and he's been left out while standing by.

One thats easy for people that aren't you to spot as well, which has led to much more teasing than he'd be willing to admit.

Though the good part is that after his bouts of jealousy he feels the need to make up for lost time by taking you to an expensive dinner to remind the both of you how exclusive your relationship is

Kujo Tenn

Tenn is conflicted

He once had an impulsive thought to take you out more, but all his ideas would greatly interfere with his schedule, at least the ones that he feels would be enough to consider quality time

Sometmes he feels like you belong to everyone and not just him; which isn't necassarily bad, in fact he can relate, always trying to please his fans over his own needs and wants

The fact you're so kind is part of why he fell for you. Even when he had his moments where other people would consider him cold, you were always nice and understanding towards him

But that doesn't mean he won't pout like an annoyed cat when he sees you mingling at small parties and even with his other group members while leaving him in the background practically.

At times he's even petty enough to excuse himself from the room while pretending he has something better to do (though he usually comes back at realizing he's being a tad childish)

Once you notice he's jealous he'll ignore you a bit as 'punishment' but all you have to do is pet his head or let him rest it on your lap and its like he's reset and all is forgiven

He won't go as far as wanting to have you cut contact with the person at least not verbally but you can tell when he'd prefer to have your attention more

Alternatively you can buy him sweets and he'll be a little more content

but he definitely wants to go on some kind of date with you. Maybe two for good measure. Of just you and him, whether its something a bit more outside like going to the amusment park or just spending the day in each other's presence without taking any other calls (unless its for work)

Tsunashi Ryunosuke

Ryunosuke is not a jealous man. He trusts his s/o 100% (which would be a catastrophe if his judgement of character wasn't astute before dating someone)

Though it'd be a lie to say he didn't still go through his bouts of loneliness when its been a while since he's seen his fellow group members or even you due to his schedule. He wants to be happier when you tell him about the other things you've done, but ends up having a bittersweet taste in his mouth after hearing it.

It moreso makes him feel bad that he can't control his emotions getting the better of him, rather than directing it towards you.

And so, after realization, Ryuu figures the best way to cure it is to try and catch you the next time the both of you have enough free time to make your relationship feel special again. Easier said than done though.

Unlike Gaku, he wouldn't ask for much in terms of spending time with you alone. Just a night spent at either of your homes, making dinner or even ordering in and watching something and talking.

Weirdly enough, his other friends notice faster than you his feelings about the matter. He still looks at you fondly when you aren't looking back, but its different.

After a few attempts at denying when being asked about it, he'd finally admit that he'd been missing you

Even if the person he's jealous of is in vicinity when they hear that its pretty hard to be upset with him when he puts on such a genuinely somber face

Ryuu tries not to make a big deal out of it, assuring that he's fine with whatever you choose to do with your time

(which, obviously you'd spend more time with him)

[mikesgaylittlethoughts]

'when blue and yellow meet in the west' pt.2

I reached the image limit in the first post so season four will need it's own post.

First part is here!

⭑ Season 4:

Ah, yes, the lying, hiding and miscommunication season. This should be great.

El's outfit at the start has a lot of red, but still with some blue. Mike isn't around now, and she's being mostly true to herself at school, but that's the issue. People are mean as hell and don't like her for who she is.

She wants so badly to be seen as normal, to live the life of an ordinary girl, but even now she's seen as weird and unusual. At least one sweet detail i noticed is that the flannel she's wearing might have been Joyce's.

I also find it sweet how red has been incorporated into Will's outfits, too. It happened a few seasons back, and it's a nice detail considering how undeniably close he and El are.

Mike's in his Hellfire shirt. With El away, he doesn't feel the need to perform so much anymore, and feels more free to actively enjoy his interests and be himself again.

The day Mike came to California, El was, once again, wearing mainly blue.

And then there's.... Michael's outfit....

Mmhm. Yellow over purplish blue. This is the outfit for the awkward ass airport hug, and the entirety of Rink-o-Mania, until they get home.

After his s3 realizations, he went straight back to repression. Acting totally weird around Will and forcefully happy around El again.

While Mike wears yellow, Will wears blue.

Oh, also, the flowers Mike picked for El had "too much yellow", and "vomit green socks".

Mike's fight with El here is a super important scene to mention. He's wearing mostly blue with just a few yellow accents, but he's still lying to El, isn't he?

Oh, he's lying, alright. It's just not working.

El isn't running with it like usual. She's crying, confronting him about not being able to tell her he loves him and Mike's trying to convince her but even then, he can't say it. Eleven can see right through him. And the yellow... Well, I think we know why Mike can't say he loves her.

The monologue scene is the same case. About 0% of what he said in it was true, but El knows that. That's exactly why it didn't work.

This is when the pink starts showing up again, but there are still layers of blue to remove before it's free.

Mike and Will switch back to their respective colors again, and make up from their previous fights. Will wears blue and yellow, and Mike wears that blue shirt with that godforsaken sideways pocket.

These are the outfits they're forced to stay in for the rest of the season cause everything goes to shit afterwards.

Throughout the season, El sheds her blue layers, until finally, she's all pink.

She realized she doesn't need him and they're definitely going to break up next season. She's finally free and will finally get to be herself without molding her image to fit into what others think she should be like.

Now it's Mike's turn to free himself.

────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

Okay, that was a lot! Once again, thank you @62percentmaplesyrup for all the help !!! I'll leave her posts linked down here if you guys wanna look for yourselves, it's a super interesting detail.

Here and here!

If any of you actually read through all of this, i really appreciate it. I worked on this for days on end lmao.

anyway byler endgame stay gay losersss

[sencrose]

binged squid game s2 all day so here are some thoughts (spoilers ahead)

overall a lot better than i was expecting for a season 2. esp bc i feel like s1 ended at a fine point and there was no need for a second season. this was still fun though

obligatory holy shit gong yoo deepthroating the gun uhhhhhhhhh HELLO!!!!!!!!!! it’s so funny seeing him in this role being so insane bc the first thing i think of when i see his name is goblin LMFAO

i was betting on either geumja or yongsik dying in the carousel game like. i was so fucking stressed especially when they got separated. having the two of them in the game actually is so bad for my heart lmfao. idk how next season is gonna pan out but if either of them die before the other i will sob my eyes out for sure

on the above point, i definitely thought they were going to make the last number one instead of two to really cull the numbers but i guess they don’t wanna be that depressing (yet)

definitely gasped when mf crypto bro scammer pushed youngmi out of the room and she died. i actually cannot stand him LMAO. not only that but he gets a girl pregnant, ghosts her, scams her, and tries to weasel his way back into her life for her money? yeah die. when junhee told him to fuck off me and my bf were cheering her on lmao

공기 LETS FUCKING GO!!!! i was struggling so hard to try and explain it to my bf before realizing it’s just jacks with extra steps lmfao. i played it a lot growing up so it was cool to see 8) didn’t know about the stereotype of it being a “women’s game” though LOL

ngl. top’s character was so cringe (i also think he’s a little too old to be playing what feels like a zoomer coded character) but i did giggle when he said “fucking 시발롬아 bitch” like bro. you are sooooooo not serious about anything. (also noticed him doing the bang bang bang choreo on the carousel lmao nice easter egg)

boat captain park being in on it made me so sad but like… it makes sense, esp. with the booby traps and how he just happened to be the one to find junho’s unconscious body

i don’t think 246 (amusement park sketch artist) is dead, i’m assuming he got a non-lethal shot by noeul bc she didn’t want anyone else to kill him/felt guilty

honestly surprised the frontman let the uprising get so far but hey i guess it means he got an easy excuse to be “killed off” until the big reveal mayhaps? anyways gihun you’ve gotta stop trusting player 001s

hyunju has death flags all over her and i hope they give her a proper death and nothing off screen bc i will riot. rlly loved seeing her take charge during the revolt but damn she really should’ve went for the magazines instead of daeho. like. i was cringing when he said he was gonna go for it bc i could not see it going well

[scribblesandchai]

Some Things Never Change (Squealing Santa 2024)

Summary: While Leo works towards recovery, Raph takes it upon himself to lift his big brother’s spirits.

Author’s Notes: This is for you, Tortoise Anon! I hope you like what I’ve come up with! 2012 was the show I most actively watched as a child, so I was so excited to do some writing for it! This takes place sometime after season 2 episode 26; warnings battle-related trauma, loss of identity and general angst.

Even with Leo conscious again, it was clear it would take a long time for the turtle to fully recover, if a full recovery was even possible to begin with. His muscles had weakened from his months spent stagnant in the bathtub; Donnie said he was lucky they hadn’t atrophied more, considering how long they had went without use. Holding anything that weighed more than a carton of milk took immense effort, and Leo found himself struggling with tasks he once found as easy as breathing. Cleaning and sharpening his katanas, an activity Leo once found great comfort in, now left the eldest brother frustrated and exhausted after fumbling to properly hold the blades within his weakened fingers.

The nightmares weren’t fun, either. It felt like an every time he closed his eyes, memories would replay in his mind over and over like a broken VHS. A flash of silver claws, Splinter’s pained gasps, pain erupting from every inch of Leo’s battered body, a hand grasping harshly at his throat and stealing his breath away. He knew the others were aware of them; how could they not be when he awoke screaming every other night? Leo was mortified; his brothers had been through enough, the last thing they needed was to see their big brother crumble into tears from a few nightmares.

And then there was his voice. His larynx had been damaged so severely that his voice had been permanently altered. Of all of the injuries he had sustained, it had been the one to bother him the most. Every time he opened his lips, he would be greeted with a voice that was not his own, a stranger’s inflections and tenor resonating from within him like he was some kind of puppet. Realistically, Leo knew he should have been grateful. After all, the Shredder could have left him permanently mute. However, his voice had been a part of him, an aspect of his identity that was now stripped away for good. He felt violated, a sickness pooling in the pit of his stomach every time he had to speak.

It wasn’t him, and yet, it was.

His brothers had each tried to console him in their own way. Donnie had assured him that, perhaps with time, his throat would heal enough for his real voice to start coming back, an assurance that both turtles knew wasn’t true. Mikey had told him that his new voice sounded cool, like a movie star or Captain Ryan. The thought was nice, but Leo hardly saw the comparison. And then there was Raph, who merely chose not to acknowledge it, treating Leo like he always had, albeit with a subtle gentleness that hadn’t been present before. Leo liked his approach best, though it still did little to ease his mind.

Raph had also taken it upon himself to "whip his fearless leader back into shape," as he put it. This meant getting up at the crack of dawn and spending hours relearning how to wield his katanas, how to dodge attacks, how to do basic training exercises that had once come to Leo as easy as blinking. It was frustrating, yes, but part of the turtle couldn't help but appreciate Raph's refusal to coddle him. While the red masked brother was definitely being gentler than he normally would, he still made sure to give Leo a decent fight. He wasn't treating him like he was fragile, unafraid to smack Leo in the back of the head or sweep his knees out from under him (only when they were training over a soft surface like grass, though, a detail Leo failed to notice).

"Come on, Leo! Get up and hit me!" Raph urged as Leo found himself once again getting knocked flat on his ass. The blue masked turtle let out a small huff, his muscles aching. The familiar burn of exertion was welcome after what felt like ages of stagnation, but that didn't make it anymore comfortable.

"Easy for you to say." Leo retorted, slowly pulling himself back onto his feet. "Donnie said it could be months before I can go toe to toe with MIKEY, more or less YOU."

"Excuse, excuses." Raph tutted, though a playful smile was tugging at his lips. "The Leo I know wouldn't let that stop him. Come on, you know you wanna knock me down, so DO IT!"

Leo huffed, a small chuckle slipping past his lips as he rolled his eyes. "You have no idea..." He reassumed his fighting position, katanas held in his shaky grip. He was getting better at handling them again, at the very least, a small comfort for the turtle. It felt good to be able to lift the shining blades again, the sun reflecting off the metal in a way Leo had always found beautiful.

Raph’s grin widened as he squared up, getting into a defensive stance. “That’s the spirit! C’mon, I won’t bite! Might kick your ass, though!” He teased.

Leo’s brow furrowed as he took a few tentative steps forward, his muscles still stiff from the hours of training. Each movement was calculated and slower than it had been in the past, but the sensation of his katanas in his hands, light as they were, his grip not quite as firm as it used to be, still brought a flicker of something familiar. Despite his body’s limitations, Leo wanted to fight. He needed to fight.

So he pushed through, using what little strength he had to swing one katana toward Raph’s side, but his arm faltered just as he reached the apex of the move. The blade wavered, and in that instant, Raph’s fist was already headed for Leo’s chest, sweeping his feet out from under him once again.

Thud.

“Nice try, Leo.” Raph chuckled, offering Leo a hand to help him up.

Leo glared up at his brother as he was pulled to his feet, a mix of frustration and reluctant admiration in his eyes. “You’re getting way too good at this.”

Raph’s expression softened for a moment, his usual teasing smirk giving way to a more understanding look. “Hey, we’ll get there. I know it sucks right now, but you’ve already come a long way.”

“Not far enough,” Leo muttered, brushing himself off. He wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed. “I used to be so much better than this. I used to-”

“Used to be.” Raph cut him off, his voice firm but not unkind. “But you’re still you, Leo. And you’re gonna get back to where you were. I’m not gonna let you quit.”

Leo couldn’t help but feel a strange mixture of gratitude and guilt. His brother was putting so much effort into helping him recover, but it still felt like a huge mountain to climb. And Leo wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep pretending that everything was okay.

Before he could voice another doubt, Raph slapped him on the back hard enough to make Leo stumble forward a bit, his muscles protesting with the sudden movement. “Quit lookin’ like a sad puppy, bro. You’re tougher than this.”

Leo gave him a half-smile, appreciating Raph’s attempt to lift his spirits. “You’ve been a real pain lately, you know that?”

“Yeah, well, someone’s gotta be. You think Mikey’s gonna be serious about your training?” Raph snorted. “Dude’s idea of a workout is eating pizza and watching cartoons.”

Leo snickered despite himself. "Yeah, but he's still in better shape than me right now."

"Only 'cause he's never had to use his brain like you do." Raph grinned again, nudging him with his elbow. "And speaking of that, you're not getting off that easy today. We’re doing a new drill."

Leo’s heart sank. “I don’t know, Raph…”

“Ohoho no. You’re not getting out of this one.” Raph’s eyes glinted with that mischievous look Leo knew all too well. “We’re gonna do some target practice. But there’s a twist.”

“A twist?” Leo raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious.

Raph cracked his knuckles with a grin. “Come on, Leo. You’ve been on edge lately, acting all stiff and wound up. Maybe trying some evasion moves is just what you need; it won't hurt to take a break from the katanas for a bit.”

“Alright, I'm game. But what exactly is the "twist" supposed to be?" Leo replied with a small sigh, shoulders slumping in defeat.

Raph chuckled, stepping closer. “Tickling. When I catch you, and I WILL catch you, I get to tickle ya to tears.”

Leo's eyes shot wide open, the turtle nearly stumbling over his own feet as he started quickly backing away. "W-What? No! That's stupid!" He yelped. He raised his katanas defensively, though the motion was slow and clearly less effective than it once would’ve been. "Besides, I'm not even that ticklish!" He tried, though even as he said it, his voice sounded more like a challenge than a declaration.

“Sure you’re not.” Raph teased, inching closer with exaggerated steps. “But we both know the truth, don’t we? You're worse than Mikey!”

Leo’s eyes widened. “No, Raph. Don’t-”

Before Leo could even react, Raph pounced, both hands swooping in to gently but relentlessly grab Leo’s sides, fingers wiggling into the ribs that were still tender from weeks of little movement. The instant Raph’s fingers made contact, Leo erupted into a mixture of gasps and chuckles, unable to contain the burst of laughter that surged through him. His body tensed instinctively, trying to block Raph’s hands, but the tickling was too much.

“Rajahahahahahahahaph! No!” Leo gasped through a laugh, stumbling backward again as his brother pursued him relentlessly. “You...yohohohohou’re...not fuhuhuhuhuhunny!”

“I think I am!” Raph shot back, his voice light but affectionate, as his hands moved to poke at Leo’s belly. "Coochie coochie cooooo, big brother!"

Leo’s legs wobbled as he attempted to dodge, but the effort was half-hearted. His body was too drained, and the laughter kept coming, louder than he expected. He hadn’t realized just how much tension he was holding until Raph started getting him good, and the laughter was his body’s way of releasing all the stress.

“Raph, stahahahahahap! Cuhuhuhuhuhut it ohohohout, nooooohohohohooo!” Leo managed, his voice much lighter now, his serious, grim demeanor cracking. "I cahahan't-"

But Raph was relentless, his hands moving expertly from Leo’s sides to his ribs, then lower, making sure to hit every vulnerable spot.

After a few minutes, Leo had completely forgotten about the weight of his muscles, the pressure of his injuries, and even the weight of his self-consciousness. He was too busy laughing, the kind of full-bodied laughter that came from the depths of his chest, the kind he hadn’t allowed himself to have in months.

Finally, when Leo thought he was about to pass out from laughing so hard, Raph pulled away, his hands raised in mock surrender.

“Alright, alright. I’ll give you a break, Fearless Leader.” Raph said, breathing slightly heavier from his own effort. “But I gotta say, you look a lot less like you’re about to collapse and a lot more like yourself right now.”

Leo panted, still chuckling, wiping his eyes. “I hate you...” He wheezed.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me that when you’re not laughing,” Raph smirked, extending a hand to help Leo back to his feet. “Come on. We’ve got a long road ahead. But, hey, if you need me to remind you how much I love tickling you, just say the word.”

Leo stared at his brother for a long moment, his breathing slowly returning to normal. He could feel the warmth of the laughter still bubbling inside him, the weight of it lightening his heart.

“Maybe I won’t. Not for a while.” Leo gave him a shaky, genuine smile.

“Good,” Raph said with a grin, and for the first time in a long time, Leo believed that things would get better.

Even if it meant enduring a little more tickling along the way.

[aspoonofsugar]

what do you think of Cherri Bomb as a character? Do you think she was developing feelings for Sir Pentious? What will Cherri Bomb and Sir Pentious dynamic will be in season 2 now that Sir Pentious is in heaven and Cherri Bomb is in hell?

Hi!

I like her, but she lacks focus, so it is difficult to analyze her.

I think she is set up as a foil to Angel, given their shared music video Addicted. In particular, she is clearly addicted to superficial romance with people:

Angel Dust: There's room for everyone, and ya know… you could come crash with us too. Cherri: Okay, look, Angie, I'm glad this hotel shit is workin' for you, but you know me, bitch, I'm doin' just fine! In fact, I'm gonna fuck the next guy I see, okay? But if you need me, you know where to find me, yeah?

The moment Angel tries to invite her into the Hotel, she deflects and immediately rushes into occasional sex. Given the bit of lore about her we have from Addicted, it is possible she was let down by a previous lover. As a result, it makes sense for her arc to be about learning to love healthily and deeply again. In this sense, her love story with Pentious could work very well and serve as a nice foil to Husk and Angel's one.

I don't know about their dynamic, though, as I have no idea how the heaven plot will develop :''') However, it was said Pentious and Cherri will get their own song, so they are definitely getting focus!

So, the short version is: I think Cherri was starting to notice Pentious (she did not register him as a romantic partner until the final battle), but I think she had still to properly develop deep feelings. I think she will get her soon enough, though.

Thank you for the ask!

[gobs-o-dice]

Dice Set #203: Glacial Moonstone Silver (Green)

Okay, so, you might have been wondering (to the extent that anyone is paying that much attention to things here), back during Sets 197, 198, and 199, why there was no "Winter Solstice" set. And you might be wondering about the name.

Well, back when Die Hard Dice first released that line of dice, it was specifically as a counterpart to their existing Moonstone dice, such as Purple Moonstone (my Set #90) or Moonstone Dreamwalker (Set #133)

But in this case, the main one to look at is Set #130 - Glacial Moonstone, as I called it:

(I probably would have used "Blue" in that name somewhere, now, but at the time, it was the only one I planned on getting)

There's your wintery counterpart to complete the set of seasons.

But then, Christmas holiday deals come around, and I get today's set out of their holiday bundle, along with tomorrow's set. So, nice, more winter dice.

"But Gobs/Naz/Jeff," you might ask [Re-Ask. Remember, I said you asked about it in the framing device above too :p] - "Why do you have 'Green' in parentheses in the name you have for this set?"

Well... Let me tell you:

Sometime Later, I got a second set of Glacial Moonstone Silver as a bonus set when I ordered from Die Hard. I was content to just call that one "Second Glacial Moonstone Silver" (Set #257, to be precise about order, if not timing) and accept that inevitably, the two sets would become intertwined during a hoardscape shoot, and I would never know which was which, originally.

(Set 1 above, Set 2 below)

But...

During cleanup of some hoardscape/other photo session of some sort, I noticed something. It's a little tricky to capture with still images, though.

(Set 1 above, Set 2 below, again)

Can you see it?

Now - Both sets of dice are made from the same white acrylic that has a green tint to it under direct light, or might pick up some warmer orange hints from the light itself. That's not the green I refer to in the name. The second set got the addition "(Pink)" to its name

On DHD's site, they currently describe the Glacial Moonstone with Silver set as having a "light green and blue shimmer", which holds pretty true for the first one:

But for whatever reason, my second set has a definitely more pink shimmer to it:

It's much, much more obvious when the sets are in-motion - To the point that I'm pretty reasonably certain of which dice belong to which set.

I even had gone back and confirmed it by looking at their sets of photos, because they definitely were taken before the two sets ever could have intermingled. Like I say, it's much more obvious in motion, but you definitely can see the pink in the second set and the green-blue in the first one, though it's less obvious.

My guess? The batch of dice this set is from was either an experiment that they didn't pursue further, or perhaps a screw-up in the factory - Pink glitter being used instead of the regular blue-green glitter.

And since DHD is in the habit of including bonus sets with all their orders (well, was anyway - I don't know if they still do, haven't ordered from them in a long while), they used the pink-glitter Glacial Moonstones as the freebie for my order and presumably others from around that time.

So, yeah, that's storytime for tonight, I suppose.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s6 ep18: Ashes to Ashes

This one just kind of bothers me from every angle-nothing about the main plot line works in this one. There's a nice B plot with Seven and the Borglets, but the two plots didn't thematically tie together in any way.

The whole concept of a race of aliens that reproduces by reanimating dead bodies is just so dumb. A corpse that's been dead for weeks can't be revived, no matter how advanced their technology is. Once there's no brain activity for that long, there would be nothing to revive, even if they could get the autonomic functions to restart. And if they can't reproduce naturally, how did they even come into being in the first place?? I guess they must have, at one point, and lost the ability somehow, but if they're advanced enough to reanimate corpses, why wouldn't they just cure their own infertility instead?? It makes no sense at all.

But worse even than that is the attempt to shoehorn in an entirely new character, and say that she'd been close friends with Harry all along. What?? Six years in, and we've never seen or heard of Harry's supposedly extremely close best friend, who he's been extremely close with since academy days, and had a crush on that whole time, who was on Voyager with him for 3-ish years, until she died on an away mission under his command, and yet he never talked about her even once?? That's just way too much of a stretch. First of all- Harry joined Voyager straight out the Academy, and he was dating Libby (remember her? the writers clearly don't!) at the time- so he was in a relationship with Libby while he was supposed to be in love with Lyndsay? And he says he decided not to pursue Lyndsay when they both got assigned to Voyager, but he was definitely still with Libby at that time, so I should certainly hope he wouldn't be pursuing someone when he's already in a relationship! He was still very loyal to Libby in the beginning, so I just don't see how he could have been in love with Lyndsay and toying with the idea of pursuing her at the same time. It just makes Harry look like a creep- don't do that to him!

And then to say that Harry had a super close best friend from the Academy on Voyager with him during the whole time that he was becoming best friends with Tom also makes no sense and basically retcons the entire series. The whole thing about Tom and Harry was that they were both on a new ship with no friends and latched on to each other- if Harry already had that, it throws off their dynamic, but more than that, there's no way Harry could have had two best friends on Voyager who never interacted at all in 3 whole years. There's no way we wouldn't have seen them together, no way he wouldn't have talked to Tom about her, ever, no way her death wouldn't have noticeably affected him. If she's close enough to Harry that she just shows up in his quarters in the middle of the night when she's upset, she would have been close enough to be hanging out with him and Tom and B'Elanna. And why wouldn't he have dated her after he gave up on seeing Libby again? He dated one of the Delaney sisters, who he didn't even really like! If he had his Academy crush right there, he'd have dated her. And when exactly was she supposed to have died? They said it was a Hirogen attack 3 years ago, but this is season 6, and the Hirogen were introduced mid season 4, so it couldn't have been more than 2 years ago. Nobody bothered to fact check or make anything make sense in this ep. It's just bad writing.

On the one hand, I get that they needed a regular character to be friends with Lyndsay so the the audience would be invested in her, but there really was no way to use any of the regular characters that way and make it believable. They're all so tight knit, you can't believably shoehorn a character like this in there without it feeling like a huge betrayal that we never saw them, if they were there the whole time. They just shouldn't have made the main emotional journey that of a guest character to begin with, especially when we've just added 4 new regular characters with the Borg children, in addition to 9 main cast, who already have too little focus since Seven was introduced.

In the end, despite her romance with Harry (I totally forgot they kissed, and it's implied that they had sex too) she decides to go back to the aliens who resurrected her, the Kobali, because she feels like she doesn't fit in anymore on Voyager. It seems unlikely that just having her DNA altered and looking like a Kobali would make her feel more kinship with them after only two years, especially when she remembers so much of her life on Voyager in such detail. They threw in a mention of her not remembering her dad at all, but other than that, she had completely intact memories of Voyager and her Academy days with Harry. It just wasn't believable that she'd go back to the Kobali. (Even though she obviously had to, from a plot standoint. They couldn't just leave a character who's supposedly so close to Harry on board without making her a regular, which they obviously weren't going to do.)

The farewell scene between her and Harry feels oddly flat- I suppose they had to downplay her attachment to Harry to make it believeable for her to want to leave him, but I still didn't buy it. They had really good chemistry together, and after spending the whole episode insistently building up the intimacy between them, her suddenly bailing when they finally got together felt very forced.

The B plot about Seven attempting to wrangle the Borglets was cute, with Seven trying to structure their time down to the last minute, and the kids rebelling accordingly (in an incredibly orderly Borg way lol). After a pep talk from Space Dad Chakotay, Seven realizes she has to give the children more freedom, and it's very cute to watch them become a weird little family unit.

The end scene is structurally a little weird, since it ends with Harry pining over Lyndsay's hairbrush, but the little Borg girl, Mezoti, sees it and likes it. He gives it to her, and takes her to the holodeck to go prank Tuvok with his Vulcan temple program, like he had been planning to do with Lyndsay. It's cute, but I feel like it should have been Tom he went to the holodeck with, since thematically, it puts Mezoti in the position of substituting for Harry's lost love, which she isn't an important enough character to him to do. I know they were trying to tie the A and B plots together, but it just felt like yet another symptom of this writer not knowing how to properly handle characters and their relationships to make them feel believable and satisfying. None of the other characters seemed to have any feelings or reaction at all to suddenly seeing someone they thought was dead again, and they all should have had. It's just poorly handled at every turn.

Tl;dr: A weak idea marred by even poorer execution. Despite the actress being very likable, Ensign Ballard feels like an uncanny changeling because we'd never seen or heard of her before, and the whole story was predicated on being invested in her and Harry's relationship, which I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to do. A wasted episode, redeemed only by it's cute b-plot.

[torahoes]

(IDOLiSH7) Touma Inumaru - An Idol's Daily Life Rabbit Chat: Part 4 - The day I could become the strongest

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Tsumugi Takanashi: Good work today, Inumaru-san. I watched the show where you took the dogs for a walk!

Tsumugi Takanashi: The way Panda-kun warmed up to both of you was incredibly cute! Especially that moment at the end of the show when he didn’t want to say goodbye and jumped into your arms. It was so heartwarming...!

Touma Inumaru: Good work, Takanashi-san! Thanks for watching the show!

Touma Inumaru: I just watched it with my members too! The ending was really adorable, right? It made me want to go see Panda-kun again lolol

Tsumugi Takanashi: So you watched it with everyone. Gathering to watch a show together sounds lovely!

Touma Inumaru: We’re currently staying at a cottage for a shoot, and Haru was like, "Hey, isn't that show airing today?"

Touma Inumaru: Everyone found Panda's name hilarious!

Tsumugi Takanashi: It's surprising at first, isn't it? Lol

Touma Inumaru: Tora was puzzled and was trying to figure out the humor in naming another animal 'Panda' lolol

Touma Inumaru: But he praised it, saying it’s a name you can’t forget once you hear it.

Tsumugi Takanashi:

Tsumugi Takanashi: Are you all still together right now?

Touma Inumaru: No, we're off doing our own things, like taking a bath and relaxing. We’re in a place about an hour by car from Tokyo. It’s a really nice place, full of nature.

Touma Inumaru: I was just chilling with a cup of herbal tea until a moment ago lol

Tsumugi Takanashi:

1) How is it being out in nature?

Touma Inumaru: It’s awesome! The air is fresh, and the river water is crystal clear. We all cooled off by dipping our feet in the river, but Haru slipped and fell in. When I tried to help him, I ended up soaking wet too lol

2) What kind of shoot did you do?

Touma Inumaru: We did a shoot focused on enjoying nature, so we did things like playing in the river and chopping wood! The campfire was kind of emotional. I feel like we talked about things we usually wouldn’t lol

3) Have you had dinner?

Touma Inumaru: We cooked the fish we caught ourselves, and it was insanely good! Even though it was simply grilled and seasoned with salt, Tora said it wasn’t much different from high-end fish and was really moved! I think the memories we made today probably made it taste even more special.

Touma Inumaru: I just stepped outside, and the stars are incredible! It’s really like the sky is full of stars! Thanks to the clear weather, it looks even more beautiful.

Tsumugi Takanashi: Wow! I’m so jealous! That’s one of the best parts of doing a shoot in nature.

Touma Inumaru: Right? I’ll invite everyone to come and see it later. Not to mention, it’s a full moon today!

Touma Inumaru: Maybe you can see it if the sky's clear over there too?

Tsumugi Takanashi: I’ll go check by the window!

Touma Inumaru: How's it looking?

Tsumugi Takanashi: I can see it! The full moon is truly beautiful.

Tsumugi Takanashi:

Touma Inumaru: I'm glad lol I was a bit worried about what to do if you couldn’t see it after I mentioned it lol

Tsumugi Takanashi: I wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t told me, so thank you! Seeing the full moon makes you feel happy, doesn't it?

Touma Inumaru: I know right! I don’t know why, but it makes me feel this inexplicable sense of gain.

Touma Inumaru: Maybe because it has a cool image associated with it?

Tsumugi Takanashi: Cool?

Touma Inumaru: There was an anime I watched as a kid that had a dark hero-like werewolf who protected humans.

Touma Inumaru: He could only use his special powers or become stronger on the night of a full moon.

Tsumugi Takanashi: You're right, that's definitely a common image. Werewolves often transform during the full moon in most stories too.

Touma Inumaru: Right? So, on full moon nights, I’d often feel stronger and pretend to howl, but my mom would scold me lolol

Tsumugi Takanashi: You really got into character! Lol

Tsumugi Takanashi:

Touma Inumaru: For me, it was the day I could become the strongest.

Touma Inumaru:

Touma Inumaru: Takanashi-san, did you have anything like that?

Tsumugi Takanashi: I loved the story about rabbits making mochi on the moon, so I was always looking for them!

Touma Inumaru: Rabbits, huh? That’s cute.

Touma Inumaru: Totally different from me howling lol

Tsumugi Takanashi: I suppose everyone has different images associated with the moon!

Touma Inumaru: Yeah! I’ll ask my members about it later too.

Touma Inumaru: They might be getting out of the bath soon, so I’ll go invite them!

Tsumugi Takanashi: Yes! Please take your time and enjoy yourselves!

End of Part 4.

[thefolkyfaery]

I wanna talk about a personal Steven Universe headcannon I've been thinking about for a couple of months, just for fun. That being said, I don't usually talk about fandom on here, and I'm not really into online fandom culture as a whole, so if this is a contentious topic, I apologize for my ignorance. Anyway, I know a lot of other aspec folks headconnon Peridot as aroace, but I've never noticed anyone talk about Lapis. I rewatched Steven Universe a couple of months ago, and something clicked, and I was like, "Oh, I think Lapis is aro." With Peridot, I definitely think her experience with fusion is very aroace coded, and I'm pretty sure some of the crew support the headconnon, but outside of the allegory I don't really see it personally. Of course, I would never tell someone that the headconnon isn't valid. It's kinda like headconnoning G3 Draculaura from Monster High as queer because her being a witch is written as a queer allegory despite the fact I'm pretty sure she's portrayed to be cishete and allo. I don't definitively know, I haven't seen season 2 yet. I can't quite say what it is, but there's something about Lapis I identify with as an aro person. I talked about it with one of my aro friends who's a Steven Universe fan when I was rewatching it. Also, I think Peridot and Lapis's friendship is very QPR coded. Obviously, it was toxic at times, but it's still nice to see an intimate on-screen friendship. Anyway, I guess I headconnon Lapis as aromantic.