#did we get confirmation on which one of those is right? because i've seen both lmao

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

I've been meaning to make a post on the new legends game since the announcement, but have continuously had stuff come up so finally getting around to it now. Noting now that I've only seen very little (I'll mention what beneath the cut) about it so if any of this has been proven/disproven, my bad I guess lmao. But yeah, with that in mind, these are my very late night thoughts/predictions for the game.

So starting off I want to say that the only things I have seen on this game is the trailer and that apparently the whole game happens within Lumiose City. My kneejerk reaction to it happening purely in Lumiose was disappointment but then I took a step back and remembered that this will be Lumiose before it becomes the city we know from X and Y. Realistically I cannot see them making the areas of the game either 1. any smaller than Legends Arceus or 2. if they are smaller, have any less areas than Legends Arceus. Like with all the work they've done since Sword and Shield with bigger areas, I have faith that the sizing won't be an issue here.

Plot wise I am a little nervous, but I think a lot of that is just because there's so much that is unknown for now. Like tbh we don't even know if it'll have the same elements as Legends Arceus. Like for all we know it's a level by level game that once you finish a level, you can't go back because that part of Lumiose will have been built. Like I doubt that's the case, I imagine it'll be similar to Legends Arceus because they know that works, but we just don't know for sure yet.

Much like everyone else, I do hope Zygarde gets a proper story and tbh I don't want the A in the title to be another legendary (I do have a theory that instead of a new one, it may be Arceus but we'll see), but as long as it's written well, I will be happy. I also do wonder if the swords of justice will play a role given them being based on the 3 musketeers and feeling like they should be in Kalos.

More broadly plotwise, I am also super happy that Kalos was picked because tbh it's one of my least favourite games given how many missed opportunities I felt it had (likely due to the lack of a 3rd game) so I am excited to hopefully see those gaps be filled.

But yeah, overall I will say though, with Legends Arceus being my favourite pokemon game, it does have a lot to live up to, and that makes me anxious.

As I'm sure is the case with most people, my main hope for this game is that there are new mega pokemon (and regional forms). And tbh, I hope that any pokemon that already has a mega doesn't get a new one... maybe with the exception of Blastoise and Venusaur because it'd be nice for Charizard to not have the special treatment lmao. I don't really have any hopes for specific pokemon to get a new form or mega, maybe something I wouldn't usually use. Like I had never used Muk before Sun and Moon and now Alolan Muk is a top 10 pokemon ever for me.

Starter wise, my first guess is that they will pick all 3 from ones that aren't generation 6 or generations that were picked for Legends Arceus. Sprigatito, Sobble and Torchic were the first to come to mind, but I also have a nagging (affectionate) feeling that Squirtle may also be picked. If I'm right, I will likely pick Sobble because I've never done a runthrough with it, but if it is Squirtle and not Sobble, I really don't know because I've used all three of those pretty evenly. Then again, Lavender specifically came from another region iirc (did we ever talk about the implications of this? Like the 'Hisuian' starter forms may not actually be from Hisui if he brought them along from where he was from. Like I know pokemon says it's the area that determines the form but it takes years/generations to adjust so there's likely another region that had at least similar if not the same final forms as the Hisuian starters) so they could use that as a reason to finally give the generation 6 starters a mega and/or new final form.

And there is probably more but it's 1am here so those thoughts will have to wait for another time.

[jeonscatalyst]

https://www.tumblr.com/jeonscatalyst/760242773222883328/this-all-of-this-and-every-single-bit-of-this?source=share

I do agree with this person's analysis of Jimin and Jungkook personalities, and I also agree that to some extent Jungkook's affection being rarer than Jimin's does make it more special to some fans, but where I disagree is that I don't think that's the main reason why fans seem to put more weight in what Jungkook does than what Jimin does.

Because while some fans will put this much thought on the differences in jikook's personalities, I don't think it's the majority that does. It's kinda of a problem we have actually. If people realised that Jimin and Jungkook are two different people with different ways of showing affection, then we wouldn't have to keep seeing the same stupid takes on their relationship over and over again. It's people expecting jikook to always do to the other the exact same thing the other did to them that causes so much annoying discourse.

But you know what a lot of shipper do love doing? Competing with one another. Competition is one of the main things in every k-pop fandom and sub-fandom, shippers are no exception. And when it comes to jikookers we all know the competition is with taekookers. We're always at each other's throats, let's be honest. And some spend just as much time taking about the rival ship as they do talking about their own ship.

Which leads me to what I believe is the real main reason why both sides (not just jikookers) view Jungkook's actions as more important. It's because he's the in-common person to both ships. He's like the main character in a love triangle. He's the one that ultimately decides who gets together in the end, not the two love interests, so their actions don't matter as much.

The point of contention with shippers has never really been whether or not Jimin or Taehyung like Jungkook, that's already assumed to be the case. With solos it's definitely an argument, but jikookers and taekookers focus more on each other than in solos. No, the real question has always been who does Jungkook like more: Jimin or Taehyung?

If Jimin declares his love for Jungkook jikookers will of course love that, but if Jungkook is the one who does it it'll matter more because it can be used against taekookers. Taekookers don't care if Jimin loves Jungkook or not, what he feels doesn't matter to them. Nothing Jimin says can prove anything to them. The confirmation has to come from Jungkook, that's the only way they'll care about it. And jikookers do care about one-upping taekookers. If we didn't we wouldn't spend so much time trying to prove to them that we're right.

There's been plenty of times when I've seen something that used to not matter suddenly become important the moment people realize it could be used in the shipping competition. It's a sort of 'I didn't care that much about that thing I have until I realized it could make the other side jealous'. Or 'I didn't want that thing until the other side got it and now I want it too'.

Things naturally hold more importance to people when those things have not only their own inherent value but also when they have the added bonus of pissing off someone you don't like. Jimin's love for Jungkook is important by itself but Jungkook's love for Jimin is seen as more important because it will also piss off taekookers.

I'm pretty sure that if the two biggest ships were jikook and vmin instead, then the most important thing suddenly would be Jimin's affection, regardless of how affectionate he is with everyone.

Again, I do agree some fans do consider jikook's differences and that that does influence how they value their actions, it's just that I think there's a bigger reason here.

I hope this didn't come across as me being a contrarian for the sake of it, I just wanted to add a separate perspective on the subject because I've had this opinion for a while and it seemed relevant to the topic. I also hope I was not to harsh on my opinions of other jikookers, but no fandom is without it's flaws and I think it's important to acknowledge them.

Anon, I owe you a cold beer right now because it seems like you read my mind.

This is exactly what I think too. It’s just mostly about the competition, the shipwars, the fights and the need to “win”. That’s really why people think Jungkook’s actions hold more meaning that Vmins. It’s like Jungkook is the prize that Vmin are desperately trying to win and every action or word of his is used as an affirmation or debunking. “Jungkook did this with Tae but didn’t do that with Jimin so Tae is his boyfriend”….just an endless cycle of bullshit.

Anyone who is mature and experienced enough understands that Jimin and Jungkook don’t have to express themselves exactly the same for things to be mutual. Jimin could say “I love you” to Jungkook and Jungkook wouldn’t say it back but would prefer to make a video of Jimin. So many people would say Jungkook didn’t reciprocate just because he didn’t do things exactly the way Jimin did when the truth is that he did, just in his own way.

When I see people coming up with useless takes or comparisons about their bond it pisses me off to no end because it’s the little things that Jungkook does. People would get pissed at Jungkook and say that he doesn’t show love to Jimin as much as Jimin does just because Jimin would constantly touch him, ask him to eat alot and is very vocal about his affection but Jungkook remembering that Jimin likes his food spicy and trying to make it just how Jimin likes it apparently means nothing because Jungkook wasn’t shouting on a roof top or Jungkook thinking of what to cook in Jeju and knowing that Jimin would love it doesn’t matter because he didn’t stand on a podium and announce it or Jungkook quietly getting water for Jimin and giving him to drink without him asking doesn’t mean a thing because he didn’t carry Jimin on his head. Sometimes I don’t even have the energy to argue because if only people understood Jungkook they would know that Jungkook doesn’t treat anyone the same way he does Jimin.

I personally can see how someone might naturally value Jungkook’s actions more because Jimin is a natural caring, nurturing and loving person to everyone so sometimes it is hard to tell if his actions mean more or it is just him being himself but with Jungkook, he tries as much as possible to be impartial but he just cannot help it when it comes to Jimin. He is pretty kind and caring towards everyone he loves too but not the same way Jimin does it plus Jungkook tends to go big when he expresses his affection for Jimin. So with Jimin we get little bits of love and affection more frequently than we get from Jungkook but once we get one from Jungkook, it is usually news worthy and kinda exclusive to Jimin so it hits harder.

I dunno. I might have gone off topic but like I said, I 100% agree with you.

[cinemastyles-backup]

Spill or Fill Part 2

Summary: After confirming their romance and getting engaged on James' show, Y/N and Harry continue to celebrate their engagement.

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, unprotected sex, creampie, pregnancy talk, alcohol consumption, hair pulling, choking, general filth

My original CinemaStyles-blog has been terminated, so I created a new one.

DUNKIRK HARRY

"Congratulation you guys." Jimmy says shaking his head, "I can't believe it. That was.. an epic, epic proposal If I must say."

The crowd cheers and Harry grabs my hand, "Thank you, Jimmy." I smile and looks around to the crowds and back to him, "Thank you, Mr. Fallon."

He laughs, "Oh gosh, please. Jimmy."

I nod, "Thank you, Jimmy."

"So. How did you guys even keep this hidden for so long?" Jimmy asks leaning forward. I look at Harry and he smiles, "I will tell you that it was definitely a challenge. I mean, look at her."

He looks over at me and the crowd cheers.

I blush and shake my head, "Oh Harry."

He squeezes my hand, "It was a fight not to wrap my arm around her when we were getting coffee or something. I like keeping her close to me."

Jimmy nods, "Im sure everyone has had speculations about you but let me just- let's take a look at this photo right here."

A photo appears on the screen of Harry and I standing outside of a shop, "It looks like two friends grabbing coffee catching up on life, you know?"

I nod, "We were in fact dating. I think, belive it or not, I was telling him how I wanted to hold his hand or something along those lines."

"Wow. Really?" Jimmy laughs, "You guys.. I mean wow. This is incredible. I don't think I've ever met anyone who could keep something like this under wraps for so long. Now.."

He looks at the crowed then back to us, "What made you propose during the spill or fill bit?"

The crowd cheers and Harry smiles and shakes his head, "I had absolutely no idea she was coming on. Her and James kept it under lock and key, which was impressive, honestly." He looks over at me, "we've actually talked about whether or not to make our relationship public a few times. She said she wasn't opposed to the idea, and with that I just-" he holds up my hand, showing off my ring.

Jimmy claps, "That's amazing. I'm like, wow. I'm fangirling for you, y/n."

I smile, "Oh trust me. When I seen Harry down on one knee, I was.. I wanted to scream."

I glance up at Harry and he smirks. I know exactly what he's thinking about.

"You guys broke the internet, and I know that because I went to Google something and Google actually told me that they couldn't function because Harry Styles was officially off the market."

Harry bursts out laughing. He tilts his head back and claps his hands together.

I laugh and lean forward, "Oh my gosh, that's hilarious."

The crowd erupts with laughter and Jimmy shakes his head, "Congratulations to the both of you. I wish you the best of luck, and I'll be waiting for my invite to come in mail." He smiles and turns towards the crowed, "Thank you everybody, Harry Styles and Y/N Y/L/N!"

Harry and I wave to the crowed and walk over to hug Jimmy before exiting the stage.

"Hey guys." One of the crew says walking up to us, "Jimmy wants you to head over to to the Grand Lounge when he's done here."

I raise my eyebrows, "Oh?"

"Tell me he isnt." Harry smiles and the lady nods, "He is." She smiles and walks away.

"What is he doing?" I ask pushing myself against Harry. He shakes his head, "You'll see."

——

"Hey guys. Thanks for coming on." Jimmy says walking up, "Did Cheryl talk to you guys?"

Harry nods, "she did."

"Great. See you over there!" Jimmy walks away and Harry wraps his arm around my waist, "Come on."

I'm still so confused as Harry leads me out of the building. He pulls me closer to him as we step out.

Cameras flash and people scream.

He gets me to the car and I climb in as he follows behind me.

"You okay?" He lays a hand on my cheek as the car starts to move.

I nod, "Yeah. Yeah." I look around and raise my eyebrows, "A limo?"

He moves closer to me, "I requested a car with privacy because I knew that seeing you in this dress would just.." he leans in and kisses my neck, "Turn me on."

I tilt my head and lay a hand on his leg, "Harry." I whimper as he bites me gently, "Aren't we-"

"We have a little bit of time." He gets onto the floor in front of me and starts to slowly push my dress up. I bunch it up and move around to lay most of it behind me.

"I've thought about this the whole time." He pushes my panties aside and gently drags his finger up and down my pussy, "I knew you'd be soaked for me."

He leans in and licks a strip,"I can't keep my hands off of you."

Since our engagement, we've gotten invited for interviews, late night shows, everything you can imagine. We haven't really had a full day to ourselves, but Harry promised me that Jimmy was our last show and then we'd go away on a special trip.

I moan and arch my back off the leather interior as his tongue slides in and out of me, "Fuck." He moans against me and grips my thighs tightly with his finger tips digging into me.

I roll my eyes back and tangle my fingers into his hair, "Shit." I gasp and throw a leg over his shoulder, pulling him closer to me, "Fuck. Fuck, Harry."

I let out a loud moan and I can feel myself clenching around his tongue.

I've been so turned on lately, Harry will do anything to get his hands and lips on me. With it being so hectic the last few days, it's always been this, where he eats me out, or I give him a blowjob, or we fuck, but it's all so quick.

My legs start to shake and I let out a gasp, "H-Ha-"

He moans against me which sends me into orbit. My body tenses up and then relaxes along with my grip on his hair.

He slowly pulls away after gently kissing my thighs and pussy a few times and leans back on his calves. He smirks up at me and bites his lip, "God you taste fucking amazing."

He helps fix my panties and pulls my dress down, kissing my ankle and shin before he lays my dress over.

"How much time do we have?" I bite my lip, "You know what. I don't care." I move down into my knees on the floor and position myself between him.

He undoes his belt and watches me as I get his cock from his pants. He lets out a gasp and tilts his head back as I suck on the head. I semi quickly work my way down and bob my head.

He moans and lets a hand on my head, brushing my hair away from my face so he can see me swallow his cock.

"Beautiful." He moans lowly, "The way you take care of my cock is.." he bucks his hips and gasps which is followed by a whimper.

"Fuck baby." I can hear his finger nails drag against the leather seat next to him as he fights to not mess up my hair too much.

"Fuck." He curses as I bob my head faster, "Y/N." He leans forward slightly before slamming his back against the seat.

I can feel his cum shoot out and I suck him as I go to pop off, swallowing his load.

"You're so fucking sexy." He pants, "I'm getting you alone." He pulls me up to kiss him and he fixes his pants.

"Where are we going?" I whisper tracing his visible sparrow tattoo.

"A party."

"A party?" I repeat in question, "What for? Why can't we just go home?"

He turns his head and kisses my forehead, "You'll see, baby."

The car comes to a stop and he looks over at me, "You have a little.." he wipes by my eye, "Your mascara must have ran a bit."

I lean in, pressing my lips to his, "I need you."

"Soon, baby." He pecks my lips, "Soon."

The door opens and he gets out, extending his arm out to me. I grab his hand and get out, smoothing my dress with my other hand.

"Welcome to another engagement party." He leans in and kisses my temple before pulling me along with him.

We walk in and everyone cheers and yells, "Surprise!"

Jimmy is pointing to us with the beat of the music that's playing, "There you are." He walks over, "Happy engagement! Enjoy yourself!"

I laugh and shake my head, "Thank you!" I yell over the music. He walks away and I look at Harry.

He smiles, "Surprise?"

——

A few drinks in and I am feeling myself craving Harry more and more. His body pushes against my back and his hand slides onto my stomach, pulling my closer.

I bite my lip and tilt my head slightly. I push my ass against his crotch and grind onto him. He leans down and his lips brush against my ear, "What are you doing?"

I turn around and grab his suit jacket, "Trying to get you alone."

He smirks and nods once, finishing his drink and nods to the right, "Say no more." He grabs my hand and leads me through the club.

We come to a door with a sign on it that says reserved.

"After you." Harry says opening the door and motioning me through. I walk in quickly and unzip my dress as he's shutting the door.

The lock clicks and he turns around and smiles, "Someone is ready." I walk over to him and slowly unbutton his shirt the rest of the way, "Always ready for you, Mr. Styles."

He bites his lip and I drop down to my knees, undoing his belt and slipping his pants down his legs. I grab a hold of his boxers and teasingly slide them off.

He gasps when his cock springs free and I look up at him. I stick my tongue out and lick a line underneath and wrap my lips around his cock.

He places a hand on the wall and groans, "Fuck, y/n."

I bob my head, the sound of my saliva and sucking fills the room.

"Ah, shit." He gaps and grips my hair, "if- if you keep.. fuck."

He lets me bob my head a few times and pulls his hips back, "You're going to make me cum and I want to make you feel good too, baby."

I nod and he helps me to my feet. He takes me over to the small sofa and points, "Knees."

I get on my knees and grip the back of the couch. He takes off my panties, slowly sliding them over my ass, "Fuck. I love seeing you from this angle."

His hand falls with a loud smack onto my asscheek and i whimper out his name each time he does it.

After four, I can hear him drop to his knees and he pushes his face into my pussy again, his tongue lapping in between my folds.

I hang my head down and moan, "Harry."

He groans against me and pulls my hips back, attacking me with his tongue.

He pulls away and chuckles, "I am in love with you."

He stands up and i look over my shoulder at him, "I love you so fucking much."

He slowly pushes his cock into me and reaches up to grab my throat, "You look so beautiful when I slide my cock into you."

I moan at his words and dig my nails into the couch, "Fuck." I whimper as his grip closes tighter.

He slowly pulls out and thrust back in, "Fuck baby. You feel so good."

He lets go of my neck and grips my hips, his thrusts at a fast rhythm.

I arch my back down and push my hips back, moaning loudly as he fucks me.

"That's it baby." He groans, "Fucking let them know how good I make you feel."

I let out a scream, "Harry."

"Fuck." He pulls out and lays me down on the couch. He crawls on top and slides back into me, "I can't wait to make you my wife."

I bite my lip and smile up at him.

He leans down and kisses me as he thrusts deep, moaning against my lips.

I whimper and wrap my arms around his neck, "You make me feel so good."

He thrusts harder, "I wanna put a baby in you."

I nod, "Please."

"You want that, baby? Want me to cum inside of that beautiful pussy of yours?"

I moan as he thrusts deep into me, pushing me closer to my orgasm. "Mm, y-yes."

"Fuck." He groans, "Cum for me first, sweetheart."

I wrap my legs around him, clenching around him as I throw my head back, "Harry." I breathe out. I pull him closer to me and moan, "Fuck."

"Shit." Harry moans and pushes deep in me, his thrusts gradually slow down as he pumps his cum inside of me.

I run a hand through his hair and smile up at him, "Here's to new beginnings I guess." I laugh and kiss him.

"New beginnings." He whispers before he places his lips gently on my lips.

"We better get back out there. We're probably being looked for." I sit up as he stands up.

He nods with a smile and picks up my dress, "Let me help you get dressed."

——

You can find part three here

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated and don’t forget to hit follow! ♥

[fullcoffeemoon-nem]

Second part seasons' Theory

Timeline Theory here

Second update: 06-03-24

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Hi there!

The LVL UP gave us a new trailer full of expectations, as well as a preview of Stolas and Blitz's song from Full Moon.

Here are some considerations which, admittedly, may contain annoying spoilers.

YOU ARE WARNED!

I've scaled this analysis down to share one thing in particular about a X's post.

So now is almost confirm the chronology: Full Moon set on September 29th 2023.

There was a verbal clash between Blitz and Stolas, both are right and both are right.

The way I think:

Stolas has reached the limit and, accustomed to a situation in which other people's feelings have always been clear to him, he demanded an answer. Yes or no. He had already decided how to behave because he always assumed that Blitz didn't have masks.

Blitz, on the other hand, was raised in a context of manipulation, where the only certain thing was that his name was enough. He doesn't believe in the possibility of being loved for two reasons:

1. They keep repeating that wherever he goes, he only hurts

2. He doesn't believe himself enough to be

The two reactions were therefore: Stolas "I am not enough, therefore I am abandoned" and Blitz "I am abandoned because I am not enough".

I think we need to really find out what happened to Blitz's mother to find out more, but Applogy Tour could also start to clarify this story.

The song Is magnificent!

Apology Tour may be scheduled for October 31st, Halloween. There seems to be a party, that both Verosika and Stolas attend. Blitz will have to face both and will take the hit heavily. Did he get into the hole following Stols or did he end up there by chance?

The scene where all of Stolas' memories of Blitz are broken could have two meanings:

Rejection

Remorse

Ghost Fuckers should be specifically about Millie and Blitz and delve deeper into the latter's story.

Surely, you will have seen some boards with drawings of a ghost, Millie and Moxxie hanging from a chandelier and Blitz running to save them with Loona.

Not familiar to you? I hate to admit it, but I think those boards weren't fanmad...

Mistermaind will be a real bomb:

We have already seen the Angels and Agents, but it definitely doesn't end there. Their army of bishops has yet to be mobilized. The situation is so tragic that it sees to forced I.M.P to flee or even abandon someone…

We also see some new memories from Blitz, specifically:

A scene with his mother

Cash Buzko taking him away from the crashed Fizz (Here's the “them” of Oops?)

Here or on Applogy Tour.

Finally Sinsmas, obviously set in December. Here too, an incredible load of characters: The Goetia with Vassago (Parrot Boy on X), Andrealphus, Mammon and Satan.

They are probably also in Lucifer's palace.

There were also sad leaks for this episode: Via's song and the final confrontation with her father, who seems to have taken a holiday… Is it Blitz's fault?

I need to recover and at the same time the new episode...

[orphiclovers]

Hmm, now that I've actually read a different translation of Yoo Mia side story I feel way better about my own. In some places they matched almost perfectly, in some places the other person made a mistake, in some places I made a mistake they didn't, in some places the original was unclear and we both made the same editorial choices and in some places we made different ones, where I still have no idea who is right... at least now I know what's what, and that my back alley Yoo Mia side story version was actually real (I had been quietly worried it was fanfiction someone tricked me into thinking was official. But no. Now I've gotten multiple seperate sources confirming it's the real deal.)

I was afraid of accidentally inserting my own bias into the Yoo Mia side story with my fumbling attempts at editing, so I left a lot of unclear parts as they are, even if it looked bad. But, now I had the golden opportunity to double check those parts that I was unsure about, which I'm super grateful for, obviously! I see the other translator struggled in some of the same places I did.

Like, at the very beginning when Yoo Joonghyuk gets into Kang Woohyun's car and they talk. The other translators version is like this.

And here is what google translate gave me when I was making my version the first time.

I thought it was an obvious translation error because wtf why does he say the words twice? So this is how I edited it.

But now I'm thinking maybe it was in the original too, only meant to show Kang Woohyun was repeating the words while emphasizing the sylables. So if I was editing it now, I would do it something like this.

"I still eat well."

"Just lettuce and chicken breast, right? What diet is that? You have to eat rice. Rice! And beef too."

...That's as natural sounding as I could make it, anyway.

I won't do a total side-by-side comparison of every scene, since Yoo Mia side story is more than 12k words long and I'm not that crazy. There's a lot more little things like this. I'll just point out the most important one. (I know I'm the only person who cares this much but let me nerd out for a minute okay?)

I MISSED A PAGE! My back-alley version of the original just...didn't have it, even if everything before and after was the same. Here it is.

This is a totally new part that I've never seen before, but it's so real!!!

I FUCKING KNEW YOO MIA HAD A SPEECH IMPEDIMENT!!! I was actually writing a meta/theory post on it just now, it's in my drafts and everything (might still publish it if anyone's interested) since it was implied in the main story too but I don't know if a lot of people noticed. But because for some reason my Yoo Mia side story was missing the one single paragraph it was confirmed in, it was just a theory of mine. Now confirmed. Holy shit. I feel like fucking Matpat.

I don't know if anyone would be interested in me re-editing Yoo Mia side story with the missing page + fixing the errors I made the first time? I'll make a poll.

(Psssssst. If a real translator who actually knows Korean wants to give me their Yoo Mia side story version I would be eternally grateful and like. give u a free art commission or something 👀😊)

[morallygreychaoticneutral]

Well, the last time I posted my opinion on this subject on Tumblr I got harassed so it's why I'm only "active" as an anon. People tend to be very judgemental (on both sides) over this subject because any different opinion is being perceived as an attack on someone's relationship choices. Or judgement over how they play the game, which isn't the case for most of us.

However, I've always taken issue with both "Astarion is poly" AND "Astarion is mono" purely because the canon itself doesn't confirm either one of them. He's not poly just because he allows his partner to have a fling with Halsin. Just like he isn't necessarily mono just because you only romance him in a playthrough. What he is or not is ultimately left for each one of us to headcanon. Like you said, maybe HE will be interested in having multiple partners after the game. Or maybe he wouldn't be. Who's to say exactly?

Again, Larian did a bad job if they truly intended to portray him as poly OR as truly, undoubtedly okay with Halsin. The timing just sucks. And just because he says no when Tav proposes poly with the other companions, it doesn't mean much considering those proposals all come before his act 2 confession, at the time he was performing a lot by trying to be that horny, hedonistic sexy vampire in order to seduce Tav. Likewise, if you date Shadowheart and Astarion at the same time and propose poly to her, she will say "you may be overestimating his desire to share" and "he may seem like a carefree hedonist, but there is something fragile behind the facade" (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3HEkbnM_AM - Minthara says something similar. If the writers truly wanted him to be a poly character why did they had two other characters say that basically he's not into sharing?). So these dynamics are vastly different than those when Halsin comes in with his proposal: usually at a time when Astarion takes a break from sex, when he is in a truly insecure position. He may be feeling like he has to allow Tav this since they stuck with him for so long, even after he admitted his plan to seduce them. Even after Cazador when his response is usually seen as being more secure by the fandom, he's still not very enthusiastic. He even says "it is okay if things between us change because of this" or "I trust you to make a decision that won't hurt what we have". How is this him being enthusiastic? Or him wanting this in the first place? I don't know, but if you want to introduce such a big change to your relationship (like opening it), your partner's first instinct being "it's okay if things between us change" aka a hint to a future break up is not a positive thing at all. It's great to hear he will be fine without Tav, but it's also not true that he won't mind if you break up with him (just try the option to see for yourself, if you do it in the epilogue at the Elfsong he gets really angry).

I also want to point out how he allows Tav a lot. If you cheat on him with Mizora all you have to do is say "I'm sorry" every single time he says something and he forgives you in an instant, without even rolling a persuasion check. Yeah, he will try to break up with you but...he forgives so EASILY. You can even have him bite Araj and with the right dialogue choices you'll still be able to keep the relationship. Or force him to eat the astral tadpole. Yes, he learned to say "no" and put some boundaries but Tav can still easily manipulate him.

Simply put, there are far too many hints in the game itself that this isn't something he really wants or that to some extent he is going along with his partner's wishes, at least at this point in time. Sure, he gives Tav his consent but does he really want it? There is a difference between giving consent to a certain thing and wanting that thing for yourself.

I'm sorry you were harassed. Cognitive dissonance can be extremely triggering for some. However, that does not give them license to be abusive.

You have a lot of good points. Which sucks, because if they did intend him to be poly they really missed the mark. And I can absolutely see where that would be disappointing to someone who was expecting that representation.

I agree with what you are saying. He is quite pliable. His boundaries are very blurry. And the personality that I am, that bothers me as well. It very well could be intended as residual trauma behavior. He is so used to just having to go with what whatever decisions others make regarding him that he is still doing it? As someone who was not allowed boundaries for ages. I find myself still slipping into this behavior from time to time.

He is wickedly complex. And I know its silly, his not real. But I even struggled to ask him for a kiss after the confession in act 2. I really needed him confirm he still wanted them. Have a next day interaction where he thanks you for being so understanding, like after the bite scene, and then pulls YOU in for a kiss.

Its just one of those things where you can't please everyone. And we just need to be allowing of how people perceive it through their own lenses. Thank you for the discussion!

[loquaciousquark]

So I stayed up ungodly late last night playing through the Cazador quest/conclusion (?) of the Astarion romance and I have a lot of thoughts!

Overall, I LOVED it. Absolutely loved it. I love how much he has to say about the mansion, I love the design and weirdly oppressive layout of the space, the sinister door, the annoying button/attic puzzle, his relationship with Go...dey? The bone man! When I saw that room was called the kennel I literally said "oh no" out loud.

The one thing I'm mad at myself about is that I didn't understand how to actually get into the stupid palace to start the quest! I couldn't get up that dirt incline right next to the map marker so I thought I had to get into the upper city via Baldur's Gate on the left--that the palace was in the next area altogether--so I've been dithering about with murderers and Lae'zel getting kidnapped (D:! she's safe now though) and hag children and a million other things WHEN I COULD HAVE BEEN KILLING CAZADOR THIS WHOLE TIME. Harrumph.

Anyway, once I actually made it into the darned palace, I didn't have any trouble at all with the fights until I got to Cazador himself. I did think the ritual skull on the pillow was a nice touch, and I loved the confrontation with Sebastian in the cell, just in case the PC has any doubt left about how sane/human these spawn still are. Seven thousand souls! That's so many!! Seven is a lot, but seven thousand, yikes! There was also one room with some levers at the end of the tedious attic puzzle that appeared to have no purpose; I guess it was unfinished from the design stage, as dozens of Reddit threads/forum posts all agree there's no clear puzzle solution or interactable element. Really, the first design misstep I've seen from the game, and even that was pretty minor!

Then came the confrontation with Cazador, and for all I didn't even get touched in the werewolf fight earlier this fight WRECKED me. I didn't understand the mechanic and got everyone sacrificed for the ritual the first time (was focusing on the adds first), and then the second time I checked the journal and it said "Help Astarion" and so I wasted two turns getting to him only to discover they meant "help Astarion by killing Cazador," not "free Astarion with the Help action" because that sure didn't work, so he got sacrificed again! Then the third time I focused Cazador better until he Called Lightning on Shadowheart and Karlach and killed them both, and then I finally scraped it out on the fourth try. A really, really tough fight! If I didn't have the six summoned ghouls from the Thay book I don't know if I could have done it with this party.

The choices available afterwards are FASCINATING. I played through them all again, and I loved that in every version he absolutely butchers that vamp with as much violent stabbing as I've seen in a video game. And that little flip of the knife to the reverse grip! So deft! He's a rogue! It's like there's thought and care behind these animations!! Incredible! The choices where you don't help him are absolutely awful--the enraged venom in "I'd say good luck out there, but honestly, I hope you die screaming"--and the flat "Your companion has permanently left the party" made my stomach clench. The version where you help him ascend is also horrifying; are there many other quests where both companions are like, "this is a HORRIBLE IDEA, don't do this!!"? And afterwards Karlach said something about "all those souls..." and she looked like she was about to cry, which was the second worst thing in the world aside from the time I had to break up with her because I didn't realize we were dating. Everything is red and evil and we get nice close-up views of the spawn in agony and bursting and then Astarion's eyes glow red as sin forever. I did really like the explicit confirmation that the infected can use the parasites to see out of each other's eyes; that's given me a couple fic ideas already!

I will say the scene of him crying & screaming was unspeakably cathartic and I was yelling at the screen to let me hug him. YELLING. Thank God I live alone! Again, the tenor differences between this scene in the "insight/persuade him to be better than Cazador" track vs. the "flatly deny to help him" track were shocking. I can't believe how different the exact same animation set felt between the two versions! Unbearable relief & grief vs. total impotent despair--no wonder he tries to kill you in a few of the bad endings (on top of deciding on his own to snap the staff & trap the spawn forever).

Regardless, once the ritual was disrupted and the spawn were saved and freed and Cazador was a lolling pincushion, I couldn't figure out how to trigger the follow-up scene I KNEW had to be there, even though I'd already done Shadowheart's personal quest & should have known I needed to long-rest, lmao. I wandered around like a dope for several minutes before finally triggering it.

I really, really liked this romance scene a lot. I liked that there isn't even an option to break up at this point; just like ME3, the romance is locked in and you can just play around inside that structure, which I thought was fantastic! I am sad that it opened with what I expected, which is him resigning himself to eventually being trapped in the darkness & never seeing sunlight again, and the fact that the game let you pick "maybe we'll figure something out with the tadpoles" only for Astarion to express doubt does make me worried for long-term outcomes. My favorite options once you get to the graveyard were to just stay back and let him talk, but I'm honestly really delighted that we got this scene of pretty significant emotional closure for him, and I loved the animation of him carving the year into the headstone. It seemed so immersive & real that even though we can't read the text, we know exactly what he did.

The only incredibly, incredibly, INCREDIBLY minor things I didn't adore about this scene are that first, when he tells you he loves you, his head animation is weirdly still/frozen the whole time on that set of lines despite his expression changing, and it honestly broke my immersion a little bit. The ambient movements of the characters have been so realistic for so many dozens of hours that to have this seriously critical and important moment for the character be almost rigid, especially against a completely silent music-less background, made it stick out as an "oh yeah, this is a video game" reminder. Bummer!

The other thing is that it's icky to have sex in a graveyard, lmao. Tavish doesn't really care because it's just dirt under them--he's literally standing in front of her, so as far as she's concerned it's not that different from the forest--but I did grimace a little. Someone give these dingdongs a bed! or at least a roof!

Anyway! A fantastic romance and super strong writing/consistent characterization throughout, and I'm pumped to see where it's going to go next. I'm still so curious about how the tadpole outcomes will affect things and faintly hoping for a deus ex machina to keep him in the sun, though I suppose that's what fic's for. Regardless, full sign-off on an utterly satisfying romance; so many little things dropped throughout were EXACTLY what I wanted--you can even accuse him of sincerity in the graveyard scene, which is precisely the arc I was hoping he'd have! He didn't even like you in the beginning and now we're smooching next to a bunch of dead people. What isn't romantic about that?

10/10 Larian, thanks for making me a mess for another white-haired grump.

[project-sekai-facts]

Well just based on the news I think the February lim slot has to be a unit event unless they don't care about finishing the rotation before 3.5. January lim could go either way, but because of WxS World Link, that only leaves January lim, February slots 1 and 2, February lim, and March slot 2

Haruka is guaranteed to be one of the perm February slots. Honami could either be January lim or February 1. I think Ena is more likely to be the February lim than Toya is, especially given how the MV types line up. I mean they could do three 3DMV unit events in a row (with a mixed event in there somewhere) since the last 3DMV would end up in March if they do that, but it feels a little more likely they'd do the double 3DMV events and then the next 2DMV. Ena also hasn't had a lim banner with her as the focus (all of her unit events and both of her mixed events have been perms)

I don't know. WxS World Link kinda messes everything up, and the lim schedule is a mess

okay so first off after the stream it occurred to me that i did a big stupid and Honami 4 cannot be the lim banner this month. Lol. Because that would've required them to announce 3 event songs this wandasho channel.

So Toya4 is Toya/Kohane/An lims end of february. Calling it now. Ena I have my doubts about because you could do Ena/Mafuyu/Kaito because both girls are desperate for lims and n25 kaito will be the next vsinger lim, but considering Mizuki has never been rateup on an Ena unit event and also has the most lims in the game right now, I think a Ena/Mizuki rateup for ena4 is most likely.

I will admit I'm still very stuck on things. At the very least it's pretty much confirmed that Hona4 is slot 1 and Haruka4 is slot 2 for february.

Given Emu skipping the rateup she should've had on the current event i'd say she's most likely to be the lim event (plus i think it's too close to akito's last lim when lots of characters have gone nearly a year w/o, and kanade is capped on 4* cards rn). If we look at the characters who need a lim within the next 4 lim events, we have Toya, An, Ena, Mafuyu, Honami, and Emu. Emu already has been featured on mixed events with Ena, Honami and Toya, and we can rule out An based on the likeliness of Toya4 being lim. Emu/Mafuyu works, since they have an established connection, and n25 kaito should be the next vsinger lim and he works with mafuyu.

Also I've seen multiple JP specs that Akito will be the 3.5 event, which makes a lot of sense now that i think about it. it's either kanade, emu, or akito, and miku usually has a 4* on the .5 events. out of those characters, two of them already have a lim miku for their unit. so you could do something like, akito/miku and then maybe ena? i know she was lim on last year's .5 event but there's that 12 month limit thing that's been pretty consistent. plus, pre-established connection. honestly you could probably put Honami on there too because she has a connection to Ena.

then kanade perm mixed after 3.5 god knows who the cards would be on that.

it's patchy, but here's a visual demo of what i'm thinking rn. with this i'm also assuming Ichika/Saki 3.5 fes and Tsukasa/Emu summer fes. mainly based on the fact the WL gacha will end only 8 days before 3.5 (minori and shiho could get away with it because they at least had two weeks between cards). also saki will need a lim more than emu by that point under the assumption that next event is emu.

[bleue-flora]

didn’t they experiment on themselves I’m confused by you saying “may not” gen

[context]

Well ya see, I’m not saying they did or didn’t, but I realized in my rewatching that to be honest, despite it being basically considered canon by dreblr at this point, it never really is actually confirmed. (I’ve talked about why a bit already here). In fact, the basis of this widely accepted canon is I’m pretty sure mostly the dialogue in the finale (transcript below), which even if we take as 100% truth doesn’t really confirm or necessarily imply they did.

It only states that they did tests - which duh we already knew they did on Lazar and Vik - and that they ran tests that apparently included suicide and self-sacrifice. We are also informed that both Dream and Punz have been to Limbo before the finale. With Dream including them in his list of revivals as well as him saying nonchalantly, “it wasn’t my first time” and Punz saying, “Yeah, I've been there also, it fucking sucks. My Limbo is terrible.”

But the thing is that only really means they’ve both died at least once. In fact, the way Punz used“my” Limbo when we know Limbo changes based on the circumstances of your death, doesn’t make sense if he’s been multiple times. And as for Dream, his again only implies that he has died before, but for all we know that could be just once not multiple times.

And there’s also the point of Why would they experiment on themselves when they also experimented on Lazar and Vik (especially now that we know those experiments happened after prison and came presumably first)? It doesn’t really make much sense. Or at least why would they run test after test on themselves in the way I’ve seen commonly portrayed. I’d say there is a strong argument for them dying to maybe get to the End somehow or test whether they can revive themselves. But why kill Vik and Lazar in every way imaginable and then what, do the same to yourself right after?…

Plus, should what they say, in which we base this canon, even be taken as all true since it’s staged duo giving a ‘villain monologue’ to clingy duo. I mean in this same conversation we have lines like “This is so cute we shouldn’t interrupt them.” [clip]. (I’ve talked about this here also).

So yeah, that’s what I mean by “maybe.” A ‘take’ that I think a lot of people here dislike and think is weird. But it’s not so much my take or whether I personally think it is or isn’t true. I’m really just looking at the lore and facts, and highlighting that at the end of the day, this canon we have all accepted is not actually objectively true.

Transcript:

Tommy [18:36]: “What do you mean you know so much more?”

Dream: “Listen the separation from us to you in terms of our knowledge and our power and what we have and what we know, we might as well be a God—we might as well be! We might as well be Gods! Punz might as well be a God. I might as well be a God—because in terms of what we know and what you know—you're puny—your little ants—you know nothing—“

Tommy: “You’re a psychopaths.”

Dream: “Like he said you're one-dimensional—you're simple-minded. You go about your day you go and you go to your base and you sit there and you—you f—farm potatoes well we're sitting here, dealing with God and revival and life and death and—you know people—we've—we’ve realized over time, so much stuff has happened and I—I at this point the thing is that death has such importance on the server there's—there's so much to death. You realize—have you even realized people have developed like powers? You know that Foolish could die infinite times he just could—he's invincible. You know Ranboo—h—he could pick up blocks? You know—you know there's—there's such thing as mind control on the server?“

Tommy: “What?”

Dream: “I—I bet you—you didn't know that. That could have—could have been used for the longest time. You know Ranboo when he, you know, he made the explosions and he helped—the whole time.”

Tommy: “Ranboo made what?… Sorry, what do you mean Ranboo made the explosions—what explosions?”

Dream (laughs): “When you got trapped in the prison...”

Tubbo: “What’s going on?”

Dream: “Look—you know nothing, Tommy!”

Tommy: “That was Ranboo?”

Dream: “You know nothing—you know nothing!

Tommy: “You’ve been controlling him.”

Dream: “There was there was a period of time when we—we were dabbling with mind control—and it has to do with the Revival Book and the way it works, and it has to do with death—“

Tommy: “The reason I stayed in prison with you… You can't play God, Dream, because shit like this happens—you ruin lives, not just mine but so many people. You don't even know the effect… you can't do this. You have to stop now.”

Dream: “Tommy—“

Punz: “There's no fucking stopping this, Tommy.”

Dream: “It's—it's too late and that's the thing is we—we did make a couple mistakes and—we made mistakes but—through testing we realized—“

Tommy: “What do you mean he made mistakes?”

Dream: “Well… I mean, Laserbeam and Vikstar—I'd say that's a little bit of a…you know—“

Tommy: “Wait, where’s Vikstar?!”

Tubbo: “Woah! woah woah woah woah—!”

Tommy: “Where’s Vikstar?”

Punz: “We’ve done a little bit or experimenting—“

Tommy: “Where is Vik?…” (quieter) “Where’s Vik?”

Dream : “They’re dead…. Tommy, we—we locked up Vik and Laser in a room very similar to this one—very similar to this one and we ran test after test after test for months on end we killed them in Every Way that you could think this—this sounds morbid—but we had to, Tommy, we had to know what—“

Tubbo: “No one has to do something that evil!”

Tommy: “No one has to!… Tubbo’s right!—You’re a fucking psychos the both of you”

Punz: “We needed—we needed answers, Tommy! We needed to figure out—“

Tommy: “Why would you do this, Punz?!”

Punz: “We need to figure out—we need to figure out the ins and outs of the Revival Book: how do people, how people die, how they react to dying, how you come back to life, Limbos…”

Dream: “Tommy, did you know—did you know there's a whole other dimension?”

Tommy: “What?”

Dream: “There's a whole other dimension—and there's dragons and there's—there's infinite void.”

Tommy: “What?”

Tubbo: “What?”

Dream: “Yeah, you didn't know that... And you know—you know what's interesting is—“

Tommy: “What?”

Dream: “We—I—I said we made mis—I said we made mistakes and—and we did. We did—we did make mistakes because by reviving people by reviving Wilbur by reviving you by—you know reviving me. I just—I was just in—in Limbo, you know, I just… it wasn't my first time but—it… you know..”

Punz: “Yeah, I've been there also, it fucking sucks. My Limbo is terrible.”

Dream (laughs): “Yeah, it’s—yeah it’s not all that fun but…”

Tubbo: “Wait—wait why didn’t you bring Vik and Lazarbeam back?”

Tommy: “You've been to Limbo before? Wait, wait, Toby, one second—you've been to Limbo before? You've Died—before?”

Tubbo: “What's that?”

Tommy: “Toby—

Dream: “Look—“

Tommy: “You know when I died and I told you that I couldn't speak about the one thing that happened to me?”

Tubbo: “Yeah.”

Tommy: “An unspeakable place—your worst nightmare—the worst thing to you comes to life forever, that’s Limbo… How have you survived?—Dream, you're a monster. You can't—Punz, Punz, tell me?”

Punz: “What, Tommy?”

Tommy: “Have you always been like this? Because—“

Punz: “Yes.”

Tommy: “We trusted you.”

Punz: “Alright well, you're a fucking idiot and simple-minded. I've said this like eight times, Tommy, get it through your head—you're simple-minded, we need answers and you are—just don’t know that.”

Tommy: “What do you want from me and Tubbo?”

Dream: “Okay well, wh—what I was saying just now is we—we—by all these revivals and all this death th—there's been kind of a—a—a balance. W—we've realized like you—you know have you ever thought about where do people come from? W—where do we come from? There's people that just show up on the server now and then—they just out of nowhere they're just here. They weren't here before. You at some point that happened you just—you were here. How? And we realized that it all kind of it all comes down to like life and death and—and right now we created… an imbalance because we've revived you and me and Punz—and we revived Wilbur and we revived people to where death right now—there's an imbalance and we've seen it in the other dimension. We—we've seen the problems it causes in—in the corruption it can cause into this world and… it's—not looking good—it's not looking good, at all and—“

Tommy: “Dream—“

Dream: “Tommy—“

Tommy: “Why are me and Tubbo here?”

Dream: “Well, we have to—balance the world again.“

Punz: “People need to die!

Tubbo: “Balance? What? Wait—what are you trying to balance?”

Punz: “People need to die, Tommy.”

Tommy: “People don't need to Die, Punz!”

Punz: “They need to die.”

Dream: “People do need to die. And that's the problem—the problem is that people need to die to restore—“

Tubbo: “Says who?”

Dream: “Says us through our testing. The balance on the server is messed up. We—we've—we revive to many people and death isn't permanent and we've—we've messed up and I think that in the eyes of—in the eyes of whatever God is and whatever this place is that we haven't figured out—is that the world could very well just—just end if w—we don't kill people. But the problem—“

Tommy: “What does that mean? What are you planning to do?”

Dream: “The problem is if we kill—if we kill—the problem is if we kill some people then everyone else comes against us and tries to force us to revive them and tries to, you know. kill us so—we have to kill everyone… We have to kill—“

Tubbo: “Like Everyone—everyone?

Dream: “Everyone… Everyone.”

Tommy: “You won't be—you won’t be able to.”

Dream: “Why not?”

Tubbo: “Even Badboyhalo?”

Tommy: “There’s Phil, there’s Sam, there's—there's so many good pvps, players equal if not better than you. They’ll kill you. They'll kill you both. Me and Tubbo by their side will lead an army to fucking kill you, alright.”

Dream: “You and Tubbo—I mean, maybe—maybe one of you can try but—“

Tubbo: “That’s—that’s… What do you mean, one of us?

Tommy (in sync): “What do you mean, one of us?

Punz: “Look, how do you know that we can't revive ourselves after we're already dead. You don't know that either.”

Dream: “They don't know anything—they don’t know anything.”

Punz: “You don't know anything.”

Dream: “They don't even know. You don't know what death is. You don't know.”

Tommy: “Dream—“

Dream: “Tommy, let me ask you a question. When you died, why didn't you come back as a ghost? Before you revived, why did you come back as a ghost? But why did Wil—“

Tommy: “I don’t know.”

Dream: “Wilbur was a ghost.”

Tommy: “I don't know.”

Dream: “You don’t know.”

Tommy: “I don't know, and that's okay!”

Dream: “Do you—do you want to know? Do you want to know?…”

Tommy: “Dream, you have a power—you two both have a power to revive, alright and with that power comes a Great Responsibility. That you are taking No—No responsibility over! Please, just think for a second.”

Punz: “We know the responsibility, Tubbo. The world has an imbalance now because we've revived too many times!—alright?”

Tubbo: “Wh—where is the scale? Where—how do you know? I don’t understand!”

Tommy: “How do you decide?!”

Dream: “The world—the world's fucked up. We fucked up.”

Tubbo: “Explain it to us!”

Dream: “Everyone—everyone fucked up! everyone—there's too much death, too much destruction, everyone hates each other, there's a fucking Egg there's—there's—this world is so… fucked that we just need to restart. And if that means we have to kill everybody—and ev—everybody that doesn't wanna go along with what me and Punz have to say, everyone that doesn't want to figure it out, then fine you can be simple-minded and you can die simple-minded. But if you wanna actually know what's going on in this world and you wanna fix it, and make it the best that we can be and live forever, then they can join us. But, we already know your answers, so we don't really care about that. But, the thing is—is we did realize through all the testing that we've done that—“

Tommy: “Oh no.”

Dream: “Your Limbo, and that what happens to you after you die changes based on how you die—“

Tubbo: “What?”

Dream: “And what happened to you before you died. And the thing is—is we've tested by murder, We've tested by—self-sacrifice and suicide. But we haven't tested… is somebody being selfless and dying a hero. We don't know anything about that because… we—can't test that because we're evil, we're so bad and—murderers—bla bla bla, whatever—who cares. But… We can test that now.”

I just wanna say in making this transcript and trying to break apart their voices as they talk over eachother I noticed a lot of things I didn’t before. My favorite being what I think Dream laughed out (very hard to pick out his voice) at Punz’s limbo comment of “Yeah, it’s—yeah it’s not all that fun but…” Also shoutout to Tubbo who really be asking the real questions that no one hears ooof…

[wicked-jade]

for the fic ask game: F, K, T?

Thanks for the asks!! 💖

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Usually I go with something funny for this sort of question, but S6 has me thinking a lot about this bit of dialogue I wrote in Ch. 5 of "If It Wasn't For Bad Luck." Years later, and I'm still stupidly proud of that chapter in particular. And I feel like it still gets to the heart of the imbalance in Johnny and Daniel's relationship:

“Right. I’m the asshole here.” There was a wretched hollowness in the words, in Johnny’s eyes. He nodded to himself, seemingly in confirmation of that fundamental fact. “How could I ever forget?”

“Johnny, please, I didn’t –” Daniel stammered, holding up his hands in a placating gesture.

“What, mean it? Oh, you meant it.” Daniel was hoping to see a flash of anger in Johnny’s eyes, a spark of life, but all he saw was bitter resignation. “That’s probably the most honest thing you’ve said to me since we started this whole thing. And you’re right. I am an asshole. At least I embrace it. You should try it sometime, it’s very liberating.”

“Look, I shouldn’t’ve said those things –”

“Why not?” Johnny asked, somehow managing to sound both defeated and defiant at the same time. “It’s the truth. All of it. I’m a deadbeat and a drunk and an absentee father. I’m the poor sucker who was dumb enough to give the man who tried to kill me a second chance, let him waltz back into my life and take everything I worked so hard for. The only thing I ever really had that I built myself, that I could be proud of. That was mine.”

The last word came out cracked and jagged around the edges, sharp and bloody, like a shard of broken mirror dragged across exposed skin. Johnny bowed his head and gritted his teeth against the self-inflicted wounds, and when he finally looked up again his eyes were wet and shiny, filled to the brim with pain. They were the most breathtakingly terrible, beautiful shade of blue that Daniel had ever seen.

“And all of it is my own damn fault. Because I’m a stupid fucking asshole.”

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

I already answered this in another ask, but I did think of another one that could be in the running. It was a fic where Johnny finally starts to deal with his mother's death.

Basically, it starts a lot like 'Bad Luck.' Johnny doesn't show up for class one day, and Daniel starts to get worried, because no one's heard from him in a couple of days. Robby finally does the math, and realizes it's about a week before his birthday - right around the time his Grandma Laura died.

Daniel eventually tracks him down and finds him at the cemetery where Laura is buried. Johnny is sitting by her headstone with his Walkman, and in the middle of a bitter confrontation with Sid, who is there to lay flowers at her grave. Daniel overhears the berating and the verbal abuse, and eventually intervenes. Once Sid leaves, he sits down with Johnny, who reveals this is the first time he's visited her grave since the funeral. He's never been able to bring himself to do it.

Daniel asks what the Walkman is for. Johnny tells him how, when he was little and they were broke, his mom used to make him mix tapes as presents every year, for his birthday and Christmas. She kept doing it, even after they moved to the Hills. He listened to them all, except for three:

The tape she gave him for Christmas in '84, after the All Valley.

The one she made for him, right before her death.

And one she left for Robby.

He and Daniel end up sitting there, listening to the two that were meant for Johnny. By the end of it, Johnny finally starts to make peace with her passing, and Daniel convinces him that he should give the other tape to Robby.

Honestly, just thinking about that fic makes me tear up, which is probably why I've never written it.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I can't stand it, but I really don't get the appeal of Omegaverse. Like, I've read some well-written ones, but it's just not something I generally seek out.

[possiblylando]

Chainsaw Man Chapter 131 'Early' Analysis.

Bit later than usual with this one cause- I didn't feel like writing it earlier- Feels like a cheep excuse but whatever.

It's really interesting seeing the contrast between the two confirmed Primordials. Darkness doesn't speak a language we can understand but it still speaks. It seemed like a hyper intelligent beast which acted on a type of intelligent impulse almost like majin buu. Who I could make an entire post talking about the intelligence and mentality of because of how people misunderstand him. But I'll not do that for now since this is about Chainsaw Man. However Falling completely juxtaposes Darkness because she's basically it's polar opposite. Not fear wise but personality and the way she conducts herself. This panel is the one that really cemented it in my mind because this is her showing the ability to reason. It's weird- She's weird right? She's brutal but not cruel. She's willing to let her previous rule slide because the situation has changed. She doesn't immediately kill the devil (WHO'S NAME WE NEVER LEARN GOD DAMN IT FUJIMOTO) because it didn't finish it's meal. Also their designs which I feel I've pointed out before but I don't wanna look back for if I did or if it was in a specific post.

They're completely different but they share motifs between eachother. I'll go through some of those cause I didn't actually put them together until I was writing this so I feel it's an observation that you guys also might want to hear. 1. They both have several extra arms. 2. They both have dismembered heads as apart of their body. 3. Their arms are double jointed. (Shown Below)

I feel these are going to be reoccurring themes throughout most (maybe even all) of the primordial devils we see. Additionally this isn't a full on pattern but it seems like a Primordial appears roughly every 60 chapters. Darkness first appeared in 65, Falling first appeared in 122 (Full appearance in 123). Back to the chapter itself.

I find it interesting that Falling begins to bleed more profusely when she gets upset. Based on what I've previously said and what we saw at the end of the chapter it's possible her degree over this overworld vessel lessens and thus it's bleeding begins to worsen when she grows upset. Like it requires a degree of concentration to keep together. Which I think is interesting but will likely not be the key to winning any singular fight. Falling nukes the UNNAMED DEVIL and we get the weirdest scene in awhile.

This scene answers 1 question. Yet it raises several more. So let's lightning round it. 1. Why did falling take orders from Famine? 2. Why did her vessel turn into a weird shrunken doll? 3. Uh- Actually no thats- Thats it. Huh. So less questions than I thought and more like just one question. Huh. well key things. I think this is what Falling's truest hell form (Like Darkness) looks like.

It would fit more with the primordial sort of warped appearance we've seen before. It's also the form she appeared in 122 and the beginning of 123 as. So I feel pretty confident in that assumption.

The silly girl is back.

Fucking smugass dickhead smirk she's so fucking good

So this is- Weird right? Nayuta definitely has the ability to identify other Horsemen since she was able to sniff out Famine instantly. So she must know about Asa and Yoru in some vague sense. I guess having that confirmation also sorta shifts that end of chapter reveal. Yeah remember "Thief." it probably wasn't just about Denji having a girlfriend but Nayuta not wanting another Horseman to steal Denji from her. Also it's interesting that aside from War (Maybe), All the horsemen we've seen up until this point have been somewhat benevolent. Ah- Maybe not- Okay lemme rephrase. They've been on the side of humanity. Makima despite being- Makima, She was still trying to aid humanity in her own twisted way. Now Famine is trying to save humanity from the apocalypse in her own twisted way. It's possible that Yoru wants nuclear weapons so she can save humanity from destruction- In her own twisted way. And lemme also make this prediction now. The final horseman will also be trying to save humanity in their own twisted way. (I'm still not making a claim on what the final horseman could be I've elaborated on it in the past if you're a true fan of these you'll know the basic gist Tl;Dr there have been several 4th horsemen in history depending on the source).

This was pretty funny honestly. Nayuta's arm is drawn sorta weird which is abit distracting cause it's the only thing I can stare at now that I've seen it. It doesn't really detract and it's a weekly manga so I can't really complain that much either. Also that girl in the back the one with white hair reminds me of Snake Girl from part 1.

No shot they're actually related in anyway tho- This chapter actually only has low quality faces in the final school drawing so no need to compile them this week. So instead Nayuta silly compilation.

She really is just Power if she wasn't Racist. Okay- Listen- We don't have confirmation that Nayuta isn't racist. But she would have to pick that up herself since I doubt Denji would teach her to be racist because Denji isn't racist.

[p-redux]

Abbie was not with S during Oscar week 2015. Abbie went to OL premiere in NYC in March. That might be why there’s no picture.

I got this Anon last week, but hadn't had time to answer it. I had to go find old screencaps. Here we go! Anon, you're WRONG on all of it.

I know this with 100 % certainty because in 2015, I had a LOT of sources.

Here's what happened...

In February of 2015, Sam's then girlfriend, Abbie Salt posted a picture of herself from the balcony of her hotel room in Los Angeles. The London Hotel West Hollywood. We no longer have the picture because Abbie scrubbed her Instagram of all traces of when she was dating Sam due to so may Extreme Shipper trolls harassing her. But this is my recollection of what the pic looked like. The picture was of Abbie on a hotel room balcony, with her back to the camera, a bit of a side profile, so it was clear it was her, looking out over Los Angeles. The person taking the picture was much taller than Abbie, given the angle of the picture. I knew it was the London Hotel West Hollywood because it was very distinctive balconies with black rod iron, with a certain design.

Then around the same dates, 'lo and behold, Mr. Sam Heughan posts on his Facebook a picture FROM The London Hotel West Hollywood! I've been to that hotel for a few wedding receptions, so I know THAT view. But, below, on the right, is proof of the view from that side of the building, facing West, as well as the distinctive balcony with black rod iron. 👇

So, why was Sam in L.A. in February of 2015? Well, it was Oscars time, and the week before the Oscars, the night before, and the night of, there are LOTS of industry parties. Celebs who may not even be nominated or attending the Academy Awards ceremony still go to the parties to see and be seen. Here's the date of the Oscars in 2015. 👇

On February 21, 2015, the night before the Oscars, a fan got a pic with Sam. Here is the pic. I whited out the fan so she doesn't get harassed. She is the one that CONFIRMED to me that the pic was taken outside The London Hotel West Hollywood AND that Sam was with a very pretty petite brunette with an English accent aka Abbie Salt. The fan told me that Abbie was super nice and even offered to take their pic. I can't remember if this pic is the one Abbie took or if this is a selfie before Abbie offered to take the pic. But, regardless, this fan CONFIRMED Sam was with Abbie in L.A. and she also said they were going into the hotel together. If I recall correctly, Sam told her they were running late or they had missed the British Party at the hotel. 👇

The pic the fan took with Sam was at night time and the British party was from 4:00-7:00 PM, so it totally could be that Sam and Abbie missed it. But, again, that fan info gave 100% PROOF that Sam was with Abbie in L.A. on Oscars weekend and they were staying at The London Hotel West Hollywood.

Fast forward to the Outlander mid-season premiere in New York, which was held on April 1, 2015, not in March, Anon. 👇

Well, guess who, posted pics of Central Park in New York, at the same time? Yep, Ms. Abbie Salt. Again, all those pics are gone. But she definitely posted she was in New York. Here's someone Tweeting me on my old Twitter account CONFIRMING said information. 👇

Soooo, we all assumed Abbie would show up to the Outlander premiere after party. But, nope, Sam kept their relationship under wraps and Abbie WAS NOT at the premiere or after party. Cait DID take her then boyfriend, Tony McGill to BOTH the premiere and after party, as I've posted eyewitness account and pics in the past. As for Abbie, she WAS in New York waiting for Sam to be done with Outlander stuff so they could go on vacation together. Where did they go, you ask?

They went from New York to Miami first. To members only, Miami Soho Beach House. How do we know WHERE they were? A Miami source, who had connections, CONFIRMED Sam and Abbie stayed there for a few days. Here are some Tweets from back in the day. And also, Sam later confirming he'd been to Miami. 👇

After spending a couple of days in Miami, Sam and Abbie flew to Barbados for a longer vacation and some sun, sea, and relaxation. This was the height of Extreme Shipper bullshit and bullying. They tried to convince their minions that the trip to Barbados was a friends trip, and that Sam had "tagged along last minute" with Abbie because someone else had bailed out. WRONG AGAIN. A convo Sam had on Facebook with a friend surfaced that PROVED that Sam and Abbie planned their April 2015 Barbados trip months ahead of time, at least since February 2015. 👇

So, after we got CONFIRMATION that Sam and Abbie had been in New York together, in Miami together, we wondered where they were heading to next. Weeeelll, Abbie posted from Barbados (again those pics are gone). But here's a Tweet from people Tweeting me on my old Twitter account, CONFIRMING this info. 👇

I was then told by a source that, of course, Sam was with her. Extreme Shippers frothed and harassed, and bullied Abbie and anyone talking about Sam being with Abbie in Barbados, including me. They made my life HELL. Well, 'lo and behold (I love saying that hahaha), Sam's driver, Davie posted Sam had brought him back a bottle of rum....FROM BARBADOS. Extreme Shippers heads exploded and they harassed Davie, to the point that he deleted his pic of the rum bottle. But here's a fan tweeting both Sam and Davie about it. And, more importantly, here is SAM HIMSELF CONFIRMING HE WAS IN BARBADOS. Extreme Shippers lost their damn minds when that happened and fandom pandemonium ensued.

👇

So, that's all, folks, fandom history lesson is over...for now. 👩‍🏫😘

[vilevileposting]

I'm reading homestuck for the first time (Weeks 5 and 6)

I keep forgetting to post these and I'm sorry!

I've been enjoying going around telling people homestuck is good actually. That's a role I never got to occupy in my young life as homestuck passed me by. So far zero people have believed me and I don't expect that to change.

I have now seen a picture of a troll! Foul little imp

I *am* left with my first little critique of homestuck: Act 3 felt like it was building to the End of Act 3 flash, like it was trying to outdo End of Act 2. Setting things up almost more for the payoff of the flash than for the sake of the story. I don't think a series of lore bombs is a very good way to structure a story, and I'm worried that's the structure the series is going to take. That said, it *is* fun in the moment, it's only in hindsight that I'm thinking this.

Our dealer and homestuck veteran Char has been writing discussion questions for our weekly book club meetings (sometimes), and I've decided to include those along with my answers.

Week 5

980: I bet If I could pause here I’d see something wacky

1000: Interesting that John changed his name *to* Ectobioloist from something else, especially after the prior reveal that ectobiology is a thing in this setting. ARGH I SHOULD HAVE FINISHED THE PAGE BEFORE WRITING THIS NOTE

1022: Tempted to go back and look… This is the kind of thing I’d miss.

1024: This exchange makes me feel like I’m right about both their parents, but I’m getting a little used to the rug pulled out from under me. I feel like I’m picking up on a kind of rule of threes. If I’m right about something, my attention’s drawn to it once, and then the second time it shows up is confirmation. But if I’m wrong, my attention is drawn to it, then my conclusion is hinted at more blatantly in a “it sure looks like that huh” kind of way, and finally the third time it appears is the rug pull. I can’t think of an example following this format right off the melon, I’m going off pure vibes sleep deprived and on a plane.

1026: There are two towers on that funny moon, and it’s notable to me that Rose’s real life house is based on them.

1033: I know those weary eyes!!!!

1039: I appreciate the harsh spike in Gun Realism

1043: Notable to me that the Peregrine Mendicant’s awesome sword is black in color, when you would expect the Light Guys to have white weapons. If indeed he is a Light Guy as Jade’s dream implied.

1046: I would like to apologize for my repeated misgendering of the Peregrine Mendicant. I did it on purpose out of malice. I’m a DEMON

1049: What does this MEAN

1051: Seems like Rose might have been onto something with her subconscious doodling theory, because it only just occurred to me that this takes place prior to basically every other event. Also what does this MEEEEAAAAAN

1062: Pressure cooker bomb reference

1064: Second coming of decoding foreshadowing. Very notable that they got a potted plant, which I seem to recall was one of the things in the jetpack!

1070: Bro EXECUTED Cal for NO REASON!!! THEN LEFT ON A HOVERBOARD!!! I’m telling you in terms of power scaling Dave’s brother is clearly unstoppable.

1093: This has *gotta* be them.

1096: Kamina glasses…….

1099: What is it with Dr. Hussie and ethnic weddings

1108: I was on board for a mayor and a mailwoman, but I am not here for a cop guy

1110: I feel better about a judge guy.

1133: I’m uncertain about Bec’s nature. For a hellbeast, he seems to also be quite cooperative.

1136: Seems like a paradox in the form of sending items to the past is allowed, but not taking items.

1149: Without a pause button I’m just utterly unequipped to handle this – I wrote BEFORE realizing that Nanna’s note is the same note we saw in John’s dad’s copy of Sassacre’s, except written in John’s copy and dropped into the void. This affects the timeline! And I’m really not sure how. I might need to rescind my earlier comment about Nanna being a willing participant in all this, which seems like it may no longer be true. Somehow this copy goes from the void to John’s dad’s safe, then back around again, presuming it’s the closed time loop it seems to be. No clue how that’s gonna come together.

1152: Is this one of the planets we saw? In the process of checking, I notice that there is a LUMINOUS PLANET with a SINGLE MOON, exactly like the one Jade dreamed about. Going by the art style, that indicates this luminous planet and the shadow planet are the sort of centers of light and dark we’re working with. Anyway, if this is one of the four planets then I think it’s the dark cloudy one, or possibly the not so dark (kinda bright actually) cloudy one. A thought that occurs to me now, days later, is that we have 2/4 kids accounted for in dreamland and the shadow planet also has a moon.

There were no discussion questions for Week 6.

Week 6: If Homestuck Book Club was mpreg our child would have a heartbeat.

1159: I think this is the guy in John’s house and I’m not checking.

1169: That’s a setting-specific captchalogue analogue!!! And it’s the same as Wandering Vagrant’s tattoo!!!!!!!!

1170: Hidden message vibes.

1171: Hidden message vibes intensify…

1177: Standing out to me how things get swapped. Clubs Deuce seems to have swapped here with Hearts Boxcars, and a moment ago, the Spade Key was swapped with the rules for blackjack and the war chest was swapped with the deck of cards. If Clubs and Hearts are paired somehow then that would leave Spades paired up with Diamonds, and the rules for blackjack don’t seem very diamondy. I don’t think that’s what’s going on.

1210: Damn I wish I knew how to play poker

1215: Purple planet with a moon…

1219: I saw that the doom wardrobe whatever it was called was the same as Jade’s, but now with John’s bathtub in play I notice all the inventory options are themed after the four kids.

1353: It finally happened

Q: Where do you think the midnight crew and their foes are from? Who does Spades Slick look suspiciously like, and what do we know of his origins?

A: Spades Slick looks exactly like the Warden guy, and for a moment, a lot like WV/PM. He showed up under almost identical circumstances to them too, wandering a destroyed world, and for some reason, making a city. Or present band of synonyms for Wandering Vagrant are uniquely insistent upon civics, with a mailwoman, a mayor, and a judge. It could be that after worlds are destroyed, these guys show up and make something. It’s unclear to me why, or how to categorize everything. The plot of Midnight Crew centers around a conflict of black vs green, not black and white. They did say darkness always wins, maybe there was some other force (time?) before light? We don’t really know where this interlude falls in the timeline, if it falls anywhere at all. For example, if Spades Slick becomes the Warden, or vice versa. Or the secret third option. If those bar codes are an analogue for captchalogue cards, then it stands to reason that that code can be used to replicate the thing it designates. They could just be clones.

Q: Did you understand... any? of the time fuckery?

A: I followed the thread but I could not retell the story if I tried.

Q: Who is the weird little grey fucker at the end of the intermission?

A: John Stuck

Q: What's Snowman's deal? Will she ever be killed?

She’s clearly an imp-thing turned traitor, but there’s so little to go off of. The o in her name wasn’t green at any point, and she’s not shown to have a power besides taking the world with her if she dies. So she’ll probably die. Former Mayor Hussie isn’t striking me as someone who flinches.

Q: Who of these characters, if any, do you think might reappear in Homestuck?

If nobody else, definitely Spades Slick and Snowman. Maybe Lord English, maybe the rest of the Crew.

[squishyteri]

My thoughts after episode 9

So, I had a little break and didn't post anything after episode 8 (she forgot). I was really busy (definitely forgot) and then I felt it was too late because everyone had already posted (she was lazy at that point).

But I'm posting on time for this one.

First, quick summary of my thoughts for the episode 8, since I didn't make a post about it. (regarding things we still don't know obviously).

First and foremost, that cut after Non was taken away by Top and Tee right onto the police questioning ... so sus. I'm sure something more happened there, but we will learn later, because it would spoil the fun for us.

Then Keng. Even his last scene felt ... suspicious. It's clear we should believe he's dead, but in situations like this, the good old rule of "he's not dead until I'm seeing his corpse" definitely applies. It's so suspicous that we don't see the end of both Keng and Non. Why that might be? (some thoughts about this will be later because it's regarding the 9th episode plot).

Now moving on to today's episode, that being episode 9.

(This whole post is now turning into one giant "I told you so" because most of the theories I had turned out to be correct in this episode, so please bear with me).

First of all, the big reveal, Tan is New. I've been onto this thought since we learned that New exists, so I can't say I was shocked, I was just excited that my theory was right.

Along with that comes the confirmation, that Tan (I'll be calling him Tan to not make it confusing) really wanted to get some little revenge there. And what more, Phee is on board with him (another win for me there btw).

Next thing, PheeJin. That was wild, I feel like I've seen something I shouldn't, I'm forever tainted by that view, thank you very much (not that I'm complaining about it). But what is important is the fact, that falling for Jin wasn't really on Phee's bucket list of this plan (I was right again, hehe!) and it definitely angers Tan (because he views it as cheating on Non). Which also explains Tan's angry gazes at Phee and Jin in the first ep. (wonder why Phee just didn't tell him that he and Non broke up after the situation with Keng, tho)

Also, not gonna lie, I loved how Tan told Phee, "You go and be best friend with him" and the next thing Phee does is fuck the guy raw and rough, as if that was part of process of becoming friends (or is it and I was doing the whole friendship thing the wrong way the whole time?) But it's also clear that Phee does like Jin and only cut him off to not upset Tan.

From the preview it seems that PheeJin will be cool the next ep, which makes me wonder what exactly is the truth Phee will tell Jin. If he really tells him everything, how can Jin accept it and be good with him? I think it's possible that Phee really says the truth, as well as telling him that he loves him, but was scared to date him because of Tan. It's still hard to believe Jin would accept that, so I'm thinking if our boy Phee won't change some details there. (I personally hope he won't, he's the only good person out there).

Also just a personal side note here... I love Phee, but did he really trust the randomly found water bottle? After all the shit that happened to them? Like I know he smelled it, but like ... there are things that are poisonous and don't have any smell. (I think coolant is one of those). I get that he wanted to help Jin, but I would rather tell him there is no water and that our best option is to go back to the house (they don't know about the shitstorm that's happening there).

Well, now back to our boy Tan. If someone has the perfect motive, it's him now. He has nothing to lose. BUT he mainly wants information. He wants to know what happened to Non. And obviously, we know that he prepared the drug (from now I'll be calling it absynth, because that's what we call it with some of my friends and honestly it's better than calling it green drug so-), but acording to Tan's own words, it was supposed to make them see their biggest fears in order for them to confess/say what they know. With that it's clear that for some time, Tan definitely NEEDS them alive. (also hallucinations, another win for me and my theories, yay!)

Which is why I think that at least Por's injury (and later the death) wasn't on his list of events. Especially since Por got injured so quickly, even before anyone had any hallucinations caused by the absynth. It would be stupid of Tan to plan to literally kill someone BEFORE they can tell him what he wants to know (we can assume that Por somehow surviving that long wasn't part of the plan, it literally only happened because of Fluke and that's something you can't plan) (and even if you could plan it, it would be so stupid to rely on to be doctor to keep the guy alive until you can interrogate him). And obviously there's the thing of all of them having alibi for Por's injury, including Tan. And if Fluke was right, Por had cuts on his arms caused by a knife and I doubt Por cut himself while chilling on the branch, waiting to be saved.

Which brings me to my theory of there being someone else with them. Someone who really wants to harm them. (and before we get any further, since Top was obviously drugged, I think that part was Tan's doing). I don't know if that's possible or even a thing, but there are hints of it. Por's injury, us seeing the ghost hand without any character being present for it to be just hallucinations, multiple different masks/killers being seen. The question is, who could it be. The first obvious answer is Non. But I sure hope it's not him. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want him to be dead, but it would inevitably lead for Phee being forced to make an impossible choice: going back to Non or staying with Jin? And I honestly don't want that drama to happen.

Other option is understandably Keng. But not that I want to defend him, but I don't think he would go that far, even for Non. When he wanted to help him, he did so as legally as possible (he tried to expose the business). And I just do not think he would suddenly switch to killing a bunch of kids.

And for those two, if I'm being honest, I just think they're both dead. Not that I wish for it, but it would fit the narrative more than suddenly revealing they are alive.

I think the character of Perth is interesting though. We know nothing about him now (I mean except his lucrative job for Tee's uncle), but there might be something that could make him want to kill the boys. But hard to say until we have some backstory.

I would rather if it all was just the hallucinations, but personally, as you just read, there are some things that don't add up to that option.

The thing that left me thinking a lot after this ep, was how suddenly White just ... spawned there. No explanation, he was just there suddenly. The way this show is going, I refuse to believe that he's the only innocent person there. And honestly, seeing him suddenly switch from helpless cutiepie to evil grinning while ending someone would be so cool. But even if not that, I think there is something important about him. No one in that house is there just by pure coincidence and I don't think White is an exception.

Lastly, something I noticed in the preview that left me thinking. Before the episode cut the end, we saw Tan giving us his evil grin. In the preview we see him shielding Fluke from Top. Which I find interesting. I guess it means he won't reveal his identity that fast, but even so, him going all the way to shield Fluke seems ... out of his character. In that situation, I think it wouldn't be weird if he just stood afar, protecting himself (especially since Fluke literally pointed gun at them all shortly before). I wonder what made him shield that guy. Was it automatic reaction to immediate danger? Or was it that something was not going as he planned to and he knew that at least for the sake of information, he needed Fluke alive?

I guess that's question for the next episode.

Thank you for reading all the way here. Have a lovely day!

See you after the next episode (hopefully).

[temporalbystander]

I told myself I wasn't going to ever make this post. Because I had hope. Because I wanted to believe that Miraculous had decent writing and that the sentiadren theory was not the pinnacle of what they could accomplish. Then season 5 happened. The first few episodes were good, it even forced me to make my blog solely Miraculous themed because the interactions I had with everyone were so much fun. Heck youve seen the reaction posts I did both in character and as myself.

(under the cut is a bunch of writing that you can take as me explaining my reasoning or just complaining. Either way, if you're hoping for anymore Miraculous content from me? Stories or screen caps, you best unfollow. Because I'm done.)

But then the leaks came. And, like an ancient being unable to properly use Facebook, I failed to avoid them. I told myself that certain spoilers didn't matter, that I could wait until the actual episodes came out to decide whether or not the salt was justified, that with a terrible memory like mine I'd forget it in no time (just look at some of the other screw ups I've made regarding Miraculous, it's not that far fetched.) However, as the number of Miraculous tags and blogs I followed began to grow the number of consenting opinions grew as well.

There are those who hate Marinette for being obsessed or a stalker when it comes to Adrien (who Id like to point out has had several episodes where we've seen his obsessed stalkers. Now Wayhem is creepy.) Those who love her and believe that all against her should suffer (which I was briefly a part of and still must fight my Alya bias even now.) And the same goes for the rest of the characters. But I still wanted to sit back and form my own opinions as cleanly as possible.

Needless to say, I failed. The more I stepped back and looked at the episodes, the more spoilers I failed to avoid to the episode screenshots I saw despite not having seen said episode yet. It all resulted in one clear opinion in my mind. Season 5 is a letdown. Not only because it's an out of order mess with the release dates but because it seemed more and more like pandering. Sentitheory is confirmed, Adrinette becomes canon, Lila gets revealed, Chloe gets punished and we get some LGBTQ+ recognition in the form of Zoe. (And Miss Bustier if I'm hearing right but I'm not really sure about that one.)

That should have been great, I'm all for writers letting the fans know they're appreciated. I was a brony during the 100th episode. That was like ambrosia for us fans. This? Felt like bad fanfiction and I know bad fanfiction, I've written tons of it. Firstly, why Zoe? If you're going to piss off Disney and other broadcasters, which I believe is why it was never done before, then why not confirm Rose and Juleka? Or Marc and Nathaniel? Why spend an episode saying something the fandom had basically decided the moment Zoe first showed up? And apparently it's just an end of episode confirmation where Marinette says she's flattered? I mean I get it but really? I don't know whether to be proud of her for not making a big deal of it or disappointed that the show doesn't make a bigger deal of it considering just how hard a confession like that can be. But you know what? I haven't watched the episode and I'm not going too so I probably shouldn't judge it.

What I will judge the everloving shit out of is the handling of Luka and Chloe. Luka must leave Paris because he knows who LB and CN are. That makes sense, we've seen in Star train that HawkMoth can't really sense or control his akuma's once they leave Paris so they'd have to leave to hunt Luka down. However Luka found out halfway through last season and, outside Ephemeral (which is its own set of issues) is never brought up. Seriously? I'm all for the Lukagami team up (which didn't actually end in Lukagami) for getting Adrinette together but you couldn't have had him pop up in a few more episodes to have him give excuses for the heroes to get away? Maybe pop up a bit more in support of Adrien? I'd be more upset if I hadn't known about the whole Luka leaving Paris, along with the Zoe confession, since BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. But again, seperate issues.

And then there's Chloe. Oh Chloe. Now I wouldn't call myself a Chloe Stan. Until I actually started writing out ideas I didn't like her. She's the civilian foil to Marinette who is only put up with because her Daddy's the mayor and Adrien remembers when they had fun as little kids. The terrible airing of episodes didn't help either. Had I not been taking notes on every episode and had they not marathoned them on tv leading up to the release of the movies, I would have never put the pieces of her character together. Her self doubt, her abandonment by her mother, Mr. Cuddles and sucking her thumb? That is not the actions of evil incarnate. And what does the show do? LITERALLY REPLACE HER WITH ZOE!

And I don't mean the salty fans complaining about Mary Zoe as a replacement. No, the show doubles down by having the mayor adopt Zoe and send Chloe off with the mother who refuses to get her name right that Chloe doubts actually loves her. That? Is beyond fucked up. That? Is something I'd have written back when I didn't fully understand how tribulations and pain were parts of character growth. Just a simple "nah, Chloe bad. Zoe better. Just have Zoe." Seriously do you know how long it took me to realise that you can't just get rid of the bad guy if you want to make a good story?

And then, to cap it all off. HawkMoth gets his wish. On the bright side, if you wanted to know why Bunnix didn't show up until Evolution or during Ephemeral? That's why. Apparently Marinette feeling like a complete and utter failure is necessary for the future Alix comes from to happen. In fact, had Ephemeral happened before Wishmaker? Wed basically be watching season 6 right now. How else was Luka supposed to know what the hell Ladybug was talking about? Dudes not that smart I'm sorry. Hell nobody in the show is.

Seriously, who's genius fucking idea was it to have HawkMoth win this far into the show? Need I remind all of you how the wish is meant to work? It's a reset. A complete erasure and rewrite. There should be no "keeping secrets from Adrien" drama because, as far as the entire UNIVERSE is aware Emilie Agreste never vanished and whatever happened to Gabriel always happened. Hell the only one keeping secrets in this new world should be the kwamis since they're apparently the only ones who recognise what a reset looks like meaning they've experienced it before. And apparently they're all with their holders in this new universe? Hell I may watch the last episode just to figure out what crap they pull to try and explain everything. And why we should care about anything that happened in the past 8 YEARS if the "grand plan" of Astruc was just to erase it!

..... Sorry. I got way more frustrated towards the end there than I should have. If you have read this entire thing? Thanks and I'm sorry if I've wasted your time. What started out for me as a wonderful show about magic and love and typical good vs evil has now appears to have devolved into lazy writing, character assassination, retcons and repetition. I don't want to be one of the people who blame ZAG or TA or the writers about the problems of the show. That's more anger and salt then I need in my life. I'm just saying that, if this is the direction they choose to take it, that this was always the end point? Then I'm getting off here.

[seyoonlgc]

A new project? The company was looking for eligible male trainees? Hell yeah, of course, he would be auditioning!

Seyoon straightened his shirt, smoothed down his jeans, ran a comb down his messy blonde hair, and waltzed into his interview session. He chose a morning slot because the sun gave him POWER and he intended to outshine his competition to the best of his ability.

"Good morning," he greeted, bowing his head with a smile. "I am Kim Seyoon, here for my interview!"

Why are you interested in being in NEWKIDS NEWDREAMS? [135]

Let's start with a refreshing bit of honesty then, shall we?

I want to be famous, wanna be a star, and be in magazines. Also want to see the world, drive nice cars, and have groupies-

No, that would be too much honesty.

"This project is a debut opportunity and will give me a chance to fulfill my dream of becoming an idol. As a hopeful trainee, I would be kicking myself if I didn't try to take advantage of every opportunity I am presented!" If this project was called OLDMEN OLDFARTNIGHTMARES, Seyoon would still be auditioning. As a man who worshipped at the altar of beauty, Seyoon was very well aware of just how fleeting youth was. He only had a few years to make his debut happen, otherwise, all of these past years spent on training would have been a waste of time.

"While we don't know much about the project, I do think the concept would fit me, judging by the name alone." Seyoon laughed. "To me, New Kids sounds like the company is looking for younger trainees. People who give off a bright, energetic vibe maybe. I think I am a good fit for that!" If there was one thing Seyoon did not lack, it would be stamina. He was constantly bouncing off the walls, and if they observed him in the practice room, they'd definitely see that aspect of his personality.

"Also...I guess I just want a chance to be seen at my best," Seyoon admitted brightly. "I want my parents, grandparents, and younger brothers in Canada to hear the new songs I learned. And my high school friends, scouts buddies, and fried chicken shop regulars too." My mother also. I want to be so goddamn famous that she could not avoid the sight of my face because it would be everywhere. I want her to know despite the fact she won't acknowledge me, I exist.

Considering the current confirmed members, what can you add on and off the stage? [160]

"Off-stage...Uhhh...I mean, I know all of the people in the group and get along with them? BK and I are friends." Fellow partygoers, yeehaw. "I've worked with Noeul on different things before. Misaki and I are buddies, we were also dormmates before. I love Wenjun so much- Sorry, am I answering this question wrong?" Seyoon tapped on his temple, prompting his noggin for more useful tidbits. "Right. I got in a workshop about commercial acting and was pretty good at that so maybe when we are not performing as a group, I could pick up commercials or minor acting roles to boost our popularity?"

"On stage-wise, I can bring my energy, enthusiasm, and good singing! From what I can remember in the practice rooms, BK and Noeul are good rappers. Misaki is a strong dancer, and Yichen is an excellent performer. Wenjun sings beautifully but no group could stand with just one great singer, right? There was always room for another! Oh, also, I am from Canada and fully fluent in English. Do we need an English speaker?"

which skill do you want to be known for & why? [163]

"I would like to be known for my singing because that's where my talent lies, I believe." Seyoon rubbed the back of his head. "I've been singing since I was a child. No lessons, of course, we couldn't afford those since my parents ended up having more kids than they initially planned, and my grandfather on my dad's side was not in good health. I was always in some sort of choir though. Both in schools and at the church. My stepmom always told me I had a far-reaching voice." He made quotations with his fingers. "I think what she meant was she could always hear me from all the way at the back of a room. But if I debut, then those words could take on a different meaning - my voice would be far-reaching because it will be heard by more people and maybe touch some hearts." He laughed. "Seriously, the moment I make it into a permanent group, I am going to call her and tell her that she's predicted it...That she had special powers and knew all along."

what kind of concepts are you good & bad at? [86]

"When it comes to concepts, I think I can do cute, energetic...dark too. Oh, I don't think I will excel at elegant. I am not going to lie - I am not really the princely type." Instead, he was a questionable man who hid his unwashed shorts under his bed and constantly had mud on his shoes. "I think that has to do with growing up on farmland. Sometimes expensive restaurants and formal events can make me feel out of place. I can learn, though! Just put me through a few classes and show me an example of how I should behave. I am a fast learner, I promise."

what kind of group would you ideally want to be part of and why? [87]

"Group-wise, I think being known for great live vocals would be nice because I love those performances the most." He thought about it harder. "To be honest, I just really want to be in a group that is...successful." Would he risk sounding too ambitious with that? "I enjoy groups that have great live vocals. The ones with strong stage presence are amazing too! Ultimately it won't matter, though, if the group doesn't last. Ideally, I would want to debut in a group that has longevity. One that is versatile, can adapt to the trends, and stay relevant for as long as possible."

Seyoon just wanted money. Sometimes he wondered if it was wrong of him to be focused on the financial aspect when a good number of the other kids were entirely invested in their dreams. He supposed everything would be different if he was like some of the other trainees in this company. CEO connections, famous parents. Waving around their black cards while waiting for their chauffeurs in their well-tailored coats. They had more opportunities. If this whole idol situation failed, they could start businesses, go back to school, or even just lie around because their parents could afford to feed them for the rest of their lives. Ugh, sometimes he felt so envious of those people that it hurt.

And that was the end of the interview.

"Thanks for the chat," Seyoon said, bowing first to show his respect, then straightening his back to do a big over-the-head heart. "I am sure there will be a lot more trainees interviewing after but don't forget me, okay?" He grinned. "I really want this!"